We’re here at the remnants of the battlefield. We have killed two of the eight Ashborn Cavalier.

50 gold. 12 each plus two for cooks. Note from Vario –  same one as before about converting Jartha to lead Police Academy. Note is on Winchendon Papyrus.

Jartha rests. Kex checks out the sword, learns that it is of dwarven metal.

Lux’s keen and perceptive eye espies a light in the east. We agree to short rest with Cooks cooking up some after dinner omelets.

We head east. Hear the sound of Woodland Critters. Lux sees lightning, no one else does. We continue for a while. We see in the distance a very strange stone temple.  Some torches around the entrances. We see a large snake head. See a large lightning strike hit the snake head.

Lux walks up to scout – sees the temple, stone. Checks for foot traffic, finds slither marks that are super big. More than one. Lux goes back to the gang and updates.

Starts to rain. We head towards the snake temple.

(Kexyl in his rarely used Hebrew outfit – KC)

Kex activates his glowing sword. We go in – large chamber, super high. A number of large snake columns. We hear a number of smaller hisses. We see a large depressed area. We hear movement in the room – around the columns near us.

Lux says we come in peace, a voice says you leave in pieces

Four large snake men. We fight.

Cooks with the 20. And ANOTHER 20 next round.

Anyway we kill the snakes with Jartha disrespectfully kicking the corpses with some frequency.

We wander around. Find a room, three bowls.  We hear hissing. Weapons being drawn. Two warriors. Snake warriors again. Fair amount of 20s. We kill them and Kex puts a snake in the jar.

Lux rolls – thermal vision, not good looks.

Kex feels like foreboding is two days away.

We sleep/short rest. Cookie makes some tack.

Lux finds a spell book – black tome with serpent on it. Lux can’t read it. Some sort of magic language.

We check out the other corridor of the temple. Kex sees bars and hears a female voice “is someone there – please help me”

In the other direction we see some sort of basin. We go that way – we hear hissing. An Illuminated room. Wizard slithers out “no kill….no kill help you I can. More enemies, tell you to get past them to save my life”. Kex thinks he recognizes the wizard from Swamp University.

The wizard tells us about the supply room. Says the prisoner is a druid prisoner. Snake man’s name is Sifith.

Kex checks out the supply room.  Finds some papers, business papers. It’s poetry. Kex takes the poetry.  Ken to insert snake poetry. It’s very pro frog.  Sifith says they are the druid’s foul words. He enjoys torturing. We tell him we feel like we cleared the temple so what are you talking about.

We fight. Lux jumps up on the torture rack and fights this dumbass wizard snake. Actually made the check, hence it getting in the notes. We non-lethal the snake. Jartha ties part of the snake into a knot then we put him on the rack. We search the snake – has a healing potion. We find a pouch of ashy spice. Turns out to be verdan ash.

We roll up to the woman in the cell. She’s very excited to see a bullywog. She loves frogs. She was studying amphibians nearby when they captured me. Her name is Tula Rainreed. Kex picks the lock. “Oh my hero”. She had been living near Jaree’s camp. We tell her we’re the Triumverate of Promise. We talk about that.  She says there’s a great warrior in the far room.

(close enough – KC)

We go down a hall, see a bedroom. Powerful warrior armed with strange armor. Super large blade. But unlike the other snake men. Doesn’t know name. Retreated into the bedroom upon hearing the fighting. Tells about a small being flying around with lightning. Jartha says something dumb about frogs jumping. Tula turns into a bear and we attempt to topple the statue. We do it! It turns into pizzas! Kidding. But was said.

Then a samurai snake man jumps out. Heavy fight, Tula as a bear ends up unconscious and Jartha gets him with a throat cut. He had an emerald gem, a ring, and a really large sword – which is incredibly light.

There’s a faint flashing in the room behind us. Tula heals herself. We go into the next room and see the buzzy light thing in a cage. It is attracted to Lux. Lux talks to it with yes/no responses and eventually figures out the gem goes in an egg holder and it releases the magic shield. The orb flies over to me and Jartha takes the gem. Lux names it Fikus. It decides to come with us.

We go back to Sifith. Let me go. What’s the spell you were working on. Spell of Ultimate Pain. It’s a ballad in CMinor. Kex tells Sifith we killed everyone. We knocked over your dumb station, freed the Druid, freed Fikus. Everything I had foreseen has come to pass. You’re not that heartless. The ball of lightning lived in the temple but my master wanted it for himself. Master was a collector of unique items. He has a stash but I know not where it is.

Untie my tail you savage. Jartha threatens a second knot. He doesn’t know where the loot is. Jartha ties a second knot, then unties it. Fikus tells Lux it was born here, but also wants to leave.

Kex tells Tula that he’s a real man in a frog’s body. They kiss. KEX FEELS A TRANSFORMATION. Aaron roles a five. Things push and pull, the pain is incredible – he goes down to 1 hit point. FALLS DOWN AND STANDS UP AND KEXYL IS A MAN. 70 years old. Tula transforms into the hag known as Black Sally – and DISAPPEARS.

Jartha traps the snake in the electric cage using the gem thing.

Kex is like maybe I was really a frog all along. He was a frog all along.

We take a long rest. Lux looks normal-ish. But everyone is like wtf with Kex.

We go to Jaree’s camp. We talk to the wizard Elmsley. He knows about Black Sally. He doesn’t have the power to undo a curse of this magnitude. Says either kill the hag or use the wish scroll. We talk about the scroll. And what Kex is actually capable of being that he’s double cursed. Elmsely says the hag lives in the SothMarsh. Elmsely tells Lux, upon inquiry, to seek out Cook’s gloves.

We go to Jaree’s Lanai. The Jarreeman are there – Kllius, Rel, Lyric, WhisperB. Kex tells them the situation. They call him an old man. Obviously, you didn’t have to say that. We debate use of the Wish Scroll.

Rel is like why not wish yourself to be curse free. We must be very careful.

We debate how to phrase the wish scroll. Also gotta ask about the spell book.