The Lighthouse

We begin beside a cluster of rocks, well-rested and fed, having just re-appeared from Winterfell. The Assembly is just out of sight from two metallic Retrievers stationed in front of the Stony Shore Lighthouse, the doorway emitting a dim red pulsing glow. The rotating lighthouse beacon burns brightly, except for a slight dimming effect as it swings around in their direction on each rotation.

The lighthouse itself is not very tall, certainly nothing like Hightower in Oldtown. This may be as high as 40 to 50 feet from the ground and somewhat squat. Though still cylindrical, it’s fairly wide base implies it was built to withstand heavy storms. The height off the ground is not its height above the water; perhaps a hundred feet from its base, the rocky shore descends roughly three times the height of the lighthouse itself. The slope is not extremely steep, but it is very jagged. Anyone unable to maintain deft footing would certainly have a bad time.

Behind the party stands the Stony Shore Keep, roughly a hundred yards to the east, aglow in blue light shone from the grounds within its curtain wall.

Their plan is to simply run, swords swinging and magic bolting. This pleases Qhortho. He runs directly at the pair of Retrievers to get the party started.

Both of the metallic creatures focus on Qhortho. Their eyes glisten then suddenly burst with energy. Beams tear through and burn portions of Qhortho’s skin, but his focus does not wane for Farron’s inspiration drives him forward.

Farron speaks a few words, kicking Aran into high gear.

Aran runs as fast as ever towards the metallic creatures, slashing and bashing the first one he reaches. Even with the flurry of attacks, the creature still looks unfazed.

Qarzdaq Hastens Qhortho and Farron so they can keep up with Aran.

Qhortho and Aran continue to bash the creatures, denting their carapaces with each blow.

Qarzdaq chars their plating and eyes with several fiery blasts.

Farron continues to provide support and at one point viciously mocks one of them…

                FARRON:             I’m glad your tall… it means there’s even more of you to despise!

One of the spiders shoots out a sticky webbing in front of the lighthouse door, right where Qhortho and Aran are standing their ground. They both quickly jump free of the web just in time to be approached by two agitated red slaads.

As soon as one of them is attacked by Aran, it attempts to flee back into the lighthouse, but Qhortho kills it just as it turns to run.

The second one is viciously mocked by Farron. It hurt his psyche that he was told he would be turned into a belt.

Aran repeatedly crushes the spider’s outer plates, revealing a glowing shard inside. He bashes the shard one time, causing it to fall into its webbing. The glow dissipates and Aran turns to the other spider. He bashes it once then muscles through the thick webbing and into the doorway of the lighthouse. Inside he finds himself faced with a few slaads of red, green, and blue along with three Night Hags mixing a cauldron in front of a glowing red portal.

The room is square rather than circular, counter to the expectation set by the outer walls. The ceiling shows no visible way up to the beacon and the wooden floors are incredibly dirty. It appears to have been purposely soiled with blood, spider webs, skulls and oozes and gunk of various colors, perhaps to make it more cozy for the hags. The smell of mildew is strong and unmistakable.

In his mind, Aran suddenly sees the very realistic image of children approaching him, arms outstretched, eliciting an autoimmune response and dropping his guard slightly. Cognitively, he knows this is the work is the green slaads, having faced them before. Still, the image is hard for him to shake, but by sheer willpower, he fights off the sensation and is ready to retaliate.

Qhortho bashes the remaining spider to smithereens, then rushes inside and slashes into one of the hags. His increased speed makes it quite bloody. The splashes of dark blood leave small sizzling pits on the floor.

Farron launches the Level 5 Fireball stored in his Ring of Spell Storing into the center of the room inside the lighthouse. None of the enemies are able to dodge the expanding ball of fire in time, but their skin all shimmers slightly as the fire touches it, giving away their resistance to fire. He quickly grabs his bow and fires a shot into one of the hags.

                FARR:                    Resist that, bitch.

                QARZ:                   Doesn’t matter if they can normally resist it or not, they can’t resist the fire that comes from my blood magic. But let me show you how it’s done…

Qarzdaq positions himself just right to launch a Level 6 Fireball, directly on the cauldron. The contents of the cauldron take fire, and cause all of them severe pain.

Qhortho sees something that no one else does, and immediately tries to get away from it, stumbling towards the lighthouse door. He feels out of breath, as if something is collapsing his chest. He tries to make it to the door, but falls near its threshold. As he claws towards the door, he realizes he actually does have claws. And they are shrinking.

