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Bedlam in the Badlands/The Story So Far

2026-05-18T01:37:47Z

MCAron: Started my Guest DM recap

{{Worldbuilders}}
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'''<big>This page is the [[campaign]] synopsis as told by the DMs. To read more intimate retellings of the PCs' adventures told in their own words (and those of their players), see '''[[Bedlam in the Badlands/Player Recaps]]</big>
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==Book 1==

===Session 1: Kickoff Megagame, part 1 (9/6/25)===

==== <big><strong>Trading Route Troubles</strong></big> ====
'''DM:''' Amanda

'''PCs:''' [[Pryderi]] (she/they), [[Chanterelle]] (she/her), [[Koro]] (he/him), [[Silgr]] (he/him), [[Rhogar Dreel|Rhogar]] (he/him), [[Davin Dunefoot|Davin]] (he/him), [[Rimsa]] (he/him)

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Lord Pavan|Lord Pavan]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Swordmaster Krispin|Swordmaster Krispin]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Kareek and Stanley|Tradesman Kareek]] (and his monitor lizard Stanley)

Seven brave souls took the Duke’s job to escort a trade caravan across the Badlands. They traveled with the caravan, meeting the traders and the leader of this specific caravan, the Lord Pavan and his bodyguard Krispin. They also met a peculiar lizardfolk trader named Kareek, and his semi-tamed monitor lizard Stanley, who were pulling a covered wagon filled with mysterious cargo.

Roughly halfway to their destination, the party spotted a group of shadowy figures on the horizon. Together, they used the wagons and trade goods to form a barrier surrounding the people and animals. They were beset by several flesh hounds and an abyssal hound. However, despite the hard battle, the demons were killed and the caravan protected. Most of the pack animals ran away in the midst of the battle, but minimal life was lost and only a few trade goods were destroyed.

After they'd successfully defended the caravan, a flare shot high into the air from the Arboretum. Lord Pavan urged everyone into one of the remaining wagons and rushed to their aid.

==== <big><strong>Out of the Pot</strong></big> ====
'''DM:''' Chris

'''PCs:''' [[Syl Vipershade|Syl]] (they/them), [[Gobbo Greenskin|Gobbo]] (they/them), [[Sixsplitter]] (he/him)

'''NPCs:''' [[Ter]], [[Garret]], [[Brandran]]

The crew received orders from Ter to go investigate a nearby [[The Shend|Shend]] camp. They met up with a caravan on its way to HQ. They made it a point on the trade route where they split and went into the uncharted Badlands. They easily found Vinaash Oasis. They looked around the oasis and found an unguarded cave. They noticed strange black ichor splattered about and Shend and prisoners massacred. The only prisoner alive could only convey to watch out for the bugs and bats. The party's curiosity got the best of them and they delved in too deep and discovered a hidden storage room where they were ambushed. As they escaped with their newfound friend Brandran, they looked back towards the Arboretum as they noticed the signal for help.

====<big><strong><s>Grind</s> Sparkburn, Smash, & Cleave</strong></big>====
'''DM:''' Mercedes

'''PCs:''' [[Stix]] (they/them), [[Razzadrog]] (he/him), [[Himo Nilo|Himo]] (he/him), [[Delaia]] (she/her), [[Demir]] (he/him), [[Caesana]] (she/her), [[Jynx]] (she/her)

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Raegina]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Baftzmyr]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Kicyr]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Cilvdyzwutca]]

Raegina called for <s>victims</s> volunteers to come and try out her cohorts newest set of scrap golems. The seven volunteers prepared themselves and handily destroyed the bots in record time, earning Raegina’s three goons looks of derision. Raegina offered to teach those adventurers who beat up the golems how to scrap and then rebuild the bots, each player adding an infusion of their own power. With bigger and better golems and a betting pool in place, the two teams of adventurers and the team of Raegina’s henchgals battled their golems until only the noble Sparkburn remained, earning their team a prize of 66 gold. The call for aid then came from the Arboretum and Raegina loaded up the adventurers (and Sparkburn) into her war rig to answer the call.

====<big><strong>Quasits Can't Hurt Ya</strong></big>====
'''DM:''' Guest DM Caleb

'''PCs:''' [[Leonard]], [[Avel]], [[Kex]], [[Larry]], [[Lincoln "Toots" Whiterock]], [[Ollie Ollivine]], [[Diana Belkacem]]

'''NPCs:''' Unknown

Engagement not documented.

====<big><strong>The Sheriff and the Storm</strong></big>====
'''DM:''' Cat

'''PCs:''' [[Ozmir Nightshade]] (he/him), [[Grymos]] (he/him), [[Pearl]] (she/her), [[Voscaera]] (she/her), [[Dallas]] (she/her), [[Lyrina]] (she/her)

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Gnash|Gnash]], [[Inguza ("Gooey")|Gooey]]

The Arboretum -- a remote trading hub sheltered within a petrified, stadium-sized tree that towered above the Pteris wastes -- was missing its sheriff. The plasmoid public servant, named Inguza ("Gooey", they/them), had gone out to investigate the latest and closest in a string of peculiar sandstorms.

"Inguza's in trouble," the no-nonsense, half-orc warrior Gnash said to no one in particular, "Follow me." She was heading for the northeast exit, a quarter-mile passage that had been dug through one of the tree's great, petrified roots. A rescue party mustered in her wake and hurried to catch up.

The group soon reached the unnaturally sharp edge of the half-mile-wide tempest, where Gnash located a crooked staff protruding from the sand and announced, "They entered here." She touched a large ring of bone to the staff and plunged into the storm, leaving the party to hustle after her again.

The wind inside whined unsettlingly; flying sand restricted everyone's vision and lashed their skin. But they all searched systematically until an angry bellow audible above the wind guided them to a two-headed tentacle demon, which they battled and slew. Behind it they spotted the barely conscious Gooey, who had absorbed a devastating amount of sand into their amorphous body. The companions tended to them briefly before carrying their semi-solid form back to the Arboretum's infirmary.

Some of the party had sustained minor lacerations from the storm's slashing sand, and while the injuries themselves appeared insignificant, the curious gold flecks that had appeared in their eyes afterward brought a nagging sliver of apprehension.
===Session 2: Kickoff Megagame, part 2 (9/6/25)===

==== <big><strong>Aggression from Above</strong></big> ====
'''DM:''' Amanda

'''PCs*:''' [[Pryderi]], [[Chanterelle]], [[Koro]], [[Silgr]], [[Rhogar Dreel|Rhogar]], [[Davin Dunefoot|Davin]], [[Demir|Demir (he/him)]]; '''*'''Reinforcements: [[Toots]] (he/him), [[Pearl Dust|Pearl]], [[Larry]] (he/him)

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Lord Pavan|Lord Pavan]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Swordmaster Krispin|Swordmaster Krispin]]

Rushing towards the Arboretum, everyone was greeted by a desperate scene. Demons everywhere, being fought off by people from every faction. Lord Pavan lead the seven brave souls through one of the root entrances and up to the top of the Arboretum. The open roof was being swarmed by hordes of flying demons bent on taking out the ballistas on the top of the battlements. A fight began.

They fought back the demons, saving all but one of the ballistas. The battle was harsh, knocking out several fighters before it was won.

==== <big><strong>And into the Fire</strong></big> ====
'''DM:''' Chris

'''PCs:''' [[Syl]], [[Sixsplitter]], [[Caesanna]], [[Jynx]], [[Lyrina]], [[Dallas]], [[Gobbo Greenskin|Gobbo]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Ter]], [[Brandran]]

As the party returned safely to the Arboretum, they were met by the others and Ter. He tasked them with an operation for espionage. He turned tail with Gobbo and Brandran (the prisoner from the Shend camp). The party spotted a moving caravan of creatures with two ballistas. They easily wiped the creatures out and dismantled the ballista.

====<big><strong>Addressing the Oliphaunt in the Rig</strong></big>====
'''DM:''' Mercedes

'''PCs:''' [[Stix]], [[Razzadrog]], [[Himo Nilo|Himo]], [[Delaia]], [[Leonard]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Raegina]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Baftzmyr]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Kicyr]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Cilvdyzwutca]]

As they sped forward, approaching one of the entrance roots, a large undead oliphaunt t-boned the war rig, completely turning it over and destroying both vehicles in the process. An infuriated Raegina beheaded the oliphaunt and commanded the adventurers to stand and destroy the demons in their path to clear the way into the arboretum.

Facing Pustuloids, Capra demons, Incultis and Lesser Rage demons, the party worked diligently to keep each other safe and get the demons out of the way. They pushed the oliphaunt off the entranceway and watched in awe as Raegina flipped the war rig off of Baftzmyr who had been pinned underneath.
After harvesting from the demons, the adventurers heard the loud boom of the Conservatory’s destruction and after facing a wave of wild magic, faced a final wave of fleeing demons as well, but claimed another victory!

====<big><strong>Hold the Line</strong></big>====
'''DM:''' Guest DM Caleb

'''PCs:''' [[Avel]], [[Kex]], [[Ollie Ollivine]], [[Diana Belkacem]]

'''NPCs:''' Unknown

Engagement not documented.

====<big><strong>Wait.. Kobolds?</strong></big>====
'''DM:''' Cat

'''PCs:''' [[Ozmir Nightshade]], [[Grymos]], [[Pearl]], [[Voscaera]], [[Lincoln "Toots" Whiterock]], [[Larry]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Sir Anthony|Sir Anthony]]

Just west of the Arboretum, the party hurried into position to wait uneasily for the inevitable demon incursion. What eventually came was kobolds. Dozens of light-blue clad kobolds scampered forward, several yards in advance of a single goat-like fiend, which they seemed very leery of. They made non-lethal attacks and spoke in Common, some invoking the name of the deity Kurtulmak, some issuing orders, and some asking for permission to use lethal force once they saw the party felling their allies left and right. The last one alive tossed down her dagger and cried "Sanctuary!" before being unceremoniously dispatched.

The goat demon's very presence rotted the flesh. Its sting immediately raised boils and took off patches of skin. It gave Ozmir a coughing fit that somehow produced a swarm of flies, for which he repaid the fiend with a blade through the throat.

While Grymos looted corpses, Pearl, Toots, and Larry rushed up to the tree's battlements to help defend against airborne threats. The enemy withdrew in the end, but not before staining the sand on all sides of the Arboretum with the blood of the allied forces of the Badlands.
===Session 3: The Tower That Wasn't <small>(9/21/25)</small>===
'''DM:''' Cat

'''PCs:''' [[Mezzi]] (they/them), [[Diana Belkacem|Diana]] (she/her), [[Davin Dunefoot|Davin]] (he/him), [[Dallas]] (she/her), [[Himo Nilo|Himo]] (he/him), [[Polvo]] (she/her)

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Sir Anthony|Sir Anthony]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Jerbo|Jerbo]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Dapple|Dapple]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Osteomancer|The Osteomancer]]

In the partially rebuilt Omnichapel, Sir Anthony, the bugbear paladin of Pelor who was now the formal leader the Arboretum, memorialized the recently fallen. Afterward, Jerbo, the gnome arcanist who once managed the magical Conservatory, told the adventures he hoped a loxodon known as the Osteomancer could explain why kobolds had joined the demons, so the group rented horses from the satyr stable keeper, Dapple, and rode to her hidden bunker.

The Osteomancer required them first to visit a "'negative tower' made not of stone but of Absence, a sealed wound in reality visible only in reflections," to re-seal the tear before its influence eroded meaning in the nearby area. "The longer something is exposed to it, the more it forgets what it is," she told them. When Davin asked about protection, she showed them a seven-foot, rune-inlaid, humanoid skull that allowed them to share memories to anchor one another in reality.

Near the "tower" all was still. The inside was a photonegative of itself. Himo began using the loxodon's magic to reseal the wound. White shadows drained the party members' senses of identity, bringing them closer to catatonia with each touch, while a faceless Custodian tried to erase them from reality entirely. They battled until the spell took hold, and they escaped the shadowy structure before it faded away.

In payment, the Osteomancer explained that in dragon-worshipping Swikedom, "the divine Blood Law relegates kobolds to the Thrall caste, below all save Warmbloods like us," but that kobolds who revere Kurtulmak above Tiamat may try to escape their thralldom, denying that the Blood Law is divinely ordained. "One such group," she revealed, "led by Snizz the Fortunate, used the demons as a way out of bondage, but their freedom -- such as it was -- ended when your comrades cut them down."

And she issued a warning, purportedly from a vision of a fire-scarred mesa: "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free."

=== Session 4: Werevultures by Night <small>(9/24/25)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Chris

'''PCs:''' [[Steady (Dee) Wind|Dee]], [[Delaiah]], [[Stix]], [[Davin Dunefoot|Davin]], [[Razzadrog]], [[Leonard]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Sukki]], [[Brandran]], [[Hektor]]

Asked by Sukki, the head of the casino, to deliver a recently rescued Shend prisoner to HQ. They began their 7 day secret journey along which they were spotted and attacked by these strange shapeshifting vultures. During the battle that ensued, the maddened deep gnome Brandran became cursed and began to flee. The group captured the two werevultures and Brandran and delivered them to Hektor at HQ.

=== Session 5: Bombs (and how not to make them) 101 <small>(9/27/25)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Mercedes

'''PCs:''' [[Syl]], [[Ollie Ollivine|Ollie]], [[Glorivesh|Gloria]], [[Koro]], [[Mizuka]], [[Avel]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Cilvdyzwutca]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Baftzmyr]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Kicyr]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Raegina]]

'''Keywords:''' Demons, Junkyard, Crafting, Scrapping

Invited by flyers hung in the Arboretum, our adventurers headed the three hour trek across the desert to [[the Junkyard]] to help clear it out of the left over demons that had been hiding in their after the siege. Cilvdyzwutca (Cilvdy) was put in charge of these recruits to have them help her build bombs to draw the demons out and then exterminate. Half of the party arrived already exhausted, but prepared to do their best on Cilvdy's patent-pending origami bomb assembly line.

Syl and Koro folded the paper frogs, Ollie and Avel filled those frogs with black powder, then they were fitted with the fuse and dipped in wax by Gloria and Mizuka. This went about as well as you would think it would, several of the bombs blowing up during the wax dipping process from exposure to the heat, causing panic and quite a bit of damage to Gloria and Mizuka.

Eventually Syl and Koro switched around their roles on the assembly line to ensure Gloria didn't die. Of the 12 bombs assigned, 7 were successfully made. Cilvdy tried to keep up her best encouragement while the other two of Raegina's minions just teased. From a distance, Koro noticed Raegina herself watching over them from her watchtower.

They then headed deeper into the Junkyard where they both found and were found by a horde of abyssal chickens and leeches. The adventurers had plenty of leech wounds by the time they managed to slaughter everything, but they all survived and none of them had any eggs laid inside their wounds! They then scrapped the demonic creatures for biological parts and were paid for their service!

=== Session 6: Find those Animals! <small>(9/30/25)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Amanda

'''PCs:''' [[Leonard]], [[Rhogar Dreel|Rhogar]], [[Avel]], [[Mezzi]], [[Demir]], and [[Razzadrog]]

'''NPCs:''' Dapple, [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Kareek|Kareek]] (and Stanley)

Upon seeing a new job hung in the central marketplace, the adventurers gathered together around one liaison to hear the details of the job. They were tasked to bring back the missing pack animals (or whatever animals they could find and bring back) that were lost during the demon attack on the arboretum. They were directed to one Dapple, keeper of the stables. together, they rented out one horse and cart from the stables and headed into the desert to search for the runaway animals.

It took a total of 3 days, but the party managed to find some animals. They managed to find and capture one wild dustrunner, rescue one camel beset by dust mephits, and one horse caught in the bottom of a giant ant lion pit. They fought off a demon possessed horse and managed to find one of the traders lost from the demon attack. Kareek and his monitor lizard Stanley were found on the side of a cliff, trapped beneath a broken cart and unable to move. However, as the adventurers descended to rescue them, a monstrosity made of half giant snake, half giant spider appeared from the gorge and attacked!

They defeated the spidersnake, saved Kareek and Stanley, and safely transported them and all the animals found back to the Arboretum. They were paid by the man who had offered the job and received a bonus for each animal returned.

=== Session 7: Tracking Demons 102 <small>(10/13/2025)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Mercedes

'''PCs:''' [[Steady (Dee) Wind]], [[Ozmir Nightshade]], [[Himo Nilo]], [[Razzadrog]], [[Stix]], [[Koro]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Baftzmyr]]

Baftzmyr put out a call for adventurers to assist her in tracking and taking down a very large demon that was under the sand.

She tells of how it sends out smaller creatures to aid it or search for something, so they must work with stealth and caution as she worries the creature under the sand is too large for any one of them to handle.

Baftzmyr leads the party and Sparkburn out into the desert and has them prove their worth at tracking down the demons, waiting until they find one of the small ones and waiting for someone to pick up it’s trail. Ozmir had eyes on the moving mound of sand first, leading the party into the desert even further east from the junkyard when they realized it was going to suddenly pop out of the ground. Recognizing this, Ozmir warned the party and they were able to prepare for the creature emerging. They found a strange looking Dretch, seemingly mutated in some way and with ease. It only took two party members to slay it. Would that mean the task ahead would be simple?

They continued forward into the desert and realized more dretch-sign was visible! Stix led the group now, tracking down 3-4 different sand mounds until they got to a large divot in the sand that was moving slightly, as if something very large was struggling beneath.

Stix took a very large bomb made from a origami pig by Cilvdyzwutca and put it in the center of the divot, quickly running away because Baftzmyr had already lit the fuse, and then the whole party watched as the explosion pushed all the sand away and revealed a huge demon in armor with a large lantern in it’s chest, struggling to get it’s legs out of the sand.

Having to balance to keep from falling in the pit of sand that kept pulling into the giant’s struggle, the adventurer’s did their best to slay the demon, but found mutated dretches at their sides to antagonize them. Himo, Koro, Steady Wind, and Razzadrog all found themselves down in the sand pit by the end, too close to the demon who pummeled them at every opportunity and the sand pulling them down underneath where sight and breath was impossible. Koro and Steady Wind kept finding themselves victim to the demon’s massive claws, losing consciousness over and over, leaving the others to call on Baftzmyr for aid.

Stix and Ozmir fought from above and did what they could to keep the dretches busy.

Razzadrog got the final blow, aiming for the lantern and then its eyes, but at that the lantern began to pulse with an abyssal light. The fight wasn’t quite over yet.

Himo attempted to free himself from the sand but couldn’t manage, and as the lantern finally blew, the fight ended with Koro and Steady Wind left in the sand, bleeding out. Thankfully Razzadrog was able to heal Steady Wind, Stix stabilizing Koro and then healing him so he could take part in scrapping the massive creature.

What was left of the creature was drug back to the scrapyard by Baftzmyr and her horse, and she received an earful from Raegina for not preserving the lantern, but the adventurers had slain it and were paid for their work.

=== Session 8: The Righteous and the Rootless <small>(10/14/2025)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Cat

'''PCs:''' [[Avel]], [[Razzadrog]], [[Leonard]], [[Himo Nilo]], [[The Scarlet Shadow]], [[Mezzi]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Gnash|Gnash]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Jerbo|Jerbo]], Kaelen, Velza

'''TLDR:''' Following up on a report of many unusual tracks to the east, the party learned a tribe of thri-kreen nomads were responsible, and they were forced to slay a group of thri-kreen scouts when diplomacy broke down. Nearby, they attacked a motley group and captured their leader, the righteous tiefling ex-scrapper Velza, who had split with Regina after repeatedly prioritizing the wellbeing of Badlands residents above Raegina's mission.

'''Events:'''

The half-orc ex-mercenary Gnash was worried again. Scouts 100 miles east of [[the Arboretum]] had lost the trail of a large group of unknown humanoids with peculiar footprints who had been moving toward the tree. At her request (and with some difficulty), the [[gnome]] arcanist Jerbo used a Wind Walk scroll to expedite the party's investigation. Their landmarks for navigation included the rotting carcass of a giant worm as well as the distant Mount [[Toi'Viral]] -- named for the renegade demon whose [[Wish]] had essentially ended [[the Holy War]] against the [[dragon]]s more than a century earlier.

In the hamlet of Drywater just beyond the great salt flat, the party met the [[vulpine]] druid Kaelen, through whom they would be able to relay any time-sensitive messages back to the Arboretum. At the end of the trip east, aerial scouting easily identified their destination, where the the Scarlet Shadow deduced that the mysterious tracks were those of dozens of insectoid [[thri-kreen]] who had burrowed into the sand where the tracks ended. The adventurers pursued four thri-kreen who had continued west toward the crumbling Fort Thurirlak. A brief parley failed, the alien humanoids attacked, and the party dispatched them before proceeding to the fort.

Among the ruins were two dead Federation personnel, apparently slain by the group of people who were occupying the chamber beneath the structure and trying to repair an unstable Infernal power core in order to operate a miniature war rig. This time the party shot first. When only the group's tiefling leader remained alive, she set the unstable core to explode, and fell to Mezzi's Sleep spell while attempting to flee. They bound her, recovered useful parts from the destroyed rig, then cast Detect Thoughts and interrogated the captive.

The adventurers learned that the tiefling was an ex-scrapper called Velza who'd wanted to power the rig to defend a local tribe against demon incursions, and who'd repeatedly locked horns with Raegina about prioritizing projects like this over the mission. They traveled back west to hand the captive over to Raegina and to report their findings to Gnash.

=== Session 9: Corruption Runs Deep <small>(10/15/25)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Chris

'''PCs:''' [[Rhogar Dreel|Rhogar]], [[Delaiah]], [[Stix]], [[CB]], [[Grymos]], [[Ollie Ollivine|Ollie]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Sha'Kon|Sha'Kon]]

A new face from the federation, a thri-kreen named Sha’Kon had tasked a simple plan to set up a new Federation outpost in the Vaneesh Oasis. While there, the party killed many shapeshifted creatures. They followed the secret path deep under the oasis, setting up a safe passage down. At the bottom of a seemingly endless passage, they found an open entrance to a dark and damp tunnel system. In this web-covered tunnel, they encountered a wolf-spider and some prey. After killing the spider and disarming a hobgoblin prisoner, the group collapsed the entrance using some bombs and scurried away back to the Arboretum.

=== Session 10: Problems in the Port Town <small>(10/21/2025)</small> ===
PCs: [[Lenore]], [[Syl]], [[Lyrina Moonshadow]], [[Bob Celestio]], [[Voscaera]], [[Delaiah]]

NPCs: Krispin, Bright Patch, Kardyl Starkmark, Chrisanthemum (chrissy), Brior Windward

A team of brave adventurers turned investigators were sent to the port city of Arrafell to investigate a series of disappearances. People and trade goods had gone missing over the past two months. Lord Pavan, on behalf of the duke, sent for help in the form of the team from the Arboretum.

Upon arrival to the port city, Krisipin, Lord Pavan's swordmaster, met with them. He informed them of the situation and pointed them to different locations they could investigate.

First they traveled to the Tradesman's guild. There they spoke with a number of tradespeople and with the head of the guild, Bright Patch. They learned more about what had been happening and who could potentially be responsible.

Then the party split.

Lenore and Syl went to the craftsman's guild, hoping to find a hinted at thieves guild somewhere within it's walls. They didn't find anything, but Lenore became a member of the craftsman's guild.

Delaiah and Bob went to the tavern; the Bubbling Well, and spoke with the barkeep, Kardyl Starkmark. She spoke about new ships coming in and people disappearing, goods vanishing, and who could be behind it.

Lyrina and Voscaera went to the warehouse where the trade goods were being stored. They attempted to break in, but were caught by the guards and taken to the barracks to speak with the captain of the guard, Brior Windward.

The team reconvened at the guardhouse after things were sorted out and Lyrina and Voscaera were released. Everyone then went back to the warehouse for further investigation.

=== Session 11: The Ballad of Sandra Sanderson <small>(10/22/2025)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Mercedes

'''PCs:''' [[Ollie Ollivine]], [[Razzadrog]], [[Stix]], [[Delaiah]], [[Himo Nilo]], [[Ozmir Nightshade]], [[Leonard]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Sandra Sanderson|Sandra Sanderson]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Cilvdyzwucta]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Jitcwal]], ''[[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Shabby Scales Posse|the Shabby Scales]]''

A [[yuan-ti]] textile worker named Sandra Sanderson requests the aid of local heroes to help drive out a Gnoll and its pack of hyenas from her tent!

The adventurers headed out to the west and found themselves at Sandra’s tent, currently inhabited by a [[gnoll]] warrior, four hyenas and two giant hyenas. They killed one of the hyenas immediately and it simply disappeared. The work of a conjugation spell. No matter! The party made quick work of the hyenas and the gnoll, which then, against Sandra’s protest, they skinned and gave her the skin for her textile work.

While the others took a short rest from their fight, Himo Nilo and Ozmir did a quick look around, finding a smuggler’s stash nearby and, inside, all of Sandra’s textiles.

She gave each of the adventurers a gift of a piece of clothing she’d made, but something seemed very fishy to Ozmir. He warned the others that he though they needed to get back to the Arboretum as soon as possible.

Leonard and Himo stayed behind in the smuggler’s cache to watch Sandra carefully, as she had invited Stix to be her guest for the weekend.

The others got to the Arboretum and discovered Sandra set them up! While they were away, a band of “gnolls” had attacked the Scrappers’ cart, and Cilvdy and Jitcwal were taken! With a closer look, the tracks left behind seemed more like lizardfolk and yuan-ti than gnolls.

Back at Sandra’s, Himo and Leonard watched as the Shabby Scales wagon pulled up, packed up Sandra’s things and Stix, and took off to the west.

=== Session 12: The Vulpine, the Doll and the Corpse Girl <small>(11/8/2025)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Mercedes

'''PC:''' [[Steady (Dee) Wind]], [[Koro]], [[Gobbo Greenskin|Gobbo]], [[Rhazzdrog]], [[Diana]], [[Demir]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Shabby Scales Posse|The Shabby Scales Posse]], Sandra Sanderson, Leiloni, [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Cilvdzwucta|Cilvdyzwutca]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Jitvwal]], [[Stix]]

Using valuable information gleaned from Koro, Syl and Himo's downtimes, our adventurers set out on a pack of horses sent to them by the Scrappers, all bearing the Scrapper brand. They left for a rendezvous point where the Shabby Scales would apparently be trading over Stix, Cilvdy and Jitcwal to a party representing the [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Baroness of Filth|Baroness of Filth]], who in her anger of losing her husband, the Baron, had put out a reward for the handing over of any scrappers or anyone who had been there when her husband was killed.

The party arrived at the meet up place, Triton's Terrace, a small oasis to the East of the Arboretum by a few days. They scoped out and found a single body guard standing out front, Farrier, a large snakefolk. Deciding not to waste time, a fight ensued, soon enough Slim, Tim and Jim, a trio of lizardfolk joined as well as several demons. Steady Wind, Gobbo, and Demir struggled to stay up as the fight continued, but just as a demon was about to change Steady Wind's body into a new abyssal being, Froggy defended him and saved him from a terrible fate. Seeing Koro had the Abyssal Lantern of Filth, Sandra attempted to take it back, but missed and after being thoroughly beaten, Dimension Door-ed away, as did her companion, Leiloni.

When the sand cleared, only our heroes stood tall. Koro quickly abandoned the Lantern of Filth, as it had been echoing in his mind and causing him disadvantage against fighting demons. Froggy attempted to lift it, but found itself blown up in the process. They left the lantern outside with Leo to watch it, but when they emerged from the cave later, it was gone. Inside a booby-trapped cave, the adventurers were able to find our trio of missing friends as well as contracts and bounties between the Baroness of Filth and the Shabby Scales. Now all that was left was to face the Baroness in her lair!

=== Session 13: Give Jewelspar the Weapon (Or: A Prophecy Deferred) <small>(11/9/2025)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Cat

'''PCs:''' [[Ozmir Nightshade]], [[Grymos]], [[Avel]], [[Stix]], [[Ollie Ollivine|Ollie]], [[Polvo]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Archmage Nimz|Erland Nimz]] (he/him), Lirezel (she/her), Alinar (he/him), [[Bedlam_in_the_Badlands/NPCs#Sir_Anthony|Sir Anthony]]

A few hours after two enormous, colorful sails in the distance caught people's attention, a simple, elegant sand ship sailed up to the Arboretum. The three nobly clad elves disembarked: Erland Nimz of [[Jewelspar]], his right hand, Lirizel, and his guardian, Alinar. Nimz told Sir Anthony he required volunteers to help retrieve a powerful weapon, long safeguarded in the desert, which he would wield against the demons in defense of his city.

With the promise of a reward, a party soon boarded the elven sandrunner Shimmerwing, which carried them north for a day and a night using both wind and magic. Nimz cloaked the ship in an illusion, saying "Now everyone remember where we parked," before leading them up to a hidden entrance on the side of a tall mesa and through its maze of tunnels, which he appeared to navigate with ease.

After eliminating a group of guardian constructs, the team reached a giant stone door with an inscription in Elven indicating that whoever removed the weapon from the vault beyond would gain a mark of an unknown nature. Avel used a Knock spell to release the door lock, and a group effort wrenched it open. Beyond, a metal hallway led to a room that was shrouded in darkness -- to all but Stix, who was immediately blinded by the light of a Prismatic Sphere.

Nimz tried beginning the slow work of destroying the abjuration, only to discover the devastating truth -- that it lay nested inside an Antimagic Field -- a turn of events for which he was entirely unprepared. He cursed and consulted his Globe of Legend Lore for several minutes.
"Nothing," he lamented. "We won't be releasing the weapon today."

Upon exiting the mesa, the group was confronted by a Draegloth -- a type of demon created by drow elves.
"How dare she?!" Nimz exclaimed.
The demon responded, "I do as I please. Now relinquish your prize!"
Nimz laughed dryly, and the demon attacked. But Lirizel was able to Banish it before it seriously harmed anyone.

True to his word despite his failure, Nimz compensated each member of the group for their efforts with a small magic item and some coin

=== Session 14: Check on the Livestock (11/15/2025) ===
'''DM''': Amanda

'''PCs''': [[Rhogar Dreel|Rhogar]], [[Syl Vipershade|Syl]], [[Himo Nilo|Himo]], [[Silgr Þyrikk|Silgr]], [[Mizuka]], [[Voscaera]]

'''NPCs''': Saltique Petra (she/her)

The group of adventurers requested by Lord Pavan set out from the arboretum to meet with Saltique Petra, one of the badland nomads, to check on the livestock the shepherds took care of. The Duke was worried that demons were attacking the source of the trade that had made the port city of Arrafell so prosperous.

After meeting with the Saltique, the team traveled together across the badlands, braving sandstorm and flash flood alike. Once in the wilderness, the Saltique gave them the task of collecting magic plants and herbs.. The livestock were considered "free range" and needed to be lured out with bait. In foraging for plants, the team found themselves beset by giant trapdoor spiders! A tricky battle followed, but all the spiders were slain and bait was gathered.

With the bait set in a bottleneck between rock formations, the group lay in wait for the livestock to appear. And after a time, 2 giant desert worms erupt from the earth and go after the bait. Soon after, strange shepherds appear alongside demons. The new group attacks the worms. Saltique Petra cries out in alarm, urging the party to protect the worms! A fight ensues! Silgr gets swallowed by a worm! Saltique Petra dives in after him! They both get spat out, but Rhogar gets swallowed by a worm instead! It's chaotic! The other worm swallows a demon and is slowly poisoned. It attempts to flee as the party fights off the assailants. In doing so they discover that the strange shepherds were actually corpses piloted by demons! If either worm should die, it would have become a puppet for those monsters!

It was a tough fight, but the party killed all the demons except for the one eaten by the worm. One worm escaped, but all the fighting drew in a grandpappy worm! It ate the remaining smaller worm and disappeared into the earth. Safe, but with more questions, the party was paid nicely.

=== Session 15: The Mother's Crater (11/22/2025) ===
'''DM''': Chris

'''PCs''': [[Grymos]], [[Ozmir Nightshade|Ozmir]], [[Avel]], [[Razzadrog]], [[The Girl Bard Named Leonard|Leonard]], [[Himo Nilo]]

'''Important NPC'''s: Sha’Kon/Sha'wok (the twins), Moxy (wayfinder pet), Bonnet.

The team met the twins, a pair of identical thri-kreen, who spoke to them about (top secret) <s>a possible spy who has been leaking information to the opposing forces</s>. They spoke of the discovery of a sand storm similar to the one at the attack on the Arboretum.

The team, guided by Moxy, traveled three days north to a what seemed like a crater. In the fairly large crater, sat the sand storm. Poking out from the center of the sand storm where 4 points of sand stone.

The team hesitant, traveled into the sand storm and discover some form of shrine from an ancient lizard race. Four monolith stood tall surrounding an altar depicting a tree. On each of the monolith had a representation of the four cardinal directions with symbology.

North: Mother

South: War

East: Nature

West: Logic

While investigating, the ley line, the voice of Bonnet rang out threatening the party. After a party member took a shot at them from far away, the voice threatened Himo by name and left with the sand storm.

=== Session 16: TBA (12/3/2025) ===
'''DM''': Chris

'''PCs''': [[Mezzi]], [[Stix]], [[Koro]], [[Ollie Ollivine]], [[Demir Malchan]], [[Polvo]]

'''Important NPC'''s: TBA

TBA

=== Session 17: The Perturbation of the Veiled Pyre <small>(12/6/2025)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Cat

'''PCs:''' [[Mezzi]], [[Leonard]], [[Razzadrog]], [[Polvo]], [[Himo Nilo|Himo]]

'''NPCs:''' Eddarux, [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Osteomancer|the Osteomancer]], Durgerd Tazrikarn (RIP)

The Osteomancer's kobold contact Eddarux had confirmed the rumors that the dragon-worshipping lands of [[Swikedom_Kingdom|Swikedom]] had unearthed Infernal weapons, remnants of [[the Infernal Emergence]] centuries ago. In particular, he knew some of these would soon be transported to Lady Tazrikarn's palace to be recharged with Infernal energies, presenting a possible opportunity to seize them.

When a party willing to make the attempt arrived at the southern edge of Shepherd territory, Eddarux led them to an obsidian cairn marking the Swikedom border, one of hundreds of markers spaced about a third of a mile apart and capped with carved symbols of [[Quelmar_Creation_Myths#The_Four_Dragons|the Four Dragons]]. This particular cairn proved to be a carefully constructed facade which the kobold unlocked to lead the party through a secret tunnel into Swikedom.

They emerged at a work camp where subservient kobolds stretched hides on wooden frames and stirred acrid pits of white liquid, overseen by copper dragonborn.

The next morning, the group traveled south to a rocky ravine, through which "Ed" had assured them the transport team would soon pass. In a carefully planned ambush, they slew several black and white dragonborn warriors whose arms bore the emblem of [[Swikedom_Kingdom#House_Tazrikarn_–_The_Veiled_Pyre|House Tazrikarn]], along with their guard drake and their unusual purple-scaled leader. The small, ornate chest the purple dragonborn carried exploded with force when Himo opened it. Inside were eight small, intact metal calottes, each tinged with a greenish-yellow sheen and marked with an unfamiliar, jagged rune. The adventurers determined that each calotte could make a weapon nominally magical and, if first charged via something called a Hellfire Lantern, could also render the weapon more effective against [[demon|demons]].

On the road back toward the border, the party encountered a caravan of five finely crafted wagons pulled by drakes and accompanied by a large, [[Swikedom_Kingdom#Swikedom_Caste_System|mixed-caste]] group made up of:
- a few lizardfolk and wyvernborn servitors,
- a dozen black/white warriors,
- a half dozen copper/brass artisans,
- a few green/bronze scholars, and
- two nobles, one blue and one silver
The reptilians regarded the party as members of the animal caste, below even kobold thralls and hence forbidden to travel unaccompanied. But Mezzi had taken the guise of a green dragonborn and was able to usher the lowly warmbloods past without significant hostilities.

The next day, the party returned north across the border into Shepherd territory and were promptly confronted by five humanoids in familiar, metal masks. The cultists attacked with purpose, but soon used magic to flee for their lives. The adventurers then trekked back to the Arboretum with the uncharged calottes, able to provide the Alliance with only nominal magical aid, for now.

=== Session 18: The Lair of Those Who Wallow <small>(12/9/2025)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Mercedes

'''PCs:''' [[Mizuka]] (R.I.P.), [[Abraham Marr]] (R.I.P.), [[Glorivesh|Gloria]], [[Nid]], [[Voscaera]], [[Syl Vipershade|Syl]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Raegina]], "Sandra Sanderson", Leiloni, [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Those Who Wallow|The Baroness of Filth]]

After being given provisions by Raegina and the other women of the Junkyard, including Sunflower Flashbangs and Soul Coins [that Raegina pressed upon them MUST be returned], the six adventurers headed out on a two week journey following the map they found to go to the Mire, the home of the Baroness of Filth.

Along the way, they learned quirks about each other, bonded with their horses from the Junkyard, and discovered who was the best cook among them (and the worst).

Once they reached a small grove of petrified trees, stained red on one side, they knew they’d found the Mire.

They headed into the red tinged swamp and were first greeted with Maw demons who brought the heroes out into the open so the Baroness could line them up and cast Lightning Bolts through them.

The battle was long, painful, the threat of death wasn’t even the worst that could come as the adventurers of these badlands learned that with the very lamp Koro had carried on his hip for days, the Baroness of Filth could merely react and change a fallen ally into an immediately bloodthirsty demon.

First Mizuka, then Abraham met their grisly fate, their murderous pasts drawn out and demonizing them, now Wallows of the Filth. Sandra, one of these Wallows now too, crept along the edge of the fight, while the Herald of the Baroness, Leiloni, though stoic the whole time, missed every swing with her death blade, and it clattered to the ground when she was slain.

With efforts of Syl, Gloria, and Nid, Sandra and Mizuka were both exorcised as well, but the Baroness stood strong.

''Bane''d by Syl, and with her own Herald’s death blade now in Voscaera’s hands, the Baroness finally met her fate, destroyed, and the Incisors of Ignition wrenched from her chest to power the engine of the War Rig.

=== Session 19: A Betrayal in the Badlands (12/17/2025) ===
'''DM''': Amanda

'''PCs''': [[Markandros]], [[Nikodemus]], [[Avel]], [[Razzadrog]], [[The Girl Bard Named Leonard|Leonard]], [[Himo Nilo|Himo]]

'''NPCs''': Satlique Petra, Vettik Herbert, various unnamed encampment NPCs, Yuru the Tortle, and Nacha and Sa (RIP) the lizardfolk couple.

Saltique Petra meets the party in the Arboretum, giving them the job of routing out a traitor in the midst of a shepherd encampment. The 6 brave adventurers accepted the job and headed out into the badlands to meet up with the head of the shepherds; Vettik Herbert. It is a 2 week trip out into the badlands. Along the way they evade sandstorms and find water in hollows of cactuses. When they arrive at the meeting place, there is no sign of the vettik. However, as they go to investigate the area, Demons appear out of a cave and swoop down upon them! These Vargouilles have been forcing Vettik Herbert into hiding in a nearby ditch, for if they kiss you, you are cursed into becoming one by the end of the day. They easily rid themselves of the demon pestilence, but not before Himo is cursed to become one of them. They find a demon summoning circle in the cave, leading credence to the idea that the traitor amongst the shepherds set a trap for the party.

Vettik Herbert thanks the party and leads them swiftly to the encampment cleverly hidden in a gorge between rock formations and illusioned from the outside. He instructs them to speak with the shepherds here and figure out who could be betraying them. He asks that they do so secretly, without alerting the traitors to any investigations. In speaking to various NPCs, they discover who has been recently added to the Shepherd's fold. Markandros and Nikodemus befriend a lizardfolk couple, Nacha and Sa. They promise them a job on the next harvest if they are still interested. Himo talks to Yuru and learns more about the shepherds via the healer. Avel, Razzadrog, and Leonard interrogate various NPCs until disaster strikes! An NPC is suddenly found dead in a tent. There are traces of Demonic energy. The camp is sent into an uproar! The order is sent out. the camp prepares to leave. Himo casts a spell and suddenly, three NPCs are revealed to have illusion magic surrounding them. Himo and Avel strike and the jig is up as 3 cultists in silver masks are revealed. A battle breaks out as 3 caustic demons also drop their illusions and attack. The battle is hard won, the demons reduced to ashes, one cultist felled, and one shepherd killed in battle (Sa the lizardfolk). Two of the cultists managed to escape. Vettik Herbert was grateful to the heroes and paid them well. He also gifted them mounts to use in desert travel. Leonard found a pair of Surefoot Boots to help her in the adventures to come. Himo was able to tear off a silver mask, but it melted, ruining the face of the cultists and scarring Himo's hands terribly. Himo was also cured from the curse by Yuru!

=== Session 20: Holly Jolly Sparklemas <small>(12/20/2025)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Mercedes

'''PCs:''' [[Delaiah]], [[Stix]], [[Ozmir Nightshade|Ozmir]], [[Ollie]], [[Mezzi]], [[Avel]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#The Junkyard|Raegina]], Janglehop

Raegina calls together a group of adventurers because when she awoke in the morning, there were Sparklemas decorations everywhere, stockings for Cilvdy, Baftzmyr, Kicyr and Jitcwal, decorated trees, and a pile of coal sitting at the base of Raegina's watchtower. The cambion suspects this is the work of a previously dismissed Junker; a gnome called Janglehop who loved this gnomish holiday.

As the party inspected the mysterious Sparklemas decor, suddenly the Junkyard came under the attack of the gnome himself! In a sleigh built into a mecha, as well an army of toys he's developed during his time away from the junkyard: Teddy Squeez'ems, based on a living teddy bear that was rumored to hug people to death in Southern Pteris, a small clockwork dragon, tiny tin soldiers that marched in battalions. While the little soldiers overwhelmed Mezzi, Stix burned away the teddies and Delaiah and Ozmir played bait and attack with the Clockwork dragon, avoiding it's fiery breath. Avel and Ollie did what they could to help take down the big sleigh mech and when the mech had been defeated, Janglehop surrendered.

He complained that he wouldn't have to do all this if Raegina had just let him celebrate Sparklemas! but Raegina in turn explained that the reason she threw Janglehop out of the junkyard wasn't because he wanted to celebrate this holiday, but instead because he was lazy the rest of his time under her direction until this holiday came about and then he actually worked.

Raegina says she will take Janglehop back if he can put in this kind of effort always and that she's impressed with what he has created while he was gone. In his delight of being accepted back, Janglehop pulls out a holly jolly bag of hold-iday cheer and offers each of the adventurers a gift. They then have a grand celebration with all of the Junkers!

=== Session 21: TBA (1/23/2026) ===
'''DM''': Chris

'''PCs''': [[Syl Vipershade]], [[Ollie Ollivine]], [[Lenore]], [[Dallas]], [[Suyuka]], [[The Scarlet Shadow]]

'''Important NPC'''s: TBA

TBA

=== Session 22: Those Who Rend <small>(1/24/2026)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Mercedes

'''PCs:''' [[Rhogar Dreel|Rhogar]], [[Himo Nilo|Himo Nilo,]] [[Nid]] (RIP), [[Gobbo Greenskin|Gobbo]] (RIP), [[The Girl Bard Named Leonard|Leonard]] and [[Razzadrog]]

'''NPCs:''' The Smog of Smithereens, the Undead Wraith Mayor of Opek

Baftzmyr, the tracker of demons for the Junkers, has found a second great relic for the war rig. Mounted inside another demon, the Smog of Smithereens, is the Manifold of Malevolence, an internal mechanism that could be used as a powerful exhaust system. It lies in wait in an underground water-mining town South of the Arboretum, called Opek. The Smog infested it with its shadows and choked the people out and poisoned the water there to then fill it with his smoke and poisons.

Raegina bands together a group of adventurers, promising them good fortune if they return with the relic and providing them with powerful boons and weapons to assist them on their quest. Using Baftzmyr's map and the Junkers' horses, they travel three days South to the underground town's opening. As they arrive there, they delve into the darkness only to find pin pricks of light floating about. The souls of the lost in the smog wander the town still as ghosts, will o' wisps and a grand Wraith, the previous mayor. When Gobbo, Nid and Himo scout ahead, they attack one of the will o' wisps and the undead of the town awaken to defend it, the Mayor calling out that they must snuff out these "new demons, come to attack again". Rhogar pleads that they may just need to explain to the undead that they are not demons, but the rest of the party lays waste to these souls, banishing them from the living realm, still discontent with what become of their home.

They search the town and while it's mostly been searched over, they find some coin, some health potion and Gobbo discovers important documents: the deed to the town, as well as the mining rights and the blueprints for the mining operation when it was last up and running before the demon took over.

After looting the town, they start to go deeper, towards the mine and a temple just before it. As they enter, a thick obscuring fog is in their way, choking them with poison and making it near impossible to see the shadow demons as they attack. These minions of the Smog of Smithereens crept their way through the smoke to try to drown out the adventurers. Rhogar succumbs a sleeping smog that passes through, leaving him apart from the group for a long period while Himo Nilo backed out into the town to catch his breath and the others pressed ahead.

Victim to the constant barrage of sickening poison smoke, Nid fell again and again despite his best efforts. Gobbo stayed close to him and together, the Greenskin crew heads into the room with the Smog of Smithereens first, doing what they can to attack the great demon themselves while the others fall over themselves to get rid of the shadows.

Razzadrog and his Mark move into the room next with Leonard close behind. Eventually Himo arrives too and together, the group is able to take down the Smog of Smithereens and as Rhogar finally awakens and finds his way into the final room to help destroy the demon, the poison from the overwhelming burst that comes from the Manifold in its demise drops all of his allies, Nid and Gobbo. With one final chokehold, the poison kills Nid and Gobbo before Rhogar can save them. He rescues the rest of the party and though they take the relic to Raegina, the party chooses to forgo payment, instead asking Raegina to raise Gobbo from the dead.

Raegina agrees, but when she casts the spell, she finds that Gobbo Greenskin's soul is unwilling to return without their brother, Nid.

In morning, the party returns to the Arboretum.

=== Session 23: Return to Drywater <small>(2/9/2026)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Cat

'''PCs:''' [[Blondie]], [[Razzadrog Eyepoker|Razzadrog]], [[Leonard]], [[Himo Nilo]]

'''NPCs:''' Riven, Kaelen (RIP)

The Fantuzzi's Follies performance troupe delivered Riven (they/them), an exhausted [[wrought]] from Drywater, to the Arboretum. They explained that the hamlet's tech-savvy guardians had vanished over two months ago -- leaving only a magic device the locals called The Pillar to defend them when the demon attacks had finally resumed two tendays ago. But the Pillar had failed several days ago, and the fiends had poured in.

Humble cactus farmers witnessed demons slaying their young first. Terror turned to horror when the children began to rise as demons and fall upon their parents, and those left alive were forced to hide or flee. Riven's elven mistress, Astrel, gave her life in the battle, and with the vulpine druid Kaelen nowhere to be seen, Riven grabbed what they could and fled for the Great Tree.

After hearing the tale, the party rode east for Drywater, wasting no time investigating rumors of "water demons" at the great salt flat along the way. A Drywater halfling intercepted the group and ushered them to a camp, where a dozen refugees were making slings from cactus fiber and Kaelen greeted most of the party by name, eager to join them to retake the hamlet.

The adventurers were able to surprise a few demons with a fireball, and were making their way through Drywater's palisade when Kaelen, possessed by a demon, turned on them. Most of the demons they slew were former townsfolk, but the hamlet was clear of fiends when the battle was over.

They found the Pillar, a black metal obelisk protruding four feet out of the ground. It had faint sigils that occasionally flickered red, overlaid with cracked holy runes and copper conduits, and it gave off a repulsive smoky odor. Those with an understanding of the arcane knew enough to know they wouldn't be able to restore it themselves, and that Drywater would remain undefended for the time being.

=== Session 24: Glare of the Gargoyle <small>(2/14/2026)</small> ===
'''Guest DM:''' Keller

'''PCs:''' [[Himo Nilo|Himo Nilo,]] [[The Girl Bard Named Leonard|Leonard]], [[Razzadrog]], [[Stix]], [[Kamon]], [[Dallas]]

'''NPCs:''' Sazni, The Gargoyle, the Bounty Hunter Barr Kett, San Fortune, the Goliath Bard Sandchez, the Broodbeetle Demon

The party was gathered together by the half-orc warrior Sazni at the Arboretum. Sazni explained that the Arboretum was hoping to expand their trade routes, and to do so, they needed access to a road through the mountains called Wyrm's Rock Pass, which was under the control of a brigand known as ''"The Gargoyle."'' Weeks ago Sazni had sent three diplomats to speak with the Gargoyle and negotiate access to the pass, but they have since disappeared. The party's job would be to discover what happened to these diplomats and to secure access to Wyrm's Rock Pass.

Traveling through the desert, the party arrived at the pass and beheld a large monastery at the top of the cliff, the current lair of the Gargoyle and his allies. At the mountain's base were two bandits and a simple pully elevator. After an altercation with the bandits where one of the bandits was killed, the other bandit, a goblin named Muck, explained that the diplomats had entered the monastery, but never left. Nearby the party found the picked clean bones of the diplomat's horses.

Traveling up the elevator, the party gained access to the monastery, known as Scholar's Rest Monastery, and met with the Gargoyles assistant, a [[tiefling]] man named San Fortune, along with two goliath enforcers named Griff and Gruff. As the party was led inside, they passed some strange looking monks with brilliant green eyes who seemed to leave green beetles in their trails. Led to the monastery's central chamber, the party met more of the gargoyles allies including the bounty hunter Barr Kett, and the goliath bard Sandchez, whom Dallas owed money to. In addition, they found one of the diplomats chained up, though her eyes were a brilliant green, and she said she didn't not want to leave.

Investigating the tunnels beneath the monastery with a summoned animal familiar, Kamon discovered large slimy cocoons, more of the strange monks, and some of the Gargoyle's servants who were harvesting the slime from the cocoons. Soon after, entered the leader of the bandits, the Gargoyle, a large muscular earth genasi man with stone grey skin and short pointed horns. The Gargoyle apologized for having to take the diplomats, but offered the party 200 gold each to leave without them, and in return the Gargoyle would also give the Arboretum access to the pass. The party was about to take the deal until they pressed more about why the Gargoyle took the diplomats. The Gargoyle revealed that he and his bandits had discovered Scholar's Rest Monastery already fallen to the influence of a terrible demon. This demon sought to fill humanoid creatures with its abyssal insectoid spawn and turn them into mindless hosts for its children to control and feed on. The gargoyle and his men managed to trap the demon in a chamber beneath the monastery, but discovered that the demons secretions when treated with the right alchemical properties was indistinguishable from gold. So the Gargoyle took up positionin the monastery, capturing a few travelers a month to sacrifice to the demon, and in return the Gargoyle would then harvest its secretions and profit.

Horrified by this revelation, the party attacked, only for the Gargoyle to open a secret trap door beneath them, dropping some of the party into the demon's lair. The demon, a massive green Broodbeetle, attacked, while the rest of the party fought off the Gargoyle and his men. After the fight, the party managed to kill most of the gargoyles forces, squash the Broodbeetle, and behead the gargoyle himself. Barr Kett surrendered and both he and Sandchez were offered work at the Arboritium. The party destroyed the remaining beetle hosts and saved the last two diplomats from becoming hosts themselves.

