DM Thoughts on Sealers of the Stone Maw

At the end of virtually every session I post a recap, often including some DM notes. These posts include things I thought went well, things I will try to improve on as a DM or even retconning little things that I forgot to reconcile in-session. I apparently lost most of my notes on the earliest sessions (part of the reason for starting the blog, so that we could have a good record of the events), but these posts should capture the gist of it, even if a few details got muddled. Going forward, I should have good recaps and notes for each session. Below are some summarized thoughts on our first session.



The Intro: I wanted to avoid a typical intro like “you all meet in a bar,” or some such, and tried to introduce each member in a more unique way. In retrospect, this probably wasn't the best way to kick off the campaign. (The guy playing Zyn sat out half the session before we got to introducing his character...) The layer introductions was nifty, but took too long.

The middle: The campaign turned into a bit of a railroaded dungeon crawl (with no long rests, due to Bearchief's silliness in Session 2), and a bit of a slave to grid-based D&D. My bad there. New DM errors. We mix it up pretty well these days.

The end: I'm not a good RP'er, and I should have put way more effort into playing their first Big Bad. To complicate matters, I lost all of Brenda's talking points somewhere, so this was even more excruciating that the record now shows. I'm slowly getting better... 

The arcs ended essentially how I wanted them to, with a big, memorable end battle, and with the party betrayed and on their own; beholden to no one, and ready to explore the world as they see fit (off the railroad tracks).
Bearchief actually moved away about a week after the arc concluded… The party wanted to continue the campaign but was a bit worried, having now lost their primary healer AND primary tank… but I discouraged people from rerolling solely for party composition. This was D&D! They should play as they want and anything should be possible, right? …Right?

Eberron Adventure: Sixth Session

Deep beneath the earth, in a maze of caverns, below the chapel of the Sealers of the Stone Maw, the party halted. The light of small fires from the room ahead played off the walls of the tunnel in which the party stood.

In hushed tones, the party sent the drow ranger, Zyn and the halfling rogue, Shadowale ahead, who soon signaled the party forward. They found themselves on a ledge, with a ramp descending into a particularly large cavern. Gently burning piles of roots provided coals, which were scooped up and arranged around nests of eggs by a half dozen kobold attendants. The party had stumbled across a kobold hatchery.

Fearing the eggs might hatch, and they be attacked from the rear should they press on, the party grimly readied their weapons. Arrows felled a few of the attendants, and human monk, Turnin and dwarf druid Bearchief moved to block the exits.

With the attendants slain, the party set about systematically breaking the eggs.

The human wizard, Kyllar, secretly rescued one small egg from a nest, placing it delicately in his pack while the others finished up.

The deed done, the party continued on, and the next tunnel descended deeper into the earth. Halfway down, the party noticed that the tunnel... changed. No longer was it natural stone, nor even carved stone. Large, interlocking geometric bricks of stone constituted the corridor from ceiling to floor. Slowly, they crept to the bottom of the steps, peering out into the room ahead, which was illuminated with glow of numerous torches.

The Elder Giant had his back to them; twin great axes at his side, and Bulwark’s shield lashed to his person as an arm guard. Kobolds looked on; confused as he ordered some to open the bags of dirt and bury a large ring-shaped artifact on the floor, then reconsider, and with an evil bellow, order another crew to start digging it out.

Not understanding the Elder’s confusion, but seeing an opportunity laid bare before them, the party charged; Zyn, with his paired short swords and Turnin, with his quarterstaff, flung themselves at the groups of digging kobolds, who, cornered, were swinging at their attackers with shovels or drawing daggers; the dwarf druid Bearchief shifted into bear form, and launched himself ferociously towards the Elder; Shadowale shooting off some arrows and preparing to slash once the Elder was properly distracted by the bear; and Kyllar hugged the wall, crouching behind dirt sacks and lobbing magical attacks around the room.

The Elder turned, barked orders, and tried to fondle the air to cast a spell. For a moment, the very perceptive party could see stone spike appear on the floor, blocking their paths to their foes… but then nothing. The spell had failed. The party closed.

