(S045) Back to the Keep

Trading with Volo and surviving a night ambush by a 100-foot-wingspan Roc on the road to Skola Vale, the party leverages an alliance with Relia and the Ashla to hunt Jacoby.

📝 Session Summary

The Wild Cards were called The Menagerie by some until they came up with the name The Wild Cards.

• Barlo: A grizzled tabaxi barbarian who has been doing some work for a network that one should be wary of.
• Bastion: An orphan human who spent his life studying magic and blades, even though his elder pushed him away from the sword. He replaced Reginald.
• Calliope: This bardic faun joined the party late when she needed to find help to save her homeland.
• Reginald: A leonin cleric who was off to show his family's royal background and would later find out there were secrets leading to him becoming a king.
• Sas: A tortle hermit was given an item of power and a quest.
• Shadow in the Snow: This tabaxi got a coin, and her curiosity set her on a path.

🎬 Scenes

• Scene 1: Barlo's Backstory — From The Bronze Canyon in Kampos. Gave up Tabaxi name, "Smiles". Help move people. On way to Eushia to help Black Road with a client. Currently on ship near Carrune.
• Scene 2: Bastion's Backstory — When Bastion Bladesinger was very young he lost both of his parents to a plague. He took care of himself as he taught himself how to use the rapier his father once wore. He lived in Dyrt and watched all of the great knights. He also had an interest in the ways of magic and he wished he could do both – use swords and excel in magic – like many elves he had heard about.
• Scene 3: Calliope's Backstory — Calliope was born into the nestled highlands of the Oraniad Mountains. The Skola Vale, wild and free, blessed by the gods and inhabited by whimsical Satyr and Faun. Deep within it among the lush valley, reside the Dawngreets, a long generational line of storytellers and lore keepers.
• Scene 4: Reginald's Backstory — He was born at home, a modest-sized mansion where his family lived a modest means – even though his father could never stop talking about how they were royalty and yet this was the only lands they currently possess. His childhood was generally a happy one full of several friends. He was an only child.
• Scene 5: Sas' Backstory — Sas was born on the continent of Oth'Mar – a content mostly inhabited by Tortles and is far to the south of the Carrune Isles.
• Scene 6: Shadow's Backstory — Deep in the snowy mountains high in the north, there lived a large group of Tabaxi, The Blinding Wild Clan.

📜 Missions & Quests

• Completed:
  • Established individual party origins and initial connections to the world of Dierde.
• Active / Discovered Threads:
  • Barlo's ties to the smuggling rings and the Black Road.
  • Bastion's mysterious past and fallout with Grognard.
  • Calliope's quest to save the Skola Vale.
  • Reginald's pursuit of his family's royal mint commission and claim in Neyer.
  • Sas's vision of the Cat Goddess Bast and journey to find her lost lands.
  • Shadow's golden coin and mystical calling from her clan shaman.

NPCs

S045: Back to the Keep

Date: 2023-01-21

Short

The party broke camp north of Skola Vale and negotiated a pivotal deal with the Ashla, a magical order led by a woman named Relia, agreeing to trade a mysterious chair in exchange for the Ashla tracking the dangerous Jacoby Drexel Hand. The exchange carried unexpected emotional weight for Calliope, who learned in a private conversation with Relia that Relia was her mother — a secret that, if discovered by the Ashla, could put Relia at serious risk. Relia then revealed a sweeping cosmological map of their solar system, explaining the deadly dead zones orbiting the sun, the nature of nearby planets, and the hexagonal force field surrounding their world Dierde — fractured in the south by a dragon's awakening, creating the chaotic island region of Saurian Isles. She directed the party to contacts in Wide Berth to obtain an orrery, a device needed for safe passage through the planetary barrier. With farewells exchanged, the party set off south toward Skola Vale, stopping along the way to trade with the traveling merchant Volo, acquiring a luck stone, a necklace of fireballs, a Mithral breastplate, magical scrolls, and healing potions.

On the third night of travel, the camp was violently disrupted when a massive Roc dove from the sky, seizing Barlo in its talons and carrying him fifty feet into the air. The party fought back fiercely — Calliope unleashing a thunderous burst, Bastion hurling fire, Shadow conjuring a cone of weapons, and Arktos striking the beast repeatedly — but it was Shadow who delivered the killing blow, firing two arrows in rapid succession into the back of the Roc's neck and sending it crashing to the earth. In the aftermath, the party harvested two massive iron-hard talons and other valuable parts from the carcass, loading the rest onto their cart for processing in Skola Vale. As the forest settled into an eerie silence — the smaller creatures having long since fled the apex predator's presence — the party rested and prepared to ride into the city come morning.

