From Shoddy Strongholds to Savage Skirmishes
Date: Mar 18th, 2026
Summary
On the outskirts of the town of Maeve, the party gathered at their newly acquired plot of land to check on the progress of their future stronghold. What they found was far from encouraging. A crew of well-meaning but wholly unqualified farmers had leveled the ground and produced a set of building plans that amounted to little more than squares scrawled on a piece of paper. The head farmer, wearing a battered hat and clutching his parchment upside down, cheerfully asked which direction they wanted the castle to face.
Before the frustration of the construction debacle could fully set in, the reunion was marked by something far more remarkable. Cornelius revealed his new hand — a living, breathing construction of vines, leaves, and wood, grown through the power of druidcraft. He had lost his original hand to a cursed golden orb, and in the desperate search for a solution, Papajan had been guided by the light of his god, Lathander, to a sacred grove. There, a magnificent oak tree had spoken to Cornelius through feeling alone, asking him to serve as its guardian. In exchange, the tree had taught him to rebuild what he had lost, and now a tangle of green vines and small leaves served as his hand, capable even of growing berries on command.
The party’s contractor, Jaxx, arrived at the site with troubling news of his own. The skilled builder he had originally hired had died on an adventure, swallowed whole by a dragon, and his inexperienced son had taken over the work in his place. The contract, Jaxx explained, had been written for the father and not the son, which voided the agreement entirely. After some negotiation, the party agreed to pay the farmers a modest sum for the work of leveling the land and sent them on their way, determined to find someone who actually knew how to build a castle.
The group made their way to the home of Jon Harrison, a well-traveled acquaintance who wore a white-brimmed hat and a brown leather jacket and was currently hunched over an ancient tablet he was struggling to translate. When Jaxx explained their predicament, Harrison pointed them north, toward a group of master builders known as the Savagehammer Dwarves. These dwarves, he explained, had constructed his own home and were currently encamped near White Peak Mountain, working to establish a new settlement after being driven from their ancestral stronghold. That stronghold, Harrison added, was now occupied by orcs.
The party immediately recognized the opportunity. If they could help the Savagehammer Dwarves reclaim their ancestral home from the orcs, the grateful craftsmen might be persuaded to build the party’s castle in return. It was, as one of them put it, a twofer. They decided to stop at Odyn’s Eye on the way north to officially take on the quest and gather what intelligence they could, then press on to find the dwarves. Before departing, Cornelius also quietly arranged to sell his severed golden hand, which had been sitting in his pack since the incident with the orb, fetching a considerable sum for the solid metal appendage.
After eight hours of travel, the party made camp as the sun began to sink toward the horizon. Cornelius worked by firelight on copying text from the ancient tablet into his notes, attempting to piece together some kind of linguistic codex. Glint spent the evening trying, with limited success, to train a stray cat to retrieve his thrown daggers. Papajan sat in quiet prayer, while a small slime named Marmalade bobbed eagerly in its glass enclosure, fascinated by the cat, which was decidedly not fascinated in return. Above them all, the mysterious floating wizard tower drifted silently overhead, its shadow falling across the camp like a quiet warning.
The tower had been following them for some time now, and the party discussed it in hushed tones around the fire. It had once stood on solid ground before shooting into the sky, and inside it were floors filled with traps and puzzles. A pale, unblinking girl had appeared at its entrance during a previous visit, and when Umbra had taken a strange necklace from her, the girl had simply vanished. The necklace itself was deeply unsettling — it allowed its wearer to see ghosts and, under the right circumstances, transported them bodily to the Fugue Plane, the realm where souls waited to pass into the afterlife. The party agreed it was best not to think too hard about it and tried to get some sleep.
The next morning, the party pressed on toward White Peak Mountain, choosing to cut through the jungle rather than skirt around it through the swamp. The jungle announced itself with a wall of sweltering heat and a cacophony of strange animal calls that none of them had ever heard before. Near the tree line, they discovered a banana tree heavy with fruit, and Cornelius transformed into a giant spider to climb up and knock down several bunches. The bananas were slightly underripe, sweet in a way that reminded them of something almost too sugary, and filled with large seeds that had not yet been bred out of the wild fruit. They loaded up what they could carry and pressed into the green.
