Ulgrotha: The Crossroads

Party: Sorval / Vultha / Taurio / Zantaroth / Iskren / Viken

Xivaskir 20

We rejoin the party in the middle of the night, where Vultha wakes up to meet the local rogues. After some thought, he realises they were going to meet up near the stables, so he heads there.

The pair of Joven and Chandler are indeed ready to engage with Vultha, explaining some of the local habits and customs to him. Telling him various options to explain his appearance, such as a curse or ancestral weirdness. Joven sells Vultha a treasure map after he asks for items that would make their life more comfortable. A minotaur walks in, thunder rolling at its back, pale white and full of tattoos. As the newcomer seeks accommodation, it is put up in the room the party is using. Joven has a request, explaining that if Vultha manages to find the sword related to the treasure map he bought, he will pinpoint the location of one of the Outsiders that Serra and Sengir would call foes.

Come morning, the new party member sleeps while Zantaroth and Vultha go outside for communing with Autumn Willow, hoping to convince her not to be angry when they go to Sengir. The spirit creature called is a ferret. A quick chat and some whistling happens, but apart from a warning, the pair does not gain any new intel. They then spend the next hour hunting down, murdering and boning a mammoth.

Iskren wakes up, pale and colder than normal. The remainder of the group sees the newcomer, they speak with the new cow in town and go to get breakfast. They see a pair of bloody lizards with a pile of meat on them. A conversation later, the party now knows Viken and has passed the meat to Joskun. Viken mentions a mission that requires the group. A Lord of the Goblins known as Eron is currently hunting down the minotaur tribe and Viken seeks to save his people... but Rollo announces to have found a calling here and chooses to remain at the Inn. Viken gets a small pouch of money for Amoola Thunderhoof, the mother of one of the Inn's guards.

A black carriage drawn by flame-maned steeds arrives and a servant exits from it before expiring in a dramatic way. Zantaroth explains Autumn Willow is unhappy about the group going to the Baron, but they settle on 'get the corpse of Ishan out' as an explication. Sorval explains some of the local intrigue (Leshrac is a source of trouble, there is a Wizarding School but a sea creature causes them trouble).

A rather uneventful trek comes to a halt as the road taken by the carriage is blocked by a strange (and magicked) tree. A group of humans have taken up residence in a nearby tower, but they turn out to be bandits who enjoy the support of flanking werewolves, so combat ensues. As the party handily dispatches their foes (apart from Zantaroth who is bitten by one of the werewolves) , a quartet of dangerous fey creatures appear from the fallen tree and attack the group. Some heroics by all involved later, Taurio slays the last of the creatures. 

The party stands near a ruined tower, a magicked tree, surrounded by corpses. The hour of noon is upon them and the future looks ... good?

Ulgrotha: The Darkening

Party: Sorval / Vultha / Taurio / Iskren / Rollo / Zantaroth

 Xivaskir 19

The party gains their bearing in the Great Wood, a slow urgency creeps on them and they move on, still unsure of how to orientate themselves in this strange place.

Vultha checks for tracks, spotting those of an oversized furry Loxodon and the tracks of the skeletal humanoid that lead (probably) out of the woods. They mark trees as they go in order to be able to backtrack if needed. With the skills of Vultha and Zantaroth combined, the party manages to make good headway, occasionally being tripped up by tree roots and distant laughter distracting them a little, eventually arriving at a clearing where another group of travelers has made camp, chatting merrily amongst themselves and, after a wonderful serenade by Rollo, invite them to partake from their pheasant roasts. As the party sits down, the travelers introduce themselves as Vera (a half-goblin from Koshun Keep), Tsudrek (an armoured bodyguard) and Sagurad (a elvish chronicler of the adventures). A conversation follows where Iskren takes the lead, trying to gauge the knowledge of the land from these folk, learning of the location of the An-Havva Inn and of guards on the Great Bridge. Sorval inquires after Serra, who apparently enjoys dwelling in Onella in a place known as the Falconry, and Sengir, who is made out to be a dastardly yet practical vampire.

The conversation is then cut short by spidery intruders. The party fends them off, but the combat disturbs a larger entity from the wasteland on the other side of the river, which crosses the stream and begins to lay into the party, managing (in spite of a clutch slow spell by Iskren) to do a lot of damage to the party, even swallowing Taurio before being dispatched by Zantaroth. The traveling group decides to move on, as do the party, leaving their name as "the Irone Brotherhood", to be asked for if the party would reach Aysen or the Koshun Keep.

About half an hour walk later, the party finds a semblance of civilisation. Wooden fences and stone huts, rudimentary elemental protection. For the folk from Ravnica, it is lackluster and barely worth mentioning as a gathering of hovels, but on Ulgrotha, An-Havva is a township that provides secour from the wild and a chance at a better life for those that belong to its community. The largest and prettiest building, plastered in white with wooden slat-decoration and a golden glow leaking from the windows, has a sign stating it to be an inn. Upon entering, the party meets two large Anaba Minotaurs, one of them (Uffu) offers to protect Taurio if someone bullies him. They then meet Joskun, the keeper of the bar. They are quickly scouted by Chandler and Joven, local rogues, after trading some Kefir for wine. They sit together and some intel is exchanged, including the presence of strangers (a beautiful lady with blackened skin -Dihada- and a man with fiery eyes who laughed like a maniac -Leshrac-). 

Veldraine, an emissary of Sengir, sits down at the table and stares at Iskren. Sorval notes the newcomer is undead. The group chats a little about law, order and ego. After a while, Veldraine tells Chandler to fuck off and states he has ordered a chariot to come and pick up the party in the morning. When Sorval asks about the dubious circumstances between Ishan and Sengir, Veldraine gives a clear-cut explication, explaining the nature of Ishan, providing context for the old quarrels between Serra and Sengir and mentioning the existence of a 'triad' which seems to be the reason for old foes to put aside their quarrels. Sorval feels Veldraine to be untrustworthy, but the others seem to warm to the undead lawkeeper. Eventually, Veldraine tells the party he has to leave and they all retire to a room bought for the night.

Moderately noteworthy, Zantaroth was keen all evening to keep his gold flowing in exchange for food, which led to customers voluntarily taking up the role of serving staff. Not that any but Iskren would notice.  

Zantaroth breaks off from the group to commune with nature again, bringing forth a fox spirit. The spirit tells him to seek out a willow priestess or a daughter of the forest. It also warns against taking a carriage to the Dark Barony.

Sorval has a late-night communication with Serra, who explains she's fighting the troops of Leshrac -the Walker of Night- and describes one of the troubles: a sea creature attacking the wizard's school. She mentions her own realm being assailed, yet defended by the Shadow Mage and the Wandering Scholar. She also asks that Sorval attempts to convince Autumn Willow to join her side. Telling her of his doubts, Serra allows Sorval to create a golden feather from his wings in order to transcend his being and regain a spellcasting focus.

Iskren also is met by a handsome man, dressed in brocades. He states being trapped here in the backwater that is Ulgrotha, speaks of a quest to find a successor. He speaks of gaining power, gaining access and the potential to exalt beyond his current form, awakening as a planeswalker. Expressing doubts about the power of Sengir, Iskren compels the vampire to show a vision of Ysa pulling strings to get Iskren into Shademurk and to state an unfortunate exploding head happened to Eda...but five seconds ago.

The party then beds down for the night.