Summary

The party settled into an uneasy camp north of Skola Vale, sharing the grounds with their new visitors while Remington and Jeets kept watch over the front perimeter. Through the night, Shadow kept a vigilant eye on the surrounding darkness and spotted two massive bird silhouettes far to the east, each with an estimated hundred-foot wingspan, drifting silently against the stars before disappearing into the distance. The rest of the night passed without incident, and as the sun rose on a new day, the party turned their attention to the pressing matters at hand.

Calliope wrestled quietly with the revelation that her mother existed in this realm, a truth she had never known until now. The party debated their priorities — the missing dice of Barlo, the elusive and dangerous Jacoby, and the looming deadline of only a few months to recover what had been stolen — and ultimately agreed that the most practical course of action was to ask the visitors to track Jacoby in exchange for the mysterious chair. The visitors, members of an order called the Ashla who hunted those who perverted the magic weave, seemed perfectly suited for the task, having already lost Jacoby multiple times themselves.

The party approached the woman leading the visitor group while her companion floated a foot off the ground in quiet meditation nearby. They proposed their arrangement: the Ashla would track a man named Jacoby Drexel Hand, a dangerous figure who used magical duplicates of himself to manipulate and deceive, in exchange for the chair. Using a magical compass, the party confirmed Jacoby's full name, and consulted a peculiar divination ball to ask whether Jacoby had yet made contact with the Bogan — the corrupted faction the Ashla hunted — receiving the cryptic but telling answer: "don't count on it."

While negotiations continued, Calliope found herself drawn into a private and deeply uncomfortable conversation with the woman, Relia. Relia spoke carefully, explaining that her order had become her family, and that doubts she had harbored long ago had eventually led her back to her dedication to the Ashla. She revealed, with quiet gravity, that she knew who Calliope was — that Calliope's very existence was the result of a decision Relia had made, one that, if ever discovered by her order, could put her at serious risk. She touched Calliope's hand gently before walking away, leaving the young woman standing in stunned silence while Arktos, her owlbear companion, padded over and pressed close to comfort her.

With the deal struck and Shadow confirming through careful observation that Relia was sincere in her intentions, the group turned their attention to a far grander revelation. Relia produced a small, glassy marble no larger than an inch across, its interior filled with tiny clockwork cogs and a faint inner light. When she activated it, the marble projected a sweeping, darkened map of the entire solar system around them, and the party stood in quiet awe as the cosmos unfolded before their eyes.

Relia explained the twelve massive dead zones that orbited the sun — enormous spheres of annihilation each roughly a hundred thousand miles in diameter, invisible unless the sun caught them at just the right angle, and utterly lethal to any ship that strayed too close. She described the nearby planets: Deana, a world of boiling seas and perpetual hailstorms connected to the elemental plane of fire; Deana, a water world; and Jonahhelmun, a storm-wracked planet of endless turbulent air. She then zoomed in on their own world, Dierde, revealing the hexagonal force field that surrounded and protected it — and the jagged fracture in its southern hemisphere where a dragon had once woken from deep within the earth, shattered a continent, and torn a hole through the shield. That broken region, now a chaotic sprawl of islands known as Saurian Isles, was teeming with dragons and served as a dangerous, unofficial entry point for ships unwilling to seek proper passage.

Relia explained that her order had worked alongside a secretive group called the Astronomers to establish legitimate access through the shield, and that the party would need to visit her contacts in Wide Berth to obtain an orrery of their own — a device that would allow their ship to travel safely in and out of the planetary barrier. She also warned them of the rusted metal planet Citiel, home to metallic dragons and other creatures, noting it as a potential destination but one requiring careful and diplomatic approach. With the full scope of the cosmos laid before them, the party finalized their agreement with Relia, shook hands, and began loading the chair into a crate on their cart, covering it with cloth before saying their farewells to Jeets and Remington and setting off down the road toward Skola Vale.

The journey south stretched across several days of travel by cart, the road winding through rainforest terrain near waterfalls where the rains came and went in steady waves. Bastion spent much of the travel time poring over a book called Volo's Guide to All Things Magical, authored by the eccentric scholar Volothamp Geddarm, absorbing histories of famous wizards and lore about magical artifacts. The party also worked to reorganize their considerable collection of goods, redistributing coins and heavy items between their various magical bags to keep everyone moving comfortably.

