The party, which by now consisted of only Raph, Isis, Lucas, Lucky and Daethin, stood on the edge of the Westfields, a clearing to the west of the city; from there, they could see the crumbling spires of the once-great Myth Drannor, which had been a beacon of greatness and cooperation in an era long, long past. The air was heavy with time as they’d been growing accustomed to in the ancient forest, but now the feeling was accompanied by some kind of energy, as if the hair on their arms stood on end.

As they prepared to enter the city, Raph spotted a great eagle flying overhead. The partied readied themselves as the eagle descended, and they were soon able to make out the form of a rider on its back. Once he came close enough, the rider hailed the party, trying to determine if they were friends or enemies. He then landed farther off and approached on foot, a plate armored figure with a winged helm.

The man introduced himself as Devon, a devoted warrior of Shaundakul, the god of the winds. He was here to investigate the rubble, recover lost artifacts of his church, and perhaps find the hidden shrine to his god amidst the ruins. As the party had a similar goal, he offered to join them, and provide his assistance. It turned out to be a wise alliance.

Just inside the boundary of the city, they were ambushed between crumbling buildings by demonic, slime-covered emaciated forms that lunged out with barbed spears. The vicious creatures shrugged off the party’s attacks and tore into them with spears, claws, and even savage bites, threatening to slaughter the whole group. Luckily, Devon’s sword struck true, and Raph was able to pull out a cold iron kama that could cut through their hides. Thanks to his superior aim, Lucas was able to fire a second shot before the first wound closed, giving his bullets a chance to do more damage. Isis just used her strength and power to hack as deeply as she could. But poor Lucky’s magic was hindered, as his first spell accidentally enlarged one of the demons, then they completely ignored his powerful lightning spell, and finally his summoned dinosaur immediately turned on him, due to the Mythal’s effects. Finally, the party was able to take out the demons (and the dinosaur) without any casualties, but they were left with the choice of either retreating for now, or pushing through to the remains of the tower, and whatever perils lays within.

Ethan showed up late that night with a larger, dark-skinned gentleman with him. He looked surprised to see the party so soon, but was cordial with them. Once Lucky started asked questions, however, Ethan’s companion grew enraged and slammed him against the shed, saying that he had “some nerve showing his face again”, and menacing him in a threatening manner. Raph was able to pull him off, and Ethan tried to calm him down, and eventually the man wandered off grumbling.

When asked what the exchange was about, Ethan said that “Glen” had been doing experiments on the fey to discover the secrets and sources of their longevity and enchantment magics, and had done so with an associate of the man. He also admitted to essentially setting Glen up to be neutralized by the King of Winter, since he was becoming a threat to fey and other denizens of the forest. Giving Glen what he wanted by providing access to the fey lord’s court and making the introductions proved to be much easier than trying to take the wizard on himself, and apparently had done the job, at least for a while. He didn’t seem to have any remorse for his part in the arrangement, or for what had happened.

The following morning, the party set out for Myth Drannor, wisely taking the long way around to enter the ruined city from the west; Windsong Tower was said to be located near the western edge of the city, so it was safer than cutting straight through. Safe proved to be a relative term, however, as when the party entered a small clearing, they were set upon by several ferocious wyverns. The draconic monsters did hefty damage to the group and almost carried off Isis, but the heroes were able to ultimately slay the giant beasts with might and magic.

But not without cost; Shane sustained terrible injuries, and was unable to continue. Barren returned with him to the Monastery so that he could recover properly, and Daethin agreed to take their place, fighting at the head of battle instead of just watching their backs. So, with the party dwindling in numbers, they entered the ruined city of legendary danger.

The heroes continued on the road to the Monastery and spied a suspicious globe of darkness off deeper into the wood. They investigated and determined it was some kind of drow camp, using the darkness the shield their resting; they must be new to the surface.

After some quick planning, the party fell upon the drow with tactical strike supported by a barrage of powerful spells. Even the dark elves that heard them coming were powerless to stop the assault, and the heroes made quick work of the invaders. One almost got away, but Daethin followed him into the forest, and returned contently without comment shortly thereafter.

Once the battle had ended, however, Lucky received the premonition that something was attempting to scry on him. He concentrated, and was able to learn that whoever was spying was on another plane of existance. He also received the image of a squat, gargoyle-like creature staring into a mirror and snickering. Once it realized Lucky had figured it out, however, it looked startled, made a sound, and immediately cut off the scrying spell. With that, the image ended.

