Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for March 17, 2026, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Polaris Helmsmeade (Dwarf Templar played by Peyton Harmon), Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs), Ursay (Mongrelfolk Slayer played by Paul Potter), and Vulkanthos (Nephilim Paladin/Sorcerer/Dragon Disciple/Eldritch Knight played by John Osborne). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team asked Wizzlecrank if he could detect any thoughts aboard the vessel, and he could not.  Their new teammate Vulkanthos (“Khan”) cast displacement before they boarded.  With no visible threat on the upper decks, the group rushed down into the hold with Hekera illuminating his chemtech tail to light the way.  Within the hold they found the crew, wide-eyed and alert but strangely silent!  The men and women attacked, proving themselves surprisingly capable combatants.  Khan cast warrior’s touch and Callum cast scorching ray.  The fire caused one of the crew to explode!  Instead of gore, he burst into a dusty cloud of spores.  One of the now obviously inhuman crew paused and screamed!  His yell was so loud as to deafen Snagy!  He retreated out of the hold to clear his head.  A moment later, another screamed and deafened Ursay! 

Some of the team fell back while others remained in the cargo hold.  Hekera and Khan went back-to-back fighting the strange creatures while Polaris and Helg paired up several feet away.  Helg cast blessing of fervor to augment the team.  Ursay unleashed several arrows.  The team cut down creature after creature causing explosions of spores to fill the hold.  They cleared the area and emerged, using Callum who had polymorphed into a small water elemental to wash each other of spores. 

They used semaphore to call in the other ships and spoke with Captain Steelshank.  They told him what they found and warned them of the spores in the lower deck.  The captain paid them as promised, and the group flew off into Wildspace.  Hekera and Helg had the nagging thought they had witnessed something like these exploding people before. 

Game summary for March 10, 2026, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Hekera Nephera Mawhesk Vyk’sebekenka (Sebek-ka Fighter played by Preston Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Polaris Helmsmeade (Dwarf Templar played by Peyton Harmon), and Ursay (Mongrelfolk Slayer played by Paul Potter). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

As The Shooting Star slipped in on the warm, salt-heavy wind, Dullstrand rose ahead like a mural painted over something darker: a thin strip of sunlit town wedged between a towering rocky escarpment and an impossibly blue sea. Palms swayed lazily above blinding white beaches, and somewhere inland the constant hush of water could be heard – ribbons of streams tumbling down from the heights, glittering in the light. Out beyond the harbor mouth, the horizon was cluttered with low islands and atolls, and the water broke in strange places – reefs and sandy shoals like ribs just beneath the surface.

Closer in, the docks were busy and watchful. Fisherfolk and porters paused to stare at their rigging and unfamiliar lines. A few hard-faced sailors leaned on pilings with the casual posture of men who had seen “privateers” come and go under letters of marque, and who knew the difference between honest trade and “resupply.” Dullstrand felt like paradise that had learned to survive: friendly enough to take their coin, independent enough to ask no questions – and dangerous enough that someone, somewhere, was already deciding what they were worth.

Helg settled docking fees with the harbor master, and the team gave the crew shore leave in shifts.  The team went out and bought several new magical items and prepared for their trip.  Most of the party went carousing.  Helg broke even on his evening while Callum had a successful night and came back up 360 gold pieces. 

Ursay’s evening was a bit more hectic.  He went to the Splintered Keel tavern and ended up in a backroom card game.  One of the other players, Ilva “Redwake” Sorn, accused Ursay of cheating, which may or may not have been true.  However, Ursay very cleverly worked the room and embarrassed and ridiculed Ilva causing even some of his own crew to laugh at him.  Furious, Ilva started a brawl and Ursay slipped out.  He grabbed a pouch he thought was filled with the gambling money.  Instead, it contained some bribe money and a ledger belonging to Brother Mikal Varro documenting some of his blackmailing and illicit dealings.  Both rushed out to find Ursay and ran into each other.  After some shouting and plotting, they decided to join forces to track down this interloper and make him pay!  Meanwhile, Ursay ran into a fixer and fence, Sella Quill.  Sella was willing to buy the ledger which meant Ursay came out even on the night.  He slipped back to the ship to hide. 

