A pause: Stonehell & Rappan

We've decided to put the campaign on hold with the passing of our friend. No one feels like delving in those dark halls at the moment. I hope one day to return, but not now, and until we decide we're ready, we're going to play some other games. 

It's funny, it was never meant to run this long. What started out as a filler campaign has stretched on for more than a decade, 332 sessions... and now... 

Not ending. 

A pause. 

To be continued...

 

How? When? I don't know yet. We'll figure it out when we're ready. 

Rappan: Stone Doors and Fairy Monarchs

Session 327 was played on 4/26/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Borumar chats briefly with Tink before he turns his attention back to the door, opening it, and ushering the party though. Tink explains that they find themselves in the realm of King Almander and Queen Kazsha… the fairy court across the river from Nick’s castle!

Sorting through the loot the party has on them, it’s decided that the emerald they’d collected would make a reasonable gift to offer when they ask for ongoing permission to use the stone door to enter Rappan. Tink bounds off to the court to let them know of the parties arrival through the door, and Nick and Co. follow at a more leisurely pace. 

Queen Kazsha is enchanted by the gift, though the king seems less pleased. Perhaps it was too nice a gift? Nevertheless the graceful monarchs grant Nick’s request, and not only that, but over the course of a single day and night craft an enchanted path under the river that only the party (and those the fey allow) can use! A passage big enough for horses even! 

With that, the party makes their way back to the castle, and makes plans for their next adventure.

Rappan: Doors

Session 327 was played on 4/26/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

The 6 figures reach toward the party. Koltic holds up his holy symbol, and the meat sticks charge forward. They’re tough like jerky, but the juju zombies go down easily enough. The pool in the center of the room… flows. Borumar, reluctantly, takes a dip in and has a look. A long tunnel, maybe 80 or 90 feet stretches off to another chamber. There are forms moving about, but he doesn’t get a good look before deciding to come back and report. 

Rather than risk a swim, the party heads east down a winding tunnel that emerges into a room with 4 doors facing each other. Of note is the fact that the doors are not against the walls, but stand freely about 5’ from the walls. 

Clearly this is something for Morgana to investigate, and everyone else hangs back. The doors, and the frames holding them are of oak, and well made. Otherwise nothing particularly interesting about their construction can be seen. They are not locked, nor trapped, but are absolutely magical. Starting with the south door and going clockwise, this is what they see when the doors are opened.
S - Swirling portal
W - familiar shadowy cavern with a large squat ziggurat. 
N - A meadow, day time, butterflies and other bugs can be seen. The smell of spring and sunshine wafts through. Maybe near the keep?
E - A blast of heat as a desert is revealed. A pair of statues flank the door, and beyond a pack of lions feast on something… someone?

Borumar is volunteered to go through the north door. “To the keep, to the keep” he whispers as he steps through. On the far side of the door, he finds himself in the meadow, Behind him is a stone ruin, maybe an old cabin? And yes, there’s a door. With a shrug he closes it, steps back, and… waits. Back in the dungeon, the party watches as he closes the door, and they wait. Eventually Borumar gets bored of waiting and goes to open the door, but it’s locked. The hair on the back of his neck prickles, and he looks around, feeling watched. Not seeing anyone he picks the pock on the old door… and then out of the corner of his eye he sees it. A giant badger in the grass.

“Hello! My name is Tink” the badger growls politely. 

Rappan: Orcus' Blessing

Session 326 was played on 4/19/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Beyond the stream the party follows the tunnels heading north, then east, then north again, finally arriving in another massive rocky cavern. Their light is unable to reach the far end of the room. Keeping one wall in sight, they move forward carefully. Moving around small boulders they eventually spot a large pillar rising out of the ground and up into the darkness above. Along the wall they spy some rat tunnels, and some… wider than rat tunnels, but nothing anyone in the party would want to explore. 

In the relative emptiness of the cavern a distinct sound of flowing water begins to be noticeable ahead. But there’s another sound… scales on stone. A rasping, hissing sound. And not small. Then they see the long large forms… basilisks! Morgana drops invisibility on the party and everyone crouches hoping the lizards have a terrible sense of smell. Luckily for the party, it seems they do. Interestingly, Aroon and Koltic both touch rocks with runes carved into them, and suddenly a purple glow spreads throughout the chamber. The glowing rocks aren’t everywhere, they outline marked paths through the cavern. Morgana takes a look at the runes… they’re “Orcus’ Blessing” 

Avoiding the basilisks they take the path they’re next to out of the carven. The tunnel opens up to an ornately carved bridge in one direction, and up a set of stairs in the other. The party opts for the stairs, hoping to find a way back to the surface. After a long and zigzagging climb, they emerge into a chamber with 6 pale humans, their eyes, noses, and mouths sewn shut. They moan, and lurchingly reach toward the party. Are they saying “brains” or “kill us”? It’s hard to say.

