Gaming Session 17 (August 6, 2005) (Total XP for each party member: 343)

17th Hematite: After thanking the party for their assistance, Ambassador Marjasdotter asks if they will accompany her and her party back to their capital of Akureyri, where she promises they will be properly rewarded for their assistance. She also hints at a more urgent service that Queen Carlotta may request of them... The party agrees to accompany her.

24th Hematite: After having travelled off the Goblin highways for about seven days, the party arrives in the magical Mushroom City of Akureyri. They partake in a Mushroom communion ceremony, and each receive an ability score bonus (Elias +1 Con; Sebastian +1 Str; Cuahtemoc +1 Dex; D'mitrius +1 Dex; Gwil +1 Cha; Orton +1 Wis; and Xu +1 Str).

25th Hematite: The party is granted an audience with Queen Carlotta, who invites them to tea in her garden. As a reward for their assistance, she allows each member of the party to take their pick of a mushroom from her pharmacopeia. ( Elias takes Puffball of Slow; Cuauhtemoc and Sebastian each take a Mushroom of Greater Magic Fang +5; Dmitrius takes Waterbreathing; Orton and Xu, Restoration; and Gwil, Negative energy protection.) The Queen then presents her request: that the party rescue her daughter Jasmine, who has been kidnapped by the Jinxkins. In return for their acceptance of the quest, she gives them 100 doses of Reduce Creature and 100 doses of Darkvision. She also gives them a special glowing crystal, whose color signals the state of health of her daughter, and whose brightness gives some indication of how near they are to her.

The Queen encourages the party to seek out the Goblin sage Athena, who lives in the City of Thebes, to learn more about the Jinxkins and how they might track down her daughter.

34th Hematite: Accompanied by servants of the Queen, the party is lead across the trackless White Goblin Plain to the City of Knossos.

In Knossos the party meets with Sergius Lefkoz, and present to him the 6 corpses they retrieved from the tomb of the ancients. Sergius quickly identifies his kin Constantinos by the amulet around his neck.

1st Obsidian: The party arrives in the town of Florina, where they observe the celebration of Somniator's Moon, a festival dedicated to the goddess Emerald. (Worshippers deprive themselves of sleep for three days, and then anticipate dreams from the goddess on the night of 1 Obsidian.

27th Obsidian: The party arrives in Thebes. After some initial difficulties in gathering information, the party finally manages to find Athena. Athena tells the party what she knows of the Jinxkins from her previous service as a Goblin ambassador among them. She is also able to provide them with an actual Jinxkin map.

40th Obsidian: Having set out for the Jinxkin capital Bardarbunga, the party are turned back at the Red Goblin border. They also notice that the light in the crystal they received from Queen Carlotta is getting fainter, indicating they are going in the wrong direction.

8th Garnet: The party returns to the Green Goblin capital.

11th Garnet: As they reach the edge of the Badlands, the party encounters 4 shadows. XP reward for defeating the Shadows: 343.

Gaming Session 18 (August 20, 2005)

12th Garnet: The party is ambushed by two Arachnoids, one large (the male) and one huge (the female). Cuauhtemoc, Sebastian, and Elias fall, and the party is almost overwhelmed when a Goblin patrol arrives and drives the creatures away. The patrol accompanies the party to Pylos.

17th Garnet: The party arrives at Pylos.

19th Garnet: Two days north of Pylos, while attempting to cross a marsh, the party encounters and undead swarm -- the All-Consuming Hunger -- which sends all but Elias fleeing in a panic. Though most of the party gets lost in the marshlands, Sebastian with his sense of smell and tracking ability, is able to help assemble the party again, after about an hour.

Gaming Session 19 (September 3, 2005) (Total XP for each party member: 2,078)

19th Garnet: Elias casts "Eagle's Splendor" on Orton who then, accompanied by Cuauhtemoc and Sebastian, returns to the section of road occupied by the All-Consuming Hunger. Repeated attempts to turn the undead swarm fail. The party then seeks a way around, but finds that the marsh is impassable. They decide to sleep on it.

20th Garnet: Orton casts "Calm Emotions" and the party decides to try to jump the marsh. Unfortunately, they did not count on a second All-Consuming Hunger. Elias, D'mitrius, Xu and Orton fail to clear the marsh when they jump, and are attacked by the undead swarms. Orton -- one of the party members attacked -- is nauseated, fails his concentration check, and his spell fizzles. Subsequently, everyone but Sebastian panics. All but Orton flee to the opposite side of the marsh. After recovering his calm, Orton summons a Hippogriff and rejoins the party. XP reward for successfully crossing the marsh: 257.

21st Garnet: Elias, Dmitrius, and Xu begin to feel the effects of the wasting disease caused by their encounter with the undead swarms. Orton is able to heal them, though their constitutions remain somewhat weakened until they can recover fully.