While Ursay was making enemies and contacts, Polaris ended up in the same tavern.  A bored bard tried to get a rise out of the crowd by singing a song about a dwarf afraid of the sea.  Offended, Polaris stood up walked to the stage and demanded a tankard, a hammer, and something made of iron.  The sailors handed him a full tankard and hammer, and some wiseass grabbed the anvil from the smith next door.  Polaris planted his boots on the tavern table, hammer in hand.  He began a dwarven forge chant striking perfect rhythm on the anvil.  He struck the anvil and sang an ancient dwarven working song.  The tavern fell silent and sailors soon began stamping their feet to the beat.  The bartender pounded the keg with a ladle.  Some dockworkers took hooks and chains and rattled them like tambourines.  Before long the entire tavern had become an impromptu dwarven forge orchestra.  The chant ended as Polaris slammed the hammer so hard it cracked the anvil’s edge and drained the tankard in one gulp.  The crowd exploded.  Talk began immediately as the tale spread through the city.  Polaris become a legend in an instant. 

The party decided Ursay’s contact Sella might be able to help with a purchase.  They negotiated a purchase of a cargo barge for less than half price if they asked no questions and left town tonight.  They went back to The Shooting Star and saw a bunch of men rowing a boat towing a barge in a hurry.  They tied it up to the ship and urged the party to leave.  The crew cast off under the cover of darkness as they heard shouting from another dock yelling about a missing cargo barge!  They glanced back and Ilva Sorn was going into a rage because someone stole his barge!  The team quickly fled into the night and flew off into space.

They were about ten days out of port on Oerth, heading toward the sphere’s edge. They still had over two months of travel ahead of them. They came out of spelljamming speed in proximity to a pair of purple squid ships. The vessels sat motionless beside one another with their air envelopes overlapping. A crewman raised semaphore flags and signaled in their direction.  The man signaled they were peaceful merchants and encouraged them to approach and converse.

The ships were armed, though not heavily so. Both were painted deep purple. The names Stormbringer and Speed King were emblazoned in silver lettering along their hulls. Matching flags flew from each vessel, a silver meadow beneath a starry sky. The ships appeared intact with no visible damage, and their crews were alert but not overtly hostile. The captains stood on deck and had clearly been discussing something before the party’s approach. The captain aboard the Stormbringer was a middle-aged dwarf with salt-and-pepper hair and beard. He stood proudly, and they suspected he had a military background. A well-kept cutlass or sabre hung at his side. On the deck of the Speed King stood a middle-aged woman with pointed ears. The party suspected she was either an elf or a half-elf. She looked comfortable on her ship, though there were no obvious signs of military experience. She too carried a curved blade at her hip. The crews were a mix of races and genders, including humans, half-elves, dwarves, hadozee, and halflings.

Talking with the dwarven captain, they learned there was a third squid ship, the Recompense.  The crew mutinied and killed the officers.  The other ships tried to retake the ship and were repulsed.  They believe the helmsman had been slain because the ship is adrift.  The party hired on for 19 silver ingots to retake the ship, capture or kill the crew, and recover the cargo.  The merchants led them to the abandoned vessel.

The Recompense sat silent in space, hanging against a tapestry of glittering stars. There was no movement on the exposed decks, yet there were no signs of distress. The ship appeared intact, though there was no sign of the crew. Its flag still flew.

Game summary for March 3, 2026, 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), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Herezis Tahriol (Mongrelfolk Paladin played by Preston Harmon), Piper Quickstep (Human Druid-Mage played by John Osborne), Skree Grizzlehide (Mongrelfolk Gladiator played by Peyton Harmon), and Ursay (Mongrelfolk Slayer played by Paul Potter). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

They were beside The Shooting Star now.  They had floated, drifted, and rematerialized onto a rocky platform close to the ship.  The vessel rocked slightly, as if sailing through the air yet swayed by unseen waves.  Upon the deck they saw their giff marines and the rest of the crew.  Their eyes were closed, and they moved about in a hypnotic dance.  They waltzed with one another while dream energy poured from their ears and nostrils.  Dark monsters took wing, forming from the substance of their sleeping nightmares.

Before them pulsed a mound of flesh.  It rose like a tripod of skin balanced upon three elephantine legs.  Tentacles writhed about it, and multiple mouths opened across its body.  It seemed to lack eyes, but they doubted it had any difficulty sensing their presence.  Tentacles as thick as trees waved wildly in the air, promising crushing destruction.

Another faceless nightgaunt flitted through the shadows, its devilish tail whipping behind it ready to tickle grappled foes.  A horrendous gug savant closed in with its dark fur and vertically slit mouth.  Its lanky limbs gave it a frightful loping gait.  A jarring hound of Tindalos followed close behind, and just looking at it caused the party’s eyes and face to rip and bleed!