With the Gargoyle and the Broodbeetle dead, Scholar's Rest monastery was left empty and Wyrm's Rock Pass was now open for free trade. With this, the party returned to the Arboretum victorious.

=== Session 25: TBA (2/19//2026) ===
'''DM''': Amanda

'''PCs''': [[Steady (Dee) Wind]], [[Avel]], [[Voscaera]], [[Suyuka]], [[Demir Malchan]], [[Diana Belkacem]]

'''Important NPC'''s: TBA

TBA

=== Session 26: Nimz's Moonshot <small>(2/27/2026)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Cat

'''PCs:''' [[Grymos]], [[Ozmir Nightshade]], [[Dallas]], [[Himo Nilo]], [[The Scarlet Shadow]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Archmage Nimz|Erland Nimz]], Lirizel, Sandrew, Barry, [[Eros]], [[Sylvarra Thrice-Twinned]]

'''TLDR:'''

Traveling with Lirizel and engaging in a web of favors, the party accessed Ta-Shedet's Moon Portal, dispatched a coven of Hags in the realm of the archfey Sylvarra Thrice-Twinned, and retrieved an enormous egg for Nimz's "eladrin" contact on the moon. As part of the bargain, Dallas sacrificed a bit of her vitality for the egg, winning a boon from the eladrin, and Lirizel was allowed to remain on the moon to manufacture Alchemical Frost. Dallas bargained further with Sylvarra Thrice-Twinned, doubling her sacrifice in exchange for mitigation of her debts.

'''What Happened:'''

Lirizel recruited the team well before Shimmerwing's vast, colorful sails appeared to the south, announcing Erland Nimz's return. He had secured a contact whose domain could support the crafting of Alchemical Frost, his next step toward bypassing [[Bedlam_in_the_Badlands/The_Story_So_Far#Session_13:Give_Jewelspar_the_Weapon(Or:_A_Prophecy_Deferred)(11/9/2025)|the antimagic sphere]] and reaching "the weapon." In exchange for access, the party would travel a secret route to meet the contact and retrieve an item from a neighboring realm for him.

After sailing several hours south, they left Nimz aboard ship. With four small, goat-drawn carts overflowing with alchemical gear, they used a magical seed pod to Tree Stride beyond the mountains and followed a magical marker to their destination. A sphinx named Sandrew intercepted them, questioned their purpose, posed riddles, and revealed a buried stair leading to a vast complex lined with statues of unfamiliar gods. Deep underground, a hashish-smoking reborn minotaur, apathetic about his duties, answered questions about a portal Lirizel claimed led to the moon. Unable to recall his name, he was dubbed Barry. He agreed to join them and helped activate the portal, a sphere of silver light. After a brief inspection, they entered and found themselves on [[The Moon|the moon]], gazing up at Quelmar.

Though the lunar environment seemed hospitable, it slowly dealt radiant damage. At Lirizel's call of "Guardian?" a tall, silver-haired eladrin welcomed them into his quarters at the bottom of a 50-foot-deep shaft with no ladder. Noticing Nimo was "bugged," he shot out a lightning-fast hand to crush an invisible centipede, which then reverted to a dead quasit. After checking for more stowaways, he made an earnest request for them to retrieve a large and precious egg from Sylvara Thrice-Twinned, an archfey, via a portal to the [[Feywild]].

While Lirizel remained above to shield the goats and equipment from the "angry starlight" and to begin the alchemical processes, the party entered a green-glowing, elliptical portal and emerged in the Feywild, where colors were unnervingly vivid and their eyes played tricks. Escorted to the heart of the Silverveil Court, they met Sylvara Thrice-Twinned, slight yet imposing, silver-ringed irises fixed on them.

She agreed they could take the the egg to Eros (a name they were hearing for the first time) if they would evict a hag and her companions from the Court's lands (which she could not do herself since the hags had broken no rules), and prove their commitment to their quest. When Ozmir asked, the archfey agreed the troublemakers need not remain alive. After being provided wine and fruit, they traveled to the hag's area of influence, where the terrain was difficult, the beasts hostile, and the toads legion. When Grymos and Dallas reached a door built into a hill, three hags unleashed curses and control spells, but fortune held, the party retained their faculties, and the coven was slain.

Returning with the grandmother hag's head, they learned the "proof" Sylvara had mentioned would require one of them to sacrifice a piece of their physical constitution. When Dallas proposed doubling her sacrifice for greater reward, Sylvara Thrice-Twinned offered to lend the mousefolk some magic, including the power to make creditors temporarily forget her debt by invoking the name Sylvara Thrice-Twinned in conversation. When Dallas agreed to this, she declared the bargain struck and turned over a three-foot egg that barely fit into the Bag of Holding Eros had provided. Before the party left, she mentioned that her arrangement with their employer included providing them passage home -- albeit after liberating them of any memories of how to reach the moon.

Back in his moon bunker, Eros celebrated and spoke to the egg reassuringly, then looked up at Dallas, saying "I see, your sacrifice has earned you my boon if you wish it." As she knelt, he exhaled silver light that formed a diffuse halo before settling at her neck to form a fingernail-thin crescent mark: a silvery newborn moon shedding barely perceptible light.

With Barry in tow, the party returned to the Feywild, where Sylvara Thrice-Twinned purged their memories of the route to [[Ta-Shedet]]. After a great many days of guided travel to the portal home, the adventurers returned to western Pteris, where only two days had passed in their absence. They contacted Nimz using a Sending Stone Lirizel provided and waited another day to catch sight of Shimmerwing. During the tailwind voyage back to the Arboretum, Nimz rewarded them each with a minor magic item, and some of them took comfort in being home, to the familiar perturbation of the [[Demonic Infiltration|demonic infiltration]].

=== Session 27: TBA (2/28/2026) ===
'''DM''': Chris

'''PCs''': [[Himo Nilo]] (RIP), [[Steady (Dee) Wind]] (RIP), [[Mezzi]] (RIP)

'''Important NPC'''s: TBA

TBA

=== Session 28: The New Town of Greenskin <small>(2/28/2026)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Mercedes

'''PCs:''' [[Delaiah]], [[Stix]], [[Avel]], [[Ollie]], [[Ozmir Nightshade]], [[Dallas]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/The Junkyard|Raegina]], Serenity, Alycia, the new residents of Gryylwcul

After trading war machines for returning the misplaced rights to the town and mines of Opek, Raegina asks the adventurers of the arboretum to come help her get the grifters and squatters who settled there after they cleared the demons out so they can put in actual workers who want to make some money while digging for water to help power the war rig and her war machines, since she uses steam from infernal fire. She offers a finder's fee who stays on as a worker and says to otherwise just throw them out of town.

Ozmir goes into a large hall and approaches a desert vulpine who calls himself Mad Dog and declares himself the mayor, saying he has papers. He does, they simply aren't the papers for the town. Ozmir picked him up and dragged him to show Raegina and immediately infatuated with the cambion, he offered to work in the mines for the chance to be near Raegina.

A lioness tabaxi called Louisa and her elderly gnome companion, Thelma, are approached by Delaiah, told that they have to stay and work or leave. Louisa agrees to work but says that Thelma cannot work, but will make cook for others in town.

Avel goes to inspect a small shack that looks something like a mad scientist's lair. He frightens the resident, a plasmoid, who polymorphs him into a frog and puts him into a glass specimen jar before hiding in a jar herself.

Ollie goes into a house, only to be attacked by a small ratfolk called Fast Fingers Freddy. She claims him as her own and carries him off to be her new ranger companion animal.

Stix goes to check in on a goblin who is cursed and has a fiddle and a heart full of song. She says her name is Alycia and when Stix tells her that she can meet up with other musicians at the arboretum to form a band! She later is followed by another resident, a tiefling called Serenity, who has no interest in mining or working for a cambion.

Dallas arrives at the last house and finds a mother gnoll named 'Raz', short for Razorjaw, who says that she would like the opportunity to stay in the town and work, so she asks Dallas to watch her son, Little Bean, who wears an iron muzzle, while she goes to make an arrangement with Raegina.

Raegina at first rejects the opportunity the gnoll seeks from her, but Delaiah and the others gather the courage to press Raegina into letting Raz and her son stay and work. She relents and lets them stay.

Eventually the others notice that Avel is missing and go look for him. They follow his tracks to the mad science shack and find the grey one-eyed frog, which Stix picks up and calls Stones, their new pet. The others discover the plasmoid scientist in the jar and when she says she doesn't want to work in the mines and won't say where Avel went, they toss the jar out into the desert, which shatters and the plasmoid runs away.

Now with the town secured, Raegina takes the others out into the actual water mines to start purifying the wells of their abyssal corruption with infernal chanting. As they begin to chant, some of the wells expel shadow demons left behind by the Smog of Smithereens. Stix's new frog suddenly changes back into Avel after an hour. The adventurers are easily able to assist one another and Raegina in destroying them and cleansing the mines! It is now ready to begin supplying water to the Junkyard as well as the Arborteum!

=== Session 29: TBA (3/5/2026) ===
'''DM''': Mercedes

'''PCs''': [[Stix]], [[Voscaera]], [[Demir Malchan]], [[Syl Vipershade]], [[Ozmir Nightshade]], [[Delaiah]], [[Suyuka]]

'''Important NPC'''s: TBA

TBA

=== Session 30: TBA (3/11/2026) ===
'''DM''': Amanda

'''PCs''': [[Avel]], [[Wynnipher Winchester]], [[Ichake Asaku]], [[Patches Vanderburg]]

'''Important NPC'''s: TBA

TBA

=== Session 31: TBA (3/13/2026) ===
'''DM''': Chris

'''PCs''': [[Ichake Asaku]], [[Demir Malchan]], [[Syl Vipershade]], [[Lenore]], [[Skelly]]

'''Important NPC'''s: TBA

TBA

=== Session 32: TBA (3/25/2026) ===
'''DM''': Amanda

'''PCs''': [[Razzadrog Eyepoker]], [[Wynnipher Winchester]], [[Ozmir Nightshade]], [[Dallas]], [[Patches Vanderburg]], [[Grymos]]

'''Important NPC'''s: TBA

TBA

=== Session 33: Ghosts of Blazeforge <small>(3/28/26)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Cat

'''PCs:''' [[Stix]], [[Lenore]], [[Blondie]], [[The Scarlet Shadow]], [[Zasheir]]

'''NPCs:''' Eddarux, Brekka Stoneseam, the Osteomancer (mentioned), Durgerd [[Swikedom_Kingdom#House_Tazrikarn_–_The_Veiled_Pyre|Tazrikarn]], angry dwaven ancestors

'''TLDR:'''

Using The Scarlet Shadow's intel, the party reached the lost dwarf hold of clan BlazeForge in search of a rumored diamond press. But they soon discovered that [[Swikedom Kingdom|Swikedom]]'s House Tazrikarn already had a presence there, including a ward in the diamond press chamber against the hold's territorial ancestors. The adventurers killed many of the dragonborn taking advantage of poor tactics, and they fared well against the ancestors themselves until they were forced back by sheer numbers. They left with what turned out to be a Hellfire Lantern but as well as some Blazeforge regalia.

'''<u>What Happened</u>:'''

'''Lost and Found'''

Three centuries after the Amethyst Defiance of 823 BR -- the Holy War battle in which gem dragonborn lent unexpected aid to the dwarves of Karag Blazeforge and hauled away the defeated red dragon Barash -- The Scarlet Shadow learned of a diamond-making machine in the long-buried dwarf hold. After months of effort, near Swikedom he unearthed first a monument to the battle, and finally a sealed entrance to the hold itself. The following month, the adventurers -- who'd heard only cryptic allusions to the location's existence thus far -- got a more thorough briefing and set out to make entry and hunt for the purported treasure.

As they approached the site, the party was intercepted by the kobold Eddarux, who was accompanied by the dwarf Brekka Stoneseam. The kobold said the Osteomacer had predicted their arrival here and had tasked him with to helping them gain entry, for which he'd recruited Brekka.

'''Melee à Trois'''

The deeply buried, enormous basalt doors bore an inscription in dwarven:
<blockquote>"By the authority of the Blazeforge ancestors and the eternal law of blood and stone, let no foot fall here that does not carry the right of inheritance. These halls belong to the heirs of Karag Blazeforge until the mountains themselves have fallen."</blockquote>

At length, utilizing Blondie's strength and a magical door knocker provided by the Osteomancer, the group excavated the 12' double doors and opened them to access a corridor -- which they followed for long minutes, evading a pit trap and finding dwarven regalia including a fine breastplate, engraved with six warhammers arranged so their hafts met in the center, which Zasheir donned.

Farther in, there suddenly appeared a group of Swikedom dragonborn, black warriors and bronze clerics, accompanied by several orcs and led by what appeared to be the resurrected Durgerd Tazrikarn. Most of the dragonborn headed down the corridor away from the party -- but not before Stix hit them with a powerful fireball -- to make their way past several dwarven ghosts who had flown into view beyond them. Upon reaching what appeared to be the huge diamond press the adventurers sought, the clerics raised a magical ward against the dwarven ancestors, whose full attention now fell on the party, albeit to little effect until another group of ghosts joined the fight and drove the adventurers out.

'''The Incongruous Lantern'''

The group had enough time to grab the rest of the displayed regalia (against Lenore's wishes) on their way out, including an eerie lantern seemingly not of dwarven design, which Zasheir picked up -- triggering a Harm spell that very nearly killed him. Somewhat edified by their experience despite having no diamonds to show for their efforts, the party journeyed back to the Arboretum, where Jerbo identified the lantern as a Hellfire Lantern, capable of powering the magical weapon calottes Alliance members had seized months earlier from House Tazrikarn's couriers inside Swikedom.

===Session 34: Megagame 2, Part 1 (4/12/26)===

==== <big><strong>A Growing Threat</strong></big> ====
'''DM:''' Cat

'''PCs:''' [[Ollie Ollivine]], [[Grymos]], [[Ozmir Nightshade]], [[Wynnipher Winchester]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Erland Nimz]], Lirizel, The Osteomancer (mentioned), Saltique Petra

'''TLDR:''' With Shepherds coordinating defensive efforts in light of a recent warning, the party evacuated a [[vulpine]] village in the Northern Tablelands, and the survivors all sailed north with a group of [[thri-kreen]] aboard Nimz's sandship, Shimmerwing.

'''Events:'''

Spurred by the Osteomancer's warning of an imminent surge in demon activity across the Badlands, the Shepherds offered to coordinate counter-actions, and people of the Northern Tablelands called for aid only a day before maurezhi demons struck multiple settlements, turning residents into ghouls. Evacuating a predominantly vulpine village, the party staged a fighting retreat to keep the villagers behind them until Shimmerwing could arrive and take them aboard. Though Ollie came frighteningly close to death, her allies stabilized her at the last moment.

The group held off a maurezhi and its ghoul spawn until Shimmerwing could arrive and carry the villagers to relative safety. They learned that the sandship had an extradimensional hold, where the vulpines would need to get along with those already aboard, dozens of thri-kreen refugees from the [[Pteris#Kharmaja Dune Sea|Kharmaja Dune Sea]], whose warriors Nimz had special need of. They sailed for Cinderspire mesa farther to the north, where the party would provide defense for the other passengers while Nimz, Lirizel, several more elves, and a dozen psi warriors made an important acquisition.

Shepherds arrived to help transport adventurers to where they were needed. They took Wynnipher with them when they departed again, while Leonard and Saltique Petra stayed with the the ship.

===Session 35: Megagame 2, Part 2 (4/12/26)===

==== <big><strong>You Cannot Wield It! (Or: A Prophecy Fulfilled)</strong></big> ====
'''DM:''' Cat

'''PCs:''' [[Ollie Ollivine]], [[Grymos]], [[Ozmir Nightshade]], [[Leonard]] (daughter of "the girl bard")

'''NPCs:''' [[Erland Nimz]], Lirizel, [[The Osteomancer]] (mentioned), Sargent Galanodel, Saltique Petra

'''TLDR:'''

The party held off demons while Nimz & company used bleeding-edge alchemy to destroy all but one layer of a Prismatic Sphere within an Antimagic Field. They watched his people brave the final layer, risking planar banishment, to open the box inside -- only to discover that the "weapon" he'd been after all these months was a [[Mutated Chimera|bound horror]]!

'''<u>What Happened</u>:'''

<small>'''Buying Time for the Archmage'''</small>

The party stood guard for the dozens of passengers aboard Shimmerwing at the foot of the scarred mesa while elves and psi warriors ascended the cliff face and entered the dungeon. When two demons followed several minutes later, Saltique Petra teleported the adventurers in to help.

From the hallway outside the vault, the party could see that the Prismatic Sphere nested in an Antimagic Field was still there, blocking access to the huge metal box inside. Nimz told them to expect the demons any second, while elves removed layers of wool covering a large ceramic sphere, which opened to reveal a steaming core. Moving as if carefully choreographed, each of twelve [[thri-kreen]] pushed in a short rod that came out with a lump of Alchemical Frost on the end.

A familiar draegloth rounded the corner with a battered maurezhi and announced, "Nimz! I will have whatever it is." Nimz merely glanced up briefly before returning to his work as combat ensued.

Grymos promptly blinded the demon, who countered with Darkness. Ollie, her beast companion Freddie, and Grymos' steel defender all closed for melee.

Nimz bellowed "Stations!" The thri-kreen surrounded the sphere. Lirizel cast Gust of Wind.

An elf wheeled forward a strange contraption: a large bellows was affixed to a covered, copper basin resting above a lit brazier. It gave off a medicinal, slightly nauseating odor.

After a moment, in perfect synchronization, the psi warriors jabbed their Alchemical Frost sticks into the red layer of the sphere.

Suddenly -- just like that -- the red, orange, and yellow layers all disappeared!

Amid others' cheers, Nimz barked "Bellows!" As an elf worked the bellows, a nozzle on the far side of the basin produced an amber-brown stream of mist. And as the fight continued, the mist built into a sustained cloud directed at the green layer.

Two elves set tight bundles of torches at the edge of the sphere and lit them. Lirizel cast Daylight. A few seconds later, the green layer began to sputter.

By now the maurehzi had killed Grymos' steel defender, and the party had killed the maurehzi right back. When Leonard stood bloodied and Ollie lay dying, Lirizel had provided healing. Finally, the bloodied and overwhelmed draegloth fled.

The sputtering in the Prismatic Sphere's green layer continued for several seconds until sections of it began to go dark.
And as if by magic, though the Antimagic Field precluded any such thing, the moment came -- The green, blue, and indigo layers all fell as one!

Nimz indulged in an uncharacteristic bit of celebration in the form of a fist-clench accompanied by a quiet "Yes!"

<small>'''The Indestructible Layer'''</small>

With only the violet layer remaining, Lirizel cast Resistance on elven soldiers.

Nimz gave the first soldier a formal salute followed by a nod. She stepped through the violet layer, then exclaimed in fear. "Stay focused, Sargent! Fortify your mind," Nimz commanded.

The soldier seemed to lock in... Then she vanished, and the room went silent.

After a few seconds, Nimz turned to the next soldier, who met his gaze and nodded. She observed the semi-transparent violet barrier briefly, and stepped through. Two tense seconds went by before she exclaimed happily, "I can see!" Several people exhaled without realizing they'd been holding their breath.

An elf gave a push to the second cart, sending equipment through the purple light. The cart held a tub of paste with a spackling knife, a grappling hook with 20' of knotted rope, a breathing mask, a tinderbox, a length of cord, and a coil of unusual rope sheathed in cloth.

The soldier climbed the box to drape the cloth tube down either side along the front edge, then she moved about, affixing the tube with paste.

Nimz announced "The emerite will henceforth be known as Galanodite in memory of Sargent Galanodel."

The soldier donned the mask, attached the 20-second fuse to the tube, and climbed down and stepped back out of the sphere.

Lirizel was already casting Resistance as the soldier said, "Oh shit!" A few heartbeats later, she exclaimed in relief, hugged Lirizel suddenly, and stepped back awkwardly.

<small>'''The Mutated Chimera Wakes'''</small>

When the fire touched the cloth, there appeared a bright point of searing white-orange light, which spread in both directions, tracing the seam of the container and turning the nearby metal to mercury.

"Ready!" Nimz commanded, and the elves all raised weapons or wands. The searing light reached the floor and went out. A second later, the front of the box flew forward, trapping one of the elves underneath and revealing a huge, grotesque, three-headed aberration, viscerally disturbing to look upon, which moved forward out of its prison.

Its goat head glared. Its lion head growled. Its dragon head exhaled. A line of lightning shot down the hall, doing devastating damage but, fortunately, taking no lives.

Ozmir had time to injure the grotesque creature with psychic blades, and it began glowing red, but before anyone else could act, it took wing. Many of those assembled in the hall swung melee weapons as the creature flew over their heads, injuring it a bit more. It flew quickly down the hall and out of sight, seemingly immune to any attacks hurled at it.

Nimz looked meaningfully at Lirizel. She grabbed his arm, and they both disappeared.

<small>'''Pros and Cons of Hubris'''</small>

In the relative calm, the party asked the remaining elves if Nimz had known what was inside the box. For a moment they said nothing, but the engineer who'd been briefly trapped under the metal plate had some feelings to express.

"She told him, he said. "'You cannot wield it. None of us can,'" he shook his head. "But he just said this won't be her first false prediction, or probably her last either ... He's not a humble man."

Before leaving, Ozmir took it upon himself to acquire the precious metals the party could see were still inside the box. He walked through the dangerous violet layer of the sphere to collect them, suffering no ill effect. He walked back out with the treasure as if the powerful abjuration wasn't there, and the thri-kreen warriors named him Spherewalker.

Nearly a month later, a courier arrived at the Arboretum with bespoke tokens of appreciation from the archmage: A Collar of Shared Resilience, Master Artisan's Gloves, a Resonance Circlet, and an Amulet of the Vigilant Sorceress.

== Book 2 ==

=== Session 36: New Figures... or an Old Enemy <small>(4/22/2026)</small> ===
'''Guest DM: Sean'''

'''PCs:''' [[Avel]], [[Ollie]], [[Dallas]], [[Leonard]], [[Skelly]], [[Ichake Asaku]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/The Arboretum Marketplace|Lord Pavan]]
[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]

Bedlam in the Badlands/Player Recaps

2026-05-16T03:15:54Z

MCAron: Recapped 3/28/26

{{Worldbuilders}}
Players document their characters' experiences in the Badlands here.

<small>Please remember to link significant people and places to their associated wiki pages when appropriate. (The visual editor tries to do this automatically.)</small>

See [[Bedlam in the Badlands/The Story So Far|The Story So Far]] for the DMs' session overviews.

=== Session 1: Kickoff Megagame - New Place, New Identity, and New Dream with an old scar of redemption ===
'''DM: Mercedes'''

'''PCs: [[Himo Nilo]],[[Raazdrog]], [[Stix]], [[Delaia]], [[Demir]], [[Caesana]], [[Jynx]], [[Leonard]]'''

'''NPCs:[[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs|Raegina]],Baftzmyr, Kicyr, Cilvdywutc'''

'''Significant events:''' [[Himo Nilo]] has just arrived at the junkyard. It has been months of traveling alone with the hope of improving himself. Sweat constantly drips off his forehead as he is not used to this area. He received a letter from his contact arboretum asking for new hires and who goes by the name, "The Chairman." He left for the Arboretum, has been on the road since, and doesn't know anything. After all, he was given only a description of [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Raegina|Raegina]], her cohorts, and had no tools. He scraped the money he could and went over to the junkyard putting everything he could on the line just for the security of a little bit of breathing room. He watched Grind,Smash, & Cleave with great intent because he has never seen functioning robots, but sharpened himself when he realized he was fighting them. Attacking the robots, he realized they explode on death. He let instinctual training kick in and just kept throwing his dagger at Grind, Smash then Cleave. Adrenaline still rushing, he learned how to scrap creatures, but not that he was good at it. At least now he could possibly gather parts he needed to jerryrig what he wants. When he got the chance to improve Grind, he attempted two things to make it better. The first is he tried to increase the accuracy of the attacks, but as he worked on it, he got really nervous and fumbled with arm, almost removing it entirely. He barely improved it and attempted to improve the armor but proved impossible since he had no effect means of attaching parts wile casting mending. [[Stix]] meanwhile, made the saw light ablaze whenever it swung to attack, and [[Raazdrog]] managed to add a ranged weapon to it. He did have two really great ideas that both of them liked. The first is he renamed Grind to Sparkburn. The second is he built off of Raazdrog's idea to give a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." to repeat while fighting enemies. Himo added to that by having it also repeat "Feel the Spark. Feel the Burn!" When [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Raegina|Raegina]] offered a wager for the best bot created, she gave everyone 10 additional GP and Himo bet seven of that ten on Sparkburn, and the other three went to Cleave. Sparkburn ended coming out on top and he made 31 GP out of that and Raazdrog's got 35 GP. Raazdrog's managed to convince Himo to give Stix 10 GP from both of us since they helped improve Sparkburn, to which Himo agreed and almost seemed relieved that Raazdrog's prompted him to do it. When the horn was blasted, Himo immediately got on the war rig and started repairing Sparkburn. When they got to an entrance of the Arboretum the war rig was flipped onto its side by an Oliphaunt. He managed to catch himself landing and immediately tried to help others up but it wasn't enough with his one hand. While fighting, Himo climbed on the war rig while it was on its side to get a clear vantage point, and saw the scale of this invastion for the first time. He focused hard on the Capra hard and got off the war rig when he was told by [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Raegina|Raegina]] to get off. After cleaning up the Pustuloids, Capra Demons and Lesser Rage demons, a massive wave of wild magic energy was released. When the fight had ended, all spellcasters were spent including Leonard who saw the Rig get rammed into its side and decided to help out. [[Delaia]] and [[Raazdrog]]'s defender were severly injured, and realization dawned on Himo when he knew that the conservatory was desroyed. A few more demons were picked off while they were trying to flee, and while people were talking about uniting, Himo only thought of one thing. Using the very tool that turned his life into a living nightmare; Explosives'''.'''

===Session 1: Kickoff Megagame - Trading Route Troubles + Aggression From Above: Koro's Account===
'''DM:''' Amanda

'''PCs:''' [[Pryderi]], [[Silgr Þyrikk]], [[Chanterelle Viscaryn]], [[Davin Dunefoot]], [[Rhogar Dreel]], [[Rimsa Pavdad]], [[Koro]], [[Demir Malchan]], [[Lincoln "Toots" Whiterock]], [[Pearl Dust]], [[Larry]]

'''NPCs:''' Lord Pavan, Swordmaster Krispin, Tradesman Kareek, Stanley the monitor lizard

'''Significant events:''' Jeez...this place is insane. I guess the multiple sulfurous explosions originating from Hell Circles should've maybe tipped me off to that, but I figured I could avoid all that craziness if I just did what I've ''been'' doing this whole time! Simple job got served up on a silver platter from Duke Solon: escort duty of some goods and traders heading into Fed territory, easy peasy; been doing that type of thing for a while before coming to the Arboretum and never ran into any trouble that couldn't have been solved by standing around and looking tough. I assumed it would be more of the same this time around, just with more company than usual, and certainly better than getting served up as a punching bag against the Scrappers' war machines. It was a fairly sized convoy: couple camel-drawn carts and some horses to carry the lord Pavan and his bodyguard Krispin, the trade envoys at the head of the small group. There was one cart that seemed more important than the others though. Drawn by a large monitor lizard named Stanley, the mystery cargo remained covered by thick tarps at all times, and the driver, Kareek, was not forthcoming about its contents either, despite Pryderi's inquiry. With the last thing that, at the time I thought, would make the job somewhat interesting firmly drowned in secrecy, I decided to settle in for the long haul...but that's when it all went to hell.

Davin, a bow wielding halfling draped in the garb of one experienced in desert living, extended his senses into the distance searching for threats...and pinpointed a group of shadowy figures ahead of us. He was able to ascertain that the figures were no ordinary desert travelers, nor normal animals native to the dunes, and so we decided on a defensive approach. Unloading the carts of the wooden barrels and boxes, we fashioned a rough defensive perimeter of carts and containers, keeping what traders and animals we could within the circle. They were upon us not long after we finished setting up...these...''things'', they looked like dogs but ones that had been...'''melted'''. They flung themselves at us, tearing apart the animals first, but swiftly moving on to the traders if they had an opening. It seemed like they barely felt the impact of our attacks, I'm not convinced they could even feel pain. I was struggling to even hit them with my sword...probably because it was too...uh, short! Yeah, it wasn't a longer blade like the ones I was used to wielding, just the one I was able to steal from back east...yeah that's probably it, probably should've gotten around to replacing it sooner. I saw Pavan's bodyguard, Krispin, struggling to hit with his sword as well. His blade wasn't curved like the ones I preferred, but the length was right, I wondered if there was a way I could get it from him...but that would have to come after the battle. There was a larger hound leading the pack, cloaked in shadow and radiating heat, and it spewed a great beam of lava across Rhogar's body and many of the containers behind him; seemed like it nearly killed him on the spot. Oh, also forgot to mention that Stanley and the cart he was hitched to took off into the desert as soon as the hounds appeared, some help he was! A couple of the other animals got spooked too, but some members from our little troupe were able to round some of them up in the middle of the battle so we wouldn't be stranded if we survived. It was anything but easy, but eventually we were finally able to take out all the hounds. The traders had taken some casualties despite our efforts, but we didn't even have a second to catch our breaths before a flare shot over the horizon from the direction we had come from: [[the Arboretum]] was under attack. Pavan told us to forget the goods and to immediately hop on a cart and head back to assist. We did as we were told and were swiftly pulled back towards where we came. (Was able to convince Krispin to trade swords though with Pryderi's assistance, score! Not actually sure if the sword I gave him will serve him well, but I'm certainly happy to be rid of it. Only wish the old man could've been here so I could look him in the eye as I discarded it, good riddance).

Arriving at the Arboretum we saw a nightmare: demons flooding every inch of the place, inside and out. Everywhere you looked you could see a battle; metal hitting metal, claws rending flesh, it was chaos all over...except for one place. Above the very top of the massive tree was seemingly a dark cloud that upon closer inspection, was revealed to actually be a swarm of countless flying demons, seemingly targeting the defenses mounted atop the Arboretum. Pavan urged us to be the ones to rush to meet the swarm and keep them from assisting their grounded allies. My mind immediately told me it was impossible, but for some reason my feet followed after the group. Our druid, Rimsa, ran off to join another part of the battle, and a tiefling named Demir joined up with us during our ascent. At the top, we split up to try and cover more ground, and at the start it seemed like it was going to be alright. A large, feathered demon seemed to be leading its brethren up there, but Silgr was able to send it careening down the side of the tree by somehow freezing it in midair with a flash of one of his runes. He and Rhogar were able to get Pavan and Krispin to one of the ballistae while Chanterelle, Pryderi, Demir, Davin, and I were able to start carving a path towards the double shot ballista...but our success didn't last. The smaller demons would come in waves; they could swoop and slash at us and be repositioned in the air before we could get a swing on them. I found myself wishing for a bow in my hands again, but it seemed even our allies with ranged abilities were being torn up. Even worse, the feathered demon had seemingly broken free of Silgr's rune before it hit the ground and was rapidly ascending back up the side of the tree. One by one we began to get knocked unconscious, I myself would've likely fallen from the tree after a particular claw strike hit me hard if it wasn't for Chanterelle and Pryderi...it wasn't looking good. Additionally, a loud boom rang out from below us, and a violent quake shook the tree. Soon after, the cloud of demons above us began to dissipate, seemingly having completed the objective they came for (which I later learned was the destruction of the Arboretum's magical forge), but it seemed like the ones engaging us were still keen on wiping us out. I'll admit, I wasn't sure how we were going to make it out of there, but then, from the southernmost side of the tree, two literal bears that had scaled the entire height of the Arbotetum, one bearing a lizardfolk in wizard robes on its back, crested the top of the battlements and began laying into the demons. After realizing the new arrivals were on our side, our group was also able to rally and wipe out the demons before they could destroy the two remaining ballistae. The feathered demon appeared briefly, but it too followed its departing brethren away from the Arboretum.

The rest of the day was a blur. I remember bits and pieces of a big speech about the three factions banding together to restore the Arboretum and defend its denizens from the demonic forces that had made themselves known, but my body's aches seemed to distract my mind from fully comprehending it. And while this was a victory, I was left to wonder just what on [[Quelmar]] I had gotten myself into...

=== Session 3: WereVultures by Night (As Told by Stix) ===
'''DM: Chris'''

'''PCs: Davin Dewfoot ,[[Raazdrog]], [[Stix]], [[Delaia]], Steady Wind, [[Leonard]]'''

'''NPCs: Suki, Brandran, Hektor'''

I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to write here. I was told to keep a log of the missions we’re sent on, so that’s what this is, I guess. I (Hi, I’m Stix) was summoned along with Delaiah (I really can’t seem to escape her), Davin, Dee, and two other familiar faces, Raazdrog and Leonard. We were taken before Suki, who said she’s the de facto healer for the Arboretum, and also claims she runs the Casino in the Federation? I heard of people ~~and she who mustn’t be named~~ talking about this ‘Casino’ concept and gambling. Suki said she’d teach me, so I guess I’m going to learn how to gamble at some point. She also gave us our mission- to escort an escaped Shend prisoner named Brandran to the Federation HQ and deliver him to Hektor himself. I brought up the fact that it might be unsafe and the whole madness thing might be an act and he might be a double agent. The rest of the party was mostly concerned about getting paid and what to name our horse companions (A and B, Incase whoever is reading this is wondering.) We were told it would be a 7 day trek if we paced ourselves accordingly. And the first 3 days went fine. On night 3, as I kept watch, I noticed some vultures circling our camp. In the morning they were still there, so I pointed them out to the crew. Delaiah actually said something smart, and pointed out that it might signal to other caravans that we were also out in the deserts. Davin managed to shoot them both out of the sky, and we continued on our way. And everything was fine. Until the evening. In the middle of the night, we were attacked by several more vultures, two large kinda vultures, and four foul smelling sand worms. Thanks to Delaiah knowing some weird hell’s language, we were able to figure out that they were after Brandran. I immediately shoved him in my locket to keep him safe, which was both a great and terrible idea. It kept him safe for several rounds of combat, but caused most of the adversaries to target me, and, being just a doll, it didn’t take much to get me out of the fight. From what I was told, the two larger vultures turned out to be were shapeshifter vultures, and Brandran is one of them as well. From what my party members could surmise, they wanted to take him back to the Shend? Maybe? At some point, I was woken up, and we finished off everything that was left. However, the were vultures kept healing themselves no matter what we tried. In the end, we tied all three of them up, and brought them to Hektor for questioning. He thanked us, and arranged for a safe caravan back to the Arboretum.

===Session 5: Bombs (and how not to make them) 101: Koro's Account===
'''DM:''' Mercedes

'''PCs:''' [[Syl]], [[Ollie Ollivine]], [[Glorivesh]], [[Koro]], [[Mizuka]], [[Avel]]

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs|Raegina]], Baftzmyr, Kicyr, Cilvdywutc

...I really should listen to my gut when it gives me a bad feeling about something. I mean, I guess I was for a while; I knew doing jobs for the Scrappers was a death wish more often than not, but after that fight on top of the Arboretum, after needing to be saved from certain death by others because I couldn't keep up with those demons...somehow all the "training" I suffered through wasn't enough. I thought I needed to be challenged more, I know I have what it takes I-I'm probably just rusty after all this time...yeah, that's probably it. For some reason I thought the best way to shake the rust off was to take a job for the Scrappers. Apparently their home base, the Junkyard, was infested with pests, seemingly some demons that retreated from the battle at the Arboretum. I figured this would be a great way to get my groove back: fighting some lower strength demons who can't just fly away after they get their cheap shots (still need to find a longbow somewhere), sounded like a cakewalk...and that, of course, is where I was mistaken.

Not only did we have to walk hours through the desert on foot just to get to the Junkyard, exhausting half of us before any fighting even began, but after arriving we were "recruited" by a woman named Cilvdy to make some...questionably designed explosives that would apparently draw the demons out of their hiding places within the piles of junk. Oh, I guess I should also mention who else was on this job. Syl was the only one I was previously acquainted with; they were apparently cleared for this mission by their boss, so we didn't have to worry about any demotions...hopefully. There was an elf named Ollie who had a giant frog companion, a scarred and tattooed elf named Avel, a vulpine performer named Mizuka, and a sorcerer named Gloria who's human...I think. Cilvdy set us up in a crude assembly line and we got to work, seemingly not really having a choice. Even though I was exhausted from travel, I was able to pick up the presence of someone watching us from afar; Raegina was here, and she was observing our group's progress. The only other people present for the show that was about to commence were Baftzmyr; a masked figure with an ornate headdress, and Kicyr; a half elf with a boisterous personality, both of whom seemed to be slightly antagonistic towards Cilvdy, though it seemed that she herself was none the wiser to this.

There really isn't any other way to say this: we couldn't stop blowing ourselves up. Or more specifically, we couldn't stop blowing up whoever was unfortunate enough to be at the end of the assembly line. I was at the first step, folding the origami that would act as the casing for the explosive, so I was out of harm's way, and I was perfectly fine to stay there until we were done, as some of our group sustained some substantial damage from these misfires. I was convinced that more harm would be done to us doing this process than during the actual combat with the demon pests, but as is seemingly becoming more and more common these days, I was incorrect.

After equipping us with the bombs that we were able to successfully construct, we were finally allowed to head out into the Junkyard to clear out the demons. As we were fanning out trying to find suitable locations to throw our bombs, I climbed to the top of a junk pile to try and get a better look at the surroundings, and that's when this demon...chicken...''thing'' jumped out at me. It didn't have a head, but instead it's neck just ended in this huge mouth, I'm not even sure it had eyes so I don't even know how it could see me...it was disgusting. I scarcely had a chance to draw my blade to retaliate before the chaos erupted. I heard explosions as the rest of the group began throwing their bombs, drawing out more of these poultry-like creatures, but also these huge writing leeches that accompanied them. I saw one take a chunk out of Syl's hood and just, ''dig'' into them. From my high vantage point, I could see this same thing happening to many other people in the group as well. Even when the leeches were killed the wounds they left would just ''gush'' blood uncontrollably, it was a scene out of a nightmare. Just like at the Arboretum, I had no focus when faced with these monsters; there was no calm threat assessment or confident show of force, panicked instinct took over. I remember rushing to Syl and trying to carve a path through the demons to give them some breathing room. I remember sprinting over towards Avel and Gloria and all I could see was red, just...blood everywhere. I remember slashing away at a group of three leeches that were latched onto Ollie and her frog, as well as Mizuka, our only healer. I think that was when it went quiet, and my senses returned to me. I heard no more otherworldly screeches or growls, only the soft hum of Mizuka's harmonica as she used her healing magic to stop the wounds of those who were still bleeding, it was over.

The happy-go-lucky CIlvdy came to congratulate us and showed us how to harvest materials from the creatures' corpses. I couldn't really focus on that though, my eyes were drawn once again to Raegina, who seemingly hadn't taken her eyes off us the entire time. Kicyr was with her this time though, and the cambion handed her lieutenant a bag of gold, still never taking her eyes off of us. I guess our performance was acceptable to her, but somehow the passing thought of a scenario where she wasn't filled me with more dread than any of the bloody scenes I witnessed today...

==== Gloria's account ====
I took the job with the scrappers for a few reasons: first, it was the first thing that popped up after the attack on the arboretum that I could help out with between putting my own accomodations back together and helping with the conservatory. Second, it gave me a way to get back in touch with Baftzmyr and Kicyr to see if I could figure out if there was room for friendship or anything else there, or if I'd poisoned the well a bit. Third, it gave me a chance to contextualize several of the people I've been meeting around the place, like Gobbo Greenskin. I needed a sense of where they're coming from to really be able to know if there's something I can do to help, or something I can tailor my performances to. And finally, I wanted to get my hands a little dirty and deal with some of the demons that started all this chaos. Good news: mission accomplished on all counts. Bad news: I'm apparently not very good at building bombs, and pretty fragile when it comes to fighting demon leeches. But that's getting ahead of myself.

First off, we had to walk out there. It takes a few hours by foot, and the sun is punishing. Skin feeling cold and clammy to the touch of most people doesn't mean I don't sweat or overheat, but I managed it better than several of the others. Probably might help if someone sold parasols or other desert gear. Worth checking into later, if these sort of excursions become a regular thing. From that point we met with the lady lieutenants of the scrap heap: Baftzymyr, Kicyr, and Cildywutc just "Cilvdy" seems to be her preference. The first two ''definitely'' sort of hate me still for the time being, and the latter was most interested in getting us to build paper bombs filled with black powder.

The goal was to fold the bombs, fill them, and then dip the finished product in hot wax with a fuse that could be easily lit and thrown to flush out the demons that were hiding around the various scrap piles. Cilvdy walked us through the steps and we each took a station. I ''thought'' that with my musician's steady hands, I'd be a good fit for the final step, and because a lot of the others were exhausted, it seemed dangerous to put them there. Turns out, I'm at least as prone to explode as anyone else. After barely managing to avoid maiming my hand by bodily throwing myself into the explosion of one bomb, we switched things up. Syl and Koro insisted on switching places with me, and I had absolutely no objections at that point. And now I have a distinct fear of losing digits when handling explosives, so I'm going to try to never have to do that again if I can help it. Mizuka and Avel were both a really big help during the bomb-making too. It's interesting how their magic differs from my own, and it might be worth looking into studying the approach at some point in the future after I figure things out with V.

After we got the bombs together, we took a bit of time to recuperate. I'm pretty sure I'm the one who needed that the most, but I wasn't the only one to suffer an accidental explosion, so maybe we all needed it. Anyway, we went out to the junkyard and spread out to deal with the pesky demons (demon pests?). As were were just getting set up to start lighting bombs, Koro got attacked by a couple of the beasts that were hiding on the scrap he climbed on top of. Very quickly from there, all the hells (or I guess the Abyss) broke loose. There were maybe two dozen of these monsters: nasty demon leeches that could stick to you and keep you bleeding without magical healing to staunch the wounds, and these hideous... meat chickens. Which, yes, chickens are meat animals already, but believe me, these things were just ''awful'' looking. No feathers, just like fleshy monstrosities. I do not recommend trying to eat one.

Things got a little hectic in the fight. Cilvdy got attacked by a couple, and I helped her out. Syl seemed to be holding their own despite practically being surrounded. Ollie picked a few off with her bow and with the help of her giant frog. (Which, let's be real: has to require some ''crazy'' upkeep out in the badlands! Lots of water!) Koro went wild, taking out at least a half dozen of the creatures himself. (Not sure if I was feeling a little scared of him, or just impressed. He was a little monstrous himself, but nothing that was worrying.) Avel stayed pretty safe, from what I recall, and he held his own, but I lost track of him when I nearly passed out from blood loss. I... had a harder time than I expected. A handful of the creatures got close, and I couldn't manage a clean shot with my spells or to get away from them without getting hit. I'm very fortunate that Mizuki was there. She's a bit of a lifesaver, for real. She used some sound spell to cause an explosion at one point, and it left my ears ringing, but she was even closer. Still, she managed to offer some healing words and keep me from ending up as the incubator for nasty demon eggs. Which, yeah, it would've been ''nice'' to know that these demon chickens apparently lay eggs in people they knock down. Could've been vital information that the resident demon-parts expert Baftzymyr could have ''shared'', but I guess we didn't get to know that. I'm not sure if it's because she was still mad at me that she left us all in the dark or if she just wouldn't have told us either way. But she wanted to harvest the eggs, and maybe they're easier to get out of a person than they are out of the dead monsters. I ''hope'' they're easy to get out of a person, but I'm a little afraid to ask on the chance it's not the answer I want to hear. Note: stay far away from demon chickens if you're close to keeling over.

We wrapped things up with Baftzmyr showing half of the group how to harvest the eggs, and Cilvdy showing the other half, including myself, how to slice up the demon leeches into something that they find useful. We got paid, and we did an okay job of it all, although the eggs were too difficult for anyone but Baftzmyr to get them out completely intact. Still, Cilvdy was happy with how we did, and on top of the payment she gave us a discount coupon for her explosives stand. (One that I'm probably going to try to trade away, because of the above fear of blowing my hands up.) As everyone else started walking back to the arboretum, I was able to talk Cilvdy into giving me a ride on her horse. That let me get in a private conversation to learn a bit more about everything going on there, and get a sense of the feelings minefield. (Not spilling any of their secrets in this public report, no. If you want to try to talk me into revealing them, you can meet me in person, but be warned, I am sworn to secrecy by the unbreakable girl code!)

=== Session 6: The Tower That Wasn't (9/21/25) ===
'''DM:''' Cat

'''PCs:''' [[Mezzi]] (they/them), [[Diana Belkacem|Diana]] (she/her), [[Davin Dunefoot|Davin]] (he/him), [[Dallas]] (she/her), [[Himo Nilo|Himo]] (he/him), [[Polvo]] (she/her)

'''NPCs:''' [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Sir Anthony|Sir Anthony]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Jerbo|Jerbo]], [[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs#Dapple|Dapple]], The Osteomancer

Himo has walked nearby the chapel as the service was ending Himo met an arcanist who goes by the name Jerbo. After some conversation, Himo learned that kobolds had attacked the Arboretum with the help of a demon. Confused, he pushed for more details, but didn't get much out of it but agreed to help if he got a few more people involved. When he got over there, he was surprised to see entirely new faces.There was the usual faces like mezzi, which surprised me, but also a mouse like person he hasn't seen before. After some quick introductions, The group learned they were going to find someone who goes by The Osteomancer who might know something about what happened, and it's a 2 day travel over. Himo and the rest of group went to Dapple's Stable to rent a few horses. He paid the deposit and they set of to the north east to this Osteomancer.

Along the way The group met a lone dog that seemed to have been abandoned what seemed to be a short time. We continued on our journey until we reached a trapped door. opening the trapdoor, a ladder heads down a worked tunnel and Himo voted to go in front. When they entered, they met the Osteomancer, A loxodon living alone in what appears to be a simple home. A deal was struck to help them out if they helped us with the why the kobolds attacked. The Osteomancer, was dealing with something made of absence, that erased identities the longer someone was there. To protect us from this, The Osteomancer led us to a somewhat large humanoid skull engraved with a lot of divination runes on it. There each of us shared our memories, to remember who we were. The group learned of his escape from High Lunas when he first picked an Arcane Lock. Other information we learned was it could only be seen with reflections, and we were given a scroll with an egg to crush it when we started using the scroll.

When we got to the structure, It was like walking into an insane asylum. A pitch black outside, to bright white inside and it made seeing outside really hard. What was up, down, left, right, front,back when everything around is the same? Himo found himself close to a center of complete silence, crushed the egg and began reading the scroll. Suddenly white lights appeared as well as a ghost of some kind but not like your standard ghost. It was trying to make me dissapear while the lights whittled down my teammates. I placed my cannon down to give me a "wall" against the lights which worked out well. Mezzi started making the lights inactive which was good because Davin and Polvo, were both being injured a great deal. I completed the scroll with every creature there incapacitated and we left. The tower collapses and we return to the Osteomancer

In payment, the Osteomancer explained that in dragon-worshipping Swikedom, "the divine Blood Law relegates kobolds to the Thrall caste, below all save Warmbloods like us," but that kobolds who revere Kurtulmak above Tiamat may try to escape their thralldom, denying that the Blood Law is divinely ordained. "One such group," she revealed, "led by Snizz the Fortunate, used the demons as a way out of bondage, but their freedom -- such as it was -- ended when your comrades cut them down."

We learned that kobolds with make deals with anything to get out of the blood law. A group led by Snizz the Fortunate, made a pact with demons, that ended when they were cut down. The Osteomancer Finished off by saying "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free."

=== Session 7: Tracking Demons 102 (As Told by Stix) ===
'''DM:''' Mercedes

'''PCs:''' Stix, Steady Wind, Himo Nilo,

Koro, Raazdrog, Ozmir Nightshade

'''NPCs:''' Baftzmyr

So. Here we are again, I guess. After my last adventure in the desert with crawling creatures under the sand, I suppose I wanted more? I guess this is what I’ve been told desire is? I don’t think this is desire though. I figured I take less resources than the others who need to y’know….eat and drink. So, I heard about a new mission headed up by Baftzmyr and showed up to the Junkyard. I was slightly surprised to see Himo and Raazdrog there, though I guess I shouldn’t be since both of them, but especially Himo, are obsessed with that boy we enhanced and named Sparkburn. I wasn’t surprised to see Dee there, he seemed to do pretty alright in our last mission out into the sands. There were two new faces as well- Ozmir, who I haven’t seen around the Arboretum at all, and Koro, who I was …happy? Pleased? To finally converse with. We’ve been always just missing each other, but I’ve heard other people talk about him. I was very surprised to not see Delaiah there, but it was a welcome change. She’s nice, but she’s nosy, and talks a lot. So, anyways. The six of us get to the Junkyard, where Baft was waiting for us. She explained that there is a very large demon creature that’s stuck in the sand someplace west of us. Unlike Suki, she did offer to accompany us into the desert, and gave me the old buddy Sparkburn to ride for the journey as well. We were only out for a couple of hours before she spotted some rippling in the sand. Turns out that it was another kind of dretch, which were the sand swimmer creatures we fought with the WereVultures. However, these ones looked different and were mutated in some way. I realised this pretty quickly when Sparkburn punched one, and the fire damage I enhanced him with healed the dretch instead. Koro rushed up and dispatched it pretty easily, and Raazdrog and I noticed the rest of the dretches running away to the east. We followed them to find a rather large crater in the ground. Baft then offered the group a large oragami pig bomb? I volunteered to run to the edge, drop the bomb in, and run away. The plan went off without a hitch, and I dove into my locket for safety as a wall of force and sand hit everyone. In the middle of the crater was a large demonic creature that we later learned was the Baron of Filth. What a dumb name. Anyhow, I was straining to listen through my locket to figure out what’s going on when Raazdrog tapped and called into it, telling me to come out. A group of us then rushed up to peer over the edge of the crater to get a better look when the fighting really began. It used the lantern on his chest to shoot coils of magic and energy at us that ranged in flavor and consequences. I think I got hit with a lightning coil at some point during the fight and I know Koro said he felt pretty heavy. And, to top it all off, the ‘Baron’ summoned more of those mutated Dretch things to just cause more complications to the whole ordeal. And, if that wasn’t enough, anytime the Baron struggled or tried to free himself, the sands shifted, causing a sandslide down the crater to the large monster. Most of the fight was attempting to hurt the Baron while picking off the dretch and avoiding falling in. Some of the group decided to willingly slide down into the pit and face him head on. Unfortunately, this caused Koro and Dee to both get knocked unconscious and Himo to get buried in the sand. We are in Raegina’s debt that Baft accompanied us, if she wasn’t there, I really don’t think we could’ve gotten Koro and Dee back up. Though, Raazdrog did do some pretty decent healing as well. We did manage to hit the Baron enough to down him, however, I guess it caused the lantern contraption in his chest to overload, causing a massive fireball explosion. Once we all recovered, we helped to heal and stabilize each other, and make sure we were all mostly back on our feet. We took some time to scrap the Baron for some components before making our way back to the Junkyard and Arboretum, a job completed and mostly unscathed.

