WotBS Lylandra's War of the Burning Sky continued

I'm sure it's been said before, but because 4e spanned 30 levels and generally had a very different encounter design, the conversion had to add a lot of stuff to get the PCs enough XP.

I wasn't involved, but in hindsight, given how long 4e combats can take, it might have made more sense just to level PCs faster and keep the same number of encounters. That said, yeah, I didn't do enough foreshadowing when designing WotBS. ZEITGEIST had a lot more planning in advance.

When I was working on my 5e Age of Worms conversion, I very quickly realized that milestone leveling was going to be the only way to go as the XP went off the rails by chapter 2. I get the fun of handing out bonus bits of XP and seeing the progress toward the next level. Looking back, for the times when there was something extra the party did that the original text said should be awarded XP, I think I should have handed out inspiration to the participating party members or something similar.
[MENTION=63]RangerWickett[/MENTION], in hindsight, do you think the 4e version should have not had extra content and used milestone leveling instead to keep the adventure pacing similar / the same as the 3.5 version?

I can't rightly say. I've never read the 4e conversion. I was too busy writing my own total tear-down rewrite of 4e with only 3 classes and no magic items.

Hah, that sounds interesting!

Regarding 4e, I generally like 4th edition, but it also has many flaws. I love the tactical combat options. I like the concept of minions, elites and solos. I even like the general extended combat length due to more HP and more to do (especially for martial characters) - on paper it seems perfect for a group like mine which isn't really focused on combat, but likes flavorful and meaningful battles. Sadly, many of the "added content" for the 4e version is, as you said, small story arcs that add masses of combat. And you realize often that the new arcs don't share the same consistency or are as carefully inserted into the causal chains of events in relation to the original material. But I harvested some story and background snippets from the 4e version to create something else

That being said, I'd rather cut down some of the non-story relevant combat would I play WotBS 4e. Encounters that only exist to grind enough XP are a waste of time, especially with so long time/combat ratios. Hand out more XP for story or roleplaying or do milestone leveling.

Regarding forshadowing: For me, it is somewhere between perfect and "Gimme more!". WotBS has enough open spaces and open ends for GMs who'd like to give the Saga their own touch. For someone like me who's reading every tiny bit of background material she deems relevant, I got enough information and inspiration to fill in some blanks and foreshadow developments which I thought would be interesting for my players. But there were some cases where I felt that a GM with less time to prep than I have would have to make compromises. And new GMs might struggle even more which is why I'd say WotBS is perfect for an experienced GM.
For example, I enjoyed designing all the Lords and Proxies of Dassen. Or fleshing out General Magdus. But it took me quite a while. Now to play WotBS, you don't need to do either, but I'd find it sad to reduce the possibility of a day full of negotiation to seven die rolls.

Plus, it was easier for me because I could read the whole campaign as a whole before letting my players create their PCs. And I took advantage of the many forum threads looming around. That really, really helped me to plan for changes and keep the consistency. It'd be a nightmare to read and play through the adventures one by one because there is so much background information in every adventure.

With ZEITGEIST I cannot really 100% compare the two because I GM WotBS and play ZEITGEIST as a player in Tizbiz' campaign. But from what he said (and he has less prep time), he really liked to see pre-scripted options for spotlighting or changing several NPC or the fact that, for example, we wouldn't have had to create a cover identity on our own in adventure 4 because there was a full set of identities to choose from.
But sometimes I felt the need to act on all that foreshadowing, to take the clues (for example, the visions) and make sense of it and then do something with it to get to know more (i.e. "Deva means deity in elven and in the Arsenal of Dhebisu a deity got transformed into a rakhshasa. Can a Deva - who's carrying some sort of divine essence - be transformed into a rakhshasa by 'exiling him' and are there means to find this out? I'm off to Pardwright library..."). Even if it is not meant to happen yet. But that's just me.

Intermezzo, Pt. 2

After their brief adventure in the swamps of Vidor, Cuin, Tinuviel and Torrent invite the rest of the crew (Crystin, Katrina and Tiljann) to a small feast in the bilge pump in Seaquen. The elves talk about their plans to go back to Gate Pass and check up on the situation there as they have heard that the war against the second army is still going.

Katrina says that she misses her home and her brother as well, but she adds that she's been feeling quite uncomfortable lately, as if she was being watched. She fears that this might be Guthwulf's magic and that the guy still hasn't given up on “winning her back”. So the elves suggest that she might want to stay in the Lyceum where Simeonne can protect her from further divination. Katrina agrees and adds that Simeonne would need her help and organizational talent anyway.

The next morning, Tinuviel receives a message from his aunt Mariel. She speaks very politely and cautiously about the political situation in Calanis and she hints that Shaaladel has put his attention away from Seaquen and Dassen after the fleet incident and the storm ultimatum. He now sees Leska as a bigger threat (which is not surprising as the 4th is still advancing onto Calanis). She also mentions that Shalosha has departed from the capital with an entourage to search for the torch (and possible allies) on her own.

Tinuviel fears that the calming influence of Shalosha and the political pressure from the recent losses in the north might lead Shaaladel to more aggressive politics and he shares his thoughts wuth Cuin. He also thinks about maybe trying to contact Shalosha soon to find out more about her plans.
The group wants to check up on Tinuviel's brothers and sisters in spirit, and especially Kathor, aftre the demise of Madness. So they decide to travel to Gate Pass and take Crystin with them so she can make contact with another trillith-bound.

As their journey would lead them through Innotendar Forest, Cuin also plans to visit the Seela and the surviving elves who might be about to rebuild their home. He remembers the promise he gave Lady Timor most recently and sends her an invitation to accompany them all to the Forest. He then remembers that he also promised to help Lord Rego with trade agreements, so he invites him to make contact with the elves as well.

They all meet up in Cornerwood which seems to be in a better condition than before. The townsfolk explain that they get far more visitors (and their money) now that the Elfroad is open again. And they didn't see any Ragesians yet. They also mention friendly elves who shyly tried to make contact and with whom they want to start trading.