The ground underneath their feet was unstable, and it would fracture into dreamlike fragments supported only by flickering light, which caused the team to stumble and fall throughout the battle.  The hound of Tindalos advanced catching most of the party within its ripping gaze and activated a slow spell-like ability upon most of them.  The tentacled horror, a dark young of Shub-Niggurath stepped up and grappled Herezis as he flew on his magically flying ankylosaurus.  Its very presence shook much of the team.  Skree activated his flaming bracers to blast the hound with fire, which it evaded.  Ursay hit the dark young with many arrows, but its damage reduction and immunities took the sting off them.  Adeline stepped back and fired arrows around the battlefield as well.  Callum cast an empowered fireball the did not affect several of the monsters, much to his disappointment.  The nightgaunt grinless fetch flew around and grappled Ursay.  Piper had summoned a large water elemental and ordered it to engage the foes in melee.  He then cloaked himself in greater invisibility.  Herezis tried to free himself but was instead pinned by the dark young, and its sucking maws devoured some of his strength.  Helg attempted to step back and cast blade barrier but was instead snatched up by the long-limbed gug and carried off toward The Shooting Star. 

Skree cut down the hound, and the dark young lost its grip on Herezis allowing him to pop up to his feet and draw his sword.  Ursay wriggled free of the nightgaunt and hit it with an arrow.  Adeline finished the creature off with her own shots.  Callum cast Dalamar’s lightning lance and scored a critical hit against the gug, blowing it into pieces.  Herezis sliced into the dark young and learned his slashing blade was particularly effective.  The archers found their piercing arrows tremendously ineffective against it.  Piper capitalized and hit it with the bladed version of stone discus.  Helg advanced and channeled positive energy both healing and bolstering his team.  Herezis then took his blade and slew the dark young!  As it died, the dream realm began to falter, and the crew of The Shooting Star began to awaken.

Game summary for February 24, 2026, 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), Herezis Tahriol (Mongrelfolk Paladin played by Preston Harmon), Skree Grizzlehide (Mongrelfolk Gladiator played by Peyton Harmon), and Ursay (Mongrelfolk Slayer played by Paul Potter). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

With the first island cleared, they found themselves moving. Not walking. Not flying. It was a bizarre, dreamlike sensation. They were not even certain they were in control of their own movement. A moment later, they found themselves on another island, closer to The Shooting Star. The orientation of this island was different from the first. The ocean appeared overhead, while the sky lay below them. Again, gravity held them firmly in place upon the rock.

Another fearsome gug emerged from the shadows, but this one seemed more intelligent and cunning. Behind it came a massive creature with a pale, frog-like appearance, clawed hands, no eyes, a wide mouth, and a snout ending in pink tentacles. They could not imagine from what nightmare these entities had emerged.

Adeline began with a volley of arrows.  The frog-like aberration, a moon-beast, conjured a shadow stinking cloud but the team was nearly completely unaffected.  Skree attacked the moon-beast and learned it was somewhat amorphous.  The denizen of Leng charged Adeline and bit her, damaging her dexterity and inflicting nearly blinding pain.  Ursay followed Adeline’s lead with arrows slamming into and killing the moon beast and the denizen of Leng.  The gug savant cast spike stones but was slain by Herezis’ charge.

Once again, they were moving, not truly of their own volition. They were much closer to The Shooting Star now. It seemed almost as if they could reach out and touch it, yet it also felt a thousand miles away at the same time. Their sense of distance and time was distorted in this bizarre realm. The rock upon which they stood was tilted so that the sea and the sky lay at odd angles, deepening their sense of vertigo. Tiny droplets of blood drifted past at a diagonal. Silent heat lightning continued to illuminate the area. Some monstrosity in the sky watched them. It was aware of them. Perhaps it was learning about them. Or perhaps they were merely part of its imagination. They could no longer tell what was real.