About an hour into the jungle, the path opened onto a murky, greenery-choked lake. The water was dark and still, and hanging from the trees on either side of the path were bones — humanoid skulls on the left, lizardfolk skulls on the right. A large gharial lurked beneath the surface of the water, its long snout barely visible through the algae. The party debated the meaning of the grim decorations, speculating about a territorial war between lizardfolk and humans, before deciding to skirt the lake along the right-hand path, moving carefully through the dense undergrowth.
As they crept along the path, the wind picked up and the hanging bones began to whistle and clatter in an eerie chorus. Glint’s familiar, Jeremy the owl, scouted ahead and spotted a tattered tent near a smaller body of water, with a cooking fire still burning beside it. The party approached cautiously and discovered something deeply disturbing inside: a lizardfolk, sleeping soundly after having gorged itself on humanoid remains. Scattered around the tent were bones and body parts, and the creature’s maw was still stained with blood.
The party moved quickly to restrain the creature before it could raise an alarm. Papajan seized its snout and held it shut while the others pinned its limbs to the ground. When they finally allowed it to speak, the lizardfolk was defiant and contemptuous, referring to the party as “smooth skins.” It admitted freely to killing and eating humans, pointed down the path to indicate where more humans could be found, and cryptically told them to look for themselves when asked about its companions. It was not long before they understood what it meant.
From the water, a war party of lizardfolk emerged, accompanied by large reptilian beasts. A shaman among them raised a bone amulet carved from a human and began to chant, and Papajan’s armor suddenly blazed red-hot, searing him from the outside in. The battle erupted in an instant. Jeremy swooped over the attackers and unleashed a crackling burst of lightning that tore through several of the lizardfolk and killed one of the beasts outright. Glint fired a bolt of radiant energy that struck the shaman squarely, and Cornelius transformed into a massive poisonous snake, coiling around the captive lizardfolk and sinking his fangs into its neck.
Urelia entered a state of divine fury, her veins and eyes blazing with radiant light so intense that it burned those who stood too close. She brought her great axe down in a sweeping arc and took the head clean off the lizardfolk in the tent. The shaman, wounded and desperate, exhaled a billowing cloud of fog that swallowed the entire battlefield, plunging everyone into blindness. Two of the remaining lizardfolk used the cover to flee deeper into the jungle. In the chaos, one of the summoned reptilian beasts snapped at the air and bit its own tail.
Papajan waded into the pond, raised his warhammer, and called upon Lathander. A brilliant flash of radiant light erupted from him in all directions, burning through the magical fog like sunlight through morning mist. The shaman, his concentration shattered, staggered. Cornelius, still in serpent form, coiled around the shaman and bit deep into his neck, flooding him with venom. Umbra fired a precise shot from her short bow that punched through the shaman’s throat, and he crumpled into the water, dead. With the shaman gone, the summoned beasts dissolved into nothing, and the battlefield fell silent.
In the quiet that followed, the party heard something unexpected: the sound of a child crying. The sound was coming from a rectangular stone pillar jutting diagonally out of the pond, its surface slick with moss. Papajan climbed up and found a small human girl with dark skin, dressed in animal skins, weeping quietly at the top. She looked up at him and said his name — or something very close to it — and threw herself into his arms. He held her, bewildered, with no memory of ever having met her.
The girl’s name, they eventually pieced together, was Milo, and she spoke a language none of them recognized. It was consistent and structured, but entirely foreign, and no amount of history or linguistic knowledge could place it. She retrieved a small bone necklace from the ruined tent — a memento, it seemed, of someone she had lost — and clutched it tightly. The party used drawings on parchment to communicate: little stick figures, huts, hearts, and arrows pointing forward. Slowly, painstakingly, they began to understand one another.
With Milo in Papajan’s arms and Jeremy guiding them from above, the party made their way through the last stretch of jungle toward the village. The girl pointed at the drawings of huts and said a word that sounded like home. She pointed at Papajan and said a word that seemed to mean person, or perhaps friend. The party walked on through the heat and the noise of the jungle, a strange little group carrying a child who knew one of their names and spoke a language none of them had ever heard, heading toward a village that might hold answers — or might only raise more questions.
