We're off to see the wizards

Erastus 2, 4712

After stopping on the 15th level to allow Kazmauk to transform himself back into a very human Roscoe, the Coopers and their large Hellknight escort emerge from the Emerald Spire to witness a different world. The Spire itself seems to have dimmed and barely glows, though it retains some greenish light. All around the Spire the goblin and giant camps lay in ruins. Hellknights are gathering the bodies of slain goblins and giants and building funeral pyres. In the distance thick columns of black smoke rise in the general area of Fort Inevitable. Hundreds of troops are securing the area and have already begun working on fortifying the approaches to the Spire. Two large army trains are secured and guarded, and a new camp is rising out of the ashes, flying the major Hellknight order pennants, with that of the Order of the Nail in prime position to honor Duke Mosley. The Commander escorting the Coopers invites them on behalf of the Duke to a banquet held in his triumphant honor tonight. The Coopers agree to attend.

As the Coopers debate about their next course of action, Omok simply departs the group, heading eastwards, and without a single glance towards them. The rest of the Coopers return to Fort Inevitable, trekking through Echo Wood before emerging in the farmlands that surround the town. Emerging from the forest, they find another nightmarish vision. Thousands of goblin, emerald automatons and human bodies are spread over several battlefields, and the remains of many farms are still smoldering. The giants and goblins cut through a large swat of land on their way to attack the town. Though outnumbered, Drovust and her Hellknights attacked with gusto and managed to eliminate the entire enemy force at tremendous cost to her own troops. What remains of the Hellknights are huddled on the edge of the field, healing their wounded and dispatching any goblins still living. A makeshift flag flies above the Citadel displaying the symbol of the Seven Foxes, and all of Fort Inevitable's gates remain closed.

Climbing a tree, Daryle takes aim and fires a few arrows at the Hellknights. Three of them are hit and fall to the ground. The remaining force withdraws from the battlefield. Darelle begins examining the ruins, and she discovers eleven Geralds have perished during the fight. Some wore Hellknight uniforms, while others had civilian clothes and even a few looked like they had served on the goblins' side. One Gerald had somehow polymorphed into a giant. Being the considerate sister, she gathers the corpses and builds a funeral pyre for them, incinerating the fallen Geralds.

Roscoe also scours the battlefield and locates several magical items, including a monkey belt, a staff of authority, a ring of protection +3, and a weapon he recognizes as the Everwar Holy Fury. Daryle joins in and find a monkey belt and goggles of the treasure hunter. She looks for evidence that Greenhide perished on the battlefield, but finds none. Talking to survivors and questioning goblins before dispatching them, she finds that the goblin chief was in fact leading his army. All witnesses report seeing him leading a charge against Drovust, but a fireball exploded and it is as if he had been vaporized. His corpse had simply vanishes. 

While moving Geralds, Darelle discovers a magnetist's glove and a necklace of adaptation. She also finds roughly 50,000 crowns' worth of equipment and gems among all of the Gerald bodies. She hides the money in Mother Holworth's farm, which thankfully survived the battle.

After helping the wounded and assisting citizens of Fort Inevitable, the Coopers return to the Spire to attend Duke Mosley's banquet. They are feted as heroes, and the Duke rewards them with estates in Cheliax, to be collected when he wins the fight for the throne. Near the end of the banquet, the Duke takes the Coopers apart and warns them that their help to his cause will not go unnoticed in Cheliax and that they might find it prudent to spend time away from the River Kindgoms for a few months, at least until the dust settles. The Coopers agree to consider his advice. He also tells them that they will always be most welcomed in his halls, except for Gerald of course as his head now has a price attached to it.


Erastus 3, 4712

Leaving the Spire at dawn following Mosley's banquet, the Coopers minus Gerald, who became a victim of the Duke's desire for revenge, return to Shadowborn Manor, mourning Gerald's death, but not really. They are greeted by a woman wearing an immaculate uniform in the livery of House Ornelos, of Korvosa, in the country of Varisia. She delivers them all invitations to participate in this year's Breaching Festival, which takes place every year at the Acadamae of Korvosa. In this festival, participants enter the main building and must compete in a series of challenges and traps designed to test both their survival skills as well as the skills of the crafting wizards who are graduating from the school. The Acadamae of Korvosa is known as the premiere wizard school in Golarion, and wizards attend school for a term of ten years, upon which they must create a challenge for the Breaching Festival. Those wizards who successfully design a challenge that manages to kill an adventurer graduate with honors. Those who manage to maim an adventurer graduate, and those who fail to harm an adventurer must complete a remedial year. The rector of the Acadamae, Toff Ornelos, heard of the Coopers' exploits and especially enjoyed the smash hit It Was Inevitable. He would consider their participation an honor.

Daryle questions the envoy on the nature of the competition. She replies that the contest involves entering the Acadamae at sunrise. The first person out before sunset is the winner of the Breaching Festival, and this year will earn approximately 153,000 crowns. The Festival was last won back in 4551 by Dyson Fordyce, who entered at sunrise and came out of the Hall a few minutes later. Having won on a technicality, the rules were changed and now participants are required to make it to the Hall of Wards. No one has exited the Hall before sundown since. The mortality rate is about 70% among adventurers.

