Arendel’s Serpent's Skull Journal. (Complete! 06/25/13, With Pictures!)

Session 26.​

Lamashan the 17th (Cont).

We have decided to break off exploration and return to camp after our midday rest. I have spent our downtime studying and scribing some new spells from the captured spell book. We were greeted by Amivor who has declared tomorrow an official day of rest and recuperation for all the Pathfinder Camp.


Lamashan the 18th.

It was a grand day of celebration and feasts for almost everyone, celebrating our successes in Saventh-Yhi thus far. I have spent the day studying and scribing, however. It shall take some time to get all these spells into my own books.

At the end of the day Amivor covered some of the new discoveries made by the Pathfinder’s research.

From tablets discovered in the Military District (Spear of Righteous Anger):


"Savith then cleaved the snake-god's head from its vile body in the very heart of his own Temple, and flung the Abomination into a pool of living fire. Mortally wounded, The Golden Hero was brought by her surviving generals to the surface, where she succumbed to the Snake Emperor's vile Threefold Poison.

Thus and then this great city of Saventh-Yhi was founded, as a tribute to the great Hero of our People, and in memory of her Heroic Sacrifice that we may live free from the Yoke today."


From frescoes and friezes in the Mercantile District (Spear of Wealth):


"And the Founders see it fit to ensconce the city in protective magics, should ever the fate of Her People fall to the wrath of the jungle. Enchantments meant to stave off the creeping jungle, preserve the buildings herein, and keep its location anonymous are protections against the Vipers as much as Nature itself. Thus the print of Mankind is placed in the jungles. Yet many protest the absence of the Spear of Rest from these magics; certainly a foible to estimate the population's ability to rebuild its own dwellings under such minimal enchantment."


He also noted the presence (and locations) of the Red Mantis Assassins, the Aspis Consortium and a group of Pirates from the Shackles(!?). No sign of the Sargaven Government yet. The spear on the central isle has been identified as the Spear of Honest Pride.



Lamashan the 19th.

Now, it’s back to business as usual. We have returned to the central Isle to continue our exploration. Amivor has voiced the possibility of moving our camp to the central isle once it is cleared. Ace has voiced the opinion (to our little group only) that this location would probably increase the likelihood of conflict with the other groups exploring Saventh-Yhi. We agreed this seems likely as they probably want to explore every district as we intend, though we did not share this opinion with Amivor.

We noted more carvings representing the Rakshasa and have deciphered what we believe to be his name, “Akarundo”.

We also encountered many more of the primitive Serpent-Folk. The encounter started outside a row of buildings and continued on into the basement of the largest building. There (along with a bunch of Serpent-Folk) were a number of captured humans. Once the Serpent-Folk were defeated we spoke to the Humans and they claimed to be followers of one they call “The Divine Serpent” and that their camp is to the South. They all bear serpent tattoos on some part of their anatomy and tell us their goddess walks among them. We are not sure what to make of this though there is most certainly a rivalry between them and the Serpent-Folk.

They also informed us of their great fear of a massive aquatic serpent that lives in the central pool on this island. We set the tribesmen free and went to investigate. Max (with the assistance of a Water Walking potion we’ve had since the Shiv) and Kay’Es (flying) began to explore, making sure to disturb the surface of the pool hoping to draw the serpent up. It wasn’t until we threw the bloodied corpse of one of the Serpent-Folk into the water that the creature decided to put in an appearance.

At first we thought it might be two creatures, but further observation proved it was a serpentine creature with two heads, one at each end of its body. An Amphisbaena, I believe they are called. Given ample time to prepare for the encounter, along with Ace casting Slow on our opponent when it surfaced and my casting Haste on Max, the serpent stood little chance. Max was a little disappointed that recovery of a suitable trophy was too troublesome to consider. We were able to recover a fair amount of treasure from the bottom of the pool, so that raised his spirits a bit. We shall now take a short rest and move on.

Running a little late with the end of session wrap due to family responsibilities.

Thanks for reading and the comments Lwaxy. I think you’re actually our second poster from Germany (a country where I was lucky enough to spend 2.5 years way back when and hope to visit again someday), unless the other poster was from Berlin New Hampshire…

I don’t think it comes across in the journal, but everyone in our group has a pretty good sense of humor and every game is full of laughs. Peteinmaine does a good job at the table role playing Max’s low Intelligence, which is always good for more than a few laughs.