Soon, bloodied and enraged, the Elder ripped Bulwark’s shield from his arm, launching it behind him; narrowly missing Turnin, who was still preoccupied fighting kobolds. The Elder readied his second axe, and began swinging wildly; sweeping strokes carving their way through the party.

With the last of the kobolds slain, the party was able to converge on the Elder, overpower him, and kill him. They stood, surrounding him breathily heavily and trying to staunch a few of the more grievous wounds.

The Elder’s arms and armor were too large to be properly used by the party, but Zyn noticed a small druidic runestone, and noticed too that the symbols matched the ones found on runestone from the druid from Sora’s party.

Before the revelation could be discussed, the party realized they were not alone.

They turned, and Brenda stood at the tunnel, a dark tome chained with others to her armor, and dangling at her hip. The party looked back, and found that her assistant, Harold, mute, disfigured man, stood solemnly in the middle of the stone circle, his left arm wrapped in bandages and held close to his body with a sling.

The party was, understandably, a bit taken aback. Bearchief, still in bear form, growled, and Turnin, asked a lightning fast series of questions.

Brenda, feeling more than a bit laconic, ignored most of the inquiries. She left as soon as the party consecrated the last of her brethren; she was able to enter the chapel via the collapsed entrance because she is stronger than they; no, there will be no reward; no, the city guard is no here with her.

Regarding the slain Elder for a moment, she thanks the party for silencing the souls of her fallen brethren, for they were ever-so annoying. She thanks them again for slaying the Elder, an “obstacle.” She expresses surprise that the trio was able to accomplish all these things, and then notes that the party has grown to five. She then apologizes. You see, her master has work for her to complete; and the party is in her way. What work? Why calling upon her patron to infuse someone with great power, to let them be her patron’s will in the world… to be her patron’s…. Herald.

The black tome was drawn and open by Brenda, unintelligible words springing from her mouth. Harold/Herald started to levitate. The floor within the circle disappeared, revealing a cosmos within the stony, circular maw.

The bandages on his face split, revealing a long probing tongue and his jaw, split into two half-mandibles. His bandaged arm began to contort and bulge too, ripping through the cloth and unfurling itself, revealing a fleshy tentacle whip of an arm. The more words Brenda spoke, the more teeth sprung from his jaw; the more muscles bubbled up on his flesh and the longer his whip arm became.

Kyllar fired a probing cantrip at Herald, which passed right through him, impacting upon the wall behind him. The party bum rushed Brenda. Her chant staggered, and she drew a mace, trying to fend off their blows, and to inflict wounds and blast the party with eldritch powers through new invocations. While new injuries were liberally spread throughout the party, she was quickly overwhelmed.

Bearchief reared up, and then lunged, sundering her armor and burying his muzzle deep in her stomach. Brenda staggered and collapsed, leaving Bearchief face covered in gore. Bearchief growled.

The cosmos flickered momentarily, then disappeared. The ritual was broken. Incomplete, but still potent, Herald descended. His tentacle arm flailed out, striking Kyllar and jerking him nearer before coiling back around herald. His most human arm, still bubbling with muscles, conjured magical missiles, which branched out, each picking a different nearby party member and streaking out towards them.

 Kyllar decided he did not want to be near the abomination, hitched up his wizardly robes and hoofed it towards the exit. Herald waved his tentacle arm once in the air-

-and stepped through a rift to block the wizard’s path. Surprised, Kyllar copped another magical missile to the face.

Shocked at the betrayal, Turnin ran to Brenda’s fallen form, and tugged frantically at the books chained to her macabrely split form.

Herald continues to menace the party, appearing and disappearing around the room. Wounds are traded, though the weakened party feels them more. Kyllar is soon felled by a magical blast; Zyn by the strike of the fleshy whip. Turnin, having ripped the chained books from Brenda and secured them as best as possible chases after Herald, but he too is soon badly wounded. Shadowale continually scampers behind Herald, slashing at him viciously. Finally, Herald winks into existence in front of Bearchief, whose snout is still wet with Brenda’s blood, bores through Herald, ending him. He shifts back into his dwarf form with a sigh of exhaustion, covered in hot blood.

