Ulgrotha - School of Strongrock

Players: Iskren / Taurio / Vultha / Zantaroth / Sorval

 Xivaskir 22

We rejoin Sorval in the smithy, where Gunther takes in the newcomer properly, looking him up and down, realising Sorval still is wearing his Boros gear and decides to make life easier. To let Sorval unwind a bit. So he takes him to the nearby general store (Leopold's General Goods) and procures some coal-heated wine for the warrior and lets him drink it before returning to the work ahead.

And work they do, forging the beginnings of some heavy plate for Sorval, getting quite a bit of it done throughout the day. Getting the Boros logo, a Serran emblem and a signet of the Shadow Mage integrated, he gets things done to a good standard.

Taurio, meanwhile, looks at some of the activities going on, paying close attention to a rune-carving shaman before being distracted by a bull minotaur who calls out to the "Ravnican scum". Facing off heroically against the dual-wielding foe, Taurio manages to spots the specter of Leshrac looming over the aggressor's shoulder. An exciting duel that is bound to be remembered by the onlookers ends with Taurio disemboweling his foe. Picking up the strange sword and warhammer the beast was wielding, Taurio sees strange runes on the spikey bits. Bringing these items back to the runecarver shaman, Taurio trades them for a 'longaxe'. 

Iskren and Zantaroth revel in the fact they saved lives today. By not killing people. Out of annoyance. They decide to seperate after telling each other they are friends. Zantaroth finds Vultha and has a few words about colour and personalizations of nature. Lucidly. Iskren heads off to works on some jewels, eventually crafting a sparkling wedding ring, a beautiful thing which Iskren passes on to Sorval. 

The party eventually meets up again, with people exchanging pleasantries and Taurio explaining trading off priceless artifacts and Zantaroth mentioning a lingering urge to get inked.

Tarboo explains the rules (no poisoning drinks, no fireballs, no face eating, no restoring those who are down, no coup de grace) and sends the group down. They spot a bookie, Nilf, so Iskren convinces the bookie that the party would take on two enemy groups at the same time and convinces the crowd the party doesn't come battle-tested, allowing for a little betting advantage. A little bickering goes on about the group's name, eventually settling on the RavniCans / RavWhoCans.

Two groups face off against the party, who utterly slaughter the officer from earlier in the day that picked a fight with the lizards. And his friends. And the other group. It is a massacre. The only flaw in the entire scheme is Zantaroth going berserk on the party, his newly grown hair puffing out, crocodilian jaw retracting to resemble a dog's muzzle and attacking with wanton abandon both the enemy and Taurio, before coming to his senses. The townspeople take note of the prowess displayed. The bookie loses a lot of money. The party is happy... until they look around after receiving their rewards and finding Zantaroth has run off to the outside.

Ulgrotha: Strongrock! At last!

Party: Iskren / Vultha / Sorval / Zantaroth / Taurio

Xivaskir 22

At long last, our heroes get to enjoy a night's rest in a town. Iskren, smartly, left their undead friends outside of town, so as not to trouble the locals. Sadly enough, a bit of a nightmare unfolds for them. A serpentine voice teases Iskren with intimate knowledge of the party and a certain bit of Iskren's power is drawn from them, leaving them lessened, somehow.

As luck would have it, the rest of the party also had troubled dreams. Some involving the destruction of Shademurk, some just feeling the alien presence of ... something. All of the party... except Taurio, who dreamt about a meadow where he was lectured by an older white bull.   

Vultha wakes up at the Parlor and checks out the local scene a little, ordering breakfast from Tarboo (the owner) and inquiring for the rules of the fighting pit. He is eventually joined by Zantaroth in a small pig-related food situation. 

Sorval wakes early, prays to Serra and seeks the guidance of Jared to shed the nightmares, while Iskren checks their body for possible damages, noting a red mark on their shoulder. Taking their coin, the power of Sengir comforts and a soft whisper assures Iskren of allies being on the way.

Taurio, on the other hand, wakes up abruptly. He heads for breakfast and meets his friends, chatting with Sorval about the town security before the conversation turns to the nightmares the group has been having. Sorval mentions his connection to Serra as a sort of shield against the draconic being, while Taurio says he has been sitting near a large minotaur (obviously Sandruu) who kept the bad things away. Considering the time proper for it, Iskren takes out his keystone and summons the Orzhovian thrull. This, in turn, draws a lot of attention from the other clientele, which Iskren turns into an audience whose knowledge and coin they peruse. While this is going on, Taurio notices a familiar sight and walks to speak to Sandruu, who is enjoying a book.

The winged Thrull finds Zantaroth and Vultha across the street and asks the pair to join Iskren's group after paying the Greying Bull his due and up front for dinner. Big Z and Vultha both had been infected with vision-dreams as well, about a large serpent laying into Shademurk, causing untold destruction. While eating and walking, they do notice the town guard being worried about large lizards eating meat off the bone, but after being accosted, they explain the meat to be pig and manage to not fight, eventually arriving as the two bulls meet up.