The next few moments are harrowing for him as he quickly shrinks and grows fur all over his body. He realizes now, he has become a rat.

One of the hags attempts some sort of spell, but Qarzdaq notices it and throws up his hand, cancelling any effect that spell would have had.

Farron focuses on one of the hags concentrating on Qhortho and attempts to mock her. Taking guidance from Qarzdaq, she crosses her arms in the air, cancelling any ill effects. Farron then launches one of his stars at her, blistering her skin from the radiant strike. She screams out and stumbles into the flaming cauldron.

Qhortho is no longer afraid, but he is still a rat. A determined rat.

Qarzdaq throws a fire bolt at one of the hags, and she falls into the burning cauldron. Qhortho starts to squeak loudly in a high pitch series of screams. The pitch of his squeaking gets deeper as his body elongates, the fur retracts into his body. The squeaks turn into “fucks,” and he finds himself on the ground as he fell. He jumps back to his feet, enraged and ready to kill.

They kill the third hag and the portal vanishes. Suddenly the room transforms to have a more circular shape, with walls and floor of white stone. Simultaneously, the horrific look and feel of the room morphs to reflect a manner of neglect rather than tragic intent. Most of the webbing, blood, and oozes disappear though a few animal remains remain. The mildew smell lessens but is not entirely removed. A spiral staircase becomes visible along the outer wall that leads up to the beacon.

They all notice that this time, they hadn’t faced the ethereal plane in the same way as before. Perhaps this location was more established? Maybe they are learning and changing their tactics?

They kill all but one of the slaads, who suddenly goes invisible.

Aran motions to everyone to be quiet and still. The abrupt shift from the cacophony of battle to silence is deafening. Aran’s head is on a swivel and he hears a small shuffled footstep.

                ARAN:                   There!

Qhortho swings his blade. He makes contact! Greenish blood squirts from the air, spraying the gray-white stone floor. The slaad’s wound becomes visible, quickly followed by its arm, then the rest of its body.

Qhortho strikes it again, and again, and again. The slaad falls to the ground in a bloody heap.

The Beacon

They regroup for a moment but do not want to celebrate just yet; they have no idea what lies in wait for them near the beacon.

They climb the staircase and find a fire burning behind a rotating lens, as expected, but there is a small crystalline fragment, similar to the one on Bear Island. It is partially blocking the light, but somehow bends the light near its edges around it.

They pick up the shard and compare it to the other one they have. They think it has something to do with the quartz crystal that powers the Teletherscope, but don’t see how it all comes together yet. They hope the answer will come from the last lightning bolt location.

They start to wonder whether there is also a fourth one from Greywater Watch, the very first of the lightning bolt locations.

Qarzdaq looks out over the horizon for the last remaining lightning bolt. Before he looks through the Teletherscope, he notices something strange as the beacon sweeps across the keep’s location.

                QARZ:                   Hey guys? The keep is gone…

Everyone looks in that general direction, but it is dark, so they wait for the beacon to sweep across the area again.

                ARAN:                   Huh… The wall is too… Now it’s just a clearing in a forest?

                FARR:                    Looks like the footprint of the building is all just dirt. Did the keep disappear or was it an illusion this entire time?

The beacon sweeps across again.

                QHOR:                  Wait… Are there people out there?

                ARAN:                   This is definitely worth investigating, but we need to rest up first.

                QARZ:                   Let’s just take an hour here to regain our composure. I think we should find out who is out there.

They all agree. But before they rest, Qarzdaq takes a look through the Teletherscope to find their next location.

He quickly finds the lightning bolt but realizes there is no way to tell how far away it is, so he devises a clever plan: mark the lightning bolt’s direction on their map in the form of a line from their current location. They know it will be somewhere along that line. Then they teleport to the Inventorship and do the same thing. The point where the two lines cross should be the exact location and will help them decide if they should teleport to a location closer to it, or if they need more conventional travel.

They descend the stairs to the bottom floor for a short rest.

The Clearing

Feeling refreshed, they start towards the newfound clearing. They cross a large area of open land and walk confidently into the woods. Not more than 5 minutes later, they enter a very large rectangular clearing that seems to be the size of the walled inner area of the keep’s grounds that once stood here. It’s incredible how large the area looks when the keep is no longer there.

The clearing contains grass in much of the space except where the keep once stood. The footprint of the circular towers, and large rectangular area between them, contains only dirt.

Qarzdaq is the first to notice that the people they’d seen from the lighthouse are bound and gagged, either on their knees or lying down. They are scattered throughout the clearing. Qarzdaq whispers this to his comrades, but when the closest ones look at him, he realizes they are not people; they are children of the forest.