Remembering Duke Mosley's advice to make themselves scarce, the Coopers agree to attend the Festival, to be held on the 1st of Lamashan, which gives them three months to make their way to Varisia. After all, what could possibly go wrong now that Gerald is no longer with them?


Rova 30, 4712

After three months tramping through Golarion, the Coopers get their first glimpse of Korvosa, the fabled magical city and the largest city in Varisia. Stretching for miles, they are awed by its majestic beauty and its grandiose venues, with the Acadamae of Magic clearly visible on top of the city's highest hill. Several large walls protect the city from attacks, and its cosmopolitan citizens are bustling to and fro.

After entering the city, the Coopers are directed to the Acadamae of Magic, located in the middle of the city. They are met there by none other than Toff Ornelos himself. During their months-long trip, the Coopers have discovered that Toff Ornelos is considered one of the top arcane user of this age, having accomplished documented exploits beyond the abilities of most mortals. In the prime of his life, Ornelos has been headmaster for over thirty years and has overseen the instruction of countless wizards throughout Golarion.

Ornelos welcomes them to Korvosa and escorts them to a large auditorium in the Hall of Summoning, where they are introduced to the rest of the competing teams and individuals who will participate in the Breaching Festival. Mangarad is an Ulfen wizard dressed in fur robes and he is accompanied by three henchmen. Knur is a tough-looking dwarf of the Gilded Claw who is accompanied by two of his kinsmen. The halfling male Lawrence is dressed in black and is accompanied by two more halflings. His attire provides no clue as to his profession or skills. The Naga is garbed in a cloak that hides his facial features. Lacking a left arm, he instead sports a knife on his stump. Grunt Farnsworth is a mean-looking dwarf barbarian who is accompanied by four henchmen. The Coopers are surprised to see a Gerald here as well, entering the competition. This Gerald left Fort Inevitable five months ago. He sports a turtle drawing on his horn. Whilenor is a human druid with some ranger skills. The last competitor is introduced as Lord Garrett of Ged, a maleficent lich. He glowers at everyone.

Toff Ornelos then describes the rules of the competition. After signing waivers, participants will enter the Halls of the Acadamae. They will find different challenges and traps in each room. Surviving a challenge will provide a key light, then the room will reset itself within five minutes for the next set of participants. Each participant in a group will need a different colored key light to enter the last part of the competition. Individuals thus have an advantage in that they only need one light, however the challenges can be quite difficult to solve for one person. Over the history of the Breaching Festival, there has been no statistically significant advantage of being either part of a group or playing as an individual.

There are three rules the participants must follow. First, the winner is the first person who exits the doors leading out of the Hall of Calling before sundown. If there are two or more people exiting at exactly the same time, they will divide the prize equally among all winners. Second, groups and individuals can collaborate together to overcome some of the challenges, but they cannot directly harm, interfere, or attack other participants. The challenges are hard enough as is, and there needs to be enough participants to ensure that the graduating wizards' designs are tested. Finally, as mentioned earlier, there is a high risk of death, so each participant will need to sign a waiver explaining they understand the rules and the risks of bodily harm and possible death. The Breaching Festival itself is attended by many folks, including Queen Ileosa of Korvosa.

Ornelos asks if there are any questions. The participants remain quiet, so the headmaster then divides the participants into three groups, so they can tour the different halls of the Acadamae where the challenges will take place. The Coopers end up in the same group as the Naga and Whilenor, and their guide is Jandar Listwin, a junior wizard who plans on graduating next year.

• The Hall of Summoning is the largest building on campus and shows evidence of having been rebuilt in the last few decades. The Hall's main feature is its large auditorium where 333 students can sit comfortably. Final exams for wizards take place here.
• The Hall of Seeing features a set of double doors that display giant harrow cards, which change to reflect the past or the future of the last person to touch the door. There are scrying devices everywhere.
• Resembling a cube, the Hall of Induction is built of thick iron on three sides, and a series of iron plates on the fourth. It contains nothing aside from a spiral staircase and five empty floors. All walls in here are made of force, and keep all evocation spells contained inside the building.
• Forever shifting, the Hall of Lies is the home of the Acadamae's illusionists, and as such not everything is at it seems.
  
• Every part of the Hall of Shaping has been transmuted over the decades, providing the building an eclectic, if worrisome, look.
• The Hall of Whispers is the final home for many of the students (and participants) who were unable to complete their tasks. Home to powerful necromancy, this building is the site of many gruesome experiments.
• Home to the school's enchanters, the Hall of Charms is imbued with power.
• The Hall of Wards is the best guarded and magically protected building in Korvosa, and probably all of Golarion. To complete the last challenge, participants must enter the hall and emerge from it after defeating the challenge inside. The first person to step out wins the Breaching Festival.

