Amazon Kindle - Free Sci-Fi book - Free from 15th to 19th of June

 

Ten short sci-fi stories.

Get it free here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Confessions-Space-Librarian-Other-Stories-ebook/dp/B00X8RLP3S

Karma Kingdom version S-Alpha 2.0 b226

Getting ready for Steam!

Updates:

 Steam Version:
- Starting screen size set to: 1920 x 1080
Both Versions:
- FIXED BUG #535 - Lake and Reefs should now have "Click Here" I think Ocean too, and jungle
- FIXED BUG #538 - Also Wrapped Food and Potion of Restoration
- FIXED BUG #539 - Buckets of Water ? Link was comment out - not sure why
- FIXED BUG #541 - Barking Mad link has changed to: https://barkingmadinc.org/click-feed/#
- FIXED BUG #544 - Bowls of Dog Food has 'Click Here', but is still active
- FIXED BUG #554 - there are [TOOLS] tagged items that should also have [CRAFTED]
- FIXED BUG #558 - Morning Sunlight should go to no button when cast as its a one shot deal
- FIXED BUG #563 - Have skillups for planting grasses and trees.
- FIXED BUG #572 - Not many actually wearable items are tagged as such
- FIXED BUG #582 - animals or animal food rewarder is +1 too many!
- Spells now have tabs for Levels - should make the spellbook easier to manage.
- Four new chest types for the Generate Page. New Items etc.  

Play here:

https://roztov.epizy.com/stw/index.html

 

 

(G625 16/05/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) EVL15

 

(G625 16/05/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) EVL15

[The undead cleric of Umberlee known as Salt's Wake has signed up with an expedition to Jundarwood along with his new chum Korinth, a sellsword. They are now making their way up the Klonis Tower, fighting undead as they go. Rollo keeps an eye on them.]

DAY 732 3rd Ches (March)

In the morning they looked out the big Klonis tower doors and saw that there was easily two hundred undead gathering in the square in front of the tower, with more shambling or drifting in all the time.
'Shut that door!' hissed Egnol. 'And keep it shut!'

'Oh right then,' replied Salty. 'So what's the plan? I mean, what's the end goal?'
'I'm not going to tell you, because I don't trust you,' said Egnol.
'Like that is it? So who does know the plan?'
'Never mind that.'

Salty then went around some of the others, trying to find out what this assault on the tower was all about. To be honest, I could largely guess what was going on from who Egnol was and from what they had done so far to get there.

Salty asked Wrunas, who said he had indeed been told the plan. He couldn't remember any details though. 

After breakfast, the assault team headed back up. Before they went up to the next level the two tame shadows were sent up. After ten minutes though, they had to go look for them. At first Korinth thought they were being attacked by a giant undead librarian, but in actual fact they were just talking to him.

Salty barged past and addressed the librarian, who answered in elven.
After a bit of discussion a chain of communication was set up. Korinth talked to Nukillas, who talked to the shadows, who talked to the librarian.

'We mean no disrespect to your library, we just want to keep going up,' said Korinth.
'Very well,' rasped the librarian from under the hood of his cloak.
'Who cursed you?'
The librarian drew in a gasp of breath, then delivered a speech that lasted a long five minutes. But by the time it got translated to Korinth, it has been abbreviated to, 'oh, a baddie cleric did it.'

A bit more chat revealed that the "curse" had been an attempt to make the people of Tyfellia immortal, after the tragic death of the king's family, but - as is so often the way, the magic backfired. I'm not so sure, there are lots of legends like that around this neck of the woods, but maybe it was true.

Salty asked about the Orb known as the Jundarstone that was so vital to Egnol's Plans.
The answer was returned to them that it had been part of the magical process all those years ago that had cursed the city.

Korinth noticed that as the talk went back and forth Nukillas had a big grin on her face, like the cat that had got the cream.

Before they went on, the librarian gave them a book each.
Salty got a book called "The Fatal Kiss".
Korinth got a book called "Death of a Friend".
Nukillas got one called "My Brother's House".

Salty detected that all the tomes had Enchantments on them.

So for the next floor the shadows were sent to scout ahead again. They quickly came back down stairs saying 'nope!'

Korinth had no choice but to slowly edge up the stairs himself. He entered a room that contained the usual array of broken windows and encroaching vines, but also four mirrors, positioned north, east, south and west. Into one of them the ghost of Prince Ferlane gazed as he brushed his long elven hair.

Korinth shrugged and continued up the stairs, but he just ended up at the bottom of them again, teleported by magic or the curse of the tower.

Salty came up and talked to the prince who said, 'you dare address me in that ghastly human common tongue?'

Salty did dare, and asked what was going on. Without taking his gaze from the mirror the wraith said, 'I tell myself the old tales. Alas! We all mourned for our mother, and the madness of our father. But was it so bad back then? The old tales and legends give me some comfort...'

Next Salty went and looked in a mirror, but undead as he was, even he was given a case of the willies. He then tried the stairs, but the curse was even greater on the undead and he landed back where he had started, badly shaken.

Korinth thought the ghost was enthralled by the mirrors, which was indeed correct. Salty then had a good idea (for a change!) and talked to the ghost about one of the books they had been given "My Brothers House".

For the first time the ghost broke its eyes away from the mirror and looked intently at Salty. 'Come close so I may look you in the eye.'

Salty was having none of that and went and hid behind Nukillas. Korinth stepped forward. He had an inkling of what was required. The book he had been given had been "Death of a Friend".

'Ahh,' he stumbled. 'Well, a friend of mine, a mercenary, was decapitated in battle recently.'
'Indeed?' asked the Prince in great delight. 'The flank exposed? A fatal error? Or perhaps it was betrayal?'

Salty was enjoying watching Korinth squirm and elbowed Nukillas.

As the Prince stared into Korinth's soul, his will broke down and Korinth began to cry. 'He was a friend, but he was not a good man! He killed children and made me help him do it!'

'Good! Good!' cackled the Prince. 'The truth revealed at last. You may now pass up the stairs.'

Salty smirked at Korinth. 'Need a tissue for those tears, you big baby?'

Nukillas went next, and told of when she burned down her brother's house and killed his family, when she was first getting into "the demon stuff".

She too broke down into tears, but as she stepped over to join Korinth she gave him a wink. They had been crocodile tears, she had not cared about the tragedy in the slightest.

It was now clear to them all the ghost of Prince Ferlane feasted on tales of regret, the more horrible the actions the teller had taken - the better!

Salty, who's soul was probably darker then anyone in the entire tower just could not play along. He made up stories about kissing his love farewell before the sinking of his ship, and various other stories he had of regret, but where he had not been at fault.

The Prince was growing tired of Salty's evasions so eventually the salty old villain blurted out 'I once woke up with a dead prostitute in my bed! Wasn't my fault though!'
Whether truth or fiction, the Prince was interested.
'Ah yes, you may have no memory of it,' prompted the Prince. 'But she had marks on her neck didn't she? Don't deny it!'
'Err...,' muttered a confused Salty.
'And she wasn't the first was she? Quite a coincidence don't you think? So many of them dying in their sleep next to you?'
Salty made a brave face of it, but even if the accusations were true or not, and undead or not, the sinister ghostly magic of the Prince had an effect on him.
'Very well,' said the Prince to a dewy-eyed Salty. 'You too may pass.'

And so our brave adventurers ascended to the last room but one. And here an ancient and undead lich - King Nooras resided, flanked by Tree Blights that acted as his guards.

The first thing that happened when they got there was Salty being dominated by the undead king and attacking Korinth. It didn't last long though as he shook it off in just a few seconds. Salty tried Turning the king again and again, but the lich just shrugged it off.

