- The two tell the goblin chief they came for the boy - threatening to continue fighting the goblins if they didn't release him.  They managed to intimidate the chief who gave the order to release the boy.

- One of the chief's guards, however, apparently didn't approve of the decision, and challenged her authority.  This resulted in a fight between the two, during which time Ithica and Varant managed to sneak over and release Bellin.

- The duel between the goblin leaders was still going on as they made their way out of the cavern, but they were spotted by some of the spectators and pursued. 

- Running back up the tunnels into the cavern, they were confronted by the giant snake whose skin they'd seen eariler.  They began battle with the snake while they could still hear the goblins approaching from behind - and the snake wrapped itself around Varant...

- The group met up at the Cup & Hearth in the village of Bhurk and enjoyed a bit of a reunion over a meal.  As they discussed their common purpose, Mido informed his friends that there was an issue with the way north toward their destination of Erelan: namely, that the gnoll tribes had become particularly aggressive and were explicitly watching the roadways for targets to waylay.

- Due to the situation, no other traffic was heading north, and while the local Borderguard had sent word for support to address the situation, it was likely a couple of weeks from resolution.  As they wished to reach their destination as soon as possible, they decided to take another's advice to head west to the river village of Onara, and then follow the river north through the Nembrill Wood toward the regional capital of Erelan.

I've been wanting to run Deadlands for a long time, so when Tim made an offhand comment about wanting play, we decided to put a game together.

Characters:

- Percy Walker [Tim] :: huckster

- Kevin Delworth [Patrick] :: priest

- Montana Grim [Stephen] :: gunslinger

Highlights:

- We started the campaign with a flashback to the events of 3 years ago - before Percy made his "deal" and Kevin's "conversion".  It was one particular night in the tiny town of Grayfalls in Arizona Territory they were awakened in the night by the town burning down.

- Each of them attempted to help however they could.  Stephen ran into a burning building to rescue a distraught woman's husband, Patrick ran to the small catholic church to rescue Sister Blowers (the nun who'd recently saved his life), and Percy escaped his burning hotel room, stopped a fight between folks arguing over which building the water pump should be used on and pulled a clerk away from some outlaws taking the opporunity to rob the assay office.

- As events unfolded, a number of the townsfolk began displaying signs of insanity and/or fanaticism - they began interfering with efforts to fight or contain the fires, shouting proclamations of divine fury being levied against the town - and that to prevent the burning would be going against "the almighty".  Back at the church, Kevin could hear the bellowing voice of Father Mandrake above the howling wind and roaring fire - claiming gods judgement had justly come upon the town.

- Percy was making his way back up the street when he was suddenly ambushed by a group of men.  As they all fired their guns at him. time seemed to slow to a stop and he was confronted by a dark man in a suit, standing next to a card table and offering a "deal"...

Since our Cyrran Reaches game is having some difficulty meeting these days, we decided to start a new 5e game with a slightly different player group that might be easier to keep going at the moment.  We met for a session 0 some weeks ago.

Characters:

- Jaydah Orez [Sheri] :: human rogue

- Carmela Nailo [Edie] :: elven druid

- Mido Bagu [Tony] :: human wizard

- Kugrash Damaris [Tim] :: half-orc fighter

Highlights:

- The characters had been childhood friends, but had gone their separate ways and hadn't seen each other in many years.  Each had seen an adventurous job posting and decided to check it out,  This took them to the Salthon Plain, a northern region of their kingdom of Aanashalor known for its harsh climate. 

- As they made their way independently to the village of Bhurk, an early-spring blizzard descended suddenly on the region.  Kugrash and Carmela were caught in the storm along with a wagon crew Kugrash had been accompanying.  Just outside the gates of Bhurk, the group was attacked by snow-white wolves - including one enormous specimen.  Soldiers from the settlement came to help them, along with Jaydah and Mido. 

- The ensuing fight was rough, but the group survived and made their way into the village...

- The two briefly considered whether to follow the fleeing harpy or go look for the missing kid, and decided on the latter.

- Averin, the older brother, said Bellin liked to play in the woods at the eastern edge of the farm.  He suggested they start from the south end, as he and their father were looking in the north.  They would meet in the middle and hopefully find Bellin.

- After wandering the woods for a while, they found a small cave that looked like someone had spent some time around.  Inside they found a wooden sword and some copper coins next to a dragon statue, and a collpased tunnel leading further down.

- They both ended up falling down the rocky descent into a small cavern with a massive snakeskin.  Continuing on into the tunnels, they eventually found their way into a goblin warren.  In a large chamber, they saw Bellin in a metal cage next to a boiling cookpot.

- They considered how to approach the situation for a while, until one of the goblins began making its way up to their position.  At that point, the fighting began.

- The two fought off several goblins, but were getting worn down when the chieftess of the tribe stopped the combat and demanded to know who they were and why they were invading...