Lady Timor and her two mages spend their time in the inn and the Lady seems pretty happy to see Cuin'halar again this soon.

Together they continue to the former Fire Forest and first meet up with the twelve surviving Innotendar elves who decided to waste no time and now call a quite functional village their own. The group is led by the siblings Aubron and Nuada who don't seem to agree on all of the other's plans for the future. Aubron wants to keep his community secret while his elder sister Nuada seeks justice for her people. She wants to question Diashan Shediell and find proof that Lord Shaaladel was directly involved in the torching of Innotendar.

They promise the elves to get the reports on Diashan to them and to hold Shaaladel accountable to his crimes. Cuin explains that he wouldn't let the guy get away, especially after he killed almost all of his people. The elves also tell the party that they started to form patrols with the Seela and that they cut down all Ragesians who dare to enter their forest.

Among the elves is Saelynn, a woman they know from Gate Pass. She says that she fled the forest when the tensions with the Shahalesti started to rise and she now returned to hide from the ongoing siege of Gate Pass. She's lost her husband and didn't want to endanger her son and unborn child. She asks Cuin and Tinu to greet Tharaleth should they see him as he was a colleague of her late husband.

Lady Timor is very inspired by the defiant spirit of the elves and she's very interested in the Seela and their songs as well. She promises them to become good neighbors and to stay in close contact with them. Rego's proxy is a bit more hesitant, but he cannot really say no to such a promising trade opportunity.

Last but not least, Cuin'halar leads Myriam Timor to the First Tree and Timbre. The dryad embraces the wielder of Anyariel's blade and says she's really glad that the Tree is recovering very quickly. She then leads the two to the Tree which is in full bloom and Cuin gets all poetic about the beauty of life and his duty to protect the Seela and maybe all of creation. He then kind of asks the tree for permission to pick one of its blossoms and gives it to Lady Timor. She is very touched by his gesture and promises to keep it safe.

They continue their journey to Gate Pass where the entourages meet up with the current Gate Pass resistance council: Erdan Menash, Diogenes, Tharaleth and, to everyone's surprise, Rantle. When asked, Tharaleth explains that roguish Rantle felt that something was missing after Cuin and Tinu left Gate Pass. He tried to fill that gap with even more enthusiasm of his own and Tharaleth saw a genuine care for Gate Pass in the young man, so he decided to give him a chance to prove himself.

The party then takes a trip to everyone's favorite “very manly” tavern. They are welcomed by Olivier who hands them booze and says that his “best customer”, the Black Knight and Battering Ram of Gate Pass, tends to arrive in the evening hours when the ragesian skirmishes ebb down.
After a while, Kathor arrives and makes his first contact with Crystin. At first, he's a bit confused that they endangered this cute little girl just to meet a guy like him, but Crystin tells “Mr. Ram” that she's fine on her own. She also mutters that his Justice will soon meet someone vigilant and that they'd together be among the protectors of Gate Pass.

Kathor feels something strange when he's around Crystin and Tinuviel explains him what they've learned about the Trillith and their mother, Trilla. They ask him whether he's interested in finding the missing dragon and promise to keep him informed. Kathor thanks them all for their effort, but says that he feels quite comfortable in Gate Pass right now, as if someone's telling him that this is the right place to be and to fight for. He adds that he's still confused and uneasy about his feelings towards the Ragesians, his own people. He seems a bit afraid to confront his father and even more afraid to put shame on the honorable man.

The next day, all negotiations seem to be done and the group(s) travel back to their home towns.

When the party returns to Seaquen, they discuss the result of the Dasseni diplomatic endeavour with Simeonne. She seems to be satisfied with strengthening trade through the Elfroad but also a bit worried that the Ragesians might find some easy targets there.

She also mentions that she's fed up with casting defensive spells on Katrina all day (that girl only knows blaster spells...) and that she's commissioned a mental shield crown to protect her “handmaiden” - as she jokingly calls the sorceress – from further scrying attempts.

Simeonne then proceeds to discuss the worrisome situation of the team she send to Ostalin. For now, all communication with them stopped completely and she doesn't really know what happened to them. The last time she heard from Shelton, the party's wizard, was a couple of days ago when they were in a town called Eresh. She adds that some of the refugees, the monks of the Echoed Soul might know the area surrounding the monastery, so they maybe want to ask them for a guide should they want to check up on Eril and his team. (wink, wink, hint, hint)

She also talks about her other team she's still in contact with. They send messages in very irregular frequency, but they found out that the First Ragesian army is still near Korstull and in control of the area surrounding the rain of fire. So they surely have to act in secret.

Tinuviel asks the headmastress about news on the Burning Sky research and she says that she, Kiernan and Sheena did a lot of calculations recently. They found out that the Burning Sky was slightly less severe at night, and even less during a new moon. She then laughs and adds that Kiernan then, after a night without sleep, called them all idiots and suggested to transform people who'd like to teleport into something inflammable, like, for example, a fire elemental. Tinu bursts into laughter and says that he'll ask Kiernan for a polymorph should he feel the need to teleport long distances in the future.

Note: A day full of wrap-ups. Cuin became very invested in Innotendar and Tinuviel seems keen on keeping the friendly fellow Trillith-bound together as some sort of extended family. Both players really like Kathor and I kind of envision him as a more family-bound version of Berserk's Guts. In time, he will become an one-man-army, so I guess that description fits him.

I still wanted to let my party decide whether to focus on Ostalin or Sindaire first and it seemed like Ostalin got the vote, so I made Simeonne lose contact with Eril first. The Sindairese team will be captured by the First army in time, so they'll get there soon as well. (I'm not sure whether it was ever discussed what happened to the team Simeon send to Sindaire, but I thought it made sense that they could get captured by Magdus' people)

Oh and for the Burning Sky... I had a good laugh when I read about the polymorph option. I was surprised that none of my players came up with it first and then realized that Pathfinder polymorph doesn't give you all the immunities the original creature has. So I ruled that you can polymorph into a tiny, harmless version of the creature to get the full template.