The party splits up to free the twenty or so prisoners. Afterwards, the children of the forest group together behind the apparent leader. Naturally, the Assembly group with each other across from them, roughly 15 feet separating them.

Qarzdaq lights up a rock and tosses it between them.

                QARZ:                   Not all of them can see in the dark as well as we can.

The leader of the other side lets out an arrogant “hmph.”

Now that they can see the children better, it is clear that they are a different faction than those of the God’s Eye. Still, the Assembly was told that they’d have friends here, so they should not pose a threat.

The childlike appearance of these creatures makes Aran slightly uneasy.

                QHOR:                  Friends, we carry the Root of Knowledge bestowed upon us by Faryn. We are friends, here to rescue you and help how we can. Can you tell us what happened here?

                LEADER:               I am the Drow Inquisitor. You have done right by us by assisting our release. One of very few times your kind have done right by our kind. It angers me that you hold that artifact of our kind.

                QHOR:                  I earned the right to carry this.

                INQUISITOR:      You’ve earned nothing.

                QHOR:                  You don’t know me.

                INQUISITOR:      Your kind has destroyed our homes…

                QHOR:                  I have done nothing to you or your kind. We’ve done nothing but help the Children of the Forest since we got here. I am not even Westerosi. Neither is Qarzdaq here. We have never…

The inquisitor dismisses the madman in front of him and addresses the other three.

                INQUISITOR:      I see you’ve put the least diplomatic as your face. Your lack of social intelligence is more in line with your kind than your seemingly-unprompted aid. Coupled arrogance and deceit… Pretty much sums up the human chain of evolution.

Farron steps forward toward the lighted stone. He is careful to strike a balance of taking control without any threat. He holds his arms out by his sides, even though the Children take defensive stances and ready to fight. Farron’s words softly carry on the cold air.

                FARR:                    My friend Qhortho here can be a bit quick with his mouth, but he means no ill will. None of us do. Please allow us the opportunity to speak. We are atypical of our kind, as you put it.

The inquisitor eyes him curiously and motions to his people to stand down. The mages in the back lower their arms. Qhortho looks pleased with himself, as if he’d been instrumental. In his mind, the Children could NEVER have stood down if they were never ready to fight in the first place.

Qhortho is smacked in the face with a small ball of light. It was just enough to sting a little.

                QHOR:                  Ok, who the fuck did that?

The inquisitor smirks then turns his neck to look at his followers. Qhortho could see it came from the back line of 2-3 mages, but it was impossible to tell exactly which one.

Qhortho unsheathes his sword.

                QHOR:                  Have some fucking gratitude for some motherfuckers who just rescued your asses! How about some respect?!

The Children begin fanning out, not taking their eyes off of Qhortho.

                QHOR:                  Farron, talk some sense into these idiots!

Another ball of light smacks Qhortho in the face. Qhortho sees exactly who threw that one. His face twists in anger.

Farron attempts a Mass Suggestion.

                FARR:                    There is no need for an escalation here. You ask for diplomacy in the face of you accusing us of misdeed, however right you are in your justification against… our kind… I am offering diplomacy. Let’s not waste this opportunity before us.

Several of the Children drop their guard immediately. The Inquisitor does not, but he realizes that not only are some of the Children now unwilling to fight but also that there is great power in this motley crew standing in front of him. He thinks about whether escalation in this instance is really the place where he intends to make a stand. Especially with their mana reserves being tapped out from those that arrested them.

                INQUISITOR:      Fine. We will give you your shot at diplomacy.

He turns his back on the Assembly, in a show of good faith confidence with these humans, but also as confidence for his people that these humans dare not assault them. He has managed to straddle the line that is commonly pressed too far to one side by those less skilled, either causing a loss of trust in negotiation, or a loss of faith in leadership by the side he negotiates for.

He instructs the Children to drop their offensive and that the next light ball thrown will be treated as if it were thrown at him personally.

The mages lower their arms and stop all their glowing.

Farron turns to Qhortho, who is still visibly angry.

                FARR:                    You too. Can we not turn everything into a bloody fight? We know they are not our enemies.

They discuss back and forth about how they can move forward, and they agree that they could start by letting the Inquisitor finish his original thought before he was interrupted.

                INQUISITOR:      As I was saying… your kind has destroyed our homes, but today, you get a pass. You mentioned the Children of the Forest you have come to know. I assume you mean those based at the Eye to the south.

