The Sky Tower (Date 1/11/30)

The tower loomed large in the distance and continued to do so for many, many miles. It took over a day to reach it, and when the party finally did, they found an extended family of hill giants living in its immense shadow. A seamless shard of obsidian reaching into the clouds, the monolith seemed to hum with an unknown energy. Ilyana – followed once again by Brog – flew above the blanket of clouds which clung to the tower and found the zenith to be a separate, smaller pyramid of crackling energy. She left quickly.

The party decided to bypass the giants using magic and camped several hours away on the far side to prepare the proper spells. Euwyn cloaked them in invisibility, allowing them to slip up to the door which was warded by a strange lock that refused to yield to his knock spell. A 7 x 7 grid pulsed with rainbow colors. After a few failed attempts, Hedge remembered the odd code the dying old man had whispered to him just days ago. The code held the key, and the door yielded.

Inside a grand hall greeted the explorers. It, and the adjoining rooms, were covered in the dust of years and largely empty. They poked around slowly, finding a glowing table and a three-legged metal man dressed in rags. Two other metal men stood guard in the hall. Euwyn recognized their make as similar to the construct in Narlock’s laboratory. Feeling relatively safe, the group decided to split up to cover more ground. They found a library, several store rooms and a laboratory. Crystalline creatures and an animate pile of magical residue attacked them. The horrors resisted weapon strikes but fell quickly to magic.

Once the monsters were dispatched, the party found Narlock’s notes, a ghost like the one that haunted the tower, a locked room, and a menagerie featuring the skeletons of several prominent races of Malwan. As they were discussing how to bypass the energy field which cloaked the stairs-up, a pale, young half-elf with red eyes popped around the corner. He spoke in a language only Hedge could understand. “Visitors!” he exclaimed. “It’s been ages!”

Into the Hills (Date 1/11/28)

Some observers say that Hedge didn’t so much as “lunge through the collapsing portal”, but more accurately could be described as “tripping awkwardly over a fallen foe and then stumbling through the portal”. Either way, his return was very dramatic. As the party scoured the area for some sign of where the monsters had come from or where they had vanished to, a loud clatter like staccato thunder drew them back to the street. Above the orphanage, a swarm of chaos fluttered and popped angrily before disgorging a pair of grappling fighters. One was obviously Hedge, but his foe, clad in black leather, was unknown. During their scuffle, Hedge pitched the stranger off the roof, but some magic in his boots landed him safely on his feet. Hedge tackled the man, but his foe wriggled free, and the two rose to their feet facing each other in sudden recognition. The man was Fen, the child who had only moments ago been captured. Hedge too seemed a bit older. He had grown a beard. Neither could recall where they’d been, what had happened, or why they had been fighting, but some changes were clear. Fin now spoke Hedge’s native tongue, he wanted to be called Ichiban, and Hedge said his garb and weapons marked him as a hated “ninja”. Hedge volunteered to take over the young man’s training.

Relania and Euwyn met and talked over recent events. They agreed to stay together.

Marty called a council meeting to warn Malwan of the threat of deamons. A debate was had to decide which of the threats was the most immediate. Eventually, it was decided to listen to Ilyana who had been clamoring repeatedly in the background about some sort of treasure map. It turned out to be a magic map created on the scales of the dergodaemon. It revealed a treasure in the hills, something of value known to the monster lay hidden a hundred miles from where they had fought the beast.

Exploring the hills on their way north, Ilyana spotted a group of wandering giants. They had a prisoner, but the party was unable to save him. Before he expired the ancient man in strange, tattered garb croaked out a message in an unknown language. Everyone looked confused until Hedge spoke up. To him the words were clear as day, though their message was still uncertain. Red, 9, Yellow, 4, Blue, 36.

Banishment Night (1/11/21)

With haste the party returned to Malwan in time for the holy festival of Banishment Night. Hedge woke the morning of the festival from a terrible vision. He had dreamt that smoke arose out of the lake and creatures came forth, attacking the boys of the orphanage. He immediately warned the Prince and the pair hurried to investigate. All seemed quiet at the orphanage, but to be on the safe side, Hedge decided to take up the fatherly duties of the ceremony for the orphan boys, so as to be present to guard them. Euwyn made plans to stop by after his official duties, as well.

Lumi made a surprisingly accurate daemon suit. When queried, she showed Marty the book in his own family library that detailed the “enemies” of Strom. Daemons they were called. They included the both the insect summoner and the ghostly children which had guarded it.

Ilyana encountered racism in town, but also found a sympathetic ear in the form of a local apothecary owner. She was unable to get her Demon Day celebration to catch on, and eventually made her way to the orphanage with Edgar.

Euwyn received a missive from Relania. They made plans to talk.

Marty gave a heroic retelling of the battle to his congregation before heading to the orphanage with the Prince and Lumi.

After a fun and successful Banishment Night festival, while Hedge was busy putting the orphans to bed, a mysterious dark cloud formed over the orphanage. Twisted humanoids wielding spiked clubs began to emerge. They broke into the building and tried to carry off the children. Hedge recognized them as the Oni, demons from his own world. Fortunately, Ilyana was on hand, and the timely arrival of Marty and Euwyn turned the tide. The creatures were driven back across the rift, but not before taking one boy with them. Hedge jumped in after just as the portal closed.

Coronado Avenged (Date 1/11/20)

The dank hole was a moss-choked blight, an impossible abomination that couldn’t – and shouldn’t – but somehow still did exist here in the hilly country on the northern shore of Black Lake. The pungent, stench of rot rose from the crack in the earth and a persistent drone pressed upon their consciousness as the servants of Strom stood arrayed before their task. Without the bolster of his guiding hand, any man would turn away, but Brother Martin felt his lord’s power and command. This was important. This was the work he was meant to do. The enemy was released and made manifest in the land of Strom! Its presence mocked creation! It could not – would not – be tolerated!

Gathered in numbers, each did his, and her, part to the limits of their ability. Mjelde called down a blessing and watched from the entrance, prepared to heal any forced to flee from the foe, while Strom’s anointed warrior charged through the slime-choked tunnels braced by her brother in arms. The chambers impediments of slime and vine slowed them not, as Ilyana’s magic lifted their step over such barriers. The swarms of biting, stinging, blood-sucking insects summoned by their enemy, or just brought into being by its blasphemous existence, were no bar to Prince Euwyn’s spells of fire. Hedge’s blessed bow drove the horror deep into its grim defile, where cornered, it had no choice but to stand and fight. Shelby fell briefly before its many flashing claws, her faith in Strom not yet sufficient to block the beast. Marty rushed forth to save her, but when he called forth the power of Strom and evil light shone in the horror’s eyes. Abandoning restraint, it opened itself up to attack as it charged through the battle to extinguish the light of Strom’s holy messenger. With nowhere to run, Marty held his ground before the living nightmare. The creature balked for a moment as if it sensed the futility of resistance in the face of true faith. That was all the opening Strom needed. Moving through the hand of a new warrior, Lt. Kenneth Ismort, Strom sent the creature back across the void to the dark home from which it spawned.

With the end of its foulness, the corruption it had caused collapsed quickly, necessitating a rapid retreat back to the light where Sister Mjelde waited with healing hands and a soothing smile.