Short
The party arrived at their newly acquired plot of land outside Maeve to find their castle construction in disarray — a crew of unqualified farmers had leveled the ground and produced little more than crude sketches for building plans. Their contractor Jaxx delivered further bad news: the skilled builder he had hired had been swallowed by a dragon, and his inexperienced son had voided the contract by taking over. Amid the chaos, Cornelius revealed a remarkable development — a new hand grown from living vines and wood through druidcraft, gifted to him by a sacred oak tree after he lost his original hand to a cursed golden orb. After paying off the farmers and selling his severed golden hand for a considerable sum, the party sought guidance from the well-traveled Jon Harrison, who directed them north toward the Savagehammer Dwarves — master builders encamped near White Peak Mountain after being driven from their ancestral stronghold by orcs. The party recognized the opportunity immediately: help the dwarves reclaim their home, and earn a castle builder in return.
Traveling north and cutting through the jungle, the party faced a deadly ambush by a lizardfolk war party led by a shaman who superheated Papajan’s armor and blanketed the battlefield in magical fog. The group fought fiercely — Jeremy the owl unleashed lightning, Urelia decapitated a lizardfolk in a blaze of divine fury, and Cornelius transformed into a giant snake to poison the shaman before Umbra finished him with a precise arrow through the throat. When the battle ended, the party discovered something unexpected: a young human girl named Milo, weeping atop a mossy stone pillar in the pond. She spoke an entirely unrecognizable language, yet somehow knew Papajan’s name and leapt into his arms. Communicating through simple drawings, the party slowly pieced together that she was searching for home, and with Jeremy guiding them from above, they pressed on through the jungle with the mysterious child in tow, uncertain of what answers — or new questions — awaited them ahead.
Classic
Last we left off, our intrepid band of adventurers found themselves mired in the unglamorous realities of castle ownership — or rather, the lack thereof. Their newly acquired plot of land outside Maeve had been lovingly, if catastrophically, tended to by a crew of farmers whose architectural ambitions far outpaced their qualifications. Yet amid the chaos of upside-down blueprints and misplaced foundations, the reunion carried a moment of genuine wonder: Cornelius unveiled a hand reborn from the living wood itself — vines, leaves, and bark woven together through druidcraft, a gift from a sacred oak that had asked him to serve as its guardian. Their contractor Jaxx brought further complications, as the master builder originally hired had met his end inside a dragon, leaving his inexperienced son and a voided contract in his wake. Seeking a solution, the party turned to the well-traveled Jon Harrison, who pointed them north toward the Savagehammer Dwarves — master builders encamped near White Peak Mountain, displaced from their ancestral stronghold by a warband of orcs. The opportunity was plain: help the dwarves reclaim their home, and earn the finest craftsmen in the land as allies. A twofer, as it were.
The road north brought its own trials. The party made camp beneath the drifting shadow of the mysterious floating wizard tower that had been trailing them for some time — a place of traps, puzzles, and a pale unblinking girl who had simply vanished when Umbra took her necklace. That necklace, capable of revealing ghosts and transporting its wearer bodily to the Fugue Plane, remained a topic best left unexamined before sleep. Come morning, they pressed into the jungle, cutting through walls of sweltering heat and strange animal calls, fortifying themselves with wild bananas knocked from the trees by a very large spider that was, moments before, Cornelius. Their path led them to a murky lake adorned with a grim gallery of hanging bones — humanoid skulls on one side, lizardfolk on the other — and the long snout of a gharial barely breaking the surface below. Skirting the water’s edge, they discovered a tattered camp and within it, a lizardfolk sleeping off a deeply unsettling meal. Before they could extract much from their defiant, contemptuous captive, the water erupted — a war party of lizardfolk rising from the depths, their shaman raising a bone amulet and setting Papajan’s very armor ablaze.
The battle that followed was swift and ferocious. Jeremy the owl crackled lightning across the warband, Urelia blazed with divine radiance so fierce it burned those who drew too near, and Cornelius — coiled in serpent form — sank his fangs into the shaman’s neck while Umbra’s arrow finished the job. When the magical fog the shaman had conjured finally burned away beneath a brilliant burst of Lathander’s light, the battlefield fell silent. And in that silence, something wholly unexpected: the sound of a child crying. Atop a moss-slicked stone pillar jutting from the pond sat a small girl named Milo, dressed in animal skins, who looked up at Papajan with tear-filled eyes and spoke his name — or something remarkably close to it — before throwing herself into his arms. She spoke a language none of them could place, structured and consistent but entirely unknown to history or scholarship. Through careful drawings scratched onto parchment — stick figures, huts, hearts, and arrows — they began, slowly, to understand one another. Now, with Milo held close and Jeremy watching from above, the party presses on through the jungle heat toward a village that may hold answers… or only deepen the mystery of a child who somehow already knows their name.