Rappan: Does that sound weird to you?

 Session 325 was played on 3/29/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Continuing their exploration to the east, after finding nothing of value among the ashes of the undead pond ooze, they come to a cave warm and humid, alive with fungal growths. Checking to the east, the caves seemed drier though with weird sound effects… there was a rushing stream, but the sound of it was dampened somehow. While seeing the extent of the effect, Nick was attacked by a wraith, and his strength drained. Nick killed the monster in return. 

Exploring a little more, Nick was again surprised by some rust monsters. Thankfully his armor resisted their curious probes, and Blotto rushed forward to help corral them away from the party, but keeping them along in hopes of being able to add them to his herd. 

The stream is fast and cold, and about 20’ across. Clearly dangerous to cross. Various methods of crossing are discussed, but eventually an ice bridge is deemed the safest for everyone, including the rust monsters. 

Once across the rushing water the sound all sounds normal again. The party spots a large box, half buried a bit of the way down the cave along the edge of the stream. They spend a little time digging it free of the mud and rocks, and open it up. It’s a coffin, and within are the jumbled remains of a human and his ceremonial bronze armor, emblazoned with the symbol of the army of light. They take the fancy armor, and replace the bones, building a cairn around the box. 

Rappan: Rocks and Ooze

 Session 324 was played on 3/22/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Exploring the area around the tombs, but away from the spider queen, the party found some charcoal drawings and then a passage leading up… hundreds of feet up, at about a 35 degree angle. With few places left to look outside the webbed sections, the party headed up…  eventually the path leveled out and opened up into a circular cave with a large funnel in the middle of the floor sloping down 30’ to a roughly 10’ hole. Morgana used her wizard eye circlet to look below. 

Down the hole was another rough passage that soon opened up into a massive dark chamber with a very rough rocky floor covered in sharp scree. With nowhere else to go, the party used ropes to get down the funnel and into the large cavern. Moving across the scree was time consuming… but not completely fruitless. A long dead body bearing a signet ring of a notable family from Bardsgate. 

Exploring several of the tunnels out of the large cavern first found some dead ends, but then one that opened up into a second large cavern, this one with less loose rocks, and a still pond in the middle. Blotto excitedly casts a line into the water… except that the line didn’t go into the water, but landed with a plop onto it. A giant ooze! It whipped a psudopod at Blotto, smacking him hard, and the chill feeling that seemed to sap his strength was unlike any ooze he’d ever had the displeasure of encountering, while being more like the attack of a powerful undead!

Koltic held up the thick glass of the bottom of a beer mug and cried out to his god, and the lady of drunken vision answered, dramatically, as the entire lake ooze crumbled to ash

Rappan: Slip N' Slide

Session 323 part 3 was played on 3/15/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

“Don’t go down the well!” was the advice heard multiple times around Rappan… It was finally time to ignore that advice and see what was actually down there. About 100’ down the party splashed into about 2’ of water in a rough cave with passages heading out to the north and south. Both were on the tight side, and twisty. Heading north they begin to explore, but reach a slippery section and and up sliding deeper than planned, landing with another splash in a split stream that circled a small island in the cave. A trio of ancient trolls, GurKrang, Wersuch, and Zulbey talk to the party. They’re too old to bother with the “grr-arg” and unnecessary fighting. Adventurers are an unpleasant bunch and it’s easier to talk with them. 

Feeling a little lost, the party agrees to chat, and gets the lay of the land in the area, including some weird burial mounds, and a spell casting giant spider queen. To the best of the knowledge of the trolls, the tombs are untouched… the party give the trolls a gold nugget, and heads off for the tombs, doing their best to avoid the spider queen. 

The first tomb is a secured by a stuck door, and beyond is a single room, with a sarcophagus upon which is carved a face that looks remarkably like the one of the wizard specter in the Temple of Orcus! The name Narosh is inscribed upon it. Morgana smashes the effigy, and the party loots 3 scrolls and some jewelry from inside. They then burn what’s left of the body. 

Onward to the second tomb, it turns out to be much more elaborate! An entire stepped pyramid! Morgana attempts “Knock” on the magically sealed tomb, but the spell fails. She uses Passwall to create an opening into the tomb, but immediately releases a lightning fast creature, barely knee high, that looks like a semi-transparent brain on 4 legs! Even the mighty magical weapons of the party seem to barely hurt the creature, and it takes a frustratingly long time to kill the thing before it can… do whatever it was trying and failing to do. Within the tomb was the treasure horde of a king! Gold, gems, jewelry and a magical cloak of eyes!