After travelling 8 miles, the party is ambushed by an elite Jinxkin fighting force (4 elite Jinxkin fighters and 1 Jinxkin shaman mounted on a medium dire rat), led by their old friend the Gloura. XP reward for defeating the elite Jinxkin force: 1,050. Though the Gloura escapes, the party manages to take one of the elite fighters captive. After intimidating him, they are able to get him to reveal the location of the captive princess -- in the Jinxkin stronghold of Hekla. They also convince him to describe the location of the secret door granting access to the tunnel that leads to Hekla, and the learn the identity of the Gloura -- a mercenary named Loki who is in the service of Grand Jinxkin Adolf. After their questioning, Elias releases the fighter.

22nd Garnet: In the night, the party is ambushed by two Chuuls. Though the Chuuls test the party sorely (Sebastian is paralyzed by one of them), they emerge victorious. XP reward for defeating the Chuuls: 771.

Gaming Session 20 (September 17, 2005) (Total XP for each party member: 3,079 for Cuauhtemoc, Sebastian & Xu; 2,919 for Orton; 2,583 for D'mitrius, Elias & Gwil)

23rd Garnet: The party arrives at Kastoria. They notice that the inhabitants of the hamlet seem unusually jittery. Elias does some information gathering, and learns that there were riots in major Green Goblin cities in the wake of the last Sure Moon (31 Obsidian), the date when the annual ritual of the Obsidian Blade is supposed to take place. There are fears that the Green Goblin Dominion may soon descend into Civil War.

30th Garnet: The party reaches Chalcis. They remain there for two days, while Gwil and Orton craft Gauntlets of Ogre Power for Xu. XP expended by Orton: 160.

46th Garnet: Following the description provided by the Jinxkin they captured in the Badlands, they find the entrance to the Hekla tunnel. They entrance is too small for them to enter, without taking the mushrooms of reduce creature.

5th Chrysoprase: The party arrives at an odd intersection in the Jinxkin tunnel, where they are confronted by Goblin spirits who demand an offering to the goddess Amethyst. Orton refuses, and then in a show of divine power, turns the evil spirits. XP reward for overcoming the Goblin spirits: 386 for Cuauhtemoc, Orton, Sebastian & Xu; 300 for D'mitrius, Elias & Gwil.

8th Chrysoprase: The party arrives in Hekla. They encounter two Jinxkins; Dmitrius shoots one dead with an arrow and Xu tackles the other. They interrogate the captured one and learn where the location of Ragnar's den is. (In order to prevent the captive from alerting the city, they use two doses of Queen Carlota's "shrinking" mushroom to shrink the Jinxkin to "diminutive" size, and stick him in their pocket.) Gwil becomes invisible and does reconnaissance. He triggers a trap and an alarm in the entryway. He goes further into the den, and sees several dozen Jinxkin and dire rats gathering (including Ragnar and his guard). He returns to the party and informs them, and retrieves a scroll of fireball purchased by Elias in Chalcis. The fireball kills dozens and injures everyone else. Gwil does combat with a Jinxkin witch who was lying in wait for him. The party attempts to lure the force out into the central cavern, but they refuse to leave the safety of their den. Two bat swarms fly out of the den and attack the party, wearing them down before they finally succeed in dispersing the swarms. The party finally storms the warren, killing Ragnar and most of his lieutenants, including two Jinxkin shamans. (One Jinxkin and a number of dire rats escape deeper into the warren.) XP reward for defeating Ragnar and his minions: 2,693 for Cuauhtemoc, Orton, Sebastian & Xu; 2,283 for D'mitrius, Elias & Gwil.

Gaming Session 21 (October 1, 2005) (Total XP for each party member: 1,100 for Cuauhtemoc, D'mitrius, Gwil, & Sebastian; 1,800 for Xu; 940 for Orton; 1,025 for Elias)

8th Chrysoprase: The party enters Ragnar's hearth room, wading through the piles of Jinxkin and rat corpses. They claim their trophies from Ragnar's corpse: an obsidian belt with an amethyst buckle, his horn, his rat-headdress, and his spear. In the former chieftain's bedroom they find a strongbox. The drow searches it for traps and finds one, but trips the trap while attempting to disarm it, exposing the entire party to poison gas. Everyone but the dwarf and the tigerman fail their saves; the drow is knocked out. The priest applies his healing abilities, though the poison has left the entire party severely weakened. They decide to hole up for the night in Ragnar's bedroom. After recovering somewhat, the drow picks the lock on the strong box, finding a substantial treasure of Goblin gold, jewels, and works of art.

In the middle of the night, the party is surprized by a swarm of jinxkins, though they make relatively short work of them. XP reward for defeating the Jinxkin Swarm: 100.

9th Chrysoprase: The party proceeds cautiously to search Ragnar's warren. They find a number of scrolls in a room that appears to have belonged to a Jinxkin Shaman. In a large cavern which appears to be a Temple of Amethyst, the party finds rat, jinxkin and myconid remains in a sacrificial pit. The orc considers removing the amethyst gem which forms the eye of a cyclopian statue of the goddess; but after some debate, thinks better of it. In a small adjoining room they find Princess Jasmine in an iron cage, from which the drow instantly releases her. The princess is withered, so they offer her water and she revives. She appears unable to communicate.