Kathor was based on a PC a friend of mine ran, and he was a huge fan of Berserk, so the Guts comparison is perfect.

One night in Yen Ching

Hah, that's great! Kathor turned out to be one of the really well recieved NPC and I also instantly liked him when I read his journey throughout the campaign. Like the players, he just got thrown into the grand scheme of events and tries to find his role and identity over the course of the adventures.

---

The group finally decides that they want to check up on what's going on in the Monastery and Eresh, so they meet up with Three Weeping Ravens (apparently a name that's too complicated for Tinuviel's player to remember...) and ask him about the encounter with the Monks of the Two Winds. The monk explains that his group was fleeing from the Ragesians in Sindaire after they heard that the Inquisitors were searching and abducting “mages”. They tried to find shelter within the monastery, but were not let in as the monastery's leaders feared that letting in refugees would attract the Ragesians. So they continued their journey until they found Seaquen.

They also ask him about the “ancient evil” he spoke about the last time they mat and this time, Three Weeping Ravens takes them aside and tells them that this is a wound that's deeply rooted in his people. He says that they originally came from a monastery near Ycengled Phuurst and that their ancient home was taken over by someone who feasted on dark souls. He doesn't know much more and says that maybe Dreams No More will tell them more once she knows and trusts them more. Cuin is intrigued as Ycengled is the original home of the Taranesti people and Tinuviel plans to stay and meditate with the Echoed Soul Monks who just happen to be psionic “mental mages” as well once their mission is over.

Note: Coincidence? Not really as I made Trilla a soul-forged golden dragon. They just didn't know that back then
I also went with Three Weeping Ravens as the monk/psychic warrior he was intended to be (the combination is pretty neat) and tried to improve him a bit. On a second thought, I could have gestalted him as well as the combo was not as effective as I thought. He really lacks some hit bonus and defense compared to the PCs.

They do on and ask him whether he could be their guide to Eresh as Simeonne is missing a group of people who went there. Three Weeping Ravens agrees to lead the way and adds that he'd like to take the opportunity to talk to the monastery's masters should that be possible.

As Three Weeping Ravens explains that one of the masters, a monk called Longinus, is said to be a great seer, Tinuviel asks Crystin whether she'd like to accompany them as well. After all, this might be the perfect chance to find someone who's psionically gifted who can teach her how to use her powers. Crystin is eager to learn and so she agrees to team up with them.

Together, they arrange with Sheena, Tiljann and Kiernan to teleport to the city of Yen-Ching where Sheena knows a safehaven for them to land. Kiernan polymorphs them all into tiny fire elementals and off they go.

Once they initiate the teleport circle, Sheena and Tinuviel realize that something is wrong. Instead of arriving at their target destination in an instant, they actually float through a burning astral plane for a while and barely manage to avoid being seen by an astral dreadnought.

Note: I wanted to one-up the dangers of the burning sky. At this point, my players had plenty of resources to protect themselves against the fire and they were not close enough to Korstull to have the necrotic effect kick in yet. I also didn't want them to solve basically everything travel related via teleport-spam. Used in healthy doses, teleport is fine. But especially Tinuviel's player tends to heavily over-do and sometimes outright abuse things that work fine per se which can easily lead to him becoming a one-trick pony. So yeah, educational reasons

When they finally arrive back on their home plane, they find themselves trapped in a cage besides a teleport beacon. Outside the cage, a group of massively armed guards demands that they explain themselves. Fortunately, they can convince the guards that they are what they are: A group of emissaries from Seaquen who wants to make contact with the Monastery of the Two Winds. The guard's captain, Fau Lu Pan, orders to have them released from the cage if they hand over their weapons in return. She then apologizes for the cold welcome. She explains that they are all in one of the Khagan's estates and that in times of war it is a wise decision to be cautious.

Fau Lu Pan asks them to wait in one of the estate's luscious waiting rooms until she has explained the whole situation to her Khagan. A short time later, she explains that the Khagan wants to see them all and she asks them to accompany them to the main villa where they will get the chance to meet her Lord.

The party is pretty impressed by all the splendor (and the color-matching guards) the Khagan has to offer in this special villa. After a short wait in a very comfy tea room they are finally introduced to Khagan Onamdammin. They are quite irritated by his strange appearance, but they manage to hide their surprises to his “orcified” half-elven face pretty well.

Onamdammin says that he's glad to finally meet the “saviors of Dassen” in person and that he's been very upset hat he didn't make it to the war council in person (an obvious, but polite lie). Cuin takes the opportunity to ask whether ambassador Kazhar Lonam's unreasonably high demands back then were actually meant as an honest offer. The Khagan grins visibly when he's asked that and replys that if Seaquen had agreed to his terns, he'd have known that they were all cowards with no backbones and would have totally deserved to be exploited. Cuin congratulates him on his cunning scheme and then asks him whether there could be a honest alliance between Ostalin and Seaquen, now that he knows they are “tough bones”. Onamdammin explains that he might agree to such an alliance, but they'd have to first convince his good friend and great judge of character, Master Pilus of the East Wind. The elf replies that this sums up quite nicely as they were on a journey to the Two Winds anyway, so they'll discuss the Alliance in addition to their other business.

When asked, they explain that they seek Master Longinus' wisdom and maybe an opportunity to learn his famed divination methods. The Khagan adds that they maybe want to order biomantic steeds, like he did a few weeks ago. He then concludes the talk and invites them all to have some fun in his harem tonight as they are his most honored guests. He then takes a glance at all the people assembled there and adds “or maybe some of you beauties wants to share the bed of a Khagan tonight?”. All but Sheena Larkis politely decline the offer, however.

After Onamdammin has left, Crystin, who has been shaking all the time and who was barely able to hold herself back, utters another of her visions: “Last of many, combatant in an unequal fight. Ambitiously you reach for the sky and dare to dance with the eastern storm. But know the storm's maw is full of greed and each pair of wings has its price”

Hearing that, Cuin, Torrent and especially Tinuviel are more than relieved that Crystin was able to hold back the vision as the Khagan might have wanted to keep the “little oracle” for himself.