Rappan: The Temple of Orcus

Session 323 part 2 was played on 3/15/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Continuing on, the party comes to a barracks chamber, with 6 beds and chests. One of them has a lightning trap, but Borumar takes care of that. Morgana checks and finds all the chest glow with magic, as does the doorway out of the barracks, which is trapped with a glyph of warding, as well as a scythe trap! Nothing good can be beyond it, so Koltic casts Protection from Evil and Bless on the party. 

Beyond the warded trapped door is a hellscape. A 7 pointed star shaped room with a double set of stairs leading up to a platform in the center of the room suspended over a boiling pit of lava. A statue of Orcus dominates the far wall. A small army of orc and human warriors and priests stand between the party and the stairs, in addition to the high priest up on the platform, and several figures shrouded in darkness. 

Morgana wastes no time and drops a fireball in the middle of the mob, dropping most of them. The warriors charge in, spreading out to avoid any retaliatory fireballs or lightning bolts. It doesn’t prevent a nasty teleport effect that grabs Morgana, Koltic, and Borumar and brings them to the underside of the platform, right above the semi-solid lava. Thanks to some magic tokens, they avoid falling into the lava, with Morgana activating her fly spell. The meatsticks hack the remaining fleshy opponents down. The shadowy figures charge in… Demons! Aroon takes the brunt of the charge, but his fancy swordwork keeps their claws from rending him to bits. Morgana blasts the figure on the platform with lightning, but he shrugs it off. 

The high priest then teleports Nick, Lorkoth, and Jameth into the air above the lava. Morgana zips over to knock the trio to the edge of the lava, saving them from a burning hot death. Koltic uses Finger of Death on the figure on the platform, and that he couldn’t shrug off. 

Pausing for a moment, they almost missed the spectres that flew out of the wall and tried to get the party. Koltic turned one, and the others were injured before fleeing into the rock wall. 

Gathering the loot from the room, and tossing the remaining bodies in the lava they find a secret door leading into a small crypt with 4 coffins, and the stairs down to level 5. 

Finishing off the spectres, they loot the coffins, and teleport home. 

With the threat of the Temple of Orcus taken care of, Morgana spends some time in her workshop, creating Tokens of Feather Fall for everyone.Borumar has Koltic make 2 sets of gauntlets of grease, one for himself, and the other for Blotto. While all this is going on, the Meatsticks took the B team and cleaned out the remaining undead from The Mouth Of Doom. 

Rappan: What's in the bags?!?

 Session 323 part 1 was played on 3/15/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

The 10’ down (to the next level?) was not far physically, but the sense of dread that pervaded the hallway at the bottom of the ladder was heavy enough to crush a lesser party. The hallway continued before coming to a stair, leading to another hall, a room full of junk, a portcullis and black ooze trap (fireball and oil took care of that), the smell of old body odor, a room full of mud with bubbles stinking of farts. Finding no other path, the party carefully crosses the mud to a crevice in the wall. 

Beyond the crack the party discovered 8 ogres. They failed to land a blow upon the party due in large part to their recently discovered ability to deflect hits! Each of the ogres had a bag, and they had the following within:

1. 3 dead giant rats, a wheel of cheese, 140gp, 3 flasks of oil, large shiny rock
2. Body of an elf with elven chain and sword, 200gp, 6 silver tipped arrows
3. Pot of grease, only kinda sealed
4. 2’ square silver mirror, ring, 30gp, “The wanderings of Helman Hairfoot”
5. Ivory scrollcase w/ 10gp and a map, silver helm, 44gp
6. Body of a wizard, silver dagger, 4 rocks, chewed up spellbook, 60gp
7. Body of a halfling, 3 vials of holy water, 12 xbox bolts, 120gp
8. Cloak, earring, 6 iron spikes, 10 fresh oranges

The bodies were all at least a week old, if not more… where did they get fresh oranges??

Using speak with the dead, they chat with the elf, and decide to bring the elf, halfling, and wizard back to life. Morgana teleports everyone back home and Koltic gets to raising the dead. This took a couple of days, and everyone would be bedridden for a couple of weeks. The wizard was talkative, the elf ready to return home, and the halfling decided to hang out and serve as scribe for the party. Of course they all needed weeks of time resting, so the party teleported back to the dungeon once they were all safely tucked in bed with a host of kobolds at hand to help take care of them.

Upon teleporting back, it turned out the smell of the ogre’s chamber had not improved, and their bodies were crawling with vermin. 