==== Koro's Account: ====
You know, there's an old Snobbish saying about being fooled twice and the shame being on the one who was fooled...or something like that; not sure why that's popping in my head just now. Anyways, I took another job for the Scrappers. A large demon was spotted out in the dunes near the Scrapyard, seemingly being stuck in the sand somehow. After my last job with the Scrappers, I was...concerned about the approach they were going to take with dispatching such a thing, and for some reason I could feel in my gut that this wasn't something I'd feel comfortable sitting out on. So, perhaps against my better judgement, I joined the group bound for the Scrapyard, all unfamiliar faces to me except for Stix, a sentient...doll of some kind? I'd only seen them in passing before in the Arboretum, but this time they were accompanied by a large scrap construct they called 'Sparkburn'. Steady Wind was an armored tabaxi that seemed to possess similar abilities to Rhogar and Silgr, Ozmir was a lightly armored tiefling who created psychic blades, and Himo and Raazdrog seemed like inventor types like Gobbo.

To my surprise we were accompanied on this mission by Baftzmyr, Raegina's masked lieutenant. Apparently this demon was formidable enough to actually warrant personal involvement from Scrapper high command. As would be expected though, they still ordered us to do the tracking; are they testing us or something? First with the bomb making and now with the tracking, it feels like they're trying to "train" us in a weird way...not entirely sure how to feel about that. On our way to the demon's location, we came across a strange pig creature that could dig through the sand with ease. We chased it for a bit before it decided to stand its ground and fight, bursting out from the sand. It was a relatively easy kill, but looking towards the direction it was heading, we could see many more moving mounds of sand heading out to the demon's location as well; were these its minions or something? Cautiously we followed their trails, eventually reaching a large patch of undulating and shifting sand, Baftzmyr indicating that the demon was located just below it. Baftzmyr produced a large bomb housed inside of an origami pig, clearly another Cilvdy original, and Stix put it in place over the buried beast. As we hastily took cover by digging a shallow trench in the sand, the bomb exploded, filling the air with sand as a deep crater was left in its wake. At the bottom was this enormous gray skinned demon; bipedal seemingly, but perhaps not used to traveling the shifting sands with its immense weight, causing it to get stuck. Its mouth was peeled wide, the edges stretched thin and pinned to its huge arms, its bottom lip stretching down past its chest. In the center of this horrific creature was something not biological though: a lantern-like object was snugly tucked in the center, glowing a bright orange.

We didn't have much time to take in this fresh horror though, as more of those pig minions began to swarm us, trying to defend their master. Their stench was unbearable when so many were in one place, and Steady Wind found out the hard way that it seemingly carried a poison in its wake as well. We tried to clear out the pig creatures first, but the large demon began shooting out tendrils at us that could reach our position, so we knew we couldn't ignore it. Raazdrog conjured a field of light that surrounded the creature and made it easier to hit, even in its constant struggle from within the sand pit. Himo, Stix, and Ozmir were occupied with the minor demons at the edge of the pit, but Steady Wind had been captured by a tendril and drawn close to the large demon, being knocked out shortly after. I saw that his body would be pulled beneath the sand if nothing was done, so I headed into the pit myself to try and get the beast's attention. I was able to levitate Steady Wind's body out of the demon's range in hopes that Baftzmyr could help him, and I took up a defensive position to try and dodge the demon's attacks. It didn't do much good though, despite my efforts the thing was able to knock me out in two hits, I couldn't even dodge one attack. The next thing I knew I was healed by Himo and more of the group had been drawn into the depths of the pit. Not long after though, Raazdrog was able to plunge his trident into the demon's head, seemingly killing it, but the lantern in the beast's center began to glow brighter and brighter. Before I could even shout out to the remaining group that was nearby, the device exploded, sending me to unconsciousness once again. I was lucky the group still had healing abilities left though, it was barely enough to get me and Steady Wind back from death's door with Baftzmyr's help.

Verbally saying that I owe my life, even partially, to one from Raegina's inner circle feels a little dangerous in itself though, so I may keep that thought just to myself...
===Session 12: The Doll, The Vulpine, and the Corpse Girl: Koro's Account===
'''DM:''' Mercedes

'''PCs:''' [[Gobbo Greenskin]], [[Demir Malchan]], [[Koro]], [[Diana Belkacem]], [[Steady (Dee) Wind]], [[Razzadrog Eyepoker]]

'''NPCs:''' Cilvdywutc, Jitcwal, [[Stix]], Sandra Sanderson

Cilvdy, Jitcwal, and Stix got kidnapped. We didn't know much at the time, but apparently some lizardfolk and Yuan-ti tricked some of our allies into a trap job that ended with those three getting snatched and ferried away to some unknown place. Tensions were high immediately, and admittedly, I was also driven to a bit of a panic. I don't know why exactly, but the news hit me pretty hard, harder than I would've thought it would. All that I could think about for days after was what could be happening to them, what their captors might be doing to them every second we weren't getting them out of there; it was maddening honestly. I was restless and agitated, I needed to get out of the Arboretum and actually do something that would help us find them. Luckily, Syl had the same idea, and together we decided to head out to the site of the kidnapping to try and track down the culprits.

It took some doing, and for Syl's sake I won't go too much into the details (and maybe my sake a little bit too...don't tell Lenore), but long story short: we found a smuggler's den inhabited by one of the Sandra's gang members who was there at the time of the kidnapping, but had been injured in the process. We interrogated her for information, eventually finding out that Sandra was a powerful bard who led the Shabby Scales, a mercenary group for hire. They were hired by someone else to capture Baftzmyr in order to lure in Raegina, but they ended up getting Cilvdy, Stix, and Jitcwal instead. Apparently, they had made off with the prisoners to a rendezvous point further east of the den, but the lookout wasn't told the exact location. Inside the den was also what looked like a miniature version of the lantern-like object fused into the Baron of Filth's chest, apparently the down payment given to the Shabby Scales by their client for this job. I decided to bring it along since we planned on letting the injured scout live, and as soon as I touched it, I felt searing energy rush up my arm and a soothing voice speaking in my head in a language I couldn't understand. It didn't feel like anything else happened though, so I didn't tell Syl about it as we exited the den. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but the lantern was apparently magically influencing me to keep it close and safe, for reasons I'm honestly lucky I never had to fully find out.

It was dark when we left the den, so we had to head back to the Arboretum. We still didn't have enough to pinpoint where our friends actually were, and it felt like our scouting effort may have been wasted, but upon returning to base, we got the final pieces we needed. Himo, having apparently used some kind of contact he had to gather additional information, found the exact rendezvous location: Triton's Terrace, a watering hole at the base of the eastern mountains. He also learned that the client who hired the Scales was a literal demon, and one that was looking for revenge for the killing of the Baron of Filth. Wasting little time, I took off to prepare and gather a team to head to the location to extract our kidnapped friends.

Everyone was familiar to me on this mission except for one: Diana Belkacem, a human woman who seemingly had a similar skill set to Gobbo and Razz, running with a construct companion that fought by their side. Using horses lent to us by the Scrappers we made a direct path towards Triton's Terrace, and it didn't take long for shit to hit the fan. With the numbers we were bringing, stealth was more of a pipe dream than an actual option, so the guard out front of the cave entrance nestled in the oasis noticed us immediately and a battle commenced. Backup quickly joined him and an all-out brawl unfurled on the oasis shore, construct pieces and blood scattering about. This bruiser-like guard was an absolute tank, Razz threw a Faerie Fire spell on him to make him easier to hit, but he was still soaking up all of our strikes like they tickled. Even worse, he literally ate '''''TWO OF HIS FELLOW GANG MEMBERS WHOLE''''' in order to heal himself mid fight; a battle of attrition would be putting it mildly. And as if we hadn't had enough, Sandra herself showed up to the fight too, accompanied by this mysterious old elven woman none of us had seen before. Sandra and I exchanged some blows atop the cave entrance, and Razz came over to make it a two on one fight. She attempted one last dive for the lantern on my belt before she teleported away, along with the mysterious elf. It was around this time that the effects of the lantern began to show themselves, as when I took aim at some of the demons fighting alongside the Shabby Scales, the soothing voice it emitted in my head would build to a scream, disrupting my aim and making it nearly impossible to hit them. Luckily, the team was still able to manage...barely...but when the dust settled, we were the ones still alive.

Once we picked everyone up who had gotten knocked out, I used my sword to cut the belt that was holding the lantern off my body, letting it clatter to the sand. Now that I was fully aware of what it was doing to me, I explained the danger of it to the team. We entertained the idea of destroying it there and then, but it was right next to the entrance of the cave, and we didn't want to trap ourselves if it ended up exploding like before when we still had to get out friends out of there. In the end, we left Diana's construct outside the cave to guard it as we went inside. Gobbo and I could hear Cilvdy's voice from inside, and our haste to finally get to her caused us to run into a few traps, but eventually we finally found them, trapped within an anti-magic cage. Touching the cage seemed to give off a powerful shock, one that knocked Gobbo clean out. The other artificers were able to drain the cage's charge and lockpick the door to finally free the three captives. As we exited the cave, Razz and Dee found contracts detailing bounties on the killers of the Baron of Filth, and the location where the Baroness of Filth wished to lure Raegina to with the capture of Baftzmyr. We took the bounty money that was stashed in the cave for ourselves, but after emerging, we found that the lantern had been teleported somewhere else, and I can only imagine it's now in the hands of Sandra again. Honestly, I didn't mind too much though, with Cilvdy and the rest safe and sound (minus and arm and a leg, seriously may never get used to that), I found myself thinking that it was a more than worthy trade.

=== Session 33: Ghosts of Blazeforge <small>(3/28/26)</small> ===
'''DM:''' Cat

'''PCs:''' [[Stix]], [[Lenore]], [[Blondie]], [[The Scarlet Shadow]], [[Zasheir]]

'''NPCs:''' Eddarux, Brekka Stoneseam, the Osteomancer (mentioned), Durgerd [[Swikedom Kingdom#House Tazrikarn – The Veiled Pyre|Tazrikarn]], angry dwaven ancestors

==== Zasheir: ====
I had been recruited by someone named 'Mr.Tall' even though I'm taller this guy buy a good foot or so. Whatever his tales were truthful enough and he was coming with us along with Lenore, Stix, and Blondie. I have only interacted with Lenore, but Stix is... interesting. Stix is a corn husk doll that just... woke up one day. I don't wanna reveal my cards too much, so I don't question it any further. It's a two week journey over. After about an hour of travel, Mr. Tall changes to a high elf who introduces himself as The Scarlet Shadow. I'm not too pleased, but he at least briefs us on what's happening. There's a diamond press that has been rumored to be near some dwarvish ruins. Now that is something interesting because that could easily crash any economy if they became common. It takes us a month to get there and when we get to the supposed location, there is a monument dedicated to the Holy War. it's about a dragonborn who left the side of the dragons to help out these dwarves. The Scarlet Shadow also said he found the entrance to this place. As we are about to start digging, a kobold and a dwarf were heading our direction. Eddarux, Brekka Stoneseam, they introduced themselves and they explained they had been sent by the Osteomancer. I have never heard of such an individual, but the name indicates they are a diviner, so there's probably some truth behind their statements. After digging up a bit of the doors, We find something written in Dwarvish:<blockquote>"By the authority of the Blazeforge ancestors and the eternal law of blood and stone, let no foot fall here that does not carry the right of inheritance. These halls belong to the heirs of Karag Blazeforge until the mountains themselves have fallen."</blockquote>Well the mountains have fallen, so I don't think they really own it anymore. Also this is buried so deep, no one's probably alive. After excavating the doors to open we head inside. There was a trap waiting for us, but we avoid it easily and into a room. It's one of those places where it's pierced by the road, and inside there was some warhammers, a breastplate and a lantern in the middle with a painting on the wall. I don the breastplate, because it's a useful piece of armor, but it's also something I'm not gonna pass. I remember those days in the street where I had fight for scrap.We leave everything behind, and continue on. There was another trap waiting for us that split with me and The Scarlet Shadow from the others. We also see a bunch of orcs and dragonborn with one being a Gem. The rest were Copper, and they were coming towards us. I was gonna gather their demeanor, but Stix just fireballed the entire group, killing half of the army. At the same time, lots of ghosts appeared and they seemed to be out for blood. I tried reasoning with them, but to no avail, more dragonborn had also come in and they ran to the other side of the room. This led to the ghosts to attacking us and after a bit, we called it quits and left. On the way back we got stuff from there and I picked up the lantern. A surge of draining life force swept into me and the soul is almost leaving my body. I hold firm however, and just barely survive. We get out of there with everyone alive and head back. On the bright side, I have a cool lantern and new armor for future missions. Not sure how much I will like having this since it's a fiendish, but beggars can't be choosers

=== Session idk anymore - Megagame 2, the Bedlam of the Scrappers ([[Ichake Asaku|Ichake's]] account) ===
If I'm being honest...I don't know how I ended up on the War Rig. [[Rhogar Dreel|Rhogar]] was going on the War Rig, and I thought it would be good to stick with him after what he's been through, but...the War Rig isn't really my style. Everyone said it would be "funny," and I didn't really know why? This entire situation just seems really tense. At least I could get used to the ritualism surrounding the War Rig, though. It reminded me of a prayer. We had black paint pressed into our bodies representing the souls we had left behind. I just...put it around my eyes. It felt right. I've met a thousand people. They've all opened my eyes. At least my job on the War Rig was easy...I just had to take Bafztmyr's commands and feed them to [[Delaiah|Deliah]] and Raegina. We all worked well as a team, we were able to stop the Shabby Scales in less than a minute. They even had a moon sickle that I was able to pocket. I don't know, I was just...really out of my element today. After we took down the Shabby Scales, we just spent some time demon hunting. It was all so different, but...I liked being well-rounded. We also picked up a guy named Dallas out in the sands. Things were starting to cool down after a while, until Bafztmyr started having fainting spells and passing out. I tried to catch her, but we both fell off the War Rig. That might have cemented the last time I'll ever ride the War Rig, I'm not sure. I want to help out Raegina with her venture to Acqua Junction, but the War Rig is just tough for me. It turns out that Zariel is having some...issues with a crab demoness down in the town of Acqua Junction. Apparently, they lost the fight, which is...concerning. Plus...I've always wanted to see Acqua Junction. I heard it got razed...I have a lot to think about in that regard. And a lot to do while I'm here. And a lot of places to see.

And no, I won't talk about Kicyr's death. Not yet. She has not passed into the Kami yet.

=== Session MEGAGAME 2 Online: ===
'''DM''': Chris

'''PCs:''' [[Zasheir]], [[Syl Vipershade]], [[The Scarlet Shadow|"The Scarlet Shadow"]], [[Suyuka|Yuki]], (late arrival) [[Skelly]]

'''NPCs:''' Sir Anthony, Ter, Skark

Yuki was just here to get a paycheck and fulfill her duty to her sister. Sir Anthony said something about saving some druids from demons, which seems right up Yuki's alley. "Remove all demon's and allies by any means necessary" he says, like she wasn't going to do that to begin with. Pulling up to the Grove and see some vulture-ish looking dudes who get taken down easily (just got cursed in the process no biggie). The group heads over to the room where they could hear a ruckus. Yuki knocks on the door, and a vulture guy opens the door. The group gangs up on him and releases the jackel druid prisoners from their captivity inside. They find the bodies of almost every other druid in a pile and the druids break down. One of the druids leads the group to the center of the grove in hopes that the Archdruid is still alive and fighting. She has been turned to stone, but isn't broken, and has a Minotaur harassing her. (I will finish this at some point)
[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]

Lardriira'xyra

2026-04-15T21:48:45Z

MCAron:

[[Category:Curriculum of Chaos]]
{{Infobox_character|affilliation=Witherbloom|name=Lardriira'xyra|image=Second Year Lardriira'xyra.png|caption="Do I know what happens in the future? No, the question should be, what can I do to improve the future?"|relatives=Mother (Nonexistent), Father (Nonexistent), Brother (Nonexistent),|languages=Common, Elvish, Gnomish, Celestial|alias=Xyra, Iira, Riira|marital=Single|birthDate=703 BR|birthPlace=birthplace|species=High Elf|gender=Male|height=6'2"|weight=110 lbs|eyes=Medicinal green}}

'''{{PAGENAME}} '''is a high elf with a relentless amount of knowledge regarding Arcane and the natural world. He came here to fight one of the greatest mistakes of his past. One that took almost everything from him. <blockquote>The link to his playlist can be found [https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLg5Eh-TdrNM-G3bJQ0oxiBicNLc5E24s here!]</blockquote>
== Description ==
Lardiira’xyra is really tall for a high elf. Standing at 6’2”, he carries a confident posture in the young years he’s in with serious but kind eyes. He has long thick black hair that goes past the shoulder with herbalist colored eyes and wears some long robes that cover everything but the hands. Only showing the wrist and a little bit of the forearm, you can see a few minor chemical burn scars on his left hand. He tends to keep his appearance minimal, but professional. He has also revealed to some that the scars run across the entire forearm instead of just the wrist, and they are covering something else up

== Personality ==
Lardiira’xyra is a reserved and observant individual. He empathizes with those who struggle with the name, and offers either Xyra or Iira. He doesn’t care what you call him as long as it’s faithful to the original, and any titles he has are also included (I’m looking at you Cassi.) Being the tall elf he is, sometimes he will lower himself to make eye contact with those who are much shorter. Having been a tutor in the past, he’s patient with those who need help, and the door for help is always open. He speaks in a calm confident voice that has a curious confidence to it. He often challenges points of views to see if he has the correct one. He's terrified of his past given how much people he has given help to, and it's his duty to protect those in his care. He has a great fear of being unable to protect those in his care, and works tirelessly to make sure he stays on top of the stuff he does to ensure he is capable of it. He is slow to trust given how much he lost and lies will destroy anything you put in almost immediately

== History ==
The past has been very tight lipped for those who haven't earned his trust, only telling bits and pieces of it at a time. He finally spilled it to his closest friends out of promises, and a need to try and protect those from what he lost. He grew up with loving parents <Mother's name> being his mother and <Father's name>. He also had a brother named <Brother's Name>. His parents were alchemist's by trade, and he wanted to pursue and expand it into spellcasting. Being fully supported by his parents, he became obsessed with it. This curiosity lead him to getting recruited by <Cult name>. He accepted not knowing what would happen. Promised eternal life, he went fully into it. They needed his help creating a potion for a thing that would grant eternal life. He tried to get his parents involved, but they declined. They urged him to leave it, and the <Cult name> told him they were enemies. He attempted to play peacekeeper, but that backfired into him getting charmed to capture his parents. The cult was trying to raise a lich, so all of his immediate family were sacrificed as part of this process. For disobeying <Cult name>, something happened, and now he is stuck with a voice in his head. He continued to work for them by force, and he had hit a really low point. Stuck making the potions, all he could do was comply. He had been beaten down so bad, that he had lost many experiences from eating, friendships, and trying new things. One day, <shinies> where he was offered by an <shiny> a second chance. He accepted during the first semester and now serves the <shiny> fully. As a result <shiny> and follows a code to keep himself in line with the <shiny>.

=== The Code ===
<blockquote>
# Don'e lie or cheat. Let your word be your promise
# Don't fear to act but keep caution in mind
# Treat others with Fairness to set an example and do as much good while causing the least harm.
# Aid others, protect the innocent and weak, and punish those who threaten them. Mercy is to be given to foes tempered by wisdom
# Take responsibility for my actions and consequences, obey those who have just authority, and protect those under your care.
</blockquote>

== Relationships: Last Update- 4/8/26 ==
=== [[Astrid]] Berge ===
Astrid has a bitter relationship with Lardriira'xyra. She hates it when he gets vague because of her own past with nobles or speaks in languages she doesn't know, which isn't unfair, but she expects to learn of his past without earning his trust, which he doesn't like too well. That said, the relationship is otherwise civil since Lardriira'xyra wants to keep a good relationship with her partner, Grimmwood.

=== [[Cormack]] Seboxan ===
Cormack and Lardriira'xyra are coworkers at the Aerojaunt field, and it started okay. The craziness Cormack has means nothing to Lardriira'xyra since he's friends with Rio. Cormack has also been trying to get Xyra to live the full college experience including breaking rules and swearing, which didn't impress Xyra. The problem comes with lying. Lardriira'xyra hates lying in all forms. To him, it says you can't admit the truth or won't say you don't want to answer it. With the lie Cormack had openly admitted to lying to make himself look better, Lardriira'xyra lost all respect for him. Cormack doesn't know this yet, this distrust will last much longer than Cormack might like it to.

=== [[Grimmwood]] drifting by Jormungandr ===
Grimmwood is Lardriira'xyra's closest friend and sibling. The two have been friends since almost day one and has helped tremendously with putting the investigation together. Grimmwood also has seen Lardriira'xyra's worst moments. These include the Fire Jolt Cafe run, The Dining Hall run, and the Icy Bridge run. With each one of these incidents of possession, Grimmwood manages to talk fight the voice inside Lardriira'xyra's head to where Xyra can regain consciousness, albeit very winded. Xyra had also recognized Grimmwood's massive fear of abandonment, and made a pact to not leave for any reason if it's the last thing he'll do. The two have bonded immensely over this, and with Xyra having stabilized emotionally significantly with the breathing exercises he learned, he has been able to return the favor much more effectively than before. Grimmwood kinda made himself Xyra's friend, and refused to let go, but that gamble had paid off. Xyra wouldn't be where he is now without Grimmwood's help.

=== [[Lucy de Compasso]] ===
It came as a bit of a surprise for him when Lucy came to Deroulex and it certainly put him on edge. Having heard the things Rio had been put through, he wasn't thrilled since it meant Rio and Aurora were found. Still, he held onto his code and let that guide his actions. He decided to be an oddball and spent a lot of time with her. He felt the struggle of having your future chosen for you. From this, a deep seated anger started to boil in him. While he doesn't excuse her actions, He's forgiven her and will help in anyway he can for to atone to the people she owes it to.

=== River "[[Rio]]" Saoirse ===
Rio's chaotic nature was unnerving and it's gone through many phases. Like Grimmwood, Rio has also witnessed many of the outbursts Xyra has had, and yet the friendship have had survived. Even though the two have very different way to follow rules, it almost seems to draw them together.

=== [[Urzmatok Grojsh]] ===
Urzmatok and Lardriira'xyra both have a heavy interest in the natural world and manipulating it. Being a student-mentor relationship, the two worked extremely effectively together within the Fantastical Horticulture Club. Right before December break, he was gifted a terrarium to grow more flowers in his dorm, which surprised him, but he was really happy about it. It never occurred to what he was feeling with how deep it had been buried. It wasn’t until Urzmatok poured his heart out to Xyra that he truly understood what he was actually feeling. This feeling of love finally came through, and he just melted into Urzmatok, something he hadn't felt in over 6 decades. The two have been dating since, and when Xyra listens to Urzmatok's past, a lot of mirrors of what he struggles with is also seen in Urzmatok.

[[Category:Player Characters]]

Lardriira'xyra

2026-04-08T19:47:21Z

MCAron:

[[Category:Curriculum of Chaos]]
{{Infobox_character|affilliation=Witherbloom|name=Lardriira'xyra|image=Second Year Lardriira'xyra.png|caption="Do I know what happens in the future? No, the question should be, what can I do to improve the future?"|relatives=Mother (Nonexistent), Father (Nonexistent), Brother (Nonexistent),|languages=Common, Elvish, Gnomish, Celestial|alias=Xyra, Iira, Riira|marital=Single|birthDate=703 BR|birthPlace=birthplace|species=High Elf|gender=Male|height=6'2"|weight=110 lbs|eyes=Medicinal green}}

'''{{PAGENAME}} '''is a high elf with a relentless amount of knowledge regarding Arcane and the natural world. He came here to fight one of the greatest mistakes of his past. One that took almost everything from him. <blockquote>The link to his playlist can be found [https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLg5Eh-TdrNM-G3bJQ0oxiBicNLc5E24s here!]</blockquote>NOTE: I am purposefully omitting details. More will be in as you interact with him more

== Description ==
Lardiira’xyra is really tall for a high elf. Standing at 6’2”, he carries a confident posture in the young years he’s in with serious but kind eyes. He has long thick black hair that goes past the shoulder with herbalist colored eyes and wears some long robes that cover everything but the hands. Only showing the wrist and a little bit of the forearm, you can see a few minor chemical burn scars on his left hand. He tends to keep his appearance minimal, but professional. He has also revealed to some that the scars run across the entire forearm instead of just the wrist, and they are covering something else up

== Personality ==
Lardiira’xyra is a reserved and observant individual. He empathizes with those who struggle with the name, and offers either Xyra or Iira. He doesn’t care what you call him as long as it’s faithful to the original, and any titles he has are also included (I’m looking at you Cassi.) Being the tall elf he is, sometimes he will lower himself to make eye contact with those who are much shorter. Having been a tutor in the past, he’s patient with those who need help, and the door for help is always open. He speaks in a calm confident voice that has a curious confidence to it. He often challenges points of views to see if he has the correct one. He's terrified of his past given how much people he has given help to, and it's his duty to protect those in his care. He has a great fear of being unable to protect those in his care, and works tirelessly to make sure he stays on top of the stuff he does to ensure he is capable of it. He is slow to trust given how much he lost and lies will destroy anything you put in almost immediately

== History ==
The past has been very tight lipped for those who haven't earned his trust, only telling bits and pieces of it at a time. He finally spilled it to his closest friends out of promises, and a need to try and protect those from what he lost. He grew up with loving parents <Mother's name> being his mother and <Father's name>. He also had a brother named <Brother's Name>. His parents were alchemist's by trade, and he wanted to pursue and expand it into spellcasting. Being fully supported by his parents, he became obsessed with it. This curiosity lead him to getting recruited by <Cult name>. He accepted not knowing what would happen. Promised eternal life, he went fully into it. They needed his help creating a potion for a thing that would grant eternal life. He tried to get his parents involved, but they declined. They urged him to leave it, and the <Cult name> told him they were enemies. He attempted to play peacekeeper, but that backfired into him getting charmed to capture his parents. The cult was trying to raise a lich, so all of his immediate family were sacrificed as part of this process. For disobeying <Cult name>, something happened, and now he is stuck with a voice in his head. He continued to work for them by force, and he had hit a really low point. Stuck making the potions, all he could do was comply. He had been beaten down so bad, that he had lost many experiences from eating, friendships, and trying new things. One day, <shinies> where he was offered by an <shiny> a second chance. He accepted during the first semester and now serves the <shiny> fully. As a result <shiny> and follows a code to keep himself in line with the <shiny>.

=== The Code ===
<blockquote>
# Don'e lie or cheat. Let your word be your promise
# Don't fear to act but keep caution in mind
# Treat others with Fairness to set an example and do as much good while causing the least harm.
# Aid others, protect the innocent and weak, and punish those who threaten them. Mercy is to be given to foes tempered by wisdom
# Take responsibility for my actions and consequences, obey those who have just authority, and protect those under your care.
</blockquote>

== Relationships: Last Update- 4/8/26 ==
=== [[Astrid]] Berge ===
Astrid has a bitter relationship with Lardriira'xyra. She hates it when he gets vague because of her own past with nobles or speaks in languages she doesn't know, which isn't unfair, but she expects to learn of his past without earning his trust, which he doesn't like too well. That said, the relationship is otherwise civil since Lardriira'xyra wants to keep a good relationship with her partner, Grimmwood.

=== [[Cormack]] Seboxan ===
Cormack and Lardriira'xyra are coworkers at the Aerojaunt field, and it started okay. The craziness Cormack has means nothing to Lardriira'xyra since he's friends with Rio. Cormack has also been trying to get Xyra to live the full college experience including breaking rules and swearing, which didn't impress Xyra. The problem comes with lying. Lardriira'xyra hates lying in all forms. To him, it says you can't admit the truth or won't say you don't want to answer it. With the lie Cormack had openly admitted to lying to make himself look better, Lardriira'xyra lost all respect for him. Cormack doesn't know this yet, this distrust will last much longer than Cormack might like it to.

=== [[Grimmwood]] drifting by Jormungandr ===
Grimmwood is Lardriira'xyra's closest friend and sibling. The two have been friends since almost day one and has helped tremendously with putting the investigation together. Grimmwood also has seen Lardriira'xyra's worst moments. These include the Fire Jolt Cafe run, The Dining Hall run, and the Icy Bridge run. With each one of these incidents of possession, Grimmwood manages to talk fight the voice inside Lardriira'xyra's head to where Xyra can regain consciousness, albeit very winded. Xyra had also recognized Grimmwood's massive fear of abandonment, and made a pact to not leave for any reason if it's the last thing he'll do. The two have bonded immensely over this, and with Xyra having stabilized emotionally significantly with the breathing exercises he learned, he has been able to return the favor much more effectively than before. Grimmwood kinda made himself Xyra's friend, and refused to let go, but that gamble had paid off. Xyra wouldn't be where he is now without Grimmwood's help.

=== [[Lucy de Compasso]] ===
It came as a bit of a surprise for him when Lucy came to Deroulex and it certainly put him on edge. Having heard the things Rio had been put through, he wasn't thrilled since it meant Rio and Aurora were found. Still, he held onto his code and let that guide his actions. He decided to be an oddball and spent a lot of time with her. He felt the struggle of having your future chosen for you. From this, a deep seated anger started to boil in him. While he doesn't excuse her actions, He's forgiven her and will help in anyway he can for to atone to the people she owes it to.

=== River "[[Rio]]" Saoirse ===
Rio's chaotic nature was unnerving and it's gone through many phases. Like Grimmwood, Rio has also witnessed many of the outbursts Xyra has had, and yet the friendship have had survived. Even though the two have very different way to follow rules, it almost seems to draw them together.

=== [[Urzmatok Grojsh]] ===
Urzmatok and Lardriira'xyra both have a heavy interest in the natural world and manipulating it. Being a student-mentor relationship, the two worked extremely effectively together within the Fantastical Horticulture Club. Right before December break, he was gifted a terrarium to grow more flowers in his dorm, which surprised him, but he was really happy about it. It never occurred to what he was feeling with how deep it had been buried. It wasn’t until Urzmatok poured his heart out to Xyra that he truly understood what he was actually feeling. This feeling of love finally came through, and he just melted into Urzmatok, something he hadn't felt in over 6 decades. The two have been dating since, and when Xyra listens to Urzmatok's past, a lot of mirrors of what he struggles with is also seen in Urzmatok.

[[Category:Player Characters]]

HARPY

2026-04-03T01:26:51Z

MCAron:

{{Infobox_character|name={{PAGENAME}}|image=HARPY.png|caption=HARPY's appearance|playerName=Sean|relatives=Unknown|affilliation=The SILVER LINING|birthDate=Unknown|birthPlace=Unknown|gender=Male}}
Unknown:8d81d89f-b2b6-4d3b-9bc0-a334c6a084f1//NDL-C-RAW-SEPTEMBER

NDL-C-SIGMA-CASCADE
Callsign: HARPY CALLSIGN AVAILABLE
Name (or legal alias): Zasheir Tadriel IDENTITY VERIFIED
Background: Unkown PH/HR DATA REGISTERED

Union Administrative RM-4 Pilot Identification Protocol (IDENT) Record 8d81d89f-b2b6-4d3b-9bc0-a334c6a084f1
'''{{PAGENAME}}''' is a Level 3 LANCER present in the campaign "[[In The Shadows of a Willow]]."

== '''BIOGRAPHY''' ==
Working projects spark life in my eyes
...Hi there....Past right, my past. I um... I don't know really what it is. I remember signing a contract with SPIRAL and joining him on what would become known as <nowiki>''</nowiki>Big Day Out" I had a weird set of skills that I couldn't trace back to.. I'm like almost a century old however, so something is not adding up.. I'm um... not a real human. At least I think I'm artificial. That's all I have for now. I'll update as I can -HARPY

== '''APPEARANCE AND DEMEANOR''' ==
Leave him be while he hacks. He'll get what you need
-Sonata
HARPY stands 6'3 and is on the lighter side in terms of weight. When not in gear, He's listening to music with his headphone from his cassette tape and goggles are almost always worn. He has dark green eyes behind them that have a swirl to them and orange hair that it kept short to keep it from getting into his eyes. he's a shy workaholic, always looking to improve his current setup. He has a very calm demeanor, rarely letting emotion take over and having bad decisions be made in it. Projects being successful spark life in his eyes and pushes him to go further as well as finding out about his past. He is also heavily invested in gathering information really by any means that don't involve talking to people. He's pretty much a ghost in the Silver Lining with how little he talks to people.

== '''SKILL AUDIT''' ==
This is how is how he describes his skills
Hacking is my main skill set, and while there's the classic term, I'm also good at hacking to change systems and tools in my design. A massive battle could be happening around me, but I have an uncanny ability to be silent in my steps, find things others miss, and create new tools to solve problems when I have free time

=== '''REGISTERED LICENSES''' ===
HORUS Aquilegia III

== '''MAJOR IDEAL''' ==
<blockquote>I addressed challenges with curiosity, exploration, or understanding.

I expressed my heritage, background, or beliefs through my actions.

I struggled with issues from my burdens or background</blockquote>'''MINOR IDEAL'''<blockquote>I smelled, heard, or tasted something new.</blockquote>

=== '''WHAT GIVES YOU YOUR POWERS?''' ===
<blockquote>I make drones that can do many things. I want to use these drones to explore a map I have on me</blockquote>

=== '''WHAT ARE YOUR NIGHTMARES?''' ===
<blockquote>Finding out I'm not who I thought I was</blockquote>

== '''PILOT GEAR''' ==
I just have this wherever I go.
'''ARMOR:''' Stealth Hardsuit

'''WEAPON 1''': Medium Signiture

'''WEAPON 2''': Small Signiture

'''GEAR 1''': Antiphoton Visor

'''GEAR 2''': Omnihook

'''GEAR 3''': Subjectivity-Enhancement Suite

== '''MECH HANGAR'''==
How Simon managed to get him this Is impressive
-Sonata

=== HORUS Aquilegia III - Demoralizing and Decorative Dongs ===
HARPY's primary mech, and where all his inventions go to.

== ...Socializing ==
Socializing is hard for him. Just give him time and he'll open up
-Sonata

=== Pilots ===
'''SORCERER:''' She doesn't like my lack of a life, which is meh. Work is my life, so I'd say its pretty fulfilling. She streams on the Omninet and digs up dirt on anyone before she talks to them... She ragebaits people into doing things, but she will have a tough time getting me to do that. More often than not, it will likely be more for my own reasons.

'''HORNET:''' In the few interactions I've had with her, she seems to hate NHPs with a passion. I don't know why, but it's not like I'm part of the problem since I don't have an NHP.

'''STALKER:''' I haven't interacted with Reaper much, but we did solve that murder on Varuvi together. We make a decent team in that regard. I don't ask about his past and he doesn't ask about mine.

'''SUSPIRIA:''' It didn't start off great... After my licenses had gotten transferred, she wasn't too happy about it and confronted me alone. After explaining I don't know where I got this from, but was determined for answers, it seemed to soften the blow. We've been working on each others projects, helping out where we can. I hope my status of royalty won't get in the way of our relationship.

'''WINTER:''' TBD

'''RETRIEVER:''' TBD

'''HADES:''' ...Something about how he collects family photos is... rather unnerving. It makes me nervous that the next photo he collects is one of mine, and by then… Well, it won’t matter at that point after. The damage has been done

'''BLOODHOUND:'''

== '''CAMPAIGN SUMMARY''' ==
{{Worldbuilders}}
I guess I gotta remember things somewhere

[[Category:Player Characters]]
[[Category:Astral]]

[[Category:Player Characters]]

HARPY

2026-04-01T05:22:58Z

MCAron:

{{Infobox_character|name={{PAGENAME}}|image=HARPY.png|caption=HARPY's appearance|playerName=Sean|relatives=Unknown|affilliation=The SILVER LINING|birthDate=Unknown|birthPlace=Unknown|gender=Male}}
Unknown:8d81d89f-b2b6-4d3b-9bc0-a334c6a084f1//NDL-C-RAW-SEPTEMBER

NDL-C-SIGMA-CASCADE
Callsign: HARPY CALLSIGN AVAILABLE
Name (or legal alias): Zasheir Tadriel IDENTITY VERIFIED
Background: Unkown PH/HR DATA REGISTERED

Union Administrative RM-4 Pilot Identification Protocol (IDENT) Record 8d81d89f-b2b6-4d3b-9bc0-a334c6a084f1
'''{{PAGENAME}}''' is a Level 3 LANCER present in the campaign "[[In The Shadows of a Willow]]."

== '''BIOGRAPHY''' ==
Working projects spark life in my eyes
...Hi there....Past right, my past. I um... I don't know really what it is. I remember signing a contract with SPIRAL and joining him on what would become known as <nowiki>''</nowiki>Big Day Out" I had a weird set of skills that I couldn't trace back to.. I'm like almost a century old however, so something is not adding up.. I'm um... not a real human. At least I think I'm artificial. That's all I have for now. I'll update as I can -HARPY

== '''APPEARANCE AND DEMEANOR''' ==
Leave him be while he hacks. He'll get what you need
-Sonata
HARPY stands 6'3 and is on the lighter side in terms of weight. When not in gear, He's listening to music with his headphone from his cassette tape and goggles are almost always worn. He has dark green eyes behind them that have a swirl to them and orange hair that it kept short to keep it from getting into his eyes. he's a shy workaholic, always looking to improve his current setup. He has a very calm demeanor, rarely letting emotion take over and having bad decisions be made in it. Projects being successful spark life in his eyes and pushes him to go further as well as finding out about his past. He is also heavily invested in gathering information really by any means that don't involve talking to people. He's pretty much a ghost in the Silver Lining with how little he talks to people.

== '''SKILL AUDIT''' ==
This is how is how he describes his skills
Hacking is my main skill set, and while there's the classic term, I'm also good at hacking to change systems and tools in my design. A massive battle could be happening around me, but I have an uncanny ability to be

=== '''REGISTERED LICENSES''' ===
HORUS Aquilegia III

== '''MAJOR IDEAL''' ==
<blockquote>I addressed challenges with curiosity, exploration, or understanding.

I expressed my heritage, background, or beliefs through my actions.

I struggled with issues from my burdens or background</blockquote>'''MINOR IDEAL'''<blockquote>I smelled, heard, or tasted something new.</blockquote>

=== '''WHAT GIVES YOU YOUR POWERS?''' ===
<blockquote>I make drones that can do many things. I want to use these drones to explore a map I have on me</blockquote>

=== '''WHAT ARE YOUR NIGHTMARES?''' ===
<blockquote>Finding out I'm not who I thought I was</blockquote>

== '''PILOT GEAR''' ==
I just have this wherever I go.
'''ARMOR:''' Stealth Hardsuit

'''WEAPON 1''': Medium Signiture

'''WEAPON 2''': Small Signiture

'''GEAR 1''': Antiphoton Visor

'''GEAR 2''': Omnihook

'''GEAR 3''': Subjectivity-Enhancement Suite

== '''MECH HANGAR'''==
How Simon managed to get him this Is impressive
-Sonata

=== HORUS Aquilegia III - Demoralizing and Decorative Dongs ===
HARPY's primary mech, and where all his inventions go to. There are many integrated parts in order to hold many drones and operate tools from within the mech. A drone is always out however in case a surprise attack happens

== ...Socializing ==
Socializing is hard for him. Just give him time and he'll open up
-Sonata

=== Pilots ===
'''SORCERER:''' She doesn't like my lack of a life, which is meh. Work is my life, so I'd say its pretty fulfilling. She streams on the Omninet and digs up dirt on anyone before she talks to them... She ragebaits people into doing things, but she will have a tough time getting me to do that. More often than not, it will likely be more for my own reasons.

'''HORNET:''' In the few interactions I've had with her, she seems to hate NHPs with a passion. I don't know why, but it's not like I'm part of the problem since I don't have an NHP.

'''STALKER:''' I haven't interacted with Reaper much, but we did solve that murder on Varuvi together. We make a decent team in that regard. I don't ask about his past and he doesn't ask about mine.

'''SUSPIRIA:''' It didn't start off great... After my licenses had gotten transferred, she wasn't too happy about it and confronted me alone. After explaining I don't know where I got this from, but was determined for answers, it seemed to soften the blow. We've been working on each others projects, helping out where we can. I hope my status of royalty won't get in the way of our relationship.

'''WINTER:''' TBD

'''RETRIEVER:''' TBD

'''HADES:'''

'''BLOODHOUND:'''

== '''CAMPAIGN SUMMARY''' ==
{{Worldbuilders}}
I guess I gotta remember things somewhere
[[Category:Player Characters]]
[[Category:Astral]]

[[Category:Player Characters]]

HARPY

2026-03-28T16:19:37Z

MCAron: Updated abilities and added more about HARPY himself

{{Infobox_character|name={{PAGENAME}}|image=HARPY.png|caption=HARPY's appearance|playerName=Sean|relatives=Unknown|affilliation=The SILVER LINING|birthDate=Unknown|birthPlace=Unknown|gender=Male}}
Unknown:8d81d89f-b2b6-4d3b-9bc0-a334c6a084f1//NDL-C-RAW-SEPTEMBER

NDL-C-SIGMA-CASCADE
Callsign: HARPY CALLSIGN AVAILABLE
Name (or legal alias): Zasheir Tadriel IDENTITY VERIFIED
Background: Unkown PH/HR DATA REGISTERED

Union Administrative RM-4 Pilot Identification Protocol (IDENT) Record 8d81d89f-b2b6-4d3b-9bc0-a334c6a084f1
'''{{PAGENAME}}''' is a Level 3 LANCER present in the campaign "[[In The Shadows of a Willow]]."

== '''BIOGRAPHY''' ==
Working projects spark life in my eyes
<blockquote>...Hi there....Past right, my past. I um... I don't know really what it is. I remember signing a contract with SPIRAL and joining him on what would become known as <nowiki>''</nowiki>Big Day Out" I had a weird set of skills that I couldn't trace back to.. I'm like almost a century old however, so something is not adding up.. I'm um... not a real human. I'm artificial. That's all I have for now. I'll update as I can -HARPY</blockquote>

== '''APPEARANCE AND DEMEANOR''' ==
Let him cook in hacking
HARPY stands 6'3 and is on the lighter side in terms of weight. When not in gear, He's listening to music with his headphone from his cassette tape and goggles are almost always worn. He has dark green eyes behind them that have a swirl to them and orange hair that it kept short to keep it from getting into his eyes. he's a shy workaholic, always looking to improve his current setup. He has a very calm demeanor, rarely letting emotion take over and having bad decisions be made in it. Projects being successful spark life in his eyes and pushes him to go further. He is also heavily invested in gathering information really by any means that don't involve talking to people. He's pretty much a ghost in the Silver Lining with how little he talks to people

== '''SKILL AUDIT''' ==
I'm good at many things, mainly Systems

=== '''H.A.S.E AUDIT''' ===
Hull: 2

Agility: 0

Systems: 3

Engineering: 0

=== '''SKILL TRIGGERS''' ===
Hack or Fix +4

Invent or Create +2

Stay Cool +4

Spot +2

Act Unseen or Heard +2

=== '''PILOT TALENTS''' ===
Fine Tuned I:Tune Up

Fine Tuned II:Chop Shop

Sysop I:Inoculation

Sysop II:Firewall

Hacker I:SNOW_CRASH

Hacker II:SAFE_CRACKER

=== '''REGISTERED LICENSES''' ===
HORUS Aquilegia III

== '''MAJOR IDEAL''' ==
<blockquote>I addressed challenges with curiosity, exploration, or understanding.

I expressed my heritage, background, or beliefs through my actions.

I struggled with issues from my burdens or background</blockquote>'''MINOR IDEAL'''<blockquote>I smelled, heard, or tasted something new.</blockquote>

=== '''WHAT GIVES YOU YOUR POWERS?''' ===
<blockquote>I make drones that can do many things. I want to use these drones to explore a map I have on me</blockquote>

=== '''WHAT ARE YOUR NIGHTMARES?''' ===
<blockquote>Finding out I'm not who I thought I was</blockquote>

== '''PILOT GEAR''' ==
I just have this wherever I go.
'''ARMOR:''' Stealth Hardsuit

'''WEAPON 1''': Medium Signiture

'''WEAPON 2''': Small Signiture

'''GEAR 1''': Antiphoton Visor

'''GEAR 2''': Omnihook

'''GEAR 3''': Subjectivity-Enhancement Suite

== '''MECH HANGAR'''==
What I tend to operate. It works great, but it can always be improved

=== HORUS Aquilegia III - Demoralizing and Decorative Dongs ===
HARPY's primary mech, and where all his inventions go to. There are many integrated parts in order to hold many drones and operate tools from within the mech. A drone is always out however in case a surprise attack happens

== '''CAMPAIGN SUMMARY''' ==
{{Worldbuilders}}
[[Category:Player Characters]]
[[Category:Astral]]
I guess I gotta remember things somewhere
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Zasheir

2026-03-03T03:55:59Z

MCAron: Finishes the backstory of Zasheir

Zasheir is a young person who has approached the Arboretum for mysterious reasons that keep changing. The initial story was him being recruited by the Federation, but rumors spread that he was here to poison others under an anonymous identity. Everywhere he seems to walk, the dead follow suit to the point where people swear he’s practicing necromancy, but with no proof he has stayed out of sight and out of mind of others. Whatever the reason, he pays particular attention to the Omnichapel if you manage to follow him.{{Infobox character|name=Zasheir|image=Zasheir screenshot.png|alt=|relatives=Tree Stump (Mother)|marital=Single|birthDate=116 PR|birthPlace=Ostrom|species=Protector Aasimar|height=6'1"|weight=Coming}}

== '''Description''' ==
Zasheir is most Identifiable by the cyan hair he has. The hair is messy however and the color has been shifting lighter due to the sand in his hair. Otherwise, he wears casual civilian desert clothes while walking around. Standing a little higher than 6', He wears a turtleneck that is grey with a cyan trim to hold, robes that are quite old with a little bit of a burnt look to them and no religious symbols, tanned gloves with leather wrappings to cover the hands, a skirt that is a darker cyan with a light blue trim, some baggy black pants that is tucked into his cloth wrapped shoes that have lightened in color with how much usage it’s gotten. He doesn’t carry a lot with him that can be seen. There is a messenger bag on his left hip that his left hand often rests on with a few extra compartments to hold all of his oddities and a pouch of potions on the right of various sorts.

== '''Manners''' ==
Zasheir often keeps stoic body language, but an easy way to read him if he’s not paying attention, is the placement of the hands, and how close they are relatively to accessible items on him. He keeps the voice in a neutral state so often, it’s rare for him to change tone. With watchful eyes of those he sees, It’s clear that he has a purpose, knows what he wants, and will leave you on the ground, if you pose a threat to him. With very little tolerance for oppression, he plots constantly about how to bring those who wish to do evil down using his skills as an excellent reader at body language. Words are often carefully chosen to prevent hinting at threats and promises, only shooting his shot if he is confident. He would much rather strike in the back with little warning than deal with someone who causes the problems face to face. Zasheir also hates seeing those in pain and distress caused by someone else, because it means he failed to prevent it from happening in the first place. He will often give up his own resources or deny them the help they want for the other person’s best benefit. He is protective of his past, often dropping his voice to a dangerous whisper before saying something to the effect of “That wasn’t here nor there.” Slipping his neutral mask back on, he acts like nothing is wrong and continues on with whatever he was doing, but always is looking for a sign that other people are not who they say they are. His favorite times are at dusk and dawn, because that is when most of his targets are not paying attention to what is around them.

== '''Background''' ==
Zasheir’s earliest memory is in a dark alley walking around aimlessly trying to find any recognition of who his parents are. This 4 year old was often found wandering the alleys of Ostrom trying to find any sign that could be his parents and scraps of anything to survive. He only has a crumpled piece of paper with a name. A young half orc saw the desperation in Zasheir’s eyes and adopted him. Tree Stump didn’t see Zasheir as broken because he didn’t have a family. Rather Zasheir is the son she never had. Zasheir learns soon after that a sweet tongue gets people to talk to him more along with his calm expression. This enables him to sweet talk people for discounts, or the bitter lie gets him out of danger. Tree Stump was always poor, but that doesn’t stop her from getting Zasheir to learn what he is interested in. Alchemy is a fascination Zasheir was always interested in despite the gloomy environment he lived in. He wanted to open his own shop for sanctuary against the unruly crime that is common in Ostrom. Not even the sweetest tongue however could protect himself from what he lost. It was a late night even for 10 year old Zasheir to be staying up when 12:00 rings, then 1… and 2. It was odd that his mother wasn’t back yet, so he decided to go looking for her. At the door, he finds a stone that is well worn that he hadn’t seen before. It’s a deep red oval with stars in the form of a constellation. He spends 3 days searching for his mother, but he discovers nothing since no one will talk to him. With the little coin he has, he ends up on the streets, and starts gambling out of desperation. One urchin by the name of Ioner sees this, and takes pity on him. He shows Zasheir different ways of gambling, knowing how much to put in, and whether or not the opportunity is too good to be true. Zasheir quickly became Ioner’s partner in crime with how well Zasheir could silently signal a winnable vs losing hand based purely on the facial expressions, and people began to suspect that Ioner was cheating. They could not figure out that Zasheir was the one who gave these signals, allowing the kenku to steamroll many card games. With the coin split he earned, he used the only information he learns is that Tree Stump is a skilled warrior heading west to fight something. He gathered the little supplies he had, got his Kenku best friend Iomer to come with him and began the navigation west. He didn’t want to leave and thought about those who couldn’t make it out every day while travelling. It’s a morning like any other. By morning, what I really mean is that the horizon is black with a small gradient of orange. The breakfast was minimal, but what can you expect when dealing with a dessert?<blockquote>Ioner and I have a symbiotic relationship for this harsh landscape: I get us moving in a straight line while he finds today’s necessities. There was something blurry moving in the distance, but neither of us could figure out what it was.The wind is blowing into our backs like someone is pushing a metal sheet onto my back, and the sand is moving with the wind, scraping us by as we continue to travel. The sun is starting to peek on the horizon, and we are trying to get as far as possible before the heat really comes. Ioner notices how the sand is moving faster, but won’t say what he fears. I look behind me, and I get blasted with so much sand I can’t see what is ahead of me. A few minutes of clearing my eyes out from that dumb mistake later, I look around, and I can’t find Iomer, the one person who got us to head in the right direction. I can do nothing but keep moving forward. I have to find Iomer. I may not have the time to find him, but I refuse to leave the one person who has gotten me this far.</blockquote>It didn’t take long for Zasheir to run out of food and water and found himself collapsing from exhaustion. Certain this is the end, he makes his final offering to Lathander. The sun rose for him the next day however and he’s still here. That night, it had rained pretty bad which his body soaked up enough to keep him alive and bless him with divine power. He could now create his own water, so while he’s still on a timer, he could last much longer. After a month of traveling Zasheir arrives in Ira's Bend, and immediately starts looking for work. He had shown his adept skills for an alchemist and managed to become a guild member of Selune’s Apothecary. He focused these skills to make remedial potions. Life had stabilized, but he couldn’t leave to search for Ioner, because of the lack of information on where to go. A few years go by and Zasheir is approached by someone from the Federation who is attempting to recruit him. After the pitch, Zasheir considers it, but ultimately declines. He also realized that he would be used for malicious purposes, which didn’t suit well for him. He refused anymore letters sent to him by the Federation. He realized however he has extra power he wouldn’t normally have. He kept this a secret due to already being different. He used this to secretly help those who might be injured, but he refused to show his identity. In 135 PR the demon incursions had kept getting more frequent. He starts taking refuges in the temple he helps run. His life had become completely swamped. His day job was working at the guild, and his night was tending to the refugees. They left him in charge since he had divine power. It all became too much to bear for him however. He wanted to get to the source of the problem. He heard through the grapevine that the main point that the demons were attacking from was in the west side of Pteris at the Arboretum. He finally got the push he needed to leave when the temple couldn’t take anymore refugees, which broke his heart. He left the charge to the next best leader and headed off

== '''Knacks and Attacks''' ==
Zasheir will rarely show his prowess to others, mostly out of fear of being thought of differently. In fact he doesn’t derive from one magical source, but two. Most of the time, it derives right from his own personality of needing to protect others and destroying the wicked. Occasionally, his holy symbol that is usually tucked underneath the turtle begins to glow an iridescent orange. He also seems to have an innate ability to create torchlight on whatever he touches at will, but it’s rare for him to use it since he typically walks around at night with no light.
[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]

Zasheir

2026-03-01T01:14:41Z

MCAron: The Start of Zasheir's page

{{Infobox character|name=Zasheir|image=Zasheir screenshot.png|alt=|alias=Caduceus|marital=Single|birthDate=116 PR|birthPlace=Ostrom|species=To be discovered|height=Coming|weight=Coming}}Zasheir is a young person who has approached the Arboretum for mysterious reasons that keep changing. The initial story was him being recruited by the Federation, but rumors spread that he was here to poison others under an anonymous identity. Everywhere he seems to walk, a sulfuric smell lingers in the air, almost giving off a planar fiend smell. Whatever the reason, he pays particular attention to the Omnichapel when following him.

