The Path So Far...

After Oblivion begins 40 years after the end of The Oblivion War, focusing on the coastal city of Oakbough in the kingdom of Mauccaster on the day of the harvest festival, Wustenfest (12th Har, 41AO [LINK calendar]). The adventuring party consisting of Dietrich Von Keegan, Cora Merwood, George Stout, and Amielle enjoyed the celebration, a few winning awards (Dietrich for storytelling, Amielle for hot pepper eating) over the course of the day. The evening celebration began in earnest before a trebuchet began sieging the town, blowing up one of the two grain silos that supplied the northern coast with the local staples. The party took to the streets and met skirmishing hyenas and gnolls that were killing and taking both live and dead villagers captive to meet some gruesome end. The group helped to stem the killing and holed up in the local temple to the Overwatch. In the morning, the group quickly helped the surrounded survivors of the city barricade the dock. After helping the defense and security of the survivors, the party went to the hill where the siege weapon was stationed and spotted Yvon Daigate, part of the noble family of the Daigate Imperium speaking with the gnoll commander. Yvon departed on an undead wyvern and the party engaged the gnoll commander and a dire hyena that was warped into a massive gnoll. Victorious, the group gathered their reward and took on a task to report the happenings to Fort Brannigan, deciding to stop by Cora's hometown of Tideshell along the way. The group departed on the 14th of Harvest, 41AO.

On the path to Fort Brannigan, the group faced a massive storm that washed off of the perpetual Everstorm that sits off the Northern coast of Mauccaster between Oakbough and the Heartland Cliffs. After weathering the storm, the group encountered a small herd of Daigate deer that were unusually aggressive. Before arriving in Tideshell, the party was visited by Yvon Daigate, who the party determined was flaunting his presence to them before he left again on his undead wyvern.

On arriving in Tideshell, the party found the town to be infested with a nest of mockery bugs, predatory aberrations that take on a grinning visage of their victims. The party found a group of survivors and joined forces with Solomon who would continue with the group. Discovering the source of the infestation to come from the coastal caves to the North of the village, the group got one of the villagers to take them via boat to them, bypassing much of the village. The party found the summoner Cheval near the entrance of the cove and fought a number of aberrations including reef crawlers and a juvenile chuul before arriving at a puzzle door. Solving the puzzle, the group was able to enter the chamber of the mockery bug queen. Defeating her and her handmaidens, she arose as an undead and the group was forced to again destroy her. From the corpse, golden essence poured out and chased the party for some time before they were suffused with the energy. The group was able to rescue a group of survivors including Cora's childhood friend, a mephit named Dylan that had yet to be either devoured or turned and returned to the surface with the villagers in tow, Dylan escaping to the ocean. The group were joined by Izdihar bint Haidar al-Hakim, Nyxadora Ironblood, and Cogbucket[LINK Cogbucket] who had taken care of the remaining mockery bugs by combination of combat and burning down a building with them inside.

The party gathered themselves and traveled on to Fort Brannigan with little disturbance. On arrival, the group found the Fort to be in a state of readiness, but were able to gain entry due to Izzy and Nyx's previous employment by the fort's leader, Commander Frederick VonSteeple. The party learned of the kidnap of the son of the Governor of Pallivan Hills. After a night of rest, the group had some discussion of their dynamic and it was decided that Cora would leave the party, as she was not suited to the traveling life with such a rough and varied group. In the morning, the group was forced to bail George out of a holding cell for his participation in 'inciting a riot' when he attempted to motivate a group of soldiers that returned from a failed assault on a kobald camp and dragon's lair. VonSteeple was only pleased once George was removed from his walls and the party decided that for the sufficient reward that they hunt down the green dragon Hastuvurast.