Middle English
Lythe and listin, gentilmen, Of adventurers bolde and free, Who gathered on their plot of lande To build their castelle by the sea! The farmers there had leveled grounde, With plans of squares most bare, The head man held his parchment wrong, And asked which way to square!
Then Cornelius showed his hande of vines, Of leaves and woode entwined, The sacred oak had spoken true, And left his loss behinde! For Papajan had found the grove, By Lathander’s holy light, And now green berries graced his palm, A wondrous, living sight!
Now Jaxx arrived with troubling newes, The builder swallowed whole, By dragon’s maw on some far quest, A most unfortunate toll! But Harrison in his white-brimmed hat, Did point them to the north, Where Savagehammer Dwarves did camp, And bade the party forth!
Through jungle thick and sweltring heat, Past bones that clattered and sung, A lizardfolk war party rose, With shaman’s curse among! Then Jeremy the owle did strike, With lightning fierce and bright, And Urelia’s axe swept clean and true, By radiant, blazing light!
In quiet after battle’s end, A child’s weeping rang, Atop a mossy pillar stone, Her voice so soft she sang! Young Milo knew brave Papajan’s name, And leapt into his arms, The party walked through jungle’s heat, Toward home, through unknown charms!
Snarky
When last we left our intrepid adventurers, they were standing on a patch of very flat, very empty land that was supposed to be the start of a castle — keyword: supposed to. Thanks to a crew of farmers who had never met a blueprint they couldn’t hold upside down, the grand stronghold was off to a rocky start (and not the good, load-bearing kind). But the real headline was Cornelius, who showed up with a brand new hand made entirely of living vines and leaves, courtesy of a sacred oak tree with a very generous return policy. Between that, a dead contractor’s unqualified son, and a solid gold severed hand fetching a tidy sum on the open market, it was a lot of administrative chaos before the party even hit the road. Their plan: head north, find the Savagehammer Dwarves, help them reclaim their orc-occupied ancestral home, and maybe — just maybe — get a castle built by people who know which end of a hammer to hold.
The road north had other ideas, naturally. A jungle shortcut delivered the party straight into a territorial nightmare of hanging skulls, a cannibalistic lizardfolk napping off a very disturbing meal, and a full-on ambush from a war party complete with a shaman who thought setting Papajan’s armor on fire was a reasonable opening move. Jeremy the owl disagreed — loudly, and with lightning. After a chaotic, fog-drenched brawl that ended with Cornelius as a giant venomous snake and Urelia removing a head with the casual efficiency of someone who has done this before, the battlefield went quiet. And then, from the top of a mossy stone pillar jutting out of a pond, came the sound of a child crying. A little girl named Milo, dressed in animal skins, speaking a language no one recognized — looked straight at Papajan and said his name. He had absolutely no idea who she was. She did not seem to care. The party walked on into the jungle heat, a bewildered cleric holding a mystery child, and somehow, this felt completely on brand.
Limerick
At their plot stood a farmer, hat-worn, With his castle plans tattered and torn. Cornelius showed his hand— Vines and leaves, green and grand— Grown from oak where his old hand was shorn!
The builder was swallowed, said Jaxx with a sigh, His son took the contract, the deal went awry. Jon Harrison said, “Head north! The Savagehammer’s worth— Help them reclaim their hall, give those orcs a goodbye!”
By the firelight, Cornelius wrote, While Glint trained his cat (with a dagger, take note). Above, a tower drifted near, With a pale girl and necklace of fear, That sent souls to the Fugue—best not think on that quote!
Through the jungle they crept, bones a-clatter and swaying, A lizardfolk gorged in a tent, blood-stained, slaying. A shaman blazed Papajan’s mail, But Jeremy’s lightning tore the veil, And Cornelius, a serpent, sent the shaman decaying!
In the pond sat a girl, small and weeping alone, She called out Papajan’s name in a tongue yet unknown. Little Milo clutched tight Her bone necklace through the fight, And with stick-figure maps, toward her village they’ve flown!
Memorable Moments
Cornelius reveals his new hand — a living construction of vines, leaves, and wood grown through druidcraft, even capable of growing berries, after losing his original hand to a golden orb.
The party reunites at the construction site and Cornelius casually shows off his magical vine hand to stunned onlookers
“That fucking castle is a thousand gold?” — Party Member
Shocked reaction upon realizing the entire cost of labor to build a castle was only a thousand gold pieces
A summoned crocodile, confused in the chaos of battle, bites its own tail instead of attacking the party.