Fallen party members are revived, and the party staggers slowly through the winding caverns to the surface; Bearchief taking the time to scrawl warnings in ancient druidic runes in each corridor. The party exits the chapel to a waning sun.

Brenda had three books on her person; the black tome; a journal; and book of cleric’s prayers. Bearchief takes the black tome, and departs alone on a quest to find druids who can deal with the wicked book and properly seal the Stone Maw again. Kyllar takes the journal, and begins to read it, in an attempt to make sense of what just happened exactly. Turnin clutches the book of clerical prayers, once again his sense of safety community taken from him. Shadowale licks his lips, looking forward to the next hundred drinks to pass his lips. And Zyn just smiles, pleased at how much blood he has been able to spill with this group...

Eberron Adventure: Fifth Session

The party cowers behind a haphazard barricade. The human monk Turnin and the dwarf druid Bearchief take a short, fitful rest, regaining some strength, while the halfling rogue, Shadowale, and drow ranger, Zyn kept watch near the barricade, listening intently for activity on the other side of the doors. The human monk, Kyllar, lounged about, reading the journal of the most recent Prime Sealer, leader of the order of the Sealers of the Stone Maw, whose overrun chapel they were now fighting through.

Zyn peers under the door, and thinks he sees a group of at least kobolds readying to besiege the party. The barricade is stealthy pulled back a ways, and the doors are pulled back. Arrows and magic fly from the barricade, and the party is able to engage the would-be-besiegers before their defenses are established. Another giant, and yet another group of kobolds are slain.

The party retraces their exploratory steps from earlier, venturing down into the catacombs of the chapel again.

The party finds the corner of the catacombs still crudely excavated, and that the tunnel there leads to a vast natural series of interconnected caverns. They pick a direction and head out, with the human wizard Kyllar reading through the journal of the Prime Sealer by conjured light…

Kyllar’s reading is interrupted by several skirmishes, as the party encounters various kobold patrols and digging teams. They appear to be digging into the more dirt-like areas of the cave, bagging the dirt, and bringing it somewhere lower and deeper into the cavern maze... The party shudders a bit at needing to press on and go deeper into the earth.

Despite the distractions, Kyllar is able to learn much from the Prime Sealer’s journal.

·         The newest Prime Sealer took the post over a decade ago, after his predecessor died unexpectedly.

·         Shortly after attaining office, the Prime Sealer found a locked tome; a black book that hurt his eyes to gaze upon, and whose cover was warped and twisted despite crisp, pristine pages within.

·         The Prime Sealer was able to unlock the tome, and discovered an alternate history to the founding of Fal-Hatet: there was no kobold attacks. The merchant was possessed by some otherworldly being, and found trying to open some damnable portal deep below the earth. The original soldiers fought him, slew him, and sealed the portal, founding the order and town to watch it.

·         Presented with an unbelievable alternate account, the Prime Sealer sent about secretly investigating.

·         The bond prevented him from digging through the catacombs… until he started sending the rest of the order into the countryside to do charitable works.

·         While they were away, he dug… eventually finding a room somehow… constructed deep in the earth; built up large, impossibly shaped interlocking stones.

·         The journal ends abruptly about a month ago, with him preparing to explore deeper into that room after sending the rest of the Order out again…

The party grumbles, and interrupts Kyllar’s revelations on their march with curses upon the Prime Sealer for his stupidity.

Suddenly realizing that they were seeing fire flicker off the walls from the chamber in from of them, the party halts…

Eberron Adventure: Fourth Session

The party had reached Fal-Hatet, and brazenly hacked their way through their foes to reach the chapel of the Sealers of the Stone Maw. They stood in the mess hall of the chapel, just having slain two giants and a cadre of kobold lackeys. A pair of doors stood before them, barricaded, and a snaking hallway, carved into the rock itself led off to their right, heading deeper into the chapel complex.

