Summary

• Having defeated the decrepit golem that guarded the pass into the Runnermines, the party spent many days attempting to find their way back into daylight. Finally they were able to find a path back into daylight, and spied their destination at long last; the mountain monastery of Torin’s Reach.

• The party were met by the man who had appeared to each of them in their dreams, who introduced himself as Sen, the last caretaker of the monastery. He gave the party lodgings and a few stern words on the subject of tardiness. During the night he came to each of them in turn.

• Toothpick was bombarded by flame that only ceased when he was able to project his null field out from his body in a silencing bolt.

• Aravis was struck by progressively more complicated magics until she could absorb vast amounts of sorcerous energy into her body.

• Hunter was paralysed and forced to call upon the ancestor spirit of Galrath to defend himself.

• Galad was apparently instructed on how to turn his voice into a dominating command, but did not reveal how this was accomplished.

• Through Sen’s warnings and Aravis’ premonitions of impending danger they learned that the forced of Mardero would come to them with the advent of a storm. After only one night the undead of the gate, led by a horrific beast with hundreds of mouths, and Sen gave his life to cover their escape into what he called the “Shadow Hills”.

• Though Galad physically died, and was revived by Aravis, all four party members managed to escape into the heart of the monastery, and found themselves walking through a landscape that shifted with their thoughts and dreams. Though some of what occurred seemed almost prescient, the memory of this place faded quickly. What remains clear is that the party members encountered the mage Ignatius and were able to choose where they would exit the Shadow Hills.

• After a heartfelt argument from Hunter the party decided that they would begin their attempt to destroy Mardero by freeing Hunter’s people, the Daykari, from their cruel, oppressive tyranny.

Summary

• Galad and Aravis met for the first time.

• The party rested and refitted in Silvershade before heading out into the overgrown valley the locals refer to as “The Tangle”. Before leaving Hunter decided not to pay the debt he had incurred to a travelling Satyr merchant, reasoning that he may not ever pass this way again.

• Once within the Tangle it became clear that there was a hostile force beneath them. A creature of living detritus and fungal spores lured Toothpick into the lower forest with a gleaming protuberance and was finally driven back when Aravis summoned raw flame from the elemental fire node hidden in a runnermine entrance on the floor of the valley.

• Before entering the runnermine the party chose to rest, and were approached in camp by a being calling itself “Tom Hickory”. Though apparently humanoid the creature’s words made Toothpick suspicious, so he smacked it in the head. Immediately the illusion cracked and the frious spirit who had worn the form fled into the woods.

• Upon entering the Runnermine the party came across a flow of magma that was pooling from the source of mana Aravis had felt. They chose to pass on, keeping their bearings for Torin’s Reach, but lingered in a great subterranean hall where great treasures had been stashed. Unfortunately their meddling set off one of the ancient Ulari constructs that had been set to protect the treasure.

Summary

• Having tasted of the water of Ayaken, drawn from her altar and consecrated by her chalice, Toothpick was granted an audience with the goddess, who anointed him her “battle priest” and instructed him to go to Torin’s Reach in order to become a “Champion of the Light”.

• After many days travel the party came upon the village of Silvershade, a mountain town with an eclectic mix of races all involved in the process of mining in the area. Aravis secured lodgings whilst Hunter and Toothpick began to offload their unwanted gear.

• Toothpick and Hunter encountered a young woman named Ferrin, who told them she had led a human through on the path to Torin’s reach not a day ago. The man’s description was so startlingly similar to Galad that the two outriders set off immediately, and soon came upon their old comrade in arms.

• Galad relayed to them that only a handful of the Outriders escaped the massacre at Tacansi’s Hold.

Summary

• Aravis landed some way from where Hunter and Toothpick hit and was able to scramble down into the valley relatively unscathed thanks to the magical charges of Rubius Kai’s artifacts.

