Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for August 5, 2025, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Adeline Tormak (Human Magus played by Andrew Renfrow), Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Einar Ormsson (Human Fighter / Unchained Barbarian played by John Osborne), Finch Bloodrain (Half-Hobgoblin Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Hwrulf (Human Unchained Barbarian played by Paul Potter), Komorebi (Kitsune Bard played by Josh Jenkins), and Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team rested on their barge and strategized.  They prepared and cast numerous spells and quaffed potions before travelling back through the portal and making a beeline for the alleged lair.  They found Veshrakul the Mirelord at home.  And ready.  He had two marsh giants, three boggards, and a half-dragon boggard with him.  Within the lair, thornroot tangles erupted up through the mud damaging the team and slightly impeding free movement.  The Mirelord was surrounded by ambient energy—a mix of electricity and profane energy—that blasted out as twin orbs of destruction each round to strike random foes.  The dragon also dropped an enormous globe of darkness down upon the team.  Nonplussed, Helg activated daylight and dispelled the gloom!  Komorebi inspired the team with his bardic talents, giving them heart and courage.  One of the giants hurled a boulder, side-arming it into Hekera with bone-jarring force.  A marshpiercer boggard unleashed a volley of arrows at the gatorman as well.  Finch turned invisible, as did Einar after getting struck by enemy fire.  The croakbrute found itself fighting Snagy and Hekera and was soon dead.  Adeline fired numerous arrows into the Mirelord’s hide, despite his partial submersion in the fetid water.  Hekera and Hwrulf began doing what they do, drawing lots of blood, while Callum empowered a fireball. 

The thornroots continued to erupt from the ground serving as an annoyance more than a threat.  Profane electrical orbs arced around the battlefield, damaging many of the team.  The dragon corrupted a great number of the team’s magical potions with one of its foul innate abilities!  Snagy’s lance landed many solid strikes, and Komorebi dropped one of the giants into an illusory shadow pit!  Finch began landing blows as Helg approached and channeled positive energy; however, he accidentally healed the giants as well.  Hwrulf didn’t seem to mind.  In fact, he seemed excited for the opportunity to chop on the same giant even longer.  Adeline’s magic-laced arrows continued to find marks as Einar found himself pretty injured.  The boggard acidscale hit the team with a cold-converted fireball and a steam cloud.  Hwrulf, displaced due to a potion, fought and killed a marsh giant goon.  The team scattered to escape the cloud, and one of the casts dispelled it. 

The dragon dropped another globe of darkness; Helg succeeded in dispelling it!  Komorebi cast heroic inspiration and shoved the team closer to victory.  Boggards and giants began to full under sweeping and swinging blades.  Helg cast flame strike while the brawlers moved in close.  The watery bog proved a problem to most but not Hekera.  He closed in and cut down the dragon!  Moments later, Hwrulf hurled himself from the shore out to a rocky outcropping.  He cut down the last of the defenders with his dragon-hating blade! With all the enemies slain, they looked around and found a pit containing an elven woman—Aratheas!  The group gathered the dragon’s hoard and rescued Aratheas!  What secrets can she tell them?  What secrets will she tell them?

Game summary for July 29, 2025, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Finch Bloodrain (Half-Hobgoblin Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Hwrulf (Human Unchained Barbarian played by Paul Potter), and Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

Helg channeled positive energy to heal his allies.  The team walked a moment and debated casting some protective spells.  In the meantime, enemies rose up from the swamp water around them as they crossed a narrow land bridge.  Half-dragon marsh giants and a draco-wyvern emerged.  One of the half-dragon giants was surrounded by a ring of blades and flew into position behind the party.  All around, broken limbs continued to fall from the bombardment of rocks from a few minutes earlier, and rains pounded down from the sky.  Snagy was hit by several but was able to shout out some battle tactics that greatly assisted the team.