Nothing but straight exploration and we had a late start. These factors make for a short update. We had a full house with a guest player running the Ranger (or at least A Ranger).

I’m not sure what to make of the prisoners information. We don’t have the ability to detect evil, but the fact that they worship a “serpent” makes me a little nervous. It sounds like a Serpent-Folk encounter is in our future (no surprise there). I think I recall the pronoun “she” was used, so perhaps “she” will be friendly (or at least not hostile)? That would be a surprise. We’ll see if the release of a few of her worshippers will grant us any favor.

Next week: Hopefully we’ll clear the island and possibly move camp.

Yeah it comes across just fine. I imagine Max as always looking around for a trophy, too.. well, you never know what could be made into a trophy with a little help, anyway

More like it

So after killing the big double ended pond snake we explored some more. I was telling Arendel how much I liked walking on water, and he gave me a ring out of my backpack so now I can do it all the time!
We fought more of those snake guys and a Crocodile man thing that had some pretty rugged spells. He apparently had the Chief of the other guys we saved in a cage. We freed the chief and he invited us to his village to celebrate. I've been in the jungle for a while and hope to have fun at the afterparty...
The chief was telling about the city and he mentioned an evil monster in the lake, I volunteered to pull some canoes across the lake, hoping to meet the lake monster, and wasn't disappointed. Almost to the other side in slapped Arendel, Ace, and Teraz's canoe into the air and they all fell in the water. thankfully we were all able to get a shot or two in on it and thoroughly put it down.
Im secretly hoping something else tries to eat me...after last time I keep my flask of Black adder poison in a handy belt pouch and the next time I get swallowed I'm emptying it into whatever eats me's gullet...I can't wait! It's gonna be AWESOME!!!!
PS I dragged the famous lake monster to shore and am TOTALLY keeping it's head!!!!

killing Zombies

I had a handful of Zombies from the frog face guy come at me...I managed to drop 3 out of 5 as they ran up to me, but I left the dreaded 7 10 split...very frustrating to try to pick up

Session 27.​

Lamashan the 19th (Cont).

Our exploration of the center isle continued as we looped along the southern peninsula hoping to finish our sweep of the region. We approached a high domed building from which the horrid stench of rotted meat emanated. Within was a small arena of horrors. Death and decay filled the center of the arena and we were greeted by Akarundo the Rakshasa and his Serpent-Folk minions. Also within was another of the human tribesman, locked in a cage. It was hard to be absolutely sure, but he appeared to be unconscious, not dead. Akarundo let it be known that he was aware we had released his other prisoners and that he was not too pleased with us.

Knowing we faced one of our greatest challenges, I immediately cast Haste upon my companions as combat commenced. It was a tough battle as spells from both sides flew about the room, but in the end we were victorious.

After gathering what loot we could find, we were all healed by the radiant burst of Taraz’s prayers, including the prisoner. As we returned the prisoner’s elaborate headdress to him, he told us his name was Osond and that he was the chieftain of the Tribe of the Sacred Serpent. He then asked us to which tribe we belonged. While Max and Ka’Azbu responded with their individual clan names, I explained to him that we had come together and basically formed our own mini-tribe. Much like any other tribe, we considered ourselves Brothers in Arms.

He seemed a little surprised at the concept of individuals from many tribes working together and offered to bring us to meet with his tribe to the southwest. He told us we would be received as honored guests for his rescue and that of his fellow tribesmen. He went on to impart to us of the circumstances surrounding their capture, which Max found a little confusing. Osond mentioned they were ambushed while foraging for food. It was at this point that Max leaned over and, in a whispered voice, asked me why they would send their warriors out to gather berries. Perhaps Osond had meant “hunting”, but it was rather odd, as Max has always explained that foraging was a job for the weak or infirm in his clan. The warriors hunted. I suppose it’s possible it was a translation issue, as Osond was speaking in Polyglot.

