Game Session 10: 1/9/15
In-game Dates: Desnus 25 – Desnus 26, 4720

• Began the session with Archibald being violently dragged miles into the jungle by the vines
  • Edo was the only one who could keep pace by riding the Avatar
  • Stroot and Xelas followed the trail left behind
  • Faraji and Dopey wandered into the city clearing from the other side of the jungle
  • The chase ended in a ruined city, clearly thousands of years old
• The ruined city had three main structures still standing, the Gatehouse, the Palace, and the Well
• Exploring the Gatehouse
  • The group came in contact with some strange and extremely hostile Boarillas (Boar / Gorilla hybrids)
    • Edo was very nearly torn apart during the conflict
  • The Gatehouse had clearly been damaged by some sort of large siege weaponry
  • The top of the Gatehouse had a wench to raise the portcullis
    • When raised, a strange symbol with two opposing arrows appeared on the wall
    • The portcullis was closed again, and the symbol reversed arrow directions
• Exploring the Well
  • The well resided in the clearing just in front of the Palace
  • It had 4 depressed hand-prints, one carved in each side – as well as 4 strange head shaped statues on each corner
    • Each statue had a different set of eyes
  • When the hand prints were pressed all at once, the ground rumbled and the water level inside the well lowered to reveal a chamber
    • The chamber inside the well had a bronze wheel on the floor
    • Ignored for now
• Exploring the Palace
  • The inside of the palace had dozens of images of monkeys and gorillas carved into pillars
  • In the main entryway there was large statue of a Manilla (Gorilla / Man hybrid) was molded out of a hardened clay, along with a pit that led into a lower floor covered in bones
  • Conflict began with a dozen or so small Unkies (Undead monkies), and ended with Edo being monkeyballed into the bone pit
• Exploring the Dungeon
  • Conflict continued with a Snarilla (Snake / Gorilla hybrid) that continued to summon more Unkies out of strange barrels
  • The dungeon was explored, finding various other creatures and traps
  • The mosaics on the dungeon walls and sarcophagi indicated that this palace was part of the same ancient civilization identified on the wall in the jungle near Kibwe
    • It showed a slightly different story however, and instead of the Tribal vs Civilized being in conflict it showed a successful progression from one to the other, ending in the same picture of the flying cloud city
  • The sarcophagi appeared to contain leaders of this civilization, including a very unique one that was magically identified as “King Tallaharka”
    • None of the sarcophagi were disturbed
  • Found more strange barrels containing Unkies
  • Ordered the Unkies to kill each other, creating a large mess
  • In the second floor down into the Dungeon, a dead end room with another Mosaic was discovered
    • The mosaic had images of various men and women, that all had beasts for heads (elephant, lion, gorilla, etc…)
    • Discovered a secret door that could not be opened
    • Heard the sound of rushing water in the walls near the secret door, and believed that it had something to do with how to open it
• Continued exploring the Palace
  • Ordered more Unkies to tear themselves apart, creating more mess
  • Found a map of the city in the floor that seemed to indicate some sort of connection between the Gatehouse, Well, and Palace
  • Discovered a secondary staircase leading to the second floor of the Dungeon and into a fully stocked Armory
    • Also found two more secret doors in that same area, with likely similar but unknown methods for opening
• Retreated to the Gatehouse and fortified the location for the night