As the group returns to Ornelos Hall, site of administrative building, a wizard is thrown out of a window, shattering glass everywhere. A large retriever steps through and pounces on the prone wizard. The Coopers leap to action, and after a few tense moments are able to slay the creature and rescue the wizard. She identifies herself as Seska Imintar, and she tells the Coopers she had been working on a challenge for tomorrow when the beast escaped. Ornelos rushes to the scene, and after listening to Seska for a minute chastises her for failing to constrain her monster. He promises the Coopers that her challenge will be better tomorrow, else she will fail her graduating year. Thanking them for saving her, he bids them goodnight, and looks forward to seeing them an hour before dawn tomorrow. The Coopers withdraw to their lodgings, reading for their big adventure, and, hopefully, their even bigger payoff!

The cloud giant's cats

Erastus 3, 4712

Following the green storm that affected the area two weeks ago, a flood of cats have appeared in Fort Inevitable and have made themselves a general nuisance with their incessant begging and meowing. Residents, fed up with the noise and the aggravations, have requested that measures be taken to rid the town of its unwanted cat residents. The only benefit seems to be that there are no rodents left anywhere within five miles of Fort Inevitable.

Plagued with so many cats, residents are asking that a solution be found. Roscoe asks his two ranger sisters to come up with ideas. Daryle can't come up with anything specific, but Darelle proposes that a cat recipe contest be held. This event, to be called the Purrfect Plate festival, could take place in one week, giving enough time to the area's best cooks to learn how to cook cats. Roscoe thinks it's a great idea, and he approves it. He orders that notices be posted and the town crier spread the news.

The sisters return to Daryle's place to continue working on their renovations. After a light lunch at the Shadowborn Manor, Daryle and Darelle receive a visitor. Shim Longbranch brings the sisters a wheelbarrow in which is a large burlap bag. He tells them that he and the recruits were out hunting in the woods west of the Emerald Spire yesterday when they ambushed a trio of goblins. They were heading west, away from the Spire, and were carrying this bag with them. Darelle inquires the direction in which they were heading, and Shim replies towards giants country. All three goblins bore the mark of Greenhide's Dark Blood tribe.

Shim wheels the wheelbarrow inside the courtyard, and Darelle takes it out of the bag. a large tome written in dwarvish. Using her Eastern Star ioun stone, she translates the title of the book for Shim and Daryle. Titled The Strength of the Mighty in dwarwish, Darelle is unable to open the book as it appears to be magically locked. Invited to remain for lunch, Shim shares a meal with the sisters and leaves to return to the Hunters' Lodge. Darelle sends a tree token message to Falandra asking her to come and examine the new book.

Falandra arrives a couple hours later, and after looking at the book and casting a few spells she informs the Cooper sisters that only a wizard with giant blood can counteract the magic lock placed on this book. Fortunately, she knows of a cloud giant wizard named Zoarth, who is a collector of books much like herself. She has met him a couple of times at intriguing book auctions held in learned cities, and is willing to travel with the sisters to go visit him. When Darelle tells her they will be employing her blue pegasus, Falandra decides a letter introducing the sisters to Zoarth would be much better.

Falandra also tells the sisters that Zoarth is not only a book collector but a lover of cats. He has hundreds of them in his keep. Thus, the recent appearance of both this book and of the cats in Fort Inevitable may be connected with the green storm. As to why the goblins were transporting the book, she can only speculate that Greenhide had figured out how it was locked and they were probably taking it to their giant allies so it could be opened.

If the cats in town are indeed Zoarth, they are about to be eaten. Darelle decides that Roscoe must be warned before the notices go up, but at the same moment they heard the town crier passing by, yelling out information about the new festival while hanging up a notice from a nearby tree.

Armed with directions and Falandra's letter of introduction, Daryle and Darelle fly on the blue pegasus and arrive in the wizard's keep area about three hours later.A large storm blocks forward progress in the air, but the trees below are not completely bent, which suggests that the strength of the winds is much lower on the ground. The sisters decide to land and walk the remaining distance. The going is not difficult and soon they overtake a group of four hill giants accompanied by two ogres and four dire wolves, as well as a truly massive dire wolf leading the pack. They wisely decide to keep a distance between them and the giants' party. Eventually, they clear the storm and enter its eye. The winds die down, and they can see a truly magnificent keep floating on a cloud. A brass road spirals from the ground to the keep's main entrance. There are several giants on the path, and the party they were following begins the ascend.

Sensing combat in their future, Daryle hides the book, and they too begin to climb the ramp. After two complete loops, they arrive at the base of the keep. The doors are still fifty feet up from here and another quarter turn, but it looks like someone breached the basement of the keep and entered it through a large hole. From the hole a hill giant with hammers instead of hands steps out, and he gloats that the great wizard could only get such puny allies to help him. He then attacks the sisters. Shooting from a distance, they get two volley of arrows into him before he reaches them. He almost knocks Darelle off the ramp to her doom, but Daryle rescues her, and a well-placed arrow in his eye sends the giant to the edge. Darelle finishes him off with a well-placed sword hit to the knee which forces him over the edge. He crashes a hundred feet below and does not get up.