Osond told us the tribe had canoes hidden along the southwestern shore of the isle. As we made our way there, he told us some of what he knew of the region. He mentioned a tribe of Boggards living to the south (east of his tribe) in a swampy region of the city and a tribe of Troglodytes living even farther to the east of his village. Both were currently considered hostile to his tribe, though tensions had recently eased to some extent. The region directly east of the central isle had been reclaimed by the jungle, for the most part and contained many carnivorous plants. He also mentioned the central lake, which they call Hirilaka, was home to many predators like mega-piranha, Gray Nisps (part piranha, part man) and a great evil spirit they called Mokele-M’Bebe.

As we approached the western edge of the isle, we saw a high-roofed plaza with numerous columns upon which there were many Azlanti runes. Some of the columns appeared to have been cleaned recently. Upon entering the plaza, we saw a number of Zombies milling about and, toward the back, was a Boggard examining the columns. He was dressed in the manner of a medicine man or witch doctor. Osond warned us he should be considered hostile, but we attempted to parley anyway. The foolish creature spurned our goodwill and attacked. His pitiful Zombie minions could not save him.

Studying the columns, I saw they described ancient laws and gave examples of punishments handed down from Saventh-Yhi’s ancient legal system. I got the impression that they were pretty even handed in their judgments. The rich and powerful criminals received the same punishments as the poor criminals that had little influence.

After gathering all the interesting objects we could find from the area, we moved on to find Osond’s hidden canoes. As we started across the lake in two canoes, Osond continued to tell us stories of the region. He was just telling us of a Vampire that hunts creatures in the southern part of the city when Mokele-M’Bebe decided put in an appearance, tipping over the canoe containing Ace, Taraz and myself. Max quickly ran over (using a ring of Water Walking we had found earlier) to keep the creature at bay while we floundered in the water attempting to get our bearings. At this point, Max’s dog decided to jump out of the other canoe and swim for shore for some reason. Max insists he was going for help, I remain unconvinced.

“Bark, Bark!” Translation – “Osond and his new allies are being attacked by Mokele-M’bebe on lake Hirilaka!”

I seriously doubt it.

In any event, we were able to pull ourselves together. Ace, Taraz and I even managed cast spells while treading water. Though my Overland Flight had already worn off, I had kept a Fly spell on hand just in case and was thus able fly out of the water and rain magical fire down upon the creature. I feel Osond was quite impressed with our defeat of this “Evil Spirit” which, in truth, was really just an aquatic dinosaur of some type.

We have just arrived at the shore and the tribe of the Sacred Serpent has started lighting fires and torches to start a feast in our honor (at least I hope that is what they are doing). Osond has told us he will meet with the Radiant Muse in the morning. I suspect tomorrow will be a rather interesting day and I hope to meet this… individual. I must remember to perform a Sending to Amivor in the morning to apprise him of our situation.

Well if Max named the dog Lassie it might have worked...

Yeah, Max’s dog is no Lassie. If you try to say ““Osond and his new allies are being attacked by Mokele-M’bebe on lake Hirilaka!” in a fast, panting, “I’m a dog” kind of voice, you might get some idea of how funny that phrase was when DM Soanso said it.

We were VERY lucky with the Rakshasa. I knew it had Serious SR and DR as I had just run a Rakshasa as a GM in another game. Taraz just made the roll to overcome SR and Max does so much damage, subtracting 15 really isn’t that big a deal. I tried to use buffs to make a difference and had to Dispel a Suggestion on Max. The one time I threw out an offensive spell that didn’t allow SR (Geyser), it didn’t work and messed up Max’s Flank (Which he needs to take advantage of his Rogue levels).

Ace was summoning some crazy sh… uh, s… stuff. During our pregame chatter he always laughs evilly over his latest summoning capabilities. “Do you have a Xill mini? Say… What happens if a summoned creature implants eggs in a helpless enemy? Do the eggs disappear at the end of the summoning?”

Not sure what to make of the Boggard and his Zombie minions. We pretty much blew through that encounter. I failed to figure out what he was doing. Studying columns with ancient laws and verdicts? Perhaps it’s like watching “Law and Order” to him.