Farron affirms this and their goal to stop and reverse the encroachment of Air magic from the north. He adds that the Children from the Eye have helped lead them down this path.

                QHOR:                  Yeah, so if you don’t want our help, we’ll just move on.

                FARR:                    Qhortho! Stop.

The Children are not fazed by Qhortho and seem to be treating him as a young human incapable of holding his tongue; no threat to them.

                INQUISITOR:      We are not as trusting as those to the south. But you four, and you alone, will not hold enemies in the Children of the North.

He pauses.

                INQUISITOR:      As long as you keep the peace and do not destroy our homes. I mean, not a single tree is to be harmed. Have I been clear?

                QHOR:                  Look, I’m only 20 years old and I’ve never destroyed a forest in my life. You need to chill with these accusations and presumptions.

                INQUISITOR:      The mere existence of humanity destroys the forests.

                QARZ:                   We are here to hopefully change your outlook, as much as can be done by a small group anyway. It won’t make up for the thousands of years, but we hope to show you that not all of us as individuals are as bad as the whole.

                INQUISITOR:      Perhaps, but where can the difference be found…

There is no way to answer this point fully, so Qarzdaq takes a different tact.

                QARZ:                   The ones that bound you, the ones that we fought off at the lighthouse, the ones we fought throughout the north, the ones we are continuing to push out of the north, the ones we will follow to the far north to destroy once and for all… they are the primary enemy… they are not human. The creatures we’ve fought are very powerful, they are strategic, and they are trying to swallow all of the land. As far as we can tell, we are the only ones that have any shot at stopping them.

                FARR:                    But that does not mean we can do it without help. We would like to think that if we called upon you to aid us in this fight, that you would be willing to defend your land.

                INQUISITOR:      You clearly do not know your whole history…

                FARR:                    About destroying the forests?

                INQUISITOR:      That much is already entirely clear. No. I mean with those you fend off now. Still, I suppose you, as individuals, are on the right side of the fight now. So yes. Yes, we will be willing to aid if we are also able.

The Assembly look at each other, realizing there may be more to learn on these matters.

                ARAN:                   Would you be able to tell us what happened here? Recently?

                INQUISITOR:      We were blasted by some type of force eruption that knocked us unconscious. When we awoke, we were bound and being harvested for our magical energy… our mana. We were unable to see anything except a bright blue glow all around us.

                FARR:                    Where did the keep go?

                INQUISITOR:      What keep?

Farron looks around to the bare dirt area.

                FARR:                    What was here? Where did it go?

                INQUISITOR:      This was just normal forest a few days ago. I know nothing else at this time.

                FARR:                    This doesn’t sound like humans.

                INQUISITOR:      Maybe not directly. If you say there was a keep here, perhaps they were drawing on our mana to create such an illusion.

                QARZ:                   Were there any of you on Bear Island?

                INQUISITOR:      No. We have vowed to never cross any water since we destroyed the Arm of Dorne.

Qarzdaq steps forward and pulls out his map.

                QARZ:                   The next location we must destroy is somewhere along this line. Does anything stand out to you?

                INQUISITOR:      I see it is going through the Wolfswood and runs near Winterfell.

                QARZ:                   We are on very favorable terms with the Starks.

                INQUISITOR:      We have a non-aggression pact with them.

                QARZ:                   We actually expect the location to be farther to the east though.

                FARR:                    Are any of your kind out there, farther to the east?

                INQUISITOR:      Wherever there is forest, our kind exists. You may not see us, but we are watching.

The Words

Something the Inquisitor said makes Aran recall something that Faryn told them.

                ARAN:                   Does the phrase “Ashvez voo beshwah dade” mean something to you?

The Inquisitor is impressed and concerned at the same time.

                INQUISITOR:      Yes. What makes you think our tongue should grace your lips?

                ARAN:                   I mean no disrespect. It was something told to us by Faryn of the God’s Eye. She told us that if we enter a forest and mean no harm, we should touch the face of a weirwood and whisper these words. I forget what it means exactly, but it was intended to mean that we are friendly and need help in some way.

The Inquisitor nods slowly. His demeanor changes slightly, as if he’s lost some sort of advantage. The other Children look at each other in disbelief.

                INQUISITOR:      I see. Well, it loosely translates as what you say.

                ARAN:                   She also mentioned that we should follow that up by saying Faryn sent us.

                INQUISITOR:      Yeah. Those words hold deep meaning to us. Please do not use them without true purpose.