The party pressed on…

Rappan: Back to the dungeon

Session 322 part 3 was played on 3/14/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

A week after the dwarves departed, the party gears up and heads off to the mausoleum. With no gargoyles in sight, the party heads in and down, encountering a pair of black skeletons. Most of the party falls under their fear effect, and runs. After regrouping they try again, and take them down. Down on level 2 they head to the ghoul and ghast tunnels, and stick Koltic up toward the front, and he destroys them with waves of his hand, while the meatsticks keep him safe. The party then loots their lair, collecting a decent selection of treasure, including some very fancy dwarven plate mail. If only the local dwarves weren’t such dicks. 

Descending to level 3 they encounter some orcs who warn the party to “Go Back!” Needless to say, the party did not go back, but they did collect $200 their treasure. Pushing on, the party reaches the doorway to the Orcus temple complex. The dwarves want the party to take care of it, and they will…. Exploring around some of the rooms only briefly explored, the party finds a trap door in the floor, with a ladder leading down… a mere 10’. 

“Okay, who’s first?”

---

Once again, we were playing together in person, and our game session ran very late the first night, hence why I split this up into 3 parts. Expect the same for the next couple of posts.

Rappan: Dwarven Uselessness

Session 322 part 2 was played on 3/14/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Blotto, somehow, ends up being the one to go out and meet with the dwarves as they arrive and immediately begin to erect a number of tents. Riding upon Esmerelda the Rust Monster, the dwarves keep a wary eye on the goblin as he approaches, but otherwise remain silent. 

“Excuse me my good bitches, what seems to be the fuck?”

The dwarves faces sour at the goblin’s words, but they remain silent, and continue their work. More residents of the keep emerge to watch the dwarves, but it’s a full day before any speak to a non-dwarf. “You have caused issues for the Davin Clan, and we will summon you when we are good and ready!” Is all Nick gets when he goes to check on them the next day.

Another day passes, and then another before they finally deign to “summon” the party to talk. By this point Nick is feeling insulted nearly beyond words. In full armor he leads the party to the main tent of the dwarves. Within is a raised platform with a long table upon it. 6 dwarves sit in fine chairs on the far side of the table. There are no chairs on the other side. They stare at the party in uncomfortable silence. 10 minutes pass. 

“No, I’m not doing this.” Nick turns and tries to leave, but the tent is magically sealed. “So help me, you will let me out or I will cut my way out through you” Morgana teleports Nick out before he can cause any bodily harm. 

Eventually the dwarves speak, and tell the remaining members of the party in the tent that the armies of Orcus are on the rise, and that it’s because of our meddling in Rappan. As such they demand that the party fix it. 

With that the party is dismissed. The dwarves pack up their camp, and march back off into the woods. “Of all the bloody useless…” Nick could be heard to yell as Morgana told him what they said. 

Rappan: Vomited Up from the Mouth of Doom

 Session 322 was played on 3/14/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

After returning from Rappan, Morgana and Koltic spend some time removing the curse that Jameth had fallen under, then began working on a ring of featherfall for herself. The meatsticks trained on the cleave special attack together. Koltic spent his off time making potions and also communing with his god. In his drunken stupors holy trances he was warned that a great danger was threatening all around Rappan, and would descend upon them in a matter of weeks. Using his Commune spell, he learned over several weeks that the danger wasn’t from the dragons, but would come from the Temple of Orcus within Rappan. 

Around this same time kobolds from the Mouth of Doom showed up. Things were emerging from the depths… undead and demons. They fled and reluctantly came to Nick’s keep for help. Shortly thereafter Drusilla showed up at the keep to complain about an excess of orcs and skeletons and things from the pits (demons) suddenly being all over the woods, and blaming our actions for stirring things up.

Morgana used her magic eye to check out things at the Mouth of Doom and found a full military camp set up in the field outside the mouth. Mostly skeletons, with orc command, and several frog demons over the orcs, including one on a big floating golden throne.  A total of about 200 troops… While the skeletons weren’t a big concern, at least for the party, the demons, and potentially the orcs as well. On the other hand, letting a swarm of skeletons overwhelm even the best fighter isn’t a good idea. 

Knowing the lay of the land, the party planned a quick strike against the small army. Morgana obviously serving as artillery, while the melee members of the party would close in after to mop up.  

The battle was messy. Starting things off with some fireballs worked extremely well for the mooks, and even the orcs, but the demons had the advantage of being both resistant to magic and fire damage… So Morgana tried a lightning bolt. It was moderately more effective. Unfortunately the demons chucked some fireballs back at the party, and summoned more demon friends to help them. Lor’Koth took the fireball hard, and dropped, Jameth nearly joining him. The sight of the fighters charging toward the remaining demons got the demons to charge right on back. This resulted in the demons finally clumping up just enough for Morgana to drop an ice storm on them. What that doesn’t take out, Nick, Blotto, Borumar, and Aroon finish off. 