Note: Khagan Onamdammin. I don't even know where to start... obviously both my players had problems with his name and I took great delight in rubbing “Onamdammin” under their nose this evening. (I studied chemistry and the Khagan's name is not too much of a difficulty when you're used to Hydrochinone or Phenylalanin or the like) “Khagan” did suffice though.

Reading his background, I really wanted to expand more on the Khagan and his two elder brothers, but I couldn't find the right hook and my players were not that much into Ostalin politics. I thought that his father would have made him Khagan because he was the smartest of his children. This is why I turned Kazhar's ridiculous demands into a test of will: The first steps of a man who wants to test his possible future allies' reactions. Nevertheless, he had some serious inferiority complexes which is why he'd let himself be biomantically changed to look more masculine. Cuin's player told me that the Khagan acted much like a spoiled, creepy brat with too many resources and too much power and that was exactly what I wanted to portray. I also thought that someone who's so much into exotic beauty like Onamdammin would offer each of them a night with him as well, even if I already knew that both PCs would decline the offer. I was kind of astonished that none of them wanted to go to the Harem though. Maybe they feared that the Khagan could be jealous, but I guess they were just too creeped out.

Tinuviel takes some time that night to contact Shalosha via a psionic version of sending. He asks her where she is and what she is up to as he fears for her safety. She replies that she's in Sindaire, looking for help for her people. She then asks Tinu what he and his crew are up to and he replies that he's in Ostralin, heading for Eresh. He asks her to stay safe as there might be Ragesians roaming around in Sindaire and she replies that she'll be okay as she not only has an escort, but is also quite able to defend herself.

The next day, the group decides to split up for the further journey. Tiljann and Sheena (who's obviously tired but claims that it was totally worth it) decide to stay in Yen Ching for a shopping spree and to visit some Wayfarer contacts while Tinu, Cuin, Torrent, Three Weeping Ravens and Crystin continue their journey to Eresh.

Headless Menchi and a strange calm

The journey through the Ostalin plains takes them all quite some time, even by horse. They frequently stop in smaller villages where they ask for shelter, food and news. When they reach the last village before the mountain pass to Eresh, the villagers can give them more then just directions. They tell them about the stairs leading to Eresh and the carefully designed mechanisms which help them to get their beasts of burden up and down the road. They explain the party how to use such a mechanism to pull up their horses, but jokingly suggest to dismount before pulling the beast up.

Note: My players remembered that Three Weeping Ravens said something about the monks fearing the Ragesians, so they asked the locals on their way whether there had been any signs or news of Ragesian advance on the monastery. As they were approaching from Sindaire and Balance took all of Eresh out once they were ready to attack, I said that the Ostalinians haven't heard anything. Still that made me wonder about the Khagan's “recent visit” to the Monastery which couldn't have been that recent as he'd have otherwise run into Signus and his army...

They continue through the now quite icy plains until they reach the stairs. Cuin takes care to peek through his spyglass every few hundred meters and so he is able to spot light movement on one of the platforms before they get to the last set of stairs. They proceed with caution, but are nonetheless surprised when they see the shattered stone stair. Immediately after that, a wall of fire erupts behind them and laughing Menchi springs his trap.

The group immediately takes shelter behind one of the stones at the bottom of the hill. Menchi takes the opportunity to throw a fireball at them, as they are all clustered up nicely.
Note: As my players were higher level, I decided to one-up Menchi as well

Crystin gets severely burned and runs off to another rock to hide behind while Cuin, Three Weeping Ravens and Tinu decide that hiding won't get them anywhere. So they approach by foot or teleport. Torrent heals up Crystin, asks her to stay hidden and follows the rest of the team.

Three Weeping Ravens gets in a hefty fight with the scouts and soldiers while Cuin deliberately dances to Menchi where he slays the worg steed, Eskeru. Menchi, who had a lot of fun playing flaming sphere bowling with Torrent, flies into a rage and throws spells at Cuin. He dies in the next round, as expected. Meanwhile, Tinuviel gets invisible and starts to backstab the remaining Ragesians until no one is left. Three Weeping Ravens survives heavily wounded and gets healed up by Torrent as well.

Note: 3WR did quite fine in terms of offense in this fight, but he got almost butchered due to his low AC. Crystin was never meant to be a fighter, so I let her stay hidden where she threw the occasional crystal shard at the scouts. My players really felt like the environment was paying them disfavor, which was mainly because they were all melee characters. (Even if Tinuviel is pretty 'porty and Cuin's movement can reach absurd levels with haste and spell dance)

Once combat is over, they examine the winch and find it working. They use the mechanism to get their horses to the upper platform of the cliff and continue their journey with caution. The group finally reaches the outskirts of Eresh and are surprised to see a huge ragesian army encampment in front of the town.

Careful as they are, they use their spyglass to get a glimpse of what to expect. From what they can see, the army seems to besiege the city, although there are no signs of an ongoing or recent battle. The city wall seems intact, but there are no visible guards on top of it. What is also alarming is the fact that the city gate seems to be open wide with no one caring at all. So maybe the Ragesians have another encampment inside the walls of Eresh?

Cuin'halar and Tinuviel don't like nasty surprises, so they decide to do some scouting inside the encampment. They use hats of disguise to look like fellow Ragesians and chat a bit with their “comrades”. Most of them have gathered around fireplaces to keep themselves warm, but none of them seems to be interested in conquering Eresh, even if that was clearly the plan of their “General”. They seek the way to the command tent and find, surprise, surprise, no General, but a Lieutenant Kormus, who's only interested in drinking, so invites them to share an ale with him. When they politely decline the offer (they are “on duty”), Kormus doesn't mind at all and mutters “The second General will execute me anyway once he returns, but who cares? This small town simply isn't worth leaving my cozy tent”.

