Town Blog - June

Three blows of the horn signaled the townsfolk of Vypool to muster at the tavern as a dark and foreboding light descended upon the deep wilds where the village was situated. As the town discussed their priorities for the weekend they received a visit from some ghastly undead that seemed to seek out a specific farmer. With the trouble coming to the tavern the town pushed back with force, meeting the undead creatures with as much ferocity as the undead showed them. One after another the glowing and non-glowing skeletons were dispatched before the townsfolk decided to move their way to the south where a known lich of the lands and part of the known 9 was residing.

Through the dead forest the heroes of Vypool came across a massive twisting tower of undeath and insanity. After being assaulted by the tower itself the town made their way up its winding stair cases. Eventually they were met by two death knights guarding the inner sanctum of the Lich's crypt. An offer way made and 4 of the intrepid adventurers were allowed to enter to speak to the lich, perhaps hoping to resolve the nights tribulations through some form of diplomacy. Unfortunately the Lich was not quite in the mood to accept an alternative and thus sprung an attack on the few who were allowed inwards. Unfortunately for the Lich it was a calculated group and through spell and might the Lich was destroyed. Alas a destroyed Lich is but temporary relief as the creature came storming back through massive ritually sealed doors and once more attacked the heroes. By this time the group that remained behind did away with the death knight guarding the crypts inner sanctum and joined with the few who were battling away inside. Eventually the Lich was felled a 2nd and third time before the door was accessed with strength and the party was allowed entrance into the phylactery room. Once the phylactery was discovered two of the artificers of the town were able to seal a magic protection upon the phylactery and contain the lich...for now...

Upon leaving the tower two of the undead brothers were waiting for the party to arrive and offered to deal with the lich but were ultimately declined. From there the heroes made it back to town where they were greeted by the representatives of the troll senate! The mayor and others sat before Baron Joh Thein' Mein Shin and his Constable. An agreement was made and a new boon to the town was created, a job board for all of the nearby villages, towns, and etc. to post jobs, as well as a healthy dose of empire propaganda.

Later into the evening visitors from a mysterious organization known as the Shadow Stalkers approached the town and eventually let it be known that they had found about Vypool due to the covert letters left around the various towns in the area. They asked if the town would attempt to join their ranks to fight against the tyrant and thus the town agreed. The two shadowed individuals informed the town that they would need to test a trial of Strength, Wits, and Intelligence in order to progress along that journey. They then soon departed with a promise of 12 to 24 hours that some missive would call upon the town when the test was ready.

The next day the town was greeted by fire elementals in bulk. The fireplace within the tavern spewing heated and aggressive fiery beings in response to the town attempting to contact the fire plane. With the call answered the town reluctantly entered the opened portal where they were met by a creature of flame. This creature asked the town a favor, to disrupt a rival group of elementals, so that they could claim more territory and attempt to stabilize the plane of fire, and in return once all is said and done, they would have them as an ally to fight against Tyrazon. With this in mind the group agreed and worked in tandem with the fire elemental general to set siege to the fortress of the opposing. After a long an heated battle the townsfolk had overcome the opposing leader and retreated where they regrouped with the friendly elementals before heading back to town with the promise to continue aid to that specific faction.

Nursing wounds and regathering the Vypool scouting parties and citizens began to take up job board requests. One group hunting down a nefariously sneaky turtle named Hubert while the dark magi of town went after a cave dwelling beast, and the local corvid decided to try her hand at deciphering texts. The turtle was sadly not found that day, nor was the beast defeated single handedly, and unfortunately the texts seemed too daunting to finish in a single sitting as it was not but a few paragraphs but a ten page story in quite the miniscule font. With tribulations abound the mayor set forth the task to enter into the second set of mines that evening to attempt to gather what information they could on these brain stricken goblins and orcs before attacking the war camp proper.

The local town feisty feline had scouted these mines along with another of his kind and collected kobolds from the depths of the rock. Here in they were led back to town with a map stolen from one of the orcs desks that gave way to plan a full on assault of these dark and deep caverns. Once prepared the town made their way into the mine and carefully maneuvered and fought their way through many a goblinoid. Within the center of the mine was a massive underground pool that was home to what could only be described as a subterranean kraken. Upon perilous ledge the party made their way deeper before confronting the work bosses of the caves. Three were said but only two remained with one fleeing deeper beyond a magically locked door. The fight was tremendous and massive spells were flung and scorched everything in its path before finally the massive creatures were brought to bare. The only thing that remained was the door.

After several minutes the door was found to be locked with some sort of runic high magic but alas, the corvid of the town has an idea. A bottle of something promising the affections of kobold. With a sprinkle the kobolds came busting through the door from the other side, flooding into the room and gaggling around the increasingly panicking raven all while the rest of the town took the opportunity to progress forwards. Thankfully the Corvid was eventually rescued from the afront of small yapping creatures. However, good news was brief. After dealing with the final set of teeth with legs guarding the exit of the mines the party gazed over a vast growth of mushrooms spanning miles. Their journey for the creature would unfortunately stop here and the town would return to the tavern.

CHEESE! Upon returning they took this time to host what will most likely become an annual tradition, the summer cheese festivities began. All sorts of cheese ranging from bri to cheddar to gouda and beyond was on display and consumed. Everyone, including the newly acquired kobold towns people, feasted and enjoyed their hard earned rewards. That is until a letter came floating down upon the mayors head. The trials of the Shadow Stalkers were about to begin.

Once the town had decided who would go they all answered the call and were teleported to an unknown area with several rooms. A mysterious voice boomed forth into the small enclosure asking the group the form groups of 3, one to be strength, one to be wit, and one to be intelligence. Thus the trials began. Through the trials many of the groups succeeded, although mathematics was the bane of a few. With two out of three failures allowed the conclusion of the trials was a success. Just as mysteriously as it had begun it was over and the party found itself back in town. It was late and the townsfolk had begun to turn in but a few remained. The card wielding duo had once more shown to engage the late night adventurers in a game of cards in exchange for answers. The location of the turtle quickly began a hot commodity to go after. With hand after hand questions came and went and before long the group had finished their game with some questions remaining but all questions asked receiving an answer in return. Thus the gathering came to a close with some of the more early risers locating the turtle known as Hubert in a last ditch effort to return it to its rightful owner...