Hwrulf activated one of his magical tattoos, entered a rage, and dropped into a guarded stance.  Meanwhile, the giant surrounded by the blade cast prayer on all allies and foes.  Finch studied foes and tripped one of the giants, which submerged it under the water.  Hekera massacred one of the giants, a goon, with his first assault.  Helg cast bane weapon upon Hekera’s sword so he could be more effective against the dragons.  The draco-wyvern flew over and lined up it’s breath weapon across most of the team.  One of the half-dragon giants did likewise.  The combined acid attacks took their toll on the party.  Callum decided to dispel the ring of blades but failed. 

The battle raged on with Snagy slaying one of the giants and Hwrulf slaying the draco-wyvern.  Callum began unleashing fireballs, and Hekera tried to engage the clerical half-dragon.  Much to his shock, the giant-dragon halfbreed wielded its gaff with astounding might and skill.  It beat him to death, but his contingent breath of life spell triggered and saved his life.  However, the ring of blades rendered him unconscious again.  The other surviving half-giant dragon then killed him.  Helg tried to dispel the ring of blades too and also failed.  Hwrulf ran up, and his magical sword and shield, enchanted against dragons, helped him overcome the spellcasting giant! 

Callum was able to successfully fool a magical vest and scroll to allow them to cast raise dead on Hekera.  The team then activated the magical stump and fled back to their barge.  They flew up into orbit to rest and plan what to do next.

Game summary for July 22, 2025, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Einar Ormsson (Human Fighter / Unchained Barbarian played by John Osborne), Finch Bloodrain (Half-Hobgoblin Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), and Hwrulf (Human Unchained Barbarian played by Paul Potter). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team looked around and found a sigil-inscribed stump near the portal.  Helg splattered it with blood from the acidscale boggard while trying to remember the ritual words he overheard in another language in the scrying spell.  He said “klaatu barada HRMMPHH…” with no effect. 

Hwrulf extracted the brain from the acidscale boggard’s corpse and put it in his magical gravemouth.  The skull burned with dark necromantic energy, and the eyes filled with blue flame.  The item spoke with the voice of the dead boggard and answered three questions.  It confirmed the half-dragon did not know how to operate the portal to the Forbidden City and that the Mirelord feared yuan-ti.  Finch told the party yuan-ti are cursed serpent people, formerly human, who are shapeshifters and psionicists who typically dwell in jungles.  The gravemouth told them how to activate the stump using the Mirelord’s blood and the words “klaatu barada nikto”.  The team decided to use the stump portal right away and whisked themselves (without their barge) to parts unknown.

They found themselves at another stump in the swamp guarded by flying half-dragons!  The beasts began dropped boulders from above!  The team scrambled to dodge the falling rocks until a pair of draco-wyverns swooped down to engage.  They breathed lines of acid across the party.  Finch was able to help the team finish dodging rocks while Einar charged in and whacked one of the dragons.  The dragon retaliated.  It stung Einar who was immediately poisoned.  It then grappled him and began rending with its talons.  Helg channeled positive energy to help heal the injured team.  The other dragon tried unsuccessfully to poison Finch.  Hwrulf ran after it, swinging away.  Hekera moved in as well and cut it down right in front of Hwrulf!  The other dragon was hit several times by Einar and let him go.  It fled quickly following the direction its brethren had flown off a few minutes earlier.  Callum launched an empowered fireball and blew it out of the sky!

The team examined the bodies and healed several of their injuries, including desperately pumping potions into Einar to keep him alive from the horrendous poison!  He pulled through, in rough shape, but alive.  The team then began discussing heading after the dragons that had dropped all the boulders, surmising they landed about an hour’s walk away.  The dragon’s lair?