Afraid of the zombies that might be behind the barricade, the party opted for the hallway, where they sounds a carved stone statue commemorating the first Prime Sealer, the leader of the order. Nearby, they found the office of the post, and set about looting it. The party discovered an ornamental great maul, a suit of ring mail armor, candles, a book of meditations pertinent to the Order, a few sheets of prized vellum paper, and a diary kept by the most recent Prime Sealer, started when he ascended to the post. All these were greedily picked up by the human wizard Kyllar, who immediately started pouring over the journal; sharing his discoveries with the party as he makes them.

The party advances deeper and deeper into the complex, descending a circular stairway down towards the catacombs...

…and the party pauses. The drow ranger Zyn signals for the party to halt, and prepares to scout ahead, and unprompted, Kyllar conjures an illusionary rock wall to function as a kind of one-way mirror, allowing the drow to enter the room unseen and report back.

Unfortunately, despite this momentous, uncharacteristic event of planning, forethought, and cooperation Zyn trips, and falls through the illusion, his swords dropping from his hands and landing on his face.

The party hurries down the steps, hiding behind the illusionary wall, with Kyllar reaching through the illusion briefly to help Zyn up and dust him off as giants and kobolds turn to investigate the noise.

Arrows are loosed from behind the illusionary partition. Kobold diggers flee; kobold soldiers try and wrap their minds around just what is going on, and the giants return fire with a blind salvo of javelins, one of which skewers the human monk Turnin, who was momentarily lost in thought examining one of the old funerary caskets. The missile pins him to the wall, and the agony of the wound knocks him unconscious.

After a moment of consideration, the dwarf druid Bearchief ignores the witless groans of Turnin fighting against Death, and instead fondles the air, creating a magical, invisible rock obstacle course between the giants and the party. The diggers fully retreat, and the kobold soldiers decided to flee as well, not understanding just what is going on. They are shredded by the magical rocky spikes as the giants continue to rage, one rushing forward through the spikes in a mad attempt to reach the party.

The party lets lose another round of arrows and magic while Bearchief moves to revive Turnin. Turnin gasps for air, and flails about in an attempt to remove himself from the wall, somehow throwing a dart from his robes into the face of the menacing giant. Turnin unsticks himself with the aid of Kyllar, and then hurls the javelin back at the giant in hopes of revenge. The giant advances, catching the javelin and hurling it back at Turnin in a stupid game of deadly catch. The rest of the party decide to intervene; close on the giant, and he is soon felled.

Lacking new immediate foes, the party is able to examine the catacombs. By the entrance are tiered plots built into the wall for typical clerics. At the far end of the room are large sarcophagi of the former Prime Sealers. Beyond them, in a dark corner is an excavated hole winding ever deeper into the mountains. Echoes of kobold shrieks and giant bellows rise up from the ancient rocks, and the party bemoans their ill luck, quickly deciding to double-back and investigate the haphazard barricade instead!

They find it quite poorly constructed indeed. The doors swing inwards, so the barricade is on the wrong side. Nobody said kobolds were intelligent. Or wise. After dismantling part of the barricade, the party throws open the doors, and discovers the rest of the clerics, who have been turned into shambling zombies. The party quickly dispatches them, then consecrates the bodies. Looking around, the party sees signs of a conflagration, similar to the ones found in the town, though this one isn't as devastating. A score of dead kobolds litter the rooms, some burned, other clubbed to death, presumably by the undead clerics. The room is looted, and is found to contain torch-making materials, more prayer books, some coin, and some assorted weapons. Nearby, an unbroken vial sits on the ground on some discarded bedding. Through a ritual, Kyllar is able to determine that it is slightly magical, and pertains to fire.

Finding a watery spring in the room, Shadowale strips down and begins to wash up. Kyllar averts his eyes but adds some magical heat to the water. The rest of the party sets about dismantling the barricade on the wrong side of the door, or reading the Prime Sealer’s journal.