The party finally arrived at the Monastery, much to the annoyance of Aerin. The party was afforded their earlier accomodations.. in the shed.. and Seth told them that Ethan was out, but was expected back that evening. The heroes cooled their heels in the meantime; Raph went and sparred with a new face, a shadowdancing elf named Corvin, who’s upbeat attitude was a refreshing change from the rest of the “monks”.

Lucky somehow talked Aerin into obtaining the location of a library that might provide more information on the fey within Myth Drannor. There was apparently the remains of what was once Windsong Tower, a magic academy in the lost city. All that was left of the tower was its crypt, but there was supposed to be a library there. The party’s next destination became the infamous ruins of Myth Drannor.

Along the way towards Ashabenford, the party again debated their next course of action. Instead they decided to return to the Monastery to visit Ethan and question him about Lucky’s dealings with the Winter King, seeing as he would have direct information about the interaction. Shane and Barren were none too pleased to be visiting their father again, but reluctantly agreed.

One unseasonably cold night on their journey, Raph was on watch alone, and he heard the distant sound of a hunting horn. He mentioned it to Shane when he took over the watch, but as the ranger went out to investigate, something triggered Lucky’s alarm spell. The party hurried to their feet, but nothing was to be found. They returned to an uneasy sleep, and nothing else approached in the night.

The heroes resupplied in Ashabenford, and Lucky managed to pick up some spells, including one that would alert him to any scrying spells cast upon him. They set out the next morning, again noting the odd chill that was setting in across this part of the Dalelands. By late afternoon, a heavy fog was rolling in along the road, and once again they heard the sounding of a horn, this time much closer.

Out of the fog suddenly road an frost-covered warrior atop a skeletal stag. Icy horns crowned the warrior’s helmet, and before they could call out a challenge to the rider, he attacked with an frozen glaive. As the party scrambled to address this threat, more gremlins burst from the foggy trees, cackling with malicious glee.

While the gremlins shrieked for “Glen” to show himself, the rider seemed to have no goal aside from killing the party. He lashed out with his polearm and hurled icy storms across the road, causing brutal damage to the heroes. But finally, the fell rider and his entourage were laid low. They investigated the remains and discovered a gaping whole in the rider’s chest, where it seemed his heart had been removed and replaced with the rotting heart of a stag.

With the rider’s death, the unnatural cold lifted from the area, and the normal, more temperate autumn weather returned. It seemed a hollow victory, however, for the party still had few answers regarding the Winter King and his aims for the heroes.

The party finally had it’s first non-combat encounter with a fey creature when they came across Tyana, the “goat woman” of the Shadowdale woods. She was sitting on a fallen log, weeping quietly over the body of a dead fawn. The heroes approached carefully and asked about Lucky’s tattoo, which clearly made her uneasy. She identified the symbol as a mark of the King of Winter, Cyrnum Silvertoes. However, she was uncomfortable providing any additional information, fear of retribution from the powerful King of Winter.

After some pressing from the party, she finally, reluctantly, offered to lead them to someone who she said would not be afraid of the fey king, a local witch. The party followed her lead, and then went on the last stretch alone, as Tyana did not want to be anywhere nearby. Either she was very paranoid, of the king’s reach was quite far.

They ended up at a small cottage that looked ancient, though it was carefully tended. Little fireflies danced nearby as the sun set, and it looked like a page out of a story-book. Lukas knocked on the door, and after calling out a few times, the door was opened by a small girl with wide, curious eyes. She introduced herself as Shae, and invited the party inside.

Over a late meal of crabapples, bread and cheese, Shae revealed that she already knew Lucky (who she called Glen), and she had taken he and Ethan to the First World, supposedly the homeland of the fey. She also indicated that “Glen” had been a bad person, and that he’d gotten what he deserved, after trying to seek a way to live forever. The Winter King was also dangerous, she told the party, and could be cruel. She did have a way to return to the First Lands, but the heroes were not keen to go charging in without knowing more.

After more discussion, Shae agreed to try to find out the nature of Lucky’s debt to the Winter King, and the party decided to leave. They discussed possible options, and initially decided to head back to the town of High Moon and visit Naja, the hedge witch with planar knowledge to ask about Isis’s possible origins while they waited for Shae. Along the way, however, they decided to head instead to the Monastery and meet with Ethan to find out what his role in “Glen’s” meeting with the Winter King had been.