From the various corpses a large pile of loot is recovered, including the (no longer floating) golden throne. 

Checking out the entrance of the Mouth of Doom, glowing red eyes can be seen within. Morgana chucks a pair of fireballs into the Mouth, setting them to go off one near the entrance, and the next one deeper down the main hall. 

They take the loot back to the keep. The next day kobolds rush to inform the group that a troop of 2 dozen dwarves is marching on the keep and is only a short distance away!

Rappan: Fairy Party

 Session 295 was played on 08/17/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

The party returns to the keep to rest a couple of days. Jameth acting like Lor’koth wasn't as annoying as it could have been, but it need to be addressed. They gear up and head north, crossing the river and head deep into the woods. 

The light begins to fade and the blinking of fireflies shines between the trees, giant fireflies! Light ahead brought the party to a glad full of fey, a fairy party was being set up! 

The adventurers are announced and welcomed to the party. A down on his luck Puck begs Borumar to help him. He's a bad Puck and needs him to laugh at his antics to impress the Fey King and Queen. Nick spends some time flirting with a little fairy, while Blotto gets involved in the badger races. 

As the night's activities begin to slow and the hour grows late, a rhythmic thrumming starts to beat from the north. Almost as one, all the fairies start to dance in time with it. Out of the darkness a huge shambling creature of bones and dirt emerges and moving with the beat. The fey dance around it while the Queen tells Morgana the beast is a guardian of a nearby ruined temple known as The Gut. 

The adventures join with the fey in dancing around the guardian until it shuffles away. The music fades slightly and the fey begin to disburse, but the guardian shuffles back and using the beat’s hold on it, the party destroys it. 

In thanks the Queen gifts an ointment for Jameth and gives Morgana a comb. The ointment heals Jameth’s addled mind. The party returns to the keep for more rest, and to give Morgana a chance to do some research and item creation.

Rappan: Worm Hunting and a new quest

Session 294 was played on 08/17/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

After spending some time back at the keep recovering from the fight with Sarek the Fallen, and getting the ratfolk settled in with the kobolds, the party discusses what to do next, and settles on returning to Rappan for some worm hunting. Morgana seems especially into the idea, in spite of the many powerful dangers.

The trip back down river from the keep to Zelkor’s Ferry to Sanctuary to Rappan was uneventful. Entering the dungeon was simple, as the gargoyles hadn’t returned or reformed yet. The party entered Rappan proper and made their way to the steps down to level 2 when they were stopped by a dozen plus angry giant rats. They weren’t immediately aggressive, and eventually it was figured out that they were upset that their wererat friends had been taken away, and they’d been left alone. Morgana solved this by using her teleport ritual to send them back to the manor to reunite with their friends. 

Down to the worm caves was otherwise uneventful, and it wasn’t long before a great big purple worm showed up and swallowed Aroon! The resulting battle wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done, and the worm was killed, and Aroon was cut out of its belly. Within its gullet the party finds 5 large egg shaped turquoise nodules, and a 32 point star shaped glowing stone. 

Deeper into the worm caverns was a large rocky outcrop.Exploring around it, they found a secret door carved into the mountain, one Morgana was looking for, but didn’t want to tell the party about in case we couldn’t find it. Through it is a set of shimmering steps. Climbing them, Jameth discovers a rune that drives him insane. He thinks he’s Lor’Koth… Honestly, it could be worse. Lor’Koth is both a good guy to have around and kinda dumb and agreeable. The Lor’Koths find it weird, but not too worrying that there seems to be 2 of them. 

Beyond the secret door and the shimmering stairs is a glowing white chamber with an oversized sarcophagus. Within is a robed figure well preserved though clearly long dead. On his brow, a magical circlet, and on his arms are bracers bearing the symbol of the law. Upon a tablet attached to the sarcophagus reads:

Here lies Spiegel, Hidden in Darkness
Take up my Mantle, Take up my Legacy 
Purge the Chaos in yourself

Morgana hesitates a moment before checking over the rest of the sarcophagus, and finding a secret compartment. Within is a staff, a tome, and a ring, and 4 large gems. Knowing the choice she’s making, she takes them all. She then tells the rest of the party of a temple to Orcus to the south of the mountain… 

Down the magic stairs, through the secret door back out to the worm cave, and then to the far southern wall where Morgana directed the party straight to a door. On the far side Borumar could hear chanting in orcish. He opened the door, and in the brief moment before Morgana engulfed the room in a fireball 4 heavily armored orc warriors were worshiping an idol or Orcus. Through a series of hexagonal rooms beyond the now flame scarred idol room they finally come to the final room in the complex, with a pentagram inscribed on the floor, and a talking skull sitting in the middle of it. 