Game summary for July 8, 2025, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Adeline Tormak (Human Magus played by Andrew Renfrow), Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Einar Ormsson (Human Fighter / Unchained Barbarian played by John Osborne), Finch Bloodrain (Half-Hobgoblin Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Hwrulf (Human Unchained Barbarian played by Paul Potter), Komorebi (Kitsune Bard played by Josh Jenkins), and Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The group began talking with Nada, the elderly goblin.  Although somewhat confusing in his manner of speech, he was able to let them know about the Mirelord and its servants, a tribe of boggards and tribe of marsh giants.  He also told them there are several half-dragon progeny leading the tribes.  He let them know the general direction of the dragon’s cave.  He also told them a group of humans had traveled through a few days earlier.  They figured out it was the Scarlet Brotherhood, and they had headed north to a trio of serpent statues.  Nada said after that, they were no longer in the swamp.  The team debated if they should go to the dragon cave in pursuit of Aratheas or the statues in hopes of finding the wards for the Forbidden City disabled.  The party rested at Nada’s and recovered spells.  Helg cast scrying on Aratheas and saw her with boggards and marsh giants.  The foes seemed to travel through some kind of portal at a sigil-inscribed stump by speaking some ritual and sprinkling it with their blood, taking Aratheas with them. 

The group decided to head to the snake statues to make up time because it was only a few hours away, especially utilizing their flying cargo barge.  They discovered a circular stone platform surrounded by stylized snake statues.  Tracks, up to three dozen humans, lead up to the circle but disappeared.  As they investigated, boggards, slurks, and a marsh giant rose up from the water! 

The slurks spit their oily secretions over Hekera and Callum.  The marshpiercer peppered the team with arrows.  The fen marauder and croakbrute charged the team, impaling with spears.  The boggard acidscale used a wand to activate haste on many of the team.  It also cried havoc, causing the giant to advance and attack with its gaff.  The giant then kicked mud in Helg’s eyes, forcing him to try and mop it out. 

Finch began tripping foes while Hekera, Einar, and Hwrulf ripped into them with blades.  Komorebi cast a shadow conjuration with minimal effect, and Callum’s empowered fireball was partially avoided and negated with magic.  The team was struggling at first, but they quickly gained the upper hand with their superior abilities.  The acidscale tried a yellow smoke spell (dispelled by Callum) and breathed acid.  The giant hit as hard as expected but could not withstand the team’s combined attacks.  Callum blasted away with Dalamar’s lightning lance and scorching ray.  Helg cast a flame strike, and the warriors and barbarians of the group hacked and slashed with abandon. 

Finch got hit and nearly killed, but Helg’s heal spell saved him.  One-by-one enemies fell until only the party remained standing!

Game summary for July 1, 2025, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Adeline Tormak (Human Magus played by Andrew Renfrow), Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Finch Bloodrain (Half-Hobgoblin Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Hwrulf (Human Unchained Barbarian played by Paul Potter), and Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team found themselves turned around in the dark and struggling to follow the tracks.  The group put together their resources and tried to navigate.  For a while, they were led off course by a pair of will-o-wisps but realized the danger and turned back.  However, they did discover the remains of previous victims and recovered some treasure which included a frightening magical skull known as a gravemouth.  Examining it, they learned they could insert a brain into the skull and utilize speak with dead. 

As dawn broke across the swamp, boggards rose up from the muck.  Marshpiercers armed with bows fired upon Snagy while a croakbrute marked Hwrulf and led several in a charge against him.  A stalker and a fen marauder came around the other side.  Adeline fired spell-enhanced arrows upon the assailants.  Helg mortified his flesh and cast a tremendously enhanced flame strike while Callum cast an empowered fireball.  The fiery explosions injured the bullywugs as Hwrulf, Finch, and Hekera waded in.  Meanwhile, Snagy charged with his lance through the sky.  The foes landed several telling blows, but the combined might of the party was too much for them.  The fen marauders and croakbrute were slain, which broke the morale of the rest.  They fled into the swamp.  The group searched the bodies and pressed on.

