By: Keith "Harkle" Palmer-Poirier & Becca "Nestra" Shields
Greetings Individuals of the Realms.
For those of you unable to travel to Archendell, Blackavar, or other places, myself (Harkel), and Nestra have prepared a report of the events that occurred recently.
Friday night:
Arriving in Archendell, as per the concerns of Wilma Wilmot and Baron Kurt Gautier, we were informed that some of the locals had gone missing alongside the appearance of strange portals from which Harrowed Ones were appearing out of. Sir Darion Gautier guided the group of adventurers to the portals, where we began combat against the Harrowed Ones present while working through the field, breaking portals in pairs based on the color of the portal.
Once the field was cleared, we moved back to town, finding that a door had disappeared. While fighting Harrowed Ones that appeared from where the door was, we had a portion of our group searching for the fragments of the door. In this process, they also met a speaking doorknob, which was a component of the door. With a final push, we managed to secure the doorway and rebuild it, speaking to the doorknob and securing the area. After the area was secure, the being known as Danny appeared and spoke with the group. With that, we were done for the night.
Saturday:
Hey friends, Nestra here! I’m popping in to tell you guys about some of cool stuff that I got to do at KoSD Questing 3 on Saturday:
At the start of the day, my friends and I were sent to help a village overrun by snakes, wolves, and bears. The guards were missing, so we fought through the enemies, found keys to unlock houses, and rescued trapped villagers who had been robbed. We returned what items we could and promised to help them however possible.
Next, we found the missing guards at a fighting ring centered around an undefeated chipmunk waiting to battle another woodland creature. To shut the ring down, Timm—our only woodland creature—fought the chipmunk “to the pain” and won. After healing the chipmunk and ending the ring, we regrouped at the tavern.
We were then tasked with handling a group of imagined dragons. After defeating some of the adult dragons, we met baby dragons who gave us various tasks to complete. Nearby, a mysterious chalice called to all of the dragons in our own group, offering each of us power over all Blackavar dragons. We gathered song lyrics from the baby dragons and sang it to empower the chalice to contain the sleeping dragons. When we did, it erupted into a pillar of fire—showing our success.
Later, a group of orcs asked for help recovering lost blacksmithing materials. To earn access to their forge, we fought them in the orc pits using matched weapon combos. After winning, we helped them retrieve the materials and forged swords of Blackavar steel, a material stronger than regular steel.
Saturday capped quest:
As the forging ended, I joined a smaller group on a quest to recover J’ortsa’s soul from Death. A being named Nightmare appeared and challenged us, vulnerable only to magic and requiring a new person to strike him every time he was killed. After defeating him, we met Death’s granddaughter, who guided us through more battles until we finally faced Death himself.
Death offered a deal: if we beat him in a card game, he’d return J’ortsa’s soul, but another adventurer had to be bound to him. We quickly learned that Death played by his own set of rules and not the ones he laid out for the rest of us. So, after several failed attempts to get Death out—and some card swapping between Bogen and Timm to keep all of ourselves in—Bogen cast Deus Ex Machina to erase Death’s last move. With no tricks left, Death was forced to concede.
Finally, we discussed who should take the bond. Since it had to be someone unaffiliated with Chimeron, Crane volunteered. We agreed she was the right choice, and she accepted the bond and its boon.
I’m signing off and sending you guys back over to Harkel for the rest of the weekend’s activities. See you guys out there!
Nestra
Upon the rest of the group finishing our forging, we rejoined with a member of the Woodland Alliance who was contracted by the Tauntons and made our way to the crypt of Friedrich Bardus, the original knight commander of the Knights of the Sable Dragon. On our way, we found a large spider named Charlotte who spoke to many of our party. While some of the group entered her web, the rest of us continued to the crypt, entering and finding a painting that needed completing. Once done, while a group of us warded off the Harrowed Ones, the room was shaking, and then changed. Inside the changed room, there was a bust of Friedrich Bardus’s head and an urn, which inflicted some of our ranks with Harrowed. Additionally, there was a scroll container with a family lineage within.
Saturday night:
Returning to the village, we saw Sir Darion Gautier being lured away by an individual with a green apple. As he was second chance-ed to the Harrowed Lands, we moved to pursue using the door we had constructed the prior night. Entering the land, we once more encounter Charlotte. After a duration of negotiations, we were able to convince her to divulge the location of Sir Gautier. Making our way through her web, we encountered a series of branching paths in which we had to make a decision based on our values. Once a decision was made, we were restricted for the duration of our time along that path.
Reaching a clearing after multiple of such questions, we encountered the entity known as War who gave us one final question. When we declared our use of anger during battle, War’s soldiers set upon us, killing us all while we were unable to harm them. Being brought back, we were in a clearing where, after some combat against more Harrowed Ones, we found Sir Darion Gautier and managed to escape from the Harrowed lands through the door from which we entered.
Sunday:
Nixon’s mod:
Traveling to the village which, while recently visited, now appeared long abandoned, we encountered a hoard of undead surrounding glimpses of individuals who we could not interact with. Following their path, we found our way to a village in which we could see the townsfolk, yet they were not fully there. Instead, it appeared as though the residents were stuck in a time loop of some form, and the only way to remove them from the loop was to do their duties for them, such as forging a sword for the blacksmith or killing the kobolds who attacked the village in the correct order, rather than the guard. Once we completed each task, we received a puzzle piece, obtaining all of which allowed us to break the loop and free the village.
Matthew’s mod:
Traveling through the Lauralins, we entered the version of Hell tied to that land. Seeing ice and fire creatures fighting, we made our way across the battlefield before being confronted by a door which maintained a record of those who had crossed through. Upon the door opening, we were faced with plant creatures which we rapidly fought our way through, though not without some of our allies being infected with the Blooming, a plant based virus which we had been called to attempt to remove from a villager. Arriving at the village, we found the sickly child alongside destroyed houses and a stronger creature which, when heavily injured, fell to the ground for a moment, still alive, before once more getting up, stronger than before. After a duration of fighting, we killed it and, taking the villagers with us, returned to the portal where the Blooming was transferred from the child to one of our own. With that, the door opened and we were able to leave.
Kyra’s mod:
Entering a tavern, we met with the Order of the Red Wings, an order of dragon hunters including a veteran hunter named Arthun. He requested our aid in dealing with dragons nearby which he claimed were wreaking havoc on the village. Moving forwards, we encountered orcs and other beings which were defending the dragon’s mountain. Denying our request to move forwards, we fought our way through the hostile beings until entering the mountain after catching a glimpse of a dragon. Entering the mountain, the ground collapsed into lava behind us, spurting bubbles of lava as we worked to clear the cave in ahead. Once fully inside the mountain, we encountered two dragons Miasma and Briggsy, as well as a clutch. Arthun reappeared as we made progress in speaking to the dragons and, after some arguing, revealed that he was behind much of the harm coming to the village, though some was also due to the odd choice of livestock by the villagers.
After he became outwardly hostile, Arthun used trade secrets to undergo a draconian transformation, summoning Cadmasian soldiers to fight alongside him against us. After a long battle that included adding teeth to our weapons so that we were able to harm him, we felled Arthun and managed to help the dragons and other villagers come to an understanding that would lead to them being able to coexist.
That is all,
Harkel