The next group of foes consisted of several foes with gaze attacks, including two nothic thaumalux and a resilient hound of Tindalos.  They caused flesh to rot and shred.  A worm-like seugathi oracle protected itself with magic and dropped a mind fog spell.  Adeline was terribly affected.  A fungus-like mi-go flew in and hit everyone with greater malicious intent.  Ursay and Adeline fired arrow after arrow, while the nothics cast spells like lightning bolt and ray of exhaustion.  Skree moved up to try and pressure the gaze monsters.  Herezis started charging enemies.  Callum cast many powerful spells like empowered fireball and lightning bolt.  Adeline had cast greater invisibility but then was nearly killed.  Fortunately, she stabilized before bleeding out.  Herezis granted smite to most of his allies and then charged the mi-go.  His lance landed, but the vicious monster hit him with a curse causing him to damage himself too!  The mi-go was slain instantly, and Herezis was nearly killed by his own attack.  Ursay got hit by a ray of clumsiness and Skree succumbed to the seugathi’s aura of madness.  Fortunately, he mostly kept his wits about him.  One of the nothics hit several of the team over and over and over with lightning bolt spells.  Meanwhile, the various gaze attacks continued to wear at the edges of the teams’ capabilities.  Callum hurled more fireballs, more arrows whipped about, and Herezis’ lance put monster after monster to death.  The team defeated the foes, found the invisible Adeline, and quickly healed some wounds and quaffed potions in preparation for moving on. 

Game summary for February 17, 2026, 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), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Herezis Tahriol (Mongrelfolk Paladin played by Preston Harmon), Piper Quickstep (Human Druid-Mage played by John Osborne), Skree Grizzlehide (Mongrelfolk Gladiator played by Peyton Harmon), and Ursay (Mongrelfolk Slayer played by Paul Potter). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The Shooting Star was not where they left it.  The ocean waves gently rolled.  The party was certain they were in the correct place, but the ship was not there.  There was no wreckage or sign of disturbance.  Did trouble come along forcing the ship to move?  Was there a storm?  Pirates?  Where the hell is their ship?

Ursay recommended they start a search pattern in the air using their makeshift raft fitted with a furnace helm.  Meanwhile, Callum cast see invisibility and observed a whirling mystical vortex of energy shimmered, nearly invisible. The flowing energy caused slight disturbances in the ocean current. It was a portal of some sort, existing partially in reality and partially in a magical realm. Motes of energy shaped themselves into sigils that bobbed in the water, sank beneath the waves, and then flowed back upward again. They were illuminated by a faint ruddy light from a strange star hanging directly above the party’s position, a star unknown to them.

They might have been able to predict the currents and catch and arrange the sigils, or perhaps they could decipher the arcane energies and force their way into whatever realm it concealed.  The team began trying to put together the puzzle of the sigils and began wearing through the fabric of reality.  Two dark tentacles burst through and attacked!  Ursay and Herezis battled them while the team tried to decipher symbols and arcane riddles.  Finally, the team was able to open the portal!

They were unsure where they were. They were not even certain they were awake. The realm was dim like twilight and seemed to stretch forever. It was like a night sky filled with stars stretched over a dark, cold ocean. Islands floated above the water, with strange bridges of fragile light connecting them. An enormous moon, far too close, hung in the sky. Droplets of moisture, blood, formed on the surface of the ocean and drifted upward like a faint crimson drizzle. Sound was distorted and echoing, stretching out into eternity.

Gravity felt particularly heavy, but it pulled toward the center of the island upon which they stood rather than downward. They found themselves standing on an island with the sky straight ahead of them and the ocean behind. It was as if they were standing parallel to ground and sky rather than the normal perpendicular. Even though they felt the ground pulling at them toward their feet, the blood droplets flowed past them unaffected, falling upward toward the sky, which seemed to them as if the droplets were drifting forward into the distance.

Far ahead, or perhaps above, they saw The Shooting Star. It was moored to a drifting island. A series of bridges connected several islands between them and the vessel. In a few minutes, they thought they might be able to reach it.

Dark shapes flitted through the night, nearly black and faceless. They could hear bat-like wings beating in the strange, echoing air, though they could not make out how many shapes lurked in the darkness. Dark clouds drifted across the sky, and noiseless heat lightning flickered in the distance, causing brief flashes of illumination. In those moments, they thought they glimpsed movement beyond the clouds. Something enormous and tentacled filled the horizon, its appendages slithering slowly across one another in the darkness.

Indistinct forms emerged from the shadows, hazy and distorted. Slowly they took solid shape. Monstrous, nightmarish shapes. The creatures bore bizarre, aberrant forms: tentacles, too many limbs, not enough eyes, too many eyes, and worse. A tall, black-furred monster rose up before them. Its limbs were split at the elbows, forming two sets of forearms and hands per arm. They guessed it stood at least sixteen feet tall. Its head was chiefly terrible because of its mouth. That mouth bore great yellow fangs and ran from the top to the bottom of its head, opening vertically instead of horizontally. Another beast resembled a ten-foot fleshy cone, with a head and claws attached to writhing tentacles. Smaller, but no less bizarre, entities formed around them.  They could not tell whether any of it was real, or just some crazy dream.