Mid-combat absurdity as the lizardfolk shaman’s summoned beast turns on itself during the ambush at the jungle pond
Papayan wades into the pond and calls upon Lathander, releasing a burst of radiant light that burns away the shaman’s magical fog cloud, turning the tide of the battle.
Blinded by fog and surrounded by enemies, Papayan channels divine power to clear the battlefield
A young girl named Milo is found crying on a mossy stone pillar in the middle of the pond, recognizes Papajan’s name, and speaks an entirely unknown constructed language.
Discovered after the battle, her origins and connection to Papayan are a complete mystery to the party
Scenes
The Outskirts of Maeve
The party reunites at their newly acquired plot of land outside the town of Maeve, where a group of farmers is attempting to build a foundation.
- The party discusses the progress of their new construction project, noting that only farmers have been hired for the labor.
- Cornelius reveals his new hand, which has been magically reconstructed using vines and wood through the power of a sacred oak tree.
- Papajan explains how he guided Cornelius to a sacred grove where a light from Lathander revealed the solution to his missing hand.
- A head farmer presents the party with rudimentary building plans that look like simple squares drawn on paper.
- The party realizes the current labor force is unqualified for building a castle and discusses the need for architects and masons.
The Construction Dispute
The party discusses the failing construction of their castle with Jaxx and decides to seek professional help.
- The party confronts Jaxx about the unqualified farmers hired to build their castle.
- Jaxx explains that the original contractor, the farmer’s father, died on an adventure after being swallowed by a dragon.
- The party negotiates a refund of their thousand gold, agreeing to pay the farmers only fifty gold for leveling the land.
- The group discusses finding a real architect or potentially using ancient books to design the castle themselves.
- Jaxx suggests visiting Jon Harrison to find the dwarves who built his house.
Introductions and New Beginnings
As the party walks with Jaxx, they introduce themselves and share stories of their recent transformations.
- Papajan introduces himself as a religious man following Lathander.
- Cornelius reveals his new hand made of wooden vines, created through druidcraft after a golden orb incident.
- Glint, Rylan, and Umbra describe their skills and appearances to Jaxx.
- The party arrives at the home of Jon Harrison to seek advice on dwarven masons.
Consulting Jon Harrison
The party visits Jon Harrison to seek advice on building their castle and finding skilled labor.
- The party arrives at Jon Harrison’s house and finds him working on translating an ancient tablet.
- Jon Harrison suggests the party seek out the Savagehammer Dwarves, who are located to the north.
- The party learns that the dwarves are attempting to reclaim an ancestral stronghold currently occupied by orcs.
- The group discusses a potential ‘twofer’ quest: helping the dwarves retake their stronghold in exchange for them building the party’s castle.
- The party decides to head toward Odyn’s Eye to officially accept the quest and gather more intelligence.
- Cornelius successfully sells his severed golden hand for approximately 744 gold pieces based on its weight and material value.
Mapping the Outskirts and the Floating Tower
The party reviews their progress on the world map and discusses the mysterious floating wizard tower that appears to be following them.
- The party identifies their current location on the world map, noting they are in a hex representing eight hours of travel.
- They observe the floating wizard tower, which is hovering approximately 500 feet in the air and appears to be slowly following them.
- Glint describes scouting the tower with a familiar, noting the presence of numerous traps and puzzle rooms.
- The party discusses a past encounter with a mysterious, pale girl at the tower from whom Umbra liberated a necklace.
- The party discusses the necromantic necklace and how it transports its wearer to the Fugue Plane.
Campfire Preparations and Downtime
As night falls, the party sets up camp and engages in various personal tasks and training.
- The party travels for eight hours and finds a suitable campsite before dark.
- Cornelius works on deciphering an ancient tablet to create a linguistic codex.
- Glint attempts to train a cat to retrieve thrown daggers and darts, though the cat remains uncooperative.
- Papajan engages in quiet reflection and prayer.
- The party observes a slime named Marmalade interacting curiously with the cat from its glass enclosure.
- The party discusses upgrading their equipment, with some members donning new medium and plate armor.
Entering the Jungle
The party reaches the outskirts of the jungle and gathers strange, seeded bananas before pressing onward.
- The party arrives at the jungle tree line and identifies a banana tree.
- Cornelius transforms into a giant spider to harvest bunches of yellow and green bananas.