                QARZ:                   Understood. We will treat them with the respect they deserve, Inquisitor. May I ask, where are the closest weirwoods to here? This is not to use the words now, but just out of curiosity to know where we can request such aid, if it were needed.

He mentions that the Wolfswood has large patches of weirwoods, but there are many patches of woods that were left unburned by the humans. Many have been killed over the ages though and replaced by lesser trees. North of the wall has more weirwoods than any other type.

They part ways on good terms so the party can take a long rest in a tiny hut.

The Triangulation

In the morning, after their normal rituals, they Teleport to be just outside the Inventorship’s gate.

After the normal “handshake” and handing over their weapons, they are permitted entry. They have a few drinks at the tavern and get on their way.

Qarzdaq whips out the Teletherscope and they draw a new line on their map. The intersection is in the middle of a swath of forest just south of the Bay of Seals.

Without any mounts, the way will be long and hard. They decide to Teleport to Winterfell to get their giant elk, which they do quickly without stopping in to touch base with the Starks.

Six days into the trek to their destination, they enter the forest. Another two days later, they hear something ahead.

Farron nods to Qhortho, providing him some inspiration. Qhortho runs up ahead and sees four corporeal wights still about 40 feet away. He signals to the others what he sees and goes into a rage.

They see Qhortho and run at him. They circle around him, slamming and bashing him repeatedly. Aran runs up and attacks the wights with his dragonglass glaive. He destroys the first, then the second, then the third. The fourth dodges his attack and attempts to bite him. Aran dodges that attack and sticks the wight with the pointy end of his blade, destroying the last of them.

The Assembly regroups and gets on their way. Another six days later, still walking through the forest, they all feel a draw towards the east. The woods are almost silent except for the intermittent hooting of owls nearby.

They discover a path that leads to a dilapidated mansion. It is certainly stable enough to remain standing, but it clearly has not been inhabited for quite some time. The grounds are surrounded by a wrought iron fence, with a large gate, chained and locked.

A snarl from a wolf in the woods catches their attention behind them. It is drowned out immediately by one single loud HOOT. Then. Silence.

It’s hard to make out in the darkness, but the moonlight reveals what looks to be a giant owl with tentacle-like limbs swopping into the forest. The creature dives to the ground, snatches up the large wolf and takes off to the sky. A moment later, something strikes the ground nearby. The blood sprays from the object as it rolls towards the party. The wolf’s head comes to rest at Farron’s feet.

A chorus of hoots come from the air above. Looking up, several of these hooting tentacled creatures look to be hunting for their next victims.

The Unexpected

                VOICE:                  Get in here! Now!

They recognize the person calling them immediately, it’s Troy Flowers!

Qhortho grabs the chain on the gate and pulls it as hard as he can. Qarzdaq jumps into the air and flies over the gate.

Qhortho feels the metal yielding but not enough to break. Aran slams it with the butt of his guandao. The combination of both efforts busts the old lock open. They push their way through the gate and scramble to get inside. They try to bring their elk inside, but with only a single door, this is impossible. This may be the end of their mounts.

                QARZ:                   As far as I’m concerned, animals don’t have souls anyway, so…

Qhortho looks at him with disgust, but he is soon distracted by Troy.

                TROY:                    Whoa! The Assembly?? Holy shit! What are you doing out here? Why now??

He looks unkempt with dark smudges all over his face.

                ARAN:                   How did you get here Troy?

                TROY:                    Long story…

The hooting outside continues, followed by silence, followed by a very brief elk scream.

                ARAN:                   We’ve got time.

                TROY:                    *sight* Yeah… Well, Lorayn fell ill by way of something a Magi called “eternal slumber.” After many, many months of collecting rare ingredients for a potion, the last of them I need to find is called the Orchid of Regret. It only exists in its usable form during the brightest moonlight in the Forest of Regret. This is that forest. I took refuge from those… things out there… One night, I heard them and thought they were warning each other of a predator or something, so I hid in a bush. Then I saw a beautiful white elk snatched up by some flying tentacled creature as if it were a mouse. Then I realized, the owls were the predators. I took off as quickly as I could and luckily happened upon this place. I’ve been holed up here for the past 3 days… exploring during the day to figure out which areas look most promising to find the orchid, then venturing out at night as quietly as possible. That’s why my face is covered in this black stuff. Those owl things are more than just giant. Those tentacles of theirs are quite powerful. But this house has been great the last few days.

Qarzdaq thinks about his time “in this house” from the fortunes.

                QARZ:                   What have you found in the house so far? Something tells him this isn’t as safe as it seems.