== '''Description''' ==
Zasheir is most Identifiable by the “Plague Doctor” mask he wears everywhere he goes. The mask’s paint however has been chipping away, and could use a fresh coat sooner rather than later. Otherwise, he wears casual civilian desert clothes while walking around, never taking the mask off. Standing shy of 6’ tall, He wears a turtleneck that is grey with a cyan trim to hold, robes that are quite old with a little bit of a burnt look to them and no religious symbols, tanned gloves with leather wrappings to cover the hands , a skirt that is a darker cyan with a light blue trim, some baggy black pants that is tucked into his cloth wrapped shoes that have lightened in color with how much usage it’s gotten. He doesn’t carry a lot with him that can be seen. There is a messenger bag on his left hip that his left hand often rests on with a few extra compartments to hold all of his oddities and a pouch of potions on the right of various sorts

== '''Manners''' ==
Zasheir often keeps stoic body language, but an easy way to read him if he’s not paying attention, is the placement of the hands, and how close they are relatively to accessible items on him. He keeps the voice in a neutral state so often, it’s rare for him to change tone. With watchful eyes of those he sees, It’s clear that he has a purpose, knows what he wants, and will leave you on the ground, if you pose a threat to him. With very little tolerance for oppression, he plots constantly about how to bring those who wish to do evil down using his skills as an excellent reader at body language. Words are often carefully chosen to prevent hinting at threats and promises, only shooting his shot if he is confident. He would much rather strike in the back with little warning than deal with someone who causes the problems face to face. Zasheir also hates seeing those in pain and distress caused by someone else, because it means he failed to prevent it from happening in the first place. He will often give up his own resources or deny them the help they want for the other person’s best benefit. He is protective of his past, often dropping his voice to a dangerous whisper before saying something to the effect of “That wasn’t here nor there.” Slipping his neutral mask back on, he acts like nothing is wrong and continues on with whatever he was doing, but always is looking for a sign that other people are not who they say they are. His favorite times are at dusk and dawn, because that is when most of his targets are not paying attention to what is around them. You will rarely see him out in the daytime, but more likely to see a figure with a bird mask walking around at night with vigilant eyes for trouble

== '''Background''' ==
If you asked me what my oldest memory is, you probably wouldn’t believe me. I am an upcoming adult, and I find myself awake in a coffin. Next to me I find an alchemist’s kit, which I would just like to carry with me, but I can’t tell you why. I have to get out of here if I don’t want to die of suffocation. I push, and I am buried right next to the surface. Whoever this person was must have not been the first one to be buried in this spot. Getting out is practically a cake walk with the minimal sand hiding this coffin. It’s the middle of the night opening my eyes to the outside world which is a new experience for most. While I can see shades of grey, I used my natural ability to create a soft orange light on the gravestone I just came out of to get a better view of what is around me. The first thing I notice when I get out is the sheer burning from something of sulfur with cold night air and no nearby flame to heat me up. I’m also wearing white clothing with intricate medicinal plants sewn in of some celestial design, which I think looks nice, but it’s clear this is funeral clothing, but I guess this person’s religion was significant to them. Reading the headstone, it’s mostly destroyed, but this is what I see.

'''Zas'''

'''931 B'''

I don’t know who this is, but the name is closest to Zasheir which means bright in Celestial. I don’t know what the implications of it are, but it’s something to keep in mind. About 50 some odd feet away, I notice something sees me, and has been watching me. I shut my light, and start to sneak off realizing I don’t know what has happened, but the last thing I need is for someone to identify the creature that came out of a grave. I have several questions however. Where am I? Why did I wake up in a coffin? What is the sulfuric smell I feel all around me? What is this power I’m born with? After getting to a safe area, I find a few trinkets of interest. These are a stone, and a mask. The stone depicts a road leading into a sunrise, but I don’t know the significance too well. The mask however is the perfect tool to keep my face hidden however. I know I will stick out like a sore thumb, but I don’t know who I even am. I am just a guy who woke up in a graveyard who got seen by something or someone. As I’m talking to myself and making sure my speech is okay, I start speaking in three tongues: The common, some foul abomination, and an almost musical voice.

== '''Knacks and Attacks''' ==
Zasheir will rarely show his powers to others, mostly out of fear of being thought of differently. In fact he doesn’t derive from one magical source, but two. Most of the time, it derives right from his own personality of needing to protect others and destroying the wicked. Occasionally, his holy symbol that is usually tucked underneath the turtle begins to glow an iridescent orange. He also seems to have an innate ability to create torchlight on whatever he touches at will, but it’s rare for him to use it since he typically walks around at night with no light
[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]

File:Zasheir screenshot.png

2026-03-01T01:09:52Z

MCAron: MCAron uploaded a new version of File:Zasheir screenshot.png

A Character model of Zesheir

Himo Nilo

2026-02-20T20:34:16Z

MCAron: Reformatting in the source code

Himo is a High Elf Rogue/Artillerist that has experienced both the rich and poor side of Lunas. He wanted to visit the Arboretum to modify existing equipment he has, but he never really left until he heard from his contacts in the Arboretum that demon incursions were ramping up. Carrying only what he could quickly pack, he left for the Arboretum with his bag that contains only essentials. He has a habit of checking anything that might look "suspicious" but doesn't really know what might be suspicious.{{Infobox character|name=Himo Nilo|image=Relaxedhimonilo.png|alt=|caption=The right side of my face should show what happens when you don't pay attention|aliases=Tai (Child name)|relatives=Mother, Father, 3 Sisters|languages=Common Elvish, Goblin, Thieve's Cant|marital=Single|birthDate=99 PR|birthPlace=High Lunas|species=High Elf|gender=Male|height=4'10"|weight=94 lbs|eyes=gold}}
== Description ==
Himo is a young elf shining with bronze skin with black freckles, Short copper hair that is decently trimmed and eyes that sparkle gold when they catch the light. you would find him like he was a gem in a mine because of the reflection he often carries. He doesn't seem to carry anything with him except maybe a small backpack over A rapier and dagger on his left hip and short sword on his right hip respectively, hang and some tools hanging off of his belt. He wears light reinforced leather armor with a somewhat heavy desert cloak that shines a little in the light. When you peer past the cloak however, you notice two very big change to him that he tries to hide as best as he can. The first one is he really only has half of his hair left. The right side of him looks like he has black char that curls up around the face and neck that has been there for quite some time. The second is he occasionally has no right arm. anything that might have been there is gone, and watching him, he sways a little bit to the left and right as if he can't seem to keep himself balanced. A new projects have shown up on his person. There was a rack where the shoulder would be is a semi circle with a hole cut out of the center, and an arc cut out inside the semi circle. It was only partially done, but it seems to have been scrapped. The second gadget that he has on him at all times, is a disc launcher that fires out coins. Both of these are woodworking projects with small mechanical parts to make them work.

== Manners ==
Himo has a nervous tick carried wherever he goes. If you asked, he would say something along the lines of in a deep graveled voice of not being too careful wherever he goes, but refuses to follow up on why. The eyes seem to look for particular things, but never what is around him. Arcane is of great interest for him, but explosives are not that far off the priority. Often times, random junk that no one has used for some time goes missing, but if you saw him with the junk and asked why, the lips tighten hard. He then usually keeps to himself the rest of the day or two unless it's to discuss plans for missions or logistics. His past is guarded more securely that a vault door with enhanced locks, but the impact of it can easily be seen if he has a PTSD episode. This usually logical, crafty, upbeat personality, snaps faster than a string on a trap, changing him to an aggressive, fearful, volatile person. His hand always seems close to his dagger like he is waiting for a fight to occur. It's hard to tell if you have earned his trust or whether he sees the alliance as one time. On missions of any kind, Himo will tend to find to get out of sight when possible of his teammates, but is always around when trouble strikes. With the death of two people he worked and interacted with, things changed.<blockquote>"I guess I was wrong. Every slight, every lie, every betrayal. I knew it went nowhere, which is why I never did it myself. Trust however, I simply couldn't rebuild it. It was selfish, and I knew it, but betrayal honestly hit really hard. I especially was sure I couldn't after Lenore almost influenced my mind. The first person who showed me kindness without ever expecting a repay. Yet why do so many people hate the fact I only see one time alliances? Why does it matter to them if I hold up my end of the deal? What do they really want from me while working on these missions? I have everything to lose in trust with a huge benefit. I've gotten something wrong. My logic has a fallacy somewhere. I know that promise to talk about my past is still something Syl can call on at any moment. I will not hide any details, but I also don't want any sympathy. After all, my actions in part led me to the problem I have now. Trust is a scary concept for me. I have some deeply unsettling information when I went back to the temple with Avel.. What will happen when I finally spill the guts of what truly happened? Will I be killed, exiled, belittled?. I must have a heart somewhere, because Gloria told me how surprised she was that I gave a fuck about those who died. I need.... I need someone to talk to. Maybe I've held this in too long.. If I want to protect people, I can't let my distrust. I have to change if I want to be more effective. I don't mind if people still don't trust who I was, but I need to do this for myself. I have the intelligence, the dexterity, now with my fake arm, and the grit to push through failure. I'm missing the why. Why am I doing this? People expect me not to care, but I do. Why do I need to rebuild a sense of trust, and what do I am to do here in the Arboretum?"</blockquote>

== Background ==
Himo was born to a wealthy mage family in High Lunas. They expected him to follow that same tradition, and while he was interested in magic wasn't the most interesting thing to him as physical tasks. Still they made him either take lessons or leave this family. He negotiated to learn alchemy to understand the materials used in spellcasting.

He started to go to the Low Lunas in secret claiming private tutoring sessions when really he got into contact with the local criminal rings to learn skills from their side. He chose to learn lockpicking for his profession and was quite skilled at it. He also refined his careful hand movement to mimic letters. He balanced this double life of learning alchemy by day and learning to pick locks by night. When he went to Lower Lunas, he would bring stories of breaking into homes, taking specific materials and leaving without a trace. by the time they would try to track him down, he would be in the shadows trying to outlast the location spells used to find him. he often had to dump the stolen materials to prevent being caught. This went on for years. he wrote detailed notes about alchemy and his parents were thought he was being an obedient son. One night while learning complicated formulas to show to his parents, he was finally caught by the guards and he was sentenced to death. while in prison, he managed to convince the guards to give him 2 lodestones. He took those lodestones and mended the broken thieves tools that he was hiding in his clothing. This lock however was never supposed to be picked. It had been magically enhanced but he the night to make that happen. He picked the lock and sneaked out and into the Lower Lunas in 102 PR just as the sun was rising.

He excelled in picking locks as a freelancer. If the guild provided sanctuary based on how difficult the lock was, that locked was picked. He became infamous in rings because no lock was safe from him. Booby trapped to Arcane Lock, most locks were not safe from him. Only locks that were sophisticated with an Arcane Lock would he have a hard time picking and often failed at those, but those were few and far for High Lunas. In various guilds, he learned various weapons that he now always with him because he doesn't want to get into a scrap unarmed. He often had a habit of inspecting areas where people invited him never trusting anyone fully. His reputations grew so much that he found himself often travelling to other places to check out security systems. This took the pressure off of him because he could really inspect area he couldn't before. He learned to pickpocket, sneak around, scale buildings and practice his skills of picking locks. He tried to get an honest job in the town of Rwendia but his reputation followed him everywhere. He did odd jobs around places, pick locks here, mend broken stuff back together, and come along with other criminals to look out for traps. The people he often worked under were brutal. They would insult him behind his back, mess up him picking the locks, broke his stuff and moved him around often and lied to him where he was

He started for fun re-learning magic. Make graffiti with magic here, an odor there. This terrified the guilds because he was becoming what he swore he would never do and feared he would turn on him next. His mentor Jumad told him that no one will want someone unreliable if he chooses this path. He continued in spite of their disapproval and learned how to make a bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus. The only person he told this to was his best friend Kamer who supported him in getting new materials. One day while hiding out in the DwaleVale, he received a letter of a formal apology from his family asking him to come back. He eagerly accepted and made his way over. His contacts warned him they were up to no good and were looking for vengeance for bringing shame to the family name. When he got there they magically influenced him to open a complicated safe lock without checking the area. BOOOM!!! A massive explosion covered him from right to left, debris flying every where and scraping by on life. The family were stewing in their loss of the son when his eldest sister, Nylo gave the idea to blow him up in a public execution. That letter he found, was trapped to get him to come whether he wanted to or not. In the chaos, someone in his family had planted one more bomb to take him out. he survived, barely, but lost his right arm in the explosion. He lost everything; everything but his skills, his life and his resolve to fix this. At DAGR (Determined Assassins, Grifters, and Rogues) he received word that they needed people to fix broken things and make them better. he spent the next 6 months fighting for his life, and those 6 months were in a daze. He often found himself in a new place about every month. When finally had the strength to move comfortably, he took essentials and ran for his life in 134 PR, because no matter what he did his family was coming for him and he needed to defend himself.

== Charactrer Information ==
Himo knew elvish and common just from listening to his family, but he learned goblin when he would hang around goblins were trying to have a private conversation, not realizing Himo taught himself that from listening to them
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |Rogue 1/Artificer 5
|-
|AC 16
|HP 39
|DC 14
|-
|Str 13
|Dex 18
|Con 13
|-
|Int 16
|Wis 10
|Cha 12
|}
Himo is a man of many skills that involve getting around where he needs to in some way. He effectively shows he can get around super quietly, lift or plant things in someone's pocket, has great athletic abilities, and knows how to spot the difference between 2 identical objects. If asked about anything arcane, he has great knowledge of what it is, what the purpose is, and what the process of creating might have looked like. He also seems to have some tools on his belt. Specifically woodcarver's tools are always on his belt, but he has also shown a good deal of knowledge on making mechanical parts with tinker tools, making concoctions with alchemist supplies, and what he is most well known for; picking locks, and disabling traps

=== High elf Abilities ===

* Cantrip (Mending)
* Darkvision
* Elf Weapon Training
* Extra Language (Goblin)
* Fey Ancestry
* Keen Senses
* Trance

=== Rogue Features ===

* Expertise: Stealth, Thieves Tools
* Sneak attack (1d6)
* Thieves’ Cant

=== Artificer Abilities ===

* Infuse Item (bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus)
* Magical Tinkering
* Spellcasting
* Ritual Casting
* Eldritch Cannon
** Force Balista
** Flamethrower
** Protector
* Arcane Firearm

==== Feat: ====
Alert

== Himo's Story ==

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== New Place, New Identity, and a New Dream ===
</div><blockquote>It's been roughly 8 months since I came here to the Arboretum and very little people know I am actually here. Kamer got me in contact with The Chairman when I got here and it has been hell being around all of these explosive materials. every big explosion sends me back a year when an attempt was made on my life. I trust absolutely NO ONE here because I have been looked down on because of a missing arm. Petty theft was the only way I survived. I was so busy about survival that I didn't realize that Raegina was hiring to make robots until The Chairman sent me a letter telling me Raegina was looking for people to recruit for the Scrappers. I collected scraps from grand shoplifting, hid out for four months to wait out people looking for men, then I moved swiftly to the junkyard. My goal is to go back to High Lunas and exact revenge on my parents and sisters who left me in this state I am. I barely remember the explosion or the constant shifting of places because I was so out of it. The people here seem nice enough but I am just waiting for them to betray each other. When I got to the junkyard, I was appalled to see the size of these robots, and the amount of people that came was a little much for me.

When Raegina mocked many of us for having many broken and chipped off parts, I just rolled my eyes because I knew if there as anything she was trying to hide in a safe, I could find that safe without getting caught. In Low Lunas I was known as the Magic Pick because I couldn't be trapped, nor were most locks safe from me. I do need teammates however so I kept my moth shut and just listened. The amount of artificers that were there was astonishing. A tiefling had infused armor, and a goblin had a small automaton with them. But by far the most unique “living” thing saw was a doll that could think for itself. It turns out to test our skills, we would fight Grind, Smash and Cleave, 3 golems with interesting weapon choices. I got excited when I learned that we would be fighting the golems because that meant I could sneak out parts I needed for projects. One of said projects was increasing the throwing range of Thunder Rumble because I have to be relatively close to make good use of it. While fighting, one got destroyed, and it burst into flames. The heat sent me back to the explosion that back at High Lunas, where I almost lost my life. We dispatched the rest and Raegina was impressed enough to let us scrap the robots. So much for trying to do things discreetly... But I haven't really talked with people yet. After scrapping the robots, we split up into two teams. I got paired with Stix and Raazdrog which was fine. I can modify my parts and they add theirs, and I saw this as more of a fun project. After all, I like explosive confusion. But it's not like I could focus because I was so nervous with Grind blowing me to bits, I was accidentally disassembling Grind. I was trying to make the saw arm move more fluidly, and trying to add scraps of metal I had in my bag, but I fumbled hard there. It was so embarrassing, because everyone else manage to buff it in some way but not me. I wanted to leave so badly because of that, but I ended up staying in spite of it. I would be throwing away probably my only real opportunity to getting out of the slums like my family expected me to stay. To my surprise Raegina gave each of us 10 gp to bet on the improved robots as to who would win. This was huge to me! This was really the first time someone handed me something without expecting anything in return. I decided to risk all of that money and bet most of it on Grind, and then I had an Idea. I decided to rename Grind to Sparkburn, which Stix and Raazdrog liked a lot. Raazdrog and I got the idea to give Sparkburn a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." and I added "Feel the spark. Feel the burn." Now I really didn't care if we won or lost because I considered this a finished project. Out team ended up winning and I walked away with triple what I put into it. I was ecstatic not only because I won a bet, which I rarely take, but the funds could be used to get the tools I need for projects. That excitement was short-lived however because a horn coming from the Arboretum indicating it was under attack. I hopped on the war rig and we moved to the Arboretum.

Getting towards a entrance root of the Arboretum, a sudden crash hits the war rig and all of us go flying off of it. pieces of the damaged rig flew out and a large skeletal elephant collapsed next to the war rig. I wasn't paying attention because I was sketching my newest tool to assist me. I was thrown hard, losing my sketch to the winds and barely landed standing up, and my vision blacked out for a second. Metal was warping and bending in all the wrong ways and snaps echoed throughout the valley and then silence. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew this was an ambush. Footsteps on the dessert sand was coming from multiple directions, Sparks were flying off of the rig, The screeching of tires spinning out, shoe rubber flaking off the boots I put together with mending, and hearing many colleagues scrape against the dusty ground. When the dust cleared I saw green goo blobs moving towards us, and I heard something angry moving towards us. Pustuloids, Capra demons, and Lesser Rage demons were there. To give me some distance, I climbed the war rig, but as I was climbing, it felt like the floor was falling out from me and nearly fell off. Climbing up I saw roughly 10 Pustuloids, a few lesser rage demons, and a Capra. My team managed to keep hold of a choke point and so I threw my dagger at the Capra repeatedly, but I also noticed Sparkburn, covering our backside. This was great, because the Pustuloids exploded on death with Sparkburn unaffected. Raegina tells me to get off even though I just got on. I wanted to argue because I had a good position of the battle but whatever.You know that rig aint safe from me snagging a few pieces. The fight isn't going in our favor right now, because Raazdrog's steel defender, crashes to the ground in combat, unmoving by the Capra. While this fight is going on, I see a figure moving behind us, but it doesn't look like an ambush. It's a half elf holding a rapier and an instrument; most likely a bard. One by one however, the demons fell starting with the pustuloids. Leftover goo seeping into the ground before turning to ash. Two booms ring out as the lesser rage demons and the Capra are thrown back. Delaia, who has been soaking hits for us, takes the opportunity to get out after that which I don't blame. It didn't look like he was going to stand much longer to be honest. The spells seemed to come from the bard and Delaia, so we have another ally. Good because most of us are spent on resources. We kill all the demons and after a quick introduction, the bard's name is Leonard, and she heard the commotion. She healed Deliaia a significant amount, and Deliaia looks ready to take on another fight. After moving this elephant which turned out to be an Olliphant off of the root, we prepared to charge up only for a wave of energy to come down upon us. There was no point to going up anymore... The Conservatory has been destroyed. There goes many projects that have been put on hold. It's not like I made progress on the parts I needed for Sizzle but still frustrating. Oh crap! More demons of the same types are coming down, and I should have seen this coming. We dispatch the ones that combated us, and the streets fall silent around us....
After the invasion ended, leaders were talking about uniting "not just to fight against the demons, but also to build alliances" or something like that. The thing is, I can only rely on one thing when partnership is formed: people are looking out for themselves. Unless someone can prove they are trustworthy, I will not be in a permanent alliance. That's how I survived Low Lunas; Ally with someone only until the necessity no longer remains. </blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Absent Memories ===
</div>
<blockquote>A few days go by and Sir Anthony is holding a funeral for the lives lost, when I got approached by Jerbo, a gnome arcanist. He was hiring people to track down why the Kobolds attacked. I agreed but stressed, I needed some help. After getting a few others, and some quick introductions we made our way to Dapple, a satry who rents out horses. I put down the deposit and we made our way over. Oh I should mention who is here because I will be a narcissist otherwise. We have Mezzi who I have never seen take off their mask, Polvo a Air Genasi that had an encounter with death apparently, Diana a human who has a lizard like robot that follows her everywhere, Dallas a mouse I have never seen before but seems like a cool fellow, and Davin a halfling with a longbow, with a trophies on his person.

It takes a little more than two days to get there and along the way, we found a dog in a campsite that was left not long ago. I make an alarm in case people came back while I was within a mile, but I got no signal. When we get to the Osteomancer, their abode is in the ground with sand covering a trapdoor. I volunteer to go planning to be sneaky, but I forgot not everyone can see in the dark as well as I can, because Mezzi lit a torch when we all got down. When we met the Osteomancer, I can only describe what is a elephant person like three feet taller than me with big elephant ears, an elephant trunk and overall a build that could lift more than me with two arms. We were trading a favor for a favor. The Osteomancer's favor was removing a tower that was made of Absence which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I can go along with it. Apparently, when creatures are near said tower, they lose their Identities. Davin beat to the question of how are we going to protect ourselves, so that was nice. I was given a scroll and a black egg to crush when I start to read the scroll that should seal this wound. Another detail that was mentioned was the structure could only be seen through reflections.

We get to the tower, it looked like someone lived inside a crazy home. The outside can't be seen, but when you go inside, it is a ghost white. there was also a spot of complete silence, so I move myself there, crushethe egg and begin reading the scroll. A ghost that looks like he owns the place along with lights that surround us entirely. I placed down, my cannon to give me some cover while the rest of the group combat the lights. I watched my colleagues lose their ability to speak coherently while fighting them. I was blessed with something, but I couldn't tell you what it as but it seems to help me fight this ghost who was trying to make me vanish. As the fight moves on, less lights were attacking, but I can't tell you why. After nearly completing it, I was tired of the things attacking and unleash an ear piercing ring out towards the ghost, along with the nearby lights, which injure the lights a lot more than anticipated. I finish reading, and the entire place began to collapse around us. Which is unfortunate, because I wanted to get parts I need for project. I have to will myself out with Mezzi's help, but luckily everyone got out.

When we get back to the Osteomancer, we learn that when kobolds want to get rid of the Divine Blood law, they make deals with other creatures; in this case demons. This group was led by Snizz the Fortunate, but that group was dead when other people killed the kobolds. It ended with a warning "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free." Confused, I said nothing and headed back for the horses that have been tied up. We went to check up on the dog, and it's still there and there is no sign of return, so we left for the Arboretum. This information is given to Jerbo, but I am still suspicious of hat will happen if someone does make a deal with a devil.</blockquote>

<div style="text-align: center;">
=== Sinking the Filth and My Feelings ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a week since I saw that tower of that "absence" and I am ready to finish what I started or go to the Omnichapel for advice on Vela. I know, I get distracted easily, but I cannot for any reason leave a stone unturned for any reason in case it comes to bite me back later. I left Lunas on some pretty bad terms, both with my family for obvious reasons, but also the Thieve's guilds with relearning the one thing I swore off of. That mistake of saying I will not learn more things about a specific topic was so far my worst one yet. Anyone could come for me for any reason, and I need to be ready for when I get jumped. Today luckily is not one of those days, because a new job offering has appeared who's handwriting is more crude than a thieve's messy handwriting. Baftzmyr as I later found out put up the sign about a giant demon stuck in the sand, and it needed to be killed. Cool, I can just fire with my cannon and it will eventually die if it can't get out. When I get there, I see some new faces, but also a handful of familiar ones. Stix and Razzdrog are here, but among the new ones we have Steady Dee, a tabaxi who wears some unusually heavy armor comparatively that have some runes on it that appear to be of a giant origin, but I guess whatever floats your boat. Koro, an Air Genasi that wears some monk robes, who can't seem to make up his mind when it comes to allegiances, and Ozmir, a tiefling that has powers I have never seen before, but curious as to how they will work. Baftzmyr explains that scout demons have been circling around looking around for a way to get out the great demon. The plan was simple; locate the scouts, follow them, and kill the great demon. Now that follows, but it's under the sand. What is Baftzmyr's plan to expose the demon? I don't know. All I know is I can sneak up on it, and rain cannon fire down where it can't see me. Ozmir who can apparently track creatures really well, starts following a set made not long ago.

Along the path, a heatwave catches me completely off guard, and I feel more sluggish than before. Great, now I won't be able to hide nearly as easy I have before, but I am with a group. We get right on top the scout and it pops out ready to attack. It would have died in two hits, if Sparkburn didn't have a weapon infused with fire. Wait! I forgot to mention Sparkburn is with us! Gobbo, I will find you later and confront you for remaining silent. It didn't matter however, because melee attacks are still effective. After that one dies, Stix along with a few others spot three more running from away, and we continue to follow. After a few more hours of travel, we come across some quicksand that is quaking. Quicksand isn't supposed to do that on a large scale; this is where the great demon is. Baftzmyr pulls what appears to be an origami pig that is coated in a layer of wax. It looks like the pig was boiled alive, but I am not one to judge. Stix volunteers to carry to bomb, and all I can say to that is... Ok never mind. This doll, husk? I don't know what it's made of, but regardless, the bomb is carried to it's destination. More importantly however, Stix makes it out unscathed. Maybe Stix has a ratio of strength similar to that of an ant. Ants proportionally can carry more weight to their body mass.

Koro and I peek over, and WHAT IS THIS FOR A DEMON!? A cage for a face with a flame inside of it and some kind of disc neck to keep the sand out of the face or something. We give out teammates that knowing look, and the rest of the team gets to work. Raazdrog and MK-2 setup an anti flank position for us on the right as well as making the demon glittery. Steady Dee also sets up an anti flank position for us on the right side as well as growing to giant. With this enlarged form Steady throws a handaxe that lands square in the "face" of the great demon but not as effective as it should have hit . Stix is firing blasts of green energy which makes me think a deal was involved for this power. Koro using the bow pierces the demon with the same problem as Steady, and I am throwing a dagger, firing a cannon, and backing up, because I have no interest in falling in the quicksand and next to this abomination. That caused a different problem however which was I opened the line for more of the scouts to come attack Koro and Ozmir. I planned to fix this by booming them back into it, but that will backfire spectacularly when Koro kills one of the scouts, and stayed within the line of fire. It was also a good thing that I moved out, because the sand started moving out from everyone's feet who were close to the edge. Steady and MK-2 fell in and hell broke loose, literally. I didn't see what happened but the next thing I know, Koro willingly jumps into the pit and now Steady is floating in the air about 20ft. Why that is happening, I couldn't tell you, but Steady was bleeding out and needed help soon. Baftzmyr uttered some word and Steady is conscious again. I go to help Ozmir, because currently 3 scouts are surrounding her, which aint cool. I drive my dagger into a scout's death, and the sand is still moving out from under us, but I can keep myself steady. Raazdrog on the other hand wasn't so lucky and also managed to fall in next to the demon. Things are going fine right now. The great demon is getting whacked by are melee fighters and the people up here in the sand are holding off the scouts just fine. Oh no. My worst fear has come true; this demon will explode on death. I am not going to be around that. I can stabilize those who take the brunt of the explosion. At least, that was my original plan if Koro didn't fall to the giant claws of this demon. I am not ready to lose a colleague here, so I jump down, run to Koro, heal him just enough to get him conscious again and prep for another round of attacks against this creature.
Maybe it was better however that I couldn't keep myself steady this time and I was buried in the sand. Not wanting to be stuck in here, I used my last spell to blast out, but that didn't work. Later I learned that I had injured Koro, and Steady who were both super hurt by it, but the worst part was I didn't even get out with that. I got burned, but not by much comparatively to other people who got the full brunt. Stix stabilized Koro, and Raazdrog healed Steady and then Koro. It honestly surprised me that everyone made it out alive. We got our gold, and I moved on because I don't know how much I can trust the Scrappers when working with a Fiend. Working with criminals is bad enough, but trying to work with a creature from the underworld seems like a death sentence.</blockquote>

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=== Old Technology, and Fights ===
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<blockquote>It's been a few days since hunting the Baron of Filth or whatever in the Nine Hells this creature is, and I finished the sketching for my tool arm. I don't have a name for it, but I know the name will come at the end when I finish the project. I should really get some paper however, because each time I sketch it, it's in the sand. I lose it very easily, and often times restart like some mime performing the same trick. I was ready to go buy the materials when I am stopped by Gnash, a half orc who means business. If I had a counterpart, it would be her. Why? because the entire left side of her face is char black. Besides that she needs people to track down some missing people. They have been gone 2 days and she hates mystery. Some other people that get recruited were Leonard, Mezzi, The Scarlet Shadow, Raazdrog, and Avel. I think it's worth mentioning that we have 3 musically inclined, which I don't think I have ever been apart of. We are told to look for a carcass of a long dead giant worm, and the distant mountain Tol'Viral on are way to Drywater. Jerbo reads off a scroll and we turn to mist, and boy can we MOVE! With this enhanced movement, met up with Kaleen, a desert vulpine druid who knew of our mission. We got two scrolls. I recognize these and as Animal Messenger and Locate object spells. If anything goes wrong we are told to give movement on where they are headed and in how long.. The Locate Object however is to find a silver bullet the group left behind.. Seems odd, but hey maybe they do that elsewhere to mark where they were.

We don't need either however, because Scarlet knows this place like the back of his hand. Apparently the blue dragonborn, and the thri-kreen hate each other enough to capture, but not kill him, which I find very funny. Anyways, he finds tracks of about a dozen thri-kreen. Following them, they reduce to about 4 tracks that were left behind, and end abruptly. Still Scarlet picks up where they began again and we continue to follow. We are moving with the wind while following the tracks, so it was very easy to actually catch up to the thri-kreen Scarlet was following. When I get the chance to look at them, and it looks likes an ant that grew a spine, a brain along with gaining lots of lower insect strength. The color of the shell also seems to be blending in better with the surrounding enviorment, which I wish I could get my hands on that. We transformed into ourselves again, and decided instead of attacking, to talk to them since they might have some useful information regarding the people we are trying to find. I was confused about the execution, until I learned Scarlet could actually communicate with them. Upon seeing us, the group shows off their mandibles, and claws. Scarlet attempts to parley with the clutch but to no avail, since he could speak the language of clack clickers. Before you judge me, that's what I heard.

As we got closer, they became blurry and hard to track their position. I recognize this as a '''Blur''' spell. I am about to make them shiny when Raazdrog beats me to that idea. Only one of them got affected however, but there is one idea I have. Some spells you can't put together because you have to think about the actual spell. '''Blur''' happens to be one of those spells, so I plan to attack in a flank or hit them with spells, they have to resist. I summon the cannon, and get to work. They start by swarming Raazdrog, but since only a few attacks hit, they turned the attention to me. They also don't get many hits in, but one did strike me good. A 6 on 4 however doesn't end well for them, and that part of the clutch falls one by one to us swarming them. We leave the corpses behind and continue on our journey to finding the people who went missing. I was honestly expecting more of a fight with how many tracks we say, but hey I'll save some of my resources for later. We get to a dune structure with a very small tunnel with 2 Federation members dead. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a fight broke out here about a day ago, There is a tunnel about 5ft wide, so it's time for a single file line. I go first, after my cannon, so that less people will be affected by any traps that may come. Well dam right I was because my cannon snapped a tripwire leading to a bunch of some decent size rocks they could fit in the ceiling tumble out. I get out of the way get fine, but I couldn't move my cannon, and it get's dented pretty badly from the trap set.

Lesson learned; check for traps in a small area like this. I just realized my experience from Low Lunas has been lacking faster than what happened the last time I was in High Lunas. I start examining the area up ahead, and would you look at that; another trap.. It takes me less than 10 seconds to permanently disable the trap however, so no issues there. Continuing to check for traps, I find no more, and I see a room, probably about 40 feet by 30 feet, and there is a decent amount of light in here that seems to be pretty bright. When we get to the maw of this room, I can just barely see to left some kind of rig, but oh come on. Really? A weapon pointed in my face with 2 people standing a few feet away from the arch. From the little I can see, this appears temporary, but I first need to talk to these people.. I told them that we are here to find you. We were sent by Gnash, and got here with the help of Jerbo. Why there are 2 dead Federation members outside this cave, I have a better idea now. AVEL WHY!? I might have been going somewhere with the conversation, but then you decide to teleport behind them and attack? Fine, Seeing this I spring into action, and start to attack the person who drew their weapon at me. Rude, but fine a fight you want? A fight you will get. I blast the cannon into the shin of the guy, and take that opportunity to throw my dagger into his skull, which works out great because that is one less person we have to deal with. Raazdrog, Mk-2, and Scarlet move into the room and attack some of the nearby henchmen. that happen to be near the doorway so less occupancy there. Avel takes this opportunity to corner the leader in a one on one duel. Unhappy with me dropping her main bodyguard, she leaves the duel with Avel, and decides to attack me instead, with a reach weapon. Dammit, my cannon was in the way, but that didn't matter for this dumb weapon. The lightning and fire hurts pretty bad, but I am still here... Then the dork leaves me alone to go get into a 3v1. I think something is being plotted, because they moved away from me, almost like something had a higher priority. Leonard seeing me greatly injured me heals my immediate wounds, which is nice, because I want to help my teamates, but I can't do that with almost being taken out of the fight. There is 3 other henchmen here, so I direct my cannon to fire at one who was next to Avel as I stick my knife into their side for a well thrown shot.. Mezzi managed to released a held spell, after Avel forced the enemy into Mezzi's line of sight. It didn't have any effect, but the more people closer to the leader, the better.. The leader in a desperate move, went to the rig, and pushed a few buttons, and got ready to run., getting slashed, by Raazdrog Mk-2, Scarlet, and Avel.. I now realize what this is; an infernal enhancement. NOW I WANT THAT! this would speed up my projects by who know how long, and I would earn a lot of favor from Raegina.. This person clearly has connections to the Scrappers, which now irritates me, because we are fighting within our own group, but I know I don't have the tongue to get everyone to stop fighting.

We managed to get the Tiefling leader to start running, but by that point, the fight was over. I used this opportunity to try and disable this infernal enhancement, but to no avail. It starts burning me... This rig can't be disabled, from a self destruction button, but I have to keep going. I'm getting burned and then I see it; I can get out, where I couldn't before. I will not give up my own life to figure this out. This is my choice now, not some magic that was used on me. I run out with the rest of the group to hear a big explosion ring out. I managed to get some materials out from the rig, but it's now useless... I spend some time with this tiefling who's name is Velza. Apparently her and Raegina have been locking horns because this rig should have come back to the junkyard, There was incursions here that the local tribe could use help with that rig that is now gone. The solution was spiteful and honestly stupid, and as much as I would have loved to get her off the hook, I want to be able to use these tools for good, not just because of a word of law.. I'm not sure how much longer I will be with the Scrappers because of this incident... If all Raegina cares about is this problem of demons within Pteris no matter the cost, desperation will make people do some insane things all trying to better the future for themselves/children with the destruction left behind.The end NEVER EVER for any reason, justifies the means.</blockquote>

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=== Logic Lacking and Large Lies ===
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<blockquote>Oh Where do I begin with this incident that I am still beating myself in the head over? I guess I will start with the fact that some Yuan-ti runs into town screaming about someone has stolen all of her textiles and they are very expensive. I put my guard up, because I don't trust people who make a big show like that, but I don't see any odd behavior. Some other people that notice the commotion are Deliah, a teifling with some well enhanced armor, Leonard a half elf, who was first and last person to surprise me with someone else coming, Ozmir and Stix making a return from that nasty Baron, Ozmir is also a teifling, with some unique psionic blades, which looks really cool, and Stix is the doll that roams the Arboretum. I recently learned Stix has a "friend" that speaks to them, which is kind of unsettling, I am now wondering who is puppeteering this doll, when it's likely a god.. The last person I did not mention was Ollie, a ranger who has a pet frog.. The Yuan-ti's name is Sandra Sanderson, and she needed help recovering textiles that were expensive.

They were stolen by a bunch of gnolls, but the problem I find with that story is A: gnolls don't do that, B: few gnolls are careful with what they steal. Just look at the goods they have after death, and C: Gnolls are not known for attacking in huge groups. I can't saying anything without sounding paranoid, so I go along with this idea.. We get to the circus tent that these textiles were stolen from, and here is the first of many mistakes I made. I made so many in fact for being a skeptic, that it makes my lack of checking in High Lunas look safer. I did not check any signs of damage for anything really. I just saw the creatures, baited one over, and a fight ensued. There was a bunch of hyenas, two giant hyenas, and a gnoll warrior. Stix got injured repeatedly from after it was a great idea to fireball the three big targets. Deliah got in the way of the big hyenas and just ate the minimal damage they dealt. Ozmir notices with the fact these were made by a conjuration spell, but we kept on fighting, because they didn't stop. All of them disappeared except for the warrior.
Me and Ozmir start looking around, and we do find the secret stash of goods, and here is my second and third big mistakes. I forgot to examine the tracks leading to it, and I forgot to see based on the dust how long it might have been there, and how far away it was from the actual circus tent. We give the textiles, and she gives us clothing based on the surface thoughts we have, and then I receive a message telepathically from Ozmir stating that Sandra is definitely hiding something.. Stix decides to become Sandra's assistant for the day, but I want to grab Stix, and leave. Still I listened to Ozmir, and did nothing. Me and Leonard doubled back and went to hide in that stash where we find the textiles. At night we see 2 lizard folk and another yuan-ti quickly packing up the tent so quickly something is off. STIX! Now Stix is kidnapped, and the circus is gone. Final mistake I made here: We could have tried to follow the damn caravan, but we were too angry to do anything.. We make our way back, and it turns out it was WAY worse than either of us initially thought. Jitcwal and Cilvdzwucta were also kidnapped, and the explosives used have been destroyed. The worst part is there was, I didn't use any logic. I can't read people better than others, but I am good with puzzles and evidence. I bet if I noticed the condition of the terrain, My alert level would have been a lot higher. SANDRA SANDERSON: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You will not make a fool of me again...</blockquote>

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=== Swallowing and Regurgitating the Facts ===
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<blockquote>This whole thing of three people being captured and me not being to do anything about it killing me. I gave everything I could to Koro, and Gobbo, but it's still destroying me from the inside. I decided to go see if there was some work I could do to take my anger out on. Working with the scrappers didn't seem like a great idea, because I do not want to get into any more infighting. I don't like the idea in working with the Federation, but I had to pull a favor to get the information I wanted, so it's going to happen someday. I luckily found a job being offered by Lord Pavan to go check on the livestock. That sounds like a Shepherd thing, but beggars, can't be choosers. I would much making good use out of my cannon, than tinkering all day honestly. Maybe it could help me figure out how to make my spells stronger. (It did not.) My only main concern with this is I am working with new folk entirely. There's Rhogar and Syl, who I have interacted with, but it has been.... volatile to say the least. Other people that I have met for the first time are Silgr, a mountain dwarf with similar runes to Rhogars, Mizuka, a desert vulpine bard, but I am not sure which college she attended. To finish this group off, he have Voscaera, a A fighter with incomplete runes of Rhogar's and Silgr's, but she has artificer capabilities instead. I would later find out Voscaera is a Madaer, which is a person of Medusa ancestry. A little unsettling, but there was no bad blood between us. I decided to rent a horse from Dapple, because I heard it was going to be a long haul. I don't mind, but some help would be nice. My only concern I had with this gamble is I need the gold for components. Anyways he head out to check on some livestock, that I now realize could be anything....

Two days later on our travel however, we meet someone by the name of Saltique Petra. She starts reading off a bunch of names, all of which happen to be us. She tells us it's about another week, so I decided to ask for my own curiosity what kind of livestock is being kept. After a few guesses, the answer is kept ominous, so I give up on prying. Low Lunas taught me not to pry when not given on the first go. On day three of travelling we get a nasty dust storm that rolls in. I can barely see in front of me, but I managed to keep the horse calm, so I ended up with the group after it passed. This delayed it by a day, making it 8 days. It would become 9 days after a flash flood came 3 days later. I ended up losing control of the horse, and it sped off. I did my best to keep up, but I had gotten really exhausted from trying to constantly keep my footing. When I wake up the next day, any exhaustion I may have is gone, but I am alone in this harsh desert. With the extra time I have, I set up a fire, but I don't abandon it. When trying to get found, it's best to stay put. It's not like I have a direction to go find the horses, so I am sadly going to lose the deposit. Dammit. After waiting for a few hours, a group of about 6 people cross my vision. Well I'm pretty sure it's the group, but the moment I get a good look at all them, they;re fine. Oddly, Rhogar also lost his horse, so there goes like 100gp+ right there. We debated for a minute to go look for the horses, but I pointed out that we could give the demons more time to transform into other creatures. The rest of the travel will have to be on foot, but at least we only have one more day.

On the final day, Saltique explains that we are first collecting some magical fruit to lure the livestock. That's easy enough for me to get and not get ambushed.. When we get there, we split up a little bit to go get as much plants as possible. Syl and I use Detect Magic to make it easier to get the plants. I manged to get my hands on Anserke, a spiny cactus that allows when made into a potion to improve our constitution for a bit. Okay well I'm not surprised a ambush is happening, but come on. This is a great spot for it. I look up to see a giant spider has jumped Syl, so I pull out the woodcarver's tools, and bring out the cannon to fire at this spider. The spider gets a bite into Syl, but that thing is a fool. Syl is a yuan-ti, so I am willing to bet some poison resistance is at play. An ear piercing ring comes out to my left as Mizuka casts something above my level, but it seems to be effective, because There is screeching of another spider. Now how many of these jerks are here, and why have they not been taken care of before this? There ended being 3 other giant spiders lurking. Most of the deaths came from Rhogar just cutting through with his greataxe, along with him getting like 3 times my height. I did manage to get one satisfying kill in a one-two combo to destroy it beyond saving.. I had nothing to gain from getting a rest, but Syl could use it after getting bit multiple times. Rhogar also got injured a good amount, but it seemed Mizuka, Silgr, and Voscaera didn't get injured at all. This never lost my concentration, I go back to harvesting more plants. I manage to get another anserke, which was a little disappointing but not the end of it. I hand over the plants I got, and I was pretty impressed by our pile. Saltique mentioned it might even be enough to get the adult ones out.

We head over to another area that is honestly a choke point I'm not too comfortable being in. After an hour...nothing. Then there is tiny amounts of movement underneath our bait. Saltique shakes her head which makes me concerned about how big these 'livestock' are. A huge wave of dust that comes through to my left that I was not expecting. When it settles, there is a WOIM! I'm separated because I'm not about to get clumped in a dangerous spot. Then directly ahead of me about 130ish feet away there is another wave of dust. Underneath that dust lies another woim eating these magical plants. I then see my colleagues coming down off the plateaus for an odd reason until I see three demonic things with mouths in the chest, and three husks following this woim. Perfect. one spell used later, and my cannon makes a return. Analyzing this like the nerd I am, the woims won't attack us, unless we have magic on us. That's like all of us, but the people that have a bigger issue are Rhogar and Silgr These demons has a rhino horn with a mouth next to the abdomen. the hands are long claws with a longsword, and the toes are webbed with sharp 'talons.' I got busy dealing with these abominations from a flank position while the rest of the team got in the fray.. Out main goal is this: Kill the demons before the woims eat them. Easier said than done however, since we our own member are also in danger. Slowly but surely however, these creatures fell one by one. Rhogar had gotten swallowed, but he forced the woim to regurgitate before it became a problem. Same thing happened with Silgr unsurprisingly. We got a nasty surprise when we took down a husk. A jellyfish had exited the body. So we are really dealing 9 creatures, but those need to go first. If not we could get a possessed woim which isn't great. we got rid of two mouth abdomen demons, and AN ADULT WOIM showed up! It nearly destroyed my cannon. It ate one of the other woim and just left leaving a massive hole. The other woim starting burrowing with a demon stuck in it, so that's not good, but there is one last jellyfish demon to take down.. It went deep into the hole. With some quick thinking seeing Rhogar down there, I use my last spell to make a burst of blue. And would you LOOK AT THAT. that jellyfish is here. Rhogar used this opportunity to smash it into the ground killing it instantly. I saw the death because the light faded on its death.

Rhogar wasn't happy with Saltique's lie by omission, but I ignored that, because I needed to fix my cannon. We got paid a good amount of gold, and we left. Those husks were sadly other Shepherd members which is just lovely. As we headed back, a thought crossed my mind. Is there one grand demon orchestrating, or three?</blockquote>

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=== Bad Favors and Better Bargains ===
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<blockquote>I knew this day was coming soon. There was supposed to be a group heading out soon, but one of them had to drop. My contact called me in and said he was calling in his favor, so I know I get to go work for the Federation.. We meet up with two Thri-kreen that appear to be twins. They aren't part of the clutch I fought earlier, but their speech was unsettling, as they would talk over one another in perfect sync. All that aside however, we were told that some dust storm had made a return from the initial invasion again. The only thing that seems to know where it is a crow by the name of Moxy. They asked us to take good care of Moxy, which I can do for 3 days’ travel, and to keep this information private. There is a leak somewhere, and no one is supposed to know there is one. Great. Another piece of information kept behind closed doors that will cause more tension.. I swear this is going to be the downfall of this place.

Anyways we start following the bird along to get to where we need to. Avel decides to let Moxy onto his shoulders when it needs a rest. On the third day, we find a few birds circling a few areas. Birds often circle points of interest, and then I hear just ever so faintly some rumbling underneath us. With Avel's help, I am now invisible and decide to scout ahead. I scuff my footing really badly, and I'm pretty sure I caught its attention. Oh I guess I forgot to mention other people here. People I have worked with in the past have made a return except for one person. Draz, Avel, and Leonard made a return from our last time together investigating the mysterious disappearance, and Ozmir is also here from our last time together from dealing with Shady Shabby. No they don't derserve an honorable title. They were paid to kidnap people by the Filth Jerk's counterpart. It was nice having another person who I can communicate without saying a word to in case social interactions fail miserably. The only person I haven't worked with before is Grymos, a Duergar artificer with his own robot friend like Razzadrog.. I'm not surprised he's shorter than me, but it's still a first to work with someone smaller than me. Anyways, the birds scatter off, and all we are left with our own thoughts and this rumbling. We decide to have Grymos' bot go in first, and then the thing went offline apparently. From the previous experience those who were from this were cursed, so Avel helped us get entirely covered up from this sandstorm. Since I am still invisible I decide to scout to figure out what is going on. The slope became EXTREMELY steep, but I managed to ground myself, and avoid tumbling or making huge amounts of noise. The sheer force of this wind is hurting however as I continue to step through, so I would like to get back as soon as possible. I can barely see anything right in front of me, so I am pretty much walking blind. I eventually come upon a rough sculpture of sandstone. tracing my hands along this stone, it is so old, it's probably been here since Prehistory.

I am about to return when I notice my invisibility drops. I guess they got tired of waiting, which is fair enough, because it's a long way down. We're talking a quarter mile of walking to get here. I notice however only two other people show up, which is a little worrying, but I’m sure the others are fine. I summon the cannon, and we move up the stairs to whatever this place might be. going up the steps of this structure, some creature is waiting for us, and hell breaks loose. Avel gets injured pretty badly, so he just teleports the same way I saw him do earlier. Grymos just moves in, because he's not dealing with it which is fine. I do manage to take my dagger and drag it through the wind as my cannon fires into it. It did a good chunk of damage, but it's still kicking just fine. And then I see it run. I take a quick strike opportunity and look over, to see Leonard is here along with Razzadrog. It does come back down however, and flings me into this place, and the magic here just feels right. I'll have to figure that out in a second, but there are more pressing matters. My cannon fires the creature and it can't get into this place, so I'm safe in here. I turn my attention to the two other people in here who are both hobgoblins. Avel asks them what is going on, and they imply that they are the ones causing it. I tried to reason with them that a fight wasn't necessary, but to no avail.. One of them says in goblin about Bonnet not keeping them at bay, which raises several alarm bells for me. Who is this Bonnet? What is the significance of this room, and what were they trying to cover up in here if anything? the two hobgoblins immediately turn into some demonic vulture.

Now an aerial battle is in play here which isn't too big of a worry for me, but maybe not for others. These jerks are also closing their wounds relatively fast, so a heal off it is. A 5 on 2 however is not going in their favor, so we just need to keep chipping them away. Avel managed with Mirror Image up to not get hit a single time which I thought was honestly really cool. Unfortunately, my cannon got demolished, so I had to create another one to keep up with my help. With everyone piling in together, both of these demon hybrids or whatever they are fall dead. It's funny because they tried to run, but when you're surrounded like they were, you are going to get hurt badly.. Oh what is a new voice doing here? You're irritated about us ruining your plan? You can shove that comment out, because I don't care. You have been hurting others, and I'm not having it. I question this tall figure a little bit, and they reveal they are Bonnet. Bonnet turns to leave after finishing his monologue, and I attempt one more cannon shot at him, just to rub in my hatred for him. He then calls me by name threatening to kill all of us, but if he's really going to do that, don't mention your plans or whatever...