“I am the oracle. Ask what you will”

Morgana asks the skull for the path to the temple of Orcus within Rappan, for a wish to restore Jameth’s mind, or another path to sanity.

The skull informed Morgana the price to answer her questions. 10,000gp for the temple, 1,000gp to 5,000gp for the wish, depending on the difficulty, or 500gp for an alternate path. 

Morgana paid the 500gp, and the skull told her to “cross the river to the glade Fithane”

Morgana then disintegrated the skull. Nick asked her why! It was a valuable source of knowledge. Morgana pointed out that that was a problem. She didn’t want anyone using it against the party. The pentagram was then destroyed as well, before Morgana used the ritual to teleport the party home to address Jameth’s issue. 

Gains: More magic items from the army of light
Kills: purple worm, orc cultists, oracle skull
Losses: Jameth’s sanity

Rappan: Sarek the Fallen falls

 Session 293 (continued) was played on 08/16/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Game paused for dinner….

The party leaves the rats behind on level 1 and returns to level 2, stopping first to check out the ghoul caves. They initially were thrilled for the arrival of dinner, but Koltic disabused them of that idea, and sent their rotten souls back to whatever hell they crawled from. A few of the stronger ones, the ghasts, got away. It was decided that crawling through earthen ghoul tunnels didn’t seem the wisest of choices, so the party headed back toward Sarek’s tomb. 

The golden door was again closed and locked. Morgana “knocked” it, and Aroon pushed the door open. Sarek began to repeat his monologue, while Morgana summoned a fire elemental. The meat sticks chucked vials of holy water, opting to let the elemental take the brunt of the undead lord’s cleaver of a sword. The fight was brutal, but more so for Sarek. He tried to push through the elemental, but Aroon pushed him back, even at one point throwing his sword at the death knight (?) after which Jameth stepped up to keep him from escaping the magical fire of the elemental. Morgana focused on keeping the elemental under her control, while Koltic used his faith to assist in keeping the undead monster trapped in combat. 

In a flash, Sarek was finally struck down. The once mighty general of the army of light, corrupted by Orcus and forced to endure an undying misery locked in his tomb as reward was finally freed. His mortal remains fell to dust, leaving behind only his helm and sword. No longer black and corroded, but both gleaming with their hidden holy magics. 

Aroon retried his sword, and then grabbed Sarek’s. “I am The Light!” It began to speak, but before it could get any further, he dropped it into a bag of holding. “Nice to meet you, we’ll get back to you in a bit.”

Beyond the entry chamber of the tomb was another chamber containing Sarek’s sarcophagus, shield, and a chest of treasure. 

Gains: The Light, +2 shield, assorted coins, gems, jewelry, and some potions. 
Kills: ghouls, Sarek The Fallen
Losses:

Rappan: Running Away & Unexpected Friends

After lunch we decided to swap to the main team for some epic game play. 

Session 293 was played on 08/16/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

The party departed Castle Black Rook, catching the ferry to Zellcors Ferry and then down towards Sanctuary on the coast. A pack of wolves stopped the party on the way, and dropped a scroll for them. Drusilla needs assistance with some missing property. She also mentions a list druidic retreat that was destroyed by barbarians. It might be a good place to expand.

In Sanctuary they picked up a few rumors
1. Be careful on the river, there's a monster
2. You can't recover spells on the lower levels
3. Great scorpions guard the tomb of the fell king
4. There's a cavern inhabited by living stairs

The party departs Sanctuary and arrives at the graveyard above Rappan. They grab the key to the mausoleum from the dwarf statue, killing the giant rats that had a burrow under/around it. 

Above the mausoleum lurked 3 gargoyles who were quickly and efficiently dispatched, with 2 solid chunks of onyx claimed from their crumbling bodies. 

Descending into the dungeon they explore a side passage, and use passwall to enter a blocked chamber, finding a fancy coffin within. Carefully exploring they find a scroll case and a shiny sword. Within the case was a scroll with Shield, Mirror Image, and Levitate. The coffin was destroyed. 

Further exploration resulted in Jameth and Aroon getting slimed. It took a fireball to deal with the entirety of the green slime. Jameth and Aroon were toasted in the process, but not too badly. Deeper in they encounter a gelatinous cube with some small coinage within. Beyond that they found a secret door behind which they found another scroll with magic spells; Sleep, Charm Person, and Hold Person.

Finally making it to the fungal cave with the stairs down to level 2, they see a small campfire at the far end, and a bit of movement. “Leave us alone” a sad sounding female voice calls out. As it was at the far end, away from both the steps and the way out, and there wasn’t obviously a large group, they continued on their way, giving the voice its wish.  