Violence erupted as flickering shadows detached from the party and attacked them!  The team advanced on a small army of aberrant monsters following close on the heels of the strange deadly shadows.  Nothic thaumopticons rotted flesh with their necrotic eyes and hurled various spells at the team.  Dark nightgaunt grinless fetches swooped in, one catching up Adeline and tickling her mercilessly as it flew into the air.  The might gug that had risen up was cut down by Herezis’ mighty lance charge!  Piper cast release the hounds and mad monkeys to hamper foes with swarms.  The hounds proved particularly effective the entire encounter, locking down one of the nothics.  Torturous Denizens of Leng bit into Skree’s flesh, draining his Dexterity.  Callum hurled multiple blasts of Dalamar’s lightning lance with pretty good effect.  Helg cast bane weapon on Ursay’s bow, and the mongrelfolk then set about laying waste to the battlefield. 

Upon one of the floating islands stood an oddly shaped Yithian.  The creature was able to erase Herezis’ mind, leaving him temporarily crippled.  Once the Yithian was slain, he regained some of his memories, but lingering gaps will hamper his future skill efforts. 

Adeline was freed from her fetch and plunged into the water, but Helg was likewise swept up and eventually dropped in the water when the nightgaunt snatching and tickling him was destroyed.  The group managed to slain all the foes and catch their breath just for a moment in this horrible dreamscape.

Game summary for January 27, 2026, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Herezis Tahriol (Mongrelfolk Paladin played by Preston Harmon), Skree Grizzlehide (Mongrelfolk Gladiator played by Peyton Harmon), Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs), and Ursay (Mongrelfolk Slayer played by Paul Potter). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

A foul wind churned the swamp as a cackle erupted from the fog — high-pitched, mocking, and painfully familiar.  The sky blackened.  The air turned sour.   From the mire stepped a rotted reflection of Helg, his face split by an impossible grin, eyes oozing black ichor, radiating corruption.

“Klaatu… nikto… Gleeeeeh,” he crooned.

With every step, the earth split, and skeletal hands burst from the muck, clawing toward you, grasping at your boots.  “Look at you,” Gleh sneered, “all full of hope and hit points.”  Then he lunged.  Hell just found a new hype man.  Along with him came a gurgling boggard deadite, two skullbelly deadites, and a string-wretch deadite. 

Black negative energy blasted out of the corpse totem trying to taint the party.  Gleh cast a silence spell to try and inconvenience casters.  Ursay hit him with several arrows including some critical hits which caused Gleh to vomit up additional gurgling boggard deadites and absorb some of their animating energy to heal his injuries!  The gurgling dead advanced and ended up surrounding Skree, but the mongrelfolk gladiator held his ground with his magical maca.  Snagy and Stingy owned the skies and put on an impressive display of melee prowess.  Callum boiled part of the swamp with a fireball that scorched almost all of the enemies.  Gleh taunted and uttered puns for those who could hear him.  Helg cast blessing of fervor, giving his allies a tremendous advantage.  Herezis cast sky steed, causing wings to sprout from his holy ankylosaurus mount!  The skullbellies proved frustrating as the severed heads stitched into their torso and stomach absorbed attacks.  Gleh frustrated Herezis by dispelling his sky steed spell, and his grasping hands made it hard for Herezis to approach.

Gleh cast desiccating breath which sapped the strength from most of the party.  Ursay struck Gleh with more arrows, and the head deadite sacrificed some of his own minions to absorb their undead spirits and recovery his injuries.  The string-wretch spread its arrows around the entire party inflicting bleed damage on everyone it could hit.  Fortunately, no one succumbed to the black fletch curse as well.  Callum cast an empowered fireball, which really rocked the enemy ranks.  Helg tried to channel positive energy, but Gleh corrupted it causing him to injury his companions with negative energy.  Herezis swung out way wide and worked himself around to try and put pressure on the string-wretch.  Skree, now with three enemies around him, cut down two foes within reach.  Gleh hit most of the party with waves of grief demoralizing them.  He also moved up to the team and channeled negative energy to heal himself and all his allies.  Snagy was able to counter the confusing effect of a skullbelly’s voice of madness which had affected Skree and Ursay. 

The battle raged on until Callum cast an empowered scorching ray which caught Gleh in the chest, blasting him into a flaming pile of corpse.  His deadite companions dissolved into the swamp as their master fell!  The team quickly looted the area and found several very expensive magic items including a new sword for Helg! 