Soon they caught sight of a creature scuttling through the brush.  He attempted stealth but realized they had already noticed him.  They were pretty certain he was a goblin.  He was short, with green skin and large pointed droopy ears.  His crude clothing was dirty from mud and water.  The goblin was old, leaning on a crooked wooden staff with dangling bone trinkets.  His yellow eyes gleamed with mischievous intelligence and a surprising air of wisdom.  He glanced about looking for a way to escape, and realizing there was none, he stopped and faced them.  He leaned upon his cane.  “Mmmm…” he said.  “Looking for the sorceress, you are.  Tracks, you follow.”  His yellow eyes looked them over.  “Cautious, you should be.  Taken by the Mirelord, she is.  Boggards and giants he has many.  Nada, am I.  The vapors said you would come.”

Game summary for June 24, 2025, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Finch Bloodrain (Half-Hobgoblin Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Hwrulf (Human Unchained Barbarian played by Paul Potter), and Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

Helg, Callum, and Adeline boarded the cargo barge, with Adeline piloting, and trailed along behind the party as Hwrulf tracked Aratheas and her captors.  Due to the trees, the barge varied altitude between 20 to 60 feet at any given time.  Hwrulf used his eternal ember as a light source as they moved, which gave them visibility ranging from 20 to 40 feet.  Snagy rode astride Stingy beside the barge.  The team up above made out the shape of a large boar-like lumbering creature heading toward them and warned the party.  Several of the team activated enhancing magic as a wretched catoblepas lumbered through the swamp!  The stench hit the team hard.  The reeking monster was sickening, but Callum and Helg possessed magic items that reduced the impact for them. 

Callum hit the creature with empowered scorching ray as leech hive shambling mounds clambered up out of the muck as well.  The angered catoblepas breathed its poisonous gas across the entire team.  Snagy and Stingy fell victim to the toxin and were forced to land on the barge.  Nearly dead, only quaffing a stardust elixir saved his life.  The shambling mounds hit several of the team, and swarms of leeches slithered free and engulfed party members.  The sucking vermin drained blood and became a nuisance while Hekera and Hwrulf waded into the fight.  Finch was able to provide the group with some information about leech swarms as Helg fired a searing light spell at the catoblepas and dropped a flame strike upon leeches and a shambling mound. 

Callum killed the catoblepas with another empowered scorching ray.  Finch and Hekera tried to climb ropes back up to the barge after Hwrulf and Hekera had slain the shamblers to escape the leeches.  Callum stepped up and wiped out both swarms with fire snake. 

With the foes vanquished, Helg used every charge from a wand of lesser restoration to patch up the team who were damaged by leeches and catoblepas breath.  Meanwhile, Hwrulf searched the bodies and discovered a pair of gloves of flame, which Callum put on. 

Game summary for June 17, 2025, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Adeline Tormak (Human Magus played by Andrew Renfrow), Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Finch Bloodrain (Half-Hobgoblin Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Hwrulf (Human Unchained Barbarian played by Paul Potter), and Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

Before Hwrulf could begin tracking, monsters emerged from the swamp!  Bizarre croaking crocodiles that moved like frogs leapt from the water.  Frogodiles!  Horrible hybrids with snapping jaws and long sticky tongues.  Behind them came frog-like humanoids.  Boggards, also known as bullywugs.  The first frogodile flicked its sticky tongue and ripped Snagy off the back of Stingy.  It chomped down on him, and he activated his coldfire wrappings to burst into frigid flames and burned the creature.  One of the bigger boggards, a croakbrute, marked Hekera as prey, and the rest of the boggards focused on him.  The croakbrute initiated a devastating charge on Hekera and also inflicted bleed damage. 

Meanwhile, Adeline hit the other frogodile with spell-imbued arrows.  Hekera engaged the foes rallying around him, and Callum blasted the croakbrute with scorching ray, slaying it.  The boggard stalker pulled out its axes and accosted Callum.  However, the spellcaster used a spell to step away from the stalker’s reach.  Finch activated his belt and assumed earth elemental form.  The fen marauder boggards swarmed Hekera while Helg channeled positive energy to heal the gatorman.  Snagy broke free of the frogodile and slashed and bashed with his magical axe-hammer and called Stingy in to engage.  Hwrulf entered a rage and unleashed his wrath upon a frogodile that had attempted to eat Adeline.

