Ulgrotha: The Walk

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

A slow session, but hey~

The party travels from the Toll-bridge to Strongrock, their company (Peter, Loosha and Obono) try to keep an eye out for the party, while Obono makes conversation. Loosha spends a lot of time looking into Viken and seems curious about Taurio, to some extend. Taurio verbally waterfalls all over Loosha, explaining his history, eventually turning the conversation to discover the allegiance of the minotaurs to Eron the Restless is somewhat shaky. 

Other events involve Iskren learning how much the minotaurs earn and a flight of angels fighting against an army of demons. Seeing this go down, Sorval wants to go and aid an angel that falls in the flight's retreat, but the party manages to convince him not to do so. The escorts are worried about angels fighting against demons in the lands of Lord Eron, implying an attack from Aysen. 

The group then moves on, getting rather close to the outer walls of Strongrock, before coming across a river fork near which a treasure chest stands. Vultha opens it, triggering the appearance of a bound angel and a moss troll skeleton. The fight is pitifully short as the party wipes the floor with their foes. 

Arriving at Strongrock, with the escort going to Dwezil's and leaving them behind, the party quickly splits in two groups, with one group (Iskren, Sorval, Taurio and Viken) going to a respectable inn known as 'The Traveler's Sole Retreat' and the other (Zantaroth and Vultha) going to 'Lord Eron's Parlor of Pardons' to check out the village. The Parlor serves Slivoo, a plum concoction, which the party enjoys. Those who went to the Parlor also discovers a brawling pit, which peaks their interests.

The streets are patrolled by 'the Shadeguard', a defensive force. Goblins, dwarves, humans and minotaurs seem to live together here.

Viken, as the party draws more attention from the locals than him, sees his chance to sneak out, noticing a lot of minotaurs in hostile lands taking note of him, with the party safe and sound, he finds a way out and disappears into the night, plotting to overthrow the goblin king still.

And thus ends the session, with a town to be explored in the next~

Ulgrotha: The Black Anvil

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

Xivaskir 20

The party, finding themselves underground and moderately wounded, question their prisoner and realise only Viken knows what dwarves are. They learn about the existence of the Black Anvil as a physical object and that the warlock who they slew was aligned with Leshrac. They also get information from the dwarf about the Anvil being linked to demonic beings Balors. Beyond that, there is a pile of treasure that the defeated were hoarding. They bind up the dwarf after retrieving everything.

They then spend some time dividing the items amongst themselves.

Proceeding further they go up a staircase and arrive in a strange laboratorium. Zantaroth and Tool, Iskren's undead ally, both seem to suffer ill effects as they enter. Tufts of fur start crawling from under the scales of Zantaroth as he progresses into the room. Tool crumbles into dust. The room looks izzet-y, but little else strikes the attention of the party. Little else, except for a massive spellbound iron anvil. Investigations on the anvil show it to be a source for a spell of binding. 

Zantaroth's control starts slipping away after a while, but he manages to hold back the more feral aspect eventually, keeping the wildness in check and calming down. The anvil gets smashed to bits shortly afterwards, freeing a Balor from the control of Leshrac.

As a permitted favor, Vultha summons the Balor to the room. Iskren calls upon it to settle the owed debt for freeing it and gains the true name of one of its fellow imprisoned Balors: Trevesh of the Thousand Flaming Tongues. It also promises to look in on the party once in a while.

Sorval, meanwhile, walks down to the lower levels again, for he seeks not the deals with demons. Jared smiles upon this and grants the Aasimar a boon, the ability to call for the Shadowmage's aid.

Leaving the dungeon after releasing the dwarf and grabbing a couple of crystals, the party heads back to their chariot, where Leshrac appears in a fit of rage and destroys the mode of transport before leaving the party to the mercy of the elements.

Being of sound mind and body, the party rests up after this ordeal. Of course, the commotion that happened drew in a monster, so a little nightly combat is had still. Moving on in the morning, the party gets to a bridge guarded by a group of minotaurs. A toll is paid and an escort to Strongrock is given to the party and as they depart from the bridge, the session comes to a close.