To make matters worse, corrupted tree ents emerged from the bushes and vines in this room and attacked. Korinth was badly battered and had to retreat to take a healing potion. Nukillas also came over to heal him as vines lashed around everywhere seeking out victims to cut and strangle.

Salty turned himself into a huge bone devil and fought off the ents, the floors of the tower room creaking with their combined weights. While all that was going on the King managed to hit Nukillas with a lightning bolt that sent her flying to the wall in a bloodied heap. Korinth rushed him and as pushed him again and again until they were teetering on the edge of a broken window. With one last heave, and as vines and blights lashed all around him, he threw the lich over the edge and down into the square below where he landed in the crowds of undead.

Korinth dusted off his hands and nodded. The foliage all slithered away and they had time to heal up Nukillas before she bled to death.

Resting seemed like a good idea after all their exertions, but twenty minutes later there were sounds of fighting below. 
'For gods' sake!' sighed Korinth as he picked up his sword.
A few minutes later Egnol and everyone else from downstairs came running up to join them.
'What's going on?' demanded Korinth.
'Some fool threw a lich out the window and all the undead went berserk!' puffed Egnol.

They all then rushed up the to the top room of Klonis tower and barricaded the stairs with whatever they could find. It wasn't a big room, about 40 feet in diameter. There was an altar on the north side and Egnol went over to it. Everyone else crowded in, even Wrunas who was a real danger to the buildings stability.

Egnol took the Jundarstone, performed some magical rituals that he read from his notes and then placed the stone on the altar. Magic hummed into life and the altar crackled with eldritch flame.

Wrunas had carried up two dead porters with him, and one was placed on the altar. After a minute he came back to life. He hoped off and another was put in his place, with the same result. Next the shadows lay on the altar and became two young elven acolytes.

'Me next!' said Salty as he lay on the altar. And with that old Salt's Wake became the handsome young man he had once been. As he stood up the barnacles fell from his skin and the seaweed fell from his hair. He was happy to be alive again, but I wonder what Umberlee will think of it? After all, it was her that had selected him as one of her
chosen.

There was no one left undead in the altar room now, but there was a horde of them banging on the barriers below. No one knew what to do, and Egnol bid them wait while he thought what to do next.

After half an hour of Egnol reading through his books and notes a cleric of the Children of the Final Dawn teleported in. She stumbled and gasped, 'it worked!'

She stepped back to take in the scene and then appealed to everyone, 'Stop this madness! The dead should stay dead!'

Salty, Korinth and Nukaliss all exchanged glances. No one moved. 

'Your Cult should just stay out of this!' demanded Egnol. Seeing mostly blank  looks he said to everyone else, 'this is what we came here to do! This is what you have all been paid for! I've worked towards this goal for thirty years, to bring back Tyfellia. The Children of the Final Dawn won't stop me!'

'The undead should be put to rest,' countered the cultist. 'Not brought back again. No good will come of this! The undead must be destroyed!'

The freshly minted Salty stood watching this power-play with his hand on his chin. Nukillas had sidled up to him and whispered in his ear, 'there is a third way you know, ignore both these fools and become rules of our own city of the undead! Think of the power we would have! Trust me, I've looked into it, there is a third way where we get all the treasure and power we desire. You and me
Salty, what do you say?'

The fate of Tyfellia, the Jundarwood, and the whole of the Shining Sea, hung  in the balance!

Amazon Kindle book - "Miss Take" free from 8th of June to 12th of June

 

 

Amazon Kindle book - "Miss Take" free from 8th of June to 12th of June

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Miss-Take-J-H-Foss-ebook/dp/B08RD1VM51

 

Miss Take - School Teacher by day, Cat burglar by night! 

 
A thief discovers a dead body in the house they are robbing. This sets off a chain of events that 
leads to a bloody gang war on the dark winter streets of Edinburgh.
With crime lords and the police dogging her every step, Miss Take must user her skill and wits
to find the killer and prove her innocence.

(G624 09/05/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) EVL14

 (G624 09/05/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) EVL14

[The undead cleric of Umberlee known as Salt's Wake has signed up with an expedition to Jundarwood along with his new chum Korinth, a sellsword. They are now in the ruins of Tyfellia at their final destination - Klonis Tower. Rollo keeps an eye on them.]


DAY 731 2nd Ches (March) continued...

Salty, Korinth and Nukillas having cleared the first half-dozen floors went up the stairs to the next one. On the next floor they met the wraith of Captain Thaelir, the Last Commander of the Klonis Guard. In a harsh whispery voice he demanded, 'declare your banner!'

Korinth stepped forward and said, 'uh, I'm currently under the banner of Egnol. I follow Tempis, God of War.'

'We are the Guards of Klonis. I am Captain Thaelir, we follow the banner of the Guards of Tyfellia.'

The Captain made it clear to them that he would not let them pass. Salty suggested looking for some old uniforms or badges, which was not a bad idea, but they didn't really find anything so went back down to talk to Egnol.
He handed them an insignia of the Council of High Tyfellia. 'Try this,' he said.
They asked if there was a useful phrase or greeting they could use.
'Try saying "Hail, Brother of the Forest", suggested Egnol.

They left Nukaliss and took Wrunas up with them as he had the ring in his nose that allowed him to speak elven. The minotaur had to watch his step as he was very heavy in his full-plate armour and the floors were old and weak.
"Tell them you were adopted!" joked Salty and Korinth as they went back up the stairs.

It wasn't a bad plan at all, but Salty, being Salty, argued with Wrunas as to what to say. 'Tell them your watch is over', he said to Wrunas.

The wraith guards were not buying it, but they had certainly not run out of things to try when Salty said flippantly, 'oh well, choppy choppy then!'

Whether it was in jest or not, Wrunas bellowed. 'Yeah! Choppy Choppy!!' and charged the wraiths. And so the fighting began. Salty tried a Turn Undead, but the Captain seemed to possess some sort of resistance that he passed on to his men.

The other two wraiths had magic items, one a Lantern, and the other a magical "Mini Ballista" that they fired like a crossbow, but that did much more damage.

It was a reasonably demanding combat and it took a while before the three wraiths were defeated. Battered and bruised they went back downstairs to cadge some healing potions from Egnol.

The swapped out Wrunas for Nukaliss and went back up. The next chamber had been a shrine and contained another wraith and some shadows. Nukaliss rebuked the Wraith and took  control of the undead shadows.

The next floor would have been an arboretum at some point, but now it was very overgrown and home to some leafy zombies and two shambling mounds.

Nukaliss sent up the shadows, but they were not much help. Salty lurked on the lower floor while Korinth fought the mounds on the stairs. The undead cleric then summoned a troll skeleton and let it take Korinth's place for a while.

After the battle Salty told of the shadows for being useless (!) and they apologised.
The shadows were more chatty than your usual undead. They had been former acolytes of the shrine, one male and one female elf.

Once more, everyone was a bit the worse for wear, so they went back to the ground  floor to rest. Egnol said, 'of course, but keep your voice down, there are about a hundred undead milling around outside.'

Salty peaked out the door and to him it was like seeing a well-stocked buffet. In the end though he decided it would be better to leave them alone and Korinth heartily agreed.

Ownkabey and the porters were put on watch and everyone else got some sleep.

(G623 02/05/2026 via Roll20 - JF, KT, AP(GM), AD) 5ED17

 (G623 02/05/2026 via Roll20 - JF, KT, AP(GM), AD) 5ED17

[This continues the story of Rogier the bard, a warforged called Gravedigger and a goliath paladin known as Uthmar Shatterstone. They are currently beyond the portal they entered in the manor house of the Viers family and exploring the tombs and chambers they have discovered here. Recently they have explored a bank-teller area and fought a clay golem.]

DAY 20 cont ...