Game summary for January 20, 2026, 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), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Herezis Tahriol (Mongrelfolk Paladin played by Preston Harmon), and Skree Grizzlehide (Mongrelfolk Gladiator played by Peyton Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

Thick, cloying fog rolled across the reeking waters of the Pelisso Swamp as the trail led the party into a clearing ringed by bent trees and sickly reeds.  The stench of decay was overwhelming, a vile cocktail of swamp gas, old blood, and something far fouler.

At the center of the mire rose a mound of shattered tree and mud, the remnants of an ancient shrine now warped beyond recognition and grown into a tree covered in screaming faces. Lurking in the muck around it were tall wooden poles, each crowned with a writhing corpse, skin stretched tight over twisted bones.  Their heads jerked and twitched as they chanted in unison, backward and broken: “Nikto… Klaatu… Gleeeeeeh…”

The words crawled under their skin like centipedes.  Each syllable pulsed with black energy, floating motes of darkness that drifted through the air like ash.  The chanting grew louder, faster.  The mud began to bubble.

They felt it in their teeth.  A summoning was near.  Something was coming, unless they stopped it. 

The team quickly used their knowledge and other skills to attempt to disrupt the growing power of Gleh.  The swamp reacted, releasing maddening disharmony causing the team’s minds to reel with confusion, and noxious gas bubbled up making them sick.  Despite the hazards, the group overcame the ritual.  This broke some of Gleh’s power in the swamp making necromantic energy less effective.

A skeletal deadite with glowing blue eyes emerged from the swamp.  It wore dirty, wizardly robes and carried a staff made of vertebrae topped with a human skull.  A palpable aura of decay and death radiated from it, and boggard deadites accompanied it.

The boggards engaged the team while the necro-mite spellcaster yelled “I studied death so hard I aced it!” and cast stinking cloud.  Skree rushed to fight the boggards as Adeline cast haste.  Helg unleashed positive energy, ravaging the undead.  Callum followed it with a fierce fireball.  Herezis put his lance to work. 

Adeline fell victim to the stinking cloud, and most of the rest of the team fell victim to mass curse of impending blades.  The boggard deadites were slaughtered by Skree and Helg’s blades, but the necro-mite caused the team frustration.  Herezis got hit by its spine staff and was shocked by the wallop it dealt.  Helg tried to heal his allies with a channel positive energy near the undead, and it usurped it and turned it into negative energy!  As it tried to disappear into the stinking cloud, Skree struck it down!

Game summary for January 13, 2026, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Herezis Tahriol (Mongrelfolk Paladin played by Preston Harmon), Piper Quickstep (Human Druid-Mage played by John Osborne), Skree Grizzlehide (Mongrelfolk Gladiator played by Peyton Harmon), Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs), and Ursay (Mongrelfolk Slayer played by Paul Potter). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

Undead came pouring from the swamp. Some were human, some boggard. They were all bloated, rotting, and hideous. They all also seemed to be having a grand old time. Filled with glee, they rampaged through the swamp. A former shaman lurched through the mud. A zombie-like archer lumbered about, wielding a bow made of sinews and tendons still dripping with gore. Black-fletched arrows made of bone rode in a quiver made of flesh. The most bizarre among them were human, blob-like with either fat or bloat. Their stomachs was enormous and had multiple severed heads stitched to their bellies. They all spoke in different voices, arguing with themselves.

A spiked pole stood in the muck, feathers, beads, and charms swaying in the wind. The stench of rot thickened in the fog-choked swamp. Tied to the pole was an embalmed and mutilated corpse, animated with a semblance of life. From its split throat, the totem chanted “nikto… klaatu… Gleh…” and dark motes of black energy floated out into the air around it. Their ears rang. Their stomachs churned. The dead seemed to shudder in time with the beat.

Piper quickly cast mirror image and release the hounds.  Callum unleashed an empowered fireball that hit most of the foes and destroyed the corpse totem.  The skullbelly deadites approach biting with multiple heads.  Herezis charged one skullbelly, but his lance just ruptured one of the stitched on heads but didn’t seem to really effect the creature.  Herezis rode by to prepare for another charge.  The skullbelly deadite yelled, “You know what bites?  When I do this!” and ripped some of the stitched-on heads from its torso and hurled them at Herezis!  They both missed and dissolved into the swamp and reformed on the deadite.  Irritated, it ripped off its main head and hurled it at the paladin, biting him viciously!  The deadite shuddered and another head grew from the festering stump.