In the middle of these tasks, the kobold soldiers make a (totally unexpected) sortie. Standing atop a half deconstructed/half built barricade, most of the party rushes to fend off the attackers, with Shadowale taking a moment to rinse the soap off.

Taking a few minor wounds, though felling none of the kobolds, the party holds the line, scrambling over both each other and the furniture rubble in attempts to get better shots or strikes.

Hearing the party fumble in their killyness, Shadowale foregoes armor, jumping out of the impromptu hot tub, grabbing only his weapons and running to join the mayhem. Scampering up to the top of the barricade, he plants his dagger in the scaled beast’s face, shouting like a maniac. The rest of the party, roused by this petite paragon of manliness, gather their wits, remember where the pointy ends of their weapons are and slay the remaining kobolds.

The party quickly dismantles the rest of the barricade, and reassembles it inside the room. They then rebuild it. They are momentarily safe, but trapped. They cannot stay long. Turnin and Bearchief take a short rest among the dead and clutter while Zyn, Kyllar and the (possibly) now clothed Shadowale nervously man the barricade, all too aware of the skitters of the kobolds and the thumps of the giants that are echoing off the stone walls and through the far-too-thin doors....

Eberron Adventure: Third Session

Now, even more experienced after the carnage of the previous session, the party stands before the entrance to the chapel of the Sealers of the Stone Maw. While kobold chattering is heard coming from the chapel, no foes emerge.

Without an immediate threat, the party backtracks.

The drow Zyn, though bothered by the light, is still able to find the remains of (most of) Sora’s party. They find a few gears and screws, presumable from Bulwark; a druidic satchel, a druidic runestone (which Bearchief was unable to identify), fur coverings and gnawed skull (which Zyn can only determine probably belonged to a living creature at some point) near a cook pot; a broken axe amid a sea of bloody stains… but still no sign of that rogue.

They find another burnt building, and more zombies, which are quickly pulverized. The party is baffled by the presence of the zombies. Kyllar wracks his brain for information on zombies, but the most he can recall is that they are probably considered undead.

They examine the inn, and find and end the zombified owners trapped in a back room. In another room, they uncover a cask of ale, which Shadowale greedily begins to down, and a book outlining the town’s official history, which Kyllar thumbs through as the party appropriates armor, healing potions and weapons found in the inn’s rooms. Kyllar learns that the town was founded by a caravan. While in the mountains, one of the merchants disappeared. The soldiers protecting the caravan tracked the merchant to a cave, and though they could not save him, they were able to slay the kobolds who had kidnapped him, and to force a cave in, crushing the kobold nest. The soldiers convinced the caravan to settle in the mountains, becoming a sanctuary to other travelers, and the soldiers swore oaths, founding the Sealers of the Stone Maw.

The party searches the rooms, a now-drunk Shadowale attempting to pick locks as the party encounters them. The party soon finds themselves a bit richer, and with their pick of blades. Zyn takes advantage of Shadowale’s inebriation by “dibsing” a choice suit of studded leather armor when the halfling drunkenly nods off. It probably wouldn’t have fit the little guy anyways…

The party tries to rest, but is interrupted but find they have squandered their brief respite by looting. A party of skirmishing kobolds sent out from the chapel. The party briefly attempts to barricade the inn before deciding to go on the offensive. The kobolds are slain and the party warily approaches the entrance to the chapel (again).

The party sneaks into the grant entrance hall, a spacious place broken up by tall stone columns, with stairs at the far end. They luckily avoid the kobold’s traps, but unfortunately trigger one that collapses the entrance. As the dust settles, the party find themselves facing down a pair of javelin-wielding giants atop the stairs, who overturn a nearby table for cover, as well as a small cadre of spear-wielding kobolds.