Now they are pretty convinced that the Ragesians here pose no threat at all, so they gather the rest of the group and simply march through the camp. The Rags tell them that they cannot simply enter Eresh, but don't do anything to stop them.

On the other side of the wall, they see some people who look like local soldiers. Like the Ragesians, they have cuddled up near a fireplace in front of a farmhouse and don't mind the foreign intruders. When they finally get to the Peak's Shadow, Cuin'halar spots some Ragesians who are sitting in the tavern and drinking wine. Cuin, who wants to protect the people of Eresh and throw out the Rags, is on the brink of attacking the soldiers when he suddenly falls into catatonia. Tinuviel instantly feels that his brother is losing all of his will and emotion and slaps him out of it. This seems to work and Cuin regains control over his body and mind.

Fortunately, the Peak's owner, Tashalanos, hasn't succumbed to the common stupor and greets the heroes with the comment that he's finally having some customers who haven't lost their minds. He explains them what happened over the last days: The Ragesians tried to invade Eresh for unknown reasons, but he thinks it might be related to Longinus' famed divination powers. When the first soldiers had moved past the defense lines and entered Eresh, they suddenly lost interest in fighting and some of them came to his inn for food and drink. He didn't want to start a fight, so he served them. Still he found it strange that his other customers didn't seem to mind either. Then at some point he felt like he was slipping into the same “nevermind-ness” as the rest of his customers, so he decided to slap himself every time he felt strange.

When they ask him about the other Seaquenian group, Tashalanos says that there were people who came from there. They said they wanted to go to the monastery and asked people about it. He hasn't seen them ever since the day of the attack. But he remembers that Bechus, one of their elders, might know more about them.

They then ask him why a Shahalesti would own an inn in such a remote location. Tashalanos sighs and says that he had been a soldier once, but he didn't really care about warfare and wanted to see the world instead. He came to Eresh during one of his travels and decided that he really liked the people, so he stayed. Tinuviel says that he is rather uncommon for a Shahalesti. Tashalanos grins and returns the favor before adding that it must be something raven-haired Shahalesti have in common.

Torrent and the elf then go on to discuss their favorite drinks while Crystin puts them aside and reminds them that she recently had a vision that might be related to this “unusual calm”. Tinuviel agrees to her point and starts to extend his “empathy” towards the source of this calm. He asks Cuin and Crystin to slap him should he start acting weird, but due to his strong emotions he is able to fend off the influence.

The group follows the Tinu-radar to a certain house. A bald woman is standing outside and she musters them, then goes inside. Once they follow her, she says that they are Balance and vanishes, only to reappear as a similar looking man. Balance asks them to leave as they, their actions and their emotions might disturb the delicate balance of this town.

They instantly realize that this Balance must be a Trillith, so they sing the Song of Forms to keep it corporeal. Balance seems a tiny bit surprised, but continues to talk to them. They explain that they are the reason why the people from Eresh and the Ragesians have stopped fighting. They say they needed to stop the strife to keep balance, even if they know that they are probably going to perish in the process.
They ask Balance about their nature and they say they, like their emotional brother (pointing to Tinuviel) are Trillith, dream-born by the mother who sleeps in the darkness below the world. They say they once passed the gate to the sunlit world and came here where the people shared their calmness and valued balance in all things.

Tinuviel replies that they all want to search for their “mother” someday and ask Balance whether they know more about Trilla, but they reply that they only know that she's sleeping in darkness.

Note: I really feared that they would take Balance's words and examine them back and forth. Balance kind of gives away that she came through Gate Pass and having this information plus the fact that Trilla is somewhere “in the underdark” as they put it would have sent them off to a rescue mission way before their time.

Cuin'halar tries to argue with Balance as he says that this way, they are causing an even greater imbalance than they are trying to stop. He says that once they perish, the returning emotions might cause utter chaos and the longer these emotions are suppressed by Balance, the bigger the backlash might become. He promises to protect the people of Eresh and says that he doesn't want Balance to die. He then proposes that they might unite with a similar-minded corporeal creature. Balance says that they would all be not compatible for them as they already carry strong presences or brothers/sisters within them. They understand, but add that they might have just the right candidate, should he agree to such an union.

As they realize that Balance might survive a few more hours, they ask the Trillith to keep themselves together a bit longer as they have some talking to do. Also, there is still one missing group from Seaquen to be found and there is only one place they could have gone: The Monastery of the Two Winds.

A rather short burst of violence

On their way to the monastery, the group is surprisingly attacked by two huge wind elementals. They don't really know where the elementals come from and why they are there in the first place, but they manage to bring them both down one by one in a rather long and tedious fight

Note: Being a stabby-stab sneak attack rogue and a precision-based swashbuckler makes them really loathe elementals and oozes who are immune to both types of extra damage. Sorry guys.

After the battle they take some time to take a look at the magnificent building before finally approaching the huge door that appears to be the monastery's main entrance. Unfortunately, the door seems shut with no guard in sight. So they decide to knock and wait. After a while, a vision slit opens and reveals a pair of female eyes gazing at them.

The woman behind the door, a monk named Cai Lei Wsu, tries to turn them away and says that no one may enter the monastery now that an unknown curse has spread in Eresh. She then closes the slit and is about to leave when the party knocks again and asks her to at least provide them with some information so they know what they are up to. Cai Lei Wsu returns, slightly unnerved and says that they should know best what they did with the village as it were outsiders like them who brought the curse upon them all. She adds that her masters, Pilus and Longinus, have ordererd to let none pass until the curse is lifted. Now if they could find a cure to the curse, she'd maybe ask her masters for an audience...

She's about to leave again when the party asks her whether she knows where Eril and his group might be as it seems that they are not the first “outsiders” she has seen over the last days. Cai returns again to snap at them that she does neither know nor would she care where they are as she is not some sort of babysitter and really has more important things to do.

Note: My group and I had some fun with the knock-slit open-slit closed-knock again-repeat game. Cai Lei Wsu grew more and more impatient over the course of their conversation and the two really enjoyed going on her nerves.