At a T-section in the road, the party came upon a familiar face: the elderly traveling merchant Volo, crouched beside his wagon repairing a wheel. He greeted them warmly and laid out an impressive spread of wares — a carved luck stone with a small green gem, a necklace strung with three red beads that could be hurled to create devastating fiery explosions, a breastplate of lightweight Mithral, a glaive of warning, an assortment of magical scrolls, and several potions of varying potency. The party presented their ring of mind shielding and brooch of shielding for appraisal, and Volo offered a generous sum for both, giving the party substantial credit to work with.

After spirited negotiation, the party walked away with the luck stone for Barlo, the necklace of fireballs for Shadow, the Mithral breastplate for Sas, a scroll of dimension door and several others for Bastion, two quivers of arrows, magical inks and chalk for casting a teleportation circle, and a collection of healing potions. Volo paid out the remaining balance in platinum and gold, and the party divided the coins among themselves before continuing south, their cart now considerably heavier with both treasure and supplies.

On the third night of travel, camped just off the road near the waterfall region, the peace of the camp was shattered by a piercing screech from the sky. A massive Roc — the same species of enormous predatory bird Shadow had spotted as distant silhouettes days before — came diving out of the darkness with its hundred-foot wingspan blotting out the stars. Most of the party scrambled awake from their bedrolls as the creature bore down on them, and Calliope unleashed a thunderous burst of sound at the descending beast while Bastion hurled streams of fire that lit up the night sky.

Shadow conjured a sweeping cone of conjured weapons that tore into the Roc's thick hide, and Arktos lunged at the creature as it came within reach, striking it repeatedly with powerful blows. Barlo charged in with his shield and claws, slashing deep into the creature's leathery skin — but the Roc seized him in its iron-hard talons and launched back into the air, carrying him fifty feet above the camp. Rather than attempt to break free and plummet to the earth below, Barlo chose to keep fighting, slashing furiously at the creature even as it climbed higher into the night sky.

It was Shadow who ended it. She drew two arrows, loosed the first into the back of the Roc's neck, and sent the second driving straight into the first with devastating precision. The creature's talons released, and it fell backward through the air, crashing to the earth with a force that blew out the campfire and sent a shockwave rippling through the surrounding trees. Arktos immediately pounced on the fallen carcass to ensure it was dead, and Barlo hit the ground hard nearby, battered but alive thanks to the fury still burning through him.

In the aftermath, the party set to work harvesting what they could from the enormous carcass. Sas and Barlo carefully extracted two of the creature's massive iron-hard talons — each several feet long and worth a small fortune to the right weaponsmith — though a third was ruined when a slip of the blade in the darkness dragged the knife clean through it. They gathered feathers, noted the value of the creature's liver, and loaded the remaining unharvested leg onto the cart to be processed by professionals in Skola Vale. As the camp settled back into quiet, Shadow noted something eerie: the surrounding forest had gone almost completely silent over the past few days, the smaller birds and prey animals having apparently sensed the presence of the apex predator now lying dead at their feet. With the Roc gone and the talons secured, the party rested through the remainder of the night and prepared to ride into Skola Vale come morning.

Scenes

A Night of Vigil and Silhouettes

The party settles into a new camp alongside their new visitors, keeping watch through the night.

• The party and the new visitors set up camp, with Remington and Jeets guarding the front.
• Shadow takes a watch and notices two massive bird silhouettes with estimated 100-foot wingspans flying far to the east.
• Bastion takes a watch, which passes without major incident until sunrise.

The Morning Dilemma

As a new day begins, the party discusses their next steps regarding Calliope's mother and their pursuit of Jacoby.

• Calliope struggles with the revelation that her mother is present in this realm.
• The party debates their priorities, weighing the search for Jacoby and the missing dice of Barlo against Calliope's personal quest.
• A plan is formed to ask the new visitors, who hunt magic-users who pervert the weave, to track Jacoby in exchange for the chair.

Negotiations with the Ashla

The party approaches the visitors to propose a trade and gather information on their elusive enemy.

• The party approaches the woman from the visitor group while her companion meditates while floating about a foot off the ground.
• They propose that the visitors track Jacoby, a man using simulacra to manipulate magic, in exchange for the chair.
• The party uses the Magic Feywild Compass to identify Jacoby's last name as Drexel Hand.
• The party uses Assault's Magic Ball to ask if Jacoby has made contact with the Bogan or found a magic cube, receiving the cryptic answer 'don't count on it'.
• The party discusses the limitations of the ball, noting it only answers questions about the past or present, and strategizes using it daily to narrow down how many simulacra Jacoby has left.

A Mother's Revelation

Calliope has a private, tense conversation with Relia regarding their past and Relia's dedication to her order.