The Coopers glance inside the hole. They notice a large room, where five hill giants and a stone giant fight a huge air elemental. They join the fray and hurl arrows at the giants, who are too engaged with the elemental to notice the two humans taking cover behind a fallen giant. However a well placed arrow to the stone giant's rear end attracts his attention, and as the air elemental dies, the remaining three giants attack. Daryle and Darelle make quick work of them, but must pause to heal. They are approached by a cat who asks them to go to the base of keep, which is under attack and in danger of collapsing. The sisters can feel it vibrate and oscillate dangerously every minute or so. If the keep falls out of sky, all of its denizens will die on impact.

They quickly travel downstairs and come upon a frost giant and an insect-like creature from the outer planes. The creature is attacking the column with a spear, transforming the mist into ice and shattering it. Darelle summons a small fire elemental, and the situation becomes a stalemate. Daryle notices that the giant is controlling the creature, and the sisters attack the giant. Darelle casts entangle, and Daryle lights the entanglement on fire, causing significant damage. The planar creature does not react, but continues to fight the fire elemental. The Coopers fight the frost giant but nearly lose their lives in the process. They succeed in killing the giant, only to realize that it was the planar creature that controlled it, not the other way around. Sensing that its moment of glory has come, the planar creature jumps into the columnhoping to destroy it but Darelle communes with her deity and her small elemental intercepts the devil as it teleports, preventing it from reaching the column.

The Coopers ascend the stairs, again, and reach the great entry hall. Here, a cloud giant stands in the arms of an even bigger statue and fires lightning bolts at hill and stone giants. A giant meaner than most riding an armored triceratops charges the Coopers, and they fight savagely while all around them the giants continue to battle. The effort is staggering, but the sisters are eventually triumphant over the giant, and the triceratops in its fear and anger rushes out the hall and slips on the brass ramp, falling to its miserable end. At the same time Zoarth manages to kill the last giant, and soon all three of them meet at the base of the statue.

Zoarth introduces himself and thanks the Coopers profusely for coming to his aid. Hundreds of cats emerge from their hiding places and begin to swarm both the wizard and the Coopers. They give him Falandra's letter of introduction, and Zoarth tells them that any friend of Falandra is a friend of his. They explain the purpose of their visit, and soon they recuperate the book. Zoarth tells them what it does and explains that it can be read twice more before its magical powers are exhausted. Thanking them again, he gifts them the book. He then tells them he has a request. He's not sure why these giants have attacked his keep, but he's convinced there will be another assault. He wants to investigate who's behind the attack, but can't leave the keep. Could the sisters take it upon themselves to find out who sponsored this assault? He would reward them handsomely if they could. They agree to help. Zoarth tells them he will bring them back to Fort Inevitable and recuperate his cats. Darelle asks him how they will travel, and Zoarth proudly displays a cupboard filled with jars of cloud, one of his proudest inventions.

Darelle sends a tree token message to Roscoe to explain the misunderstanding about the cats and request the cancellation of the festival and their arrival. In Fort Inevitable Zoarth is reunited with his cats, and he tells the sisters that it shouldn't be too hard to follow the trail of destruction that brought the giants to his keep. He also warns the sisters about the dragon that dwells in the hills about a day's trip away from the hill giants' fort ...

There goes Gerald again!

Nehn 17, 4711

Having been tasked for asset recovery by the Hellknights, the Coopers successfully retrieved the Mosswater treasury and turned over a third of it back to Fort Inevitable. Daryle hid the remainder throughout Shadowborn Manor. But the missing money, which disappeared during the goblin assault on Fort Inevitable, still bothers the siblings. Where could the money have gone, and, more importantly, who stole it? The Coopers decide to investigate.

Darelle is the first to bring the subject up to Dr. Mordel. She informs him about the events that transpired during the last few months, leading to the Hellknight treasury disappearing. Dr. Mordel does not appear surprised, but confesses he had not heard this state of affairs. The Hellknights, he told her, have done a very good job keeping this information to their upper echelons. He tells her that residents of the Fort have noticed the Coopers' activities on behalf of the occupiers, and that they are earning a reputation as Hellknight lackeys. She replied not to worry, she and her brothers and sister were doing no one's bidding but their own. He told her he personally didn't care, he knew she was a good person, but this was a needle they needed to thread very carefully, otherwise they might get pricked.

Noah, meanwhile, enters Fort Inevitable and secures lodgings at the Juliver Arms, in the room across from Roscoe. He decides to spread the rumor that the Hellknights' bank was broken into and the money has disappeared. Noah tells Thom Braddon that hundreds of thousands of crowns have disappeared from the bank, and that there will be delays in making payroll. He further adds that several officers have questioned whether they would deposit money in the bank in the future. Quickly, this rumor reaches every corner of town, and many people present themselves at the bank to make withdrawals. The bank is able to meet all of its obligations, and the rumor is quelled. Unfortunately for the Coopers, the fact that they turned in a large amount of gold has enabled the Hellknights to meet their financial obligations, and it would take several large withdrawals from rich inhabitants to really shake the bank, something the Coopers are unable to engineer.

Later on in the afternoon, Darelle and Daryle wander the sewers, and discover that they look much the same. The Hellknights have fortified the main sewer leading past the citadel with a complex set of gates and heavy iron bars, but they have made no efforts to close the exit out by the field.