• Meanwhile Hunter lay bleeding to death. Toothpick‘s medicine managed to keep him stable, but with dwindling supplies the Shael chanced the application of the Goblin Blue Petals he had been given mysteriously by the Leaf Goblins. He reasoned it probably wouldn’t kill him.

• In the middle of a drug-induced hallucinogenic episode Hunter physically threw himself from the walls of the cliff, destroying most of his armour, almost killing him, and plunging him through the roof of an inn in the valley below.

• It turns out that gold can buy an awful lot of no questions, and by the time Aravis had caught up, still with the unconscious Rubius Kai, Hunter had been patched up and they were ready to leave.

• Although the team briefly allowed a bard named Warwick the Black to accompany them, an encounter with a native Ayrgari outpost convinced him that he did not stand a good chance of survival with the group, and Aravis, Toothpick, Laya and Hunter passed into the Sawpeaks together. Unfortunately, fearing for her life whilst negotiating a sheer drop, Laya disappeared entirely.

• Despite being harried by Redworms and Trolls the group were able to make it safely to the shores of The Lake of Tears, and made contact with the Illicrys who dwelt there.

• Using the water spirit ring Toothpick was able to breathe underwater and negotiate with the inscrutable fish people, with the help of the amulet of Ayaken, which the creatures apparently venerated. Despite signs of a power struggle within the Illicrys society the team were able to use a massive lake creature to gain passage to a tower in the centre of the lake where a golden chalice sat over a radiant pool. An old priest managed to utter a welcome before he died, and when Toothpick saw the mark of ayaken on the chalice, he dipped it into the waters and drank.

Summary

• Toothpick and Hunter were met at the gates of Sharokai by Rubius Kai, the emissary to [[:Duke Haylon Shandor IV]], the ruler of the city state, who requested their company at the Duke’s dining table.

• Whilst hunting for lodgings the party encountered the Torekkian warrior Aravis, who insisted on joining them, saying only that their destinies were somehow entwined. With the Outriders scattered or dead the party was short on muscle and this arrangement suited them fine.

• Although civil during dinner, the Duke was unmistakeably false. He offered them lodgings within his fortress keep, and the team accepted, but during the night they each succumbed to a powerful lethargy. On waking they found themselves stripped and caged in a dungeon.

• During their escape Aravis, Hunter and Toothpick rescued a young girl named Laya and left the castle in a frenzied, death defying fall from the battlements, an unconscious and captive Rubius Kai in tow.

Summary

• Hunter and Toothpick returned to Greenleaf to find the village in flames. The armies of the Gate had attacked, capturing Hawk and killing every other man, woman and child in the area.

• Outnumbered a dozen to one the surviving members of the Outriders made the decision to flee rather than attempt to free Hawk from Mardero’s men, and made their way into The Banded Woods.

• After a protracted period living rough in the wilderness the duo came across the small village of Holt. It has seemed a useful respite from their struggles, but the Gate was not far behind. Thankfully Hunter and Toothpick managed to tap into the strange energies that surrounded each of them and destroyed the small force of gate knights.

• Fearing for the safety of those around them, Toothpick and Hunter pushed on along the road towards the Ulsine city of Sharokai. That night both men dreamt of Tacansi’s Hold, and a great battle between the armies of the Gate and the forces of the Dragar Legion. When a great black web descended on the Gate forces and began to destroy them they noticed an old man holding a broom on the battlements behind them. He told them that they had already dallied too long, that they had ignored their destiny, and that if they did not make their way to Torin’s Reach all the death would be in vain.

Summary

• Hawk has cloistered himself away within the inn at Greenleaf, planning the Outrider’s next move, but the old maps of the Empire do not show the terrain around Greenleaf in sufficient detail. In an attempt to gain more information Hawk Dispatched his two lieutenants, Toothpick and Hunter, to the southern path through the Fade Forest.

• The party encountered the symbiotic parasites known as Red Worms and despite being poisoned by the creature’s psychoactive venom and spending a night speaking with the trees, escaped with relatively minor wounds.