• Calliope holds out the Magic Feywild Compass while Relia observes her curiously, seeming to try to read her.
• Relia approaches Calliope to discuss the awkwardness between them and her realization of Calliope's identity.
• Relia explains her dedication to her order, the Ashla, and how it has become her family despite past doubts.
• Relia reveals that she knows who Calliope is and hints that Calliope's existence was a significant decision that changed her life's trajectory, putting her at risk within the order if it became known.
• Shadow eavesdrops on the conversation, picking up the emotional weight of the exchange.
• Arktos the owlbear companion settles next to Calliope to comfort her after the unsettling interaction.

The Astronomers' Orrery

Relia produces a magical orrery and uses it to educate the party about the solar system and the dangers of wild space.

• Relia produces a small, glassy marble about an inch in diameter containing a clockwork mechanism with cogs and a light at its center.
• The marble projects a magical map of the solar system, dimming the surrounding light.
• Relia explains the 'Sarah', twelve dead zones or orbs of annihilation surrounding the sun, each about 100,000 miles in diameter, that can destroy ships by absorbing magic and making helms unusable.
• She introduces the Astronomers, a secretive group that studies the cosmology of the universe and manages the shield access around the planet.
• Relia describes the elemental nature of the nearby planets: Deana (connected to the plane of fire), Deana (connected to the plane of water), and Jonahhelmun (connected to the plane of air).
• The party learns about the hexagonal force field protecting their planet, Dierde, and a fracture in it caused by a dragon waking up in the southern hemisphere, creating the broken island region known as Saurian Isles.
• Relia describes other celestial bodies, including the rusted metal planet Citiel inhabited by metallic dragons, and various nebulae.
• The party learns they would need to contact the Astronomers to gain proper access through the planetary shield for future space travel, or risk flying through the Saurian Isles fracture and encountering dragons.
• Relia explains that the Ashla worked with the Astronomers to set up shield access, and that her orrery helps guide ships through wild space.

A Deal with the Ashla

The party finalizes their agreement with Relia and prepares to depart for Skola Vale.

• Shadow shakes Relia's hand to finalize their deal: the Ashla will track Jacoby Drexel Hand in exchange for the chair.
• Shadow performs an insight check on Relia, confirming her sincere dedication to her order and her intention to follow through.
• Relia mentions that the party should go to Wide Berth to talk to her contacts, who will provide an orrery to allow their ship to travel in and out of the planetary shield.
• The party loads the mysterious chair into a crate on their cart, covering it with cloth to hide it.
• Jeets and Remington are found playing cards on top of a construct; the party decides to leave their purchased cart with Jeets to assist in rebuilding the area.
• The party departs, heading down the trail toward the main road.

The Traveling Merchant Volo

On the road south, the party encounters the eccentric merchant Volo at a T-section and engages in a significant trade of magical items and currency.

• The party reaches a T-section in the road and finds the elderly merchant Volo repairing a wagon wheel, recognizing him from a previous encounter.
• Shadow questions Volo about off-planet goods, but Volo seems genuinely unfamiliar with the concept.
• Volo showcases several magical items including a Luck Stone, a Necklace of Fireballs with three beads, Mithral armor, a Glaive of Warning, scrolls, and various potions.
• The party presents their Ring of Mind Shielding and Brooch of Shielding to Volo for appraisal; he offers 7,000 gold for the brooch and 20,000 gold for the ring.
• The party negotiates a large trade, purchasing the Luck Stone for Barlo, a Mithral Breastplate, the Necklace of Fireballs for Shadow, various magical scrolls including a Dimension Door scroll, potions of healing, magical chalk and inks for Bastion's teleportation circle, and two quivers of arrows for Shadow.
• The party exchanges a large amount of copper coins for gold to reduce their carrying weight.
• Volo pays the balance of the trade to the party in 600 platinum and over 8,000 gold pieces.
• The party divides the platinum among themselves and stores the bulk of the gold in their bag of holding.

Travel and Study on the Road

The party travels south toward Skola Vale over several days, managing their inventory and resting along the way.

• The party travels for several days by wagon, dealing with rain and muddy roads near the waterfall areas.
• Bastion spends time studying 'Volo's Guide to All Things Magical', authored by Volothamp Geddarm, learning about famous wizards, magic items, and magical lore, gaining a potential advantage on related Arcana and history checks.
• The party redistributes gold and copper coins among themselves to manage encumbrance, moving items between the bag of holding and bag of colding.
• Sas equips a new breastplate and the group organizes items like purple worm teeth and various potions.
• The group sets up camp off the main road for the night near the waterfall area.

Ambush from the Skies

While the party is resting on the road to Skola Vale, a massive Roc swoops down from the night sky to attack.