From Sandruu Taurio learns that the draconic being in his dream is 'The Doom of Fools", Tsevesh Szat, a planeswalker who has recently taken interest in the group that is causing trouble for Leshrac. There's also a bit about the immortality of the Goblin King being linked to the Wizarding School. News from Ravnica follows, with Jared having mentioned to Sandruu that several seals have been broken there and the mayor is dead, the Boros do try to keep order, but they're having a hard time. Sandruu explains he sees the future of Ravnica as bleak, but thinks getting to the Baron or Serra as soon as possible is a good plan. 

Iskren and Sorval chat about their dreams, with the lizardkin joining in. The line between the naturally inclined Gruul and the civilisation-inclined clerics is drawn as a point of conversation. They put together their collective knowledge after bantering for a bit, remembering the guilds were working as one in order to seal the Nephilim. Considering this, they suspect that they need to gain more power in order to fight off this being. They also put their priorities straight, going over what they hope to gain from their Patrons and adventures. A bit of a face-off also happens with Big Z getting up in the grill of the clerics, defending the Gruul pride with aggressive language in order to make clear that he will not tolerate being controlled. The clerics do explain they are not blindly obedient to their patrons and will judge for themselves what they see as right or wrong.

Taurio returns to the group and briefs them on his findings. Iskren takes in the information and attempts a divination ritual for discovering what to do next. The divinity that answers them is Serra. She explains that allowing time for the breaking of the seals would empower various individuals. She also mentions that the cost for that might be Ravnica. Returning with this information, Iskren relates it to the party as well. 

The party then splits up, with Zantaroth and Iskren going to deal with the paperwork (so the party can pass through the Koshun Pass). Sorval and Taurio head off to find a smithy and the Anaba Lodge respectively. Vultha seeks out the Mountain Shade Temple to pray and find guidance.

Zantaroth speaks with Iskren as they go, explaining his reason for going with Vultha and his goals beyond that (links to Eyjafjallajökull and the leadership grooming Z has undergone). As they arrive at the logistics building, they are greeted by bureaucracy in the form of a dour dwarven lady.

Taurio, at the Lodge, takes in the large wooden building. There's a large gathering of minotaurs around, approximately thirty are congregating here. He spots Obono and chats a bit with him before being shown around the place. A large ruddy minotaur with two claymores strapped to his back, Gnulliver, meets Taurio and speaks about the traditional lifestyle the herd is keeping in the Lodge. Metalurgy, brewing, woodcraft and cooking - the herd being intent on keeping their independence from a lord who seems unstable.

At the Mountain Shade Temple, Vultha notices minotaur guards, totems, graveyard sites... a lot of natural burial spots. A lot of coins are scattered amongst the tomestones and totems. A couple of caretakers walk around. A single stone structure, shaped bovinely, stands near the middle of the graveyard. As he enters the grounds, he spots the massive remains of a tree, which provides a location for him to sit down. Once seated, he reaches out to the primal forces of nature. Approaching him is the specter of a woman, made up of contradictions. Young, yet old and timeless. She speaks with Vultha about nature, about balance, about those that disrupt the balance, about heroes. She reassures him that things are changing due to his activity. A small change comes over him and more and more colour seems to seep into the previously ashen Vultha, bringing him more midnight blues and mossy greens where once but grey was. The lady then vanishes, leaving a single Edelweiss where she was standing. After she departs in this manner, Vultha builds a small bone shrine to her near the flower, with a single statuette that hums in the breeze.

After a long and silent walk, lost in complex thoughts, Sorval winds up at the general store, where the town smithy is located. He walks into the smithy and looks at a green-skinned male who is crafting a thing on an anvil. Sorval attempts to introduce himself, but the smith has none of it, asking him to prove his mettle by making a gauntlet. Sorval does so, routinely. Gunther, the smith, gives it a glance, sees it is decent quality and allows Sorval the use of his forge for the price of ten gold. He estimates the time for crafting as two days per full plate with Gunther's assistance. Sorval suspects he'll have to convince the party to stay another day, for he wants to make a pair of plate armours...

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.  

Ulgrotha: A Cavern

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

 Xivaskir 20

The party, their road blocked by an enchanted tree, scouts around and discovers a link between the tree and the blood of the shadowy attackers. This leads them to a distant tower, which stands atop a small cavern complex. 

Said complex turns out to be inhabited by strange dwarven creatures, elementals, a worm-flinging zombie and a warlock of some power.

Needless to say, slaughter (wholesale), drama (Taurio getting shot, Sorval nearly drowning) and murder most foul (rest in two pieces, warlock) ensue.

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.