Daryle decides to head back home and explore the iron mine by entering through the well. The recent rains have filled up the well enough to make that path difficult to access. Daryle decides to not attempt the crawl and instead returns home.

Darelle concludes her day by buying two potions of invisibility before returning home for the night.


Nehn 19, 4711

In the morning, Daryle and Darelle head out to the Emerald Spire. Since they haven't discovered where the gold has gone, they decide to see if Greenhide was involved in the theft. The Spire has clearly suffered the full effect of the Helknights' assault during the green storm. The goblin defenses have been obliterated, the makeshift gates forced, and no signs of a goblin presence.

The sisters enter through the 3rd level access tunnel, hoping to gain access to the upper levels without being noticed. Unfortunately, they discover that all of the hallways on this level have been sealed. The Coopers can easily access the lower levels of the Spire, but they cannot climb up. Frustrated, they head back out again, and decide that they will attempt to sneak in through the secret passages on the ground level.

Coming out of the tunnel, they notice a large homemade flag flying from one of the Spire's tower. That flag was not there before they went down the tunnel. Upon closer inspection, the flag displays a crude obscene rendering and both sisters look at each other. Gerald is at it again.

Indeed. While the sisters were down on the 3rd level, Gerald, who had followed them, had decided to plant his flag as a juvenile prank. Unfortunately for him, he was challenged by two goblins after he had placed the flag, and following a short battle in which he was attacked both by a swarm of wasps, slipped on the icy ground and fell thirty feet, he quickly found himself unconscious and once again an unwilling guest of Greenhide.

Darelle and Daryle explored the area near the flag, and discovered several incinerated wasps, signs of a struggle, and marks where a body had fallen before goblins picked it up and dragged it inside. Once again, it is up to them to save Gerald from himself.

The Coopers breach the secret doors, and discover that the ground level has been badly damaged by the Hellknights. The goblins have tried to put it back together, but it lacks some of the fineries that were present there before. They encounter several groups of goblins, and successfully dispatch all of them. But as more and more goblins seem to be joining the fight, the sisters decide it is time to accomplish a strategic retreat lest they suffer Gerald's fate. They return to Fort Inevitable.

When Gerald awakens from his enforced nap, he finds himself shackled to a chair at the head of a long table. At the other end he sees Greenhide, who welcomes him back to the land of the conscious, if only for a short moment. The goblin chief then offers him a bowl of turtle soup...

Kids and magic don't mix

Erastus 11, 4711

After being sedated for three days following the events with the Splinter Cutthroats gang, Gerald awakens in Dr. Mordel's house, confused as to what happened to him. All he remembers is going in to the brigands' lair and walking through the fortified door with a supposedly magical cat's skull. He was promptly dragged inside and a hood was placed on his head. After meandering throughout the level, he was eventually hit on the head and fell unconscious. He awoke to find himself tied and hooded. 

Later on in the day (or was it night) a couple of guards came in, punched him in the face, and dragged him out. It seems like his brother Thorne was there, but that's can be right. At any rate, when he finally awakes Gerald steps out of the room with bandaged hands and a black eye.

He slowly gets out of bed, and wanders out of the small bedroom. He encounters Erynna, Dr. Mordel's assistant, coming up the stairs. She tells him to go lay down, she will get the good doctor. 

Dr. Mordel tells Gerald that there was a terrible battle during the Coopers' rescue attempt, and Gerald's hands were cut off and severely crushed. Fortunately, Mordel was able to save them, but they needed to be healed through a process only known to Mordel. In the meantime, he had sewed two small goblin right hands that worked. Gerald was crestfallen.

Soon Darelle and Daryle arrived, and were rejoiced to see Gerald finally back to his former self. While Gerald had been unconscious, they had caught up on Fort Inevitable news, including the fact that no goblins have been turned in for a bounty in the last ten days. The Coopers suspect that Greenhide may be mustering his forces and gathering to himself all the goblins from the area. For what purpose, they are not sure.

They also devised a plot to deal with the Splinters who dwell on the 3rd level of the Spire. Darelle has already created a poison based on a mix of plants saps, and Thorne has delivered it into the water supply. In the next 24 hours, all of the brigands will be violently affected and will be in no shape to fight. Thorne also reports that Tarrin, leader of the Splinters, is still reading the fake copy of Words Behind the Mask. And the brigands themselves report hearing a lot of goblin noises coming from the 2nd level.

Having some time to themselves, the Coopers decide to escort Gerald to visit Abernard Royst so he can turn in his map of the 2nd level and collect some much needed gold. On the way there, they stop at the Temple to pick up more scrolls of cure medium wounds. Coming out, Gerald bumps into a small child and sends her sprawling to the ground. Getting up and dusting herself off, she accuses Gerald of being mean spirited. That's when he notices that his newly purchased scrolls are gone. The girl immediately takes off, moving surprisingly quickly. Gerald begins chasing after her, but he is soon stopped by a Hellknight patrol that claims the girls accused him of attacking her. Meanwhile, Daryle sprints down the next alley and comes out. But the girl is gone. The only house on this block in which she could have taken refuge is Abernard's cottage.