I begin the process of a ritual cast of Detect Magic, while the others start examining this temple. The air creature left seeing it was in danger if it stuck around, which I didn't care for too much.. When I finish my casting, everything all of a sudden registers as all of the schools this world knows. Leylines are a funny thing, because they make the spells possible. These lines converge at certain points known as Nexuses, and here is where the fabric of reality can much more easily be warped. It hurts to honestly keep it up, so after gathering all I could, I let go of the spell.. The other people started investigating the murals on the monoliths in this room, and they were depicting an ancient lizard race that existed well before any of our time.. There was also some pteran writing scrawled along the base of the altar in here, so I got a copy of it, and have left it alone for now. On each of the four pillars there was a direction and some symbols depicting various things. The order goes as follows: North: is Mother, South is War, East is Nature, and West is: Logic. Avel and I agreed to come check this place in our free time, so that we could better understand what is going on.. I give all the information I could privately to the twins, and they tell me that the Shend are where the Hobgoblins came from. That is certainly some questions for Rhogar at another time. Now I am really confident we aren't fighting just one foe, but a few of them. A bigger problem came to mind however. The Altar had the tree the Arboretum is currently, before some blight gets rid of the leaves.. Could they use this to attack us from far away if discovered?</blockquote>

<div style="text-align: center;">
=== New Tools and Enemies Laid Out in the Bones ===
</div>
<blockquote>What? No way I am hearing this right. Apparently the Osteomancer had reached out mentioning something about infernal weapons. I can't get my hopes up yet because this is likely going to be a challenge. I didn't plan on going, but after learning there wasn't many going in the first place, I decided to clear finish up my odd jobs so that I can be apart of this. I meetup with the others who are thankfully people I have worked with in the past. Mezz and Polvo also worked for the Osteomancer with me. Raazdrog, and Leonard had also shown up from when I worked for the Federation.

We go to the Osteomancer's 'place,' and here the details are spilled. Swikedom, a kingdom infamous for the divine Blood Law that dictates the social hierarchy has some infernal weapons that need recharging. Odd that magical weapons of that sort don't regain charges on their own, but whatever. The plan is to intercept this trade route, and take them for ourselves. Normally I would be against this kind of thing, but honestly, if it means taking weapons away from people who will abuse it however, I would like less potential damage to be done. Then were all good to steal these. We get over there by some powerful conjuration magic, and we meetup with the Osteomancer's contact Eddarux near the walls of Swikedom, and explained that he knew of a secret tunnel to get us into the kingdom. Mezzi offered the idea of us being 'slaves' to get us through. I was confused until they revealed themselves to be a blue dragonborn. It seemed odd since the mouth should poke out of the mask, but I will figure it out another time. The plan pretty much goes without a hitch. We find a good choke point where they are supposed to head. I decide to scout ahead to see who were up against.

When I quietly get up there. I see a drake, one purple dragonborn, and 4 black dragonborn. I don't know the significance of the purple, but they stand out and like means they're the boss of this operation. I have to rush back, if I want my temporary allies to know what's going on. I get into a relatively easy position to drop onto the group, summon the cannon and wait. I notice there is a spoon in this choke point. Is there something I'm missing about spoons. Are they like the most powerful items this realm will ever see? Whatever, I see the group approaching, and when they get into the middle of this area, Mezzi drops a false fog onto a few of them. I take advantage of this by firing the cannon into the leader, and dropping a new spell I learned.. The people in the immediate area where I dropped it cover their ears, which means it works as intended. I injured them pretty good, but the black dragonborn react fast, and they split up to target Mezzi and I. The purple one however starts flying in the air about 30ft off of the ground which is just lovely. I can't tell what happens all that well, but I watch Leonard, and Raazdrog covering their ears which is nice... The drake had rushed up to attack, but couldn't do both. With that Raazdrog, and his bot flank the drake, and start slashing it apart. Polvo had casted some spell, and nothing seems to happen to me. Mezzi had moved the fake fog onto the. soldier who now can't see them which is honestly hilarious, but I see one coming after me, so I shift my position away from the soilder, and continue to attack the purple since I'm the only one who can actually attack from range. It's funny because I watch this purple dragonborn sabotage themselves by making the drake go stupor, but all of my temporary allies resisted whatever the hell was casted. All of the soldiers fall, then the drake, but Mezzi got the coolest kill. I'm pretty sure a Sleep spell was casted because that dragonborn had plummeted, and didn't wake up.

I throw up a '''Detect Magic''' to see if these folk had anything else of magic, but no luck. Mezzi however had found a small chest inside. Leonard tries to pick it a few times, but after failing. I get the chance the pick it. I scuff myself a few times, because I'm not using my potential when I have a second arm I eventually get it open, and I'm an idiot. There was a big explosion as this chest had been trapped. I get out of the away, and luckily no one else was around. so only I got injured. Still it hurt really badly, but there is something in here. There are 8 gems of sort. I use Identify to figure out what these are, and these are the infernal weapons we were looking for.. We make out way back to Swikedom like nothing happened until we got ambushed by a bunch of people in masks. It's not even worth mentioning how this fight went other than they were a bunch of people who ran after a few deaths. This infuriated Mezzi. Apparently this wasn't the first encounter. This group did the exact same thing a few weeks ago.. We make our way back from the Osteomancer who let us keep the infernal weapons, and whatever else we got off of them. It was fair to say it was an odd occurrence that the Osteomancer put themselves out like that, but I'm not complaining. However I do not like that this hit and run scheme of attacking. New goal: The next time we face those mask people, I WILL get one of those masks. Mezzi has warned against taking one, but I wonder what these cult people have for wearing these, other than covering their face.</blockquote>

<div style="text-align: center;">
=== Pulling Off the Masked Power ===
</div>
<blockquote>While it's not impossible to get recruited by the same person twice, it means you did a good job last time. That's the case for me and Saltique Petra who made a two week trip to come meet for hiring people. That isn't exactly the best thing, because that means it's something serious. I was sitting in a tavern listening to rumors of the woims, and it just drove me a little angry. I do nothing to sway the rumors one way or another, because it's just not worth it.They make the risk, they get the rewards. They also (or are supposed to) keep trade routes open, so targeting them has dangerous implications. Anyways, I get hired along with Avel, Razzadrog, and Leonard. I also meet a few new people I had never seen before. There is a human with some heavy armor that seems to be a samurai style. His name is Nikodemus. The other is a half orc with some light armor, and no significant weapon is visible. His name is Markandros, and he's definitely a spell caster of sorts. Were told to look for someone by the name of Vettik, and the following information needs to be kept on low. Another card being kept in the hand I swear. Only the Scrappers have been completely forthright with working together, but ends justifying the means for someone isn't exactly something I want to keep working with. Federation isn't exactly being honest either with what they know, and they told me.
We get to a small ravine that is decently deep at a glance, but also a mouth of a cave about 40-50 feet away. There's also some large boulders at the edge of the ravine, and I use that to take cover. A few others look down, and we hear a man's voice telling us to get down in there. I'm confused as to why until we hear flapping like bats coming out from the cave. Vargouilles as I would come to learn are these head demons with fanged teeth, foaming mouths, bat wings that replaces the ears, and red eyes that scream death. We drop all but two of them in two spells. One of my Shatter, and Leonard's Fireball. One of the flies near us and screeches so bad that I begin to lose my sense of awareness. My speech was also scuffed horribly at that time which really sucked. The other flew down to me and gives me a kiss. I instantly realize I'm in danger, but not immediately. I got cursed by this jerk. The rest are killed when I regain my bearings, and the man climbs out of the ravine. He introduces himself as Vettik Herbert, so that's a positive. He was stuck down there in case the demons would go after him. The other people go into the mouth of the cave and discover the circle that had been used to summon these bitches, which of course is lovely. Now we gotta track them down. I tell Vettik that I had been cursed by one of them, and we all make hast towards the hideout of the Shepherds. Along the way Nikodemus offered me a blessing, which I was a little hesitant to take, but accepted in hopes of allowing me to survive longer or cure it entirely. Surprisingly the fangs and my ears recede a little. I don't say anything, and we continue out trek over. When we get to the hideout Vettik reveals the illusion rock wall that had been created, which reminded me of Low Lunas and the illusions used there..

We get to a small ravine that is decently deep at a glance, but also a mouth of a cave about 40-50 feet away. There's also some large boulders at the edge of the ravine, and I use that to take cover. A few others look down, and we hear a man's voice telling us to get down in there. I'm confused as to why until we hear flapping like bats coming out from the cave. Vargouilles as I would come to learn are these head demons with fanged teeth, foaming mouths, bat wings that replaces the ears, and red eyes that scream death. We drop all but two of them in two spells. One of my Shatter, and Leonard's Fireball. One of the flies near us and screeches so bad that I begin to lose my sense of awareness. My speech was also scuffed horribly at that time which really sucked. The other flew down to me and gives me a kiss. I instantly realize I'm in danger, but not immediately. I got cursed by this jerk. The rest are killed when I regain my bearings, and the man climbs out of the ravine. He introduces himself as Vettik Herbert, so that's a positive. He was stuck down there in case the demons would go after him. The other people go into the mouth of the cave and discover the circle that had been used to summon these bitches, which of course is lovely. Now we gotta track them down. I tell Vettik that I had been cursed by one of them, and we all make hast towards the hideout of the Shepherds. Along the way Nikodemus offered me a blessing, which I was a little hesitant to take, but accepted in hopes of allowing me to survive longer or cure it entirely. Surprisingly the fangs and my ears recede a little. I don't say anything, and we continue out trek over. When we get to the hideout Vettik reveals the illusion rock wall that had been created, which reminded me of Low Lunas and the illusions used there..

I immediately ask Vettik who might be able for me to rid this curse, and he pointed me to a tent that was up some stairs. There was a tortle by the name of Yuru I'm waiting patiently while the others talk to the Shepherds. I'm waiting patiently when I hear a blood curdling scream. I go to hide in to a tent that is next to the campfire so I can hear the conversation, but I'm not seen. I then hear the door has been opened, and that they need to move now. I immediately take this opportunity to cast Detect Magic and start looking for Illusion magic. And would you looks at that. There are three people coated in such. I summon my cannon and tell Avel this in Elvish and hint that they are not real Shepherds. He takes the opportunity to get s surprise attack on one I pointed out and a fight ensued. The two others unmask the Disguise Self they had on, bring out some Caustic Demons, and now the stakes are higher. I start pummeling one of them, and he dives into the water, but not before making a huge wave of water splash over other us. I dive out of the way just fine. Leonard keeps the Caustic demon off of me by making it run somehow. I dive into the water after the cultist, and keep striking with my cannon and dagger. As nice as this dagger is, I gotta use a longer weapon soon, because I can't use this forever.. He traps me into a watery sphere which sucks, but I can still fire the cannon without issues and throw the dagger. It also gave me a better idea of what's happening around. There was one cultist backed up into a corner, but I couldn't see the third.. Eventually, he got hit and the sphere drops, and I fell into the water. I was gonna go after him, but he put up a wall of water, and one of the culists had died. Irritated by the unknown Identities. I get out of the water, and rip the mask off the dead member. It starts burning really badly, but I'm going to hold on, because I want to Identify what tactics they have. Unfortunately, one the Shepherds had died, and the other two had managed to run. NOW I WANT THESE JERKS DEAD. Previously, they were targeting those who were capable, but those who couldn't fight back so easily. YOU HAVE CROSSED A LINE! I WILL HUNT YOU LIKE I DID FOR THE SHABBY SCALES.

The mask also melted within 10 minutes, and I realized that I made a grave mistake. Unless I say command word, the mask will destroy the facial identity, and the mask will melt. It also left me a nasty scar from that experience. As a 'payment' but I really call it a gift, we got a good deal of money, and a horse or dust runner to take us back. Yuru had also survived, and he came up to me, consumed something, and removed the curse. He promptly passes out, but he's okay. Leonard managed to get a pair of Surefoot boots from that one cultist, and we found more coin on the cultist, which we split. I call the payment a gift, because I was doing my job. I was always against those harming the innocent, but now a seething anger is driving me to protect them.</blockquote>

<div style="text-align: center;">
=== The Fog of War Abandons the Insight ===
</div>
<blockquote>...So this is going to be tough for me to write, but I need to get this written. Baftzmyr had found a relic that could be used for the War Rig as an exhaust system, which is something I have been having an issue with for some time. It’s called the Manifold of Malevolence, and currently the Smog of Smithereens is in possession of it down in the abandoned town of Opek. I’ll let you fill in the details Me, Gobbo, Rhogar, Nid, Raazdrog, and Leonard were all offered a soul coin by Raegina, and were told it would provide a shield of sorts that could be used twice. Now I believe that much, but what I don’t believe is that there isn’t side effects as to using this. For that reason alone, I had declined, but everyone else took one, and I may have to carry one back… which is lovely. There was also some gauntlets that Rhogar took, and Baftzmyr’s had offered one of us her bow. I’m the only one who could wield it easily, so I took up the bow and off we went on this three day travel. My horse didn’t exactly bond with me, nor did Nid have a fun time with his either.

I realize I need to name the horse I got from the Shepherds. I also don’t regret buying to lantern, because since this place is underground, Rhogar couldn’t see shit. At this abandoned town, which is more of a ghost town honestly, we saw a few flickering lights that we creep up to.. It turns out these are WIll-o-Wisps, so we creep back to tell others what we found. We're debating about what do to when Gobbo shows up and fires a crossbow bolt at a Wisp, so I guess were stuck in a fight now. A wraith comes out of the manor and two ghosts show up to fight as well, so were in this really deep now. an 8 on 5 doesn't end well for them however, so they all fall fairly easily and then a sinking feeling hits me. We could have had allies for that.... It's too late now. Me and the other artificers make a few masks for others and soak them in water. This is to deal with the noxious air in the local temple. After searching a house, I sadly didn't get much out of it, and we proceed to look into the temple. It was hard to make out what it was in there because of all the smog. I cast Invisibility on myself, and go to scout ahead.. We all creep in when we hear a bunch of skittering. I slip back out and can't see anything, so I summon the cannon to provide me some cover. The smog became extremely poisonous, but I held my breath, and it didn't nearly as bad.. Two shadows come up, but only one gets to strike me. It injures me pretty bad so much so that I lose my Invisibility. I make a quick dash out to see Rhogar asleep, but I can't wake him, so I just pull him off to the side away from the demons. After a quick heal I slip back into the fight while trying to not breath in this smog. It clears up for a few seconds which I take the opportunity to dash through. And then it comes back as black smog that is so heavy, I'm unable to see anything. Still I keep pushing, because that bastard needs to die. I know we aren't much better, but we can at least spark change within ourselves. I have not found a story of a demon changing, but plenty of scumbags turned good. I shoot one of the shadows demons that had been clearly weakened, and he dissipate into dust, but I had also seen something bad. Gobbo and Nid had both fallen, but the Smog of Smithereens looked so weak. Leonard said she got them, so I went ahead to fire at him. Raazdrog ended up killing it and one final burst of smog bursts out... This time, however it's too much. As I felt my eyes close, it felt like I had lost everything. My friend, my work, my vengeance. It was all for nothing. I couldn't survive. This was it. This was how I was going to die. Fair play if I'm not revived. I was cold to others.

The next thing I see however is not some firey place waiting for me. it the stone cold floor that I just collapsed on. Leonard has healed me enough to being me back to consciousness. I planned on saving Gobbo and Nid, and I saw the damage. Both had died. Rhogar had picked up both of their coins already, and now only two things are left. Scrapping the demons, and bringing everything back. I understand what it feels like to lose someone in battle. Never had that issue in Lunas due to participating in one time jobs. Kept me out of danger, but it definitely sucked when I heard people were lost to useless wars. We scrapped the demons grabbing what we could out of this wretched place from the town before leaving. It was a long 3 days back, because those two were the best cooks. I return the bow to Bazftmyr, and I'm about to leave when I hear an odd statement. Raegina was willing to bring one of them back, but I also hear the others trying to convince her to bring both back. I dump the payment I got from her and also join in on this. Being the stubborn bastard she is, she held firm. I left who she was to revive in Rhogar's hand and he chose Gobbo. Gobbo however refused to come back. The soul was unwilling, and so those stories end. and I quietly leave head low.. I did everything I could and it still wasn't enough. Maybe this is a sign to not go for vengeance It almost destroyed me, everything I cared about. I'll still fight the demons, but I need to do it for people now. This has done far more damage than I would like it to.

I think I learned a very brutal but necessary lesson. Inventions are meant to better lives for those who use it. Destruction is a disservice to the purpose. I can do better with my inventions. Not just make things go kaboom.</blockquote>

== Character Interactions ==

=== Avel ===
Avel is a man that would make even the devil think twice about risky decisions. He has many scars and even an eye patch that is covering his left eye from something. His love for performing is contagious, which didn't mind Himo since it could pull attention away. Working together several times, a small bond had formed from the dramatic changes that both had. They even went back together to a temple that Himo was only supposed to be there one time, because he was pulled in for a favor. A dark scary truth had emerged from this investigation, and Himo wasn't sure what to do with it, so he let it sit in the back of his mind. Something had changed between the two however after Mizuka's and Abraham's death. Late one night, Avel had approached Himo, and noted that Himo had a new arm and asked about it

=== Gobbo Greenskin ===
After the Conservatory was destroyed, he found Gobbo, a goblin with a robot named FR0G-GY. Gobbo mentioned he could make Himo an arm, which interested him, but that conversation was never followed up on. Gobbo also mentioned knowing where Sparkburn was, but won't elaborate on where the golem is now, which is frustrating Himo. The death had broken Himo for a second time however, but instead of the destructive path he was on, he shifted it to more of a constructive path. The inventions would not be to destroy what's evil. They would be to better the lives of those around him<blockquote>While Gobbo and I never got along necessarily, the inventions changed something in me. Rest easy Gobbo. You fought for us at every step until your last -Olinomih.</blockquote>

=== Lenore ===
Lenore was someone who Himo would have never interacted with except in a professional manner, but it took less than five minutes for the mask to come off about his certainty. Lenore is a cleric of Vela, and no one had really offered help without a clause. That sent Himo's brain into overdrive, freezing up at the kind gesture of giving a few names of those who run the Omnichapel as well as a stone of Vela

=== Rhogar Dreel ===
[[File:Rhogar Dreel.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Rhogar Dreel]]
Rhogar is part of the Federation. Himo wanted to initally join the Federation, because he often did a lot of exploitation of vices back in Lunas, but understood that organization would fall to corruption eventually. While trying to figure out the whole coordinated attack Himo managed to set his back on fire because of his obliviousness in front of Rhogar from his OWN cannon!

=== Syl Vipershade ===
Himo has lets say a rocky roller coaster of emotions with Syl. When Himo first met Syl, the interaction wasn't awful, but it didn't take long for the oblivious cracks to seep through. While trying to figure out the attack on the Arboretum, Himo burns himself in front of Syl and Rhogar... with his own cannon. Syl distanced themselves from Himo, which he didn't mind because he was too busy working on his projects. Syl noticed Himo always seems to be ready for a fight, and becomes incredibly jumpy when someone tries to affect his mind. This problem was only amplified however after Stix was captured. While hanging out with Gobbo and Syl, Himo suddenly started feeling burned in his right side despite no actual fire being nearby. Himo accidentally summoned his cannon, to which Gobbo and Syl responded by trying to grapple Himo. While Himo never ended attacking either, Himo made it known that his past he is incredibly fearful of. To Himo's surprise, Syl offered him the chance to let something off of his chest. Even though Himo declined for the moment, he did agree to meet later, and discuss it more with Syl.

=== The Scrappers ===
When Himo first arrived, he was like a ghost in the markets. He bought what he needed, and left in such a hurry, it was hard to track him down. He never really talked to people for more than 5 minutes when he finally met some of the crew of the scrappers, and they seemed to treat him with some respect, but Himo kept to themselves. After learning that were was unnecessary infighting among the Scrappers, he distanced themselves, and ultimately decided to no longer affiliate himself with it. He still does jobs for them with proper compensation, but doesn't consider himself part of that group.

== Relationships ==

=== Nyria Nilo ===

=== Celthron Nilo ===
Lady Nilo is a thin high elf with long flowing golden blond hair that is frail from the clutches of death, eyes of a deep black that show only death behind them, and a poise of confidence and dominance ruling the house that controls the Arcane Materials so well. She believes dead people are just objects that can be used for more than just laying them to rest, and tries to control people as much as possible without magic, often by threatening the used of deceased loved ones. When push comes to shove however, the gloves come off and the dead rise up on her command to destroy those who disobey. Nyria stands really short. Only 4'4" tall due to her 6th century of age creeping in on her, but the tug of life and death is just within fingertips reach. She works tirelessly to use necromancy as a means of preserving her life, but has been unsuccessful while staying within the rules of society. She wasn't a fan when Himo wanted to pursue alchemy, but the secret that she was making deals with demons for extra power proved too great to ignore. She feared that Himo would figure out the arcane knowledge to bring the secret to light, because of his resistance

=== Kynnela Nilo ===
Kynnela is the oldest sibling of the Nilo family. Himo picked up the rebellious attitude from her because she fought with her mother and father all the time. Kynnela who is 478 became a Diviner, and she questioned her past self before leaving the house. She treated Himo with the utmost disgust, and got his other sisters, and even his parents to either join in, or pretends it doesn't happen. On the occasional return to the house, Himo kept her at arms length, refusing to relive the pain that she caused. This made Kynnela bitter, and was the one to plot Himo's death, but ultimately failed. Last Himo has heard, Kynnela has left High Lunas; to where and why Himo doesn't know.

=== Mariela Nilo ===
Mariela is the second sibling of the Nilo family. Mariela is 239 years old at this point, and always had a bitter disappointment for Himo. She constantly questioned why Himo wouldn't apply himself more, and why he fought with all 5 members of this family. It's not like she was innocent either. She would sabotage Himo in any way she could since she didn't approve of her parents letting him take alchemy while she was forced into a school of magic. She chose conjuration as her school, because she preferred summoned things doing the work for her. Last Himo has heard, her bossy behavior isn't being well liked by her colleagues.

=== Tyanna Nilo ===
Tyanna is the youngest member of the Nilo family making Himo the third child. currently just 33, she made Himo's life miserable, but not by actions. She insulted him basically every time he spoke, and these comments are viscous. She often told Himo how he causes the tension for not following tradition, but refuses to acknowledge her own shortcomings. All of these insults were basically ignored by everyone, because they expected Himo to just let it go, but he simply couldn't. She doesn't realize that she is part of the reason that Himo ended up abandoning the family. There was one incident were Himo used physical force to make her panic and show her that actions have consequences, but Himo doubts it made an impact. Last Himo has heard, the coward is studying Abjuration to prevent that incident again.

=== Kamer ===

[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Himo Nilo

2026-02-19T04:26:26Z

MCAron: Added the Session recap from 1/24/26

== '''Himo Nilo''' ==
{{Infobox character|name=Himo Nilo|image=Himo Nilo.png|caption="The right side of me should show what happens when you don't pay attention."|relatives=2 Parents, 3 Sisters|affilliation="The Chairman"|alias=Thai (Child name)|marital=Single|birthDate=37 PR|birthPlace=High Lunas|species=Elf (High)|height=4'10"|weight=94 lbs.}}

'''Himo''' is a High Elf Rogue/Artillerist that has experienced both the rich and poor side of [[Lunas]]. He wanted to visit the Arboretum to modify existing equipment he has, but he never really left until he heard from his contacts in the Arboretum that demon incursions were ramping up. Carrying only what he could quickly pack, he left for the Arboretum with his bag that contains only essentials. He has a habit of checking anything that might look "suspicious" but doesn't really know what might be suspicious.
== Description ==
Himo is a young elf shining with bronze skin with black freckles, Short copper hair that is decently trimmed and eyes that sparkle gold when they catch the light. you would find him like he was a gem in a mine because of the reflection he often carries. He doesn't seem to carry anything with him except maybe a small backpack over A rapier and dagger on his left hip and short sword on his right hip respectively, hang and some tools hanging off of his belt. He wears light reinforced leather armor with a somewhat heavy desert cloak that shines a little in the light. When you peer past the cloak however, you notice two very big change to him that he tries to hide as best as he can. The first one is he really only has half of his hair left. The right side of him looks like he has black char that curls up around the face and neck that has been there for quite some time. The second is he occasionally has no right arm. anything that might have been there is gone, and watching him, he sways a little bit to the left and right as if he can't seem to keep himself balanced. A new projects have shown up on his person. There was a rack where the shoulder would be is a semi circle with a hole cut out of the center, and an arc cut out inside the semi circle. It was only partially done, but it seems to have been scrapped. The second gadget that he has on him at all times, is a disc launcher that fires out coins. Both of these are woodworking projects with small mechanical parts to make them work.

== Manners ==
Himo has a nervous tick carried wherever he goes. If you asked, he would say something along the lines of in a deep graveled voice of not being too careful wherever he goes, but refuses to follow up on why. The eyes seem to look for particular things, but never what is around him. Arcane is of great interest for him, but explosives are not that far off the priority. Often times, random junk that no one has used for some time goes missing, but if you saw him with the junk and asked why, the lips tighten hard. He then usually keeps to himself the rest of the day or two unless it's to discuss plans for missions or logistics. His past is guarded more securely that a vault door with enhanced locks, but the impact of it can easily be seen if he has a PTSD episode. This usually logical, crafty, upbeat personality, snaps faster than a string on a trap, changing him to an aggressive, fearful, volatile person. His hand always seems close to his dagger like he is waiting for a fight to occur. It's hard to tell if you have earned his trust or whether he sees the alliance as one time. On missions of any kind, Himo will tend to find to get out of sight when possible of his teammates, but is always around when trouble strikes. With the death of two people he worked and interacted with, things changed.
<blockquote>"I guess I was wrong. Every slight, every lie, every betrayal. I knew it went nowhere, which is why I never did it myself. Trust however, I simply couldn't rebuild it. It was selfish, and I knew it, but betrayal honestly hit really hard. I especially was sure I couldn't after Lenore almost influenced my mind. The first person who showed me kindness without ever expecting a repay. Yet why do so many people hate the fact I only see one time alliances? Why does it matter to them if I hold up my end of the deal? What do they really want from me while working on these missions? I have everything to lose in trust with a huge benefit. I've gotten something wrong. My logic has a fallacy somewhere. I know that promise to talk about my past is still something Syl can call on at any moment. I will not hide any details, but I also don't want any sympathy. After all, my actions in part led me to the problem I have now. Trust is a scary concept for me. I have some deeply unsettling information when I went back to the temple with Avel.. What will happen when I finally spill the guts of what truly happened? Will I be killed, exiled, belittled?. I must have a heart somewhere, because Gloria told me how surprised she was that I gave a fuck about those who died. I need.... I need someone to talk to. Maybe I've held this in too long.. If I want to protect people, I can't let my distrust. I have to change if I want to be more effective. I don't mind if people still don't trust who I was, but I need to do this for myself. I have the intelligence, the dexterity, now with my fake arm, and the grit to push through failure. I'm missing the why. Why am I doing this? People expect me not to care, but I do. Why do I need to rebuild a sense of trust, and what do I am to do here in the Arboretum?"</blockquote>

== Background ==
Himo was born to a wealthy mage family in High Lunas. They expected him to follow that same tradition, and while he was interested in magic wasn't the most interesting thing to him as physical tasks. Still they made him either take lessons or leave this family. He negotiated to learn alchemy to understand the materials used in spellcasting.

He started to go to the Low Lunas in secret claiming private tutoring sessions when really he got into contact with the local criminal rings to learn skills from their side. He chose to learn lockpicking for his profession and was quite skilled at it. He also refined his careful hand movement to mimic letters. He balanced this double life of learning alchemy by day and learning to pick locks by night. When he went to Lower Lunas, he would bring stories of breaking into homes, taking specific materials and leaving without a trace. by the time they would try to track him down, he would be in the shadows trying to outlast the location spells used to find him. he often had to dump the stolen materials to prevent being caught. This went on for years. he wrote detailed notes about alchemy and his parents were thought he was being an obedient son. One night while learning complicated formulas to show to his parents, he was finally caught by the guards and he was sentenced to death. while in prison, he managed to convince the guards to give him 2 lodestones. He took those lodestones and mended the broken thieves tools that he was hiding in his clothing. This lock however was never supposed to be picked. It had been magically enhanced but he the night to make that happen. He picked the lock and sneaked out and into the Lower Lunas in 102 PR just as the sun was rising.

He excelled in picking locks as a freelancer. If the guild provided sanctuary based on how difficult the lock was, that locked was picked. He became infamous in rings because no lock was safe from him. Booby trapped to Arcane Lock, most locks were not safe from him. Only locks that were sophisticated with an Arcane Lock would he have a hard time picking and often failed at those, but those were few and far for High Lunas. In various guilds, he learned various weapons that he now always with him because he doesn't want to get into a scrap unarmed. He often had a habit of inspecting areas where people invited him never trusting anyone fully. His reputations grew so much that he found himself often travelling to other places to check out security systems. This took the pressure off of him because he could really inspect area he couldn't before. He learned to pickpocket, sneak around, scale buildings and practice his skills of picking locks. He tried to get an honest job in the town of Rwendia but his reputation followed him everywhere. He did odd jobs around places, pick locks here, mend broken stuff back together, and come along with other criminals to look out for traps. The people he often worked under were brutal. They would insult him behind his back, mess up him picking the locks, broke his stuff and moved him around often and lied to him where he was

He started for fun re-learning magic. Make graffiti with magic here, an odor there. This terrified the guilds because he was becoming what he swore he would never do and feared he would turn on him next. His mentor Jumad told him that no one will want someone unreliable if he chooses this path. He continued in spite of their disapproval and learned how to make a bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus. The only person he told this to was his best friend Kamer who supported him in getting new materials. One day while hiding out in the DwaleVale, he received a letter of a formal apology from his family asking him to come back. He eagerly accepted and made his way over. His contacts warned him they were up to no good and were looking for vengeance for bringing shame to the family name. When he got there they magically influenced him to open a complicated safe lock without checking the area. BOOOM!!! A massive explosion covered him from right to left, debris flying every where and scraping by on life. The family were stewing in their loss of the son when his eldest sister, Nylo gave the idea to blow him up in a public execution. That letter he found, was trapped to get him to come whether he wanted to or not. In the chaos, someone in his family had planted one more bomb to take him out. he survived, barely, but lost his right arm in the explosion. He lost everything; everything but his skills, his life and his resolve to fix this. At DAGR (Determined Assassins, Grifters, and Rogues) he received word that they needed people to fix broken things and make them better. he spent the next 6 months fighting for his life, and those 6 months were in a daze. He often found himself in a new place about every month. When finally had the strength to move comfortably, he took essentials and ran for his life in 134 PR, because no matter what he did his family was coming for him and he needed to defend himself.

== Languages ==
Himo knew elvish and common just from listening to his family, but he learned goblin when he would hang around goblins were trying to have a private conversation, not realizing Himo taught himself that from listening to them

== Character information ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |1 Rogue/5 Artificer
|-
|AC 16
|HP 39
|DC 14
|-
|Str 13
|Dex 18
|Con 13
|-
|Int 16
|Wis 10
|Cha 12
|}

=== '''Proficiencies''' ===
Himo is a man of many skills that involve getting around where he needs to in some way. He effectively shows he can get around super quietly, lift or plant things in someone's pocket, has great athletic abilities, and knows how to spot the difference between 2 identical objects. If asked about anything arcane, he has great knowledge of what it is, what the purpose is, and what the process of creating might have looked like. He also seems to have some tools on his belt. Specifically woodcarver's tools are always on his belt, but he has also shown a good deal of knowledge on making mechanical parts with tinker tools, making concoctions with alchemist supplies, and what he is most well known for; picking locks, and disabling traps

=== High elf Abilities ===
* Cantrip (Mending)
* Darkvision
* Elf Weapon Training
* Extra Language (Goblin)
* Fey Ancestry
* Keen Senses
* Trance

=== Rogue Features ===

* Expertise: Stealth, Thieves Tools
* Sneak attack (1d6)
* Thieves’ Cant

=== Artificer Abilities ===

* Infuse Item (bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus)
* Magical Tinkering
* Spellcasting
* Ritual Casting
* Eldritch Cannon
** Force Balista
** Flamethrower
** Protector
* Arcane Firearm

=== Feat: ===
Alert

== Himo's Story ==
<div style="text-align: center;">
=== New Place, New Identity, and a New Dream ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been roughly 8 months since I came here to the Arboretum and very little people know I am actually here. Kamer got me in contact with The Chairman when I got here and it has been hell being around all of these explosive materials. every big explosion sends me back a year when an attempt was made on my life. I trust absolutely NO ONE here because I have been looked down on because of a missing arm. Petty theft was the only way I survived. I was so busy about survival that I didn't realize that Raegina was hiring to make robots until The Chairman sent me a letter telling me '''[[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs|Raegina]]''' was looking for people to recruit for the Scrappers. I collected scraps from grand shoplifting, hid out for four months to wait out people looking for men, then I moved swiftly to the junkyard. My goal is to go back to High Lunas and exact revenge on my parents and sisters who left me in this state I am. I barely remember the explosion or the constant shifting of places because I was so out of it. The people here seem nice enough but I am just waiting for them to betray each other. When I got to the junkyard, I was appalled to see the size of these robots, and the amount of people that came was a little much for me.

When Raegina mocked many of us for having many broken and chipped off parts, I just rolled my eyes because I knew if there as anything she was trying to hide in a safe, I could find that safe without getting caught. In Low Lunas I was known as the Magic Pick because I couldn't be trapped, nor were most locks safe from me. I do need teammates however so I kept my moth shut and just listened. The amount of artificers that were there was astonishing. A tiefling had infused armor, and a goblin had a small automaton with them. But by far the most unique “living” thing saw was a doll that could think for itself. It turns out to test our skills, we would fight Grind, Smash and Cleave, 3 golems with interesting weapon choices. I got excited when I learned that we would be fighting the golems because that meant I could sneak out parts I needed for projects. One of said projects was increasing the throwing range of Thunder Rumble because I have to be relatively close to make good use of it. While fighting, one got destroyed, and it burst into flames. The heat sent me back to the explosion that back at High Lunas, where I almost lost my life. We dispatched the rest and Raegina was impressed enough to let us scrap the robots. So much for trying to do things discreetly... But I haven't really talked with people yet. After scrapping the robots, we split up into two teams. I got paired with [[Stix]] and Raazdrog which was fine. I can modify my parts and they add theirs, and I saw this as more of a fun project. After all, I like explosive confusion. But it's not like I could focus because I was so nervous with Grind blowing me to bits, I was accidentally disassembling Grind. I was trying to make the saw arm move more fluidly, and trying to add scraps of metal I had in my bag, but I fumbled hard there. It was so embarrassing, because everyone else manage to buff it in some way but not me. I wanted to leave so badly because of that, but I ended up staying in spite of it. I would be throwing away probably my only real opportunity to getting out of the slums like my family expected me to stay. To my surprise Raegina gave each of us 10 gp to bet on the improved robots as to who would win. This was huge to me! This was really the first time someone handed me something without expecting anything in return. I decided to risk all of that money and bet most of it on Grind, and then I had an Idea. I decided to rename Grind to Sparkburn, which Stix and Raazdrog liked a lot. Raazdrog and I got the idea to give Sparkburn a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." and I added "Feel the spark. Feel the burn." Now I really didn't care if we won or lost because I considered this a finished project. Out team ended up winning and I walked away with triple what I put into it. I was ecstatic not only because I won a bet, which I rarely take, but the funds could be used to get the tools I need for projects. That excitement was short-lived however because a horn coming from the Arboretum indicating it was under attack. I hopped on the war rig and we moved to the Arboretum.

Getting towards a entrance root of the Arboretum, a sudden crash hits the war rig and all of us go flying off of it. pieces of the damaged rig flew out and a large skeletal elephant collapsed next to the war rig. I wasn't paying attention because I was sketching my newest tool to assist me. I was thrown hard, losing my sketch to the winds and barely landed standing up, and my vision blacked out for a second. Metal was warping and bending in all the wrong ways and snaps echoed throughout the valley and then silence. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew this was an ambush. Footsteps on the dessert sand was coming from multiple directions, Sparks were flying off of the rig, The screeching of tires spinning out, shoe rubber flaking off the boots I put together with mending, and hearing many colleagues scrape against the dusty ground. When the dust cleared I saw green goo blobs moving towards us, and I heard something angry moving towards us. Pustuloids, Capra demons, and Lesser Rage demons were there. To give me some distance, I climbed the war rig, but as I was climbing, it felt like the floor was falling out from me and nearly fell off. Climbing up I saw roughly 10 Pustuloids, a few lesser rage demons, and a Capra. My team managed to keep hold of a choke point and so I threw my dagger at the Capra repeatedly, but I also noticed Sparkburn, covering our backside. This was great, because the Pustuloids exploded on death with Sparkburn unaffected. Raegina tells me to get off even though I just got on. I wanted to argue because I had a good position of the battle but whatever.You know that rig aint safe from me snagging a few pieces. The fight isn't going in our favor right now, because Raazdrog's steel defender, crashes to the ground in combat, unmoving by the Capra. While this fight is going on, I see a figure moving behind us, but it doesn't look like an ambush. It's a half elf holding a rapier and an instrument; most likely a bard. One by one however, the demons fell starting with the pustuloids. Leftover goo seeping into the ground before turning to ash. Two booms ring out as the lesser rage demons and the Capra are thrown back. Delaia, who has been soaking hits for us, takes the opportunity to get out after that which I don't blame. It didn't look like he was going to stand much longer to be honest. The spells seemed to come from the bard and Delaia, so we have another ally. Good because most of us are spent on resources. We kill all the demons and after a quick introduction, the bard's name is [[Leonard]], and she heard the commotion. She healed Deliaia a significant amount, and Deliaia looks ready to take on another fight. After moving this elephant which turned out to be an Olliphant off of the root, we prepared to charge up only for a wave of energy to come down upon us. There was no point to going up anymore... The Conservatory has been destroyed. There goes many projects that have been put on hold. It's not like I made progress on the parts I needed for Sizzle but still frustrating. Oh crap! More demons of the same types are coming down, and I should have seen this coming. We dispatch the ones that combated us, and the streets fall silent around us....

After the invasion ended, leaders were talking about uniting "not just to fight against the demons, but also to build alliances" or something like that. The thing is, I can only rely on one thing when partnership is formed: people are looking out for themselves. Unless someone can prove they are trustworthy, I will not be in a permanent alliance. That's how I survived Low Lunas; Ally with someone only until the necessity no longer remains. </blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Absent Memories ===
</div>
<blockquote>
A few days go by and Sir Anthony is holding a funeral for the lives lost, when I got approached by Jerbo, a gnome arcanist. He was hiring people to track down why the Kobolds attacked. I agreed but stressed, I needed some help. After getting a few others, and some quick introductions we made our way to Dapple, a satry who rents out horses. I put down the deposit and we made our way over. Oh I should mention who is here because I will be a narcissist otherwise. We have Mezzi who I have never seen take off their mask, Polvo a Air Genasi that had an encounter with death apparently, Diana a human who has a lizard like robot that follows her everywhere, Dallas a mouse I have never seen before but seems like a cool fellow, and Davin a halfling with a longbow, with a trophies on his person.

It takes a little more than two days to get there and along the way, we found a dog in a campsite that was left not long ago. I make an alarm in case people came back while I was within a mile, but I got no signal. When we get to the Osteomancer, their abode is in the ground with sand covering a trapdoor. I volunteer to go planning to be sneaky, but I forgot not everyone can see in the dark as well as I can, because Mezzi lit a torch when we all got down. When we met the Osteomancer, I can only describe what is a elephant person like three feet taller than me with big elephant ears, an elephant trunk and overall a build that could lift more than me with two arms. We were trading a favor for a favor. The Osteomancer's favor was removing a tower that was made of Absence which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I can go along with it. Apparently, when creatures are near said tower, they lose their Identities. Davin beat to the question of how are we going to protect ourselves, so that was nice. I was given a scroll and a black egg to crush when I start to read the scroll that should seal this wound. Another detail that was mentioned was the structure could only be seen through reflections.

We get to the tower, it looked like someone lived inside a crazy home. The outside can't be seen, but when you go inside, it is a ghost white. there was also a spot of complete silence, so I move myself there, crushethe egg and begin reading the scroll. A ghost that looks like he owns the place along with lights that surround us entirely. I placed down, my cannon to give me some cover while the rest of the group combat the lights. I watched my colleagues lose their ability to speak coherently while fighting them. I was blessed with something, but I couldn't tell you what it as but it seems to help me fight this ghost who was trying to make me vanish. As the fight moves on, less lights were attacking, but I can't tell you why. After nearly completing it, I was tired of the things attacking and unleash an ear piercing ring out towards the ghost, along with the nearby lights, which injure the lights a lot more than anticipated. I finish reading, and the entire place began to collapse around us. Which is unfortunate, because I wanted to get parts I need for project. I have to will myself out with Mezzi's help, but luckily everyone got out.