• Near the end of a watch shift, a loud screech is heard from the sky and a massive bird with an estimated 100-foot wingspan dives toward the camp.
• Most of the party wakes up prone and scrambles to respond.
• Calliope blasts the creature with a shatter spell as it descends, dealing damage and imposing disadvantage.
• Bastion unleashes a barrage of scorching rays at the Roc as it closes in, with most rays finding their mark.
• Shadow stands up and conjures a barrage of identical weapons in a 60-foot cone that pierces the massive bird's hide.
• Shadow commands Arktos to prepare an attack as the Roc enters range, and Arktos strikes the creature several times.
• Barlo readies his shield and claws and delivers a powerful slashing attack, slowing the creature's movement.
• The Roc swoops down, enduring fire and arrows, bites Barlo with its massive beak, and grapples him in its talons, lifting him 50 feet into the air.
• Barlo recklessly slashes at the creature's thick, leathery hide while being carried away.
• Bastion attempts to hit the Roc with icy bolts but they miss the airborne target.
• Shadow fires a final pair of arrows; the first strikes the Roc in the back of the neck and the second drives it in further, killing the creature instantly.
• The Roc's talons release Barlo, who falls 50 feet to the ground, surviving the impact due to his primal rage.
• The massive bird crashes into the ground near the campfire with enough force to blow out the flames and send a shockwave through the area.
• Arktos pounces on the fallen carcass to ensure it is dead.

Harvesting the Roc

Following the battle, the party attempts to harvest valuable components from the Roc's carcass before continuing their rest.

• The party consults their lore books to identify valuable parts of the Roc, including its feathers, liver, and iron-hard talons.
• Sas and Barlo work together to harvest the several-feet-long talons, with Sas using magical guidance and inspiration to aid the delicate work.
• The party successfully removes two full talons but damages a third during a difficult cut in the dark.
• The group decides to load the remaining unharvested leg and the harvested talons onto their cart alongside the mysterious chair.
• Shadow notes the eerie silence of the surrounding forest, realizing the area's apex predator has been removed.
• The party finishes their watch and prepares to enter Skola Vale the following day.

Memorable Moments

Relia quietly reveals to Calliope that she knows who she is, hints that Calliope's existence was a life-altering decision, and then gently touches her hand before walking away.

A tense, whispered conversation between Calliope and her mother Relia, watched from a distance by Shadow, with Arktos nuzzling Calliope for comfort.

Shadow fires two arrows at the Roc carrying Barlo 50 feet in the air — the second arrow robin-hoods into the first, killing the creature instantly and sending it crashing to earth, blowing out the campfire.

The killing blow of a desperate night ambush, with Barlo dangling in the Roc's talons high above the camp.

Relia produces a small clockwork marble that projects a darkened map of the entire solar system, revealing twelve massive dead zones surrounding the sun and a fracture in the planet's hex shield caused by a dragon.

The party receives their first real education about wild space and the cosmology of their solar system, fundamentally changing their understanding of the world.

The party asks Assault's Magic Ball if Jacoby has made contact with the Bogan, and it solemnly responds 'don't count on it' — which the party immediately accepts as a legitimate intelligence report.

The party treating a magic eight-ball as a serious divination tool during a strategic planning session about their most dangerous enemy.

Barlo, grappled in the Roc's talons and carried 50 feet into the air, recklessly slashes at the creature's thick hide rather than attempting to escape, choosing to fight back while dangling over the camp.

Barlo's barbarian instincts kick in as he decides attacking is preferable to the terrifying prospect of breaking free and falling.

NPCs

Relia

A member of the Ashla order and Calliope's mother. She is deeply dedicated to following the weave and hunting those who pervert it. She possesses extensive knowledge of the solar system and used a magical orrery to educate the party. She revealed to Calliope that she knows who she is, and that the decisions she made regarding Calliope put her at risk within her order.

Jeets

A companion found playing cards atop a construct with Remington. The party decided to leave their purchased cart with him to assist in rebuilding the area, and he agreed to keep watch over the location.

Remington

An ally who helped guard the front of the camp alongside Jeets, and was found playing cards with him when the party prepared to depart.

Arktos

Shadow's owlbear companion, described as having amber eyes that flash red with ferocity. He provided emotional comfort to Calliope after her difficult conversation with Relia, and participated in the battle against the Roc.

Volo

An elderly traveling merchant found repairing his wagon at the T-section. He carries a wide variety of rare magical items, scrolls, potions, and weapons, and maintains a circuit of trade across different towns. He is a shrewd appraiser of magical items and conducted a large trade with the party.

