Pathfinders of the New World- Knights of the Cross(roads): Book One, Chapter Three, Condensed

The Haunted Woods

Dramatis Personae:
Kelani, the Kitsune Druid who doesn't understand civilization

Arden, Kelani's velociraptor animal companion

Kibbik, the Kobold Paladin of Apsu who is too trusting

Gabtar, Kibbik's Goblin follower

Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue who causes more trouble than anyone knows

Maggie, the Gnome Magus who never stops talking

NOTE: Anything in italics is from Kelani's point of view- anytime she refers to "Mother" she means Mother Nature

***** The Island

       The Knights got a ferry to drop them at the island in the middle of the lake- it was believed to be as haunted as the woods on the other side. The ferryman was reluctant to bring them out there, and hurried back to town as soon as the group had left his boat. 

       I spoke with the elemental who resides in this part of the country, and was told of an infestation of bugs that were destroying the trees on the island. Mother also told me of a crawdad infestation near the shore of the haunted woods; my friends were willing to help with that, it meant a crawdad fest for all of us. When we arrived at the island, I immediately inspected the trees to see what I was dealing with. It turned out to be a simple issue, and I summoned birds and bats to come feast on the smorgasbord of insects waiting for them. 

       After the druid did her duty to nature, the group began to inspect the island, and found the source of the trouble quickly. They discovered that three hags had taken up residence on the island, and they were not pleased by the Knights appearance. A grueling battle ensued, and one of the hags turned Kibbik into a frog; though the witches did not realize that even as a frog, a paladin can still smite evil- it was hilarious to watch this little frog hop up to a hag, bite her, and succeed in smiting her. Once the party finished off the hags, they found the rest of the island to be quite peaceful. They decided to head to the forest.

***** The Haunted Woods

       When the group reached the shore of the woods, Kelani called a nature spirit- or as she calls them, Mother's Voice- to inquire about their surroundings. The druid was unable to get much useful information from the spirit, just the basics of what local flora and fauna inhabited the area. She wanted to find out if there was anything unusual in the woods, but the spirit misunderstood the question. The group wandered through the woods, and eventually decided to make camp for the night.

       That night, while most of the group was sleeping, they were attacked by werewolves. After a difficult battle they finally beat the beasts, and decided to head back to Crossroads to stock up on silver sheen. Two days later the group re-entered the woods, much more prepared for what they were about to face.

       Kelani was able to get better information from Mother this time around, since she knew exactly what to ask for, and the spirit led them to the largest den. After spending the day traveling toward the werewolf den, night finally came and the wolves were up. The group met the leader, and the majority of his pack, just minutes away from their den. While everyone prepared for a difficult battle, Kibbik marched up to the leader and laid his hands on him. Using the gifts granted to him by Apsu, Kibbik removed the curse on the werewolf- making him human again; this also turned the entire pack human again, since taking out the maker reverses the curse on all he created. They sent the people down to the lake to wait for them while they investigated the rest of these woods.

       While traveling to the other two dens, the group was assaulted by will-o-wisps. That battle was one of the biggest challenges the Knights had faced yet. They discovered in the largest den a line of gold, which prompted them to start a gold mine. Most of the former wolves were hired on as miners, and the group spent the next couple of weeks setting up their new business venture.

Pathfinders of the New World- Knights of the Cross(roads): Book One, Chapter Two, Condensed

Weeding Out Trouble

Dramatis Personae:
Kelani, the Kitsune Druid who doesn't understand civilization

Arden, Kelani's velociraptor animal companion

Kibbik, the Kobold Paladin of Apsu who is too trusting

Gabtar Ratbag, Kibbik's Goblin follower

Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue who causes more trouble than anyone knows

Maggie, the Gnome Magus who never stops talking

***** The Bandits

       Shortly after our heroes arrival in Crossroads, they learned of a bounty against several groups of bandits. They needed money, and Kibbik of course felt the need to bring the law upon their heads, so the group set out to purge the forest of bandits.

       The first night they went after the bandits they took down an entire camp. Kibbik offered them the option to surrender to the law, but they refused his offer; they thought the little kobold was alone, and a bandit camp can easily take down a single kobold. It was a brutal fight, the bandits tried hard, and did some minor injuries to the group, but the Knights prevailed- there were no survivors. They returned to Crossroads briefly to restock their supplies before returning to the woods.