After all the excitement they'd been having the men decided it was time for a rest. They went back to the teller area and set up camp. A watch was set and they rested for the remainder of the day, sharpening blades, fixing armour and eating rations. There was no sense of night and day here, but eventually they felt it was time to bed down and sleep, so they did so.


DAY 21

They arose early in the morning. Gravedigger and Uthmar had not rested well and Rogier reported that he had woken with a strong sense of dread.

Back they went to where they had left off and Gravedigger approached a door in the west wall of the side room they had passed through the previous day. He wondered if it might be a door to outside, then he noticed a window high up in the northern wall. He stood on a crate to look out it. He saw nothing but an ink-black void. Uthmar, who was a man of unlimited talent and knowledge, was also of course an expert in windows, and so he pushed Gravedigger aside so he could take a look.

The window was sealed in to the wall though, like a ship's portal and could not be  opened. Gravedigger went to the door again and opened it. The next room was a study. In its centre was a finely carved table, and at the opposite wall a middle-aged man sat at a desk. He had a long beard and appeared engrossed in whatever it was he was doing.

Gravedigger went and sat at the table.
'Oh make yourself at home why don't you!' muttered the man.
Rogier went into his whole 'Wot!?' intimidation routine, but the man ignored him.
'Why are you here?' asked the man.
'We don't know how we got here, but we are just here,' answered Gravedigger, the only one of our three heroes that could interact with people like a grown-up.
'We came through a portal. What is this place?'
The man didn't answer. Instead he asked, 'Eh? A portal? How?'
'Pentagrams.'
'Yes! Pentagrams on the floor!' said Rogier, joining the conversation. 'In a house in the town of Everaska.'
'That's unusual,' said the man. 'Well, if you've not worked it out already, this is a pocket dimension.'
'Like inside a Bag of Holding?' asked Gravedigger.
'Yes, precisely.'
'Why are you here?' went on Gravedigger. 'Are you aware the place is full of mad cultists?'
Meanwhile, Uthmar was eying up the desk, probably wondering how much it was worth.
'My name is Gravedigger, who are you?'
'My name is Mal'keyth,' replied the man.

Gravedigger went on to tell more of his story of the events that lead up to them arriving in this place, the cultists, the missing townsfolk and their quest to find them. In return, Mal'keyth told them some more of his own circumstances.

'I'm not the first resident of this study. This was something that was set up before  I came to be here. But wait... with regards to townsfolk passing through this place I might be able to offer some insight...'

He then reached for a book and flicked the pages to a passage.
'Yes, here is an account of some travellers. It says that they went through a green portal... ah, here it is. There is a concealed door in the tombs, back where you arrived. Go back there, find the secret door and follow the corridor to the green portal.'

'YEAH, WHATEVER!' butted in Uthmar. 'Listen, do you have any MAGIC ITEMS FOR SALE?'

Gravedigger rolled his eyes. 'Who wrote that?'
'I don't know,' replied Mal'keyth. 'The author does not reveal his name.'

Gravedigger and Mal'keyth went off to talk away from the annoying goliath and the uninterested bard. Mal'keyth revealed he had been in this place for some time, and (whether any of it was true or not) he said he was "just interested" in the place. He spoke Common and was from Tamar, on the Golden Way back in Faerune. 

The children were getting restless though, Uthmar was banging his head against the door in the southern wall and Rogier was playing the opening bars of a sea-shanty on his lute over and over again.

Gravedigger opened the door and it revealed some stairs leading down, but they did not explore them and instead went back to the bank-teller area. They carried on through that to the garden and pushed through the dead bushes to the back of it and discovered a well. Uthmar unwisely dropped a coin into it and was immediately rewarded with a bunch of purple tentacles that shot out and started lashing about.

Uthmar was alone when that happened, but Gravedigger came over to help with the tentacle whacking. Rogier had wandered off. Despite not having instigated all this Gravedigger suffered the worst. He was grappled and crushed against the wall of the well, and pretty much stayed there until Uthmar and a late to the party Rogier killed off the tentacles.

Their scattershot exploration of the dungeon continued. They returned back through the teller area yet again then to the stairs and the corridor beyond.

They discovered an area of jail cells. In one of the cells was "one of them", one of the mysterious sort-of-humans they had been encountering. Rogier set him free. Another room was discovered that was full of smelly beds. No one had a huge desire to search through all the crusty sheets.

And so finally they went all the way back to the tomb that they had arrived in and searched for the concealed entrance that Mal'keyth had told them about. When it was opened they followed a long corridor to a big chamber.

Gravedigger had a good look about and he could see that there were signs of the passage of feet. A good many people had travelled this area.

The passage then turned north to a cavern that had a lake of poisonous looking green liquid in it. A rope and chain bridge lead across to a ledge on the other side. Wagon wheels were chained above the lake in many paces, all with human remains tied to them. 

Once over the bridge they entered a passage way that led to a really big room where some golems were standing and the "Cultist Hyrophant"

'Come, follow me!' called out the Hyrophant, who then cackled and stepped through a portal right at the back of the chamber.

But then the golems all came stamping towards them. 
'Talk about mixed messages,' muttered Gravedigger.

Behind the two golems was a zombie ogre. Maybe they were not aggressive thought Gravedigger who called 'Coo-ee!' and waved.

Gravedigger was very wrong of course, and so they fled back over the bridge. Rogier cast a Glyph of Warding at the north end, which may have helped make one of them fall into the lake. It could be seen in the faintly glowing fluid though, as it stopped up and started walking towards the southern shore.

Gravedigger had a plan. 'Shoot and move - and follow me!'

So they did just that, moving, then shooting off spells and missiles, then running off again as the golems and ogre lumbered after them. They went all the way back to the narrow window at the base of the garden and all squeezed through it. The dull-witted golems were too big to fit through and to dumb to do anything other than stick an arm through the window and lash it about. One by one our heroes finished off their enemies from a safe distance.

After that, they went all the way back to the big room with the sinister looking portal
in it, and without any other options presenting themselves, they stepped through it.

(G622 18/04/2026 via Roll20 - JF, KT, AP(GM), AD) 5ED16

(G622 18/04/2026 via Roll20 - JF, KT, AP(GM), AD) 5ED16

[This continues the story of Rogier the bard, a warforged called Gravedigger and a goliath paladin known as Uthmar Shatterstone. They are currently beyond the portal they entered in the manor house of the Viers family and exploring the tombs and chambers they have discovered here.]

DAY 20 cont ...

Our heroes, having finished off the fearsome flesh golem and its keepers moved on  to the next chamber. 

The next room was a cellar, empty except for some piles of decaying refuse, bits of bodies and old bones. Rogier and Uthmar began to feel as if the walls were warping, most likely they were hallucinating as Gravedigger felt nothing.

There was a door in the east wall that the vanguard warforged tried to open. On the other side of it was a set of stairs going up to the north and a window to the east. Gravedigger hoisted himself out of the window and found himself in an overgrown and decaying garden. He then climbed back in again and joined the others going up the steps.

Near the top of the stairs Rogier found a spiky pit trap covered by an illusion by nearly falling into it. He took a step back and nimbly leapt over it.

Gravedigger then jumped over, being not so agile he needed Rogier to help him up as he crashed into the side of the pit. Uthmar then leapt across, like an elegant gazelle.

At the top of the stairs was a door in the west wall. Gravedigger opened it to reveal a sort of bank teller area that had a counter with bars on it in the southern wall. Whatever it was doing here, this chamber looked like the foyer of a well appointed bank. 

In the middle of the room was a being that looked sort of human, but with something off about it. When it saw our heroes enter it attacked. It wore armour and carried a shield and some spears. Gravedigger cast Spiritual Weapon, Rogier shrunk it with his magic and... Uthmar took a very long time deciding what he should do in this fight - should be first strengthen himself with magic, should he attack with a  paladin ability? What weapon should he use, should he attack head on or attempt a flanking manoeuvre? He was overcome with all the possibilities at his disposal.