Roc

A gargantuan predatory bird with an estimated hundred-foot wingspan that ambushed the party at night while they camped on the road to Skola Vale. It grappled Barlo in its talons and lifted him 50 feet into the air before being brought down by Shadow's arrows.

Locations

The Camp

A temporary settlement north of Skola Vale where the party and a group of visitors have established a guarded perimeter, with Remington and Jeets covering the front and the visitors given space on one side.

Dierde

The party's home planet, revealed to be surrounded by a hexagonal force field. A significant fracture exists in the southern hemisphere near Saurian Isles, caused by a dragon waking up and breaking through the shield long ago.

Deana

A planet close to the sun with a constantly boiling surface. The heat sends water into the atmosphere and out into space as ice, which then rains back down as hailstorms on the planet's dark side. Connected to the elemental plane of fire.

Jonahhelmun

A planet characterized by turbulent air and constant storms, connected to the elemental plane of air.

Citiel

A large, rusted metal planet inhabited by metallic dragons and other creatures. Described as wondrous but dangerous, and a potential destination for the party.

Saurian Isles

A region in the southern hemisphere of Dierde consisting of broken islands where a dragon once broke through the planet's protective hex shield. The area is filled with dragons, making it a dangerous entry point for ships.

Wide Berth

A location mentioned by Relia where the party can find her contacts to facilitate gaining an orrery and access through the planetary shield.

The Vale

A destination the party plans to visit to restock on healing potions, arrows, and specialized magical components, and where their ship is located.

The T-section

A junction on the main road where one path leads north toward Forlorn and the other leads south toward Skola Vale. The party encountered Volo the merchant here repairing his wagon.

Road to Skola Vale

A forest road through a rainforest-like environment featuring waterfalls and frequent rain. The party traveled this road by cart over several days and was ambushed by a Roc while camped near the waterfall areas.

Items

Magic Feywild Compass

A magical compass used by Calliope during negotiations with Relia. It drew Relia's curious attention and was used to help identify Jacoby's full name as Drexel Hand.

Assault's Magic Ball

A magical eight-ball style item used for divination. It can only answer questions about the past or present. The party used it to ask if Jacoby had made contact with the Bogan or found a magic cube, receiving the cryptic answer 'don't count on it'.

The Chair

A significant and heavy object the party possesses. It was agreed upon as the reward for Relia and the Ashla in exchange for tracking Jacoby. The party loaded it into a crate on their cart, covered with cloth to conceal it.

Clockwork Orrery Marble

A small, glassy marble about an inch in diameter belonging to Relia, containing internal cogs and a light at its center. When activated, it projects a detailed, darkened map of the solar system showing planets, moons, dead zones, and the protective crystal sphere around Dierde.

Bag of Colding

A specialized magical storage bag used by the party to preserve perishable items, currently holding purple worm blood with a seven-day expiration window.

Bag of Holding

A magical storage bag the party uses to carry their vast wealth and heavy items, including thousands of copper and gold coins, purple worm mandibles, and other gear.

Purple Worm Mandibles

Large, heavy biological remains harvested from a purple worm, moved to the bag of holding to manage weight distribution.

Teleportation Circle Kit

Rare chalks and inks infused with precious gems, required as components to cast the teleportation circle spell. Purchased from Volo for 50 gold each.

Luck Stone

A carved black stone with a small green gem purchased from Volo by Barlo. It requires attunement and provides a bonus to ability checks and saving throws.

Necklace of Fireballs

A thin gold chain with three red beads purchased from Volo and claimed by Shadow in the Snow. The beads can be detached and thrown to create fiery explosions, and can be upcast by throwing multiple beads at once.

Glaive of Warning

A magical polearm that alerts its wielder to danger, part of Volo's specialized weapon inventory shown to the party.

Mithral Breastplate

A light, flexible medium armor made of the rare metal Mithral, purchased from Volo's stock and equipped by Sas.

Ring of Mind Shielding

A magical ring that protects the wearer's mind. The party traded this to Volo for 20,000 gold pieces worth of credit.

Brooch of Shielding

A protective piece of jewelry traded by the party to Volo for 7,000 gold pieces worth of credit.

Magical Chalk and Inks

Rare components infused with precious gems purchased by Bastion from Volo, specifically for casting the teleportation circle spell and transcribing spells into his spellbook.

Scroll of Dimension Door

A magical scroll allowing for short-range teleportation, acquired by the party during the trade with Volo.

Oil of Slipperiness

A magical oil purchased from Volo's wagon and added to the party's inventory.

Volo's Guide to All Things Magical

A book authored by Volothamp Geddarm containing lore about spells, magic items, and the history of famous wizards. Bastion studied it during travel, gaining a potential advantage on related Arcana and history checks for the next few days.