       Kibbik frequently does healing patrols, to help the injured who cannot afford to seek healers on their own; while he was doing one of these the day after the group returned to Crossroads, Kibbik met an aasimar cleric named Rhialla. He told the aasimar about their quest to purge the woods of bandits, and she decided she needed to go with the group.

       The next day they set out to finish what they had started. Kelani got information from the local fauna about where the bandits were camped out, and they learned that there were four more camps. They spent that evening methodically slaughtering bandits- only one tiny group accepted Kibbik's offer of surrender. It was a gruesome, bloody, exhausting night, and when it was finally over the woods were safe again. Rhialla parted from the group upon their return to Crossroads, and they did not see her again.

***** The Goblins

       The Knights decided their next feat would be to tackle the goblin problem in the hills, which Maggie was overly excited about- the gnome has an obsession with killing every goblin ever. Their first day of travel toward the Goblin Hills the group was attacked by a band of goblins. The party took care of them easily enough- except for one. Kibbik sensed good in this goblin, whose name was Ratbag; Kibbik told him if he devoted his life to Apsu that he would spare the goblin's life, to which he readily agreed. Kibbik renamed him Gabtar, and the group hid him in the back of Kelani's wagon to keep him away from the deranged gnome.

       While the rest of the group had been looting the goblin's bodies, removing their ears for bounties, and dealing with Gabtar, Maggie had been walking the battlefield killing any goblins that weren't quite dead, and making a mountain of dead bodies. When all of the bodies had been added to the pile, the gnome set it aflame, filling the air with a huge column of black smoke, and the acrid stench of burning goblins.

       The next day, as the group was approaching the base of the hills they learned that Maggie's smoke signal had worked. They were met by a huge goblin war party composed at least one hundred goblins, ogres, and trolls (total, not one hundred of each). That was a grueling battle, especially for Kelani, who had no trees to hide in, and Ralliakkan who is most effective when she has places to hide. Eventually the group defeated the war party, and the moment the battle was won Ralliakkan jumped on her horse and took off for Crossroads; she was furious with how difficult that battle had been for her.

       A couple of days passed before the Knights were ready to head out again, this time for the Haunted Woods. It was said that no one came out of that forest, but there were horrible noises coming from it at night. When the group arrived in the town on the opposite side of the lake from the woods, they soon learned that yet another goblin war party was coming towards them. This fight went much better for everyone.

       The guards of the town joined the fray, and this time there were plenty of shadows and trees for Ralliakkan and Kelani. This fight seemed to go on for hours, and the carnage left from it was gruesome to behold. Kelani grew a tree in the middle of the road where they had met their foes, a huge oak that was made to serve as a memorial for those who had fallen in the fight. The next morning the group went to investigate the island in the middle of the lake, and planned to go from there into the woods. 

The Life of Kelani, the Kitsune Druid

Kelani grew up in the Kryndall Grove, an isolated forest that is home to many magical races. She rarely left the forest except to visit a nearby fishing village for trade. When Kelani began showing a talent for nature magic at an early age, she joined the druids who protect the forest. She grew up learning the secrets of nature as well as how to love and revere it. The kitsune believes that nature is the only authority that matters. 

During Kelani’s training she learned about other aspects of nature that did not exist in her forest. She grew curious about hills, plains, jungles, oceans, and even this strange thing called civilization. She wanted to see these things, and understand why the others spoke of civilization with such disdain. Kelani harassed everyone who had been outside with questions about what the world beyond was like. She felt a need to see what the rest of nature held, and thought that she could not completely love nature without seeing the rest of it.

She one day encountered a velociraptor nest, full of shells of hatched eggs, except for one that was shaking, trying to hatch, to no avail. Kelani helped the young raptor out of her shell, and named the hatchling Arden, the word for forest in her tongue. Arden has not left her side since, and has become her loved companion, who fights alongside her and protects her. 

About a year ago, a group of adventurers entered her forest and were attacked by a group of moody werewolves. Kelani came on them shortly after the fight, and found one of them was badly injured. She offered to heal him and, after some confusion about her also being a humanoid animal and not trying to eat them, did so. Kelani began peppering them with questions about what they were, where they came from, and what their homelands were like. Eventually they offered to take her with them to show her the wonders they had been telling her of. Her family and grove tried to convince her to stay, but her curiosity won and she left.

Kelani decided to come to the New World after spending some time in a port city and seeing imprisoned animals coming in on the ships, as new "exotic" pets. She felt that Mother (Nature) was calling her to cross the ocean and come to the New World to champion for the animals against this travesty.