Ursay traded arrows with the deadite archer while the gurgling deadites closed in moving ever closer to Helg; fortunately, Skree stood between him and the monsters.  Snagy flew about on Stingy with his lance able to get to enemies the terrain made it difficult for others to approach.  The shaman cast obscuring mist which hampered visibility and frustrated the team by forcing movement and slowed their progress.  Callum tried to dispel the fog but fumbled the attempt.  Helg cut down a deadite in the fog using his magical sword.  Snagy catch an arrow from the string wretch deadite and suffered the black fletch curse, making him resistant to any healing magic! 

Callum cast another fireball and Piper hurled stone discus.  Skree slashed with his maca, cutting deep into dead flesh.  The skullbellies proved difficult to fight because their torso heads absorbed the blows like some kind of perverse mirror image effect.  Some area of effects helped bring them low.  The deadites were taunting, annoying, but ultimately unsuccessful in taking down the team.  The party cut down the undead and healed their own.  They were unable to remove the curse from Snagy, but they were able to get him temporarily patched up.

Off in the distance, they could hear more corpse totems chanting, an ominous sign of things to come.   

Game summary for January 6, 2026, 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), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Herezis Tahriol (Mongrelfolk Paladin played by Preston Harmon), Piper Quickstep (Human Druid-Mage played by John Osborne), Skree Grizzlehide (Mongrelfolk Gladiator played by Peyton Harmon), Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs), and Ursay (Mongrelfolk Slayer played by Paul Potter). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

The team continued into the swamp to seek out and destroy Gleh.  They came across an old hunter’s shack and a host of rotting deadites!  Several gurgling boggard and bogbound hopper deadites emerged from the swamp accompanied by a muckmaw giant deadite and a death ettin!  The half-dead ettin shambled forward and blasted the group with a miasma of doom, inflicting ghoul plague upon Snagy and Stingy!  The boggard deadites closed quickly clawing and biting and taunting. 

Piper cast greater invisibility and climbed astride Hammer for safety.  Ursay fired numerous arrows into a deadite.  Meanwhile, the muckmaw deadite lumbered forward, leaned over to bite Helg and swallowed him whole!  Herezis used his aura of justice to allow his allies to smite evil and then charged with his lance and divine ankylosaurus steed, impaling and killing the death ettin.  Skree started attacking the giant with his obsidian-edged macahuitl.  Adeline cast a very welcome haste upon the party.  Inside the deadite giant, Helg channeled positive energy and drew his boot knife.  Snagy, weakened by disease and flying on Stingy, still managed to land several telling blows. 

Scorching rays and stone discuses flashed about the field of battle.  Deadites screamed and burned yet still taunted and maimed.  The giant was brought down, and Helg cut himself free with his boot knife.  Soon, the deadites were simply dead once more.

Several of the team went into the cabin to explore and found a torn sheet of parchment, written in Helg’s handwriting, that seemed to be some kind of reversed prayer or a curse.  They burned the paper in the fireplace.  Helg was using detect magic and gazed into the wall mirror.  Suddenly, he saw his reflection leap out and grab him about the neck.  The rest of the team, however, saw Helg sudden grab himself with both hands by the throat and begin throttling himself.  Ursay pried his hands away and helped him come to his senses realizing he was simply choking himself and not being attacked.  Ursay then shattered the mirror.  The group examined the shack and found signs of blood.  They followed it outside and picked up trail of someone moving quickly at a weird gait into the swamp in the same direction they had been going. 

After a while, they found a bizarre flat stone with a symbol crudely drawn upon it.  Picking up the stone, they found it was covering a shallow hole occupied by a small undead frog.  The frog viciously (and completely ineffectually) attacked Skree!  It clung to his face kicking with its tiny undead frog legs.  Appalled by this undead mockery, Herezis grabbed it and ripped it to pieces.  Callum examined the rock and realized the mark was supposed to be one of warding but was done crudely by an amateur.  It had no arcane power and was of no supernatural use. 

Continuing to follow the footprints, the heard whispers of “Gleh… Gleh” ahead.  Ursay stealthily scouted ahead and found a man lying face down in the swamp, blood and mud mixing around his head.  The whispering seemed to come from the other side of the tree behind which Ursay hid.  He poked his head around and was horrified to find the flesh of a human face nailed to the tree!  The eyeless skin spoke “Gleh… Gleh…” and began to taunt the party.  Ursay rolled the body over and found it to be a trapper or hunter who had been injured in the leg recently.  The person they had been tracking!  At some point, the man’s face had been ripped from his skull and nailed to the tree behind him.  The face warned Helg that Gleh was coming for him.  It also called Herezis a “holy one” and voiced its disdain for him.  Offended by this thing’s existence, Herezis activated lay on hands and touched the skin.  It (and the body) burst into flames and ceased to communicate! 