Game Session 9: 1/2/15
In-game Dates: Desnus 10 – Desnus 25, 4720

• Brought Kreed to continue negotiations with Baron Zieed
  • A deal was struck where the Baron provided valuable information about the area and in return would be given first right of refusal on the Alkenstar gun contract at some point in the future
• The next morning, the Empire Trading Company brought a sizeable force to the Aspis compound, carrying a large chest for show
  • The Aspis compound was also heavily fortified with guards
  • 55 Slaves were lined up in ordered fashion with Roywn Kellani in the front
  • Minor discussions were had, and both sides send representatives to inspect the warez of the other
  • Although two slaves were missing, it was deemed an acceptable trade and went off without a scene
• The 55 slaves were returned to the “King of the Jungle” inn, and promptly freed/hired like the rest
  • The two missing slaves were confirmed to be Douglas and his sister, rumored beaten to death by their former owner Kersh Restun after his interaction with Edo days prior
• Faraji set off with Dopey to find Mags and deliver the message that the Empire Trading Company was leaving Kibwe
  • He has not been seen since, but the caravan has become much larger and nobody actually looked
• Concerned for the safety of Mags, Tigz, and Moe returning from their root gathering trip to the Aspis compound unknowingly, Edo set out to Baron Zieed again to request a favor
  • Baron Zieed was preparing to set off back to his plantation today
  • The Baron used a sending spell to contact Mags in return for a favor from a paladin at a later date
    • Plot Twist: Mags and company had already returned to the inn safely
  • During the casting, Edo discovered one of the large wagons the Baron was traveling with contained a dozen or so Bekyar tribesman, screaming for help but magically silenced
  • When question, the Baron produced the contracts of the men he had purchased (the same ones that Edo had ripped up previously), and the conversation nearly drew to conflict
  • Edo left the Baron’s estate without incident, but was unable to find Mazani or the Bekyar slavers at the block to confirm that the transaction with the Baron was legit
• The entire Empire Trading Company left Kibwe, heading East into the Jungle
  • Over the weeks of travel, Archibald continued to be haunted by strange dreams and visions – specifically the name “Cho-Uda”
  • Legend lore from the ring revealed Cho-Uda was an ancient Zenj nature spirit that was one of the few revered by both the Jungle and Savannah tribes
    • Rumors and legend speculate that Cho-Uda may have been one of Jatembe’s 10 magical warriors
    • Rumors also said that a shrine to Cho-Uda was nearby at the border of the Jungle, near lake Madoro
• The ETC encountered and partied with Nemet Hesingwary once again, who seemed as hospitable as ever
• Reaching the Salt Mines once again, the miners wanted to investigate further
  • Inside the mines, the salt scorpions did not appear extremely hostile
  • They had some sort of power to attract gems, and tugged on the coin sacs of the party members using a mage hand-like force
  • Deeper inside the mines, Stroot investigated a very odd cone shaped hole in the wall that led into a 30’ diameter passage (jokingly guessing it was made by a “Sonic Dragon”)
  • At the end of the tunnel was a crystalline cavern filled with many glowing auras, and sitting inside of them was a crystalline dragon (Stroot was right!)
  • A sneaky retreat was made by the ETC, and conflict was avoided for now
    • There were discussions about returning to claim the mines at a later time
• The caravan turned south towards Lake Madoro
  • The party headed off as advance scouts, and tracked a Mwangi hunting party back to the caravan
  • The hunting party was quickly defeated in a reverse ambush situation, with only one casualty on the Bekyar side prior to surrender
    • The group was led by a badly beaten Utonga, who claimed that Mazani had returned to the tribe with papers claiming he owned them all
    • Mazani is keeping the families of the warriors as bargaining chips to get them to fight against the Empire Trading Company
  • Utonga and his men have requested to join the ETC and need aid in fighting Mazani
    • They were allowed to join, but are being kept in the large Slave cart for their protection, since the new population of the ETC is extremely hostile towards Bekyar in general
  • The Bekyar were allowed to perform a strange ritual to the Creeping Queen on their fallen comrade where they stuffed his body with Botfly grubs and tied him to a tree
    • The body was quickly burned by the party once the Bekyar were otherwise occupied
• Archibald’s visions became more intense
  • “Beware of Cho-Uda, Rescue Cho-Uda”
  • Oddly, they were confirmed by Jim Lost – who appears to be the only other person in the camp that can see them besides Archibald
  • Archibald began to protest that he needed to visit the Shrine of Cho-Uda immediately
• The caravan reached the edge of the Jungle
  • There was much rejoicing as all of the newly freed slaves broke into the clearing with cheers – many having never been outside that hellish jungle
  • When Archibald began to cross the threshold of the Jungle, massive vines burst from the ground and nearby trees and violently pulled him backwards into the depths of the jungle