At the bottom of the stairs a troop of orcs was waiting, most in plate mail! A quick and brutal fight, and the orcs were laid low, stripped of their valuables, and bodies left to rot. The party continued around to the golden door, and began investigating how to remove it from the frame. Borumar unlocked the door, missing the poison needle trap, but the trap failed to hurt him. Beyond the door, once opened, was a charred chamber, and standing in the middle a skeletal figure in a heavy black crown with a large bastard sword. 

“I am Sarak. I have fallen. Prepare to die.” The skeletal figure warned. Sarak’s mere presence was enough to break Nick, Morgana, Jameth, and Aroon and they all ran from the room. Sarak steps forward, sword lashing out and cutting hard into Borumar who finds himself nearly alone. Blotto and Lor’Koth leap to defend Borumar, and all three hit the skeletal figure back, but it just laughs, and heals itself, before lashing out at Borumar again, dropping him. Lor’Koth and Blotto grab their friend and book it. 

The party rallies at the base of the stairs, and attempts to make another assault on Sarak. Morgana throws a lightning bolt through the door at the first sight of the skeletal form, but it just shrugs it off as if it was a static shock. It marches toward the party.

The party runs away back to the fungal cave not stopping till they reach the top of the stairs. 

“I told you to leave us alone!” The female voice from before, this time more angry yells, and follows that up with a volley of Magic Missiles. Morgana returns the favor, and the young woman drops like a rock. Going over the small stream, and through the various large and medium fungal growths to the body. Numerous rats of various sizes hiss but back away as the party approaches. She’s small, maybe a bit malnourished, and wearing a mismatched set of scrounged up dirty clothing. Her magic wand is taken before she’s given a healing potion and touched by Koltic’s staff to revive her. 

She relates a story of another group of adventurers who invaded the dungeon, and indiscriminately dropped a fireball on her wererat mate Jarvix and her family. Her name is Fillaar, and she’s still in mourning from the assault some 6 months back. In an offer of friendship Morgana offers to see what she can do for her mate. Squeezing through some too tight tunnels, she’s brought to the body… what’s left of it after 6 months, and as she already had it memorized, casts Resurrection on it, and manages to bring him back in his original form!

The rats and wererats reward the party with 2 sacks of sneezing and choking, a helm of read magic, boots of elven kind, and a small bag of gold.  

Rappan: Immarassrath, the aftermath

Session 288 was played on 07/07/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

This session ended up being entirely logistical and no adventuring was done.

After the slaying of Immarassrath, the party spent weeks recovering from their wounds and being raised from the dead… again. Morgana spent the time focused on identifying the various items recovered. Immarassrath had slain well equipped dragon hunters before, and the loot was hard won, but worth it.

The group also discussed what the future direction of the group would be, and it was settled on that we would roll up some B Team characters to play for a bit, and give our high level characters some in-game down time but still moving some of the storylines forward.

Rappan: The Death of Immarassrath

Session 287 was played on 07/03/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

The party pauses, and Koltic returns to the surface to raise a few zombies to act as distractions/meat shields while the party again paused to bind wounds and catch their breath, and make sure Aroon’s body was safely stashed to the side.

Up on the surface Koltic encountered a little problem with some of the bodies he was trying to animate being hijacked by some overly mobile vines. Koltic has to use his brawn as the vines don’t turn as undead. This takes a bit, but he eventually gets there, and finally can raise the bodies as zombies for his own use. They begin to slowly make their way back to the stairs.

Meanwhile the party hears a lot of jingling and the movement of a LOT of metal, and then the dragon’s voice “Oh, I found it”

Sure, that could have been a trick, but the party pressed on, and hoped Koltic would be able to deal with the aftermath. Down a long tunnel the party came upon another broken vial, and then beyond a large throneroom. Blotto and Borumar were in the lead, and took a fireball to the face, followed by another a few seconds later. Borumar dropped, and Blotto wasn’t far behind. The remaining meatsticks charge in. Nick again throwing his spear, Jameth shooting his crossbow, while Morgana drops an ice storm on the dragon.

Koltic and his zombies continue down the stairs.

Immarassrath smiles and says “my turn.” and throws yet another fireball from its necklace on the party dropping Lor’Koth and Jameth. Nick, and Blotto charge in, both cutting into the dragon’s thick hide. The dragon lashes out with his claws and fangs, while Morgana drops another ice storm on the dragon.

Koltic and the zombies near the bottom of the stairs, and begin to hear the rumbling of fireballs and the roar of a pissed off dragon.

The dragon tosses the bodies of Nick and Blotto to the side, and throws another fireball bead at Morgana. She takes it full on, but still stands, and blasts it in return with yet another ice storm from her staff. The dragon’s rime covered body falters and fails under the onslaught.