When we get back to the Osteomancer, we learn that when kobolds want to get rid of the Divine Blood law, they make deals with other creatures; in this case demons. This group was led by Snizz the Fortunate, but that group was dead when other people killed the kobolds. It ended with a warning "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free." Confused, I said nothing and headed back for the horses that have been tied up. We went to check up on the dog, and it's still there and there is no sign of return, so we left for the Arboretum. This information is given to Jerbo, but I am still suspicious of hat will happen if someone does make a deal with a devil.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Sinking the Filth and My Feelings ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a week since I saw that tower of that "absence" and I am ready to finish what I started or go to the Omnichapel for advice on Vela. I know, I get distracted easily, but I cannot for any reason leave a stone unturned for any reason in case it comes to bite me back later. I left Lunas on some pretty bad terms, both with my family for obvious reasons, but also the Thieve's guilds with relearning the one thing I swore off of. That mistake of saying I will not learn more things about a specific topic was so far my worst one yet. Anyone could come for me for any reason, and I need to be ready for when I get jumped. Today luckily is not one of those days, because a new job offering has appeared who's handwriting is more crude than a thieve's messy handwriting. Baftzmyr as I later found out put up the sign about a giant demon stuck in the sand, and it needed to be killed. Cool, I can just fire with my cannon and it will eventually die if it can't get out. When I get there, I see some new faces, but also a handful of familiar ones. Stix and Razzdrog are here, but among the new ones we have Steady Dee, a tabaxi who wears some unusually heavy armor comparatively that have some runes on it that appear to be of a giant origin, but I guess whatever floats your boat. Koro, an Air Genasi that wears some monk robes, who can't seem to make up his mind when it comes to allegiances, and Ozmir, a tiefling that has powers I have never seen before, but curious as to how they will work. Baftzmyr explains that scout demons have been circling around looking around for a way to get out the great demon. The plan was simple; locate the scouts, follow them, and kill the great demon. Now that follows, but it's under the sand. What is Baftzmyr's plan to expose the demon? I don't know. All I know is I can sneak up on it, and rain cannon fire down where it can't see me. Ozmir who can apparently track creatures really well, starts following a set made not long ago. Along the path, a heatwave catches me completely off guard, and I feel more sluggish than before. Great, now I won't be able to hide nearly as easy I have before, but I am with a group. We get right on top the scout and it pops out ready to attack. It would have died in two hits, if Sparkburn didn't have a weapon infused with fire. Wait! I forgot to mention Sparkburn is with us! Gobbo, I will find you later and confront you for remaining silent. It didn't matter however, because melee attacks are still effective. After that one dies, Stix along with a few others spot three more running from away, and we continue to follow. After a few more hours of travel, we come across some quicksand that is quaking. Quicksand isn't supposed to do that on a large scale; this is where the great demon is. Baftzmyr pulls what appears to be an origami pig that is coated in a layer of wax. It looks like the pig was boiled alive, but I am not one to judge. Stix volunteers to carry to bomb, and all I can say to that is... Ok never mind. This doll, husk? I don't know what it's made of, but regardless, the bomb is carried to it's destination. More importantly however, Stix makes it out unscathed. Maybe Stix has a ratio of strength similar to that of an ant. Ants proportionally can carry more weight to their body mass. Koro and I peek over, and WHAT IS THIS FOR A DEMON!? A cage for a face with a flame inside of it and some kind of disc neck to keep the sand out of the face or something. We give out teammates that knowing look, and the rest of the team gets to work. Raazdrog and MK-2 setup an anti flank position for us on the right as well as making the demon glittery. Steady Dee also sets up an anti flank position for us on the right side as well as growing to giant. With this enlarged form Steady throws a handaxe that lands square in the "face" of the great demon but not as effective as it should have hit . Stix is firing blasts of green energy which makes me think a deal was involved for this power. Koro using the bow pierces the demon with the same problem as Steady, and I am throwing a dagger, firing a cannon, and backing up, because I have no interest in falling in the quicksand and next to this abomination. That caused a different problem however which was I opened the line for more of the scouts to come attack Koro and Ozmir. I planned to fix this by booming them back into it, but that will backfire spectacularly when Koro kills one of the scouts, and stayed within the line of fire. It was also a good thing that I moved out, because the sand started moving out from everyone's feet who were close to the edge. Steady and MK-2 fell in and hell broke loose, literally. I didn't see what happened but the next thing I know, Koro willingly jumps into the pit and now Steady is floating in the air about 20ft. Why that is happening, I couldn't tell you, but Steady was bleeding out and needed help soon. Baftzmyr uttered some word and Steady is conscious again. I go to help Ozmir, because currently 3 scouts are surrounding her, which aint cool. I drive my dagger into a scout's death, and the sand is still moving out from under us, but I can keep myself steady. Raazdrog on the other hand wasn't so lucky and also managed to fall in next to the demon. Things are going fine right now. The great demon is getting whacked by are melee fighters and the people up here in the sand are holding off the scouts just fine. Oh no. My worst fear has come true; this demon will explode on death. I am not going to be around that. I can stabilize those who take the brunt of the explosion. At least, that was my original plan if Koro didn't fall to the giant claws of this demon. I am not ready to lose a colleague here, so I jump down, run to Koro, heal him just enough to get him conscious again and prep for another round of attacks against this creature. Maybe it was better however that I couldn't keep myself steady this time and I was buried in the sand. Not wanting to be stuck in here, I used my last spell to blast out, but that didn't work. Later I learned that I had injured Koro, and Steady who were both super hurt by it, but the worst part was I didn't even get out with that. I got burned, but not by much comparatively to other people who got the full brunt. Stix stabilized Koro, and Raazdrog healed Steady and then Koro. It honestly surprised me that everyone made it out alive. We got our gold, and I moved on because I don't know how much I can trust the Scrappers when working with a Fiend. Working with criminals is bad enough, but trying to work with a creature from the underworld seems like a death sentence.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Old Technology, and Fights ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a few days since hunting the Baron of Filth or whatever in the Nine Hells this creature is, and I finished the sketching for my tool arm. I don't have a name for it, but I know the name will come at the end when I finish the project. I should really get some paper however, because each time I sketch it, it's in the sand. I lose it very easily, and often times restart like some mime performing the same trick. I was ready to go buy the materials when I am stopped by Gnash, a half orc who means business. If I had a counterpart, it would be her. Why? because the entire left side of her face is char black. Besides that she needs people to track down some missing people. They have been gone 2 days and she hates mystery. Some other people that get recruited were Leonard, Mezzi, The Scarlet Shadow, Raazdrog, and Avel. I think it's worth mentioning that we have 3 musically inclined, which I don't I have ever been apart of. We are told to look for a carcass of a long dead giant worm, and the distant mountain Tol'Viral on are way to Drywater. Jerbo reads off a scroll and we turn to mist, and boy can we MOVE! With this enhanced movement, met up with Kaleen, a desert vulpine druid who knew of our mission. We got two scrolls. I recognize these and as '''Animal Messenger''' and '''Locate object''' spells. If anything goes wrong we are told to give movement on where they are headed and in how long.. The '''Locate Object''' however is to find a silver bullet the group left behind.. Seems odd, but hey maybe they do that elsewhere to mark where they were. We don't need either however, because Scarlet knows this place like the back of his hand. Apparently the blue dragonborn, and the thri-kreen hate each other enough to capture, but not kill him, which I find very funny. Anyways, he finds tracks of about a dozen thri-kreen. Following them, they reduce to about 4 tracks that were left behind, and end abruptly. Still Scarlet picks up where they began again and we continue to follow. We are moving with the wind while following the tracks, so it was very easy to actually catch up to the thri-kreen Scarlet was following. When I get the chance to look at them, and it looks likes an ant that grew a spine, a brain along with gaining lots of lower insect strength. The color of the shell also seems to be blending in better with the surrounding enviorment, which I wish I could get my hands on that. We transformed into ourselves again, and decided instead of attacking, to talk to them since they might have some useful information regarding the people we are trying to find. I was confused about the execution, until I learned Scarlet could actually communicate with them. Upon seeing us, the group shows off their mandibles, and claws. Scarlet attempts to parley with the clutch but to no avail, since he could speak the language of clack clickers. Before you judge me, that's what I heard. As we got closer, they became blurry and hard to track their position. I recognize this as a '''Blur''' spell. I am about to make them shiny when Raazdrog beats me to that idea. Only one of them got affected however, but there is one idea I have. Some spells you can't put together because you have to think about the actual spell. '''Blur''' happens to be one of those spells, so I plan to attack in a flank or hit them with spells, they have to resist. I summon the cannon, and get to work. They start by swarming Raazdrog, but since only a few attacks hit, they turned the attention to me. They also don't get many hits in, but one did strike me good. A 6 on 4 however doesn't end well for them, and that part of the clutch falls one by one to us swarming them. We leave the corpses behind and continue on our journey to finding the people who went missing. I was honestly expecting more of a fight with how many tracks we say, but hey I'll save some of my resources for later. We get to a dune structure with a very small tunnel with 2 Federation members dead. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a fight broke out here about a day ago, There is a tunnel about 5ft wide, so it's time for a single file line. I go first, after my cannon, so that less people will be affected by any traps that may come. Well dam right I was because my cannon snapped a tripwire leading to a bunch of some decent size rocks they could fit in the ceiling tumble out. I get out of the way get fine, but I couldn't move my cannon, and it get's dented pretty badly from the trap set. Lesson learned; check for traps in a small area like this. I just realized my experience from Low Lunas has been lacking faster than what happened the last time I was in High Lunas. I start examining the area up ahead, and would you look at that; another trap.. It takes me less than 10 seconds to permanently disable the trap however, so no issues there. Continuing to check for traps, I find no more, and I see a room, probably about 40 feet by 30 feet, and there is a decent amount of light in here that seems to be pretty bright. When we get to the maw of this room, I can just barely see to left some kind of rig, but oh come on. Really? A weapon pointed in my face with 2 people standing a few feet away from the arch. From the little I can see, this appears temporary, but I first need to talk to these people.. I told them that we are here to find you. We were sent by Gnash, and got here with the help of Jerbo. Why there are 2 dead Federation members outside this cave, I have a better idea now. AVEL WHY!? I might have been going somewhere with the conversation, but then you decide to teleport behind them and attack? Fine, Seeing this I spring into action, and start to attack the person who drew their weapon at me. Rude, but fine a fight you want? A fight you will get. I blast the cannon into the shin of the guy, and take that opportunity to throw my dagger into his skull, which works out great because that is one less person we have to deal with. Raazdrog, Mk-2, and Scarlet move into the room and attack some of the nearby henchmen. that happen to be near the doorway so less occupancy there. Avel takes this opportunity to corner the leader in a one on one duel. Unhappy with me dropping her main bodyguard, she leaves the duel with Avel, and decides to attack me instead, with a reach weapon. Dammit, my cannon was in the way, but that didn't matter for this dumb weapon. The lightning and fire hurts pretty bad, but I am still here... Then the dork leaves me alone to go get into a 3v1. I think something is being plotted, because they moved away from me, almost like something had a higher priority. Leonard seeing me greatly injured me heals my immediate wounds, which is nice, because I want to help my teamates, but I can't do that with almost being taken out of the fight. There is 3 other henchmen here, so I direct my cannon to fire at one who was next to Avel as I stick my knife into their side for a well thrown shot.. Mezzi managed to released a held spell, after Avel forced the enemy into Mezzi's line of sight. It didn't have any effect, but the more people closer to the leader, the better.. The leader in a desperate move, went to the rig, and pushed a few buttons, and got ready to run., getting slashed, by Raazdrog Mk-2, Scarlet, and Avel.. I now realize what this is; an infernal enhancement. NOW I WANT THAT! this would speed up my projects by who know how long, and I would earn a lot of favor from Raegina.. This person clearly has connections to the Scrappers, which now irritates me, because we are fighting within our own group, but I know I don't have the tongue to get everyone to stop fighting. We managed to get the Tiefling leader to start running, but by that point, the fight was over. I used this opportunity to try and disable this infernal enhancement, but to no avail. It starts burning me... This rig can't be disabled, from a self destruction button, but I have to keep going. I'm getting burned and then I see it; I can get out, where I couldn't before. I will not give up my own life to figure this out. This is my choice now, not some magic that was used on me. I run out with the rest of the group to hear a big explosion ring out. I managed to get some materials out from the rig, but it's now useless... I spend some time with this tiefling who's name is Velza. Apparently her and Raegina have been locking horns because this rig should have come back to the junkyard, There was incursions here that the local tribe could use help with that rig that is now gone. The solution was spiteful and honestly stupid, and as much as I would have loved to get her off the hook, I want to be able to use these tools for good, not just because of a word of law.. I'm not sure how much longer I will be with the Scrappers because of this incident... If all Raegina cares about is this problem of demons within Pteris no matter the cost, desperation will make people do some insane things all trying to better the future for themselves/children with the destruction left behind.The end NEVER EVER for any reason, justifies the means.</blockquote>
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=== Logic Lacking and Large Lies ===
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<blockquote>Oh Where do I begin with this incident that I am still beating myself in the head over? I guess I will start with the fact that some Yuan-ti runs into town screaming about someone has stolen all of her textiles and they are very expensive. I put my guard up, because I don't trust people who make a big show like that, but I don't see any odd behavior. Some other people that notice the commotion are Deliah, a teifling with some well enhanced armor, Leonard a half elf, who was first and last person to surprise me with someone else coming, Ozmir and Stix making a return from that nasty Baron, Ozmir is also a teifling, with some unique psionic blades, which looks really cool, and Stix is the doll that roams the Arboretum. I recently learned Stix has a "friend" that speaks to them, which is kind of unsettling, I am now wondering who is puppeteering this doll, when it's likely a god.. The last person I did not mention was Ollie, a ranger who has a pet frog.. The Yuan-ti's name is Sandra Sanderson, and she needed help recovering textiles that were expensive. They were stolen by a bunch of gnolls, but the problem I find with that story is A:gnolls don't do that, B: few gnolls are careful with what they steal. Just look at the goods they have after death, and C: Gnolls are not known for attacking in huge groups. I can't saying anything without sounding paranoid, so I go along with this idea.. We get to the circus tent that these textiles were stolen from, and here is the first of many mistakes I made. I made so many in fact for being a skeptic, that it makes my lack of checking in High Lunas look safer. I did not check any signs of damage for anything really. I just saw the creatures, baited one over, and a fight ensued. There was a bunch of hyenas, two giant hyenas, and a gnoll warrior. Stix got injured repeatedly from after it was a great idea to fireball the three big targets. Deliah got in the way of the big hyenas and just ate the minimal damage they dealt. Ozmir notices with the fact these were made by a conjuration spell, but we kept on fighting, because they didn't stop. All of them disappeared except for the warrior. Me and Ozmir start looking around, and we do find the secret stash of goods, and here is my second and third big mistakes. I forgot to examine the tracks leading to it, and I forgot to see based on the dust how long it might have been there, and how far away it was from the actual circus tent. We give the textiles, and she gives us clothing based on the surface thoughts we have, and then I receive a message telepathically from Ozmir stating that Sandra is definitely hiding something.. Stix decides to become Sandra's assistant for the day, but I want to grab Stix, and leave. Still I listened to Ozmir, and did nothing. Me and Leonard doubled back and went to hide in that stash where we find the textiles. At night we see 2 lizard folk and another yuan-ti quickly packing up the tent so quickly something is off. STIX! Now Stix is kidnapped, and the circus is gone. Final mistake I made here: We could have tried to follow the damn caravan, but we were too angry to do anything.. We make our way back, and it turns out it was WAY worse than either of us initially thought. Jitcwal and Cilvdzwucta were also kidnapped, and the explosives used have been destroyed. The worst part is there was, I didn't use any logic. I can't read people better than others, but I am good with puzzles and evidence. I bet if I noticed the condition of the terrain, My alert level would have been a lot higher. SANDRA SANDERSON: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You will not make a fool of me again... </blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">
=== Swallowing and Regurgitating the Facts ===
</div><blockquote>This whole thing of three people being captured and me not being to do anything about it killing me. I gave everything I could to Koro, and Gobbo, but it's still destroying me from the inside. I decided to go see if there was some work I could do to take my anger out on. Working with the scrappers didn't seem like a great idea, because I do not want to get into any more infighting. I don't like the idea in working with the Federation, but I had to pull a favor to get the information I wanted, so it's going to happen someday. I luckily found a job being offered by Lord Pavan to go check on the livestock. That sounds like a Shepherd thing, but beggars, can't be choosers. I would much making good use out of my cannon, than tinkering all day honestly. Maybe it could help me figure out how to make my spells stronger. (It did not.) My only main concern with this is I am working with new folk entirely. There's Rhogar and Syl, who I have interacted with, but it has been.... volatile to say the least. Other people that I have met for the first time are Silgr, a mountain dwarf with similar runes to Rhogars, Mizuka, a desert vulpine bard, but I am not sure which college she attended. To finish this group off, he have Voscaera, a A fighter with incomplete runes of Rhogar's and Silgr's, but she has artificer capabilities instead. I would later find out Voscaera is a Madaer, which is a person of Medusa ancestry. A little unsettling, but there was no bad blood between us. I decided to rent a horse from Dapple, because I heard it was going to be a long haul. I don't mind, but some help would be nice. My only concern I had with this gamble is I need the gold for components. Anyways he head out to check on some livestock, that I now realize could be anything.... Two days later on our travel however, we meet someone by the name of Saltique Petra. She starts reading off a bunch of names, all of which happen to be us. She tells us it's about another week, so I decided to ask for my own curiosity what kind of livestock is being kept. After a few guesses, the answer is kept ominous, so I give up on prying. Low Lunas taught me not to pry when not given on the first go. On day three of travelling we get a nasty dust storm that rolls in. I can barely see in front of me, but I managed to keep the horse calm, so I ended up with the group after it passed. This delayed it by a day, making it 8 days. It would become 9 days after a flash flood came 3 days later. I ended up losing control of the horse, and it sped off. I did my best to keep up, but I had gotten really exhausted from trying to constantly keep my footing. When I wake up the next day, any exhaustion I may have is gone, but I am alone in this harsh desert. With the extra time I have, I set up a fire, but I don't abandon it. When trying to get found, it's best to stay put. It's not like I have a direction to go find the horses, so I am sadly going to lose the deposit. Dammit. After waiting for a few hours, a group of about 6 people cross my vision. Well I'm pretty sure it's the group, but the moment I get a good look at all them, they;re fine. Oddly, Rhogar also lost his horse, so there goes like 100gp+ right there. We debated for a minute to go look for the horses, but I pointed out that we could give the demons more time to transform into other creatures. The rest of the travel will have to be on foot, but at least we only have one more day. On the final day, Saltique explains that we are first collecting some magical fruit to lure the livestock. That's easy enough for me to get and not get ambushed.. When we get there, we split up a little bit to go get as much plants as possible. Syl and I use '''Detect Magic''' to make it easier to get the plants. I manged to get my hands on Anserke, a spiny cactus that allows when made into a potion to improve our constitution for a bit. Okay well I'm not surprised a ambush is happening, but come on. This is a great spot for it. I look up to see a giant spider has jumped Syl, so I pull out the woodcarver's tools, and bring out the cannon to fire at this spider. The spider gets a bite into Syl, but that thing is a fool. Syl is a yuan-ti, so I am willing to bet he has some poison resistance. An ear piercing ring comes out to my left as Mizuka casts something above my level, but it seems to be effective, because There is screeching of another spider. Now how many of these jerks are here, and why have they not been taken care of before this? There ended being 3 other giant spiders lurking. Most of the deaths came from Rhogar just cutting through with his greataxe, along with him getting like 3 times my height. I did manage to get one satisfying kill in a one-two combo to destroy it beyond saving.. I had nothing to gain from getting a rest, but Syl could use it after getting bit multiple times. Rhogar also got injured a good amount, but it seemed Mizuka, Silgr, and Voscaera didn't get injured at all. This never lost my concentration, I go back to harvesting more plants. I manage to get another anserke, which was a little disappointing but not the end of it. I hand over the plants I got, and I was pretty impressed by our pile. Saltique mentioned it might even be enough to get the adult ones out. We head over to another area that is honestly a choke point I'm not too comfortable being in. After an hour...nothing. Then there is tiny amounts of movement underneath our bait. Saltique shakes her head which makes me concerned about how big these 'livestock' are. A huge wave of dust that comes through to my left that I was not expecting. When it settles, there is a WOIM! I'm separated because I'm not about to get clumped in a dangerous spot. Then directly ahead of me about 130ish feet away there is another wave of dust. Underneath that dust lies another woim eating these magical plants. I then see my colleagues coming down off the plateaus for an odd reason until I see three demonic things with mouths in the chest, and three husks following this woim. Perfect. one spell used later, and my cannon makes a return. Analyzing this like the nerd I am, the woims won't attack us, unless we have magic on us. That's like all of us, but the people that have a bigger issue are Rhogar and Silgr These demons has a rhino horn with a mouth next to the abdomen. the hands are long claws with a longsword, and the toes are webbed with sharp 'talons.' I got busy dealing with these abominations from a flank position while the rest of the team got in the fray.. Out main goal is this: Kill the demons before the woims eat them. Easier said than done however, since we our own member are also in danger. Slowly but surely however, these creatures fell one by one. Rhogar had gotten swallowed, but he forced the woim to regurgitate before it became a problem. Same thing happened with Silgr unsurprisingly. We got a nasty surprise when we took down a husk. A jellyfish had exited the body. So we are really dealing 9 creatures, but those need to go first. If not we could get a possessed woim which isn't great. we got rid oftwo mouth abdomen demons, and AN ADULT WOIM showed up! It nearly destroyed my cannon. It ate one of the other woim and just left leaving a massive hole. The other woim starting burrowing with a demon stuck in it, so that's not good, but there is one last jellyfish demon to take down.. It went deep into the hole. With some quick thinking seeing Rhogar down there, I use my last spell to make a burst of blue. And would you LOOK AT THAT. that jellyfish is here. Rhogar used this opportunity to smash it into the ground killing it instantly. I saw the death because the light faded on its death. Rhogar wasn't happy with Saltique's lie by omission, but I ignored that, because I needed to fix my cannon. We got paid a good amount of gold, and we left. Those husks were sadly other Shepherd members which is just lovely. As we headed back, a thought crossed my mind. Is there one grand demon orchestrating, or three? </blockquote>
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=== Bad Favors and Better Bargains ===
</div><blockquote>I knew this day was coming soon. There was supposed to be a group heading out soon, but one of them had to drop. My contact called me in and said he was calling in his favor, so I know I get to go work for the Federation.. We meet up with two Thri-kreen that appear to be twins. They aren't part of the clutch I fought earlier, but their speech was unsettling, as they would talk over one another in perfect sync. All that aside however, we were told that some dust storm had made a return from the initial invasion again. The only thing that seems to know where it is a crow by the name of Moxy. They asked us to take good care of Moxy, which I can do for 3 days’ travel, and to keep this information private. There is a leak somewhere, and no one is supposed to know there is one. Great. Another piece of information kept behind closed doors that will cause more tension.. I swear this is going to be the downfall of this place. Anyways we start following the bird along to get to where we need to. Avel decides to let Moxy onto his shoulders when it needs a rest. On the third day, we find a few birds circling a few areas. Birds often circle points of interest, and then I hear just ever so faintly some rumbling underneath us. With Avel's help, I am now invisible and decide to scout ahead. I scuff my footing really badly, and I'm pretty sure I caught its attention. Oh I guess I forgot to mention other people here. People I have worked with in the past have made a return except for one person. Draz, Avel, and Leonard made a return from our last time together investigating the mysterious disappearance, and Ozmir is also here from our last time together from dealing with Shady Shabby. No they don't derserve an honorable title. They were paid to kidnap people by the Filth Jerk's counterpart. It was nice having another person who I can communicate without saying a word to in case social interactions fail miserably. The only person I haven't worked with before is Grymos, a Duergar artificer with his own robot friend like Razzadrog.. I'm not surprised he's shorter than me, but it's still a first to work with someone smaller than me. Anyways, the birds scatter off, and all we are left with our own thoughts and this rumbling. We decide to have Grymos' bot go in first, and then the thing went offline apparently. From the previous experience those who were from this were cursed, so Avel helped us get entirely covered up from this sandstorm. Since I am still invisible I decide to scout to figure out what is going on. The slope became EXTREMELY steep, but I managed to ground myself, and avoid tumbling or making huge amounts of noise. The sheer force of this wind is hurting however as I continue to step through, so I would like to get back as soon as possible. I can barely see anything right in front of me, so I am pretty much walking blind. I eventually come upon a rough sculpture of sandstone. tracing my hands along this stone, it is so old, it's probably been here since Prehistory. I am about to return when I notice my invisibility drops. I guess they got tired of waiting, which is fair enough, because it's a long way down. We're talking a quarter mile of walking to get here. I notice however only two other people show up, which is a little worrying, but I’m sure the others are fine. I summon the cannon, and we move up the stairs to whatever this place might be. going up the steps of this structure, some creature is waiting for us, and hell breaks loose. Avel gets injured pretty badly, so he just teleports the same way I saw him do earlier. Grymos just moves in, because he's not dealing with it which is fine. I do manage to take my dagger and drag it through the wind as my cannon fires into it. It did a good chunk of damage, but it's still kicking just fine. And then I see it run. I take a quick strike opportunity and look over, to see Leonard is here along with Razzadrog. It does come back down however, and flings me into this place, and the magic here just feels right. I'll have to figure that out in a second, but there are more pressing matters. My cannon fires the creature and it can't get into this place, so I'm safe in here. I turn my attention to the two other people in here who are both hobgoblins. Avel asks them what is going on, and they imply that they are the ones causing it. I tried to reason with them that a fight wasn't necessary, but to no avail.. One of them says in goblin about Bonnet not keeping them at bay, which raises several alarm bells for me. Who is this Bonnet? What is the significance of this room, and what were they trying to cover up in here if anything? the two hobgoblins immediately turn into some demonic vulture. Now an aerial battle is in play here which isn't too big of a worry for me, but maybe not for others. These jerks are also closing their wounds relatively fast, so a heal off it is. A 5 on 2 however is not going in their favor, so we just need to keep chipping them away. Avel managed with '''Mirror Image''' up to not get hit a single time which I thought was honestly really cool. Unfortunately, my cannon got demolished, so I had to create another one to keep up with my help. With everyone piling in together, both of these demon hybrids or whatever they are fall dead. It's funny because they tried to run, but when you're surrounded like they were, you are going to get hurt badly.. Oh what is a new voice doing here? You're irritated about us ruining your plan? You can shove that comment out, because I don't care. You have been hurting others, and I'm not having it. I question this tall figure a little bit, and they reveal they are Bonnet. Bonnet turns to leave after finishing his monologue, and I attempt one more cannon shot at him, just to rub in my hatred for him. He then calls me by name threatening to kill all of us, but if he's really going to do that, don't mention your plans or whatever.. I begin the process of a ritual cast of '''Detect Magic''', while the others start examining this temple. The air creature left seeing it was in danger if it stuck around, which I didn't care for too much.. When I finish my casting, everything all of a sudden registers as all of the schools this world knows. Leylines are a funny thing, because they make the spells possible. These lines converge at certain points known as Nexuses, and here is where the fabric of reality can much more easily be warped. It hurts to honestly keep it up, so after gathering all I could, I let go of the spell.. The other people started investigating the murals on the monoliths in this room, and they were depicting an ancient lizard race that existed well before any of our time.. There was also some pteran writing scrawled along the base of the altar in here, so I got a copy of it, and have left it alone for now. On each of the four pillars there was a direction and some symbols depicting various things. The order goes as follows: North: is Mother, South is War, East is Nature, and West is: Logic. Avel and I agreed to come check this place in our free time, so that we could better understand what is going on.. I give all the information I could privately to the twins, and they tell me that the Shend are where the Hobgoblins came from. That is certainly some questions for Rhogar at another time. Now I am really confident we aren't fighting just one foe, but a few of them. A bigger problem came to mind however. The Altar had the tree the Arboretum is currently, before some blight gets rid of the leaves.. Could they use this to attack us from far away if discovered</blockquote>
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=== New Tools and Enemies Laid Out in the Bones ===
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<blockquote>What? No way I am hearing this right. Apparently the Osteomancer had reached out mentioning something about infernal weapons. I can't get my hopes up yet because this is likely going to be a challenge. I didn't plan on going, but after learning there wasn't many going in the first place, I decided to clear finish up my odd jobs so that I can be apart of this. I meetup with the others who are thankfully people I have worked with in the past. Mezz and Polvo also worked for the Osteomancer with me. Raazdrog, and Leonard had also shown up from when I worked for the Federation. We go to the Osteomancer's 'place,' and here the details are spilled. Swikedom, a kingdom infamous for the divine Blood Law that dictates the social hierarchy has some infernal weapons that need recharging. Odd that magical weapons of that sort don't regain charges on their own, but whatever. The plan is to intercept this trade route, and take them for ourselves. Normally I would be against this kind of thing, but honestly, if it means taking weapons away from people who will abuse it however, I would like less potential damage to be done. Then were all good to steal these. We get over there by some powerful conjuration magic, and we meetup with the Osteomancer's contact Eddarux near the walls of Swikedom, and explained that he knew of a secret tunnel to get us into the kingdom. Mezzi offered the idea of us being 'slaves' to get us through. I was confused until they revealed themselves to be a blue dragonborn. It seemed odd since the mouth should poke out of the mask, but I will figure it out another time. The plan pretty much goes without a hitch. We find a good choke point where they are supposed to head. I decide to scout ahead to see who were up against. when I quietly get up there. I see a drake, one purple dragonborn, and 4 black dragonborn. I don't know the significance of the purple, but they stand out and like means they're the boss of this operation. I have to rush back, if I want my temporary allies to know what's going on. I get into a relatively easy position to drop onto the group, summon the cannon and wait. I notice there is a spoon in this choke point. Is there something I'm missing about spoons. Are they like the most powerful items this realm will ever see? Whatever, I see the group approaching, and when they get into the middle of this area, Mezzi drops a false fog onto a few of them. I take advantage of this by firing the cannon into the leader, and dropping a new spell I learned.. The people in the immediate area where I dropped it cover their ears, which means it works as intended. I injured them pretty good, but the black dragonborn react fast, and they split up to target Mezzi and I. The purple one however starts flying in the air about 30ft off of the ground which is just lovely. I can't tell what happens all that well, but I watch Leonard, and Raazdrog covering their ears which is nice... The drake had rushed up to attack, but couldn't do both. With that Raazdrog, and his bot flank the drake, and start slashing it apart. Polvo had casted some spell, and nothing seems to happen to me. Mezzi had moved the fake fog onto the. soldier who now can't see them which is honestly hilarious, but I see one coming after me, so I shift my position away from the soilder, and continue to attack the purple since I'm the only one who can actually attack from range. It's funny because I watch this purple dragonborn sabotage themselves by making the drake go stupor, but all of my temporary allies resisted whatever the hell was casted. All of the soldiers fall, then the drake, but Mezzi got the coolest kill. I'm pretty sure a '''Sleep''' spell was casted because that dragonborn had plummeted, and didn't wake up. I throw up a '''Detect Magic''' to see if these folk had anything else of magic, but no luck. Mezzi however had found a small chest inside. Leonard tries to pick it a few times, but after failing. I get the chance the pick it. I scuff myself a few times, because I'm not using my potential when I have a second arm I eventually get it open, and I'm an idiot. There was a big explosion as this chest had been trapped. I get out of the away, and luckily no one else was around. so only I got injured. Still it hurt really badly, but there is something in here. There are 8 gems of sort. I use I'''dentify''' to figure out what these are, and these are the infernal weapons we were looking for.. We make out way back to Swikedom like nothing happened until we got ambushed by a bunch of people in masks. It's not even worth mentioning how this fight went other than they were a bunch of people who ran after a few deaths. This infuriated Mezzi. Apparently this wasn't the first encounter. This group did the exact same thing a few weeks ago.. We make our way back from the Osteomancer who let us keep the infernal weapons, and whatever else we got off of them. It was fair to say it was an odd occurrence that the Osteomancer put themselves out like that, but I'm not complaining. However I do not like that this hit and run scheme of attacking. New goal: The next time we face those mask people, I WILL get one of those masks. Mezzi has warned against taking one, but I wonder what these cult people have for wearing these, other than covering their face.</blockquote>
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=== Pulling Off the Masked Power ===
</div>
<blockquote>While it's not impossible to get recruited by the same person twice, it means you did a good job last time. That's the case for me and Saltique Petra who made a two week trip to come meet for hiring people. That isn't exactly the best thing, because that means it's something serious. I was sitting in a tavern listening to rumors of the woims, and it just drove me a little angry. I do nothing to sway the rumors one way or another, because it's just not worth it.They make the risk, they get the rewards. They also (or are supposed to) keep trade routes open, so targeting them has dangerous implications. Anyways, I get hired along with Avel, Razzadrog, and Leonard. I also meet a few new people I had never seen before. There is a human with some heavy armor that seems to be a samurai style. His name is Nikodemus. The other is a half orc with some light armor, and no significant weapon is visible. His name is Markandros, and he's definitely a spell caster of sorts. Were told to look for someone by the name of Vettik, and the following information needs to be kept on low. Another card being kept in the hand I swear. Only the Scrappers have been completely forthright with working together, but ends justifying the means for someone isn't exactly something I want to keep working with. Federation isn't exactly being honest either with what they know, and they told me.

We get to a small ravine that is decently deep at a glance, but also a mouth of a cave about 40-50 feet away. There's also some large boulders at the edge of the ravine, and I use that to take cover. A few others look down, and we hear a man's voice telling us to get down in there. I'm confused as to why until we hear flapping like bats coming out from the cave. Vargouilles as I would come to learn are these head demons with fanged teeth, foaming mouths, bat wings that replaces the ears, and red eyes that scream death. We drop all but two of them in two spells. One of my '''Shatter''', and Leonard's '''Fireball'''. One of the flies near us and screeches so bad that I begin to lose my sense of awareness. My speech was also scuffed horribly at that time which really sucked. The other flew down to me and gives me a kiss. I instantly realize I'm in danger, but not immediately. I got cursed by this jerk. The rest are killed when I regain my bearings, and the man climbs out of the ravine. He introduces himself as Vettik Herbert, so that's a positive. He was stuck down there in case the demons would go after him. The other people go into the mouth of the cave and discover the circle that had been used to summon these bitches, which of course is lovely. Now we gotta track them down. I tell Vettik that I had been cursed by one of them, and we all make hast towards the hideout of the Shepherds. Along the way Nikodemus offered me a blessing, which I was a little hesitant to take, but accepted in hopes of allowing me to survive longer or cure it entirely. Surprisingly the fangs and my ears recede a little. I don't say anything, and we continue out trek over. When we get to the hideout Vettik reveals the illusion rock wall that had been created, which reminded me of Low Lunas and the illusions used there..

I immediately ask Vettik who might be able for me to rid this curse, and he pointed me to a tent that was up some stairs. There was a tortle by the name of Yuru I'm waiting patiently while the others talk to the Shepherds. I'm waiting patiently when I hear a blood curdling scream. I go to hide in to a tent that is next to the campfire so I can hear the conversation, but I'm not seen. I then hear the door has been opened, and that they need to move now. I immediately take this opportunity to cast '''Detect Magic''' and start looking for '''Illusion''' magic. And would you looks at that. There are three people coated in such. I summon my cannon and tell Avel this in Elvish and hint that they are not real Shepherds. He takes the opportunity to get s surprise attack on one I pointed out and a fight ensued. The two others unmask the '''Disguise Self''' they had on, bring out some Caustic Demons, and now the stakes are higher. I start pummeling one of them, and he dives into the water, but not before making a huge wave of water splash over other us. I dive out of the way just fine. Leonard keeps the Caustic demon off of me by making it run somehow. I dive into the water after the cultist, and keep striking with my cannon and dagger. As nice as this dagger is, I gotta use a longer weapon soon, because I can't use this forever.. He traps me into a watery sphere which sucks, but I can still fire the cannon without issues and throw the dagger. It also gave me a better idea of what's happening around. There was one cultist backed up into a corner, but I couldn't see the third.. Eventually, he got hit and the sphere drops, and I fell into the water. I was gonna go after him, but he put up a wall of water, and one of the culists had died. Irritated by the unknown Identities. I get out of the water, and rip the mask off the dead member. It starts burning really badly, but I'm going to hold on, because I want to '''Identify''' what tactics they have. Unfortunately, one the Shepherds had died, and the other two had managed to run. NOW I WANT THESE JERKS DEAD. Previously, they were targeting those who were capable, but those who couldn't fight back so easily. YOU HAVE CROSSED A LINE! I WILL HUNT YOU LIKE I DID FOR THE SHABBY SCALES. The mask also melted within 10 minutes, and I realized that I made a grave mistake. Unless I say command word, the mask will destroy the facial identity, and the mask will melt. It also left me a nasty scar from that experience. As a 'payment' but I really call it a gift, we got a good deal of money, and a horse or dust runner to take us back. Yuru had also survived, and he came up to me, consumed something, and removed the curse. He promptly passes out, but he's okay. Leonard managed to get a pair of Surefoot boots from that one cultist, and we found more coin on the cultist, which we split. I call the payment a gift, because I was doing my job. I was always against those harming the innocent, but now a seething anger is driving me to protect them. </Blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== The Fog of War Abandons the Insight ===
</div>
<blockquote>...So this is going to be tough for me to write, but I need to get this written. Baftzmyr had found a relic that could be used for the War Rig as an exhaust system, which is something I have been having an issue with for some time. It’s called the Manifold of Malevolence, and currently the Smog of Smithereens is in possession of it down in the abandoned town of Opek. I’ll let you fill in the details Me, Gobbo, Rhogar, Nid, Raazdrog, and Leonard were all offered a soul coin by Raegina, and were told it would provide a shield of sorts that could be used twice. Now I believe that much, but what I don’t believe is that there isn’t side effects as to using this. For that reason alone, I had declined, but everyone else took one, and I may have to carry one back… which is lovely. There was also some gauntlets that Rhogar took, and Baftzmyr’s had offered one of us her bow. I’m the only one who could wield it easily, so I took up the bow and off we went on this three day travel. My horse didn’t exactly bond with me, nor did Nid have a fun time with his either.

I realize I need to name the horse I got from the Shepherds. I also don’t regret buying to lantern, because since this place is underground, Rhogar couldn’t see shit. At this abandoned town, which is more of a ghost town honestly, we saw a few flickering lights that we creep up to.. It turns out these are WIll-o-Wisps, so we creep back to tell others what we found. We're debating about what do to when Gobbo shows up and fires a crossbow bolt at a Wisp, so I guess were stuck in a fight now. A wraith comes out of the manor and two ghosts show up to fight as well, so were in this really deep now. an 8 on 5 doesn't end well for them however, so they all fall fairly easily and then a sinking feeling hits me. We could have had allies for that.... It's too late now. Me and the other artificers make a few masks for others and soak them in water. This is to deal with the noxious air in the local temple. After searching a house, I sadly didn't get much out of it, and we proceed to look into the temple. It was hard to make out what it was in there because of all the smog. I cast Invisibility on myself, and go to scout ahead.. We all creep in when we hear a bunch of skittering. I slip back out and can't see anything, so I summon the cannon to provide me some cover. The smog became extremely poisonous, but I held my breath, and it didn't nearly as bad.. Two shadows come up, but only one gets to strike me. It injures me pretty bad so much so that I lose my Invisibility. I make a quick dash out to see Rhogar asleep, but I can't wake him, so I just pull him off to the side away from the demons. After a quick heal I slip back into the fight while trying to not breath in this smog. It clears up for a few seconds which I take the opportunity to dash through. And then it comes back as black smog that is so heavy, I'm unable to see anything. Still I keep pushing, because that bastard needs to die. I know we aren't much better, but we can at least spark change within ourselves. I have not found a story of a demon changing, but plenty of scumbags turned good. I shoot one of the shadows demons that had been clearly weakened, and he dissipate into dust, but I had also seen something bad. Gobbo and Nid had both fallen, but the Smog of Smithereens looked so weak. Leonard said she got them, so I went ahead to fire at him. Raazdrog ended up killing it and one final burst of smog bursts out... This time, however it's too much. As I felt my eyes close, it felt like I had lost everything. My friend, my work, my vengeance. It was all for nothing. I couldn't survive. This was it. This was how I was going to die. Fair play if I'm not revived. I was cold to others.

The next thing I see however is not some firey place waiting for me. it the stone cold floor that I just collapsed on. Leonard has healed me enough to being me back to consciousness. I planned on saving Gobbo and Nid, and I saw the damage. Both had died. Rhogar had picked up both of their coins already, and now only two things are left. Scrapping the demons, and bringing everything back. I understand what it feels like to lose someone in battle. Never had that issue in Lunas due to participating in one time jobs. Kept me out of danger, but it definitely sucked when I heard people were lost to useless wars. We scrapped the demons grabbing what we could out of this wretched place from the town before leaving. It was a long 3 days back, because those two were the best cooks. I return the bow to Bazftmyr, and I'm about to leave when I hear an odd statement. Raegina was willing to bring one of them back, but I also hear the others trying to convince her to bring both back. I dump the payment I got from her and also join in on this. Being the stubborn bastard she is, she held firm. I left who she was to revive in Rhogar's hand and he chose Gobbo. Gobbo however refused to come back. The soul was unwilling, and so those stories end. and I quietly leave head low.. I did everything I could and it still wasn't enough. Maybe this is a sign to not go for vengeance It almost destroyed me, everything I cared about. I'll still fight the demons, but I need to do it for people now. This has done far more damage than I would like it to.

I think I learned a very brutal but necessary lesson. Inventions are meant to better lives for those who use it. Destruction is a disservice to the purpose. I can do better with my inventions. Not just make things go kaboom.</blockquote>

== Character Interactions ==

=== Avel ===
Avel is a man that would make even the devil think twice about risky decisions. He has many scars and even an eye patch that is covering his left eye from something. His love for performing is contagious, which didn't mind Himo since it could pull attention away. Working together several times, a small bond had formed from the dramatic changes that both had. They even went back together to a temple that Himo was only supposed to be there one time, because he was pulled in for a favor. A dark scary truth had emerged from this investigation, and Himo wasn't sure what to do with it, so he let it sit in the back of his mind. Something had changed between the two however after Mizuka's and Abraham's death. Late one night, Avel had approached Himo, and noted that Himo had a new arm and asked about it

=== Gobbo Greenskin ===
After the Conservatory was destroyed, he found Gobbo, a goblin with a robot named FR0G-GY. Gobbo mentioned he could make Himo an arm, which interested him, but that conversation was never followed up on. Gobbo also mentioned knowing where Sparkburn was, but won't elaborate on where the golem is now, which is frustrating Himo. The death had broken Himo for a second time however, but instead of the destructive path he was on, he shifted it to more of a constructive path. The inventions would not be to destroy what's evil. They would be to better the lives of those around him<blockquote>While Gobbo and I never got along necessarily, the inventions changed something in me. Rest easy Gobbo. You fought for us at every step until your last -Olinomih.</blockquote>

=== Lenore ===
Lenore was someone who Himo would have never interacted with except in a professional manner, but it took less than five minutes for the mask to come off about his certainty. Lenore is a cleric of Vela, and no one had really offered help without a clause. That sent Himo's brain into overdrive, freezing up at the kind gesture of giving a few names of those who run the Omnichapel as well as a stone of Vela

=== Rhogar Dreel ===
[[File:Rhogar_Dreel.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Rhogar Dreel]]
Rhogar is part of the Federation. Himo wanted to initally join the Federation, because he often did a lot of exploitation of vices back in Lunas, but understood that organization would fall to corruption eventually. While trying to figure out the whole coordinated attack Himo managed to set his back on fire because of his obliviousness in front of Rhogar from his OWN cannon!

=== Syl Vipershade ===
Himo has lets say a rocky roller coaster of emotions with Syl. When Himo first met Syl, the interaction wasn't awful, but it didn't take long for the oblivious cracks to seep through. While trying to figure out the attack on the Arboretum, Himo burns himself in front of Syl and Rhogar... with his own cannon. Syl distanced themselves from Himo, which he didn't mind because he was too busy working on his projects. Syl noticed Himo always seems to be ready for a fight, and becomes incredibly jumpy when someone tries to affect his mind. This problem was only amplified however after Stix was captured. While hanging out with Gobbo and Syl, Himo suddenly started feeling burned in his right side despite no actual fire being nearby. Himo accidentally summoned his cannon, to which Gobbo and Syl responded by trying to grapple Himo. While Himo never ended attacking either, Himo made it known that his past he is incredibly fearful of. To Himo's surprise, Syl offered him the chance to let something off of his chest. Even though Himo declined for the moment, he did agree to meet later, and discuss it more with Syl.

=== The Scrappers ===
When Himo first arrived, he was like a ghost in the markets. He bought what he needed, and left in such a hurry, it was hard to track him down. He never really talked to people for more than 5 minutes when he finally met some of the crew of the scrappers, and they seemed to treat him with some respect, but Himo kept to themselves. After learning that were was unnecessary infighting among the Scrappers, he distanced themselves, and ultimately decided to no longer affiliate himself with it. He still does jobs for them with proper compensation, but doesn't consider himself part of that group.

== The Scrappers ==
When Himo first arrived, he was like a ghost in the markets. He bought what he needed, and left in such a hurry, it was hard to track him down. He never really talked to people for more than 5 minutes when he finally met some of the crew of the scrappers, and they seemed to treat him with some respect, but Himo kept to themselves. After learning that were was unnecessary infighting among the Scrappers, he distanced themselves, and ultimately decided to no longer affiliate himself with it. He still does jobs for them with proper compensation, but doesn't consider himself part of that group.

== Relationships ==

=== Nyria Nilo ===

=== Celthron Nilo ===
Lady Nilo is a thin high elf with long flowing golden blond hair that is frail from the clutches of death, eyes of a deep black that show only death behind them, and a poise of confidence and dominance ruling the house that controls the Arcane Materials so well. She believes dead people are just objects that can be used for more than just laying them to rest, and tries to control people as much as possible without magic, often by threatening the used of deceased loved ones. When push comes to shove however, the gloves come off and the dead rise up on her command to destroy those who disobey. Nyria stands really short. Only 4'4" tall due to her 6th century of age creeping in on her, but the tug of life and death is just within fingertips reach. She works tirelessly to use necromancy as a means of preserving her life, but has been unsuccessful while staying within the rules of society. She wasn't a fan when Himo wanted to pursue alchemy, but the secret that she was making deals with demons for extra power proved too great to ignore. She feared that Himo would figure out the arcane knowledge to bring the secret to light, because of his resistance

=== Kynnela Nilo ===
Kynnela is the oldest sibling of the Nilo family. Himo picked up the rebellious attitude from her because she fought with her mother and father all the time. Kynnela who is 478 became a Diviner, and she questioned her past self before leaving the house. She treated Himo with the utmost disgust, and got his other sisters, and even his parents to either join in, or pretends it doesn't happen. On the occasional return to the house, Himo kept her at arms length, refusing to relive the pain that she caused. This made Kynnela bitter, and was the one to plot Himo's death, but ultimately failed. Last Himo has heard, Kynnela has left High Lunas; to where and why Himo doesn't know.

=== Mariela Nilo ===
Mariela is the second sibling of the Nilo family. Mariela is 239 years old at this point, and always had a bitter disappointment for Himo. She constantly questioned why Himo wouldn't apply himself more, and why he fought with all 5 members of this family. It's not like she was innocent either. She would sabotage Himo in any way she could since she didn't approve of her parents letting him take alchemy while she was forced into a school of magic. She chose conjuration as her school, because she preferred summoned things doing the work for her. Last Himo has heard, her bossy behavior isn't being well liked by her colleagues.

=== Tyanna Nilo ===
Tyanna is the youngest member of the Nilo family making Himo the third child. currently just 33, she made Himo's life miserable, but not by actions. She insulted him basically every time he spoke, and these comments are viscous. She often told Himo how he causes the tension for not following tradition, but refuses to acknowledge her own shortcomings. All of these insults were basically ignored by everyone, because they expected Himo to just let it go, but he simply couldn't. She doesn't realize that she is part of the reason that Himo ended up abandoning the family. There was one incident were Himo used physical force to make her panic and show her that actions have consequences, but Himo doubts it made an impact. Last Himo has heard, the coward is studying Abjuration to prevent that incident again.

=== Kamer ===
__FORCETOC__

[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Mark Kilandro

2026-02-12T23:44:29Z

MCAron:

[[Category:Player Characters]]
[[Category:Quelwmar Stories]]
[[Category:CR]]
{{Infobox_character|affilliation=19th Airborne Division|name={{PAGENAME}}|image=Private Mark Kilandro.png|caption=You need me to break into something. I got you|languages=Common, some giant|birthDate=31 CR|birthPlace=Leishport|species=Human|gender=Male|height=5'|field2=Airborne Rank|value2=Private}}

'''{{PAGENAME}} '''is a Mechanic assigned to the 19th Airborne Division in 50CR during the [[Realm War III|Third Realm War]].

== Physical Appearance ==
''Mark is very small for barely being an adult. Standing at 5' tall, he tends to shrink his stature to 4'9" or even 4'6" with how thin he is. He has black hair that is cut quite short (but not enough by standards) and is always covered in dust. He has pale skin and wears black gloves and clothing that is a size too big for him. He treads extremely light often keep his footsteps as small as possible to avoid tracking.''

== Personality ==
''Mark is a very relaxed individual, but that demeanor is often mistaken for unobservant. Rather he keeps a keen eye with everything around him, reading the demeanor of conversations to get a vibe how much danger he's in. Speaking in a small voice, he tries to avoid conversation, and will rarely explain himeself. When a crisis strikes however, he acts fast, cautiously, and with a straight face to keep his head in the game. done.''

== Equipment ==
''Whatever he has is basically bare minimum. Most of what he needs he just carries with him since it's really all he has.''

== Background ==
<blockquote>You want my past... okay it's not much. I... don't have much of a place to start. I'm from Leishport and a street kid. I bounced from home to home and orphanage to orphanage with no luck. This forced me into some crime, but I kept it minimal. I picked up lockpicking as a hobby that quickly became my survival tool. I broke into Whatever closed off place I could or offered it as a service for other people to get in. When I finally aged out, I lived in dark alleys and sketchy shops pretty much on a day to day basis. I finally saw an opportunity to get out when flyers about joining paratrooper showed up. I snagged one and somehow managed to get in. I'm either going to die a hero, or live long enough to be the bad guy. There is no in-between. </blockquote>
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Mark Kilandro

2026-02-12T23:36:30Z

MCAron: Pull page of Mark done

Mark Kilandro

2026-02-12T21:38:37Z

MCAron: Start of Mark's page

[[Category:Player Characters]]
[[Category:Quelwmar Stories]]
[[Category:CR]]
{{Infobox_character|affilliation=19th Airborne Division|name={{PAGENAME}}|image=Private Mark Kilandro.png|caption=The photo on Private Berkov's ID from the Lonwi General Hospital. They were a nurse.|languages=Common, East Hillian II|birthDate=18th of August, 21 CR|birthPlace=Sonsha, East Hills|species=Human|gender=Male|height=height|field2=Airborne Rank|value2=Private}}

'''{{PAGENAME}} '''is a Mechanic assigned to the 19th Airborne Division in 50CR during the [[Realm War III|Third Realm War]].

== Physical Appearance ==
''"Who I am and what my body can do is merely the fruits of my life. It may suit some. It may not suit others. It suits me."''

''-Private Berkov''
== Personality ==
''"At the end of the day, I work hard. Why would I not work hard? If I do not work hard, the work does not get done."''

''-Private Berkov''
== Equipment ==
''"My radio is one luxury I afford myself. I do not afford myself many luxuries. If I live a life free of luxuries, the luxuries become more luxurious."''

''-Private Berkov''
== History ==
'''CHILDHOOD AND EARLY LIFE'''

''"How could I call it home? The breadlines stretch for ungodly distances, and my family is always one wrong step from joining them. Yet, it is home."'' ''-Private Berkov''

'''YOUNG ADULTHOOD'''

''"As kind as I may be, when they look in my eyes, they see Death. I have become Death to them. When they die, seeing that...I die as well."'' ''-Private Berkov''

'''MID-ADULTHOOD/PRE-WAR'''

''"I was what they needed. They don't say that they look for broken men. But they look for broken men. And I am a broken man."''

''-Private Berkov''

[More description will come later when Amia is not sick.]
[[Category:Player Characters]]
{{Worldbuilders}}

File:Private Mark Kilandro.png

2026-02-12T21:35:59Z

MCAron:

Mark when he first joined the Paratroopers

Lardriira'xyra

2026-02-11T23:36:16Z

MCAron: Added new art of Xyra

[[Category:Curriculum of Chaos]]
{{Infobox_character|affilliation=Witherbloom|name=Lardriira'xyra|image=Second Year Lardriira'xyra.png|caption="Do I know what happens in the future? No, the question should be, what can I do to improve the future?"|relatives=Mother (Nonexistent), Father (Nonexistent), Brother (Nonexistent),|languages=Common, Elvish, Gnomish, Celestial|alias=Xyra, Iira, Riira|marital=Single|birthDate=703 BR|birthPlace=birthplace|species=High Elf|gender=Male|height=6'2"|weight=110 lbs|eyes=Medicinal green}}

'''{{PAGENAME}} '''is a high elf with a relentless amount of knowledge regarding Arcane and the natural world. He came here to fight one of the greatest mistakes of his past. One that took almost everything from him. <blockquote>The link to his playlist can be found [https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLg5Eh-TdrNM-G3bJQ0oxiBicNLc5E24s here!]</blockquote>NOTE: I am purposefully omitting details. More will be in as you interact with him more

== Description ==
Lardiira’xyra is really tall for a high elf. Standing at 6’2”, he carries a confident posture in the young years he’s in with serious but kind eyes. He has long thick black hair that goes past the shoulder with herbalist colored eyes and wears some long robes that cover everything but the hands. Only showing the wrist and a little bit of the forearm, you can see a few minor chemical burn scars on his left hand. He tends to keep his appearance minimal, but professional. He has also revealed to some that the scars run across the entire forearm instead of just the wrist, and they are covering something else up

== Personality ==
Lardiira’xyra is a reserved, but observant individual. He empathizes with those who struggle with the name, and offers either Xyra or Iira. He doesn’t care what you call him as long as it’s faithful to the original, and any titles he has are also included (I’m looking at you Cassi.) Being the tall elf he is, sometimes he will lower himself to make eye contact with those who are much shorter. Having been a tutor in the past, he’s patient with those who need help, and the door for help is always open. He speaks in a calm confident voice that has a curious confidence to it. He often challenges points of views to see if he has the correct one. He's terrified of his past given how much people he has given help to, and it's his duty to protect those in his care. He has a great fear of being unable to protect those in his care, and works tirelessly to make sure he stays on top of the stuff he does to ensure he is capable of it. He is slow to trust given how much he lost and lies will destroy anything you put in almost immediately

== History ==
The past has been very tight lipped for those who haven't earned his trust, only telling bits and pieces of it at a time. He finally spilled it to his closest friends out of promises, and a need to try and protect those from what he lost. He grew up with loving parents <Mother's name> being his mother and <Father's name>. He also had a brother named <Brother's Name>. His parents were alchemist's by trade, and he wanted to pursue and expand it into spellcasting. Being fully supported by his parents, he became obsessed with it. This curiosity lead him to getting recruited by <Cult name>. He accepted not knowing what would happen. Promised eternal life, he went fully into it. They needed his help creating a potion for a thing that would grant eternal life. He tried to get his parents involved, but they declined. They urged him to leave it, and the <Cult name> told him they were enemies. He attempted to play peacekeeper, but that backfired into him getting charmed to capture his parents. The cult was trying to raise a lich, so all of his immediate family were sacrificed as part of this process. For disobeying <Cult name>, something happened, and now he is stuck with a voice in his head. He continued to work for them by force, and he had hit a really low point. Stuck making the potions, all he could do was comply. He had been beaten down so bad, that he had lost many experiences from eating, friendships, and trying new things. One day, <shinies> where he was offered by an <shiny> a second chance. He accepted during the first semester and now serves the <shiny> fully. As a result <shiny> and follows a code to keep himself in line with the <shiny>.

=== The Code ===
<blockquote>
# Don'e lie or cheat. Let your word be your promise
# Don't fear to act but keep caution in mind
# Treat others with Fairness to set an example and do as much good while causing the least harm.
# Aid others, protect the innocent and weak, and punish those who threaten them. Mercy is to be given to foes tempered by wisdom
# Take responsibility for my actions and consequences, obey those who have just authority, and protect those under your care.
</blockquote>

== Relationships: Last Update- 2/4/26 ==

=== [[Astrid]] Berge ===
Astrid has a bitter relationship with Lardriira'xyra . She hates it when he gets vague because of her own past with nobles or speaks in languages she doesn't know, which isn't unfair, but she expects to learn of his past without earning his trust, which he like too well. That said, the relationship is otherwise civil since Lardriira'xyra wants to keep a good relationship with her partner, Grimmwood

=== [[Dorian]] Lisette ===

=== [[Cormack]] Seboxan ===
Cormack and Lardriira'xyra are coworkers at the Aerojaunt field, and it started okay. The craziness Cormack has means nothing to Lardriira'xyra since he's friends with Rio. Cormack has also been trying to get Xyra to live the full college experience including breaking rules and swearing, which didn't impress Xyra. The problem comes with lying. Lardriira'xyra hates lying in all forms. To him, it says you can't admit the truth or won't say you don't want to answer it. With the lie Cormack had openly admitted to lying to make himself look better, Lardriira'xyra lost all respect for him. Cormack doesn't know this yet, this distrust will last much longer than Cormack might like it to.

=== [[Grimmwood]] drifting by Jormungandr ===
Grimmwood is Lardriira'xyra's closest friend. The two have been friends since almost day one and has helped tremendously with putting the investigation together. Grimmwood also has seen Lardriira'xyra's worst moments. These include the Fire Jolt Cafe run, The Dining Hall run, and the Icy Bridge run. With each one of these incidents of possession, Grimmwood manages to talk fight the voice inside Lardriira'xyra's head to where Xyra can regain consciousness, albeit very winded. Xyra had also recognized Grimmwood's massive fear of abandonment, and made a pact to not leave for any reason if it's the last thing he'll do. The two have bonded immensely over this, and with Xyra having stabilized emotionally significantly with the breathing exercises he learned, he has been able to return the favor much more effectively than before. Grimmwood kinda made himself Xyra's friend, and refused to let go, but that gamble had paid off. Xyra wouldn't be where he is now without Grimmwood's help.

=== River "[[Rio]]" Saoirse ===

=== [[Urzmatok Grojsh]] ===
Urzmatok and Lardriira'xyra both have a heavy interest in the natural world and manipulating it. Being a student-mentor relationship, the two worked extremely effectively together within the Fantastical Horticulture Club. Right before December break, he was gifted a terrarium to grow more flowers in his dorm, which surprised him, but he was really happy about it. It never occurred to what he was feeling with how deep it had been buried. It wasn’t until Urzmatok poured his heart out to Xyra that he truly understood what he was actually feeling. This feeling of love finally came through, and he just melted into Urzmatok, something he hadn't felt in over 6 decades. The two have been dating since, and when Xyra listens to Urzmatok's past, a lot of mirrors of what he struggles with is also seen in Urzmatok.
[[Category:Player Characters]]

File:Second Year Lardriira'xyra.png

2026-02-10T14:00:58Z

MCAron:

Lardriira'xyra wearing goggles as he examines a potion while holding flowers

HARPY

2026-02-05T04:04:06Z

MCAron: Completed HARPY's first base for a page. More will come!

Unknown:8d81d89f-b2b6-4d3b-9bc0-a334c6a084f1//NDL-C-RAW-SEPTEMBER

NDL-C-SIGMA-CASCADE
Callsign: HARPY CALLSIGN AVAILABLE
Name (or legal alias): IDENTITY VERIFIED
Background: Unkown PH/HR DATA REGISTERED

Union Administrative RM-4 Pilot Identification Protocol (IDENT) Record 8d81d89f-b2b6-4d3b-9bc0-a334c6a084f1
Record 8d81d89f-b2b6-4d3b-9bc0-a334c6a084f1

'''{{PAGENAME}} '''is a Level 2 LANCER present in the campaign "[[In The Shadows of a Willow]]."