Even after spending so much time in civilization, Kelani still doesn't understand it, or the bewildered looks she receives for being a multi-tailed bipedal fox wearing leaves and being escorted by a velociraptor. In an attempt to understand cities better, the kitsune has equated them to bee hives, because that is the closest analogy she sees to how cities function. Her companions have tried to alter this perception, but the druid refuses to see cities in any other way. She is still more comfortable sleeping in a bed of leaves under the stars, and still refuses to sleep indoors in a bed; it just doesn't feel natural to her. 

Pathfinders of the New World- Knights of the Cross(roads): Book One, Chapter One, Condensed

The Island

Dramatis Personae:
Kelani, the Kitsune Druid who doesn't understand civilization

Arden, Kelani's velociraptor animal companion

Kibbik, the Kobold Paladin of Apsu who is too trusting

Ralliakkan, the Drow Rogue who causes more trouble than anyone knows

Maggie, the Gnome Magus who never stops talking

       Our heroes met aboard a ship sailing to the New World. While they saw each other, none had really spoken much during the two week trip. The skies had been clear and glorious for the trip thus far, allowing their vessel to make excellent time. One day, the sky began to darken. Everyone aboard sensed a storm was coming. Kelani tried to help the ship, but she was not quite strong enough yet to command a tempest of this magnitude. After what felt like hours, the ship crashed on a small island.

       The ship needed repairs badly, and the group volunteered to do some of the grunt work for the captain if it meant they could resume their journey soon. The party was told to find a new mast for the ship, and to do that, they needed to find a way up a cliff, where the trees were larger. After much searching, the group found a section of cliff where there appeared to be enough hand holds for them to get up safely.

       Kelani turned into a parrot and began to fly up the cliff with the rope and stake needed to allow the others to climb. About halfway up the cliff, something began flying towards Kelani, acting like it was going to eat her. She had never seen a harpie before, and thought it was just a normal predator- so she spoke to it, baffling it momentarily. More harpies joined the first one, and Kelani dove back to the safety of the trees. The group realized they would need to find a new way up the cliff.

       During their search, the group found a small cave, and hiding behind the rock in it was a chest that had a treasure map. They decided to follow the map after they had found a new mast. Ralliakkan was restless, and attempted to climb back up the cliff on her own- only to be hypnotized by a harpie and forced to walk off the cliff. She was fine, just in a coma for the next few days.

       Eventually they found a way up the cliff that didn't involved the harpies, and the group (sans Ralliakkan) began going toward the larger trees. Random animals kept attempting to eat different members of the party, partly because the gnome wouldn't shut up and that attracted attention, but Kelani was able to calm the animals and send them on their way.

       Finally the group found a large group of trees, but they were covered in spider webs... the entire section of the forest was coated in webbing. They were assaulted by evil giant spiders constantly during their trek through this part of the forest. The group did manage to get away from them, and brought the mast back to the captain.

       Since the druid found the spiders puzzling, the group returned to that section of the woods to investigate. They stumbled upon an abandoned tree village- one similar to those in Kelani's forest. It had been deserted for a long time, and was falling apart in many spots. Within the houses they found shadows... animated shadows, who attacked. The fight was strenuous, and Kibbik required a bit of healing when it was finished, but they were victorious; and rewarded with some interesting items.

       Later the group followed their treasure map, and found more wonderful items- this had turned into a very profitable crash. They had a few encounters with the harpies, but since they now knew what to expect, the beasts posed little threat to them. Ralliakkan came out of her coma quickly enough, and was able to rejoin the group on their hunting while they waited for repairs to be completed on the ship.

*******

The rest of the journey to the New World was peaceful, and the group was happy to finally arrive in Crossroads, the port city their ship was stopping at. Somehow during the course of events on the island, they had started to become friends, and all gladly shared a room at the inn in town. 

The Ironfang Eight: the characters

Read more of the Ironfang Eight's adventures here!

