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Welcome Back to the Material Plane

Last week, the party peacefully rested in their rooms at the inn in the Shadow City. Near dawn, Antimony was abruptly awoken by a pounding on her door. When she opened it, she saw Talia, who was covered in blood1. Talia told her that she had been attacked by hobgoblins seeking the party's Key, and that they needed to leave quickly. They worked together to wake the party and quickly left the Shadow City for the comparative safety of the gate room.

When the party arrived there, Talia explained what had happened in more detail. Early that morning, the squad of hobgoblins seeking the Book of Creation had finished the Trial of Might, leaving them with two Keys. They went through the portal to Talia's demiplane to find the third key. She informed them that the third key was already retrieved, but did not tell them that it was with the party. The hobgoblins were angry that they had failed, and attacked Talia so they could bring her back to Torvid for interrogation. Talia slaughtered most of them, but was unable to kill them all because, as the Guardian of the Gate for Azkemaletharius, she is not allowed to take possession of the Keys2. This left the two hobgoblins carrying keys free to flee the plane. Once they did, she left to find the party.

The party decided that they would try to chase down the hobgoblins before they reached Torvid, since they were injured and had only just left with the keys. An epic overland chase ensued, with the party pushing themselves to their limits to catch up with the orcs who had Pippin and Merry the hobgoblins who had the Keys for the Book of Creation. Five hours later, they finally caught up. Lorelei and Antimony avoided any semblance of a dramatic fight over the keys by magically bringing the hobgoblins down from a hundred feet away, and the party ran up to begin interrogating them.

The interrogation went very well, especially when Amanita turned a hobgoblin's toe into a putrid lump of flesh. They confessed that they had thrown away the Keys when they saw the party to prevent the party from getting them, but after further reflection, regretted their life choices and would definitely help the party find the Keys. With the help of Antimony's Key-finding ritual, the party retrieved the keys and started heading back to Lagonton Snafu Foobar3 to retrieve the Book of Creation.

On their way back, the party was caught by a group of hobgoblins riding wargs4. However, Lord Khallus managed to keep them at bay by firing flaming bolts into the dry plains to start fires whenever they tried to get close to the party. Just as he was running out of bolts, the party arrived back at the town, where they rushed down to use the Keys in the Trial doors. Before they reached the doors, some of the warg-riders caught up to them, but Lorelei and Amanita kept them at bay with magic long enough for the party to turn the Keys. When they did, a new portal opened. With little time to spare, the entire party ran through.

Join us this week to try to retrieve the Book of Creation!

  1. Not her blood, obviously. As a shadowmeld, she has shadowy ichor flowing through her shadowy veins, not blood.
  2. Technically, there are circumstances where she could take possession of a Key, such as if it is thrown at her face really hard. Sadly, the hobgoblins were not that stupid, and she can't kill a Keybearer if there is any way to avoid it.
  3. The town's name was originally Lagonton. The party renamed it once after retaking it from the hobgoblins, and again after nearly destroying it as part of an effort to fend off a second hobgoblin attack.
  4. Wargs are huge wolf-like creatures. They are traditional war-beasts for various evil humanoid creatures who think horses taste good.

Stupid Awards

Lorelei Antimony Tiberius Pabst Amanita Lord Khallus Everyone:
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