Not far from Shadowdale, the party discovered two huge, horrible worm creatures feasting on the body of a man. Getting too close to the creatures was maddening, but the heroes managed to overcome the horrors and slay them. Upon inspecting the body, they discovered it was the same man from the Old Skull Inn who had double-taked at Isis and quickly left. Among his possessions found a ruined notebook with only a few legible pages remaining. The pages seemed to suggest he had been following the party and observing Isis, who he referred to as “Subject Ciara Tynus”, and he also wrote about a “possible hive” and another body hidden nearby. Tucked in the notebook was what appeared to be a small excerpt from a journal, written in Isis’s handwriting.

The party went in search of the body and discovered a dead guard who was missing his brain. They were able to conclude it had been the work of an intellect devourer, a nasty creature who consumes the brains of its victims and inhabits their bodies. With this information, they returned to Shadowdale to speak with the local lord Mourngrym.

They were actually able to meet with the lord, and he spoke with them graciously. The party told him about what they’d found, and their suspicions about what was happening below his tower, and he asked them to show his guards where the body was so they could recover it. The heroes oblidged him and then continued on their way to the Monastery.

The party continued on to Shadowdale, and along the way, Lucky offered to leave the group since his unknown past may prove to be a danger to the others. He was assured that he was still welcome, and as Daethin put it, “everyone has baggage”. The trip was not uneventful, however, as the heroes crossed paths with a massive brown bear tearing through the wood. Something was horribly wrong with the creature, which had four asymetrical eyes (one on one side, three of differing sizes on the other, one of which was even on a protruding eye-stalk), and a mouth that opened unnaturally far. As they cut the monster down, it bled thick black ooze instead of red blood, further indicating some kind of corruption.

They reached the small farming village, which seemed comfortable and even happy to see more adventurers. It was apparently a normal occurance to see such people, although Isis did get a double-take from at least one of the men in town. Shane, accompanied by Lukas, went to the temple of Chauntea to offer prayer and tithe, and informed them of the unnatural creature in the wood. They seemed surprised, and had not heard of such a thing yet. After this visit, the two went to the nicer festhouse in town and enjoyed an evening of luxury, which was a nice change from the rough life on the road.

The others gathered additional supplies in town and went to the Old Skull Inn, a regular hang-out, where they heard tell of strange happenings beneath the local lord’s tower, as well as rumors of a goat-woman in the wood who may be some sort of fey creature. A local bard also told them that from what he knows about fey, the tattoo on Lucky’s face was a mark of ownership, though he’s not sure who’s mark it is.

The next morning, the party set out for Elminster’s tower at the edge of town and followed the winding trail up the hill, which was littered with warning signs concerning the sage’s desire for privacy. They knocked on the door and were “greeted” (to use the term loosely) by Lhaeo, Elminster’s scribe, through a sliding panel on the door. He advised the party that his master was out, and did not know when he would return (“possibly never”). Isis and Raf tried to get additional information from the man, who seemed to be trying to be rid of them, but Lucky lost his patience and began casting a laughing spell at the scribe. Lhaeo promptly shut the panel and an alarm summoned metallic dogs to chase the party away.

The heroes did flee, and made it back to town unscathed. At that point, they decided to investigate the rumors of the goat woman who had been sighted in the woods north of town. They inquired with a nearby farmer, who claimed not to have time for such fanciful nonsense, but he did gruffly invite them for dinner at sundown. There seemed to be no other option but to seek out the woman themselves, and they set out into the woods.

After leaving the monastery, Barren and Shane walk separately from the rest of the group for a while, presumably speaking speaking between themselves about their family.  Drok can’t take a hint, and follows them to add unhelpful commentary.  Daethin gives the brothers space and walks with the rest of the group.  

After a few days on the road, the party reaches the small farming town of Ashabenford, on the banks of the River Ashaba.  There, they gather some supplies (including some lovely hammocks) and get nice rooms at the luxurious Ashabenford Arms inn.  They also visited a temple of Tyr to try to repair Lucky’s memory.  Unfortunately it didn’t seem to work.

While going about town, Isis and Raph get some odd looks, but the townsfolk are largely not unfriendly towards them.  One even makes the off-handed comment that a giant pink lady isn’t so strange, there use to be a little blue boy who lived in the town.  This sends Isis on a search for the boy’s mother, thinking perhaps she might be able to tell her something about her past.