In travel, the party encountered a harpy and treacherous land. The land near the lair of Hastuvurast was overgrown despite the mountainous chill of the area, and plant-life attempted to eat Izzy after a failed attempt of diplomacy. The group decided to deal with the threat of the kobolds directly, storming into their camp and encountering an obnoxious amount of traps. After dispatching with the kobold war tribe, the group took refuge in the cave's mouth, rescuing an addled man [ADD NAME AND LINK] and sent him on his way to freedom with the head of a giant monitor lizard that was a mount for the kobold leader.

On meeting Hastuvurag, the party approached trepidatiously. By combination of diplomacy and poor impulse control, the group minus George hopped through a glowing green portal into an unknown demiplane...

T̵͕̫̜̩̺̱̬̝̯̹͊̃̂͒͂H͉̠̖͖͇̻̞̄̓̔̚͠E̼͓̩̹͇̦̝͕̬̐̈́͒͆̌͟R̨̢̳̺͉̤̯͎̔̏̋̚͡ͅE̟̘̼̠̺̬̰̼̱̒̀̄͑̌̄ͅ I͉͉̮̿̏̈͗̒̍̆̓̆͜͢͠S̶̖͇̘̣̲̠͗̅̈̎̂͞ ̹͆̓́̒͋ ̴͈̝͎̻̠͈  ̴̡̧̟̝̲̝̠̰̠̎̈́͊̎̍͝͞N̘͇̫͚̱̦̮̹͚̔͗͋̓̅̈̚̚̕Ò̶̮͔̮̣̏̀͝͡͡ T̵̻̠̺̥̰͆̇͒̉̐̆̕͟H̨̲͈̻̹̒̔̇̀̌͆́̆̑͘I̷̭̱͍̯͙͉͋̊͋͐̀͠͞N̵̥̺̩̬͇̳̭͇̥̈̌̈̎̈́Ģ̵̲̮̥̫̰͖̙̆̾̅̍͐ W̨͈̤̞̜͔̐̎̈̌̉͘͟R̵͉̠͉̭̱̀̉͗͐͋̒̒̾͝Ó̶̹̫͙̰̓̉͗̐̋͗͊̐̎ͅN̪̹̪͓̜͕̜͚̹͆̓́̒͋G̶̢͇͓͓̰̫̰̺̻̳͒̏̿̇̇̽ H̲̠̠̹̟̰̑̀̃͋͟͝ͅE̪͕͖̩͔̘̫̖̱͊͗́̔͆̏͌͘͞͞ͅR̻͔͍͇̠͉̤͊̄̇͞͡É̹̻̦̺̪̘̌̆̏̈̊̍̕͠ M̴̪͙̦̾͂́̓̇̇͘͜͢Õ̴̡̧̟̝̲̝̠̰̠̎̈́͊̎̍͝͞͠ͅV̢̧͉͉̖͎͇̞̗̆̎̿̕͡E̸̛̝͔̬̥̻̿̀͒̀  Ở̘̖̯̥͍̩̏̐͑͒̉̾̊͢͢Ņ̛̫͇̜̱̮̈̀̓̀́͒͛͒̕͜͢ M̸̢̨͉̙̩̭̤̩̩̺͌̌̿̍̍̎̓͑̎̚O̴͈̝͎̻̠͈͆͑͂̎͘͟Ŗ̬̘̪͕̪͋̊̄̐̉̓͜Ţ̢̰̥͇̯̱͈͊͌̐̽͌͗͘͡A̢̭̦̩̦̱͕͌́́͂̓̋͊͡͡L̢͚̪͍̱̺̘̖̀̈́̽̋̒͐

The completely normal and not changed at all party returned from the perfectly normal demiplane. Dietrich offered to Hastuvurag to share a sliver of true power he gained from their time in the demiplane, and shared his memories, causing the dragon to become horribly confused. Battle ensued and through a combination of the confusion and heavy pummeling to the dragon, he was laid low. The party collected the young adult dragon's head and went back to Fort Brannigan, victorious.