Hekera was badly pressured by the swarming boggards, but he kept hewing them down.  Callum used dimension door to get atop the hut for safety.  Helg moved up and cast heal upon Hekera while Adeline continued to rain arrows upon the enemies.  Snagy kept up a brawl with the frogodile as Hwrulf, Finch, and Hekera continued to wear down the foes.  Soon the team defeated the boggards and looted the bodies. 

Game summary for May 27, 2025, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Adeline Tormak (Human Magus played by Andrew Renfrow), Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Finch Bloodrain (Half-Hobgoblin Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Hwrulf (Human Unchained Barbarian played by Paul Potter), and Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team sailed The Shooting Star into the docks at Turashar, a large town of a few thousand inhabitants on the northern coast of Hepmonaland.  The town, under control of the despicable Scarlet Brotherhood, was appalling to the team.  They could see thralls laboring under the relentless sun.  All around were robed Scarlet Brotherhood monks, and huge banners flapped in the wind displaying the crimson standard and wavy black cross.  Adeline told them they needed to find Aratheas, a powerful elf who owed her father his life.  She would know how to bypass the warding that protects the Forbidden City, Xuxulieto. 

The group paid their docking fees and went to the tavern, the Broken Fetish run by Zarutka Nalembe, a Touv woman with broken teeth and thick accent.  The party noticed the Brotherhood was not present in the tavern, but many sailors and native inhabitants were.  The place was in an old crumbling adobe dome with broad-leaf canopies tied to stone columns.  Colorful fetishes — broken masks, cracked bone charms, melted wax seals — hang from strings overhead, rattling in the wind like warning bells.  Something was carved in the lintel in a language the party did not understand. 

Patrons inside were in a haze of spice-scented smoke.  Drummers played exciting music from one corner.  The low tables were arranged in alcoves with reed mats for seating.  Nets hung down to block the eyes and sound.  Zarutka served the team gold-palm spirits, a fruity drink served in gourds.  For a meal, they consumed snake jerky on black-bean flatbread and fried piranha skewers. 

Callum cast comprehend languages and overheard all kinds of tidbits.  The group tried to get friendly and buy the locals some drinks but scared them off with the assumption they work for the Brotherhood.  Hwrulf asked about where to buy a quality knife and was directed to find Molok Ka’taz at the Stone Fang Forge.  Snagy sought out an old contact, Ekka Bonebrace.  She was able to provide a map into the Pelisso Swamp to find Aratheas’ home.  She also warned them of the presence of boggards, also called bullywugs, in the swamp.  When asked, she confirmed at least one black dragon, the Mirelord, called the swamp home.  Meanwhile, Hwrulf bought a masterwork scramaseax from weaponsmith Molok. 

The group bought robes to wear to protect them from the oppressive sun and took off their armor to avoid heat strokes.  The team debated a long time and decided to use the furnace helm on their cargo barge to fly it into the swamp to find the elf’s hut.  They sailed The Shooting Star out to sea and dropped anchor instruction Sailmaster Tuk and the giff marines to await their return.  None of the team had experience piloting a spelljamming vessel, so Adeline took her best shot.  She maneuvered the ship under the cover of darkness out into the swamp.  She could not see in the dark, so Helg and Finch clung to the front of the ship and called out directions.  They kept the barge about 60 ft. in the air so the two with darkvision could scan the ground.  The group flew for a couple hours deep into the swamp. 

Helg and Finch spotted some bullywugs in the water.  Soon thereafter they heard great croaks calling out, and being answered, all across the swamp.  Eventually, Callum cast comprehend languages and learned the frog men were alerting each other to the presence of the strange flying boat and were off to alert the Mirelord!  The team came to the hut described by Ekka.  A battle had played out here in the last few days.  After casting several wardings and landing the ship, the team found frog-like footprints, evidence of many area of effect spells being unleashed, and signs that many boggards had died here.  From the tracks, it appeared crocodiles and dragged off the corpses.  The hut was damaged by acid, arrows, and physical bashing.  Inside parts of it had burned.  Everything of value had been carried off.  Hwrulf determined Aratheas had been marched off in chains deeper into the swamp.  He was confident on the ground he could track the monsters, but with it being a couple days already, the trail would be getting hard and harder to follow.  The team decided to put Adeline and Helg in the barge and let it trail along behind them. 