       Liavara Kayne, the aasimar warlock of Neifion, stands at five feet ten inches, is 140 pounds, with very generous curves. Her aasimar heritage shows in her silver hair, that actually shines like metal, and eyes the color of grey crystals. While she is not fond of her aasimar heritage, she enjoys her exotic looks and the occasional special treatment she receives because of it. Lia left her quiet librarian life behind about two months before meeting the rest of the Ironfang Eight, after being sent a mysterious book from an old colleague. There was a note attached to it that told her this book contained ancient secrets that could never fall into the wrong hands. Lia could not read the book, but she trusted her old friend, so she decided she needed power to protect it. She recalled a book she had found years before in Candlekeep that detailed ancient fey pacts warlocks made. Since she had always had a fondness for bats, she decided to approach the Lord of Bats, who accepted her bargain. Lia's ultimate goal is to unlock the secrets the book contains, and read the book; how can she protect something when she doesn't know what it really is?

photo courtesy of deviantart.com

       Lady Orhialla "Nya" Tarnash, the tiefling dragon blood sorceress, was adopted by Lord Tarnash of the Zhentarim at a early age. Lord Tarnash is secretly a white dragon, and a higher up in the organization. When Nya sustained injuries one day, and seemed on the brink of death, Lord Tarnash gave her some of his own blood to save his adopted daughter. This blood transfusion gave Nya her magical abilities as a sorceress; it is also how she received the moniker Nya- which means "steam." While Nya does come off as abrasive most of the time, she is actually a kind-hearted individual who will fiercely protect the ones she loves. Being raised in the Zhentarim makes anyone secretive, but her father's secret fed that need for privacy, making the tiefling awkward in many situations. 

photo courtesy of deviantart.com

       Iona, the wood elf monk, doesn't say much, and spends more time writing everything down than actually living in the moment. The monk thinks that she is with the group to record their story, without completely participating in it herself. Iona seems to have little regard for her personal safety, and frequently gets knocked unconscious during combat; Shump has brought her back from the brink of death on many occasions.

       Keh-Tee, the catfolk starlock of Y'Chuk, was abandoned as a kitten on the steps of the Temple of Y'Chuk. Being raised in a cult of madness, the cat is completely lacking in sanity. Keh-Tee thinks everything is a sign from Y'Chuk, and works hard to try to convert people to his beliefs. The "Mad Catter," as he is called by the party, attempts to commit the souls of everyone he heals to Y'Chuk. Though Keh-Tee doesn't think of what he does as healing, he considers it "repairing" others.

       Not much is known about Shump, the half-orc cleric, who keeps Iona from dying permanently. He joined the group after Ishir's death, claiming he had a vision from his god that led him to them. Whether he really did have one or if he's a spy is up for debate, but the cleric has so far acted in the best interests of the group, so his loyalty has yet to come into question.

       Ishir, the dragonborn fighter, didn't say much to the party, so not much is known about his either. The fighter was abrasive, and frequently did stupid things that put the party in danger. Orvu sustained injuries frequently from things Ishir's stupidity caused. He picked a fight in a bar one night and got bitten by a vampire, though luckily for him the party was able to cure him; though in the process Orvu was turned to stone for several hours until Keh-Tee and Lia could decipher the spell that saved her. Ishir died after drawing from the Deck of Many Things, getting the card that traps a person's soul in a gem. Orvu enacted her revenge against Ishir by skinning his comatose, soulless corpse to sell his scales; she continued her revenge by wishing for the stone that contained his soul, and carrying it around to torment him. After the acquisition of Ironfang Deep, Ishir's soul stone was placed in an empty golem, and he was appointed a guard to the Keep.

       Teegan is a dragonborn wild magic sorcerer, who keeps his true race a secret from everyone. The party has seen him as a halfling, which is his normal persona, he has also disguised himself as a gnome, a dwarf, and a kobold; each persona has its own name and function. It is unknown why Teegan keeps his true race known, but he is always in some sort of disguise. He has developed a crush on Keh-Tee, and spends most of his time trailing the Mad Catter.

       Orvu is a human rogue who the party met on their way to Waterdeep. She left home with a bag of belongings that were leftover from her father's adventuring days, and one gold in her pocket. Her aunt sent her on the caravan because she thought it would be good for Orvu, and it has proven to be very good for her. After the caravan was attacked a couple of times, Teegan and Keh-Tee decided to take her under their wing, hiring her out from under the wagon she had been hired to guard. Through the party, she has begun to develop her rogue abilities, but she is regularly distracted by shinies. After the party commandeered a ship, Keh-Tee made her the captain of it, allowing her access to more plunder opportunities.

       Franklin was the head ranger in an outpost somewhere in the mountains where Ironfang Deep stands. The party rescued him after he had been taken captive by some yetis, though he was missing an arm and a leg. Instead of taking Franklin back to the outpost, they continued onward toward the Keep, making a makeshift crutch for the human out of a broom of flying. After the first couple of days in the Keep, the party sent him back to town and left him in Orvu's care, where he was able to get his missing limbs regrown. He eventually returned to Ironfang Deep with Orvu, after the group had triumphed over the drow infestation, and is still with the party.