Kyllar shoots magic at the giants, and then hides behind a column. Zyn draws his paired short swords and wades into the mass of kobolds, while Turnin charges up the steps towards the giants, a javelin opening up his side on the way. Shadowale, sobered (a little) by battle, runs behind Turnin, and scampers up a table to slice at a giant. Blood drawn, the Halfling hides behind the barricade, hoping to surprise the giants later…

The kobolds stab at Zyn and Turnin, missing the former but wounding the latter again and again. Bearchief, in dwarf form, charges the steps as well, entering the fray and bestowing a potent second-level healing spell on the monk, who thanks the dwarf, and then vaults over him to hide with Kyllar.

The giants decide they have had enough (hiding), and kick the table down the stairs, with Shadowale nimbly escaping the table projectile and scampering to the side. It topples to the bottom of the stairs at Kyllar’s feet, who has also had enough (of the giants). Standing on his tip-toes to see over the top of the stairs, Kyllar unleashes a powerful torrent of fire, blasting one giant to ash and pieces of giant, and severely burning the other giant, whose flesh chars, pops and sizzles… With Zyn and Bearchief slaying the last kobolds, Shadowale somersaults around some remaining furniture in the ruined mess hall, and slays the last giant, who was reeling in pain due to his melting flesh.

The party pauses, taking in their surroundings, courtesy of Kyllar’s conjured dancing magical lights. They have charged up through the entrance, and stand in a small communal kitchen/mess hall. Ahead are two tall doors, haphazardly barricaded with benches, and to the party’s right, snakes a narrowly carved hallway, winding ever deeper into the mountains…

Eberron Adventure: Second Session

Having become more experienced in their roles and abilities, the party breaks camp and begins trekking towards Fal-Hatet again. They note that their melting of the bridge below must have worked; they see no further signs of kobolds exiting the tunnels, and no one has touched the giant’s corpses slain the previous day.

The party stalks through the winding, mountainous passages, until they come across the aftermath of a bloody battle. Half a dozen kobolds litter the path; some killed with brutal blows, one decapitated with a broken shield, and one with the haft of a maul jammed into its skull, laying near a dragonborn, slumped against a rock, and clade in what was once ornate plate armor, now sundered, pin cushioned with crossbow bolts.

As they approach, the dragon hisses out “finish me, you tiny scaled cowards..”

The party realizes that the dragonborn is not quite dead yet, and probably a bit delirious. They give her some water, and are able to ascertain that their feeble skills cannot heal her grievous wounds. They attempt to comfort her, and slowly she becomes lucid enough to talk.

The party learns that their task might be a little more perilous than they were led to believe. The errant paladin Sora was part of a group sent on the same task a few days before the party embarked. They made it to the town, but walked into an ambush and were overrun. Their druid was slain immediately; their barbarian raged and flung himself into the thickest mass of foes; and their roguish guide disappeared. She attempted to smite the Elder Mountain Giant that approached her party, but her ancient holy powers faltered. A warforged fighter named Bulwark ntervened; stoically taking blows meant for her, though the Elder Giant, who favored two equally giant axes, soon overpowered the metal man. Powerless, she fled, and was pursued by kobolds. She made her stand here, and while wounded, the kobolds were recalled before they delivered the killing blow. She unclasps a tome, chained to her belt, and gives it to the party. It is a chronicle of her life and deeds. Should they ever run into another paladin of the Wayward Blades, the party is to give them her tome, so the order can study and learn from her life, as is customary. With her last breaths, Sora implores the party not to be too hasty, and to not split the party.

The party continues on, arriving shortly at Fal-Hatet… and almost immediately begin ignoring Sora sage advice. The town is U shaped, it’s hightest point in the upper left of the U, then descending down to the bottom of the U, and eventually even further down, to the upper right of the U. Zyn was able to quietly guide the party off the main path and into the second floor of a building in town, but while the party begins planning their plan of attack, Bearchief topples out of the building onto the ground, and some enemy patrols are alerted.

Quick thinking and quick reflexes were able silence the patrols’ call to arms, and the party is able to find and consecrate one of Brenda’s brethren, who had been bludgeoned to dust. The party investigate a few buildings, and find evidence of a conflagration, and some dispatch some zombies lurching out of the burnt out building.