{{Infobox_character|name={{PAGENAME}}|image=HARPY.png|caption=HARPY's appearance|playerName=Sean|relatives=Unknown|affilliation=The SILVER LINING|birthDate=Unknown|birthPlace=Unknown|species=Unknown|gender=Male}}

== '''BIOGRAPHY''' ==
Working projects spark life in my eyes
[PILOT BIOGRAPHY]

== '''APPEARANCE AND DEMEANOR''' ==
Being strict for her sake is not the same as being kind to her.
[PILOT APPEARANCE AND DEMEANOR]

== '''SKILL AUDIT''' ==
I'm good at many things, mainly engineering

=== '''H.A.S.E AUDIT''' ===
Hull: 0

Agility: 0

Systems: 2

Engineering: 2

=== '''SKILL TRIGGERS''' ===
Hack or Fix +2

Invent or Create +4

Stay Cool +4

Word on the Street +2

=== '''PILOT TALENTS''' ===
Drone Commander I: Shepherd
Drone Commander II: Energized Swarm

Centaimine I: Ten Thousand Teeth

Centaimine II: Expose Weakness

Heavy Gunner I: Covering Fire

=== '''REGISTERED LICENSES''' ===
HORUS Hydra II

== '''MAJOR IDEAL''' ==
<blockquote>What is that?</blockquote>

=== '''MINOR IDEAL''' ===
<blockquote>What is that?</blockquote>

=== '''WHAT GIVES YOU YOUR POWERS?''' ===
<blockquote>I make drones with many functions</blockquote>

=== '''WHAT ARE YOUR NIGHTMARES?''' ===
<blockquote>What is that?</blockquote>

== '''PILOT GEAR''' ==
I just have this wherever I go.
'''ARMOR:''' Stealth Hardsuit

'''WEAPON 1''': Medium Signiture

'''WEAPON 2''': Small Signiture

'''GEAR 1''': Antiphoton Visor

'''GEAR 2''': Omnihook

'''GEAR 3''': Subjectivity-Enhancement Suite

== '''MECH HANGAR'''==
What I tend to operate. It works great, but it can always be improved

=== HORUS Hydra II - Drones overwhelming adversaries ===
HARPY's primary mech, and where all his inventions go to. There are many integrated parts in order to hold many drones and operate tools from within the mech. A drone is always out however in case a surprise attack happens

== '''CAMPAIGN SUMMARY''' ==
[[Category:Player Characters]]
[[Category:Astral]]
{{Worldbuilders}}
I guess I gotta remember things somewhere

[[Category:Player Characters]]

File:HARPY.png

2026-02-05T03:38:35Z

MCAron:

HARPY in their armor

File:Relaxedhimonilo.png

2026-02-04T19:54:25Z

MCAron:

Himo Nilo examining a set of tools

Lardriira'xyra

2026-02-04T16:20:32Z

MCAron: Added a little bit more to History and Personality, and added the Relationships for Astrid, Cormack, Grimmwood, and Urzmatok

[[Category:Curriculum of Chaos]]
{{Infobox_character|affilliation=Witherbloom|name=Lardriira'xyra|image=Casual Lardriira'xyra.jpg|caption="Do I know what happens in the future? No, the question should be, what can I do to improve the future?"|relatives=Mother (Nonexistent), Father (Nonexistent), Brother (Nonexistent),|languages=Common, Elvish, Gnomish, Celestial|alias=Xyra, Iira, Riira|marital=Single|birthDate=703 BR|birthPlace=birthplace|species=High Elf|gender=Male|height=6'2"|weight=110 lbs|eyes=Medicinal green}}

'''{{PAGENAME}} '''is a high elf with a relentless amount of knowledge regarding Arcane and the natural world. He came here to fight one of the greatest mistakes of his past. One that took almost everything from him. <blockquote>The link to his playlist can be found [https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLg5Eh-TdrNM-G3bJQ0oxiBicNLc5E24s here!]</blockquote>NOTE: I am purposefully omitting details. More will be in as you interact with him more

== Description ==
Lardiira’xyra is really tall for a high elf. Standing at 6’2”, he carries a confident posture in the young years he’s in with serious but kind eyes. He has long thick black hair that goes past the shoulder with herbalist colored eyes and wears some long robes that cover everything but the hands. Only showing the wrist and a little bit of the forearm, you can see a few minor chemical burn scars on his left hand. He tends to keep his appearance minimal, but professional. He has also revealed to some that the scars run across the entire forearm instead of just the wrist, and they are covering something else up

== Personality ==
Lardiira’xyra is a reserved, but observant individual. He empathizes with those who struggle with the name, and offers either Xyra or Iira. He doesn’t care what you call him as long as it’s faithful to the original, and any titles he has are also included (I’m looking at you Cassi.) Being the tall elf he is, sometimes he will lower himself to make eye contact with those who are much shorter. Having been a tutor in the past, he’s patient with those who need help, and the door for help is always open. He speaks in a calm confident voice that has a curious confidence to it. He often challenges points of views to see if he has the correct one. He's terrified of his past given how much people he has given help to, and it's his duty to protect those in his care. He has a great fear of being unable to protect those in his care, and works tirelessly to make sure he stays on top of the stuff he does to ensure he is capable of it. He is slow to trust given how much he lost and lies will destroy anything you put in almost immediately

== History ==
The past has been very tight lipped for those who haven't earned his trust, only telling bits and pieces of it at a time. He finally spilled it to his closest friends out of promises, and a need to try and protect those from what he lost. He grew up with loving parents <Mother's name> being his mother and <Father's name>. He also had a brother named <Brother's Name>. His parents were alchemist's by trade, and he wanted to pursue and expand it into spellcasting. Being fully supported by his parents, he became obsessed with it. This curiosity lead him to getting recruited by <Cult name>. He accepted not knowing what would happen. Promised eternal life, he went fully into it. They needed his help creating a potion for a thing that would grant eternal life. He tried to get his parents involved, but they declined. They urged him to leave it, and the <Cult name> told him they were enemies. He attempted to play peacekeeper, but that backfired into him getting charmed to capture his parents. The cult was trying to raise a lich, so all of his immediate family were sacrificed as part of this process. For disobeying <Cult name>, something happened, and now he is stuck with a voice in his head. He continued to work for them by force, and he had hit a really low point. Stuck making the potions, all he could do was comply. He had been beaten down so bad, that he had lost many experiences from eating, friendships, and trying new things. One day, <shinies> where he was offered by an <shiny> a second chance. He accepted during the first semester and now serves the <shiny> fully. As a result <shiny> and follows a code to keep himself in line with the <shiny>.

=== The Code ===
<blockquote>
# Don'e lie or cheat. Let your word be your promise
# Don't fear to act but keep caution in mind
# Treat others with Fairness to set an example and do as much good while causing the least harm.
# Aid others, protect the innocent and weak, and punish those who threaten them. Mercy is to be given to foes tempered by wisdom
# Take responsibility for my actions and consequences, obey those who have just authority, and protect those under your care.
</blockquote>

== Relationships: Last Update- 2/4/26 ==

=== [[Astrid]] Berge ===
Astrid has a bitter relationship with Lardriira'xyra . She hates it when he gets vague because of her own past with nobles or speaks in languages she doesn't know, which isn't unfair, but she expects to learn of his past without earning his trust, which he like too well. That said, the relationship is otherwise civil since Lardriira'xyra wants to keep a good relationship with her partner, Grimmwood

=== [[Dorian]] Lisette ===

=== [[Cormack]] Seboxan ===
Cormack and Lardriira'xyra are coworkers at the Aerojaunt field, and it started okay. The craziness Cormack has means nothing to Lardriira'xyra since he's friends with Rio. Cormack has also been trying to get Xyra to live the full college experience including breaking rules and swearing, which didn't impress Xyra. The problem comes with lying. Lardriira'xyra hates lying in all forms. To him, it says you can't admit the truth or won't say you don't want to answer it. With the lie Cormack had openly admitted to lying to make himself look better, Lardriira'xyra lost all respect for him. Cormack doesn't know this yet, this distrust will last much longer than Cormack might like it to.

=== [[Grimmwood]] drifting by Jormungandr ===
Grimmwood is Lardriira'xyra's closest friend. The two have been friends since almost day one and has helped tremendously with putting the investigation together. Grimmwood also has seen Lardriira'xyra's worst moments. These include the Fire Jolt Cafe run, The Dining Hall run, and the Icy Bridge run. With each one of these incidents of possession, Grimmwood manages to talk fight the voice inside Lardriira'xyra's head to where Xyra can regain consciousness, albeit very winded. Xyra had also recognized Grimmwood's massive fear of abandonment, and made a pact to not leave for any reason if it's the last thing he'll do. The two have bonded immensely over this, and with Xyra having stabilized emotionally significantly with the breathing exercises he learned, he has been able to return the favor much more effectively than before. Grimmwood kinda made himself Xyra's friend, and refused to let go, but that gamble had paid off. Xyra wouldn't be where he is now without Grimmwood's help.

=== River "[[Rio]]" Saoirse ===

=== [[Urzmatok Grojsh]] ===
Urzmatok and Lardriira'xyra both have a heavy interest in the natural world and manipulating it. Being a student-mentor relationship, the two worked extremely effectively together within the Fantastical Horticulture Club. Right before December break, he was gifted a terrarium to grow more flowers in his dorm, which surprised him, but he was really happy about it. It never occurred to what he was feeling with how deep it had been buried. It wasn’t until Urzmatok poured his heart out to Xyra that he truly understood what he was actually feeling. This feeling of love finally came through, and he just melted into Urzmatok, something he hadn't felt in over 6 decades. The two have been dating since, and when Xyra listens to Urzmatok's past, a lot of mirrors of what he struggles with is also seen in Urzmatok.
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Himo Nilo

2026-01-27T07:01:59Z

MCAron: Finished writing the Bedlam Session for 12/17/25

== '''Himo Nilo''' ==
{{Infobox character|name=Himo Nilo|image=Himo Nilo.png|caption="The right side of me should show what happens when you don't pay attention."|relatives=2 Parents, 3 Sisters|affilliation="The Chairman"|alias=Thai (Child name)|marital=Single|birthDate=37 PR|birthPlace=High Lunas|species=Elf (High)|height=4'10"|weight=94 lbs.}}

'''Himo''' is a High Elf Rogue/Artillerist that has experienced both the rich and poor side of [[Lunas]]. He wanted to visit the Arboretum to modify existing equipment he has, but he never really left until he heard from his contacts in the Arboretum that demon incursions were ramping up. Carrying only what he could quickly pack, he left for the Arboretum with his bag that contains only essentials. He has a habit of checking anything that might look "suspicious" but doesn't really know what might be suspicious.
== Description ==
Himo is a young elf shining with bronze skin with black freckles, Short copper hair that is decently trimmed and eyes that sparkle gold when they catch the light. you would find him like he was a gem in a mine because of the reflection he often carries. He doesn't seem to carry anything with him except maybe a small backpack over A rapier and dagger on his left hip and short sword on his right hip respectively, hang and some tools hanging off of his belt. He wears light reinforced leather armor with a somewhat heavy desert cloak that shines a little in the light. When you peer past the cloak however, you notice two very big change to him that he tries to hide as best as he can. The first one is he really only has half of his hair left. The right side of him looks like he has black char that curls up around the face and neck that has been there for quite some time. The second is he occasionally has no right arm. anything that might have been there is gone, and watching him, he sways a little bit to the left and right as if he can't seem to keep himself balanced. A new projects have shown up on his person. There was a rack where the shoulder would be is a semi circle with a hole cut out of the center, and an arc cut out inside the semi circle. It was only partially done, but it seems to have been scrapped. The second gadget that he has on him at all times, is a disc launcher that fires out coins. Both of these are woodworking projects with small mechanical parts to make them work.

== Manners ==
Himo has a nervous tick carried wherever he goes. If you asked, he would say something along the lines of in a deep graveled voice of not being too careful wherever he goes, but refuses to follow up on why. The eyes seem to look for particular things, but never what is around him. Arcane is of great interest for him, but explosives are not that far off the priority. Often times, random junk that no one has used for some time goes missing, but if you saw him with the junk and asked why, the lips tighten hard. He then usually keeps to himself the rest of the day or two unless it's to discuss plans for missions or logistics. His past is guarded more securely that a vault door with enhanced locks, but the impact of it can easily be seen if he has a PTSD episode. This usually logical, crafty, upbeat personality, snaps faster than a string on a trap, changing him to an aggressive, fearful, volatile person. His hand always seems close to his dagger like he is waiting for a fight to occur. It's hard to tell if you have earned his trust or whether he sees the alliance as one time. On missions of any kind, Himo will tend to find to get out of sight when possible of his teammates, but is always around when trouble strikes. With the death of two people he worked and interacted with, things changed.
<blockquote>"I guess I was wrong. Every slight, every lie, every betrayal. I knew it went nowhere, which is why I never did it myself. Trust however, I simply couldn't rebuild it. It was selfish, and I knew it, but betrayal honestly hit really hard. I especially was sure I couldn't after Lenore almost influenced my mind. The first person who showed me kindness without ever expecting a repay. Yet why do so many people hate the fact I only see one time alliances? Why does it matter to them if I hold up my end of the deal? What do they really want from me while working on these missions? I have everything to lose in trust with a huge benefit. I've gotten something wrong. My logic has a fallacy somewhere. I know that promise to talk about my past is still something Syl can call on at any moment. I will not hide any details, but I also don't want any sympathy. After all, my actions in part led me to the problem I have now. Trust is a scary concept for me. I have some deeply unsettling information when I went back to the temple with Avel.. What will happen when I finally spill the guts of what truly happened? Will I be killed, exiled, belittled?. I must have a heart somewhere, because Gloria told me how surprised she was that I gave a fuck about those who died. I need.... I need someone to talk to. Maybe I've held this in too long.. If I want to protect people, I can't let my distrust. I have to change if I want to be more effective. I don't mind if people still don't trust who I was, but I need to do this for myself. I have the intelligence, the dexterity, now with my fake arm, and the grit to push through failure. I'm missing the why. Why am I doing this? People expect me not to care, but I do. Why do I need to rebuild a sense of trust, and what do I am to do here in the Arboretum?"</blockquote>

== Background ==
Himo was born to a wealthy mage family in High Lunas. They expected him to follow that same tradition, and while he was interested in magic wasn't the most interesting thing to him as physical tasks. Still they made him either take lessons or leave this family. He negotiated to learn alchemy to understand the materials used in spellcasting.

He started to go to the Low Lunas in secret claiming private tutoring sessions when really he got into contact with the local criminal rings to learn skills from their side. He chose to learn lockpicking for his profession and was quite skilled at it. He also refined his careful hand movement to mimic letters. He balanced this double life of learning alchemy by day and learning to pick locks by night. When he went to Lower Lunas, he would bring stories of breaking into homes, taking specific materials and leaving without a trace. by the time they would try to track him down, he would be in the shadows trying to outlast the location spells used to find him. he often had to dump the stolen materials to prevent being caught. This went on for years. he wrote detailed notes about alchemy and his parents were thought he was being an obedient son. One night while learning complicated formulas to show to his parents, he was finally caught by the guards and he was sentenced to death. while in prison, he managed to convince the guards to give him 2 lodestones. He took those lodestones and mended the broken thieves tools that he was hiding in his clothing. This lock however was never supposed to be picked. It had been magically enhanced but he the night to make that happen. He picked the lock and sneaked out and into the Lower Lunas in 102 PR just as the sun was rising.

He excelled in picking locks as a freelancer. If the guild provided sanctuary based on how difficult the lock was, that locked was picked. He became infamous in rings because no lock was safe from him. Booby trapped to Arcane Lock, most locks were not safe from him. Only locks that were sophisticated with an Arcane Lock would he have a hard time picking and often failed at those, but those were few and far for High Lunas. In various guilds, he learned various weapons that he now always with him because he doesn't want to get into a scrap unarmed. He often had a habit of inspecting areas where people invited him never trusting anyone fully. His reputations grew so much that he found himself often travelling to other places to check out security systems. This took the pressure off of him because he could really inspect area he couldn't before. He learned to pickpocket, sneak around, scale buildings and practice his skills of picking locks. He tried to get an honest job in the town of Rwendia but his reputation followed him everywhere. He did odd jobs around places, pick locks here, mend broken stuff back together, and come along with other criminals to look out for traps. The people he often worked under were brutal. They would insult him behind his back, mess up him picking the locks, broke his stuff and moved him around often and lied to him where he was

He started for fun re-learning magic. Make graffiti with magic here, an odor there. This terrified the guilds because he was becoming what he swore he would never do and feared he would turn on him next. His mentor Jumad told him that no one will want someone unreliable if he chooses this path. He continued in spite of their disapproval and learned how to make a bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus. The only person he told this to was his best friend Kamer who supported him in getting new materials. One day while hiding out in the DwaleVale, he received a letter of a formal apology from his family asking him to come back. He eagerly accepted and made his way over. His contacts warned him they were up to no good and were looking for vengeance for bringing shame to the family name. When he got there they magically influenced him to open a complicated safe lock without checking the area. BOOOM!!! A massive explosion covered him from right to left, debris flying every where and scraping by on life. The family were stewing in their loss of the son when his eldest sister, Nylo gave the idea to blow him up in a public execution. That letter he found, was trapped to get him to come whether he wanted to or not. In the chaos, someone in his family had planted one more bomb to take him out. he survived, barely, but lost his right arm in the explosion. He lost everything; everything but his skills, his life and his resolve to fix this. At DAGR (Determined Assassins, Grifters, and Rogues) he received word that they needed people to fix broken things and make them better. he spent the next 6 months fighting for his life, and those 6 months were in a daze. He often found himself in a new place about every month. When finally had the strength to move comfortably, he took essentials and ran for his life in 134 PR, because no matter what he did his family was coming for him and he needed to defend himself.

== Languages ==
Himo knew elvish and common just from listening to his family, but he learned goblin when he would hang around goblins were trying to have a private conversation, not realizing Himo taught himself that from listening to them

== Character information ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |1 Rogue/5 Artificer
|-
|AC 16
|HP 39
|DC 14
|-
|Str 13
|Dex 18
|Con 13
|-
|Int 16
|Wis 10
|Cha 12
|}

=== '''Proficiencies''' ===
Himo is a man of many skills that involve getting around where he needs to in some way. He effectively shows he can get around super quietly, lift or plant things in someone's pocket, has great athletic abilities, and knows how to spot the difference between 2 identical objects. If asked about anything arcane, he has great knowledge of what it is, what the purpose is, and what the process of creating might have looked like. He also seems to have some tools on his belt. Specifically woodcarver's tools are always on his belt, but he has also shown a good deal of knowledge on making mechanical parts with tinker tools, making concoctions with alchemist supplies, and what he is most well known for; picking locks, and disabling traps

=== High elf Abilities ===
* Cantrip (Mending)
* Darkvision
* Elf Weapon Training
* Extra Language (Goblin)
* Fey Ancestry
* Keen Senses
* Trance

=== Rogue Features ===

* Expertise: Stealth, Thieves Tools
* Sneak attack (1d6)
* Thieves’ Cant

=== Artificer Abilities ===

* Infuse Item (bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus)
* Magical Tinkering
* Spellcasting
* Ritual Casting
* Eldritch Cannon
** Force Balista
** Flamethrower
** Protector
* Arcane Firearm

=== Feat: ===
Alert

== Himo's Story ==
<div style="text-align: center;">
=== New Place, New Identity, and a New Dream ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been roughly 8 months since I came here to the Arboretum and very little people know I am actually here. Kamer got me in contact with The Chairman when I got here and it has been hell being around all of these explosive materials. every big explosion sends me back a year when an attempt was made on my life. I trust absolutely NO ONE here because I have been looked down on because of a missing arm. Petty theft was the only way I survived. I was so busy about survival that I didn't realize that Raegina was hiring to make robots until The Chairman sent me a letter telling me '''[[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs|Raegina]]''' was looking for people to recruit for the Scrappers. I collected scraps from grand shoplifting, hid out for four months to wait out people looking for men, then I moved swiftly to the junkyard. My goal is to go back to High Lunas and exact revenge on my parents and sisters who left me in this state I am. I barely remember the explosion or the constant shifting of places because I was so out of it. The people here seem nice enough but I am just waiting for them to betray each other. When I got to the junkyard, I was appalled to see the size of these robots, and the amount of people that came was a little much for me.

When Raegina mocked many of us for having many broken and chipped off parts, I just rolled my eyes because I knew if there as anything she was trying to hide in a safe, I could find that safe without getting caught. In Low Lunas I was known as the Magic Pick because I couldn't be trapped, nor were most locks safe from me. I do need teammates however so I kept my moth shut and just listened. The amount of artificers that were there was astonishing. A tiefling had infused armor, and a goblin had a small automaton with them. But by far the most unique “living” thing saw was a doll that could think for itself. It turns out to test our skills, we would fight Grind, Smash and Cleave, 3 golems with interesting weapon choices. I got excited when I learned that we would be fighting the golems because that meant I could sneak out parts I needed for projects. One of said projects was increasing the throwing range of Thunder Rumble because I have to be relatively close to make good use of it. While fighting, one got destroyed, and it burst into flames. The heat sent me back to the explosion that back at High Lunas, where I almost lost my life. We dispatched the rest and Raegina was impressed enough to let us scrap the robots. So much for trying to do things discreetly... But I haven't really talked with people yet. After scrapping the robots, we split up into two teams. I got paired with [[Stix]] and Raazdrog which was fine. I can modify my parts and they add theirs, and I saw this as more of a fun project. After all, I like explosive confusion. But it's not like I could focus because I was so nervous with Grind blowing me to bits, I was accidentally disassembling Grind. I was trying to make the saw arm move more fluidly, and trying to add scraps of metal I had in my bag, but I fumbled hard there. It was so embarrassing, because everyone else manage to buff it in some way but not me. I wanted to leave so badly because of that, but I ended up staying in spite of it. I would be throwing away probably my only real opportunity to getting out of the slums like my family expected me to stay. To my surprise Raegina gave each of us 10 gp to bet on the improved robots as to who would win. This was huge to me! This was really the first time someone handed me something without expecting anything in return. I decided to risk all of that money and bet most of it on Grind, and then I had an Idea. I decided to rename Grind to Sparkburn, which Stix and Raazdrog liked a lot. Raazdrog and I got the idea to give Sparkburn a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." and I added "Feel the spark. Feel the burn." Now I really didn't care if we won or lost because I considered this a finished project. Out team ended up winning and I walked away with triple what I put into it. I was ecstatic not only because I won a bet, which I rarely take, but the funds could be used to get the tools I need for projects. That excitement was short-lived however because a horn coming from the Arboretum indicating it was under attack. I hopped on the war rig and we moved to the Arboretum.

Getting towards a entrance root of the Arboretum, a sudden crash hits the war rig and all of us go flying off of it. pieces of the damaged rig flew out and a large skeletal elephant collapsed next to the war rig. I wasn't paying attention because I was sketching my newest tool to assist me. I was thrown hard, losing my sketch to the winds and barely landed standing up, and my vision blacked out for a second. Metal was warping and bending in all the wrong ways and snaps echoed throughout the valley and then silence. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew this was an ambush. Footsteps on the dessert sand was coming from multiple directions, Sparks were flying off of the rig, The screeching of tires spinning out, shoe rubber flaking off the boots I put together with mending, and hearing many colleagues scrape against the dusty ground. When the dust cleared I saw green goo blobs moving towards us, and I heard something angry moving towards us. Pustuloids, Capra demons, and Lesser Rage demons were there. To give me some distance, I climbed the war rig, but as I was climbing, it felt like the floor was falling out from me and nearly fell off. Climbing up I saw roughly 10 Pustuloids, a few lesser rage demons, and a Capra. My team managed to keep hold of a choke point and so I threw my dagger at the Capra repeatedly, but I also noticed Sparkburn, covering our backside. This was great, because the Pustuloids exploded on death with Sparkburn unaffected. Raegina tells me to get off even though I just got on. I wanted to argue because I had a good position of the battle but whatever.You know that rig aint safe from me snagging a few pieces. The fight isn't going in our favor right now, because Raazdrog's steel defender, crashes to the ground in combat, unmoving by the Capra. While this fight is going on, I see a figure moving behind us, but it doesn't look like an ambush. It's a half elf holding a rapier and an instrument; most likely a bard. One by one however, the demons fell starting with the pustuloids. Leftover goo seeping into the ground before turning to ash. Two booms ring out as the lesser rage demons and the Capra are thrown back. Delaia, who has been soaking hits for us, takes the opportunity to get out after that which I don't blame. It didn't look like he was going to stand much longer to be honest. The spells seemed to come from the bard and Delaia, so we have another ally. Good because most of us are spent on resources. We kill all the demons and after a quick introduction, the bard's name is [[Leonard]], and she heard the commotion. She healed Deliaia a significant amount, and Deliaia looks ready to take on another fight. After moving this elephant which turned out to be an Olliphant off of the root, we prepared to charge up only for a wave of energy to come down upon us. There was no point to going up anymore... The Conservatory has been destroyed. There goes many projects that have been put on hold. It's not like I made progress on the parts I needed for Sizzle but still frustrating. Oh crap! More demons of the same types are coming down, and I should have seen this coming. We dispatch the ones that combated us, and the streets fall silent around us....

After the invasion ended, leaders were talking about uniting "not just to fight against the demons, but also to build alliances" or something like that. The thing is, I can only rely on one thing when partnership is formed: people are looking out for themselves. Unless someone can prove they are trustworthy, I will not be in a permanent alliance. That's how I survived Low Lunas; Ally with someone only until the necessity no longer remains. </blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Absent Memories ===
</div>
<blockquote>
A few days go by and Sir Anthony is holding a funeral for the lives lost, when I got approached by Jerbo, a gnome arcanist. He was hiring people to track down why the Kobolds attacked. I agreed but stressed, I needed some help. After getting a few others, and some quick introductions we made our way to Dapple, a satry who rents out horses. I put down the deposit and we made our way over. Oh I should mention who is here because I will be a narcissist otherwise. We have Mezzi who I have never seen take off their mask, Polvo a Air Genasi that had an encounter with death apparently, Diana a human who has a lizard like robot that follows her everywhere, Dallas a mouse I have never seen before but seems like a cool fellow, and Davin a halfling with a longbow, with a trophies on his person.

It takes a little more than two days to get there and along the way, we found a dog in a campsite that was left not long ago. I make an alarm in case people came back while I was within a mile, but I got no signal. When we get to the Osteomancer, their abode is in the ground with sand covering a trapdoor. I volunteer to go planning to be sneaky, but I forgot not everyone can see in the dark as well as I can, because Mezzi lit a torch when we all got down. When we met the Osteomancer, I can only describe what is a elephant person like three feet taller than me with big elephant ears, an elephant trunk and overall a build that could lift more than me with two arms. We were trading a favor for a favor. The Osteomancer's favor was removing a tower that was made of Absence which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I can go along with it. Apparently, when creatures are near said tower, they lose their Identities. Davin beat to the question of how are we going to protect ourselves, so that was nice. I was given a scroll and a black egg to crush when I start to read the scroll that should seal this wound. Another detail that was mentioned was the structure could only be seen through reflections.

We get to the tower, it looked like someone lived inside a crazy home. The outside can't be seen, but when you go inside, it is a ghost white. there was also a spot of complete silence, so I move myself there, crushethe egg and begin reading the scroll. A ghost that looks like he owns the place along with lights that surround us entirely. I placed down, my cannon to give me some cover while the rest of the group combat the lights. I watched my colleagues lose their ability to speak coherently while fighting them. I was blessed with something, but I couldn't tell you what it as but it seems to help me fight this ghost who was trying to make me vanish. As the fight moves on, less lights were attacking, but I can't tell you why. After nearly completing it, I was tired of the things attacking and unleash an ear piercing ring out towards the ghost, along with the nearby lights, which injure the lights a lot more than anticipated. I finish reading, and the entire place began to collapse around us. Which is unfortunate, because I wanted to get parts I need for project. I have to will myself out with Mezzi's help, but luckily everyone got out.

When we get back to the Osteomancer, we learn that when kobolds want to get rid of the Divine Blood law, they make deals with other creatures; in this case demons. This group was led by Snizz the Fortunate, but that group was dead when other people killed the kobolds. It ended with a warning "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free." Confused, I said nothing and headed back for the horses that have been tied up. We went to check up on the dog, and it's still there and there is no sign of return, so we left for the Arboretum. This information is given to Jerbo, but I am still suspicious of hat will happen if someone does make a deal with a devil.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Sinking the Filth and My Feelings ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a week since I saw that tower of that "absence" and I am ready to finish what I started or go to the Omnichapel for advice on Vela. I know, I get distracted easily, but I cannot for any reason leave a stone unturned for any reason in case it comes to bite me back later. I left Lunas on some pretty bad terms, both with my family for obvious reasons, but also the Thieve's guilds with relearning the one thing I swore off of. That mistake of saying I will not learn more things about a specific topic was so far my worst one yet. Anyone could come for me for any reason, and I need to be ready for when I get jumped. Today luckily is not one of those days, because a new job offering has appeared who's handwriting is more crude than a thieve's messy handwriting. Baftzmyr as I later found out put up the sign about a giant demon stuck in the sand, and it needed to be killed. Cool, I can just fire with my cannon and it will eventually die if it can't get out. When I get there, I see some new faces, but also a handful of familiar ones. Stix and Razzdrog are here, but among the new ones we have Steady Dee, a tabaxi who wears some unusually heavy armor comparatively that have some runes on it that appear to be of a giant origin, but I guess whatever floats your boat. Koro, an Air Genasi that wears some monk robes, who can't seem to make up his mind when it comes to allegiances, and Ozmir, a tiefling that has powers I have never seen before, but curious as to how they will work. Baftzmyr explains that scout demons have been circling around looking around for a way to get out the great demon. The plan was simple; locate the scouts, follow them, and kill the great demon. Now that follows, but it's under the sand. What is Baftzmyr's plan to expose the demon? I don't know. All I know is I can sneak up on it, and rain cannon fire down where it can't see me. Ozmir who can apparently track creatures really well, starts following a set made not long ago. Along the path, a heatwave catches me completely off guard, and I feel more sluggish than before. Great, now I won't be able to hide nearly as easy I have before, but I am with a group. We get right on top the scout and it pops out ready to attack. It would have died in two hits, if Sparkburn didn't have a weapon infused with fire. Wait! I forgot to mention Sparkburn is with us! Gobbo, I will find you later and confront you for remaining silent. It didn't matter however, because melee attacks are still effective. After that one dies, Stix along with a few others spot three more running from away, and we continue to follow. After a few more hours of travel, we come across some quicksand that is quaking. Quicksand isn't supposed to do that on a large scale; this is where the great demon is. Baftzmyr pulls what appears to be an origami pig that is coated in a layer of wax. It looks like the pig was boiled alive, but I am not one to judge. Stix volunteers to carry to bomb, and all I can say to that is... Ok never mind. This doll, husk? I don't know what it's made of, but regardless, the bomb is carried to it's destination. More importantly however, Stix makes it out unscathed. Maybe Stix has a ratio of strength similar to that of an ant. Ants proportionally can carry more weight to their body mass. Koro and I peek over, and WHAT IS THIS FOR A DEMON!? A cage for a face with a flame inside of it and some kind of disc neck to keep the sand out of the face or something. We give out teammates that knowing look, and the rest of the team gets to work. Raazdrog and MK-2 setup an anti flank position for us on the right as well as making the demon glittery. Steady Dee also sets up an anti flank position for us on the right side as well as growing to giant. With this enlarged form Steady throws a handaxe that lands square in the "face" of the great demon but not as effective as it should have hit . Stix is firing blasts of green energy which makes me think a deal was involved for this power. Koro using the bow pierces the demon with the same problem as Steady, and I am throwing a dagger, firing a cannon, and backing up, because I have no interest in falling in the quicksand and next to this abomination. That caused a different problem however which was I opened the line for more of the scouts to come attack Koro and Ozmir. I planned to fix this by booming them back into it, but that will backfire spectacularly when Koro kills one of the scouts, and stayed within the line of fire. It was also a good thing that I moved out, because the sand started moving out from everyone's feet who were close to the edge. Steady and MK-2 fell in and hell broke loose, literally. I didn't see what happened but the next thing I know, Koro willingly jumps into the pit and now Steady is floating in the air about 20ft. Why that is happening, I couldn't tell you, but Steady was bleeding out and needed help soon. Baftzmyr uttered some word and Steady is conscious again. I go to help Ozmir, because currently 3 scouts are surrounding her, which aint cool. I drive my dagger into a scout's death, and the sand is still moving out from under us, but I can keep myself steady. Raazdrog on the other hand wasn't so lucky and also managed to fall in next to the demon. Things are going fine right now. The great demon is getting whacked by are melee fighters and the people up here in the sand are holding off the scouts just fine. Oh no. My worst fear has come true; this demon will explode on death. I am not going to be around that. I can stabilize those who take the brunt of the explosion. At least, that was my original plan if Koro didn't fall to the giant claws of this demon. I am not ready to lose a colleague here, so I jump down, run to Koro, heal him just enough to get him conscious again and prep for another round of attacks against this creature. Maybe it was better however that I couldn't keep myself steady this time and I was buried in the sand. Not wanting to be stuck in here, I used my last spell to blast out, but that didn't work. Later I learned that I had injured Koro, and Steady who were both super hurt by it, but the worst part was I didn't even get out with that. I got burned, but not by much comparatively to other people who got the full brunt. Stix stabilized Koro, and Raazdrog healed Steady and then Koro. It honestly surprised me that everyone made it out alive. We got our gold, and I moved on because I don't know how much I can trust the Scrappers when working with a Fiend. Working with criminals is bad enough, but trying to work with a creature from the underworld seems like a death sentence.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Old Technology, and Fights ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a few days since hunting the Baron of Filth or whatever in the Nine Hells this creature is, and I finished the sketching for my tool arm. I don't have a name for it, but I know the name will come at the end when I finish the project. I should really get some paper however, because each time I sketch it, it's in the sand. I lose it very easily, and often times restart like some mime performing the same trick. I was ready to go buy the materials when I am stopped by Gnash, a half orc who means business. If I had a counterpart, it would be her. Why? because the entire left side of her face is char black. Besides that she needs people to track down some missing people. They have been gone 2 days and she hates mystery. Some other people that get recruited were Leonard, Mezzi, The Scarlet Shadow, Raazdrog, and Avel. I think it's worth mentioning that we have 3 musically inclined, which I don't I have ever been apart of. We are told to look for a carcass of a long dead giant worm, and the distant mountain Tol'Viral on are way to Drywater. Jerbo reads off a scroll and we turn to mist, and boy can we MOVE! With this enhanced movement, met up with Kaleen, a desert vulpine druid who knew of our mission. We got two scrolls. I recognize these and as '''Animal Messenger''' and '''Locate object''' spells. If anything goes wrong we are told to give movement on where they are headed and in how long.. The '''Locate Object''' however is to find a silver bullet the group left behind.. Seems odd, but hey maybe they do that elsewhere to mark where they were. We don't need either however, because Scarlet knows this place like the back of his hand. Apparently the blue dragonborn, and the thri-kreen hate each other enough to capture, but not kill him, which I find very funny. Anyways, he finds tracks of about a dozen thri-kreen. Following them, they reduce to about 4 tracks that were left behind, and end abruptly. Still Scarlet picks up where they began again and we continue to follow. We are moving with the wind while following the tracks, so it was very easy to actually catch up to the thri-kreen Scarlet was following. When I get the chance to look at them, and it looks likes an ant that grew a spine, a brain along with gaining lots of lower insect strength. The color of the shell also seems to be blending in better with the surrounding enviorment, which I wish I could get my hands on that. We transformed into ourselves again, and decided instead of attacking, to talk to them since they might have some useful information regarding the people we are trying to find. I was confused about the execution, until I learned Scarlet could actually communicate with them. Upon seeing us, the group shows off their mandibles, and claws. Scarlet attempts to parley with the clutch but to no avail, since he could speak the language of clack clickers. Before you judge me, that's what I heard. As we got closer, they became blurry and hard to track their position. I recognize this as a '''Blur''' spell. I am about to make them shiny when Raazdrog beats me to that idea. Only one of them got affected however, but there is one idea I have. Some spells you can't put together because you have to think about the actual spell. '''Blur''' happens to be one of those spells, so I plan to attack in a flank or hit them with spells, they have to resist. I summon the cannon, and get to work. They start by swarming Raazdrog, but since only a few attacks hit, they turned the attention to me. They also don't get many hits in, but one did strike me good. A 6 on 4 however doesn't end well for them, and that part of the clutch falls one by one to us swarming them. We leave the corpses behind and continue on our journey to finding the people who went missing. I was honestly expecting more of a fight with how many tracks we say, but hey I'll save some of my resources for later. We get to a dune structure with a very small tunnel with 2 Federation members dead. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a fight broke out here about a day ago, There is a tunnel about 5ft wide, so it's time for a single file line. I go first, after my cannon, so that less people will be affected by any traps that may come. Well dam right I was because my cannon snapped a tripwire leading to a bunch of some decent size rocks they could fit in the ceiling tumble out. I get out of the way get fine, but I couldn't move my cannon, and it get's dented pretty badly from the trap set. Lesson learned; check for traps in a small area like this. I just realized my experience from Low Lunas has been lacking faster than what happened the last time I was in High Lunas. I start examining the area up ahead, and would you look at that; another trap.. It takes me less than 10 seconds to permanently disable the trap however, so no issues there. Continuing to check for traps, I find no more, and I see a room, probably about 40 feet by 30 feet, and there is a decent amount of light in here that seems to be pretty bright. When we get to the maw of this room, I can just barely see to left some kind of rig, but oh come on. Really? A weapon pointed in my face with 2 people standing a few feet away from the arch. From the little I can see, this appears temporary, but I first need to talk to these people.. I told them that we are here to find you. We were sent by Gnash, and got here with the help of Jerbo. Why there are 2 dead Federation members outside this cave, I have a better idea now. AVEL WHY!? I might have been going somewhere with the conversation, but then you decide to teleport behind them and attack? Fine, Seeing this I spring into action, and start to attack the person who drew their weapon at me. Rude, but fine a fight you want? A fight you will get. I blast the cannon into the shin of the guy, and take that opportunity to throw my dagger into his skull, which works out great because that is one less person we have to deal with. Raazdrog, Mk-2, and Scarlet move into the room and attack some of the nearby henchmen. that happen to be near the doorway so less occupancy there. Avel takes this opportunity to corner the leader in a one on one duel. Unhappy with me dropping her main bodyguard, she leaves the duel with Avel, and decides to attack me instead, with a reach weapon. Dammit, my cannon was in the way, but that didn't matter for this dumb weapon. The lightning and fire hurts pretty bad, but I am still here... Then the dork leaves me alone to go get into a 3v1. I think something is being plotted, because they moved away from me, almost like something had a higher priority. Leonard seeing me greatly injured me heals my immediate wounds, which is nice, because I want to help my teamates, but I can't do that with almost being taken out of the fight. There is 3 other henchmen here, so I direct my cannon to fire at one who was next to Avel as I stick my knife into their side for a well thrown shot.. Mezzi managed to released a held spell, after Avel forced the enemy into Mezzi's line of sight. It didn't have any effect, but the more people closer to the leader, the better.. The leader in a desperate move, went to the rig, and pushed a few buttons, and got ready to run., getting slashed, by Raazdrog Mk-2, Scarlet, and Avel.. I now realize what this is; an infernal enhancement. NOW I WANT THAT! this would speed up my projects by who know how long, and I would earn a lot of favor from Raegina.. This person clearly has connections to the Scrappers, which now irritates me, because we are fighting within our own group, but I know I don't have the tongue to get everyone to stop fighting. We managed to get the Tiefling leader to start running, but by that point, the fight was over. I used this opportunity to try and disable this infernal enhancement, but to no avail. It starts burning me... This rig can't be disabled, from a self destruction button, but I have to keep going. I'm getting burned and then I see it; I can get out, where I couldn't before. I will not give up my own life to figure this out. This is my choice now, not some magic that was used on me. I run out with the rest of the group to hear a big explosion ring out. I managed to get some materials out from the rig, but it's now useless... I spend some time with this tiefling who's name is Velza. Apparently her and Raegina have been locking horns because this rig should have come back to the junkyard, There was incursions here that the local tribe could use help with that rig that is now gone. The solution was spiteful and honestly stupid, and as much as I would have loved to get her off the hook, I want to be able to use these tools for good, not just because of a word of law.. I'm not sure how much longer I will be with the Scrappers because of this incident... If all Raegina cares about is this problem of demons within Pteris no matter the cost, desperation will make people do some insane things all trying to better the future for themselves/children with the destruction left behind.The end NEVER EVER for any reason, justifies the means.</blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Logic Lacking and Large Lies ===
</div>
<blockquote>Oh Where do I begin with this incident that I am still beating myself in the head over? I guess I will start with the fact that some Yuan-ti runs into town screaming about someone has stolen all of her textiles and they are very expensive. I put my guard up, because I don't trust people who make a big show like that, but I don't see any odd behavior. Some other people that notice the commotion are Deliah, a teifling with some well enhanced armor, Leonard a half elf, who was first and last person to surprise me with someone else coming, Ozmir and Stix making a return from that nasty Baron, Ozmir is also a teifling, with some unique psionic blades, which looks really cool, and Stix is the doll that roams the Arboretum. I recently learned Stix has a "friend" that speaks to them, which is kind of unsettling, I am now wondering who is puppeteering this doll, when it's likely a god.. The last person I did not mention was Ollie, a ranger who has a pet frog.. The Yuan-ti's name is Sandra Sanderson, and she needed help recovering textiles that were expensive. They were stolen by a bunch of gnolls, but the problem I find with that story is A:gnolls don't do that, B: few gnolls are careful with what they steal. Just look at the goods they have after death, and C: Gnolls are not known for attacking in huge groups. I can't saying anything without sounding paranoid, so I go along with this idea.. We get to the circus tent that these textiles were stolen from, and here is the first of many mistakes I made. I made so many in fact for being a skeptic, that it makes my lack of checking in High Lunas look safer. I did not check any signs of damage for anything really. I just saw the creatures, baited one over, and a fight ensued. There was a bunch of hyenas, two giant hyenas, and a gnoll warrior. Stix got injured repeatedly from after it was a great idea to fireball the three big targets. Deliah got in the way of the big hyenas and just ate the minimal damage they dealt. Ozmir notices with the fact these were made by a conjuration spell, but we kept on fighting, because they didn't stop. All of them disappeared except for the warrior. Me and Ozmir start looking around, and we do find the secret stash of goods, and here is my second and third big mistakes. I forgot to examine the tracks leading to it, and I forgot to see based on the dust how long it might have been there, and how far away it was from the actual circus tent. We give the textiles, and she gives us clothing based on the surface thoughts we have, and then I receive a message telepathically from Ozmir stating that Sandra is definitely hiding something.. Stix decides to become Sandra's assistant for the day, but I want to grab Stix, and leave. Still I listened to Ozmir, and did nothing. Me and Leonard doubled back and went to hide in that stash where we find the textiles. At night we see 2 lizard folk and another yuan-ti quickly packing up the tent so quickly something is off. STIX! Now Stix is kidnapped, and the circus is gone. Final mistake I made here: We could have tried to follow the damn caravan, but we were too angry to do anything.. We make our way back, and it turns out it was WAY worse than either of us initially thought. Jitcwal and Cilvdzwucta were also kidnapped, and the explosives used have been destroyed. The worst part is there was, I didn't use any logic. I can't read people better than others, but I am good with puzzles and evidence. I bet if I noticed the condition of the terrain, My alert level would have been a lot higher. SANDRA SANDERSON: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You will not make a fool of me again... </blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">
=== Swallowing and Regurgitating the Facts ===
</div><blockquote>This whole thing of three people being captured and me not being to do anything about it killing me. I gave everything I could to Koro, and Gobbo, but it's still destroying me from the inside. I decided to go see if there was some work I could do to take my anger out on. Working with the scrappers didn't seem like a great idea, because I do not want to get into any more infighting. I don't like the idea in working with the Federation, but I had to pull a favor to get the information I wanted, so it's going to happen someday. I luckily found a job being offered by Lord Pavan to go check on the livestock. That sounds like a Shepherd thing, but beggars, can't be choosers. I would much making good use out of my cannon, than tinkering all day honestly. Maybe it could help me figure out how to make my spells stronger. (It did not.) My only main concern with this is I am working with new folk entirely. There's Rhogar and Syl, who I have interacted with, but it has been.... volatile to say the least. Other people that I have met for the first time are Silgr, a mountain dwarf with similar runes to Rhogars, Mizuka, a desert vulpine bard, but I am not sure which college she attended. To finish this group off, he have Voscaera, a A fighter with incomplete runes of Rhogar's and Silgr's, but she has artificer capabilities instead. I would later find out Voscaera is a Madaer, which is a person of Medusa ancestry. A little unsettling, but there was no bad blood between us. I decided to rent a horse from Dapple, because I heard it was going to be a long haul. I don't mind, but some help would be nice. My only concern I had with this gamble is I need the gold for components. Anyways he head out to check on some livestock, that I now realize could be anything.... Two days later on our travel however, we meet someone by the name of Saltique Petra. She starts reading off a bunch of names, all of which happen to be us. She tells us it's about another week, so I decided to ask for my own curiosity what kind of livestock is being kept. After a few guesses, the answer is kept ominous, so I give up on prying. Low Lunas taught me not to pry when not given on the first go. On day three of travelling we get a nasty dust storm that rolls in. I can barely see in front of me, but I managed to keep the horse calm, so I ended up with the group after it passed. This delayed it by a day, making it 8 days. It would become 9 days after a flash flood came 3 days later. I ended up losing control of the horse, and it sped off. I did my best to keep up, but I had gotten really exhausted from trying to constantly keep my footing. When I wake up the next day, any exhaustion I may have is gone, but I am alone in this harsh desert. With the extra time I have, I set up a fire, but I don't abandon it. When trying to get found, it's best to stay put. It's not like I have a direction to go find the horses, so I am sadly going to lose the deposit. Dammit. After waiting for a few hours, a group of about 6 people cross my vision. Well I'm pretty sure it's the group, but the moment I get a good look at all them, they;re fine. Oddly, Rhogar also lost his horse, so there goes like 100gp+ right there. We debated for a minute to go look for the horses, but I pointed out that we could give the demons more time to transform into other creatures. The rest of the travel will have to be on foot, but at least we only have one more day. On the final day, Saltique explains that we are first collecting some magical fruit to lure the livestock. That's easy enough for me to get and not get ambushed.. When we get there, we split up a little bit to go get as much plants as possible. Syl and I use '''Detect Magic''' to make it easier to get the plants. I manged to get my hands on Anserke, a spiny cactus that allows when made into a potion to improve our constitution for a bit. Okay well I'm not surprised a ambush is happening, but come on. This is a great spot for it. I look up to see a giant spider has jumped Syl, so I pull out the woodcarver's tools, and bring out the cannon to fire at this spider. The spider gets a bite into Syl, but that thing is a fool. Syl is a yuan-ti, so I am willing to bet he has some poison resistance. An ear piercing ring comes out to my left as Mizuka casts something above my level, but it seems to be effective, because There is screeching of another spider. Now how many of these jerks are here, and why have they not been taken care of before this? There ended being 3 other giant spiders lurking. Most of the deaths came from Rhogar just cutting through with his greataxe, along with him getting like 3 times my height. I did manage to get one satisfying kill in a one-two combo to destroy it beyond saving.. I had nothing to gain from getting a rest, but Syl could use it after getting bit multiple times. Rhogar also got injured a good amount, but it seemed Mizuka, Silgr, and Voscaera didn't get injured at all. This never lost my concentration, I go back to harvesting more plants. I manage to get another anserke, which was a little disappointing but not the end of it. I hand over the plants I got, and I was pretty impressed by our pile. Saltique mentioned it might even be enough to get the adult ones out. We head over to another area that is honestly a choke point I'm not too comfortable being in. After an hour...nothing. Then there is tiny amounts of movement underneath our bait. Saltique shakes her head which makes me concerned about how big these 'livestock' are. A huge wave of dust that comes through to my left that I was not expecting. When it settles, there is a WOIM! I'm separated because I'm not about to get clumped in a dangerous spot. Then directly ahead of me about 130ish feet away there is another wave of dust. Underneath that dust lies another woim eating these magical plants. I then see my colleagues coming down off the plateaus for an odd reason until I see three demonic things with mouths in the chest, and three husks following this woim. Perfect. one spell used later, and my cannon makes a return. Analyzing this like the nerd I am, the woims won't attack us, unless we have magic on us. That's like all of us, but the people that have a bigger issue are Rhogar and Silgr These demons has a rhino horn with a mouth next to the abdomen. the hands are long claws with a longsword, and the toes are webbed with sharp 'talons.' I got busy dealing with these abominations from a flank position while the rest of the team got in the fray.. Out main goal is this: Kill the demons before the woims eat them. Easier said than done however, since we our own member are also in danger. Slowly but surely however, these creatures fell one by one. Rhogar had gotten swallowed, but he forced the woim to regurgitate before it became a problem. Same thing happened with Silgr unsurprisingly. We got a nasty surprise when we took down a husk. A jellyfish had exited the body. So we are really dealing 9 creatures, but those need to go first. If not we could get a possessed woim which isn't great. we got rid oftwo mouth abdomen demons, and AN ADULT WOIM showed up! It nearly destroyed my cannon. It ate one of the other woim and just left leaving a massive hole. The other woim starting burrowing with a demon stuck in it, so that's not good, but there is one last jellyfish demon to take down.. It went deep into the hole. With some quick thinking seeing Rhogar down there, I use my last spell to make a burst of blue. And would you LOOK AT THAT. that jellyfish is here. Rhogar used this opportunity to smash it into the ground killing it instantly. I saw the death because the light faded on its death. Rhogar wasn't happy with Saltique's lie by omission, but I ignored that, because I needed to fix my cannon. We got paid a good amount of gold, and we left. Those husks were sadly other Shepherd members which is just lovely. As we headed back, a thought crossed my mind. Is there one grand demon orchestrating, or three? </blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Bad Favors and Better Bargains ===
</div><blockquote>I knew this day was coming soon. There was supposed to be a group heading out soon, but one of them had to drop. My contact called me in and said he was calling in his favor, so I know I get to go work for the Federation.. We meet up with two Thri-kreen that appear to be twins. They aren't part of the clutch I fought earlier, but their speech was unsettling, as they would talk over one another in perfect sync. All that aside however, we were told that some dust storm had made a return from the initial invasion again. The only thing that seems to know where it is a crow by the name of Moxy. They asked us to take good care of Moxy, which I can do for 3 days’ travel, and to keep this information private. There is a leak somewhere, and no one is supposed to know there is one. Great. Another piece of information kept behind closed doors that will cause more tension.. I swear this is going to be the downfall of this place. Anyways we start following the bird along to get to where we need to. Avel decides to let Moxy onto his shoulders when it needs a rest. On the third day, we find a few birds circling a few areas. Birds often circle points of interest, and then I hear just ever so faintly some rumbling underneath us. With Avel's help, I am now invisible and decide to scout ahead. I scuff my footing really badly, and I'm pretty sure I caught its attention. Oh I guess I forgot to mention other people here. People I have worked with in the past have made a return except for one person. Draz, Avel, and Leonard made a return from our last time together investigating the mysterious disappearance, and Ozmir is also here from our last time together from dealing with Shady Shabby. No they don't derserve an honorable title. They were paid to kidnap people by the Filth Jerk's counterpart. It was nice having another person who I can communicate without saying a word to in case social interactions fail miserably. The only person I haven't worked with before is Grymos, a Duergar artificer with his own robot friend like Razzadrog.. I'm not surprised he's shorter than me, but it's still a first to work with someone smaller than me. Anyways, the birds scatter off, and all we are left with our own thoughts and this rumbling. We decide to have Grymos' bot go in first, and then the thing went offline apparently. From the previous experience those who were from this were cursed, so Avel helped us get entirely covered up from this sandstorm. Since I am still invisible I decide to scout to figure out what is going on. The slope became EXTREMELY steep, but I managed to ground myself, and avoid tumbling or making huge amounts of noise. The sheer force of this wind is hurting however as I continue to step through, so I would like to get back as soon as possible. I can barely see anything right in front of me, so I am pretty much walking blind. I eventually come upon a rough sculpture of sandstone. tracing my hands along this stone, it is so old, it's probably been here since Prehistory. I am about to return when I notice my invisibility drops. I guess they got tired of waiting, which is fair enough, because it's a long way down. We're talking a quarter mile of walking to get here. I notice however only two other people show up, which is a little worrying, but I’m sure the others are fine. I summon the cannon, and we move up the stairs to whatever this place might be. going up the steps of this structure, some creature is waiting for us, and hell breaks loose. Avel gets injured pretty badly, so he just teleports the same way I saw him do earlier. Grymos just moves in, because he's not dealing with it which is fine. I do manage to take my dagger and drag it through the wind as my cannon fires into it. It did a good chunk of damage, but it's still kicking just fine. And then I see it run. I take a quick strike opportunity and look over, to see Leonard is here along with Razzadrog. It does come back down however, and flings me into this place, and the magic here just feels right. I'll have to figure that out in a second, but there are more pressing matters. My cannon fires the creature and it can't get into this place, so I'm safe in here. I turn my attention to the two other people in here who are both hobgoblins. Avel asks them what is going on, and they imply that they are the ones causing it. I tried to reason with them that a fight wasn't necessary, but to no avail.. One of them says in goblin about Bonnet not keeping them at bay, which raises several alarm bells for me. Who is this Bonnet? What is the significance of this room, and what were they trying to cover up in here if anything? the two hobgoblins immediately turn into some demonic vulture. Now an aerial battle is in play here which isn't too big of a worry for me, but maybe not for others. These jerks are also closing their wounds relatively fast, so a heal off it is. A 5 on 2 however is not going in their favor, so we just need to keep chipping them away. Avel managed with '''Mirror Image''' up to not get hit a single time which I thought was honestly really cool. Unfortunately, my cannon got demolished, so I had to create another one to keep up with my help. With everyone piling in together, both of these demon hybrids or whatever they are fall dead. It's funny because they tried to run, but when you're surrounded like they were, you are going to get hurt badly.. Oh what is a new voice doing here? You're irritated about us ruining your plan? You can shove that comment out, because I don't care. You have been hurting others, and I'm not having it. I question this tall figure a little bit, and they reveal they are Bonnet. Bonnet turns to leave after finishing his monologue, and I attempt one more cannon shot at him, just to rub in my hatred for him. He then calls me by name threatening to kill all of us, but if he's really going to do that, don't mention your plans or whatever.. I begin the process of a ritual cast of '''Detect Magic''', while the others start examining this temple. The air creature left seeing it was in danger if it stuck around, which I didn't care for too much.. When I finish my casting, everything all of a sudden registers as all of the schools this world knows. Leylines are a funny thing, because they make the spells possible. These lines converge at certain points known as Nexuses, and here is where the fabric of reality can much more easily be warped. It hurts to honestly keep it up, so after gathering all I could, I let go of the spell.. The other people started investigating the murals on the monoliths in this room, and they were depicting an ancient lizard race that existed well before any of our time.. There was also some pteran writing scrawled along the base of the altar in here, so I got a copy of it, and have left it alone for now. On each of the four pillars there was a direction and some symbols depicting various things. The order goes as follows: North: is Mother, South is War, East is Nature, and West is: Logic. Avel and I agreed to come check this place in our free time, so that we could better understand what is going on.. I give all the information I could privately to the twins, and they tell me that the Shend are where the Hobgoblins came from. That is certainly some questions for Rhogar at another time. Now I am really confident we aren't fighting just one foe, but a few of them. A bigger problem came to mind however. The Altar had the tree the Arboretum is currently, before some blight gets rid of the leaves.. Could they use this to attack us from far away if discovered</blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== New Tools and Enemies Laid Out in the Bones ===
</div>
<blockquote>What? No way I am hearing this right. Apparently the Osteomancer had reached out mentioning something about infernal weapons. I can't get my hopes up yet because this is likely going to be a challenge. I didn't plan on going, but after learning there wasn't many going in the first place, I decided to clear finish up my odd jobs so that I can be apart of this. I meetup with the others who are thankfully people I have worked with in the past. Mezz and Polvo also worked for the Osteomancer with me. Raazdrog, and Leonard had also shown up from when I worked for the Federation. We go to the Osteomancer's 'place,' and here the details are spilled. Swikedom, a kingdom infamous for the divine Blood Law that dictates the social hierarchy has some infernal weapons that need recharging. Odd that magical weapons of that sort don't regain charges on their own, but whatever. The plan is to intercept this trade route, and take them for ourselves. Normally I would be against this kind of thing, but honestly, if it means taking weapons away from people who will abuse it however, I would like less potential damage to be done. Then were all good to steal these. We get over there by some powerful conjuration magic, and we meetup with the Osteomancer's contact Eddarux near the walls of Swikedom, and explained that he knew of a secret tunnel to get us into the kingdom. Mezzi offered the idea of us being 'slaves' to get us through. I was confused until they revealed themselves to be a blue dragonborn. It seemed odd since the mouth should poke out of the mask, but I will figure it out another time. The plan pretty much goes without a hitch. We find a good choke point where they are supposed to head. I decide to scout ahead to see who were up against. when I quietly get up there. I see a drake, one purple dragonborn, and 4 black dragonborn. I don't know the significance of the purple, but they stand out and like means they're the boss of this operation. I have to rush back, if I want my temporary allies to know what's going on. I get into a relatively easy position to drop onto the group, summon the cannon and wait. I notice there is a spoon in this choke point. Is there something I'm missing about spoons. Are they like the most powerful items this realm will ever see? Whatever, I see the group approaching, and when they get into the middle of this area, Mezzi drops a false fog onto a few of them. I take advantage of this by firing the cannon into the leader, and dropping a new spell I learned.. The people in the immediate area where I dropped it cover their ears, which means it works as intended. I injured them pretty good, but the black dragonborn react fast, and they split up to target Mezzi and I. The purple one however starts flying in the air about 30ft off of the ground which is just lovely. I can't tell what happens all that well, but I watch Leonard, and Raazdrog covering their ears which is nice... The drake had rushed up to attack, but couldn't do both. With that Raazdrog, and his bot flank the drake, and start slashing it apart. Polvo had casted some spell, and nothing seems to happen to me. Mezzi had moved the fake fog onto the. soldier who now can't see them which is honestly hilarious, but I see one coming after me, so I shift my position away from the soilder, and continue to attack the purple since I'm the only one who can actually attack from range. It's funny because I watch this purple dragonborn sabotage themselves by making the drake go stupor, but all of my temporary allies resisted whatever the hell was casted. All of the soldiers fall, then the drake, but Mezzi got the coolest kill. I'm pretty sure a '''Sleep''' spell was casted because that dragonborn had plummeted, and didn't wake up. I throw up a '''Detect Magic''' to see if these folk had anything else of magic, but no luck. Mezzi however had found a small chest inside. Leonard tries to pick it a few times, but after failing. I get the chance the pick it. I scuff myself a few times, because I'm not using my potential when I have a second arm I eventually get it open, and I'm an idiot. There was a big explosion as this chest had been trapped. I get out of the away, and luckily no one else was around. so only I got injured. Still it hurt really badly, but there is something in here. There are 8 gems of sort. I use I'''dentify''' to figure out what these are, and these are the infernal weapons we were looking for.. We make out way back to Swikedom like nothing happened until we got ambushed by a bunch of people in masks. It's not even worth mentioning how this fight went other than they were a bunch of people who ran after a few deaths. This infuriated Mezzi. Apparently this wasn't the first encounter. This group did the exact same thing a few weeks ago.. We make our way back from the Osteomancer who let us keep the infernal weapons, and whatever else we got off of them. It was fair to say it was an odd occurrence that the Osteomancer put themselves out like that, but I'm not complaining. However I do not like that this hit and run scheme of attacking. New goal: The next time we face those mask people, I WILL get one of those masks. Mezzi has warned against taking one, but I wonder what these cult people have for wearing these, other than covering their face.</blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Pulling Off the Masked Power ===
</div>
<blockquote>While it's not impossible to get recruited by the same person twice, it means you did a good job last time. That's the case for me and Saltique Petra who made a two week trip to come meet for hiring people. That isn't exactly the best thing, because that means it's something serious. I was sitting in a tavern listening to rumors of the woims, and it just drove me a little angry. I do nothing to sway the rumors one way or another, because it's just not worth it.They make the risk, they get the rewards. They also (or are supposed to) keep trade routes open, so targeting them has dangerous implications. Anyways, I get hired along with Avel, Razzadrog, and Leonard. I also meet a few new people I had never seen before. There is a human with some heavy armor that seems to be a samurai style. His name is Nikodemus. The other is a half orc with some light armor, and no significant weapon is visible. His name is Markandros, and he's definitely a spell caster of sorts. Were told to look for someone by the name of Vettik, and the following information needs to be kept on low. Another card being kept in the hand I swear. Only the Scrappers have been completely forthright with working together, but ends justifying the means for someone isn't exactly something I want to keep working with. Federation isn't exactly being honest either with what they know, and they told me.