Tales from Toril- The Ironfang Eight: Book One, Chapter Four, Condensed

Ironfang Deep

Dramatis Personae:
Liavara Kayne, the Aasimar Warlock of Neifion, the Lord of Bats, librarian extraordinaire, Magister of Ironfang Deep
Nigel, Lia's sprite familiar who dies almost as much as the monk
Iona, the Wood Elf Monk who can't stay alive
Shump, the Half-Orc Cleric who keeps Iona from permanent death, and replaced Ishir after his untimely demise
Keh-Tee, the four-armed Mad Catter Warlock of Y'Chuk, Lord of Ironfang Deep
Lady Orhialla "Nya" Tarnash, the Teifling Sorcerer and Lady of the Zhentarim
Teegan, the Dragonborn Sorcerer of Many Faces
Orvu, the Human Rogue who loves shinies
Franklin, the one armed, one legged human ranger, who later regrows both limbs
Ishir, the Dragonborn Fighter who met his end to the Deck of Many Things; and now inhabits a dwarven golem and guards Ironfang Deep

NOTE: Anything in italics is written from Lia's (and sometimes Nigel's) perspective.

       The group saw the path up to the Keep, a winding little road, lined in orbs that appeared to be faerie fire of a different color than anyone had seen before, with steep cliffs surrounding it. It was getting dark, so they decided to head back down the mountain a little to set up camp for the night.

***** Lia

        In the morning, I decided to send Nigel to scout ahead while the rest of us finished getting ready to travel. He was instructed to look for traps along the trail, any spaces where enemies could potentially lurk and spring out at us, and if he could- he was to attempt to gain entrance to the Keep. Nigel left as he was instructed, and I stayed with him, watching through his eyes, until he went out of the limited range of our connection. I again wished my Lord would grant me access to the ritual to create a homunculus, they do not have the limits Nigel and I do; and it may keep my sprite alive more often.

***** Nigel

        I flew off to investigate the path for my mistress, looking for anything out of place. The strangest thing I saw was the orbs of wrong-colored faerie fire. Being a fae spirit, I am curious by nature, so of course I had to get a closer look at the orbs. I zipped up to one and began examining it. It looked exactly like faerie fire, aside from being the wrong color, and since faerie fire is not harmful, I touched it. With a flash of searing pain I found myself in Darroch Castle once again- the home of our Lord, Neifion. 

       Our Lord finds it amusing when I die, since I seem to do it so often, so I went to him quickly, knowing my mistress would soon have me back at her side. I filled the Lord of Bats in on what had happened to Mistress and her companions since I had last died, and he too was curious about this Keep. With laughter in his eyes, my Lord instructed me to give him a full report the next time I died; which would probably be very soon, I seem to be good at dying. 

***** Lia

       The moment Nigel left, I began preparing the ritual to bring him back. He has a terrible track record for surviving the scouting missions I send him on, I would stop, but he is excellent at finding things, and I would rather him be hurt than one of us; Nigel we can bring back easily, the rest of us require a powerful spell from Shump. At the exact moment I felt Nigel die, I set to work casting the spell, and eventually he was at my side again. He told us everything he saw and the conclusions he had drawn from his brief mission; when he finished we all prepared ourselves to leave, and started the hike back to the Keep.

*****

       When the group began their hike up the winding path to the Keep, they began getting peppered with arrows; apparently their new home was occupied, and they were seen as invaders. The group fought their way up the path and made it into the main hall of the Keep without much injury. They were not prepared for what awaited them inside.

       In the main hall of the Keep, they found a huge spider statue- it appeared to be a shrine to Lolth. It would seem that drow had claimed Ironfang Deep as theirs. Aside from the shrine the hall was completely deserted. They selected a random hallway to go down, and ventured forth, ready to fight for what was now theirs. After checking a couple of seemingly empty rooms, the party ended up in a large room with a set of stairs on one side, being the only room thus far to have multiple entrances. Suddenly they found themselves surrounded by goblins, a common slave race for drow; frequently used as kill fodder so the drow can whittle down their enemies before they have to face them personally.