Encountering another patrol of kobolds, Bearchief roars, intimidating them, but also alerting the rest of the town to the party’s presence.

An arduous, brutal street fight ensues, with the party fighting their way all the way to the bottom of the town, where a (slightly) better-equipped giant shouts a warning into the chapel. The party end him, and peer into the shadows wondering what perils will await them in the chapel of the Sealers of the Stone Maw...

Eberron Adventure: First Session

The adventure begins in Fal-Narah, a small town nestled in the foothills of some minor, unnamed mountains. The town is weary; exhausted and on edge. A few months ago, a smaller settlement to the north in the mountains, known as Fal-Hatet was massacred by a clan of mountain giants, and their swarms of kobold slaves. Fal-Hatet was home to a small order of clerics, known as Sealers of the Stone Maw.

Only two survivors made it out of Fal-Hatet; the cleric quartermaster, Brenda Halim, known as the “Mover of Pieces,” and her now grievously disfigured and mute assistant, known only as Harold. Kobolds harried the two as they made the trip south, and the draconic rabble was forced back by the local militia. Thankfully, none of the giants pursued. 

In the following weeks, Fal-Narah was militarized. The local militia was drilled into a proper city guard, and palisades and then walls were constructed to protect the town from the kobolds, who were marauding unchecked throughout the mountain passes north of the city.

Brenda was instrumental in organizing the manpower and materiel needed to facilitate these changes. She’s revered by Fal-Narah for her help, though pitied for her losses. Recently, as the northern defenses have improved, Brenda, the Mover of Pieces began to divert adventurers passing through to the north, to serve as counter-raiders against the kobolds. Little has come of these ventures, however.
It is in Fal-Narah that we first find our party, three persons who have caught the attention of Brenda...

The first is a human named Turnin, and while garbed as a monk, has proven more slothful than one would think. While earnest and eager to please, his actions tend to lag behind his intentions. His order sent him to Sealers, but he arrived at Fal-Narah after the massacre, and Brenda has had him doing odd jobs and errands around the town for the last few days, though has promised him that she’ll have a greater task for him soon… 

The second is a human conjuration wizard, Kyllar, who arrived in town the previous evening. His vocation has piqued the interest of the Mover of Pieces.

The two are chatting with Brenda in her makeshift headquarters – a floundering inn donated by the mayor to the Sealers of the Stone Maw (ie Brenda and Harold), for use in organizing the town, running the order’s affairs, and outfitting the local city guard and any adventurers Brenda appropriates from the road. They are joined by the third person of interest, a Halfling rogue, known as Shadowale. After brawling against some dwarves in a tavern last night, he woke up hungover, and under Brenda’s warden-like care. With a little prodding for the hungover and surly Halfling, Brenda convinces the trio to embark on a quest for her.

The trio learns that the Sealers of the Stone Maw were a communal order, bound by magic. Through ritual, they were linked, allowing one to sense where each other were, and their general physical and mental state. When one of the order would pass on, the body would be consecrated and the bond severed. Unfortunately, the swiftness of the massacre prevented this, and their dead souls torment Brenda and Harold unceasingly. She thinks that the party is competent enough to make their way to the ruins of Fal-Hatet, and consecrate the bodies of her slain brethren, at which point, Brenda will lead the city guard north, and reclaim Fal-Hatet from the kobolds and giants. The party will be the vanguard for a glorious counter attack! Brenda teaches the cleric the consecration spell, gives them provisions, and are sent on their way. The city watch nods solemnly as they pass the walls into the foothills…

Nervous small talk is soon disrupted by the sound of fighting ahead, the party sneaks up to a crest of a hill to see a dwarven druid fending off several kobolds. The trio of Kyllar, Turnin, and Shadowale charge in, and the kobolds are slain before they could even consider routing.

The party is introduced to Bearchief (another PC), a hill dwarf druid, who has been out exploring the world on a personal quest, and righting wrongs as he finds them. He informs the party that the kobolds have hewn a path underground, through the mountains. He was on his way to warn the nearby towns, like Fal-Hatet, that they might soon have a kobold problem. Bearchief was unaware of the current local situation, and was quickly educated by the party.