Eventually he simply went up to it and hit it. As he then started to receive blows back from the humanoid being Gravedigger healed him. Rogier hung back and cast Firebolts. In the end Uthmar finished it off and they looted its corpse of all valuables.

Not long after that another one appeared on the other side of the bars.
"Are you a human?" asked Gravedigger.
It glared back in silence.
Gravedigger then went to the counter and said, 'shop!'
The being threw a spear at him which left a gouge in Gravedigger's side.
He fired off a Sacred Flame in return and ducked under the counter.

Everyone then exited the chamber through a door in the west wall and worked their way south through a smaller room to find themselves facing another door.

Gravedigger, who was now opening all the doors they came to because if he didn't no one else would, opened this one and saw a big clay golem and the  spear-throwing fellow he had just previously met.

Uthmar held the door shut while they prepared themselves. He then stepped back and the spear thrower came at them, followed by the clay entity.

Uthmar biffed away at them while Rogier fired off Poison Spray magic and Gravedigger used Sacred Flame. The spear-thrower went down as Rogier and Gravedigger healed Uthmar. Then slowly the clay golem was whittled away until it too was destroyed.

Tombs, gardens and banks? wondered Gravedigger. Where had they found themselves? The others seems unconcerned, as long as there were people to fight and treasure to be looted, they didn't seemed to care.

(G621 11/04/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) EVL13

(G621 11/04/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) EVL13

[The undead cleric of Umberlee known as Salt's Wake has signed up with an expedition to Jundarwood along with his new chum Korinth, a sellsword. They are now in the ruins of Tyfellia at their final destination - the foot of Klonis Tower. Rollo keeps an eye on them.]

DAY 730 1st Ches (March) continued...

Egnol was now ready to enter the tower. Korinth looked up at it. He estimated it to be at least sixteen floors tall, about 150 ft. It was impressive and he marvelled at how it must have looked before it fell into ruins. He had never seen a structure as tall as this in the cities of man. On the upper stories could be seen tall windows, some of them smashed or missing entirely.

He made a nervous joke about how it would be easier just to fly to up to the top on the back of giant eagles rather than clearing their way up floor by floor.

As he shaded his eyes against the sun, he did indeed see an eagle wheeling around the tower. (That was me of course).

Egnol told him to leave it alone. It would have been out of range anyway. Korinth then went and glanced in through a small gap in the two main doors and saw some skeletons standing about and some thorny looking vines. There were doorways just visible to the east and west and a set of stairs to the north.

While Korinth was doing something useful, Salty was doing something annoying. He was teasing the porters about turning them into undead. They did not see the funny side and ran off, forcing Egnol and Bozor to go after them.

Korinth rolled his eyes and entered the tower, and slinking behind a vine covered pillar. Salty still had plenty of nonsense in him and ordered Wrunas the minotaur to charge the doors. Wrunas never needs to be told to charge anything twice and so went right at them. Forcing them shut of course! They could still hear Korinth's loud groan as he realised all this stupidity had basically imprisoned him in the tower! It only got worse as the vines (which were Assassin Vines) had scented him and slithered in to try and grab at his limbs.

Wrunas is a very strong chap though, so it was the work of a moment for him to grab one of the doors and haul it open. When there was enough of a gap Nukillas slipped into the tower and cast a Turn Undead. Salty just waited outside, being precious with his undead kua-toa.

Once the undead had been turned and slain, and the vines all chopped up, Korinth then went on to clear out the east and west room entirely by himself. Salty made an appearance when the loot was being collected and finally Egnol came in once he had rounded up everyone else.

Pushing some harmless vines aside they discovered a room with some treasure chests in it. Some greedy looting ensued, but the most interesting item was a ring that allowed the wearer to speak and understand elvish. It was Wrunas that found it and he put it through his nose.

Salty wanted everyone to hurry up now and so said, 'come on! I've been doing all the heavy lifting here!'

Egnol glowered at the undead cleric, but refrain from comment. Salty then went on to tease the porters again. 'So who is going to be the advance party to go up the tower? I say it should be, porter one, porter two, porter three ...'

Nukillas liked to joke about as well, and always at Salty's expense, so joined in saying, 'come on porters! You can't expect old Salty Trousers to go up there!
He's got to find where his crusty old undead balls have rolled off to!'

Things were getting out of hand so Egnol shouted at all of them.
'Enough! You blithering band of idiots! We've serious business to attend to!'

Korinth was affronted. 'What are you shouting at me for? I've not done anything!'

Egnol apologised to Korinth and then selected the advance party. For now it would be Korinth, Salty and Nukillas. The others would stay at the base of the tower and guard the doors and the baggage.
'If you need backup, just shout down for us,' he told them as they headed for the stairs.

The first five floors were not much more than dusty ruins and undead that were so stumbling and withered to be of no threat.

On the sixth floor though they started encountering allips - the incorporeal remnants of people driven to insanity and suicide. They were more annoying than anything else as they could hypnotise the living and drain them of their wisdom.

Nukillas could Turn them though, and did so, even bringing several of them under her control. As they went up another floor they were attacked by more of them and Korinth was drained. Salty then remembered he had recently looted a magic longsword and handed to Korinth so he could fight them effectively. 
'On you go,' he said encouragingly before stepping back into the safety of the stairwell.

Up another level the went and they were beset by more allips and a wraith. More Turns from Nukaliss and sword play from Korinth soon dealt with them.

On they went, up another floor, where the rooms had been overtake by roots and vines. There was a wight here and twig blights, but again they prevailed against them. Through it all Salty hung back, as the other did the hard work. He was maybe keeping his powder dry for when something worthy of his attention showed up!

Angels of Scada Free on Kindle 24th to 28th of May

 

 

Free on Amazon Kindle: 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Angels-Scada-J-H-G-Foss-ebook/dp/B01HR1KX92

 

Poem - One way ticket to Mars

One way ticket to Mars

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Look at that guy on the TV

Yeah, that guy

Over there in his hat

A Dunning-Kruger effect specimen, if ever there was one

So sure of himself, so sure of his rightness

No doubt in his head that all his demons are real

What a fool

Look at these people over here

Turkey's voting for Christmas

The finest example of hubris

No greater a troupe of dopes, if ever there was

Proud of themselves, and their stupidity

No doubt in their heads that they are the good guys

What clowns

Look at that circus over there

People calling themselves religious

A cluster of nitwits

We were warned of people like that, if ever we were

of those happy to turn away the poor and the hungry

No doubt in their minds that God's on their side

What hypocrites

Check out the news, the fascists now bolder,

right out in the open, pushing everyone down

With Banners held high

They'd put children in camps, if given half a chance

Be sure, a place holder for a more final solution

No doubt in their minds that their cause is just

What monsters

How?

It's not my opinion against yours,

It's not agree to disagree

It’s hardly a grey area

There is still a right and a wrong

There is still a truth

There is still a morality here somewhere

We still debate

Good versus evil,

Has it really, now come to this?

Everyone worked up,

Everyone shouting

Everyone tired

The never-ending cycle of outrage

How much is real?

How much should we care?

These things that happen,

happen in far off lands

These things that happen,

Affect me how?

Surely, they can’t expect us

to worry over everyone’s problems?

But

I could scream

I could spit

I could write a poem and title it ‘AHH!’

Title it – ‘GAH!’