They reach Miranda’s cottage on the outskirts of town, and note that it is decorated with all manner of exotic and even otherworldly trophies and keepsakes.  She seems to think them safe, and welcomes them into her home.  She cannot speak, but uses a strange paper board to write on.  She explains that while her son looks nothing like Isis, there may still be a tie.  Isis seems to have some sort of lineage of earth elemental in her blood, and Miranda calls her an Oread.  She does not know where Isis is from, but gives her some possibilities; there is a plane of earth, where her parents could be from, or she could have genie blood like Miranda’s son.  She mentions that she’s seen genies in Calimsham, but if the earth genies like the desert, the Anaroch desert is much closer.  The party thanks her and prepares to leave, and Lucky asks if there is any message she would like to pass on to her son should the party run into him in their travels.  She simply writes “Grandchildren?” and raises an eyebrow.

The party returns to the town for an exquisite supper, and then spends the evening at the bar.  Daethin apparently can’t hold her booze, and she gets sloshed enough for the party to get some answers out of her.  She reveals that she actually can’t stand Ethan, and that’s why she’s repaying her debt to him in this way, so she doesn’t have to be around him.  She also confirms that she did not sleep with him, nor did Aerin (seriously, guys?).  As far as she knows, he doesn’t have any other kids.  When they ask her why she works with all these people she doesn’t like, she tells them it’s a purpose.  She needs a purpose.  And when they ask her what her plans are afterwards, she murmurs that she has no plan, and stumbles off to bed.

That night, while the rest of the party enjoys the fancy rooms and soft beds, Lucky is tormented by a terrifying nightmare of being hunted and caught by a horrible serpentine monster who threatens to claw him apart before he woke in a cold sweat.  Maybe that spell at the temple did something, after all..

After finishing their business in town, the party set back off for Shadowdale, following the River Ashaba.  Along the way, they came across a small squad of elves in uniform armor, apparently scouting for drow.  They noticed Daethin had disappeared, and when the discussion turned to the monastery, she showed up again trying to disrupt the conversation.  It didn’t really work so well, but the elves took their leave.

Shortly after, Daethin came back and told the party not to talk about the monastery, but the heroes reminded her that she hasn’t been very forthcoming about any information in the first place.  Reluctantly, she admitted that the monastery was essentially a front for the elves to stage their attack against the drow while still being able to supply for a large compound without arousing suspicion.  They didn’t bother to hide anything from the party about their operation, but they usually do.  She also admitted that “someone” at the monastery is on bad terms with the Elven Court, so they are trying to lie low from the elves.  

They continued on their journey, and then camped for the night, away from the river bank.  Lucky set up an alarm spell, which went off during the night.  They were ready to dismiss it as a small animal passing through, but then a raspy, high-pitched voice whispered the name “Glen”.  This was followed by more voices whispering, and giggling.  Lucky freaked out and took off running, and the party followed.  When Raf finally jstopped him, it seemed like whatever was whispering had gone away.  

But then eight tiny spiky gremlins dropped from the trees onto the party and started bashing them with tiny hammers with screeching laughter.  The party managed to destroy most of the little monsters, but the last one screamed “YOU’RE LATE, GLEN!!” and scurried off cackling.  The party dragged a shaken Lucky to his feet and back to the camp, but in the morning, the bodies of the gremlins were gone..

Late in the night, Ethan arrived at the monastery and spoke with Aerin, presumably about his sons’ arrival. The next morning, he was there for breakfast and spoke jovially with them, almost as if he hadn’t abandoned them years ago. He also said he would be joining the attack on the drow camp, and he was looking forward to seeing what the party could do. He also made some strange comments to Lucky suggesting some familiarity with him, and called him by the name Glenn.

The heroes were giving the task of striking first and drawing the attention of the drow, but not in a direct attack; apparently the elves of the monastery value non-elven life at least enough not to waste it in a suicide attack. They were able to position the party to get a surprise attack and catch the dark elves unawares, and then the elves would flank and take out the rest of the camp.

The battle started off well, with Barren’s firey attack frying a squad of drow in their tent instantly. However, once roused, the drow were dangerous with their sleeping arrows and managed to take out Isis and Lukas early on. With the odds tipped against them, Shane and Raph waded valiantly into the melee, supported by the magic of Lucky and Barren and the stealthy attacks of Daethin. But as some spells fizzled, Barren was dropped by another poisoned arrow, and the drow priestess emerged, things started to look bad.