       While goblins are easy to dispatch of, there was wave after wave of them, flooding the room from both entrances. The group fought hard and they eventually were left with the goblins only using a single entrance to attack from- the one the group had used. Everyone was exhausted by this point, Lia and Keh-Tee were out of the energy needed to use their warlock powers, and Shump had reached such an exhaustion that if anyone died he would not be able to raise them. Keh-Tee remembered a spell in the Tome of Terra that would let him bring a stone wall up over the entrance, sealing the group in so they could recuperate. The Tome had a special property that would allow the spells within it to be cast as scrolls, which is how a thoroughly drained Keh-Tee was able to throw the wall up. This also gave their adversaries eight hours to rest, and their enemies knew the Keep and how to set it up to be defensible in their favor.

        After everyone had rested for eight hours, the group opened up the wall again, and found the hallway beyond to be covered in spider webs. The drow were alerted the second the wall came down, from the webs vibrating. They slashed their way down the hall, and eventually came upon a room with a small pool in it, and a group of drow dancing. That fight was almost as grueling as the one against the goblins had been- even though it was only a few drow instead of wave after wave of goblins. Eventually that taxing battle ended, and the group found that they once again needed to stop and rest. They sealed off the entrance and once again gave themselves some time to recuperate... giving their actual adversaries, whom they had yet to meet, more time to prepare.

       Another day of fight, retreat, fight, retreat occurred, and the group had to again barricade themselves into a room to hide. This time though, they decided to use a teleportation spell that Teegan knew to send Keh-Tee back to town to go shopping; he took Franklin with him, so he could get his limbs back- he was dropped off with Orvu and the money required to pay a temple to perform this service. The time they had spent in the Keep had spent most of their supplies, they had few healing potions left and were constantly on the verge of death and defeat. Everyone put forth money to help Keh-Tee get supplies, since there was no point holding onto their personal wealth, and after several hours, Keh-Tee returned, with as much as he was able to purchase in his short time in town. They resumed their mission of claiming their Keep.

       The next day gave the group a slight change in the tides- they finally saw who was running this place: a Brass Dragon, who had been corrupted and turned evil. The battle that ensued was the most difficult yet; they had to face the Brass and her half-drow children- several priestesses of Lolth, and twin boys, one an accomplished wizard, and the other a skilled fighter (you know them as Pharin and Andolin, members of Oryn Talus' Bane of Vecna). This fight ended with the party being forced to retreat, using some illusion to distract the drow long enough to get away; they barred a door on the hallway in hopes of detaining the drow for a few seconds once they got past the defenses the group had used. Teegan requested one minute, to throw a teleportation circle together, if he could get it up in time, the drow would end up stepping on it the moment they burst through the door; It worked, almost exactly after Teegan finished his circle, the drow burst through the door and were sent through a portal to the Underdark.

       The group dashed into a room they had thought to be empty, and found a hidden door. Inside the room they met a dwarven woman, and a dwarven golem. The pair had been hiding in this tiny room for centuries, they were there when this Keep belonged to the dwarves still, and after hearing the group's story, and seeing the deed was authentic, they agreed to help purge the drow from the Keep. The dwarf claimed to be Nameless, though they later learned her name was Stryx, and the golem was Strax, who had once been her brother. They spent the night in the room, while they came up with a plan to defeat the drow, with their new allies help. Stryx said that the group needed to get to the Keep's vault, and there they should find what they needed to finally dispatch of the villains- the problem was that they had to fight their way to the vault, but it wasn't terribly far away.

       They had to fight their way to the vault, but eventually the group arrived... only to find that they couldn't open the damned thing. Their new allies were not helpful in opening it, Stryx claimed she couldn't do it. While they attempted to find a way into the vault, the group noticed Stryx had a wish ring on her finger, with one wish left. She had been given the ring, as a contingency plan for if she ever needed to use it to cleanse the Keep. With this new information, the group realized what they could do with that wish: they could make the brass dragon good again- fixing her alignment would be an easier feat than trying to kill her, all of her half-drow children, and every slave they threw at them. It took some convincing on the group's part to get Stryx to let them use that wish, but eventually they prevailed.

       It worked! The wish went off, the dragon was cleansed, and many of her children perished; but her twin boys made it through a portal that brought them to Oerth. They tracked the newly cleansed dragon down before she could leave, and attempted to make an alliance with her, but after spending centuries evil, and suddenly getting a conscious again had made her a little odd. She wanted nothing to do with the party or their Keep, and took her leave during their conversation.

       The Ironfang Eight spent the next three months setting up their Keep, and its new town.