Print it out on A4 and read it aloud

And tell people,

In my lifetime,

the berlin wall came down

goodbye cold war

goodbye apartheid

goodbye dictators of various plumage

we cheered on the “good guys”

Humanity On Track

a bright future ahead

we dared to envision a world where

poverty and hunger were a thing of the past

Now look at us

OK, so look at this planet

Yeah, the one we stand on right now

Wandering the heavens covered in fleas

A place to store fools, if ever there was

If the rich want to get into rockets

And shoot themselves to Mars, I say we let them

The world has gone crazy except me and thee

And to be honest sometimes I have my doubts about thee

Isle of Dragons Free on Kindle 16-20th May 2026

 Get it here on Amazon Kindle:

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Isle-Dragons-J-H-Foss-ebook/dp/B07PM93Q3K

 

 

 

 

(G620 04/04/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP)

(G620 04/04/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP)

[Rollo has been spying on the Jundarwood Expedition and has returned home to Yag Island.]

DAY 730 1st Ches (March) continued...

I teleported back to Yag Island after night fall. Unusually Fenrir and Giselle were in my house. For the last month or so they had been keeping themselves to themselves pretty much. They had built their house inside the compound wall and fitted it out to their pleasing and just sort of lived there and minded their own business now.

Giselle I can understand, she had had a rough time last year and was probably ready for a quite year - after the death of her father and failed first marriage and all that. Fenrir I wasn't sure about. He was still his same annoying self but any desire for adventure had fled him. He had not gone back to Westgate or
Waterdeep for quite some time, he had more gold than he knew what to do with and possessed almost untold demonic power. It was almost as if he'd said to himself - now that he had a lovely house and girlfriend and enough money to buy anything else his heart desired - "I've won a life". Retired at age, what, twenty-two? I don't know - I have all that he has, with the addition of a  daughter, but I still seem to get into all sorts of mischief.

Anyway, they had come over for dinner and to visit my family. We had a drink and went over old times. He asked what I was up to and I told him, and also filled him in on the latest addition to the Barrow - a Cashta Guild Gate.

Here it is in summary:

''
I used a Guild Gate spell-shard to connect the Barrow on Yag Island on the Material Plane with Wasteworld (the "FAMP"). 
(The Cashta Guild Gates were used as portals between magical guilds.)

My new gate (known as Rollo's Gate) and New Hope (where everyone else is!) are 700 miles apart. 
It is possible to teleport between the two places.

There is an area of 85 sq feet around the Guild gate portal that is inhabitable. 
After that the lands are broken and the air is toxic. However, there are several interesting ruins within a radius of a few miles.

Just recently I have re-claimed some land from the wasteland:

1 sq mile of Sunken Ruins (mostly underwater, but with a cracked mud shoreline and a few ruined houses) (North of Gate)
1 sq mile of Island (North-east of Gate)
1 sq mile of Overflowing Basin (Shallow lake with many small, tree covered, islands)(East of Gate)

Total Area: 3 sq miles

I've also summoned / rescued this chap:

Kaylar Kaysh, a Storm-Kiln Magecrafter from the former country of Banaras in the eastern mountainous regions of Cashta.

He was happy to be released from his magical imprisonment and happy to work with me in finding more spell shards.
''    
    
I also told him about the Jundarwood Expedition, but I don't think he was all that interested. I find what's been going on fascinating though! What is Egnol up to?

When he was looking to hire a ship for the expedition, I offered him the Black Cat free of charge. Little did he know it was just so I could be nosey and see what he was up to!

War Thunder Poem

 

War Thunder by Graham Foss

He’s gotta grind

to save mankind

He's got all night

to do it right

He's gotta get it done

in a Pee-Fifty-One

Gotta make up time

in his One-Oh-Nine

Aint no waiting on the runway when the siren goes

And the engines roar on the bless-ed Beaufort

Radio chatter, son of mine

Close out everything else

This is your time

The past has gone, and the future awaits

This glorious present is all it will take

A connection maybe to your family lode

Fighting, for blighty all over the globe

In some kinda deep level maybe

this is felt but not known

Hands on the joystick and feet on the pedals

Hidden talismans of your ancestor’s medals

Locked in and clicked in

Tapping the keys on five tons of tin

Take off with hope

But there is only ever one ending

Crash and burn

Reload and relocate

Up again, in a One – Ten

Guns blazing, purple hazing

Dive down on the noobs like vengeance

No quarter given or asked for in virtual airspace

This is it, the zone, the play and the player

Time hardly passes up in this layer

Whizzing and whipping

Gangster tripping

The beat of the drum and the beat of the heart

Death and glory, over and over

The fighters take the lower skies

Pure instinct, pure reaction

Sometimes though.

‘Player two has joined the game’

The announcer proclaims

Higher, the bombers,

the crew poised in position for the run

Wiser heads, but slower, more measured,

The air thinner, the pace slower, but none the less tense

Vapour trails mark the passage of these rectangular beasts

Our young sons seek out their place

The perfect place in heaven

The perfect place to be free and unfettered

From lowly concerns, down on the ground

Games drawn out on Eton’s fields

Can very soon become a more serious endeavour

I hope not for this life

Let the games be games with your feet on the ground

The important things are the dull things

The everyday is at least a day

A philosophy too refined for such a young head

Know this instead

There is only the fight, the grind

The climb up the tech tree

In-game currency

Random battles, Pee Vee Pee

War is hell, with a low ping and a single digit frame rate

Like Lockheed we go sideways through sound

Aero-space-age warriors

Born for the sky

Do or die

Again and again and again

(G619 14/03/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) EVL12

(G619 14/03/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) EVL12

[The undead cleric of Umberlee known as Salt's Wake has signed up with an expedition to Jundarwood along with his new chum Korinth, a sellsword. They are now well into the forest. Rollo keeps an eye on them.]


DAY 730 1st Ches (March) continued...

The next way forward in the vaults of the Tyfellia Solis Reliquary was a set of stairs leading up into another gloomy chamber. Old Salty was tired of seeing his undead being treated like cannon fodder so Korinth had to lead the way.

The vault he entered was empty except for a sarcophagi and an old chest. The chest was trapped as he discovered when he tried to open it. A spring-loaded needle shot out of the lock and ricocheted off his armour.

Salty had now arrived and was interested in the sarcophagi. He pushed off the lid, but this also triggered a trap and a big slab of stone fell down on him. Painful as it was, just as with the chest, there was treasure inside.

A corridor in the east side of this chamber lead back round to the room where they had seen the large suit of armour. Korinth deduced it was a Shield Guardian of some kind and he knew they were dangerous when roused so they tried to sneak  around it to get to another door.

It was worth a try, but it awoke when they were halfway along.

The suit of rusted, moss-slicked elven plate armour heaved itself upright from a  pile of mulch. It didn't move with the grace of a living elf; instead, it jerked and creaked like a swaying branch. Thriving, violet-veined roots had burst through  the joints of the metal, stitching the armour together into a shambling frame.

Inside the open visor, was not a face - only a desiccated, grey-skinned skull  held in place by a dense weave of twitching vines. A longsword, fused to a hand made of briars, dragged across the stone with a sickening rasp.

Korinth attacked it, and at this moment one of the ettercaps that had run off earlier leapt in to join the battle.

Salty kept his distance and sent in his numerous giant undead spiders. These fell monsters did a lot of the work, killing off an ettercap and keeping the Guardian occupied while Korinth flanked it.

Korinth had poor luck to begin with, constantly losing his footing, swinging and missing and taking some heavy blows. He stepped back to drink a healing potion and rushed back in, only to get battered and sent rolling back. With half his undead force destroyed thing were getting a bit desperate and even Salty had to join the fighting, swinging his mace wildly around his head.

Indeed it was him that landed the killing blow, one that even he would have to admit had been a lucky one. Once the room had been scoured clean of loot they moved on to the northern door and the corridor beyond. As they moved from room to room they were attacked by more spiders of various monstrous sizes. These were slain in due course and some were added to Salty's collection.