As this seems rather straightforward, the group decides to return to Eresh to figure out how to best fuse Balance with Three Weeping Ravens while still making sure that the Ragesians don't invade the town while they are at it.

Back in town, it seems like they really got no time to spare as the situation has changed drastically. The Ragesians seem to have broken out of their stupor and start harassing and attacking the townspeople. Meanwhile, the citizens of Eresh are seemingly confused and overwhelmed by a sudden rush of emotions. Many of them are scared, so they don't really fight back against the Rags.
Tinuviel tries to reach out to Balance and is barely able to control his own emotions. He realizes that Balance must be slipping and that their influence is becoming more and more unstable. So it wouldn't take too long before the Ragesians in the battle encampment get back to action again and he does indeed feel as if something violent is starting to rise from the east.

As they remember that Tashalanos had quite a bunch of Ragesian soldiers in his tavern, they decide to look after the elves' well-being first. The party arrives no second too late. An angry ragesian mob is just about to drag the Shahelesti up the peak while beating him up badly. Meanwhile, a very agitated and slightly beaten Torrent is running closely behind the mob, swinging her axe in wild rage. Cuin, Tinu and Three Weeping Ravens decide to intervene before anyone can get seriously hurt.

They try to focus their emotional “balance” as much as possible to not slip into violence themselves and then enter the battle. Fortunately, the Rags let their defense down, so they provide pretty easy targets for them. This time it is Cuin who can barely control himself, but he manages to avoid a complete massacre.

Torrent seems to suddenly care really much about Tashalanos as she runs directly towards him and heals him up first. This irritates Tinuviel, but he knows that there are more pressing matters at hand. They decide to let Torrent care for Tash and Crystin who seems overwhelmed by all this chaos and split up the rest of the party. Cuin scouts the city for more havoc-wreaking Ragesians while Three Weeping Ravens is tasked with securing the town's gate. Meanwhile, Tinuviel tries to find the weakened Trillith who has apparently left their house. He finds them in the House of Healing where the healers try to care for all people who were wounded by the sudden eruption of violence.

As the situation grows more and more dire with each passing moment, and Tinuviel isn't sure how much longer Balance is going to make it, he rushes back to find Cuin'halar and Three Weeping Ravens. Both elves say that they are really sorry to put their Monk friend into a situation like this, but they really need a decision now.

Three Weeping Ravens just smiles calmly – he's one of the few people who is not in any way affected by Balances' emotional rush – and agrees to invite the kindred Trillith spirit as their host.

Tinuviel, carrying Empathy, realizes that his ability to feel, focus and spread emotion might destabilize Balance even further, so he decides to put distance between himself and the other Trillith. So while Cuin'halar takes Three Weeping Ravens to the House of Healing, the Shahalesti decides to rally the townsfolk and maybe change their emotional state from fear and confusion to determination. Oh and he slaughters every Ragesian he can find as he really loses control over his emotions this time. (Cuin talked him out of it some time later as they were mentally linked and he started to get really worried by the linked expressions of 'bloodrush' and growing 'joy')

In the House of Healing, Three Weeping Ravens talks to Balance for quite a while. The monk understands that it is no easy step to accept someone else inside him, but he remembers the ancient teachings of the Echoed Soul and that their order originally practiced Soul Magic. He also feels that Balance risked everything, including their existence to protect their people and Three Weeping Ravens understands that he would have probably done the same.

During this talk, Cuin'halar hears a heated argument in some of the other rooms. As he cannot really help the monk and the Trillith, he decides to take a closer look. He finds a run-down man who says that this madness must be the work of the leaders of the monastery and who turns out to be none else then Eril, the leader of the missing party from Seaquen. Bechus, one of Eresh's elders, tries to soothe the man and explains that he's a Monk as well and that neither of the Monastery's leaders would unleash a magical catastrophe on their neighbors.

Once Cuin tells Eril that he's from Seaquen as well and that he and his friends were sent to find him and his party and to finish their mission together, the Ranger calms down a bit. He explains that he's maybe the only one who's left of them and that the others never returned after they went to the monastery for the second time. He explains that they spoke to Caela (who was just as unnerved by them as she was by Cuin, Tinu & co) and that she and her masters would be offended should they keep up their version of the story of the Storm of Seaquen. She wasn't even convinced when they said they had some sort of magical evidence that linked the Storm Magic to the Valley of Storms.

Caela told them to leave and when they arrived in Eresh and wanted to give their report, the Ragesians attacked and they suddenly lost interest in fighting back. The next day, they were suddenly invited to the monastery, but he just didn't want to go there. So his party went without him. And never returned. But it didn't interest him either until Bechus spoke to him, giving him at least the hope that maybe Seaquen would send someone after him.

Now Cuin is at least sure that this Caela is more then suspicious. Still, he has more pressing matters to deal with. He goes back to 3WR and Balance just to find them in the process of uniting into one. When he asks them how they feel, the monk answers that he doesn't feel like much has changed, but he feels like he's way more in control of himself now (oh yeah, and he can totally project his controlled emotions into an aura, but he doesn't want to stretch Balance's weakened powers now)

Note; So yep, Three weeping Ravens is Trillith-bound now. And it kind of makes sense as the monk and the Trillith have very similar emotional states. My party discussed asking Torrent, but they argued that the booze-loving, easygoing no-nonsense cleric and the aloof Trillith wouldn't have been a good match,
I guess it would have been more interesting to have a player fuse with Balance, but Tinu was already taken and Cuin carries Syana's soul shard, so this wouldn't work for either of them. What I would do, if a player really wanted to follow that path, would be to increase the benefit from Balance's presence to be more powerful than just being granted her boon. After all, the player would have to deal with the consequence of a permanent presence in his brain, so there should be some risk-reward there.

However, the monk and Cuin know that the Ragesians might just perform an all-out attack now that no Voice of Calm is keeping them from their violent urges. So they make haste to meet up with Tinuviel near the town gate.