But the heroes fought on. Shane dragged himself battered and bleeding through the drow warriors to get to the priestess, powered by pure rage. Lucky managed to blast powerful lightning through the drows’ natural resistances. Raph kept the foes from slaying his helpless comrades. Isis fought off the poison and hurried to aid Shane. And just as it looked like the drow would at least take the barbarian down with them as they died, Ethan emerged from the woods and hurled a dagger into one of drow that was poised to kill his son, which proved to be enough to drop the already-injured warrior. They dispatched the priestess, and the brutal battle was won.

There was some subdued celebration back at the monastery, and even the elves seemed to be warming up to the party. Relatively. Lukas and Taj traded weapon crafting secrets, Barren had some bonding moments with his father, and Isis even managed to get some chatting out of Aerin and Daethin. Lucky took a look around while others socialized, but wasn’t able to find anything useful. Things seemed to be going pretty well.

But the next morning, a hungover Barren was accidentally told some interesting news. Not knowing that this was a secret, Daethin mentioned that Barren’s mother was still alive, as well. Enraged by this additional deception, Barren burst into a strategic meeting held by Aerin, Seth and Ethan, and overturned the carefully arranged map in the center of the room as he yelled at his father.

That proved to be the last straw for Aerin, who started yelling back, though mostly at Ethan. Ethan pulled Barren out of the room and into the garden while Seth stayed to calm Aerin down. In the garden, Ethan explained that Barren’s mother had some sort of infernal ties, and that once he found out that the boy was born, he had gone to the Nine Hells to get him back. His mother was dangerous and cruel, and Barren would’ve grown up a slave to the devils of the Pit. Still angry, Barren left his father there, but Ethan confessed that he was glad he had gone to get him, even so.

Daethin came to the rest of the party and told them that, even though they weren’t being “kicked out”, it was probably best that they left because of the commotion and the reaction it had caused. Obviously there was more going on than the party was privy to, because Aerin and Ethan were having a very heated conversation when Shane came to say goodbye. Father and son shook hands and parted ways, possibly for the last time, and the party set out for Shadowdale, to see what more they could learn about Lucky’s past.

The party arrived at the Monastery, a simple bamboo compound in the woods. The walls surrounding the compound were guarded, which seemed a little odd. Upon further inspection, the whole monastery seemed strange; there seemed to be no connection at all to any sort of religious or philosophical order. Also, there didn’t seem to be much meditation or any of that junk. Raphaelusk definitely noticed that this was not like any monastery he’d heard of.

Shane and Barren’s father wasn’t there, but they were able to meet his “brother”, Seth. Aerin was also there, but she didn’t seem excited to see them. Oddly enough, there was a lizard man, who was identified as Taj Ebonscale, the weapons master, and he went a few rounds with Raph. It was clear to Raph that the lizard man was no monk at all, more like a gladiator.

Daethin left the party to their own devices while there, apparently occupied with other tasks for the majority of the time.  But she did come and invite them to meals after some initial deliberation.

Shane had a talk with Seth about his father, and tried to get a better understanding of who he was while the rest of the party poked around the grounds and tried to see what the place was all about.  It became clear that the monastery was dedicated to the cause of driving ou the drow from the forest, and the party offered their assistance to the effort.  Their aid was accepted, and an attack on a drow camp was planned.

Once the party had gathered their gear, they decided to seek out Barren and Shane’s father. Daethin confirmed that she knew where he could be found, and agreed to lead the party to a monastery in the elven forest of Cormanthor. They set out along Rauthauvyr’s Road, and stopped in briefly at the village of Hap. There they heard word of a Zhent attack on a farm near Velarsburg, and it sounded like the leader of the attack was the same as the one that razed Feather Falls. Drok was very upset by this news, but the party was able to convince him to stay on task and continue to the monastery.

Along the way, they discovered a few things about Lucky. One, the tattoo on his face has something to do with the Faerie Folk. There are stories of children being stolen by faeries and discovered decades later with no memory of their former life. Sometimes these people are marked by tattoos like the one on his face. Two, Lucky recovered his voice and could speak again.

As they continued towards the monastery, they encountered drow scouts, and also some strange monsters, including an odd creature that looked to be animate blood mist. The creature was apparently some kind of remnant of the old elven forest, some sort of tainted magic and old spirits combined to haunt the woods. With that in mind, they kept on their way.