Morgana checks the bodies of her fallen companions and quickly realizes that they are beyond her help. Thankfully Koltic, zombies in tow, finally arrives. They collect Aroon’s corpse from further back and prepare the bodies for resurrection and recuperation. Over the next week, everyone is returned to life, and Morgana and the zombies sort through the treasure. Eventually Morgana is able to teleport the party back to the manor to complete their recovery.

Gains: A literal dragon’s horde.
Kills: Immarassrath
Losses:

Rappan: Assaulting Immarassrath, 2nd try pt. 3

Session 286 was played on 06/22/25


Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 9 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)


Returning to the pit, the pile of money is checked. It’s mostly lead and copper with a layer of gold coins for appearances. Morgana uses her Scroll of Slug Summoning and has it appear at the bottom of the hole the dragon went down. Watching from above, the rock slug makes its way after the dragon. There’s a couple of flashes of light, the breaking of glass, some roaring, and “oh god, it won’t come off!” screamed in draconic. While this is going on the party is sharing around healing magics, and making use of Morgana’s ring of regeneration.

The party cautiously descends the 350 steps to the bottom of the hole, finding the tunnel the dragon and the slug went down, and see the remains of the slug just a bit down the tunnel in a wider chamber. The large space beyond is largely empty, but for the glint of glass at the far side. Super cautiously the party investigates, worried about the dragon having become invisible. The glinting class is an empty potion bottle…

Out of the chamber is an open passage that slopes around and up. Blotto and Aroon manage to get caught in a rockfall trap. Beyond it is the dragon, and it breathes down the passage at the party, and Nick and Aroon drop from the choking gas. Morgana, just out of the range of the gas attack, drops an ice storm on the dragon, and Borumar summons his triton heritage and spits out a stream of high power water. Even a dragon finds getting hit with a power washer a bit painful. Blotto shoots the dragon with his crossbow, scratching it… Again, the dragon flees deeper into the tunnels, giving Koltic the chance to heal Nick. Aroon took too much damage and will need to be Raised.

Rappan: Assaulting Immarassrath, 2nd try pt. 2

Session 285  was played on 06/19/25

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 9 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

The party stands invisible, largely silent, and very bored for a good 3 hours waiting for the patrol shift change and the doors of the fortress to open. When they finally do, they shuffle in, and bank to the side out of the way of the lizardmen about to march in and out of the fort. There is a table with a gnome sitting at it right by the doors, and he scribbles into the book as the party passes by, but also doesn’t seem to notice them? He has a chain locked to his ankle, but the short length of the chain isn’t attached to anything. Weird. 

Within the fort are a variety of tents, some bigger than others, a fire with a large boar roasting away, and in the middle a massive stump with a large gap at the base. Around the doorway-like gap are runes. Sitting in front of it is another table with another gnome. 

The party avoids distractions, and heads for the stump, drinking their potions of poison resistance, as Morgana checks the runes. A number of lizardfolk females and young come and go, and the gnome makes an entry in his book as they do. Morgana whispers that as best as she can tell the runes are gibberish. The party passes the gnome and he makes a mark in his book without looking at them. 

Within the stump is a carved stairway heading in and down. It comes to a large open area within the stump, open to the sky. From the stairs are a series of seats like bleachers or pews looking down to the main area that contains a massive green dragon lounging upon an even more massive pile of gold. Off to one side is a large opening in the ground.

 “You might as well come in” the dragon rumbles. 

“Fuck” Nick says, striding forward, while Morgana and Koltic duck back around. Blotto and the Amigos (all still invisible) follow Nick and start to spread out so that any breath weapon attacks can’t hit everyone. Before they could fully spread out, Immarassrath flicks a glowing bead into the middle of the party, and a fireball explodes out of it, engulfing almost everyone in flames. Morgana and Koltic in the back both take the hit but keep on standing. Morgana tries to polymorph the dragon, but the spell is reflected back. Thankfully Morgana makes her save. The fighters charge in, Nick throwing his spear while Koltic casts Cureall on Morgana. The dragon breathes on the rapidly approaching fighters, and is put out that most of them keep coming. It bites Nick, who chops into the dragon’s neck with his ax. Aroon and Blotto get smacked, and both drop. 

Spitting Nick out, the dragon decides to make a strategic retreat, and jumps down the large hole in the side of the room. Morgana summons a water elemental and sends it down the shaft to keep the dragon busy while the party regroups. From below there’s a flash and a bang and some roaring as the dragon kills the elemental. 

Strategies are discussed, and flooding is out, and also impractical… Hoping the dragon will lick it’s wounds and exhibit some patience, the party returns to the surface, and checks on the halfling accountants. They’re magically controlled via the chains, and don't know what it is they're writing in the books. The party tells them to keep their heads down for now.