Game summary for May 13, 2025, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Finch Bloodrain (Half-Hobgoblin Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), and Hwrulf (Human Unchained Barbarian played by Paul Potter). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The heroes gathered atop the stairs leading down into the bowels beneath Drenk’s Slaughterhouse. The butcher had been slain, and their wounds mended by divine and alchemical means. Callum cast Bailey’s golden retriever to augment himself and others, and the team advanced with caution.  Finch quaffed several admixtures and potions, including one of displacement.  Helg called down one of his mightiest blessings, righteous wrath of the faithful.  Hwrulf activated his tattoo of Odin and entered a rage.  The stairwell descended into deeper darkness and an overpowering stench. The smell of blood and old rot was nearly overwhelming, and several members of the team struggled to suppress the urge to vomit.

At the bottom of the stairs, three men waited. One, a hulking half-orc, stood shirtless with muscles bulging and a massive falchion clutched in hand. Two dwarves flanked him—both with the cold, measured stance of disciplined martial artists their heavy picks resting at the ready. Behind them, chained to the wall, was a battered and bloodied woman. The party had no doubt it was Adeline.  A red-robed human, Drenk perhaps, bearing the symbol of the Scarlet Brotherhood emerged from the shadows.

The man sneered. “Leave one alive to question. Kill the rest.”

The first move came from Finch, who darted into the room and lunged at the armored dwarf. He swept the legs out from under the man, knocking him prone. The dwarf’s weapon clattered loudly against the wet stone as he slammed into the floor. Helg and Callum moved to follow up on Finch’s momentum, and Helg’s sword and the slayer’s scythe struck home, hacking into the dwarf’s ribs. Hekera surged forward and took the prone dwarf’s head clean off his shoulders in a blur of steel.

Callum’s fire snake erupted next, coursing through two enemies, singing flesh and scorching hair. Though they avoided the worst of it, the burns were evident. The second dwarf closed with Finch and tried to retaliate but was thrown off by Finch’s arcane displacement. The monk-like dwarf then turned his attacks toward Helg, landing a heavy kick that nearly sent the cleric reeling.

Finch parried and struck again, carving into his opponent while the rest of the team surged into the cramped room. Hekera followed the monk dwarf and delivered a punishing combination of sword strikes. Helg recovered, evaded another flurry of fists, and called down divine magic to bolster his allies. Hwrulf, fueled by rage, barreled past the melee and leapt at Drenk with a roar, his sword gleaming in the dim light.

The human was clearly the leader—cruel, tactical, and confident. He traded strikes with Hwrulf and landed a few sharp blows, but it quickly became apparent he was outmatched. One by one, the attackers fell. The monk dwarf collapsed under Hekera’s blade, and Drenk was slain in the final exchange by Hwrulf, his rage-powered strikes overwhelming his foe’s defenses.

With the battle ended, the group turned immediately to the woman in chains. Adeline was bruised and bloodied, but alive. Helg freed her from the shackles and cast spells to begin her healing. She confirmed she was Professor Tormak’s daughter and that she had been taken by these men recently. She thanked the group and told them she knew how to decipher her father’s encoded journal. Whatever secrets the professor hid, Adeline was the key.

The party searched the room and collected what valuables they could find. They patched their wounds, steadied their breath, and prepared to leave the slaughterhouse behind—alive, victorious, and one step closer to uncovering the truth.  With Adeline in tow, they returned to The Shooting Star to head toward Hepmonaland. 

