Markheim on We Are The Red Guardians

Session The Forty-Fifth

Sat, 11 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Session The Forty-Fifth

11 March 2023

Lycovyne	45/47
Menka	54/54
Kyril	60/61
Gonchar	88/88
Flint	55/55
Tim	32/32
Seamus	60/64
Cathal	67/67

The party more or less began to follow Menka’s insect path in reverse. We reached the wall we had previously taken down with Gonchar’s hammer and, passing through, headed north. The tunnel was supported in makeshift fashion with hastily erected wooden beams. Ahead, in the distance we heard a loud, barking scream. A cross between a human and an animal.

Sidebar - Markheim

Sun, 14 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Sidebar - Markheim

14 May 2023

An annotated map of Markheim is saved here.

We entered Markheim from the southeast, following a road that crossed through a village of huts (1). The village seemed of recent construction. Fields and groves lie just south of the village. Men and women of the same racial stock as the worshippers of the ice god worked the fields and populated the village though the overt, undead evil was not apparent. An ancient-looking elven woman worked the groves among the people. Kyril recognized her as Auntie T and acknowledged her all-seeing glance. He dismounted, handed off his horse and walked out into the fields to speak with the elven druid. We would not see him again for a week or so.

Session The Forty-Sixth

Sat, 20 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Session The Forty-Sixth

20 May 2023

Menka spoke with Aesil about gaining access to the mirror she kept somewhere in the tower. She was far less than interested in providing access and was neither concerned with events far to the the south nor with the visions provided to the priest by the messenger of Thoth.

Session The Forty-Eighth

Sat, 26 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Session The Forty-Eighth

26 August 2023

Lycovyne	33/49
Menka	45/54
Kyril	59/61
Gonchar	76/100
Flint	48/61
Tim	32/36
Seamus	57/64
Cathal	49/67

The party stood in a room with doors in the north and south walls and another on the northern end of the east wall, the same door we entered through. Charred ice ogre corpses lay strewn about, reeking of burnt hair and flesh. Kyril’s control temperature was still in effect, fending off the cold for those within its 10’ compass. Outside of that 10’ range it was bitterly cold. Seamus didn’t seem to mind the chill. Antifreeze and all that.

Session The Fiftieth

Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Session The Fiftieth

28 December 2023

Menka	45/54
Lycovyne	45/49
Kyril	47/69
Flint	56/64
Tim	36/36
Seamus	57/65
Cathal	53/67
Gonchar	90/100

Seamus and Menka applied some healing magic and prayers to Cathal and Lycovyne. Warm and bound in wrinkly skin, one book we found was certainly Cultes des Gules. The second book remained unidentified. Lycovyne was definitely not a definite. Menka began to pray for 3 hours to receive the spells cure blindness, remove curse and procure hooker.

Session the Fifty-First

Sat, 10 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Session the Fifty-First

10 February 2024

Menka	37/54
Lycovyne	38/49
Kyril	33/69
Flint	41/64
Tim	36/36
Seamus	46/65
Cathal	15/67
Gonchar	59/100

The session began with the party traveling, with Harald Markgaard, Agnar, Arndt, Ninax, Scarlett and the wayward rangeress Largatha, daughter of Harald, as well as a host of mounted men-at-arms from Markheim, traveling through the thawing, ice, snow, mud and debris-strewn melting mountain passes. Winter-like weather still clung to the area, though a hint of Spring was in the air.

Session the Fifty-Second

Sat, 08 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Session the Fifty-Second

8 June 2024

We sold some extraneous gear and cleaned house a bit. Gonchar and Cathal visited the keep armorer and got their plate mail repaired.

Anticipating 10 days on the road (5 to the Tomb under the cliff and 5 back) we purchased horses, feed and iron rations for around 278 pieces of gold.

Session the Fifty-Seventh

Sat, 19 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Session the Fifty-Seventh

19 April 2025

Menka	36/54
Kyril	46/69
Lycovyne	39/54
Gonchar	80/100
Flint	54/72
Cathal	43/67
Tim	36/36
Seamus	38/78

The party emerged from the tomb of the Twice-Crowned into a bowl-shaped, wooded area which clears near the entry to the tomb - the party is stinking, tired, bloodied and bandaged. Two of the party are carrying bags of holding which are overflowing with coinage - luckily, the coins dropping into the dirt all seem to be coppers.

Session the Fifty-Eighth

Sat, 21 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Session the Fifty-Eighth

21 June 2025

Menka	54/54
Kyril	69/69
Lycovyne	54/54
Gonchar	100/100
Flint	72/72
Cathal	67/67
Tim	36/36
Seamus	78/78

We spoke at length with Teos at the bar. He was loquacious in his gratitude and willingly answered our questions.