We’ll begin next session with the Tribe of the Sacred Serpent and see if they will throw us a party or cook us (or both). I’m eager to meet with the Radiant Muse. I’m assuming Serpent-Folk and Trouble will be the words of the day. Hopefully we won’t have to take on the whole tribe. I also hope Max and I will level after next session.

Lamashan the 19th (Cont).

Just after the festivities started, Osond returned to tell us that the Radiant Muse wanted to meet with us right away. We climbed the district ziggurat, topped with the Spear of Eager Striving. With what we have seen so far, it appears this district is dedicated to the arts.

Also at the top of the ziggurat was the Radiant Muse herself, a Lillend (an extraplanar creature with the torso of a beautiful woman on top and the coils of a serpent below). It would seem Lillends were not that uncommon in ancient Saventh-Yhi, as they acted as muses for many of the artisans of the district. Obviously smitten with her beauty, Max leaned in and asked me a whispered question that I shall not note for posterity. My answer was, “you really don’t want to find out.” Max accepted this with a nod.

The Radiant Muse told us we were welcome to stay for just one night unless we could demonstrate any meaningful artistic talents. I immediately started to panic as two of our group volunteered to demonstrate their “artistic ability.”

My fears were confirmed as Ace stepped forward and opened with, “Your large breasts remind me of an amusing story I once heard in a Tavern…” I shall not relate the rest of the vulgar story here, suffice to say we were all left speechless at its, I hesitate to say, “climax”.

I was only slightly less panicked when Taraz stepped forward. He began to relate portions of the holy script of Sarenrae, some of which can be quite beautiful and moving. Unfortunately he chose passages related to the structure of the religious hierarchy and layout of the temples. “…And all the Temples of The Dawnflower shall be set with Windows Facing to the East and Windows Facing to the West so that the Divine Everlight shall fall upon the Altar at the Dawn and Eve of each day.”

I don’t think I blinked or breathed through the entire fiasco. Thankfully the Radiant Muse was not angered by our uncouth display, even going so far as thanking us for our “performances” (and believe me when I say, you could hear the quotes around the word “performances”). She then mentioned that perhaps our skills might lie in other disciplines.

It was at this point where my horror arose once more as Max stepped forward. “You got anything that needs killin’?”

I thanked the gods.

She told us more of the bestial vampire that had been preying upon the people of her village. Osond had already mentioned this creature in passing, but she went into greater detail. It seems this creature is more animal-like than most vampires and calls it a Vrykolakas, a Feral Vampire. She told us it looks vaguely humanoid, with leathery brown skin, hunched shoulders, crooked legs, and a long, bony neck ending in an almost ape-like head. Apparently the trouble started a few weeks ago and attacks happen every three or four nights. She told us the creature lives to the east, perhaps in the Boggard’s territory. She noted that if we could solve this problem for her, we would be welcome to explore this district.

At this point, we returned to the feast and then rested for the night in an offered hut. We rested until dawn.


Lamashan the 20th.

I used a Sending spell to inform Amivor of our situation. He replied that they were relocating camp to the central isle and would soon send scouts to meet us lakeside, near the village.

Looking at our map, we noted a building in the middle of a lake to the southeast. We thought that a good place to start and borrowed a couple of canoes. It was not too much trouble porting them to the lakeside. We encountered a patrol of Boggards who were, once again, unwilling to parlay.

Lakeside, we noted a green glow coming from the entrance to the top level of the flooded ziggurat. The paddle out was uneventful. Once there, we climbed to the top as that appeared to be the only entrance. Within the small structure was a green, glowing bottle filled with mist. Within the mist from time to time I saw a demonic looking face. As I was inspecting it, a voice from the bottle said, “I know all within Saventh-Yhi! Ask and I shall answer!”

Somewhat taken aback, I started with the obvious. “Who are you?”

“I am Tentagard! I am the voice within! Filled with the knowledge of all! You there! Mighty Shoanti Warrior! Have you a question?”

Max, having noted on the way over that much of the surrounding neighborhood had sunk into the quagmire asked, “What happened here?” It was at this point the bottle shattered and a great Hezrou Demon stood before us. I quickly retreated and cast Haste.

The creature pointed at Max and bellowed, “I have always wanted to fight one such as you.” Well, I assume he meant he had had enough of life on this plane and wished to return home, because even shifting to gaseous form did not save the creature from our wrath.