It doesn't take too much time and the gate simply shatters. To their shock, a large group of Ragesians enter the outskirts of Eresh, led by a well-armed man on a Destrachan.
(Tinu: “What's that.... thing?” Cuin: “Oh, that's just a blind, living battering Ram. Possibly created by Biomancy” Tinu: “oh, okay. Just kill it then.”)

Before the first part of the Ragesian army clashes with their three opponents, Tinuviel uses the spare time to turn invisible. Meanwhile, Second General Signus orders his mount to advance, shattering a building and almost burying one of the rallies defenders within. Cuin asks 3WR to get the defenders to a less dangerous position and maybe round the remaining army that will be following their leader soon. And then Cuin positions himself in the middle of the road, burning (living) blade drawn to get all of the enemy's focus.

His plan succeeds almost too well. Signus charges him and he gets blasted by the Destrachan, but manages to avoid most of the damage. In return, Cuin beheads the general's mount. Invisible Tinu stabs Signus in the back, but that man is no fool and he instantly orders his men to find the cowardly hiding bastard. The first volley goes on Cuin though who is, however, hard to hit (he's buffed himself before and uses mirror image etc.). And then, before the majority of the squad can even reach him, he goes all out on Signus who surrenders before he'd bite the dust.

Note: I loved the first surprised and then troubled look in they eyes of my players when I started piling up all the minis. I knew most of them were cannon fodder, but I wanted it to look like a huge battle. And then Cuin just sliced through Signus in an all out attack as if he exactly knew that this was the army's one weak point. We still call this “the day Cuin'halar singlehandedly stopped an army”. Even if Tinu helped. But he was invisible.

Even in defeat, Signus asks them who they are as he'd never heard of anyone that strong in Eresh. Cuin then answers that he's among the allies of the town's defenders and there are even more who are just like him in town (and that bluff totally succeeded). So if he doesn't want his butt kicked a second time, he'd better take his army and go back to wherever he came from. During this exchange, Tinu and Cuin also learn that Signus is one of Magdus' secondaries who was sent there to find a way to clear the Rain of Fire in Sindaire. Fortunately for all of them, Signus keeps his word and retreats.

Luckily, the rallied defenders of Eresh (who are busy trying to repair the breach in their gate) suffered no heavy losses. However, Three Weeping Ravens is nowhere to be found.

All ends with a Sharknado

As Three Weeping Ravens just fused with Balance, the team first assumes that someone could have been after the Trillith. But neither the Ragesians (who are about to pack up and return to Sindaire) nor the people of Eresh have seen their missing companion. So they decide to search the village for signs of combat and get lucky.

Near one of the shrines Tinuviel spots some traces of blood and marks of a battle between a humanoid and some rather unnatural beings. The also find some grinding marks nearby and decide to follow that trail. After a while they spot something really unusual: Three Weeping Ravens is floating in midair and being carried towards the mountain pass leading to the hidden valley. However, no one seems to be carrying him.

Cuin'halar uses a quick see invisible spell to discern what's going on as two invisible stalkers seem to have taken their comrade captive. They decide to intervene and one short fight later it is one of the two stalkers who is made captive. They question the beast and find out that the two of them were summoned by none less than Cai Lei Wsu.

They remember the vision Crystin had quite a while ago and instantly link the clawed Stalker, the “wintry song of agony” and the “deceptive East Wind”, as well as “Three Weeping Ravens lead to treacherous wings, yet Balance lives on” to Pilus' student who tried to kidnap their friend. Then Cuin remembers that Eril said something about his group (and some townspeople) disappearing and it seems like they've found their culprit.

So they do what they do best and... head to the monastery to tell the monks about Caela's crimes. This time, a friendly monk awaits them at the gate. He is shocked to see them reveal the invisible stalker with some pigments (the Stalker wasn't amused...) and has no real reason to doubt their story when the creature confesses the name of its master. As they find out that Caela is actually one of Pilus' highest ranking students, they politely ask if they can get an audience with the monastery's masters to deliver the creature to them.

They are led through the marvelous structure only to find the two brothers in a pretty humble meditation room. Both seem to be curious why these outsiders have come to see them and they explain both Pilus and Longinus that while they've originally came to look for their missing friends and maybe get help in terms of the firestorm in Sindaire, they now have reason to believe that Cai Lei Wsu has been abducting people from Eresh for quite a while now.
Both masters appear to be shocked by this revelation, but the Stalker poses enough of an evidence to believe the group. Longinus explains that Cai Lei Wsu is primarily Pilus' disciple, so it'd fall to him to punish her. Pilus muses that she could have gone to the forbidden valley of Storms where he originally conducted biomantic research for the Khagan. He left his old laboratory unattended for quite a while, but maybe his student seized the chance to do some research for herself. He adds that he'll take care to punish Caela once she returns, but if they wanted to speed things up, they could go into the valley and catch her for him.

Note: Ouch. Didn't anticipate that they would actually take the invisible stalker prisoner. And who'd have guessed that they would drag him to the monastery and tell Pilus and Longinus of Caela's crimes? So I had to change things on the fly. Pilus took a bit of a gambit here as he basically sacrificed Caela to let her take all the blame for what happened in the lab. Plus there was that not so small chance that his master student (or the biomantic creations. Or the traps) would actually defeat the nosy outsiders.

Before they eventually take the bait and head to the forbidden valley, the team finally asks what could have caused the storm over Seaquen as the magic seems to be directly related to what they've witnessed here and Eril said something like that as well.

Longinus then stares at his brother for a while who takes a long sigh and apologizes. He explains that he didn't know his student Lee would actually let the situation escalate that dramatically. However, he is no friend of the Ragesians (otherwise they wouldn't have besieged Eresh) and faked an alliance with Leska to gain information from her. When he saw what happened to Seaquen, he quit the matter though and realized it was a mistake.