On the travel back towards Fort Brannigan, the party took refuge in an old abandoned farmhouse turned chapel to the Overwatch and encountered a specter[LINK Specter] that uttered a prayer and attacked when disturbed. The party managed to deal with the threat and dispel the specter with some difficulty and a LOT fo magic missiles.

On arriving at Fort Brannigan, the first thing the party noticed was that there was a standing Mauccasterian army outside, camping and ready to move out as soon as their full force was collected. The second thing they noticed was a green dragon's head strung up by chains in the town square. After investigation, it was determined that the addled man they had rescued had shown up in town looking like a paladin and had turned in the 'dragon head' for the bounty that was due to the party. The party revealed the deception and arranged for their payment at a major city with a military writ for payment in hand. During an evening of rest, George failed to recover, awakening to discover his room plastered with pages that collectively made up the Dirge of the Dutiful Dead, a Necromantic Artifact song written in his own handwriting.

The party began towards Pallivan Hills, intending to take the faster route fo traveling due East from the fort and taking the Pallivan River Southeast via one of the gnomish ferries. Arriving at the river, the party camped for the evening. During Solomon's watch, he attempted to discard of his received scepter tying Phagon to him and returned to the camp, the staff metamorphosed into a giant naga, assaulting the group and killing their horses as collateral damage. The group managed to drive Phagon's incarnation back into the form of the staff, with George and Nyx driven off from the fight as a group of mercenaries from the Hollow Hand Company approached. Izzy attempted to talk the group out of fighting and to let them pass, but seeing the inevitable conflict a Sasquatch-based projectile began a fight which led to the already depleted party's close victory.

Meanwhile, George encountered Matilda[LINK Matilda], queen of the Autumn Court[LINK Autumn Court] Fae[LINK Fae] in a grove. Her music failed to entrap him as it had others and as a result she decided to play with the dwarf, turning him into a goat.

Meanwhile, Nyx had a run-in with Mud[LINK Mud], one of The Teeth[LINK The Teeth], who pounced on Cogbucket and disabled him before running off. Nyx later managed to get Cogbucket moving, but lacking a power junction for his cognitive unit, he was under manual control and unable to process tactical command outputs, resulting in a communication breakdown.

The group regathered themselves, including a traumatized riverboat captain, goat and disabled robot and began along the river. The boat managed to outpace any mercenary response, but a small assault by the River Rat Pirates[LINK River Rat Pirates] was deflected and the ferry defended.

The party continued to find a dam set in the river, deciding to take a tributary to attempt to meet up with the river again at a later point. The group heard the music of Matilda which was halted by a short scream. When they came into view of the event, an undead knight was standing over her body, consuming her heart. The knight bore the visage of The Faceless Grin[LINK The Faceless Grin], introducing himself as Zal the White and beseeching Izzy in her role as Wisdom Bearer[LINK Wisdom Bearer] before apologizing for eventual inconvenience and leaving.

The party drank the golden blood of the fae, gaining some of her power before the boat and everyone on it was shifted into the Astral Plane[LINK Astral Plane]. The party sailed back onto what was now the River of Souls[LINK River of Souls] with the goal to reach the falls into the Boneyard[LINK Boneyard]. On their journey, they ran into flocks of birdlike Psychopomps[LINK Psychopomp] called Nosoi[LINK Nosoi] that harassed them, finally disturbed by the arrival of a psychopomp that introduced herself as Catrina[LINK Catrina]. Catrina offered to guide the group to a safe haven and after shooting a rather offensive Nosoi, the group met her at her house to depart.

The party left Catrina's company when they arrived at The Drunken Soul[LINK The Drunken Soul], purveyors of refined spirits. After some adventurous drinking and association with both a Seelie[LINK Seelie] and Unseelie[LINK Unseelie] fae, the party met with a thief known as Michaelis[LINK Michaelis] to find the method he used to get back to the material plane. On the path to the Tomb of the First Born, the party encountered a pair of vengeful Vanth[LINK Vanth] who cursed Amielle before being defeated.