- The group discovers the bananas have large seeds and a flavor similar to juicy fruit candy.
- The party prepares to enter the sweltering, oppressive heat of the jungle, noting the sounds of unfamiliar creatures.
The Lake of Bones
The party reaches a mysterious lake marked by grim trophies and a lurking predator.
- The party arrives at a greenery-covered lake with paths diverging around it on either side.
- A survival check reveals humanoid skulls hanging on the left side of the path and lizard skulls on the right.
- The party speculates on a territorial war between lizardfolk and humans over water rights.
- A caltrop is thrown into the water to test for threats, sinking without immediate reaction.
- Jeremy the familiar performs a flyby over the lake and spots a large gharial swimming beneath the surface.
- The party decides to avoid the water and cautiously proceed along the right-hand path through the trees.
The Bone-Whistling Path and the Tattered Tent
The party navigates a jungle path lined with skeletal remains and discovers a mysterious campsite.
- The party discovers a path where the wind whistles through hanging humanoid and lizard skulls.
- Jeremy, the familiar, scouts ahead and spots a tent with a cooking fire near a separate body of water.
- The party debates whether to approach the camp stealthily or openly, eventually deciding to investigate the tattered tent.
- Inside the tent, the party finds a lizardfolk sleeping after having consumed a humanoid, evidenced by scattered body parts and bones.
Interrogation of the Lizardfolk
The party restrains and interrogates a lizardfolk found eating a humanoid in a tattered tent.
- The party coordinates to restrain the sleeping lizardfolk, with Papajan successfully grabbing and holding its snout shut.
- The lizardfolk wakes up aggressive and angry but remains completely restrained.
- A character uses a magical illusion of a lizardfolk eating a stick figure to communicate, but the creature does not respond.
- The party threatens the creature in Draconic, and it eventually admits to killing and eating ‘smooth skins’.
- The lizardfolk reveals that more humans are located further down the path and his own kind are in the opposite direction.
- The captive lizardfolk claims to be part of a war party and cryptically tells the group to ‘look for themselves’ regarding his companions’ whereabouts.
Ambush at the Lizardfolk Camp
The party is ambushed by a group of lizardfolk and their reptilian companions emerging from the pond.
- A group of lizardfolk, including shamans and several large aquatic creatures, emerges to ambush the party.
- Urelia attempts to strike the restrained lizardfolk in the tent but misses as the creature thrashes about.
- A lizardfolk shaman uses a bone amulet to cast a spell, causing Papajan’s armor to glow red-hot and deal fire damage.
- Glint imbues his familiar, Jeremy, with a magical breath weapon and fires a radiant bolt from his light crossbow at the shaman, killing him.
- Jeremy flies over the enemies, exhaling a cone of lightning that strikes several lizardfolk and a crocodile, killing one crocodile.
- Cornelius transforms into a giant poisonous snake and bites the lizardfolk in the tent, injecting him with venom.
- Urelia enters a divine rage, her body glowing with radiant light, and decapitates the lizardfolk in the tent with her great axe.
- Urelia activates her celestial revelation, radiating intense light that sears nearby enemies.
- A summoned crocodile accidentally bites its own tail in a moment of confusion.
- Umbra unleashes a line of acid breath, scorching a lizardfolk and a crocodile, then follows up with a precise dagger strike.
- The surviving lizardfolk shaman creates a massive fog cloud, blinding everyone on the battlefield.
- Papajan wades into the water and releases a burst of radiant energy, forcing the shaman to lose concentration and dispelling the fog cloud.
- Two lizardfolk take advantage of the chaos to retreat 60 feet away from the party.
- Glint commands Jeremy to fly over the remaining shaman and crocodile, releasing another breath of lightning.
- Cornelius, still in snake form, constricts and bites the shaman, injecting more venom.
- Urelia fires a short bow, striking the shaman through the neck and killing him.
- The summoned crocodiles vanish as the shaman’s concentration is broken by death.
The Girl on the Pillar
After the battle, the party discovers a young girl stranded on a stone pillar in the middle of the pond.
- The party hears crying coming from a rectangular stone pillar sticking out of the water.
- Papajan climbs the slippery, moss-covered pillar to reach a small human girl.
- The girl recognizes Papajan’s name and jumps into his arms, though he does not recognize her.
- The party attempts to communicate with the girl, discovering she speaks a unique language they don’t fully understand.