We searched the area and, finding little, moved on toward this districts Spear. Even from a distance we could see a thatch hut atop the ziggurat next to the spear. As we got closer, we determined that this was probably a farming district and the spear was the Spear of Abundance.

Climbing to the top of the ziggurat we were surprised by a terrifying croak. It would seem this was the lair of the Boggard chief and his retinue. Max confronted the chief in single combat while we held off the mooks. Though the chief actually put in a good showing, after less than twenty seconds he had cast aside his falchion and fell to his knees in surrender, as did his tribesmen. Though Max had been enjoying the fight, since the chief was one of the most able opponents he had recently faced, he accepted their surrender as any honorable warrior would.

As none of us spoke their language, Ace summoned a couple of Hound Archons so they could use their Truespeech to translate for us. Through them, the chief, called Garluu, told us of the tribe’s troubles and woes. It all started with the appearance of the Vampiric Beast a few weeks ago and had now been compounded with the disappearance of their Oracle, who had been keeping the creature at bay. Yes… Ahem. I nonchalantly drifted to the back of our group to hide my recently acquired magical cloak.

Through the Archons, we were able to broker a personal peace with the Boggard tribe and even extend that to the Tribe of the Sacred Serpent. The Boggards also mentioned their Great, Green God who lives in the lake to the south (we had somehow avoided confronting him). We are considering going back to see this creature, but are hesitant to jeopardize the peace we have negotiated. We did warn them of others exploring the area that might not be as merciful. We showed them the symbol of the Pathfinders so they would be able to recognize their new allies.

Garluu offered to have his warriors escort us to the lair of the Vampiric Beast and we accepted. They took us back to the west, to a tower where we would find the creature. We entered the Beast’s home, which was filled with the bones of its victims and quickly put an end to its reign of terror.

At this point it was getting late, so we returned to the Tribe of the Sacred Serpent and the Radiant Muse. We told them of the peace offering from the Tribe of the Green God which they accepted and seemed generally pleased about. They felt the end of conflict might lead to a period of growth and prosperity within the region. With the death of the Vampire, the Radiant Muse informed us we had earned free passage within the district and could come and go as we pleased.

That evening, we met with the Pathfinder scouts along the shore and traded reports. The move was complete and the Pathfinders were now in control of the central isle, with access from two of the four bridges. We learned the Sargaven government had finally arrived and that the Pirates had been having difficulties with disease ravaging their camp. We all assume it is some mix of syphilis and scurvy.

The days are getting longer… We finally have the resources to handle enough encounters to run though an entire adventure filled day!

The radiant muse was a bit of a surprise. Thought for sure it was going to end bad as she would be a Serpent-Folk and we would end up on opposite sides, but instead it seems we have found some allies. Hopefully it stays that way.

We have absolutely no skill in Perform, I think the Oracle (at +6, due to Charisma) was our best shot, with the Summoner (at +5, all Charisma) coming in a close second. I’m all about Diplomacy, not Performance. Luckily, we didn’t fail so badly that she felt this world would be better off without the riff-raff.

The talking Jar was weird. My thought was that it was a magic item that would only answer a limited number of questions and was trying to get us to waste our questions on pointless stuff. (“Are you really the head of Kwik-E-Mart? Really? You?”, “Thank you Come Again!”) Come to find out, he was released from his imprisonment after answering a certain number of questions, so it was bound to happen. There was no way we were getting out of there without asking at least two questions.

The Boggards are now our allies as well, it would seem. We’ll see if it’s a lasting peace (Is it really better to be feared? I guess we’ll find out.). It appears they’re just hoping we’ll explore quickly and move on. There is a lot of debate over confronting the Green God. Max is always seeking out tough encounters to prove himself. I don’t think it’s worth shattering our already tenuous peace over. Then again, we do need to finish exploring that region…

I don’t think our competition is doing as well as we are, even though we’re the ones clearing the way. I think, with the arrival of the Sargavan Government, all of the groups have now arrived. We all find the Pirates in the Jungle thing really funny, as it just seems so out of place.

All right then, until next Time! Hopefully, in the next session we can wrap up the two districts we partially explored in this last session.