Game Session 8: 12/19/14
In-game Dates: Desnus 7 – Desnus 9, 4720

• Discussed dozens of plan iterations with the Empire Trading Company founders for collecting on the slave contracts
• Negotiations began with the Aspis Range Expansion Leader: Roywn Kellani
  • She was baffled about how the Empire Trading Company could acquire all of the contracts
  • Kersh Restun took a contract to be confirmed by the guild archivists with Edo
  • Upon confirmation, Kersh called that slave over and began beating him in front of his new owner Edo
    • Edo stepped in, and told the slave (Douglas) to gather his companions
  • Negotiations with Roywn ended with the following arrangement:
    • The Aspis would release the 57 slaves and their belongings into the Empire Trading Company custody in 3 days time
    • The Empire Trading Company would provide a map to the portal in the Kibwe mines
  • Given the situation with the Aspis was very tense, the party relocated the Empire Trading Company to the “King of the Jungle” inn at the North side of Kibwe
• At that Inn the group realized that they had contracts for ALL slaves within Kibwe, including ones just passing through
• Collection at the Bekyar Block went very easy, as the party was handed a key-ring and 3 large cages full of slaves
  • The slaves began to riot in the cages, but were intimidated into submission by Edo
  • A particularly loud slave in the back cage introduced himself as Moussa Al’Abbas, and has since joined the ETC with plans for revenge on a certain “Bloodmourne”
• Negotiations with the East Mwangi Mining Company came to a stalemate, with Mr. Banu (the owner) having heard rumors of the coming of the ETC and preparing accordingly
  • Mr. Banu was satisfied with bringing the issue to the Kibwe Council for reconciliation, a stall tactic that could take weeks and had no promise of the ETC keeping ownership of the slaves
  • His concern of closing the mine for any length of time was that it would “Stop the heartbeat of the city”
  • Archibald ended the discussion before it became to heated, and brought Kreed in to finish the dealings
    • Jurin Kreed has come to an unknown arrangement with Mr. Banu, but the 112 slaves now belong to the Empire Trading Company (and were promptly freed and hired)
• Negotiations with Mazani Unta about the remaining 60 Bekyar slaves went poorly
  • It turns out that his entire Tribe in Kibwe had been put under slave contract, seemingly unknown to them
  • The contracts were given to Mazani on the promise that the Empire Trading Company is off limits to the Bekyar
    • Some ironic, heated words were exchanged – and Mazani was humiliated about being offended for being treated as a slave
• Negotiations with Baron Zieed of Geb went surprisingly well
  • Baron Zieed is an extremely polished, well spoken noble that appeared extremely gaunt and pale
    • He detected as a strong evil aura
  • He revealed the location of his plantation, and that he had purchased the slaves as workers in his normal fashion
    • This appeared to be a bi-annual trip for him
  • Having also heard the rumors of the Empire Trading Company’s collections, he made no attempt to negotiate the return of the slaves
    • Baron Zieed refused the offer of money, confident that he would be refunded by the Bekyar tribe
  • As a sign of good faith, he requested to negotiate further with the Empire Trading Company leaders about a long-term arrangement concerning the Alkenstar Range Expansion