The final vault of the Reliquary was full of giant spiders and thick with webs. It was entered via a set of narrow steps that lead down into a mass of broken furniture and dusty webs. At first Salty wanted nothing to do with it, but eventually Korinth persuaded him to stop being such a chicken. They had to cut their way through the webs and were attacked by the spiders that inhabited this area, but bit by bit they made progress until they had reached a display case at the back of the room. This contained the Jundarstone! They opened the case and swiped the stone before more spiders came and hot footed it back to the entrance were Egnol waited eagerly to receive the precious artifact.

That evening the two groups met up again and they set up a base camp at the foot of Klonis Tower. They lit a fire and set a watch. Their sleep was troubled as ghosts and other restless spirits observed them from the shadows.

(G618 28/02/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) EVL11

(G618 28/02/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) EVL11

[The undead cleric of Umberlee known as Salt's Wake has signed up with an expedition to Jundarwood along with his new chum Korinth, a sellsword. They are now well into the forest. Rollo keeps an eye on them.]

DAY 729 30th Alturiak (Feb) 

They broke camp in the morning and continued east into the heart of the Jundarwood. The going was slower, the forest darker. Bozor scouted ahead.

I got a little too close at one point. I was in the form of a black fox. Korinth saw me and pointed me out to Egnol. He said just to ignore me, but Korinth did mention that a black fox was a beast of ill omen, which is right enough, although in this case I had already done them a favour in the morning and set a false trail for the Children of the Final Dawn to follow.

Bozor came back west to meet them. He warned that there were swarms of biting bugs ahead. 'We'll be plagued by blood-sucking insects for a days travel in that direction,' he warned.

Forward was the only direction though so on they went. Old Salty, being dead, was untroubled by the bugs, but Korinth had a hard time of it. He cut two eye holes in a bag and put it over his head, but if anything that made things worse as they got inside and could not be swatted away.

The stopped for lunch and the porters gratefully dropped all the baggage on the ground and flopped down beside it. One of them flopped harder than the others and it turned out she was dead, bled dry by the insects!

The other three porters were too weak to go on and Bozor was knackered, so they lit fires and burned leaves to make smoke, which did a good job of keeping the bugs away, if you didn't mind inhaling smoke. They camped for two hours.

Salty wanted to raise the porter from the dead, but everyone else was dead set against it. Her name was Bekka and she had been a jolly sort of middle-aged lady and everyone wanted her left to rest in peace. He did it anyway.

Korinth searched her bags, but then Salty stripped her naked, cut her skin to make her remaining blood run and then marched her into an area where the bugs were at  their thickest. The bugs went into a frenzy, and horrible as it was, it did sort of work and allow them to break camp and make their way east again.

By three o'clock they were all starting to suffer again, so Egnol ordered another stop and they lit the smoky fires again. He also ordered Salty to put some clothes on the blighted remains of poor Bekka.

Korinth tried some things to ease his suffering, such as caking his armour in mud. None of it worked.

After an hour or so they continued on until a porter dropped to his knees and said he couldn't go on. Egnol ordered the fires lit again. The next time they set off they carried smoking torches, which helped a bit.

I had been following along in the form of a honey badger, so pretty much unbothered by the insects. It was clear to me that this plague of bugs was being controlled by something or someone. Salty came to the edge of the camp to stroke his chin and ponder his next acts of evil and I looked up at him in the bushes. He didn't see me and I risked coughing out a bark that could maybe have sounded like "look for a nest!".

Salty went back to the others and said, 'I think these beasties are coming  from somewhere or being controlled by someone! Let's skulk around and see  what we can see!'

It was nearly ten o'clock by now, but it was a good idea. He and Korinth snuck out of the smoke filled camp and saw a light in the distance between the trees. They followed it, but then lost it. After looking around they deduced that the bugs were drifting in from a particular direction so they went that way. Suddenly an ettercap leapt out of the trees and attacked! It went for Bekka first, but she was undead so its poison had no effect.

Five more ettercaps attacked, including a shaman who was controlling the clouds of bugs. Salty summoned some undead to hold them back and Korinth shot at the shaman. They killed the ettercaps one by one in a desperate struggle in the gloomy forest. The shaman called in a giant spider to help
but the lads were able to kill it as well. I was very upset at Salty for his treatment of Bekka and kind of wished he'd die (properly!) but he was too skilled at marshalling his undead forces and handy with his mace too.

When the shaman finally fell, the bugs dissipated. Salty animated the dead giant spider and rode it back to camp. He made quite a startling entrance.


DAY 730 1st Ches (March)

The broke camp in the morning. The bugs were gone, much to everyone's relief, but they still had to suffer the company of Old Salty who rode his undead giant spider like he was the king in a royal procession.

By now they could see the imposing Tower of Klonis looming up out of the forest, every so often visible through the dense tree cover. There was evidence of undead in this area. Flitting through the shadows were the remains of ancient elves - skeletons, zombies and the God's knew what else. Egnol told them all to leave these undead alone. As long as they were not attacked, the undead of this region were not hostile.

They were in the outskirts of Tyfellia, the ruins of this once great elven city could be seen poking out of the ground here and there. As they continued the ruins were better preserved, with some of the dwellings almost wholly intact under their covers of ivy vines.

Egnol explained what they were going to do next:
'I want to recover an artifact called the Jundarstone. We are going to have to split the party now as its location can only be accessed if certain actions are taken elsewhere. Bozor will lead a section to the ruins of the Academy of Mages and reactivate the Sphere of Galzatric. Bozor knows what to do. We think, we hope, that this will allow the deactivation of the defences that protect the Jundarstone - but only for about a day. I will lead the second section and it will be our job to enter the Tyfellia Solis  Reliquary to find the Jundarstone.'

He didn't tell them what he planned to do with the Jundarstone once he had it and no one asked. Most likely they were thinking of all the other treasure that might be held in the Reliquary. 

Anyway, Egnol's plan went into action in the afternoon. I followed the second section. They headed further into the city. There were undead flitting among the ruins but they kept out of the way of the party. Egnol followed a folded up map he had made of the area until they arrived at the Reliquary.

I didn't follow them, but from my investigations I can piece together what  happened next. The main building of the Reliquary was in ruins and stripped of anything of value - it was the deep cellars where they were head. They met no opposition until they entered the vault of the Jundarstone. 

Every corridor, door and room of this massive vault had once been home to the treasures  of Tyfellia, but now most of them were broken and worthless. Thick cobwebs coated  everything and had to be pushed aside to make progress.

There were undead lurking everywhere, so Egnol and Wrunas remained at the entrance to cover their rear, while Old Salty and Korinth ventured further in.

In the first chamber they were attacked by skeletons and giant spiders. Once these  were dealt with Salty raised one of the huge ones as an undead minion. There were  steps leading up into another big vault and looking through the doorway they saw a  large suit of elven armour standing in the centre of the room. They avoided that, and back down the stairs they followed a corridor to the west where another, smaller, suit  of armour stood against the wall.

As they approached, it came to life and attacked. Salty sent forth his undead host and in the ensuing battle Bekka was rendered properly dead again. As they poked at the armour, a group of ettercaps attacked from a room in the west. The heroes killed two of them, but the other two ran off. Our friendly tomb raiders caught their breath for a moment and then pushed on.

(G617 21/02/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) EVL10

(G617 21/02/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) EVL10

[The undead cleric of Umberlee known as Salt's Wake has signed up with an expedition to Jundarwood along with his new chum Korinth, a sellsword. They are now well into the forest, and exploring an ancient temple. Rollo keeps an eye on them.]

DAY 728 29th Alturiak (Feb) cont ...