- The girl retrieves a bone necklace from the tattered tent, mourning her lost family.
- The party learns her name is Milo and decides to take her with them to find her village.
A Lesson in Toki Pona
While traveling toward a nearby village, the party attempts to communicate with Milo, the young girl they rescued.
- The party begins a one-hour trek toward the village while Urelia maintains a state of focused rage.
- Milo attempts to speak to Papajan in a strange, constructed language, using phrases like ‘Me wile moku’.
- The party uses drawings of huts, people, and hearts to bridge the communication gap.
- Through gestures and repetitive speech, the party begins to decipher basic words for ‘food’, ‘person’, ‘home’, and ‘village’.
- The group successfully reaches the village with Milo in tow, earning a sense of accomplishment for her safe return.
NPCs
Head Farmer
The foreman of the construction crew hired by Jaxx, who lacks engineering knowledge and presents overly simplistic building plans that look like simple squares on paper.
The Sacred Oak
A sentient oak tree in a hidden grove that communicated through feelings, asked Cornelius to be its guardian, and in exchange allowed him to use druidcraft to rebuild his hand from vines.
Jaxx
The local bartender and general contractor who took the party’s thousand gold to oversee the building of their castle. He hired the original contractor’s son by mistake after the father died being swallowed by a dragon.
Jon Harrison
An acquaintance who wears a white-brimmed hat and a brown leather jacket with a satchel. He is currently translating an ancient tablet and provides the party with information about the Savagehammer Dwarves and the orc-infested stronghold.
Savagehammer Dwarves
Expert masons and builders located near White Peak Mountain who built Jon Harrison’s house. They are seeking to reclaim their ancestral stronghold from orcs.
The Pale Girl
A young, unblinking, and cagey girl encountered previously at the wizard tower who vanished after Umbra took her necklace. Her necklace transports its wearer to the Fugue Plane.
Lizardfolk Captive
A hostile lizardfolk found sleeping in a tent after gorging on humanoid remains. He is aggressive, speaks Draconic, views non-lizards as ‘smooth skins’, and admits to being part of a war party before being killed in the ensuing ambush.
Lizardfolk Shaman
A hostile spellcaster who carries a bone amulet carved from a human. He uses fire magic to heat Papayan’s armor, summons a fog cloud to obscure the battlefield, and commands reptilian beasts before being slain by the party.
Milo
A young human girl with dark skin wearing animal skins, found crying on a stone pillar in the middle of the pond. She speaks a unique constructed language and recognizes Papayan’s name. She retrieves a bone necklace from the tent as a memento of her lost family.
Locations
Plot of Land (Maeve Outskirts)
A site on the outskirts of Maeve where farmers have leveled the ground but failed to begin proper construction of a castle. The party purchased the land and paid a thousand gold for labor.
Sacred Grove
A peaceful grove containing a large, rough-barked oak tree where Cornelius received his magical vine hand after agreeing to become the tree’s guardian.
Jon Harrison’s House
The residence of Jon Harrison, built by skilled dwarven masons, where the party goes to find a new lead for their construction project. Harrison is found translating an ancient tablet inside.
Odyn’s Eye
A location where adventurers can officially sign up for quests and gather intelligence on local threats. The party plans to stop here on their way north.
Dwarven Ancestor Stronghold
An ancient mountain fortress currently overrun by orcs, which the Savagehammer Dwarves wish to reclaim. Located up in the mountains to the north.
Campsite (Outskirts)
A well-situated camp found by Cornelius about eight hours from Maeve, where the party rests for the night and observes the floating wizard tower overhead.
Floating Wizard Tower
A mysterious structure hovering approximately 500 feet in the air, filled with traps and puzzles, that appears to be slowly tracking the party’s movement.
White Peak Mountain
A tall, snow-capped mountain visible in the distance to the north, with a village at its base where the Savagehammer Dwarves are located.
Jungle Tree Line
The entrance to a sweltering, oppressive jungle filled with strange animal noises and exotic flora like banana trees.
The Lake of Bones
A stagnant, greenery-covered lake featuring a path lined with humanoid and lizardfolk skulls hanging from trees on either side, with a large gharial lurking beneath the surface.
Lizardfolk Campsite
A tattered, blood-stained tent and a cooking fire located near a small pond in the jungle, where a lizardfolk was found eating humanoid remains.
The Jungle Pond
A small body of water near the lizardfolk campsite where the party was ambushed by lizardfolk shamans and their trained reptiles.