Game Session 7: 12/12/14
In-game Dates: Desnus 3 – Desnus 6, 4720

• Fara’ji offered to escort Dopey back to the entrance of the mine for safety
  • The two of them became lost for days, but eventually found their way out and back to the camp
• The remaining party continued following the map deeper into the ancient mineshafts
• Archibald’s nightmare returns one of the nights, but with additional clarity
  • The “Drums” he heard running through the jungle in his dream began to sound more like gunshots, and he could see hundreds of shadowy figures at war with each other in the jungle – using firearms
• On the third day of exploration, the group came across a set of extremely large, ornate doors at the end of a blocked off section of the mine
  • They clearly had some sort of Elvish religious text, but it was indecipherable
• Upon entering the doors, the group found themselves inside a strange black temple structure
  • The structure was illuminated by dark torches that produced an eerie black light
• The map of the mines confirmed that the portal they seek was in this area, but became hard to decipher due to multiple levels of crisscrossing passages
• The party defeated multiple encounters filled with shadowy denizens of the underworld, including some strange traps
• A large Phase Spider was seen trapped in a magical circle in the rooms below while skulking through an odd “ventilation” shaft
  • The circle was broken, and the Spider (now called “Spot”) joined the group
  • Spot had spent his lifetime in this complex, and witnessed the dark ones come out of the portal and kill his masters
  • He knew of Grendal, and was not interested in returning to his service
• The group found the portal, and after a few very strange attempts managed to put it into a stasis mode by inserting Grendal’s ring
  • It seemed that the portal directly linked to three active places at this time
    • One was a room with an extremely large 12 headed Hydra (Temporarily minus three heads)
    • The second was a room flooded with a green sludge liquid, filled with a noxious green vapor that seemed deadly
    • The third was a room that mirrored the one the portal was in, but an ominous drumbeat could be heard in the background
• Done with the mission, the odd troupe made their way back out of the mines
  • While exiting the actual mining complex, they were halted by the guards but saved by a quick bluff and the aid of Mazani Unta
• Upon returning to the Empire Trading Company, the group reunited with Faraji
• A few days prior to their return (coinciding with the activation of the portal) Jurin Kreed had received a large stack of papers from a messenger
  • The paperwork contained the binding contracts of every slave in Kibwe, which had legally transferred ownership to the Empire Trading Company
  • Kreed and Auron had been busy confirming the paperwork, and were left baffled as to how this was possible
• The next few days in Kibwe will prove to be the most challenging that the Empire Trading Company has faced yet, as they must now decide on how to collect their workers
  • Contract Documentation:
  • 352 Slave Contracts
    • 57 – Aspis Consortium (Highly skilled workers and guards)
    • 112 – East Mwangi Trading Company (Split between Miners and Office Staff)
    • 131 – Bekyar Tribe Slaves (Random Distribution of all races/ages/skillsets)
    • 52 – Assorted Slave Contracts from local nobles, merchants, and businesses

Game Session 6: 11/21/14
In-game Dates: Desnus 1 – Desnus 2, 4720

• Partied hard in Kibwe
• Searched for information about Grendal the drow within Kibwe
  • Nobody knew the name Grendal, but the only known dark elf runs the Bekyar Block
• The party went to the Bekyar Block at night, and found it being cleaned up by a few children with slave collars
  • The children confirm the dark elf works the Block during the day, but reveal that he is also a slave
• The next day at the Bekyar Block, the group meets up with Mazani, the local leader of the Bekyar within Kibwe and his drow slave
  • The drow slave made no effort to mask his magical auras to divination magic
  • Once in private, the drow quickly reveals that he indeed Grendal, and is in complete control of Mazani
• After giving over the map from Ducal to Grendal, negotiations begin
  • The negotiations end with the party agreeing to become slaves, and follow the map deep into the Kibwe mines to find a lost magical portal that Grendal had been searching for
  • In return, he agreed to aid New Limit as requested as well as provide a staggering number of slaves (~350) to the Empire Trading Company upon the parties successful return
• The party was quickly sold off to the East Mwangi Mining Company with a large group of dwarven miners, a small gnome, and a young forest giant
• In the East Mwangi Mining Company slave barracks, the group met the gnome (who turned out to be a Spriggan) named Tigz, and the forest giant named Moe
  • Tigz was terribly bleached from being a slave for most of her lifetime
• A group of 7 Dwarves, obviously the ringleaders within the slaves of the mines began to hassle Faraji and Tigz
  • Archibald convinced Moe to intervene, and the dwarves backed off with verbal threats
• Later within the mines, the group teamed with Moe and Tigz to follow the map
  • The equipment chest that Grendal took was in the uncharted tunnel as expected
• The 7 Dwarves followed the group into the closed off area of the mines, attempting to collapse the tunnels and cave them in
  • They chanted haunting tunes of “Hi Ho, Hi Ho, we’re coming for you…”
  • The Dwarves were quickly defeated in combat, with the exception of “Dopey”, who survived by being a harmless moron