After much discussion, Hellknight officers enter the cottage using the spare key (whose location Thorne reveals), but they do not find the girl. They advise Gerald to file a report of theft at the fortress. With the patrol gone, the Coopers enter the house. 

The first thing they notice is that Abernard's house does not look any different than the last time they were here, but somehow the Hellknights did not notice that it is so much bigger on the inside than on the outside. On one of the walls in the hall Darelle notices a series of family portraits, and the girl can be clearly seen in one of them alongside Abernard. At first, the Coopers suspect that she is some sort of spirit, and they attempt to discover whether she's taken refuge in the painting. After a few minutes of examinations, however, they decide that it really is a painting, and they begin searching the house.

The downstairs looks like it has not been cleaned for a few weeks. There are dirty plates everywhere, and the food pantry has been raided. The Coopers head upstairs. In the first bedroom they enter they discover a sleeping ogre in what is obviously Abernard's bedroom. Daryle carefully locks the door and they move down the hall. They come across what appears to be a guess room that has been completely thorn apart. It looks like a girl is currently living in this room. In it they discover a small spellbook with the name Nissa on it.  

After an encounter with a few deadly plants, the Coopers finally ascend the stairs to the third floor. There they discover Abernard's workshop and his library. Gerald uses magic and discovers that many of the books in this room have magical auras. A corner of the room also feels particularly evil. On the large working table is a big book. Gerald notices that this book is the actual grimoire called Words Behind the Mask by the god Norgurber, god of thieves and murder, that Abernard had created a copy of to fool the Splinters. The book itself was turned to a summoning ritual.

Behind large doors they hear Nissa yelling at something. After several heated exchanges, they are able to open the doors and enter into Abernard's alchemy lab. Nissa was busy trying to conjure Abernard back from his two dimensional state inside a pentagram drawn on the floor of the lab. After a battle during which Thorne is covered with leaves and Daryle takes a lot of damage, Nissa is tackled to the floor, and her rod of wonder falls to the ground.

After some research Gerald discovers how to undo the ritual cast by Abernard, and the old sage is brought back from his limbo. Abernard reveals that following the creation of the fake grimoire he became very interested in one of the rituals that could summon a devil that would do his bidding and rescue Gerald.

Unfortunately, his niece Nissa, an apprentice wizard, disrupted the ritual and Abernard became caught in a two-dimensional gate. Left to his own devices, Nissa did her best to rescue her uncle, but was unable to do so. She discovered Abernard's stash of magical items, including several cursed items, which changed her personality and magnified her egotistical tendencies.

Abernard thanks the Coopers profusely and reward them with the rod of wonder.

Gerald, you really shouldn't touch that!

Erastus 2, 4711

Following their fateful encounter at the ball last night, the Coopers decide to make themselves scarce in town so that rumors will die down. Gerald meets Karlyle the Butcher and purchases Grunk’s head. They trek to the Emerald Spire. Upon arrival, they notice that many more flags of the Dark Blood tribe flutter above hoisted masts spread out around the Spire. They count over forty of them. None of the outside fortifications have been repaired in the last few weeks, and there are no signs of goblins outside the Spire itself. However, the PCs have the feeling a malevolent presence is watching them. Entering the clearing surrounding the Spire, Gerald waves a white flag.

The party is eventually greeted by two goblin riders. When shown Grunk’s head, they return to the Spire, and Greenhide himself rides out. Having fulfilled their part of the bargain, the Coopers are now allowed to enter the Spire through the front door, head down the hall, and access the lower levels of the Spire. Greenhide provides them with a bone rune token that will allow them to challenge the goblin sentinels and enter the Spire. 

They come to the stairs heading down. They prudently close the door behind them and head down. After about forty feet, they hear shuffling sounds. Two zombie goblins are standing guard near the bottom of the steps. A couple of arrows dispatch the zombies, but as they fall they make a racket. Obviously someone now knows they are here.

Exploring the room, they discover that moon spiders are present throughout the level, and that a strange green luminosity dimly illuminate the hallways. Aside from the zombie corpses, they discover a small torch in one of the corners. One of the door is locked, so they head out another door. They discover a hallway with two doors. They slug through layers of wet spider webs, and open the first door. This room contains a table pushed against a wall on top of which lie three bodies, two humanoids and one moon spider. It appears someone has been trying to rebuild the corpses by mixing and matching arms and legs. A large spool of thread, a few needles, and a ball of wax complete the room.

The rest of the party heads out, triggers a trap, and Daryle and Aidan both fall in, impaling themselves. Darelle and Roscoe come to their rescue, after Darelle fetched Gerald who was busy mapping the room. 