Stone Pillar
A rectangular, mossy stone pillar sticking diagonally out of the pond where Milo was found crying and hiding.
The Village
The destination of the party’s journey through the jungle, consisting of small huts where Milo’s people reside, approximately one hour from the lizardfolk campsite.
Items
Building Plans
A piece of paper with simple squares and instructions, intended to be the blueprint for a castle but appearing very amateurish, presented by the head farmer.
Wooden Vine Hand
A replacement hand for Cornelius, grown from magical vines and leaves through druidcraft after he lost his original hand to a golden orb. It can even grow berries and is controlled like a natural limb.
Lathander Pamphlets
Religious materials carried by Papillon to spread the word of his god, Lathander, featuring drawings of the sun.
Ancient Tablet
A stone tablet Jon Harrison is attempting to translate, which contains difficult-to-decipher text. Cornelius has copied some of the text into his notes to work on a codex.
Golden Hand
The severed hand of Cornelius, which turned into solid gold after he touched a mysterious orb. It was sold for approximately 744 gold pieces based on its weight.
Necromantic Necklace
A magical item liberated from a strange pale girl at the wizard tower. It allows the wearer to see ghosts and can transport them to the Fugue Plane. It can only be removed or transferred while the wearer is asleep.
Marmalade (Bob the Blob)
A slime kept in a glass enclosure that shows curiosity toward other animals, particularly the party’s cat.
Jungle Bananas
Yellow and green crescent fruits found in the jungle. They contain large seeds and possess an overly sweet flavor similar to juicy fruit gum. Harvested by Cornelius in giant spider form.
Caltrop
A small metal spike thrown into the lake by the party to test for hidden aquatic predators. It simply sank.
Bone Amulet
A macabre ritual focus carved from a human bone, used by the lizardfolk shaman to channel heat-based magic and other spells.
Great Axe
A heavy, formidable weapon wielded by Urelia, used to decapitate the lizardfolk in the tent during her divine rage.
Light Crossbow
Glint’s ranged weapon, used to fire a radiant-infused bolt that helped take down the lizardfolk shaman.
Papajan’s Warhammer
A heavy martial weapon used by Papayan to channel the radiant power of Lathander during the battle.
Bone Necklace
A small trinket found by Milo in the tattered tent, seemingly a memento of her deceased mother.
Parchment and Charcoal
Used by the party to draw sketches of houses, people, and hearts to communicate with Milo when verbal language failed.
Spells
Druidcraft
Used by Cornelius to manipulate the vines and wood of his new hand, allowing him to control it like a natural limb and even grow berries on it.
Prestidigitation
Used by a party member to instantly clean up spilled oil in Jon Harrison’s home.
Wild Shape (Giant Spider)
Used by Cornelius to transform into a giant spider to climb a banana tree and harvest fruit from high branches.
Minor Illusion
Used during the interrogation to create a visual representation of a lizardfolk eating a person, and later used by Glint to conjure an illusory hedge to break line of sight during combat.
Heat Metal
Cast by the lizardfolk shaman using a bone amulet, it caused Papajan’s armor to glow red-hot, inflicting significant fire damage until the shaman’s concentration was broken.
Dragon’s Breath
Cast by Glint on his familiar Jeremy the owl, allowing the bird to exhale a 15-foot cone of lightning at the attackers, striking multiple enemies and killing a crocodile.
True Strike
Employed by Glint as a radiant attack cantrip against the lizardfolk shaman, dealing radiant damage and contributing to the shaman’s death.
Wild Shape (Giant Poisonous Snake)
Used by Cornelius to transform into a giant poisonous snake to constrict and bite enemies, injecting them with debilitating venom.
Celestial Revelation
Activated by Urelia, causing her veins, mouth, and eyes to burn with radiant light, dealing radiant damage to all enemies within ten feet of her at the end of her turn.
Acid Breath
Bumbra exhaled a thirty-foot line of corrosive acid that burned through the scales of a lizardfolk and a crocodile.
Fog Cloud
Cast by the lizardfolk shaman, creating a massive, blinding bank of fog that heavily obscured the entire battlefield until it was dispelled by Papajan’s Radiance of the Dawn.
Radiance of the Dawn
A divine ability used by Papayan that emitted a bright flash of light in a 30-foot radius, damaging enemies and forcing the shaman to lose concentration, dispelling the magical fog cloud.