Game Session 5: 11/14/14
In-game Dates: Gozran 24 – Desnus 1, 4720

• Collected a small sapling from the giant tree before returning to the Caravan
  • Mitzy began entering Edo’s tent for comfort each night
• Continued venturing west towards Kibwe
• (716) Discovered a natural Salt Mine of great potential value
  • There are some strange salt crystal scorpion creatures inhabiting the salt mine
• (717) Encountered Nemet Hesingwary, the Great Mwangi Hunter in his tree fortress
  • Nemet is looking for 10 Dinosaur Pelts from the hills to the Southwest
  • Spent the night at Nemet’s treehouse, sharing his food, drink, and company
• (718) Discovered a large memorial wall in the jungle
  • The wall is split into two sides, a “Tribal” side, and a “Civilized” side
  • Edo prayed at the civilized side of the wall, and the jungle seemed to respond by sending a horde of insects
  • The tribal side had many offerings, of note was a magical ring that Archibald took
• Archibald began having terrible nightmares of being lost in the Jungle, haunted by the increasing tempo of tribal drums
• The ring was identified to be a powerful knowledge tool about the Mwangi Jungle
  • When Archibald put on the ring, he was unable to take it off
  • Legend Lore revealed that the ring previously belonged to Old-Mage Jatembe, the protector of Culture and Knowledge of the Mwangi Jungle in the Age of Anguish
• (719) Finally, after over a month of travel, the Caravan reaches Kibwe
  • Headed through the center of town to the Aspis Consortium compound, where Kreed and Jessyca entered to begin negotiations

Game Session 4: 11/07/14
In-game Dates: Gozran 15 – Gozran 24, 4720

• Wandered a half day off-course attempting to find the caravan
  • Large spiders began watching the group at night, creating a webbing that surrounded the camp
• (713) Eventually reunited with the Caravan at the fallen stone statue
  • Most of Archibald’s poison damage was recovered by Father Auron
• Ventured into the Jungle to the West
• (714) Discovered a massive basin in the Jungle
  • The canopy in the basin was tremendously thicker, and did not allow hardly any light to penetrate
  • The basin had obvious signs of Gold and Silver (Precious Mine)
  • Encountered the Spiders again multiple nights in a row
  • The spiders respond to Elven, and the webbing surrounding the camp appears to keep insects out
• (715) Exited the large basin into the jungle to the West
  • Encountered the Spiders again that night
  • Allowed the spiders to finish their divination magic, leading to a strange conversation with an unknown female voice
  • The female voice claimed that the “Other Apes” with the loud sticks attacked her children; that they were okay “for now”, and were no longer on their way out of the basin
  • The voice offered a trade for their release, requesting that a small web object be placed at the heart of a great tree in the forest to the North
    • The large tree had been “reclaimed by the jungle”
    • The web object detected as faint evil, and contained enchantment magic
• Strangely, the party sounded their signal horn, and the Caravan responded with the “All clear” signal
  • The group attempted to head back to the Caravan in the basin, but became lost and ended up heading North; finding the large tree
  • Already being at the tree, the group decided to investigate
• (616) The massive tree was overrun with Vegepygmys, which were easily dispatched
  • After battling through the tree, the “heart” was discovered to be overtaken by Red Russet Mold
  • Application of Acid to the mold began eating it away quickly, and the tree shuttered with each blast
  • Before the mold was removed, Archibald and Edo pushed the small web object into the heart of the tree
  • The web object caused the tree to violently convulse, causing the party to flee or be caught in the quickly spreading webbing
• The group has fled to the safety of the ridge overlooking the massive tree

Game Session 3: 10/24/14
In-game Dates: Gozran 5 – Gozran 15, 4720

• Fought off another wave of Charua’ka on the Northern side of the New Limit camp
• Met Ducal Tarte’an and Master Alchemist Borume
• Had a lengthy discussion with Ducal
  • Despite the seemingly impossible position, Ducal is not willing to retreat or surrender his position. His men seem to be loyal and trust his leadership
  • Ducal gave Edo a sealed parchment containing a map of some unknown area, to be delivered to a man named “Grendel” in Kibwe (Grendel was described to be a Drow)
  • Revealed the location of Kibwe, as well as an incredible fruit orchard within the Jungle to the west
  • He supplied the party with leftover weapons and armor from his fallen troops
• Biggs and Wedge, the gate guards escorted the party into the woods, and revealed that their expedition had uncovered a cavern of some sort, which is what the map was of