Nukaliss may have been mental, but she wasn't mental-mental if you see what I  mean. She knew time was pressing so she gave a Potion of Lesser Restoration to Korinth so he could heal his vitals after being injured by the tough skeleton.

One of Salty's undead cultists was sent north to check out a corridor and its doorways, but even so Korinth managed to trigger a trap as he blundered around and was hit by spectral barbed vines.

They entered a central chamber where three large bells were arranged along the south wall. There was also a large pile of leaves blocking the way north. A shambling mound came from a set of stairs to the east and attacked them.

This was a large pile of rotten, but very angry, vegetation. They used the zombies to hold it off while they shot at it. This worked, but Salty lost two of his undead cultists.

Korinth went and looked down the stairs it had come from. It seemed to be another large room, choked full of bushes and undergrowth.

Salty sent a zombie down there and this provoked two more shambling mounds into attacking them. Nukaliss got involved this time and summoned two owl bear skeletons to fight the mounds. Meanwhile the other held back and shot there bows. Salty even got the kill shot on the last shambler with his crossbow.

They then went downstairs and beat about the bushes and found some treasure mixed in with all the garden waster and bones.

From the bell room they headed north into the largest chamber of the buried temple. It would have once been a really lovely altar room, but now it was all overgrown and covered in roots and vines. As they entered they were attacked by a fierce zombie-like creature. It was in fact a bodak, the remains of someone that had been killed by a touch of pure evil. It's mouth hung open down to its chest and its long arms terminated in twisted claws.

It tore into them and Korinth took the brunt of its attacks as Salty moved his precious undead around to press the flanks and Gravedigger healed his friends when required.

Korinth was badly beaten and being healed by Gravedigger when Salty got the finishing blow with his recently looted "Backbiter Spear". After they got their breath back they looted the chamber and found a mysterious orb - no doubt that this was what Egnol was interested in.

Still, they knew there was still treasure in this temple, so they went and rang the bells in the previous chamber until a hidden door grinded open to reveal a room full of more treasure. They had no opened all but one room, which lay behind a portcullis.

It was too heavy for them to life, but they did see a lever further down the corridor so with a grappling hook, some rope and a lot of patience they eventually got the gate open. The room down the corridor had a well in it - and a vampire who may not have been immediately hostile, but Salty took no chances and Turned it as soon as he saw it. The vampire turned into mist and wafted down the well.

With the temple now thoroughly explored they headed back to camp and arrived at three o'clock. The expedition then continued east until eleven and made camp in the dark.

Progress was slower now and they were all very tired. The unlucky porters were put on watch so those that had seen combat during the day could get a decent night's sleep.

(G616 14/02/2026 via Roll20 - JF, KT, AP(GM), AD) 5ED15

 
(G616 14/02/2026 via Roll20 - JF, KT, AP(GM), AD) 5ED15

[This continues the story of Rogier the bard, a warforged called Gravedigger and a goliath paladin known as Uthmar Shatterstone. They have arrived at the  mysteriously deserted town of Everaska and have just recently opened a portal to the God's only know were while mucking about in the manor house of the Viers family.]


DAY 19 cont...

The lads didn't know where they were and had a thin grasp of what was going on but they knew they were in a dungeon and that meant there was treasure to be had!

The next chamber they came to was like an underground forest, chocked with roots and dark foliage. Here they were attacked by fiery skeletons that hurled magical bolts of flame at them.

Uthmar charged at the undead and started laying about them. Rogier cast spells at the back and Gravedigger managed to Turn two of them.

Rogier found that his poison bolts burned off the skeletons harmlessly so he switched to his trusty Cloud Of Daggers spell. Each time a skeleton was slain - it exploded! Our heroes soon learned to stand well back when they went off. After the battle they then hunted down and destroyed the Turned ones.

With all the excitement over they moved further into the cavern. They discovered a  dark overgrown graveyard.

They found a secluded place to rest and settled down for the night. Uthmar and Rogier spent a large portion of the evening arguing about the division of loot.


DAY 20

They broke camp in the small hours of the morning. Gravedigger had a look around. It felt like they were underground. The plants that had grown here were dried and desiccated. They were of no type of fauna that Gravedigger was familiar with.

While looking around he found a door in the east wall of the chamber. Rogier came over and "accidentally" opened it, just to annoy Uthmar, who came racing down to where they were and shouted, 'shut that bloody door!'

Gravedigger did as he was bid, but whatever was on the other side of the door had been awoken. Screeching and banging was heard, then hissing and rasping. Rogier shrugged and opened the door again. They were attacked by four ghouls. Gravedigger Turned the first two, who went running back into the darkness of the other chamber.

Uthmar grumbled at Gravedigger for some reason and used his Smite Evil on one of the other ghouls. As it died he remarked to the warforged, 'waste of a good Smite, that was!'

While that was going on, Rogier had destroyed the last remaining one, so they ventured further in. It appeared to be a large crypt. The Turned ghouls were at the back of the chamber and with a bit of trouble they were eventually dealt with.

Our heroes were all puffed out after that, as none of them had even had breakfast so they rested for a while. After that they investigated a door in the north wall of the crypt. Rogier warned that the door was trapped so Uthmar threw a dead ghoul at it, which landed on a  pressure plate and released an acid cloud.

Once open the door lead to a corridor, then to some stone steps leading down. They could hear voices coming from below.

Opening the door revealed a wide hallway that went east and west and opened out into large gloomy chambers on either side. Chained to the north wall was a ragged lady who looked up from here mutterings when she saw our heroes arrive and cried, 'praise the God's you are here!'

Uthmar at first shushed her, but then made some very poor taste jokes about the smell of urine coming from here. He then commanded Rogier to get her unchained.

However, as Rogier approached it appeared she had just been pretending as she leapt at him, brandishing one of those Ritual Sickles used by the cultists. Then another bunch of them came from the eastern room. Someone shouted 'Agnes! Pull the lever!'

The cultists were fanatical, but not strong and were easily slain by Uthmar and Rogier. Gravedigger found that all his spells just slid off them, he was having bad luck with his magic. As the last of them fell, they heard a low hum build into a louder noise and then a crack of thunder and a flash of lighting came from the east - then abruptly everything was silent.

Uthmar went east and saw that the corridor opened out into a large chamber to the north. At the top of the room were all sorts of strange equipment, some still sparking and smoking. A woman stood beside a wide table were some sort of hideous monster lay. Indeed by its description I would say it was a flesh golem, a being made from the stitched together parts of dead people, bought to life by magic and lightning.

Uthmar came back and told the others what he had seen. He and Rogier then distracted themselves with puerile jokes revolving around the size of the golem and the need to use magic to enlarge Uthmar's... well, I won't relate here what I don't understand. If there was a joke here I fail to see it, but anyway, they were drawn from such low banter by Gravedigger giving an "ahem" as the monster came down the corridor towards them.

Gravedigger tried a Turn, but the monster was a construct, not undead and the spiritual magic had no effect. When it came to fighting this horror, the jokes stopped and they got to work. For all their low humour I must admit they knew their business. Uthmar faced the monster and traded blows with it, while Rogier used his magic from a safer distance to injure it with fire and magical blades. Meanwhile, when Uthmar received a blow or two, enough to make him stumble, Gravedigger was on hand to heal him. Even so, the monster was very strong and managed to beat them back to the door they had come though. By this time they were all hurt and once they had all hustled through the door they pushed it shut.

Uthmar pondered for an irritatingly long time if he should take a Healing Potion or not. Gravedigger gave up listening to him about it and cast Bless, Aid and then Spiritual Weapon.

They then opened the door again and charged the monster. After more desperate fighting the monster lay slain, next to the lady that had released it.