Purple Worm Teeth

Large, heavy trophies harvested from a purple worm, weighing approximately 100 pounds each, stored in the party's bags.

Roc Talons

Several-feet-long, iron-hard talons harvested from the massive Roc. They are extremely heavy at 25 pounds each and highly valuable at 500 gold pieces each, as expert weaponsmiths can carve them into powerful weapons and tools. The party successfully harvested two full talons.

Roc Feathers

Large, soft-bristled feathers gathered from the fallen Roc, suitable for high-end crafting. Each large pouch of feathers is worth approximately 30 gold pieces.

Roc Liver

A three-foot-long, dark red organ with potent alchemical properties harvested from the Roc's carcass, worth approximately 400 gold pieces and weighing 20 pounds.

Roc Leg

A massive limb from the Roc, loaded onto the party's cart to be processed later by professional harvesters in Skola Vale.

Spells

Simulacrum

Discussed as a spell Jacoby uses to create duplicate copies of himself, positioning them all around to manipulate people. The party believes he has used at least two or three simulacra and debates how many he may have remaining.

Teleportation Circle

A complex travel spell discussed and planned by the party. It requires rare chalks and inks infused with precious gems worth 50 gold as components. The party purchased the components from Volo and identified two known circles they have access to: one on their ship and one at Outing Refuge.

Sending

A communication spell mentioned as a way the party and Relia's order might stay in contact while pursuing their separate objectives.

Find Familiar

Mentioned in the context of needing specific gold-cost components such as incense to cast, illustrating why spell components have a monetary cost.

Shatter

Calliope cast this spell at the Roc as it swooped toward the camp, creating a loud discordant noise in a sphere that damaged the creature. The Roc made a Constitution saving throw, taking half damage on a success.

Scorching Ray

Bastion unleashed multiple rays of fire at the Roc as it descended toward the camp, with most rays finding their mark and dealing significant fire damage to the creature.

Conjure Barrage

Shadow in the Snow used a piece of ammunition to conjure a 60-foot cone of identical weapons that rained down upon the Roc, requiring the creature to make a Dexterity saving throw or take piercing damage.

Guidance

Sas cast this cantrip to provide a magical bonus to the party's nature checks while performing the delicate task of harvesting the Roc's iron-hard talons in the dark.

Classic

Last we left off, our party found themselves camped north of Skola Vale in uneasy company, sharing the grounds with a group of visitors known as the Ashla — hunters of those who pervert the magic weave. Through the night, Shadow's watchful eyes caught something chilling on the horizon: two massive silhouettes drifting against the stars, each with a wingspan of nearly a hundred feet, before vanishing into the darkness. The morning brought no less weight to bear. Calliope wrestled in quiet anguish with the revelation that her mother — a woman named Relia — existed in this very realm, a truth she had never known. And yet, the party pressed forward, striking a deal with the Ashla: in exchange for the mysterious chair, Relia's order would hunt the dangerous and elusive Jacoby Drexel Hand, a man of magical duplicates and shadowed intentions. The conversation between Calliope and Relia was brief, careful, and devastating — a mother acknowledging a daughter she could never claim, before walking away and leaving the young woman standing in stunned silence, her owlbear Arktos pressing close to fill the void.

But the day held wonders as well as wounds. Relia produced a small glassy marble — no larger than an inch across — that unfolded into a sweeping map of the entire solar system, and the party stood in quiet awe as the cosmos stretched out around them. Dead zones of annihilation orbiting the sun. Neighboring worlds of boiling seas, endless storms, and rusted metal skies. And their own world, Dierde, wrapped in a hexagonal force field — cracked open in the south where a dragon had once torn through it, leaving behind a chaotic sprawl of islands called Saurian Isles, teeming with dragons and danger. With the full shape of the heavens laid before them, the party shook hands with Relia, loaded the chair onto their cart, and set off down the road toward Skola Vale.

The journey south was long, rainy, and eventful. A chance encounter with the eccentric traveling merchant Volo left the party considerably better armed — a luck stone for Barlo, a necklace of fireballs for Shadow, a Mithral breastplate for Sas, scrolls and inks for Bastion, and a collection of healing potions to see them through the road ahead. But it was the third night of travel that none of them will soon forget. A Roc — one of those same titanic birds Shadow had spotted days before — came screaming out of the darkness with a hundred-foot wingspan blotting out the stars, seized Barlo in its iron talons, and carried him fifty feet into the night sky. Barlo, ever defiant, kept fighting even as the earth fell away beneath him. It was Shadow who ended it — two arrows, one driving into the other with devastating precision, dropping the creature from the sky in a crash that shook the trees and snuffed out the campfire. In the aftermath, the party harvested talons, feathers, and what they could carry, loaded the rest onto the cart, and rested through the quiet that followed — a forest gone eerily silent, its smaller creatures having long since fled the presence of an apex predator. Now, with Skola Vale on the horizon and the weight of the cosmos fresh in their minds, we return to our story...