• After avoiding the territory of the indigenous warp giants known as Shamblers the party stumbled across a dungeon surrounded by corpses from numerous different eras. Within they were attacked by the undead remains of a paladin who had been possessed and reanimated by a cruel red sword. Only Toothpick’s “null field” and a mysterious force emananting from within Hunter kept them from becoming host to the blade’s dark energies. The intervention of a Heartwood exile named Loric allowed them to remove the crystal which powered the weapon from its hilt and encase it within living wood. Hunter, having determined that the stone may have been a part of a weapon once wielded by Kaldair, decided to leave it within the Fade with the ayrgari.

• Loric’s area knowledge allowed the pair to leave the Fade Forest and make for the village of Leafstride. After dealing with some local bandit trouble they gained the favour of Darien, a local Shield Commander. Having retirved some goods they enlisted a strong-willed merchant woman named Ophelia into their organisation.

• Whilst returning to Greenleaf the party came to the Ulsine border town of Barkan and witnessed the results of an Imperial recruitment drive as thousands of newly enlisted men from the area amassed in the central courtyard. With blood-lust high amongst the new men the appearance of a Shael, one of the Ulsine’s ancestral enemies, was met with racial violence. The party escaped into the sewer system of the city.

• In the caverns beneath the city the party was attacked by warped humanoid rats living in the area and triumphed, only to succumb to the disease and infection laced within their wounds in the days that followed. Thanks to Toothpick’s medical skill and Hunter’s survival abilities they were able to create herbal remedies which alleviated their symptoms, however as they stood on the edge of the Fade Forest and looked out across the plateau they descended into a preternatual darkness and time passed without memory.

Summary

• Surfacing from the water the commanders of the Outriders found that their wounds had been miraculously healed, and that they now stood in a lush and verdant grotto hidden away from the world.

• Within the grotto they discovered a community of Leaf Goblins, tiny creatures which had apparently evolved in isolation from any natural predators. The creatures were entirely benign, and the group spent a few days investigating and (somewhat haphazardly) influencing their proto-society.

• Infuriated by the relative inactivity of the group Redshank lashed out at one of the creatures in a moment of fury. Toothpick, who had developed an affection for the small creatures, grabbed his fellow Shael and attempted to beat some sense into him whilst Hawk took the dying goblin to the waters.

• The same water spirits that had apparently saved the team’s lives were seemingly displeased with the death of one of their people, and lashed out at Redshank in a torrential blast of water which shattered his body on the rocks.

• After bidding a slightly unwilling farewell to the tiny creatures the team managed to climb out onto the mountainside once more. In the bitter cold and howling winds they found their way to an abandoned farmhouse where they set up camp. They were all surprised to see their missing team member Miri making her way towards them, naked in the snow.

• With Hunter and Toothpick attempting to warm the almost frozen form of Miri Hawk channelled some of the tass he had collected into a bolt of fire to dry and ignite the damp, frozen firewood. Miri’s form immediately split open, revealing the horrendous monstrosity that had imitated their companion.

• Having destroyed the Miri-beast the team made their way to Greenleaf, a small farming village, and found lodgings at the inn. Toothpick spent an instructive night in the intimate company of a Northlander couple. Hunter and Hawk, meanwhile, received word via longrunner that the city of Baerlon was no longer safe, after they failed to complete the task set for them by the god-king Mardero.

• Whilst refitting at a local trader Hunter encountered one of the Black Suns mercenaries who had stolen 700 gold pieces from him back in Baerlon. He killed the treacherous individual in (reasonably) fair combat and the team managed to repair and refit. However Weir, their long-suffering companion, took this opportunity to leave their service and join the employ of the trader in place of the deceased Black Sun.

*The team learned that there was war in the North between a great red dragon and the god king. They also learned that the nobles of Tacansi’s Hold, an Ulsine border town were pushing for fresh recruits in the face of rising antagonism from Mardero’s forces.