As they carefully make their way across the trap to the other set of doors Gerald returns to the room and touches the wax. A cage immediately drops on top of him from the ceiling, and one of the wretched creations animates and begins to fight him. Daryle rushes back inside to help him, but as the first monster is slain another one arises. Finally, the spider itself animates, and attacks. Meanwhile, Darelle is confronted by a large skeleton just inside the cage that dropped from the ceiling. She slays it, and its bones fall all over the floor. The power of the Spire is powerful, however, and the skeleton reconstitutes itself. Darelle watches in horror as sinews and muscles begin to thread themselves back on the skeleton. A more forceful attack finally slays the skeleton a second time. The party then needs to spend some time healing themselves.

Following the hallway, they arrive at another room even more full of spider webs. They discover a dead body in the middle, but are suddenly attacked by a moon spider. The party suffers significant damage, but manages to slay the spider. The room yields no valuable.

They enter another hallway, and detect another trap. The massive door in front of them opens up and reveals a large hall with a throne upon which rests a skeleton wearing a set of priestly robes. A large tapestry hangs along the entire length of the hall. Roscoe attacks the skeleton and smashes it to bits, while Aidan heads for a table full of objects.

As skeletons come out from behind the tapestry, Roscoe and Darelle fight valiantly, while Daryle twice suffers the effects of fear and runs away. As Gerald falls unconscious, the battle turns against the Coopers. Fortunately, amazing sword work by Darelle and Roscoe saves the day, and as the Bone Priest becomes visible, they concentrate their efforts on him and manage to slay him. They revive Gerald, who is now both weak and feeble.

Exhausted and tired, the Coopers decide to spend the night in the room, after securing the access points. 

Bargaining with goblins and bugbears

Desnus 17, 4711

With Roscoe gone on patrol with a squad of Hellknights, the Cooper triplets decide this would be a good time to head out to the Emerald Spire to see if they can finally discover the entrance to the lower levels. However, the sudden revival of their brother Thorne changes their plan. They'll take him along with them.

Of course, Thorne, having finally returned to the world of the living from his encounter with the Creepy Crawly was immediately greeted by the Crawly's head, which Gerald had stuffed and placed above his bed. Hearing the cries, Gerald rushed in the room, wearing the hide of a giant bee, further scaring Thorne. After an hour of calm and soothing words from his sisters, and reproachful glances to Gerald, the family finally heads out to the Spire.

The trip there is uneventful, and reveals that there have been no changes since last month when they were here. Entering through one of the secret doors, they notice that the ruins appear to now be abandoned. Room after room shows no sign of current inhabitants, save for the dining hall where up to 17 goblins could eat at once. There, the remains of a few disgusting meals show that some goblins do in fact remain.

The Coopers do come across a locked door leading to a room ravaged by time, save a corner where a four-post Azlant bed remains, still covered in fine sheets and pillows. A force field prevents anyone from entering the corner, and it is as if the bed was patiently waiting for its master's return.

While exploring the eastern section of the Spire, Daryle notices the presence of four goblins riding war dogs outside, carefully making their way towards the main entrance. She can tell that they carry the banner of the Dark Blood tribe, whom Daryle and her other triplets encountered in the woods a few months back.

The Coopers begin bracing doors and preparing themselves for assault, but nothing comes. They decide to continue exploring the Spire, and eventually discover the way down. Before heading down, however, they decide to head up the flight of stairs they discovered during their last trip.

At the top they are greeted by a barricade behind which are two goblins and a giant bugbear. The fearful goblins identify him as Grunk, leader of the splintered branch of the Dark Blood tribe, having wrestled leadership from Greenhide. Tense negotiations ensue, and Grunk talks the Coopers into going outside and bringing him Greenhide's head in exchange for riches. As a token, he awards them with a bauble worth about 150 crowns.

The Coopers head out, and immediately spot Greenhide's soldiers surrounding the Spire. Over 25 goblins stand around, ready to assault the fortress. Brandishing a white flag, goblin riders come over and escort Gerald to Greenhide's command post. There, Gerald attempts to conduct careful negotiation, trying to play the two factions together. The initial plan of killing Greenhide is put aside as it becomes clear that the latter is more likely to triumph over Grunk and his dwindling force. Gerald thus strikes a bargain with Greenhide. In exchange for Grunk's head, the Coopers will be allowed to enter the Spire at anytime, provided that they immediately head down to the lower levels to deal with Klarkosh, the master of the lower levels and the one who supported Grunk's bid for power.

The Coopers return to the Spire and attempt to negotiate with Grunk in order to enter the barricade and kill him. Unfortunately for them, Grunk is clever and he does not fall for their attempts at conning him. With the sounds of goblins entering and searching the ruined ground floor, the Coopers become pressed for time, and they force the barricade. Unfortunately, Grunk has escaped, using magical means, and they spot him running towards the edge of the clearing with two small chests under his arms. A search of the broken upper floor of the Spire reveals a few precious items strewn across the floor, but nothing else.

Believing themselves to be in danger, the Coopers hide themselves in a closet, and emerge three hours later after the Dark Bloods are done ransacking the rooms. They quietly come down the stairs, and make their way to the secret exit. Strangely, no goblins challenge their escape.

The Coopers return home weary but elated to have successfully conquered the first level of the Emerald Spire!