While Fal-Hatet could conceivably stand their ground, it was deemed a far better idea to try and collapse the kobold’s tunnels and stem the tide. Bearchief offered to lead the party to the entrance of the tunnels, and the party, now 4 strong, embarked on their first side-quest.

A little more small talk was attempted, which was again interrupted by the sound of battle ahead. The party peered around some trees to see a female mountain giant topple to the ground; felled by a menacing looking Drow (the 5^th PC). The Drow carved a dozen gashes into her face, ruining it as the party arrived. Before proper introductions could be made, her mate came charging out of the tunnel towards the party, enraged.

The giant’s club connected a few times, but the Halfling quickly got the advantage, climbing onto the giant’s shoulders while it was distracted by Turnin the monk’s twirling quarterstaff. Shadowale held on for dear life with one hand, while the other slit the giant’s throat, showering Turnin with a geyser of blood.

The quartet looked around, but Zyn had disappeared. A little unnerved, they ventured into the tunnel. A little ways in, Kyllar looked over his shoulder to see the Drow desecrating the face of the second giant before disappearing. The party was vigilant; Shadowale took up the rear to mitigate the chances of the Drow sneaking up behind them, and soon noted that the Drow was warily shadowing them, though at too far a distance to pose any immediate threat.

They continue onward, deeper into the mountain. It’s dark, and wet in places. Scores of tiny pick marks show where the kobolds have dug through the rock, connecting caves and caverns with tunnels. At each intersection, the druid Bearchief notices small druidic runes saying “Evil; Go; Dig” in varying orders, though always accompanied by a symbol indicating what direction to travel; toward the hole through which the party entered the labyrinth.

After passing a few crossroads without incident, the path opens to a large cavern. Some torches burn dimly, showing that the area is split into two sides; the party on one; a crude bridge molded like rough clay spanning a crevasse of unknown depth; and the other side, which has half a dozen tunnels leading two it, as well as a large number of kobolds, harassing a young lava elemental, it’s molten essence spilling onto the floor and melting parts away with every successful spear thrust and slung rock from the kobolds..

The party secured their position on their side of the bridge and chasm. A few kobolds noticed them, and slung a few rocks their direction. The party returned fire with a Firebolt from Kyllar, and a few arrows from Shadowale and Zyn, who had closed with the party, and decided to aid them in the fight. The elemental raged on the other side of the cavern, burning kobolds with immolated punches and smothering, smoldering hugs. As it turned to face the party, its last opponents, Bearchief readied a spell, summoning magical invisible stone spikes to litter the bridge.

The elemental raged on, the invisible barricades tearing into its glassy, obsidian armor. The wounds menacingly belched fire, in addition to spilling the elemental's molten essence across the bridge, partially dissolving the path as the elemental tried to traverse it.

Weakened, it reached the party on their side of the bridge, but Turnin, who had previously just been flexing, stretching, and encouraging his companions with kind words, was now ready. With a Ki-channeling whoop, a barrage of fists flew into the elemental, shattering more of the obsidian armor. With a groan, the elemental collapsed on itself, melting through the bridge, and badly injuring Turnin with the molten splash back, knocking him unconscious.

Turnin collapsed, but was saved from falling into the chasm by Kyllar and Bearchief. Shadowale regards Zyn, and with Turnin stabilized, and on secure ground, the party thanks Zyn for his aid, and wonders if Zyn might help the rest of the party with their task of consecration in Fal-Hatet. Zyn agrees, but only once he confirms that the task will allow him to face worthy prey, and slay the giants he reviles so much.

Turnin is healed, and mentions that his monastic companions were wrong; he can – and DID – punch fire! Wounded but a little more experienced, the party exits the tunnel to a nearby secluded copse of trees that Bearchief noticed. A watch order is established, and though uneasy, the party begins to set up camp for the evening, slowly swapping stories into the night, isolated in a menacing wilderness…