Upon departing from Ragnar's warren, the party is challenged by what is left of the Hekla army: swarms of Jinxkins, dire rats, and bats, led by a High Priest and a Warrior. The Warrior cries for revenge, but the High Priest suggests that the murder of Ragnar is the fulfillment of prophesy, and that his murderer is the rightful chief. Xu steps forward. The warrior challenges him to a duel, and is made short work of by Xu. When the High Priest insists that Xu remain in Hekla to prepare for the coronation, Xu declines. By ancient law, declares the High Priest, as the rightful chief has abdicated, the High Priest must now rule in his stead. Long live the new Lord of Hekla, High Priest Tyr, who shall rule in a manner so as to please the Goddess Amethyst! After making good their escape, the party take the shrinking mushrroms and head back for the Goblin roads. XP reward for defeating the Jinxkin Warrior: 700 to Xu.

12th Chrysoprase: The party arrives at the intersection of the Hekla road where the altar to Amethyst is. Cuauhtemoc, Orton and Xu are challenged by two Goblin spectres for refusing to make an offering to the goddess. Xu suffers a withering touch from one of the spectres, while Cuauhtemoc dodges the other, and returns a magical fist attack that makes it think twice. Orton, invoking the power of Laa, once again dispels the foul shades. The dwarf heals himself from the effects of their touch with the mushroom of restoration he received from Queen Carlotta. XP reward for defeating the Goblin Spectres: 600.

17th Chrysoprase: The party reach the Goblin roads just as the effects of the shrinking mushrooms wear off. They forge onward to Akureyri.

32nd Chrysoprase: Arriving in Chalcis on the "Green Moon" celebration, the party finds the city in a state of festivity. Everyone is wearing green; there is a grand procession down the main thoroughfare, at the head of which is a litter carrying a statue of the goddess Chrysoprase with her son Garnet on her lap. Watchers cast copper coins into the street, which are gathered up by the priestesses of Chrysoprase as alms for the poor. The party decides to remain in Chalcis for a few days to resupply, and to craft magic weapons: a wand of magic missile for Elias (caster level 5, -75 XP for Elias), a periapt of wisdom for Orton (+2, -160 XP for Orton), 5 scrolls of fireball for Gwil, a +1 light crossbow for Dmitrius. While in Chalcis, the party hear rumors that the long feared Green Goblin Civil War is on the brink.

44th Chrysoprase: The party reaches the northern edge of the Badlands.

46th Chrysoprase: Battle with the Liths. XP reward for defeating the Liths: 400.

2nd Emerald: As they enter Pylos, the party are approached by a somber delegation. "What word is there from Chalcis?" they ask. White Goblin travellers from Thebes have brought word of an Agamemnist uprising, a whole quarter of the city in revolt, fighting in the streets, and martial law declared by Grand Duke Sebastian. The party decides they must find a way to travel south without passing through Thebes, but to do so they must leave the Goblin highways. Orton casts tongues on the little Myconid, Jasmine, and learns how Myconids travel by 'speaking to the mold.' Alas, Jasmine has no such skill. She is too small to speak yet...

Gaming Session 22 (October 15, 2005) (Total XP for each party member: 1,186)

4th Emerald: Battle with the Mohrgs. XP reward for defeating the Mohrgs: 900. There is an ancient Shushanian rune inscribed on the foreheads of the Mohrgs, which the party later learns to have Gloura origins.

9th Emerald: The party leaves the road in order to avoid going through Thebes.

11th Emerald: Thanks to Cuauhtemoc's skillful tracking abilities, the party arrives safely in Palmyra.

28th Emerald: The party arrives in Delphi.

40th Emerald: The party meets Myconids on the road, and then travel together with them to the nearby village of Kiruna.

41st Emerald: The party meets Queen Carlota in Kiruna. XP reward for safely returning Princess Jasmine to her mother: 286.

42nd Emerald: Queen Carlota reveals to the party that her daughter, while in captivity to the Jinxkins, overheard that the Obsidian Blade has fallen into the hands of Grand Jinxkin Adolf. She has chosen not to reveal this information to Grand Duke Philip, since he refused to help her in need. She gives the information to the party for them to do with as they see fit. (They are also rewarded by allowing to choose mushrooms from her travelling pharmacopeia.)

9th Amethyst: The party arrives in Delphi, only to be immediately arrested by the Goblin authorities as soon as they enter the city. The authorities had scanned their thoughts (as happens in every major city of the empire), and found that they knew where the Obsidian Blade was. The party is given a choice between being imprisoned, or helping the authorities in Delphi make contact with the Emperor in Pharsalus. They accept the mission, and are fitted with collars that will prevent any further "detect thoughts" scans in the future. (It won't do to have the secret revealed to anyone else, until the authorities and figure out what to do with the information.

Chapter 6