Middle English

Lythe and listin, gentilmen,
Of adventurers bold and free;
Who camped beneath the northern stars,
And watched what none could see.
For Shadow spied two winged beasts,
With spans of hundred feet,
That drifted silent through the night,
Then vanished in retreat.

Come morn, the party turned their minds,
To Jacoby, thief and knave;
And struck a deal with Ashla's kin,
A chair for what they craved.
But Calliope stood still and pale,
When Relia touched her hand;
For she had learned a truth most strange,
Too great to understand.

Then Relia drew a marble small,
With cogs and inner light;
And cast the heavens all around,
A cosmos burning bright.
She spoke of dead zones, dragons' tears,
And shields of hexen form;
Of Saurian Isles's broken isle,
And planets wrapped in storm.

They met old Volo on the road,
His wagon wheel undone;
And traded rings for stones of luck,
And beads of blazing sun.
With Mithral plate and scrolls in hand,
And arrows, inks, and more;
They rode on south through rainforest rain,
And waterfalls that roar.

But on the third and darkened night,
A screech split wide the sky;
A Roc descended, talons wide,
As campfire flames burned high.
Bold Barlo fought from fifty feet,
While fire and thunder rang;
Till Shadow loosed two arrows true,
And felled the beast — it sang
No more, but crashed to silent earth,
And shook the trees around;
The party rose, the talons claimed,
And peace at last was found.

Snarky

The party struck a deal with Relia of the Ashla — a group of magical weave-hunters who have apparently lost the same guy multiple times, which is a great track record for people whose whole job is tracking people — trading a mysterious chair for help hunting down the slippery, duplicate-happy Jacoby Drexel Hand. In the middle of all this very professional negotiation, Calliope discovered that Relia is her mother, which Relia revealed by gently touching her hand and then walking away, because apparently emotional bombshells are best delivered with the energy of a woman who has somewhere else to be. Arktos the owlbear, bless him, immediately waddled over to provide comfort, proving once again that the owlbear has more emotional intelligence than anyone else in this party. Relia also pulled out a marble-sized projector of the entire solar system, casually explained twelve invisible death spheres orbiting the sun, a dragon that punched a hole through their planet's force field, and a rust-covered planet full of metallic dragons — you know, normal merchant small talk — before sending them off to get a navigation device in Wide Berth so their ship doesn't fly directly into annihilation.

Then, on night three of a perfectly peaceful cart ride, a Roc with a hundred-foot wingspan dove out of the sky like the universe remembered it hadn't punished these people in at least forty-eight hours. The party responded with fire, thunder, conjured weapons, and one extremely committed owlbear, but it was Shadow who closed the deal by firing an arrow directly into a previous arrow she had already lodged in the creature's neck — a shot so precise it should be illegal — dropping the Roc like a feathered skyscraper onto their campfire. Barlo, who had spent a portion of this fight dangling fifty feet in the air in the bird's talons and decided the correct response was to keep attacking, hit the ground hard but alive, which is honestly the most on-brand outcome imaginable. The party then spent the rest of the night harvesting talons in the dark, which is a sentence that describes their life now, and loaded a giant bird leg onto their cart to sell in Skola Vale like the completely normal adventurers they are.

Limerick

North of Skola Vale they camped through the night,
While Shadow watched massive birds take to their flight.
Two Rocs crossed the sky,
A hundred feet wide,
Then vanished like ghosts in the pale starlight.

Calliope learned of her mother, Relia,
A truth long kept hidden now painfully clear.
The Ashla would chase
Old Jacoby's face,
In exchange for the chair — what a deal to appear!

A marble was lit and the cosmos unfurled,
Dead zones, broken shields, and a dragon-torn world.
With Saurian Isles's breach
And Wide Berth in reach,
An orrery's needed to sail through the swirl.

Old Volo was fixing his wheel on the road,
He spread out his wares and the party's eyes glowed.
A luck stone for Barlo,
Fireballs for Shadow,
And Mithral for Sas — quite a glittering load!

A Roc dove from darkness with talons held wide,
It snatched up poor Barlo and took him for a ride!
But Shadow drew true,
One arrow shot through,
And the beast crashed to earth — with the campfire inside!

Exported from GMAssistant on 2026-08-16