When goblins come out to play

Calistril 15, 4711

 In three weeks, the Coopers have settled in the community of Fort Inevitable. On this particularly overcast morning Gerald returns to work at Nolm Bindery. When Falandra noticed the quality of work Gerald produced, she entrusted him to copying books written in strange languages. He's now transcribed two spellbooks for Falandra, and in the process he acquired a few spells of his own, mastering the beginning steps of sorcery.

Darelle, the youngest of the triplets, has been working at Mother Holworth's farm, and she has developed a real knack for calming animals. In fact, she's so good at communicating with animal and healing them when something ails them that she has been called upon by several farmers.

Daryle heads back into the woods. Using her more than capable hunting skills, she's provided the butcher with several deers, and has managed to feed Alina and the rest of the family with rabbits and partridges. On this particular day, she tracks a deer into the forest northeast of Fort Inevitable, when she crosses the path left behind by two goblin scouts a few hours earlier. She follows the goblins' track, and after an hour's trek through the woods she arrives at the site of an ambush. It appears that at least eleven goblins surprised and attacked the other two.

As rain begins to fall, Daryle follows the large tracks left behind by this horde, but as the rain becomes stronger, she decides to head back to Fort Inevitable and report her discovery.

With the rain comes dark clouds, and by midday it feels like dusk outside. The clouds are dark with a greenish tint. Word reaches the bindery that the Hellknights are closing the gates down, and Falandra instructs Gerald to return home before the gates are closed and locked. She asks him to drop off two scrolls to Maralictor Kiera Wirt, Commander of the Mosswater Gate, on his way out. Heading to the gate in the pouring rain, Gerald notices that all of the Hellknights have been deployed in town and on the walls. With wagons trying to leave the town, and several wagons trying to come in, it is absolute chaos at the Mosswater Gate. Gerald tries to attract the Commander's attention, but due to the chaos he decides to use a spell. She approaches him and takes the scrolls, not before chastising him for casting magic at a Hellknight. Gerald notices that Daryle is outside the gate, and she is not being allowed to get in. Understanding that she has something important to tell them, Gerald convinces Commander Wirt to let her in the Fort.

In her office, Daryle reveals that a large party of goblins ply the Echo Woods, and that there is goblin on goblin violence. Due to the storm, Commander Wirt provides Gerald and Daryle with a writ, valid for the next three days, to leave and enter the Fort as needed, as well as a letter of marque allowing them to bring in any dead goblin for the 5 crown pieces reward with no tax levied by the Hellknights for the next five days.

Back on the farm, Darelle is instructed by her mother's cousin to put as many animals away, and then return to the residence. She's there to welcome Gerald and Daryle back from the Fort.

Alina explains to them that every three months or so, there is a large magical storm that strikes the area. There are reports of unexplained events taking place, and large beasts are rumored to appear and roam through the countryside, devouring man and cattle. These storms generally last two to three days. When she finds out the triplets plan on heading into the woods, she forbids them, telling them that it is too dangerous. Disagreeing with her, they head out into the woods through the raging rain, taking with them their cousin Aidan, a precocious 12 years old fighter.

They quickly locate the goblins' track and begin to follow. Two hours into the trek they discover an ambush laid by two goblins, but they are rather ineffective and are quickly dealt with. The triplets and Aidan continue their progress, and it is completely soaked that they crest a hill overlooking a clearing with a large open mouthed cave in the northward corner, with goblin fortifications ringing it. In the middle of the clearing are two other goblins tied to pillars. They also notice a goblin who's a little taller and a little meaner than the others.

Greenhide, the leader of the Dark Blood Tribe is interrogating the other two goblins, wanting to know why they allied themselves with Grunk, instead of remaining with the tribe. Daryle and Darelle fire arrows at the sentries, followed by one of Gerald's magic missile and more arrows from Aidan. The sentries are all eliminated, but none of the goblins watching the interrogation notice. Daryle unleashes another arrow into the group of goblins, and this time the goblins realize they are under attack.

They take defensive positions, and await the assault. A sentry is sent out and is immediately slain. Greenhide takes stock of the situation and disappears down a corridor with his advisor. The party settles in for the night


Calistril 16, 4711

The lack of light, and the torrential rain means that when dawn finally rises over the horizon, Darelle notices that the goblins have gone, leaving their two victims behind. Daryle sneaks to the cave, and determines that the goblins are no longer here, having abandoned their camp and few possessions behind.

The lone goblin still alive confides in Daryle that Greenhide is mad he lost the leadership of the Dark Blood Tribe to Grunk, and he will keep on fighting to regain it.

Aidan searches the cave, but finds nothing of interest aside from a pay chest from Numeria. Daryle harvests two tribal tattoos, one showing a blood splatter, and the other one the same blood splatter but with a crescent moon inscribed in it.

Returning to Fort Inevitable, the triplets present the results of their quest to Maralictor Wirt, who awards them 45 crowns for the 9 goblin bodies they returned. Karlyle the Butcher purchases the bodies from Daryle for 3 crowns each, netting the party a tidy sum, all tax free thanks to the letter of marque.

Daryle deposits the sum at the Hellknights' Bank for a 10% fee, and they are well on their way to paying Captain Rémi's fee.