Game summary for December 29, 2025, Chronoshift: Spelljammer campaign, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Callum Spellhardt (Human Sorcerer played by Parker Harmon), Helg Ingvar (Aasimar Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Herezis Tahriol (Mongrelfolk Paladin played by Preston Harmon), Piper Quickstep (Human Druid-Mage played by John Osborne), Skree Grizzlehide (Mongrelfolk Gladiator played by Peyton Harmon), Snagyndar Blackthorn (Huldran War Master played by Casey Scruggs), and Ursay (Mongrelfolk Slayer played by Paul Potter). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.

Things seemed darker in the Pelisso Swamp since the party left.  The sky was more overcast.  The gloom was thick and oppressive.  The biting insects seemed to bite more.  The mud sucked at their feet.  Flowers appeared withered.  Animals seemed more feral.  There was a sense of menace and doom all around.

They came across a dead deer lying and decaying in the tall grass.  Flies buzzed and droned around the corpse.  Suddenly, its eyelids opened, revealing sightless white orbs.  The head jerked up at an unnatural angle, and the deer began laughing hysterically.

A pair of massive frogodiles came crashing out of the swamp in a frenzy.  Charging behind them, maybe in pursuit or maybe just after the same meal, came rotting yet mobile corpses.  Their flesh was bloated by the swamp moisture and heat and even ruptured in places.  Maggots teemed and flies buzzed.

Herezis recognized the undead as deadites, bodies inhabited by otherworldly evil spirits that twist the bodies into a mockery of their former selves.  These deadites were corrupted boggards that leapt into battle with cruel taunting and vicious teeth and claws.  Skree moved into battle and sliced a piece of dead flesh off a deadite.  The undead frogman seemed unconcerned by the injury.  Piper cast quickened shield and mage armor and positioned Hammer in front of him for cover. 

One of the bogbound hopper deadites used an unholy leap to close with the party while screaming, “Hop to it mortal!  You’re late for your funeral!”  One of the frogodiles tried to snatch Snagy with its sticky tongue but failed.  Helg moved up and cast bane weapon on Ursay’s bow.  Another hopper jumped into the fray yelling, “BOING! Right into your face!”  A gurgling boggard deadite climbed upon a rock and proclaimed, “Gleh loves a screamer!” while unleashing a terrible cloak.  Fortunately, none of the party succumbed to its effect. 

Snagy summoned Stingy and activated battle tactics.  Callum steamed up the area with an impressive empowered fireball.  The other frogodile closed on Snagy and death rolled him to the ground!  Ursay whipped out his baned bow and unleashed a flurry of arrows at the undead!  Herezis found himself hemmed in between rocks, allies, and enemies, so he was unable to charge about.  However, his lance gave him the reach to attack several foes. 

The remaining boggard deadites came lurching in yelling phrases like “Time to gargle with doom!’ and “What’s that smell?  Oh, it’s you!”  Their sharp claws and teeth tore into the adventurers. 

The deadites proved a resilient threat with the team hurling several big spells such as flame strike, scorching ray, and searing light into their ranks to wear them down.  Much to the team’s dismay, the gurgling boggards exploded in a spray of acidic water when destroyed. 

Skree and Snagy both found themselves contending with the frogodiles trying to eat them.  This kept the reptiles busy while the rest of the team dealt with the deadites.  They eventually were able to fend off the beasts, and the team defeated this onslaught. 

In the aftermath, they built a crude raft and put the bodies of Finch, Hwrulf, and Hekera (brought back from the Forbidden City) upon it along with their furnace helm.  They returned to Aratheas’ hut and found it deserted.  The team decided to seek out Nada and see if he could tell them what is going on. 

They found the odd goblin preparing to leave the swamp, and he encouraged the team to leave Helg behind and flee as well.  He told them the vapors of his special veilroot pipeweed revealed Gleh is Helg but not Helg.  Gleh is the source of the deadites; wherever he goes, evil spirits inhabit and animate the bodies of the dead.  Nada told them Gleh will not rest until Helg is dead and Helg will not rest until Gleh is dead.  They debated for a while but decided the faster they deal with Gleh the fewer undead he will have created. 

They decided they would raise Hekera from the dead and set him up in Aratheas’ home to protect Professor Tormak as they go to rid the world of Gleh.