                TROY:                    The house is entirely empty. I haven’t found anything except this black sludge.

                QARZ:                   Have you looked?

                TROY:                    Well… I mean, no one else is here if that’s what you mean. Admittedly, I haven’t looked in every corner…

                QARZ:                   So you haven’t looked.

                ARAN:                   Have you been in all of the rooms?

                TROY:                    I went downstairs and found some black sludge in jars alongside a bunch of broken ones. I just figured they were extracted from some of the flora in the area since the Forest of Regret is known to be a source of many rare and useful ingredients. It doesn’t smell too bad and doesn’t cause irritation, so I figured I could use it to hide from the owls. And it seems to work pretty well! For now, I have the few jars sitting over there.

He motions to a few jars sitting against the wall in the next room.

                TROY:                    There’s more of the jars down there, but… then I saw something skitter around in the mess, and, well, that was enough for me. I’d rather not go back downstairs if I can help it.

                ARAN:                   How about we go take a look.

                TROY:                    I am not going back down there.

Aran instinctively walks over to the basement door.

[SHOW EXPLORED ROOMS]

                TROY:                    How do you know where it is?

                ARAN:                   Long story…

Troy looks at Aran blankly.

                TROY:                    We’ve got time, right?

                ARAN:                   Let’s just say we saw it in a dream… a fortune really. Several of the other things in that fortune also came true. This place was one of the things we experienced.

                TROY:                    Was I in your fortune?

Aran looks to the others in his party.

                ARAN:                   No, you weren’t.

Aran tries open the basement door, but it doesn’t budge.

                ARAN:                   How did you get in here?

                TROY:                    It was open.

Qhortho steps up to it and slams his shoulder into it. It feels like it reflects the force he would have done to such a door.

                ARAN:                   Why is this so hard to open?

                TROY:                    When I ran up here, I slammed it behind me. I must have slammed it harder than I realized.

                QARZ:                   We had to do a lot before we could enter the basement in our fortune too…

                QHOR:                  Then let’s get to exploring.

They walk through a hallway to the right from the perspective of entering the front door of the house. This leads them into a dining room, which is attached to a kitchen.

The Kitchen

They turn the corner into the kitchen to see three corporeal wights standing in a small kitchen, but these look a little different from the ones they’re used to seeing. A moment later, they realize these are not corporeal wights at all. They are some sort of undead but with dozens and dozens of little green worms crawling in and out of it. A few worms jump off the body, looking to attach themselves to a new host.

This angers and confuses Qhortho. One of the creatures step towards him. Qhortho strikes immediately. Following his lead, Aran uses his dragonglass glaive on the creature. The enemy doesn’t immediately shatter and he knows he just rolled the dice on whether the weapon would break. He quickly swaps it out for his jaded guandao while Farron Hastes Aran and Qhortho.

The creature claws at Qhortho but misses. It leans backwards as a small green worm launches itself towards Qhortho, latching itself on his arm. It begins to burrow into his skin.

The other two approach Aran. They manage to claw at him causing superficial scrapes on his face, but Aran quickly dodges the worms that jump towards him. Hey squirm around on the floor, clearly not ready to concede.

Qarzdaq wants none of this. He knows his fire burns hotter than most, but he also knows his friends can take the heat. He steps back and launches a fireball into the small kitchen. All of the worms on the floor burst like kernels of corn in the heat as do several of the worms on the undead creatures.

Qhortho rips the worm burrowing into his arm, tearing it in half.

Aran strikes one of the creatures and it falls in a slump to the ground. As it falls, one little green work flies up towards Aran’s face. He smacks it away and it lands on the floor. He attacks the next, destroying it as well. Another worm, another smack down.

Qhortho steps up and destroys the last of them and manages to dodge the worm that tries to latch onto him.

Farron devises a plan for the worms on the floor that puts the prowess of his Bardic powers to use. He begins to tap dance across the floor, smashing two of the worms in the process.

                FARR:                    Cha cha, motherfuckers!

Qarzdaq blasts the last worm with a bolt of fire, causing it to pop.

They look at each other then back to Troy, who is standing in the dining room, just outside the kitchen.

This session ends on Night 798 still a few hours before midnight. Each of the Assembly gains 9kXP bringing their totals to 154.5kXP. Both Qhortho’s and Qarzdaq’s artifacts are glowing, meaning they should keep their distance from one another, or they can deactivate them and be slightly exhausted. The hooting outside makes itself known again. What the hell have they gotten themselves into?