Game summary for May 6, 2025, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Finch Bloodrain (Half-Hobgoblin Slayer played by Peyton Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Hwrulf (Human Unchained Barbarian played by Paul Potter), Notch Bowman (Human Fighter played by Andrew Renfrow), and Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The party slipped into Drenk’s and let their eyes slowly adjust to the gloom.  The smell was not as terrible as the party had imagined.  The floor and walls were stained from years of gruesome work.  Ropes and pulleys ran through the building, and an extensive network of sharp meat hooks dangled from the ceiling, posing a serious threat to anything taller than a man.  Heavy hammers rested in a rack, their handles well worn by hands long accustomed to swinging and crushing the skulls of livestock.

The smell of death was intermingled with another odor—the acrid scent of brimstone.  Something rattled in the darkness.  An enormous shape pushed through the meat hooks, completely unfazed by their presence.  The monstrosity was humanoid in shape but nearly twice the height of a man.  Grotesque red skin covered its muscular frame, and great horns swept out from either side of its head.  A bloodstained apron covered its torso.  In one beefy hand, it clutched the largest cleaver the adventurers had ever seen.  Trailing along in the other hand was a whip of chains and barbed hooks.  A deep, otherworldly voice gleefully exclaimed, “Fresh meat!”

From the shadows emerged more demonic creatures.  A great featured vulture-like demon, a vrock, stalked out of a corner.  Deep mooing sounds echoed through the chamber as Abyssal bullfiends, bipedal demon cows, armed with halberds approached across the blood-slicked floor.  One of the bullfiends unleashed a cattle call, frightening several of the party.  The butcher, a flayreaver demon, whipped its barbed chain in arc to entangle Notch!  It dragged the terrified man to its side and hacked him to pieces with its cleaver!  His contingent raise dead brought him back to life just long enough to experience the exquisite fatal mortification of his flesh at the gentle blade of the butcher twice.  The demon hung his dismembered parts from the meat hooks!

Hekera engaged the vrock and was infested with spores before it teleported to engage Helg and Snagy.  Callum terrified by the bullfiends cast dimension door and had his scorching ray fail against the demons’ spell resistance.  Helg tried to cast flame strike but lost his spell after taking a brutal hit.  Finch darted out, nimbly sliding across the blood, after two of the bullfiends.  He tripped one to the ground and brutalized it before its companion sundered his scythe!  The demon then sundered his armor leaving him unarmed and defenseless!  Hwrulf entered a rage and tore into the demons with glee.  The mighty sword of Wayland was not particularly effective against the demon flesh, but Hwrulf hit them with it relentlessly, causing massive damage through sheer stubborn determination.

Snagy and Stingy were forced to stay near the floor and creeping along to avoid the meat hooks.  Snagy landed blow after blow with his lance, but the demonic flesh proved too resilient for several of the attacks to deal significant harm.  Even still, he managed to slip the lance through the defenses of one bullfiend and slaughter it on the killing floor.

Hekera, sprouting demonic vines growing through his flesh, attacked the flayreaver demon and delt a solid blow.  The two fought for a moment, but Hekera proved too deadly and killed the powerful fiend.  Meanwhile, Hwrulf repositioned and killed both an Abyssal bullfiend and a vrock.  Callum blasted away with a cold-augmented lightning bolt and Helg narrowly avoided setting the building on fire with a flame strike!  Finch bashed away with his flail before being critically injured and left dying on the floor.  Hekera killed the other bullfiend, and Helg channeled positive energy just in time to save Finch’s life.

The group looked at what remained of Notch and decided they could do nothing for him.  Hwrulf distributed some potions to Finch while Helg quickly cast a number of mending spells to repair Snagy’s damaged and Finch’s destroyed equipment.  Finch was soon outfitted with armor and scythe again, although their magical enchantment was lost. 

The group nursed a few wounds and realized they needed to spell up before heading downstairs to see if they can rescue Adeline.  Maybe no one heard the crack of thunder from the lighting bolt, the fanatical mooing, the crash of the flaming strike, the gleeful roaring of Hwrulf, or the butcher’s rattling chains.  Yeah, I bet the enemies are about to suffer a surprise round…