Summary

• Fleeing the arcane energies of the web the commanders of the Outriders fled into the arteries of the Emberpeak, an inactive volcano nestled in the mountains near Maergis.

• Despite their best efforts to save his life Clem succumbed to his wounds and expired. Weir’s life was saved with the amputation of two of his fingers, but Miri, still grieving for the loss of Akara disappeared into the mountain whilst attention was diverted.

• Within the mountain they came across the ruins of an Ulari city, with its occupants burned to cinders.

• The party encountered a party of three adventurers seeking the dragon Corolailath, but only one, the Shael Redshank, survived their meeting with the fire elementals that infested the belly of the mountain.

• Badly burned, the party fled the elementals and plunged headlong into the mysterious waters beneath.

Summary

• Borlach led the Outriders’ party to the outskirts of Maergis, a walled settlement in the Northern Mountains between Baerlon and Empyrrean.

• Before reaching the town the group encountered a group of slavers taking some Northlanders captive. The Outriders wisely chose to strike first and executed an attack that ended in the death or capture of the slavers, but only one of the three Northlanders survived. The survivor, a northlander named Yoth, was grateful and offered them the hospitality of his people.

*The group gained entry to Maergis, and despite Hunter’s almost catastrophic tactical miscalculation at the gates, were given the opportunity to prove their worthiness to join the slavers within in the service of the apparently supernatural lord Dactylos. To do this they were forced to fight a man that Toothpick knew they could not beat, but they were saved from their impossible fight by direct magical intervention, which may have come from Dactylos or from the enigmatic figure of Content Not Found: marius

*When the arcane smoke cleared the party had been transported from Maergis to the mountains once more, where they met and spoke with a being who called himself Content Not Found: marius. Marius made mention of himself as a Chronicler, the last of his race, and seemed most displeased with the fact that he was meeting the three commanders of the Outriders “too soon”. Apparently Marius had expected forces to have made contact with the three of them under different circumstances, and was extremely surprised to find them working as mercenaries.

• Marius told the commanders that they should go to Torin’s Reach, nestled in the mountains to the north of Longstride to receive guidance, and that they should leave the lands around Empyrrean as quickly as possible.

• Concerned for their comrades that they now knew to be held by the Maergis slavers, the commanders executed a daring ambush and managed to rescue Weir, Akara, Miri and Content Not Found: clem from being sent to Empyrrean as part of a tithe from Dactylos. Though wounded, their men were alive, and they sent them back towards Baerlon.

• Despite the magical concealment that Content Not Found: marius had placed on the Outriders, something within Empyrrean found Toothpick and ripped the knowledge of their rescued associate’s location from his mind. When the commanders caught up with the caravan, all those within were listless and uncommunicative.

• When medicine failed to bring them round Hunter turned to his newly acquired faith in the primal night god Ikanden, and attempted to use the old god’s will to drive the controlling force out of Akara. The war of wills tore the threads of Akara’s being asunder and killed her, cracking the Amulet of the Sightless Eye in the process.

• It was then that Hawk perceived the threads of brilliant light coming from their comrade’s heads, and linking into a vast black web in the sky. It was a web he had seen before in his dreams.

• Toothpick attempted to use his null ability to sever the link, but it became clear that this might kill them. In a strange moment of clarity he saw that the problem was above him, not within the minds of his associates. Tapping into knowledge he did not understand he projected his null into the sky, severing a thread of the web and freeing the minds of the comatose. Unfortunately the magical fallout began to level the terrain, toppling mountains like piles of leaves.

• It seemed that despite everything they would all be killed by the fallout, but Hunter spotted a cavern and drove the crazed horses towards it in a frenzy. Hawk, desperate enough to try anything, reached out and, to his surprise, caught a fistful of the black energy. Using his will to sculpt it he energised the horses, causing their bodies to decay at an alarming rate, but granting them the speed to take them into the cavern as the valley collapsed.