• Fought off a deadly Giant Mantis attack at night
  • Edo was very nearly killed, and retains a nasty scar from the encounter

• Led the caravan into the Jungle towards Kibwe
  • Kreed shot and killed the small Monkey that had been with the caravan since the girl found in the jungle was buried after he heard the stories of the attacks on New Limit saying “No Chances”
  • Plot Twist – Not Black and White Unknown to the group, there is another group of simians in the jungle that are actually good aligned, and this monkey was one of them
• (512) Found the fruit orchard and stocked up
  • Encountered some strange yellow “zombie” creatures and a flowering plant
  • Mitzy was very nearly killed in the conflict, but saved at the last minute by Edo

• (513) Discovered part of the jungle infested with more yellow “zombie” creatures and their flower plant creators
  • Could not finish exploring due to number and danger

• (713) Discovered an ancient toppled statue of a cloaked man carrying a horned head in the jungle
  • 2 Dretched and a Quasit were seemingly entranced by the statue
  • Engaged the demons in battle
  • Archibald took a nearly fatal blow, but was saved by a wheel of cheese – he remains paralyzed by the Quasit poison

Game Session 2: 10/17/14
In-game Dates: Pharast 30, 4720 – Gozran 5, 4720

Key Events:

• Decided on a strategy to deal with the natives
• Encountered the Tribal Hunting Party again the following day
  • Engaged in conversation with a few of them, led by Utonga and shared drinks as “Friends”
  • Learned that they sacrificed the girl to the “Creeping Queen” because she was tainted by “Angazhan”
  • Upon learning the Botflies from the girl were killed, Utonga asked for another sacrifice
  • This led to combat, as the remainder tribe attacked the caravan
  • A quick show of force led to a hasty retreat by the tribe
  • Utonga took Edo’s cup with him

• (508) Encountered a small den of Al-mi’raj (Blink Bunnies)
  • Did not investigate further
• (610) Saw a large black Obelisk in a field
  • Field had an abnormally high concentration of lightning strikes
  • Did not investigate further
• (609) Encountered a large Axebeak running terrified across the plain
  • Dead rider with journal and sealed notes with the symbols of the Council of Three and Nine
    • Journal indicates another expedition from Nex a few months ago following a similar path into the jungle
    • Founding of a village “New Limit” in the jungle at the end of the Upper Korir River
  • Note 1 is from Master Alchemist Borume to Master Phade, requesting support
  • Note 2 is from “Ducal” requesting aid from anyone, stating “Damn apes are everywhere! They are after the map”

• Decided with the caravan to move it to a safer location, while the group scouted New Limit and learned more
• (511) Moved through the Jungle in the rain towards the sound of drums
  • Discovered the outpost of New Limit under attack from Charua’ka, the Spawn of Angazhan
  • Defended the Southern wall of the outpost from the attack
  • Quickly were let inside the gates by Biggs and Wedge, the gate guards

Game Session 1: 10/11/14
In-game Dates: Pharast 23, 4720 – Pharast 30, 4720

Key Events:

• Met up and founded the Empire Trading Company in Limit, at the mouth of the Bdonge river just inside the Ndele Pass in Nex
• Left from Limit, heading to Kibwe to meet Roywn Kellani for further information about the region and competition
• (404) Found a large grouping of trees in the hills, with an enormous dead Treant and burned radius
  • Writings within the tree revealed a blood ritual that radiated faded evocation and evil (Language unknown)
• (407) Found a large granite drinking horn encrusted in Lapis Lazuli in the hills
  • Water is tainted by translucient leaches as Stroot discovered
  • Discovered a very large Emerald and Map that leads somewhere Northwest into the Jungle
• Met a small monkey at night that attempted to lure the party into the woods – Did not follow
• Tracked the monkey into the Jungle (307) the next day
  • Found a small girl tied to a tree with vine rope, eaten by Botflies
• (408) Encountered a Mwangi hunting party that seemed suspicious
  • Determined that they were Slave Traders and bandits, using the same kind of rope that tied up the girl
  • Met back up with Caravan and planned for the engagement