(G615 07/02/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) EVL9

 

(G615 07/02/2026 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) EVL9

[The undead cleric of Umberlee known as Salt's Wake has signed up with an expedition to Jundarwood along with his new chum Korinth, a sellsword. This story is now taken up by Rollo the Druid.]

DAY 726 27th Alturiak (Feb)

Greetings dear and gentle reader! 
I hadn't known anything about what my friend Egnol had been planning  until he chartered one of my ships, the "Black Cat". Even after that I didn't know much, which is why I followed it to the coastline that bordered the Jundarwood.

I will now relate to you what I know in regards to this (ill-fated?) expedition. Some of it I witnessed with my own eyes, some of it I learned later and some of it I have made up based on my best guess as to what may likely have transpired.

Having said all that then, as I circled high in the sky as a sharp-eyed eagle I watched as the campsite on the beach woke up and they all had their breakfast.

The Black Cat had returned to the shore, but was making ready to leave west later in the day. 

Korinth went to speak to Egnol and was told something along the lines of:

"We are going to the ruins of Taefellia. It is under a curse, a curse that has raised the elves of the city as undead. I have researched for 30 years and finally I think I have a way of lifting the curse."

Hiring two necromancers seemed to make sense, Korinth supposed, given the mission, but he did wonder.
'Are we there to clear them out or help them?' he asked intuitively.
'We'll see when we get there,' was the cryptic answer.

Korinth then went to talk to Nukalis. Among other things she said:
'I think Egnol is going to try and do something stupid and I am totally here for that!'
And:
'I think he's planning to keep me and old Salty apart so our Turn's don't interfere with each other.'

Korinth then went to talk to Old Salty and relayed what he had learned. As they walked along the beach, a sudden cry went up. They were under attack! I wheeled in a little closer to what the battle.

Large gangs of people in robes and armour attacked from the north and the south. I learned later that they were from the a cult known as the Children of the Final Dawn,  an extremist group associated with Amaunator, the god of "order, the sun, law, and time".

The cultists wore robes, while the clerics wore armour. All wore tall round red caps. Our heroes went north to meet the main attack while the others went south to meet the other cultists in combat on the beach.

Blades flashed, maces fell and spells were cast. Old Salty cast Desecrate, then raised three of the dead cultists to do his bidding. But then a Final Dawn cleric turned his undead who went fleeing down the beach. The cultists were fanatical and all fought to the death. When Salty and Korrinth had killed all in the north they rushed south to help finish off the enemy there. It finally came down to the last cleric fighting Korinth who at first seemed to have the matter easily in hand, but then took an age to finish off his foe. In the end he slew the final cultist with a massive killing blow, which earned him a gentle round of applause from Salty and Ownkabey who had been watching from close by.

Now that it was all over, it was seen that two porters and a man called Ketric had  been killed. Ketric was a rogue, and would have been handy later on, but they did not  have the resources to resurrect him.

They looted the bodies of the slain, but not long after the Black Cat rounded the headland and signaled that another, much larger, group of cultists were heading in their direction! Egnol gathered everyone up and an hour later they plunged into the woods with everything they could carry.

They marched into the forest for the rest of the day, a group of seven adventurers  accompanied by four porters.

Myself and Jonathan kept an eye on them from a good height, but Korinth noticed us and took a pot shot with his bow. The blighter winged Jonathan! I had to heal him as he tumbled in the sky. Korinth noticed that and shot again, so I sent down an Ice Lance to see how he liked it!

Jonathan flew home and I landed not far away and turned into a fox. I watched as Egnol handed Korinth a potion of healing and told him, 'don't shoot at any more birds!'

In the evening they made camp. They could have done with a druid on this trip I think as there was a much nicer place just a half mile further on. Still, for a forest with a very sinister reputation the Jundarwood was very pleasant.
It was overgrown, but easy to pass through. The trees were mainly Holm Oak,  Cork Oak, Stone Pine, and Calid Chestnut, trees that grew far enough apart to make travelling through the forest as easy as walking through a park.

Ownkabey was a hobgoblin princess or something like that, I had no idea where had come from, but she apparently knew the forest and where they were going.
She was dressed in very fine armour and compared to some of the other nutters on this expedition seemed to be fairly normal in behaviour.

Nukillas on the other hand was manic in character, always making very bad-taste jokes and put-ons, wearing out the patience of the entire party. She was demented in some way, but then would any cleric of Asmodeus ever be considered sane?

I turned into a seagull later on and flapped away, then teleported home.

DAY 727 28th Alturiak (Feb)

I checked in with the expedition late in the afternoon. They were making good progress and had entered a more sinister area of the forest were the trees weremore gnarled and pressed in more closely. There were few animals in this region and a sense of foreboding pressed down on all living beings under the dark forest canopy.

They made camp at night fall and I happily left them too it, teleporting home for a nice cup of tea and a bath.

DAY 728 29th Alturiak (Feb)

I caught up with our heroes just before lunch today. It looked like Bozor was acting as scout, at first going forward to check the route, then going back  on their trail to check how far away the Children were.

It appeared Egnol thought they had time enough to explore a ruined Taefellian outpost and wanted to send some of his hireling to go take a look.

Salty and Korinth were to go and they could bring one other of their choosing. Old Salty wanted to bring Nukillas. Korinth was looking forward to a break from her incessant vulgar jokes, but Salty didn't want to learn any healing spells so in the end they took her with them. He promised to do all the Turning so Nukillas could concentrate on the healing.

Ownkabey gave them simple directions and after an hour's walk they arrived at the outpost. Egnol had told them they could take all and any treasure they found there except for any "orbs" they turned up.

They found the ruins of a small elven settlement. The only building that had not been totally overtaken by the forest was a stone temple in the centre.

At the ivy choked entrance they argued about who was to go first. As I studied these two more I began to realise this was to become a very familiar refrain.
'On you go then Korinth!' ordered Salty.
'What?' gasped the fighter in amazement. 'Send your undead in first, that is what they are there for!' Here he gestured at the six zombies currently in
Salty's employ - two undead kao-tua and four undead cultists.
'But you are the guy with the sword and shield, the front line! I'm a cleric and people like me are back line.'
'Maybe,' conceded Korinth, 'But those rotters are trap-fodder. Send them forward.'
'Hey, zombie lives matter!'
'They are not alive you... oh look out, here she comes.'
Nukillas had wandered over. 'What are you boys talking about?'
'Nothing,' growled Korinth. He then drew his sword and marched angrily into the temple.

In the first chamber they found some undead elven skeletons, temple guards who still stood at their posts after centuries. Salty turned and destroyed five of them. Two more swiftly fell to Korinth's blade, but the last one gave them more trouble.

It tilted is head, then snapped it back, gazing over all of them with blazing fire in its eye-sockets. Dark veins grew along the flagstones of the temple floor and around the skeletons legs, as if nourishing it. Their attacks appeared to have no effect. Nukillas tried to turn it, but nothing happened. The skeleton slashed at a zombie with its ancient sword and cut it in two.

It seemed indestructible, but its attacks were no more dangerous than any other  skeleton, so they stepped back out of the temple to discuss options. The skeleton did not follow.

Eventually they deduced that it drew its power from the inside of the temple so they went back in, ducked under its sword and dragged it out into the sunlight where they easily smashed it to pieces.

Watching all this, perched on a branch as I was, the bickering, the arguing and then the eventual execution of a plan that more or less worked, I couldn't help but compare them to some friends of mine. Korinth seemed to fill the role of the slightly more sensible one, similar in character to Fenrir who could be quite clever when he wasn't drunk. Salty was more like Reinward, always looking to cause trouble, always looking for opportunities for foolishness, overly cautious to the point of annoyance, but deadly when he had to be.

It's strange, I find, that the same sort's of fellows seem to enter into my life again and again.