Creel’s tower was less than a day’s ride from the Horne’d Lamb. The good barkeep told the party that to simply touch the walls of Creel’s tower was … dangerous. Creel himself is a good man and had long held commerce and communication with the Inn as well as the surrounding area. Creel’s wife had died of some unspecified malady - perhaps plague, all sudden-like, and while Creel was out - and the man had not been the same since. Creel had turned to the dark arts of necromancy in an effort to bring his beautiful wife back to life. Teos had nothing but praise for Illyssa.

Markheim Identify Parade

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Markheim Identify Parade

1 March 2026

Hall crew returns on day 13.

Day 8:

Tim trained Lycovyne for one full week and he gained 2 hp, (56/56).

We decided as a party to keep the coin we acquired on solo quests and to share out magic items.

We have 11 pearls (pg. 349, Session 48). For some reason they were deemed too spendy to come from Zagyg’s Spell Component Case, though the case could produce the live miniature carp. Detect magic was required for some of ther loot.

The Hall and Back Again

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Hall and Back Again

8 February 2026

Harald and Ninax, Menka and Cathal discussed the orcish incursions . Cragenheim will be levying troops from the surrounding area in the near future. Priest and knight assured them we would be back through at some point.

Menka, Cathal and Seamus planned to travel to the Hall of Seven Pillars the following morning. Ninax offered to ride with us to the block house. With the cessation of the frigid, lingering winter the road to Westkeep was re-opened, though only a well-protected caravan dare make the journey.

Kyril's Solo Record

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Kyril's Solo Record

8 February 2026

Auntie T. flew with Kyril, accompanying him on his journey to meet with Brann mac Thorn. The archdruid of this region appeared to be equal parts human and plant matter and, as he spoke, there were long pauses in communication. Brann informed Kyril that this would be the last time he could help Kyril gain a level. From here forward he must work with the Great Druid directly.

Flint, Cooling His Heels

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Since Flint was not leveling-up, he killed time in Markheim at the Diamond Spider Tavern, drinking ale and ‘assisting’ the dancers (i.e. attractive thieves wearing translucent silks) there with robbery of certain customers (“marks”), most of whom were out-of-towners passing through on caravans, merchants or farmers selling their goods in Markheim.

The Diamond Spider was, as you know, the local Thieves’ Guild in Markheim, headed by the owner/proprietor, Spider Braz, and the retinue of dancers, bouncers and barmaids, all of whom were guildmembers, or at least non-thieves in the know and on the payroll. There was a complex system regarding who called be “rolled” and who should be left alone, and Flint neither fully understood nor got involved in that.

Gonchar On Patrol

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Since Gonchar was not leveling-up, he passed the time between adventures by volunteering to ride with the Castellan’s men on patrols of the region around Markheim and Ninax’s Blockhouse. He was given a small-ish pony of surprisingly-surpassing speed (“Mala”), and was told by the men he would be riding with to get used to the horse for a day or two, for they must ride swiftly. Gonchar got used to the pony for a day or two, and the animal was smart and fast, and Gonchar - a below-average rider at best - was soon able to ride well and with speed with only two days of getting used to Mala. He was also fitted for lighter chain mail armor, as he was told that plate would not work for the kind of riding they’d be doing.

Interlude I: Creel's Tower

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Interlude I: Creel's Tower

14 December 2025

With the portal below the tower closed and danger at least temporarily averted, Creel advised the party that he had sent messages out to his fellow 8 wizards (of ‘The Nine’) asking for assistance. While the party bivouacked at the tower, some of this aid arrived.

Osgoth

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Osgoth Map Key#

Note to players: this is a map of the ‘known world’. The major regions are denoted by numbers, with descriptions of each set forth below. Each region is summarized in terms of political situations, rulers, gods, terrain and some description of note to adventurers. It is all ‘common knowledge’ a resident of Osgoth such as yourselves would know. Only major cities are noted (and described below) - no cities are named on the map, because an 8x12 piece of paper didn’t allow room. Major geographical features (large mountain ranges, hilled areas, forests (temperate and pine), large lakes, huge swamps, major deserts/steppes, significant islands and the largest rivers) are noted. This is not to say that ‘clear’ areas on the map do not include smaller forests, mountain/hill regions, lakes, ponds, smaller rivers, swamps or other terrain. Only the major areas are noted. Further, countless smaller keeps, cities, towns and villages exist throughout the continent, and none are noted on this map.