The party and especially Torrent is rather shocked about this blunt revelation. They explain that Lee Sidoneth would have rather died than to reveal information about his master, so there must have been some kind of radicalism and devotion to the monk. Torrent also adds that Lee had changed a lot since she last met him and that he had some kind of fatalism she'd never seen in him.

Pilus says that he's sorry it ended this way for Lee. But sometimes sacrifices have to be made in order to ensure a lasting peace. Cuin asks Pilus how they should ever trust them if they could just switch sides whenever they deem “peace” would be achieved easier with the other side. Longinus tries to step in for his brother, but Pilus' otherwise very serene face turns bitter as he tells them the story of their home town which was obliterated by the Ragesians years ago. The master of the west wind adds that he'd never ally with those who killed his friends and family and even if balance is the easiest way to find peace, Leska has to be brought down once and for all no matter the cost.

With an uneasy feeling the group departs from the monastery to search for Caela in the forbidden valley. Longinus and Pilus made sure to give them a token they could show to the wardens of the valley so they would be able to pass without hindrance.

Note: And this is how they avoided the defenders of the sacred valley encounter. The monks knew nothing of all the biomancy going on, so Pilus wouldn't waste his own people and not telling the party of the wardens would have raised more questions...

As they reach the higher regions of the valley, the team is shrouded by deep mist. This is when they hear the dread wailing of the valley of storm Ettins. When the group gets close enough to actually see them, they immediately attack the intruders. Tinuviel advises Crystin to take cover somewhere safe and the other four team up on the Ettins. They fell them one by one but not without taking some damage. Cuin says he's sorry for the poor creatures who are clearly the product of a biomantic mishap. He remembers Dogwood's research and finds that biomancy is a terrible art in the hands of the wrong person.

Then they see a large tower near the end of the valley of storms. Pilus gave them no description of his lab, so they just assume that this structure has to be the one they are looking for. However, they are quite a bit curious why anyone would leave the damn thing undefended. Tinuviel is the first one to head towards the tower and the first one to fall to the illusory tower. He manages to avoid falling to his icy doom and sees a strange amalgamation of flesh, as well as some nasty spikes at the bottom of the pit.

A closer examination reveals that there might be an entrance down the pit as well, so they climb down and fight the four mishaps who pose no real threat to them. However, they are shocked to see that the creatures could have been formed from what might once have been the other members of Eril's party. Cuin muses that they might have been too inquisitive and Cai Lei Wsu silenced them before they could find out more about her deeds.

Unfortunately, they trigger the chain lightning trap and Tinuviel intervenes heroically to take the lightning strike aimed at Crystin (he has evasion and dodged his own spell, so I allowed him to take full damage for his “daughter”). He asks her to take cover once they get inside as he doesn't want her to get hurt.

The group slowly and carefully searches for clues in the seemingly abandoned lab. They find numerous biomantic tanks, but most of them are empty and they cannot make any sense of the inscriptions. Then they notice the presence of... something. Or someone.

Cuin and Tinuviel agree to proceed slowly on one of the bridges when they are suddenly charged by Aurus, the Air-taurus (A minotaur is called Minotaurus in German, so it makes a good pun there). He hammers Tinuviel and the elf quickly realizes that this creature is not very susceptible to his attacks. When Aurus prepares to do an overwhelming charge however, Cuin parrys the hammer swing and stops him which... leads to a quick end for this foe as he loses his elemental qualities and becomes an easy prey.

Note: I had to make a quick rule on what happened when Aurus' hammer was stopped by Cuin's scimitar. He did strike him but Cuin wasn't knocked down, so his movement ended right before Cuin where he became dazed and lost his DR.

After Aurus' defeat they continue to search the lab for signs of Cai Lei Wsu. They don't find her at first, but stumble across a giant basin filled with a bit of biomantic fluid. This is where they get really, really frightened. Cuin and Tinuviel take some time to exchange thoughts about what giant creature Caela or Pilus might have grown in there and where that thing might be right now. They just hope it isn't with the missing student.

Last but not least they find the entrance to Pilus' study. Tinuviel tries to sneak in, unaware that they already triggered the silent alarm when they first entered the lab. To his surprise he is attacked by a magical rug which tries to entangle him. Tinu is quick enough to avoid being swept under the rug though.

Cuin, Torrent and Three Weeping Ravens rush to Tinu's help and see Cai Lei Wsu floating in midair. The woman has clearly expected them as she is surrounded by lightning and looks quite amused. “You surely don't understand what 'forbidden' valley means” she says and adds “Well, at least you defeated these annoying Ragesians and sent them back to the stables where they belong”
“You'll be going down for what you did and it won't be the nice way of 'going down'” Cuin replies and jumps at the floating sorcerer-monk.
Cai Lei Wsu instantly responds with a quick combination of lightning and fist-weaving. Unfortunately for her, Cuin is the quicker one to act and so he parries her blows quite easily.
“Sorry dear, lightning's my specialty” he says and unleashes a full barrage of lightning enhanced scimitar slashes at her. Then Tinu stabs her from behind, sealing the monk's fate.

Note: I really thought Caela would pose more of a threat to them as I made her a monk-magus gestalt (which is a damn fine combination by itself). Never underestimate the power of initiative when you're going against a parry-happy swashbuckler. Did I already mention that NPC have way too little HP in Pathfinder?

Torrent makes sure to stabilize Cai as they promised to return her to Pilus. Then suddenly all hell breaks loose when a lightning strikes through the skylight in the study and strong winds enter the laboratory. The party muses that maybe something or somebody could have enraged the spirits of the forbidden valley. While they think about hiding underground for a while, this plan seems to become more and more dangerous every minute. So they run back to the entrance while everything in the lab is slowly smashed into rubble by violent winds.

After they get out of the pit trap, they run down the valley and avoid small avalanches going off here and there. After a while they find a cliff to hide underneath and cuddle up. Once the winds die off, they suddenly spot something in the sky. Something that cannot be. Or at least should not be. Far above them, a gigantic, shark-like creature appears, even if only for a moment. But what's even more disturbing is that this creature had one damn big eye at its belly. And it was watching them.