- The two returned on their guild HQ in Granton where they gave their report about the mystery location and contributed their appropriate loot percentage.  The next day they went out to Rik Mulner's farm to investigate his disappearing cattle problem.

- Apparently something has been eating the cows - something with wings that made a strange, singing sound.  Mulner told them they always came at night and that their best bet on catching them was to camp out in the cow pasture.

- They spent the rest of the day setting up camp in some bushes at the top of a rise and talking about their plan of counter-attack.  A kid named Bellin came out to see what they were like, since he wants to be an "adventurer" too.

- Late in the night, the two began to hear a haunting song calling in the distance - and a little while after, heard the frantic mooing screech of a cow.

- As they ran down to where the sounds had come from, they were called to by someone from the farm - just as they began to be attacked by harpies.

- The two were able to drive off the harpies, after which point they met up with Bellin's older brother - apparently the kid is missing...

- A couple weeks after their trial adventure to Etlon's Tower, Matheus brought them a couple of new opportunities.  The first was a farmer complaining that "devils" were attacking his cattle - dragging them off and eating them.  The second was reports from a plains hunter saying he found an odd entrance to an underground complex on a hilltop in the foothills to the northeast.  The debated for some time before deciding on the latter.

- The directions the hunter provided were not especially clear, and they wandered for some time before they were able to find the hilltop in question.  During this wandering, they ran afoul of a monstrous toad that did its best to eat them.

- When the finally reached the entrance, they found it to be a spiral, stone stairway leading into a set of chambers with skeletal motifs - and something like a crypt.  While they investigated, they were attacked by skeletal warriors.  After fighting them off, they found a smashed chest with a number of coins (which they collected). 

- Down in the lowest level, they found the tomb of some kind of wizard character - holding a wand and wearing rings.  It was there that they were attacked by a more powerful skeletal warrior who almost got the better of them.  After destroying it, they decided to try to take the wand and rings the dead wizard was holding.  As they removed one of the rings, the skeleton became animated and began howling.  The two took their spoils and ran - making it out of the tomb just before the entrance collapsed.

Since we haven't been able to play our main Cyrran Reaches game regularly due to current life situations, I decided to start a side game with our friend Edee.

When spent this session talking about a new 5e game and making characters.  So far we have:

- High adventure / exploration

- Group are childhood friends about to meet up again - all having decided to pursue the same opportunity in a new territory.

- Human wizard (Tony), Elven Druid (Edee), Half-orc Fighter (Tim), Human(?) Rogue (Sheri)

- Ithica and Varant approached the ruined tower and found themselves attacked by giant centipedes.  With the wolf's help, they were just barely able to fight them off.

- After a short rest, they entered the table.  Inside, they found the remains of the stone statue of a human warrior, and also some strange stone stone centipedes on the stairway.  Following the stone stairway up, they found a room full of wooden debris where they encountered a cockatrice. 

- During that battle, Ithica became petrified, and did not revert even after they'd killed it.  Varant then went back to Granton for assistance. He promised the priests of the Sunfire Temple a favor in exchange for an ointment that could return petrified creatures to normal.

- Meanwhile, after about 24 hours, Ithica returned to her normal state to find her wolf had killed a couple more centipedes.  Exploring the rest of the tower, she found the chest that was supposed to contain the green gem, but just found a parchment that read "Matheus is a liar."

- Ithica met up with Varant about half way back to Granton.  The two returned to the guild and reported what Ithica had found.  Matheus told them congratulations - they'd completed the trial successfully.

- After chasing off the bandits, the twins continued on their journey eventually reaching the city of Granton.  As they made their way to the watch HQ - a place called 'the Spearhall', they found themselves on the street where monstrous tentacles were reaching up from sewer grates and attempting to grab people and pull them down.  They assisted an guardsman in fighting off the tentacles before continuing on.

- At the Spearhall they informed Captain Pommel of the kobold situation in the forest near Nettlewood, but he seemed unconcerned with problems outside the city.

- Having performed the task they were assigned, they two decided to seek out the Adventurer's Guild Tenlo had told them about.  They eventually found it - a small place on a backstreet on the south side of town.

- The two paid Varant's fee and spoke with a man called Matheus who seemed to be the guild leader.  He cautioned them that they would face real dangers if they chose to join.  When they said they were ready, he gave Varant an initial "assignment" and suggested he speak with one of the other guild members who may be able to teach him the magic he wanted to learn.

- For a couple of weeks, Varant studied with a wizard called Tyra - also a member of the guild.  In that time, she managed to teach him a few cantrips, noting that he possessed "the gift", at which point the two decided it was time to pursue the initial "mission": to an abandoned watchtower on an old road 4 days north through the forest to recover a gem.

- As they approached the overgrown towner deep in the forest, they heard insectoid chittering sounds...