We get to a small ravine that is decently deep at a glance, but also a mouth of a cave about 40-50 feet away. There's also some large boulders at the edge of the ravine, and I use that to take cover. A few others look down, and we hear a man's voice telling us to get down in there. I'm confused as to why until we hear flapping like bats coming out from the cave. Vargouilles as I would come to learn are these head demons with fanged teeth, foaming mouths, bat wings that replaces the ears, and red eyes that scream death. We drop all but two of them in two spells. One of my '''Shatter''', and Leonard's '''Fireball'''. One of the flies near us and screeches so bad that I begin to lose my sense of awareness. My speech was also scuffed horribly at that time which really sucked. The other flew down to me and gives me a kiss. I instantly realize I'm in danger, but not immediately. I got cursed by this jerk. The rest are killed when I regain my bearings, and the man climbs out of the ravine. He introduces himself as Vettik Herbert, so that's a positive. He was stuck down there in case the demons would go after him. The other people go into the mouth of the cave and discover the circle that had been used to summon these bitches, which of course is lovely. Now we gotta track them down. I tell Vettik that I had been cursed by one of them, and we all make hast towards the hideout of the Shepherds. Along the way Nikodemus offered me a blessing, which I was a little hesitant to take, but accepted in hopes of allowing me to survive longer or cure it entirely. Surprisingly the fangs and my ears recede a little. I don't say anything, and we continue out trek over. When we get to the hideout Vettik reveals the illusion rock wall that had been created, which reminded me of Low Lunas and the illusions used there..

I immediately ask Vettik who might be able for me to rid this curse, and he pointed me to a tent that was up some stairs. There was a tortle by the name of Yuru I'm waiting patiently while the others talk to the Shepherds. I'm waiting patiently when I hear a blood curdling scream. I go to hide in to a tent that is next to the campfire so I can hear the conversation, but I'm not seen. I then hear the door has been opened, and that they need to move now. I immediately take this opportunity to cast '''Detect Magic''' and start looking for '''Illusion''' magic. And would you looks at that. There are three people coated in such. I summon my cannon and tell Avel this in Elvish and hint that they are not real Shepherds. He takes the opportunity to get s surprise attack on one I pointed out and a fight ensued. The two others unmask the '''Disguise Self''' they had on, bring out some Caustic Demons, and now the stakes are higher. I start pummeling one of them, and he dives into the water, but not before making a huge wave of water splash over other us. I dive out of the way just fine. Leonard keeps the Caustic demon off of me by making it run somehow. I dive into the water after the cultist, and keep striking with my cannon and dagger. As nice as this dagger is, I gotta use a longer weapon soon, because I can't use this forever.. He traps me into a watery sphere which sucks, but I can still fire the cannon without issues and throw the dagger. It also gave me a better idea of what's happening around. There was one cultist backed up into a corner, but I couldn't see the third.. Eventually, he got hit and the sphere drops, and I fell into the water. I was gonna go after him, but he put up a wall of water, and one of the culists had died. Irritated by the unknown Identities. I get out of the water, and rip the mask off the dead member. It starts burning really badly, but I'm going to hold on, because I want to '''Identify''' what tactics they have. Unfortunately, one the Shepherds had died, and the other two had managed to run. NOW I WANT THESE JERKS DEAD. Previously, they were targeting those who were capable, but those who couldn't fight back so easily. YOU HAVE CROSSED A LINE! I WILL HUNT YOU LIKE I DID FOR THE SHABBY SCALES. The mask also melted within 10 minutes, and I realized that I made a grave mistake. Unless I say command word, the mask will destroy the facial identity, and the mask will melt. It also left me a nasty scar from that experience. As a 'payment' but I really call it a gift, we got a good deal of money, and a horse or dust runner to take us back. Yuru had also survived, and he came up to me, consumed something, and removed the curse. He promptly passes out, but he's okay. Leonard managed to get a pair of Surefoot boots from that one cultist, and we found more coin on the cultist, which we split. I call the payment a gift, because I was doing my job. I was always against those harming the innocent, but now a seething anger is driving me to protect them. </Blockquote>
== Character Interactions ==

=== Avel ===
Avel is a man that would make even the devil think twice about risky decisions. He has many scars and even an eye patch that is covering his left eye from something. His love for performing is contagious, which didn't mind Himo since it could pull attention away. Working together several times, a small bond had formed from the dramatic changes that both had. They even went back together to a temple that Himo was only supposed to be there one time, because he was pulled in for a favor. A dark scary truth had emerged from this investigation, and Himo wasn't sure what to do with it, so he let it sit in the back of his mind. Something had changed between the two however after Mizuka's and Abraham's death. Late one night, Avel had approached Himo, and noted that Himo had a new arm and asked about it

=== Gobbo Greenskin ===
After the Conservatory was destroyed, he found Gobbo, a goblin with a robot named FR0G-GY. Gobbo mentioned he could make Himo an arm, which interested him, but that conversation was never followed up on. Gobbo also mentioned knowing where Sparkburn was, but won't elaborate on where the golem is now, which is frustrating Himo.

=== Lenore ===
Lenore was someone who Himo would have never interacted with except in a professional manner, but it took less than five minutes for the mask to come off about his certainty. Lenore is a cleric of Vela, and no one had really offered help without a clause. That sent Himo's brain into overdrive, freezing up at the kind gesture of giving a few names of those who run the Omnichapel as well as a stone of Vela

=== Rhogar Dreel ===
[[File:Rhogar Dreel.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Rhogar Dreel]]
Rhogar is part of the Federation. Himo wanted to initally join the Federation, because he often did a lot of exploitation of vices back in Lunas, but understood that organization would fall to corruption eventually. While trying to figure out the whole coordinated attack Himo managed to set his back on fire because of his obliviousness in front of Rhogar from his OWN cannon!

=== Syl Vipershade ===
Himo has lets say a rocky roller coaster of emotions with Syl. When Himo first met Syl, the interaction wasn't awful, but it didn't take long for the oblivious cracks to seep through. While trying to figure out the attack on the Arboretum, Himo burns himself in front of Syl and Rhogar... with his own cannon. Syl distanced themselves from Himo, which he didn't mind because he was too busy working on his projects. Syl noticed Himo always seems to be ready for a fight, and becomes incredibly jumpy when someone tries to affect his mind. This problem was only amplified however after Stix was captured. While hanging out with Gobbo and Syl, Himo suddenly started feeling burned in his right side despite no actual fire being nearby. Himo accidentally summoned his cannon, to which Gobbo and Syl responded by trying to grapple Himo. While Himo never ended attacking either, Himo made it known that his past he is incredibly fearful of. To Himo's surprise, Syl offered him the chance to let something off of his chest. Even though Himo declined for the moment, he did agree to meet later, and discuss it more with Syl.

=== The Scrappers ===
When Himo first arrived, he was like a ghost in the markets. He bought what he needed, and left in such a hurry, it was hard to track him down. He never really talked to people for more than 5 minutes when he finally met some of the crew of the scrappers, and they seemed to treat him with some respect, but Himo kept to themselves. After learning that were was unnecessary infighting among the Scrappers, he distanced themselves, and ultimately decided to no longer affiliate himself with it. He still does jobs for them with proper compensation, but doesn't consider himself part of that group.

== Relationships ==

=== Nyria Nilo ===

=== Celthron Nilo ===
Lady Nilo is a thin high elf with long flowing golden blond hair that is frail from the clutches of death, eyes of a deep black that show only death behind them, and a poise of confidence and dominance ruling the house that controls the Arcane Materials so well. She believes dead people are just objects that can be used for more than just laying them to rest, and tries to control people as much as possible without magic, often by threatening the used of deceased loved ones. When push comes to shove however, the gloves come off and the dead rise up on her command to destroy those who disobey. Nyria stands really short. Only 4'4" tall due to her 6th century of age creeping in on her, but the tug of life and death is just within fingertips reach. She works tirelessly to use necromancy as a means of preserving her life, but has been unsuccessful while staying within the rules of society. She wasn't a fan when Himo wanted to pursue alchemy, but the secret that she was making deals with demons for extra power proved too great to ignore. She feared that Himo would figure out the arcane knowledge to bring the secret to light, because of his resistance

=== Kynnela Nilo ===
Kynnela is the oldest sibling of the Nilo family. Himo picked up the rebellious attitude from her because she fought with her mother and father all the time. Kynnela who is 478 became a Diviner, and she questioned her past self before leaving the house. She treated Himo with the utmost disgust, and got his other sisters, and even his parents to either join in, or pretends it doesn't happen. On the occasional return to the house, Himo kept her at arms length, refusing to relive the pain that she caused. This made Kynnela bitter, and was the one to plot Himo's death, but ultimately failed. Last Himo has heard, Kynnela has left High Lunas; to where and why Himo doesn't know.

=== Mariela Nilo ===
Mariela is the second sibling of the Nilo family. Mariela is 239 years old at this point, and always had a bitter disappointment for Himo. She constantly questioned why Himo wouldn't apply himself more, and why he fought with all 5 members of this family. It's not like she was innocent either. She would sabotage Himo in any way she could since she didn't approve of her parents letting him take alchemy while she was forced into a school of magic. She chose conjuration as her school, because she preferred summoned things doing the work for her. Last Himo has heard, her bossy behavior isn't being well liked by her colleagues.

=== Tyanna Nilo ===
Tyanna is the youngest member of the Nilo family making Himo the third child. currently just 33, she made Himo's life miserable, but not by actions. She insulted him basically every time he spoke, and these comments are viscous. She often told Himo how he causes the tension for not following tradition, but refuses to acknowledge her own shortcomings. All of these insults were basically ignored by everyone, because they expected Himo to just let it go, but he simply couldn't. She doesn't realize that she is part of the reason that Himo ended up abandoning the family. There was one incident were Himo used physical force to make her panic and show her that actions have consequences, but Himo doubts it made an impact. Last Himo has heard, the coward is studying Abjuration to prevent that incident again.

=== Kamer ===
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[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Himo Nilo

2026-01-26T23:39:38Z

MCAron: Working on session recap for 12/17/25

== '''Himo Nilo''' ==
{{Infobox character|name=Himo Nilo|image=Himo Nilo.png|caption="The right side of me should show what happens when you don't pay attention."|relatives=2 Parents, 3 Sisters|affilliation="The Chairman"|alias=Thai (Child name)|marital=Single|birthDate=37 PR|birthPlace=High Lunas|species=Elf (High)|height=4'10"|weight=94 lbs.}}

'''Himo''' is a High Elf Rogue/Artillerist that has experienced both the rich and poor side of Lunas. He wanted to visit the Arboretum to modify existing equipment he has, but he never really left until he heard from his contacts in the Arboretum that demon incursions were ramping up. Carrying only what he could quickly pack, he left for the Arboretum with his bag that contains only essentials. He has a habit of checking anything that might look "suspicious" but doesn't really know what might be suspicious.
== Description ==
Himo is a young elf shining with bronze skin with black freckles, Short copper hair that is decently trimmed and eyes that sparkle gold when they catch the light. you would find him like he was a gem in a mine because of the reflection he often carries. He doesn't seem to carry anything with him except maybe a small backpack over A rapier and dagger on his left hip and short sword on his right hip respectively, hang and some tools hanging off of his belt. He wears light reinforced leather armor with a somewhat heavy desert cloak that shines a little in the light. When you peer past the cloak however, you notice two very big change to him that he tries to hide as best as he can. The first one is he really only has half of his hair left. The right side of him looks like he has black char that curls up around the face and neck that has been there for quite some time. The second is he occasionally has no right arm. anything that might have been there is gone, and watching him, he sways a little bit to the left and right as if he can't seem to keep himself balanced. A new projects have shown up on his person. There was a rack where the shoulder would be is a semi circle with a hole cut out of the center, and an arc cut out inside the semi circle. It was only partially done, but it seems to have been scrapped. The second gadget that he has on him at all times, is a disc launcher that fires out coins. Both of these are woodworking projects with small mechanical parts to make them work.

== Manners ==
Himo has a nervous tick carried wherever he goes. If you asked, he would say something along the lines of in a deep graveled voice of not being too careful wherever he goes, but refuses to follow up on why. The eyes seem to look for particular things, but never what is around him. Arcane is of great interest for him, but explosives are not that far off the priority. Often times, random junk that no one has used for some time goes missing, but if you saw him with the junk and asked why, the lips tighten hard. He then usually keeps to himself the rest of the day or two unless it's to discuss plans for missions or logistics. His past is guarded more securely that a vault door with enhanced locks, but the impact of it can easily be seen if he has a PTSD episode. This usually logical, crafty, upbeat personality, snaps faster than a string on a trap, changing him to an aggressive, fearful, volatile person. His hand always seems close to his dagger like he is waiting for a fight to occur. It's hard to tell if you have earned his trust or whether he sees the alliance as one time. On missions of any kind, Himo will tend to find to get out of sight when possible of his teammates, but is always around when trouble strikes. With the death of two people he worked and interacted with, things changed.
<blockquote>"I guess I was wrong. Every slight, every lie, every betrayal. I knew it went nowhere, which is why I never did it myself. Trust however, I simply couldn't rebuild it. It was selfish, and I knew it, but betrayal honestly hit really hard. I especially was sure I couldn't after Lenore almost influenced my mind. The first person who showed me kindness without ever expecting a repay. Yet why do so many people hate the fact I only see one time alliances? Why does it matter to them if I hold up my end of the deal? What do they really want from me while working on these missions? I have everything to lose in trust with a huge benefit. I've gotten something wrong. My logic has a fallacy somewhere. I know that promise to talk about my past is still something Syl can call on at any moment. I will not hide any details, but I also don't want any sympathy. After all, my actions in part led me to the problem I have now. Trust is a scary concept for me. I have some deeply unsettling information when I went back to the temple with Avel.. What will happen when I finally spill the guts of what truly happened? Will I be killed, exiled, belittled?. I must have a heart somewhere, because Gloria told me how surprised she was that I gave a fuck about those who died. I need.... I need someone to talk to. Maybe I've held this in too long.. If I want to protect people, I can't let my distrust. I have to change if I want to be more effective. I don't mind if people still don't trust who I was, but I need to do this for myself. I have the intelligence, the dexterity, now with my fake arm, and the grit to push through failure. I'm missing the why. Why am I doing this? People expect me not to care, but I do. Why do I need to rebuild a sense of trust, and what do I am to do here in the Arboretum?"</blockquote>

== Background ==
Himo was born to a wealthy mage family in High Lunas. They expected him to follow that same tradition, and while he was interested in magic wasn't the most interesting thing to him as physical tasks. Still they made him either take lessons or leave this family. He negotiated to learn alchemy to understand the materials used in spellcasting.

He started to go to the Low Lunas in secret claiming private tutoring sessions when really he got into contact with the local criminal rings to learn skills from their side. He chose to learn lockpicking for his profession and was quite skilled at it. He also refined his careful hand movement to mimic letters. He balanced this double life of learning alchemy by day and learning to pick locks by night. When he went to Lower Lunas, he would bring stories of breaking into homes, taking specific materials and leaving without a trace. by the time they would try to track him down, he would be in the shadows trying to outlast the location spells used to find him. he often had to dump the stolen materials to prevent being caught. This went on for years. he wrote detailed notes about alchemy and his parents were thought he was being an obedient son. One night while learning complicated formulas to show to his parents, he was finally caught by the guards and he was sentenced to death. while in prison, he managed to convince the guards to give him 2 lodestones. He took those lodestones and mended the broken thieves tools that he was hiding in his clothing. This lock however was never supposed to be picked. It had been magically enhanced but he the night to make that happen. He picked the lock and sneaked out and into the Lower Lunas in 102 PR just as the sun was rising.

He excelled in picking locks as a freelancer. If the guild provided sanctuary based on how difficult the lock was, that locked was picked. He became infamous in rings because no lock was safe from him. Booby trapped to Arcane Lock, most locks were not safe from him. Only locks that were sophisticated with an Arcane Lock would he have a hard time picking and often failed at those, but those were few and far for High Lunas. In various guilds, he learned various weapons that he now always with him because he doesn't want to get into a scrap unarmed. He often had a habit of inspecting areas where people invited him never trusting anyone fully. His reputations grew so much that he found himself often travelling to other places to check out security systems. This took the pressure off of him because he could really inspect area he couldn't before. He learned to pickpocket, sneak around, scale buildings and practice his skills of picking locks. He tried to get an honest job in the town of Rwendia but his reputation followed him everywhere. He did odd jobs around places, pick locks here, mend broken stuff back together, and come along with other criminals to look out for traps. The people he often worked under were brutal. They would insult him behind his back, mess up him picking the locks, broke his stuff and moved him around often and lied to him where he was

He started for fun re-learning magic. Make graffiti with magic here, an odor there. This terrified the guilds because he was becoming what he swore he would never do and feared he would turn on him next. His mentor Jumad told him that no one will want someone unreliable if he chooses this path. He continued in spite of their disapproval and learned how to make a bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus. The only person he told this to was his best friend Kamer who supported him in getting new materials. One day while hiding out in the DwaleVale, he received a letter of a formal apology from his family asking him to come back. He eagerly accepted and made his way over. His contacts warned him they were up to no good and were looking for vengeance for bringing shame to the family name. When he got there they magically influenced him to open a complicated safe lock without checking the area. BOOOM!!! A massive explosion covered him from right to left, debris flying every where and scraping by on life. The family were stewing in their loss of the son when his eldest sister, Nylo gave the idea to blow him up in a public execution. That letter he found, was trapped to get him to come whether he wanted to or not. In the chaos, someone in his family had planted one more bomb to take him out. he survived, barely, but lost his right arm in the explosion. He lost everything; everything but his skills, his life and his resolve to fix this. At DAGR (Determined Assassins, Grifters, and Rogues) he received word that they needed people to fix broken things and make them better. he spent the next 6 months fighting for his life, and those 6 months were in a daze. He often found himself in a new place about every month. When finally had the strength to move comfortably, he took essentials and ran for his life in 134 PR, because no matter what he did his family was coming for him and he needed to defend himself.

== Languages ==
Himo knew elvish and common just from listening to his family, but he learned goblin when he would hang around goblins were trying to have a private conversation, not realizing Himo taught himself that from listening to them

== Character information ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |1 Rogue/5 Artificer
|-
|AC 16
|HP 39
|DC 14
|-
|Str 13
|Dex 18
|Con 13
|-
|Int 16
|Wis 10
|Cha 12
|}

=== '''Proficiencies''' ===
Himo is a man of many skills that involve getting around where he needs to in some way. He effectively shows he can get around super quietly, lift or plant things in someone's pocket, has great athletic abilities, and knows how to spot the difference between 2 identical objects. If asked about anything arcane, he has great knowledge of what it is, what the purpose is, and what the process of creating might have looked like. He also seems to have some tools on his belt. Specifically woodcarver's tools are always on his belt, but he has also shown a good deal of knowledge on making mechanical parts with tinker tools, making concoctions with alchemist supplies, and what he is most well known for; picking locks, and disabling traps

=== High elf Abilities ===
* Cantrip (Mending)
* Darkvision
* Elf Weapon Training
* Extra Language (Goblin)
* Fey Ancestry
* Keen Senses
* Trance

=== Rogue Features ===

* Expertise: Stealth, Thieves Tools
* Sneak attack (1d6)
* Thieves’ Cant

=== Artificer Abilities ===

* Infuse Item (bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus)
* Magical Tinkering
* Spellcasting
* Ritual Casting
* Eldritch Cannon
** Force Balista
** Flamethrower
** Protector
* Arcane Firearm

=== Feat: ===
Alert

== Himo's Story ==
<div style="text-align: center;">
=== New Place, New Identity, and a New Dream ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been roughly 8 months since I came here to the Arboretum and very little people know I am actually here. Kamer got me in contact with The Chairman when I got here and it has been hell being around all of these explosive materials. every big explosion sends me back a year when an attempt was made on my life. I trust absolutely NO ONE here because I have been looked down on because of a missing arm. Petty theft was the only way I survived. I was so busy about survival that I didn't realize that Raegina was hiring to make robots until The Chairman sent me a letter telling me '''[[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs|Raegina]]''' was looking for people to recruit for the Scrappers. I collected scraps from grand shoplifting, hid out for four months to wait out people looking for men, then I moved swiftly to the junkyard. My goal is to go back to High Lunas and exact revenge on my parents and sisters who left me in this state I am. I barely remember the explosion or the constant shifting of places because I was so out of it. The people here seem nice enough but I am just waiting for them to betray each other. When I got to the junkyard, I was appalled to see the size of these robots, and the amount of people that came was a little much for me.

When Raegina mocked many of us for having many broken and chipped off parts, I just rolled my eyes because I knew if there as anything she was trying to hide in a safe, I could find that safe without getting caught. In Low Lunas I was known as the Magic Pick because I couldn't be trapped, nor were most locks safe from me. I do need teammates however so I kept my moth shut and just listened. The amount of artificers that were there was astonishing. A tiefling had infused armor, and a goblin had a small automaton with them. But by far the most unique “living” thing saw was a doll that could think for itself. It turns out to test our skills, we would fight Grind, Smash and Cleave, 3 golems with interesting weapon choices. I got excited when I learned that we would be fighting the golems because that meant I could sneak out parts I needed for projects. One of said projects was increasing the throwing range of Thunder Rumble because I have to be relatively close to make good use of it. While fighting, one got destroyed, and it burst into flames. The heat sent me back to the explosion that back at High Lunas, where I almost lost my life. We dispatched the rest and Raegina was impressed enough to let us scrap the robots. So much for trying to do things discreetly... But I haven't really talked with people yet. After scrapping the robots, we split up into two teams. I got paired with [[Stix]] and [[Raazdrog]] which was fine. I can modify my parts and they add theirs, and I saw this as more of a fun project. After all, I like explosive confusion. But it's not like I could focus because I was so nervous with Grind blowing me to bits, I was accidentally disassembling Grind. I was trying to make the saw arm move more fluidly, and trying to add scraps of metal I had in my bag, but I fumbled hard there. It was so embarrassing, because everyone else manage to buff it in some way but not me. I wanted to leave so badly because of that, but I ended up staying in spite of it. I would be throwing away probably my only real opportunity to getting out of the slums like my family expected me to stay. To my surprise Raegina gave each of us 10 gp to bet on the improved robots as to who would win. This was huge to me! This was really the first time someone handed me something without expecting anything in return. I decided to risk all of that money and bet most of it on Grind, and then I had an Idea. I decided to rename Grind to Sparkburn, which Stix and Raazdrog liked a lot. Raazdrog and I got the idea to give Sparkburn a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." and I added "Feel the spark. Feel the burn." Now I really didn't care if we won or lost because I considered this a finished project. Out team ended up winning and I walked away with triple what I put into it. I was ecstatic not only because I won a bet, which I rarely take, but the funds could be used to get the tools I need for projects. That excitement was short-lived however because a horn coming from the Arboretum indicating it was under attack. I hopped on the war rig and we moved to the Arboretum.

Getting towards a entrance root of the Arboretum, a sudden crash hits the war rig and all of us go flying off of it. pieces of the damaged rig flew out and a large skeletal elephant collapsed next to the war rig. I wasn't paying attention because I was sketching my newest tool to assist me. I was thrown hard, losing my sketch to the winds and barely landed standing up, and my vision blacked out for a second. Metal was warping and bending in all the wrong ways and snaps echoed throughout the valley and then silence. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew this was an ambush. Footsteps on the dessert sand was coming from multiple directions, Sparks were flying off of the rig, The screeching of tires spinning out, shoe rubber flaking off the boots I put together with mending, and hearing many colleagues scrape against the dusty ground. When the dust cleared I saw green goo blobs moving towards us, and I heard something angry moving towards us. Pustuloids, Capra demons, and Lesser Rage demons were there. To give me some distance, I climbed the war rig, but as I was climbing, it felt like the floor was falling out from me and nearly fell off. Climbing up I saw roughly 10 Pustuloids, a few lesser rage demons, and a Capra. My team managed to keep hold of a choke point and so I threw my dagger at the Capra repeatedly, but I also noticed Sparkburn, covering our backside. This was great, because the Pustuloids exploded on death with Sparkburn unaffected. Raegina tells me to get off even though I just got on. I wanted to argue because I had a good position of the battle but whatever.You know that rig aint safe from me snagging a few pieces. The fight isn't going in our favor right now, because Raazdrog's steel defender, crashes to the ground in combat, unmoving by the Capra. While this fight is going on, I see a figure moving behind us, but it doesn't look like an ambush. It's a half elf holding a rapier and an instrument; most likely a bard. One by one however, the demons fell starting with the pustuloids. Leftover goo seeping into the ground before turning to ash. Two booms ring out as the lesser rage demons and the Capra are thrown back. Delaia, who has been soaking hits for us, takes the opportunity to get out after that which I don't blame. It didn't look like he was going to stand much longer to be honest. The spells seemed to come from the bard and Delaia, so we have another ally. Good because most of us are spent on resources. We kill all the demons and after a quick introduction, the bard's name is [[Leonard]], and she heard the commotion. She healed Deliaia a significant amount, and Deliaia looks ready to take on another fight. After moving this elephant which turned out to be an Olliphant off of the root, we prepared to charge up only for a wave of energy to come down upon us. There was no point to going up anymore... The Conservatory has been destroyed. There goes many projects that have been put on hold. It's not like I made progress on the parts I needed for Sizzle but still frustrating. Oh crap! More demons of the same types are coming down, and I should have seen this coming. We dispatch the ones that combated us, and the streets fall silent around us....

After the invasion ended, leaders were talking about uniting "not just to fight against the demons, but also to build alliances" or something like that. The thing is, I can only rely on one thing when partnership is formed: people are looking out for themselves. Unless someone can prove they are trustworthy, I will not be in a permanent alliance. That's how I survived Low Lunas; Ally with someone only until the necessity no longer remains. </blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Absent Memories ===
</div>
<blockquote>
A few days go by and Sir Anthony is holding a funeral for the lives lost, when I got approached by Jerbo, a gnome arcanist. He was hiring people to track down why the Kobolds attacked. I agreed but stressed, I needed some help. After getting a few others, and some quick introductions we made our way to Dapple, a satry who rents out horses. I put down the deposit and we made our way over. Oh I should mention who is here because I will be a narcissist otherwise. We have Mezzi who I have never seen take off their mask, Polvo a Air Genasi that had an encounter with death apparently, Diana a human who has a lizard like robot that follows her everywhere, Dallas a mouse I have never seen before but seems like a cool fellow, and Davin a halfling with a longbow, with a trophies on his person.

It takes a little more than two days to get there and along the way, we found a dog in a campsite that was left not long ago. I make an alarm in case people came back while I was within a mile, but I got no signal. When we get to the Osteomancer, their abode is in the ground with sand covering a trapdoor. I volunteer to go planning to be sneaky, but I forgot not everyone can see in the dark as well as I can, because Mezzi lit a torch when we all got down. When we met the Osteomancer, I can only describe what is a elephant person like three feet taller than me with big elephant ears, an elephant trunk and overall a build that could lift more than me with two arms. We were trading a favor for a favor. The Osteomancer's favor was removing a tower that was made of Absence which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I can go along with it. Apparently, when creatures are near said tower, they lose their Identities. Davin beat to the question of how are we going to protect ourselves, so that was nice. I was given a scroll and a black egg to crush when I start to read the scroll that should seal this wound. Another detail that was mentioned was the structure could only be seen through reflections.

We get to the tower, it looked like someone lived inside a crazy home. The outside can't be seen, but when you go inside, it is a ghost white. there was also a spot of complete silence, so I move myself there, crushethe egg and begin reading the scroll. A ghost that looks like he owns the place along with lights that surround us entirely. I placed down, my cannon to give me some cover while the rest of the group combat the lights. I watched my colleagues lose their ability to speak coherently while fighting them. I was blessed with something, but I couldn't tell you what it as but it seems to help me fight this ghost who was trying to make me vanish. As the fight moves on, less lights were attacking, but I can't tell you why. After nearly completing it, I was tired of the things attacking and unleash an ear piercing ring out towards the ghost, along with the nearby lights, which injure the lights a lot more than anticipated. I finish reading, and the entire place began to collapse around us. Which is unfortunate, because I wanted to get parts I need for project. I have to will myself out with Mezzi's help, but luckily everyone got out.

When we get back to the Osteomancer, we learn that when kobolds want to get rid of the Divine Blood law, they make deals with other creatures; in this case demons. This group was led by Snizz the Fortunate, but that group was dead when other people killed the kobolds. It ended with a warning "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free." Confused, I said nothing and headed back for the horses that have been tied up. We went to check up on the dog, and it's still there and there is no sign of return, so we left for the Arboretum. This information is given to Jerbo, but I am still suspicious of hat will happen if someone does make a deal with a devil.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Sinking the Filth and My Feelings ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a week since I saw that tower of that "absence" and I am ready to finish what I started or go to the Omnichapel for advice on Vela. I know, I get distracted easily, but I cannot for any reason leave a stone unturned for any reason in case it comes to bite me back later. I left Lunas on some pretty bad terms, both with my family for obvious reasons, but also the Thieve's guilds with relearning the one thing I swore off of. That mistake of saying I will not learn more things about a specific topic was so far my worst one yet. Anyone could come for me for any reason, and I need to be ready for when I get jumped. Today luckily is not one of those days, because a new job offering has appeared who's handwriting is more crude than a thieve's messy handwriting. Baftzmyr as I later found out put up the sign about a giant demon stuck in the sand, and it needed to be killed. Cool, I can just fire with my cannon and it will eventually die if it can't get out. When I get there, I see some new faces, but also a handful of familiar ones. Stix and Razzdrog are here, but among the new ones we have Steady Dee, a tabaxi who wears some unusually heavy armor comparatively that have some runes on it that appear to be of a giant origin, but I guess whatever floats your boat. Koro, an Air Genasi that wears some monk robes, who can't seem to make up his mind when it comes to allegiances, and Ozmir, a tiefling that has powers I have never seen before, but curious as to how they will work. Baftzmyr explains that scout demons have been circling around looking around for a way to get out the great demon. The plan was simple; locate the scouts, follow them, and kill the great demon. Now that follows, but it's under the sand. What is Baftzmyr's plan to expose the demon? I don't know. All I know is I can sneak up on it, and rain cannon fire down where it can't see me. Ozmir who can apparently track creatures really well, starts following a set made not long ago. Along the path, a heatwave catches me completely off guard, and I feel more sluggish than before. Great, now I won't be able to hide nearly as easy I have before, but I am with a group. We get right on top the scout and it pops out ready to attack. It would have died in two hits, if Sparkburn didn't have a weapon infused with fire. Wait! I forgot to mention Sparkburn is with us! Gobbo, I will find you later and confront you for remaining silent. It didn't matter however, because melee attacks are still effective. After that one dies, Stix along with a few others spot three more running from away, and we continue to follow. After a few more hours of travel, we come across some quicksand that is quaking. Quicksand isn't supposed to do that on a large scale; this is where the great demon is. Baftzmyr pulls what appears to be an origami pig that is coated in a layer of wax. It looks like the pig was boiled alive, but I am not one to judge. Stix volunteers to carry to bomb, and all I can say to that is... Ok never mind. This doll, husk? I don't know what it's made of, but regardless, the bomb is carried to it's destination. More importantly however, Stix makes it out unscathed. Maybe Stix has a ratio of strength similar to that of an ant. Ants proportionally can carry more weight to their body mass. Koro and I peek over, and WHAT IS THIS FOR A DEMON!? A cage for a face with a flame inside of it and some kind of disc neck to keep the sand out of the face or something. We give out teammates that knowing look, and the rest of the team gets to work. Raazdrog and MK-2 setup an anti flank position for us on the right as well as making the demon glittery. Steady Dee also sets up an anti flank position for us on the right side as well as growing to giant. With this enlarged form Steady throws a handaxe that lands square in the "face" of the great demon but not as effective as it should have hit . Stix is firing blasts of green energy which makes me think a deal was involved for this power. Koro using the bow pierces the demon with the same problem as Steady, and I am throwing a dagger, firing a cannon, and backing up, because I have no interest in falling in the quicksand and next to this abomination. That caused a different problem however which was I opened the line for more of the scouts to come attack Koro and Ozmir. I planned to fix this by booming them back into it, but that will backfire spectacularly when Koro kills one of the scouts, and stayed within the line of fire. It was also a good thing that I moved out, because the sand started moving out from everyone's feet who were close to the edge. Steady and MK-2 fell in and hell broke loose, literally. I didn't see what happened but the next thing I know, Koro willingly jumps into the pit and now Steady is floating in the air about 20ft. Why that is happening, I couldn't tell you, but Steady was bleeding out and needed help soon. Baftzmyr uttered some word and Steady is conscious again. I go to help Ozmir, because currently 3 scouts are surrounding her, which aint cool. I drive my dagger into a scout's death, and the sand is still moving out from under us, but I can keep myself steady. Raazdrog on the other hand wasn't so lucky and also managed to fall in next to the demon. Things are going fine right now. The great demon is getting whacked by are melee fighters and the people up here in the sand are holding off the scouts just fine. Oh no. My worst fear has come true; this demon will explode on death. I am not going to be around that. I can stabilize those who take the brunt of the explosion. At least, that was my original plan if Koro didn't fall to the giant claws of this demon. I am not ready to lose a colleague here, so I jump down, run to Koro, heal him just enough to get him conscious again and prep for another round of attacks against this creature. Maybe it was better however that I couldn't keep myself steady this time and I was buried in the sand. Not wanting to be stuck in here, I used my last spell to blast out, but that didn't work. Later I learned that I had injured Koro, and Steady who were both super hurt by it, but the worst part was I didn't even get out with that. I got burned, but not by much comparatively to other people who got the full brunt. Stix stabilized Koro, and Raazdrog healed Steady and then Koro. It honestly surprised me that everyone made it out alive. We got our gold, and I moved on because I don't know how much I can trust the Scrappers when working with a Fiend. Working with criminals is bad enough, but trying to work with a creature from the underworld seems like a death sentence.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Old Technology, and Fights ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a few days since hunting the Baron of Filth or whatever in the Nine Hells this creature is, and I finished the sketching for my tool arm. I don't have a name for it, but I know the name will come at the end when I finish the project. I should really get some paper however, because each time I sketch it, it's in the sand. I lose it very easily, and often times restart like some mime performing the same trick. I was ready to go buy the materials when I am stopped by Gnash, a half orc who means business. If I had a counterpart, it would be her. Why? because the entire left side of her face is char black. Besides that she needs people to track down some missing people. They have been gone 2 days and she hates mystery. Some other people that get recruited were Leonard, Mezzi, The Scarlet Shadow, Raazdrog, and Avel. I think it's worth mentioning that we have 3 musically inclined, which I don't I have ever been apart of. We are told to look for a carcass of a long dead giant worm, and the distant mountain Tol'Viral on are way to Drywater. Jerbo reads off a scroll and we turn to mist, and boy can we MOVE! With this enhanced movement, met up with Kaleen, a desert vulpine druid who knew of our mission. We got two scrolls. I recognize these and as '''Animal Messenger''' and '''Locate object''' spells. If anything goes wrong we are told to give movement on where they are headed and in how long.. The '''Locate Object''' however is to find a silver bullet the group left behind.. Seems odd, but hey maybe they do that elsewhere to mark where they were. We don't need either however, because Scarlet knows this place like the back of his hand. Apparently the blue dragonborn, and the thri-kreen hate each other enough to capture, but not kill him, which I find very funny. Anyways, he finds tracks of about a dozen thri-kreen. Following them, they reduce to about 4 tracks that were left behind, and end abruptly. Still Scarlet picks up where they began again and we continue to follow. We are moving with the wind while following the tracks, so it was very easy to actually catch up to the thri-kreen Scarlet was following. When I get the chance to look at them, and it looks likes an ant that grew a spine, a brain along with gaining lots of lower insect strength. The color of the shell also seems to be blending in better with the surrounding enviorment, which I wish I could get my hands on that. We transformed into ourselves again, and decided instead of attacking, to talk to them since they might have some useful information regarding the people we are trying to find. I was confused about the execution, until I learned Scarlet could actually communicate with them. Upon seeing us, the group shows off their mandibles, and claws. Scarlet attempts to parley with the clutch but to no avail, since he could speak the language of clack clickers. Before you judge me, that's what I heard. As we got closer, they became blurry and hard to track their position. I recognize this as a '''Blur''' spell. I am about to make them shiny when Raazdrog beats me to that idea. Only one of them got affected however, but there is one idea I have. Some spells you can't put together because you have to think about the actual spell. '''Blur''' happens to be one of those spells, so I plan to attack in a flank or hit them with spells, they have to resist. I summon the cannon, and get to work. They start by swarming Raazdrog, but since only a few attacks hit, they turned the attention to me. They also don't get many hits in, but one did strike me good. A 6 on 4 however doesn't end well for them, and that part of the clutch falls one by one to us swarming them. We leave the corpses behind and continue on our journey to finding the people who went missing. I was honestly expecting more of a fight with how many tracks we say, but hey I'll save some of my resources for later. We get to a dune structure with a very small tunnel with 2 Federation members dead. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a fight broke out here about a day ago, There is a tunnel about 5ft wide, so it's time for a single file line. I go first, after my cannon, so that less people will be affected by any traps that may come. Well dam right I was because my cannon snapped a tripwire leading to a bunch of some decent size rocks they could fit in the ceiling tumble out. I get out of the way get fine, but I couldn't move my cannon, and it get's dented pretty badly from the trap set. Lesson learned; check for traps in a small area like this. I just realized my experience from Low Lunas has been lacking faster than what happened the last time I was in High Lunas. I start examining the area up ahead, and would you look at that; another trap.. It takes me less than 10 seconds to permanently disable the trap however, so no issues there. Continuing to check for traps, I find no more, and I see a room, probably about 40 feet by 30 feet, and there is a decent amount of light in here that seems to be pretty bright. When we get to the maw of this room, I can just barely see to left some kind of rig, but oh come on. Really? A weapon pointed in my face with 2 people standing a few feet away from the arch. From the little I can see, this appears temporary, but I first need to talk to these people.. I told them that we are here to find you. We were sent by Gnash, and got here with the help of Jerbo. Why there are 2 dead Federation members outside this cave, I have a better idea now. AVEL WHY!? I might have been going somewhere with the conversation, but then you decide to teleport behind them and attack? Fine, Seeing this I spring into action, and start to attack the person who drew their weapon at me. Rude, but fine a fight you want? A fight you will get. I blast the cannon into the shin of the guy, and take that opportunity to throw my dagger into his skull, which works out great because that is one less person we have to deal with. Raazdrog, Mk-2, and Scarlet move into the room and attack some of the nearby henchmen. that happen to be near the doorway so less occupancy there. Avel takes this opportunity to corner the leader in a one on one duel. Unhappy with me dropping her main bodyguard, she leaves the duel with Avel, and decides to attack me instead, with a reach weapon. Dammit, my cannon was in the way, but that didn't matter for this dumb weapon. The lightning and fire hurts pretty bad, but I am still here... Then the dork leaves me alone to go get into a 3v1. I think something is being plotted, because they moved away from me, almost like something had a higher priority. Leonard seeing me greatly injured me heals my immediate wounds, which is nice, because I want to help my teamates, but I can't do that with almost being taken out of the fight. There is 3 other henchmen here, so I direct my cannon to fire at one who was next to Avel as I stick my knife into their side for a well thrown shot.. Mezzi managed to released a held spell, after Avel forced the enemy into Mezzi's line of sight. It didn't have any effect, but the more people closer to the leader, the better.. The leader in a desperate move, went to the rig, and pushed a few buttons, and got ready to run., getting slashed, by Raazdrog Mk-2, Scarlet, and Avel.. I now realize what this is; an infernal enhancement. NOW I WANT THAT! this would speed up my projects by who know how long, and I would earn a lot of favor from Raegina.. This person clearly has connections to the Scrappers, which now irritates me, because we are fighting within our own group, but I know I don't have the tongue to get everyone to stop fighting. We managed to get the Tiefling leader to start running, but by that point, the fight was over. I used this opportunity to try and disable this infernal enhancement, but to no avail. It starts burning me... This rig can't be disabled, from a self destruction button, but I have to keep going. I'm getting burned and then I see it; I can get out, where I couldn't before. I will not give up my own life to figure this out. This is my choice now, not some magic that was used on me. I run out with the rest of the group to hear a big explosion ring out. I managed to get some materials out from the rig, but it's now useless... I spend some time with this tiefling who's name is Velza. Apparently her and Raegina have been locking horns because this rig should have come back to the junkyard, There was incursions here that the local tribe could use help with that rig that is now gone. The solution was spiteful and honestly stupid, and as much as I would have loved to get her off the hook, I want to be able to use these tools for good, not just because of a word of law.. I'm not sure how much longer I will be with the Scrappers because of this incident... If all Raegina cares about is this problem of demons within Pteris no matter the cost, desperation will make people do some insane things all trying to better the future for themselves/children with the destruction left behind.The end NEVER EVER for any reason, justifies the means.</blockquote>
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=== Logic Lacking and Large Lies ===
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<blockquote>Oh Where do I begin with this incident that I am still beating myself in the head over? I guess I will start with the fact that some Yuan-ti runs into town screaming about someone has stolen all of her textiles and they are very expensive. I put my guard up, because I don't trust people who make a big show like that, but I don't see any odd behavior. Some other people that notice the commotion are Deliah, a teifling with some well enhanced armor, Leonard a half elf, who was first and last person to surprise me with someone else coming, Ozmir and Stix making a return from that nasty Baron, Ozmir is also a teifling, with some unique psionic blades, which looks really cool, and Stix is the doll that roams the Arboretum. I recently learned Stix has a "friend" that speaks to them, which is kind of unsettling, I am now wondering who is puppeteering this doll, when it's likely a god.. The last person I did not mention was Ollie, a ranger who has a pet frog.. The Yuan-ti's name is Sandra Sanderson, and she needed help recovering textiles that were expensive. They were stolen by a bunch of gnolls, but the problem I find with that story is A:gnolls don't do that, B: few gnolls are careful with what they steal. Just look at the goods they have after death, and C: Gnolls are not known for attacking in huge groups. I can't saying anything without sounding paranoid, so I go along with this idea.. We get to the circus tent that these textiles were stolen from, and here is the first of many mistakes I made. I made so many in fact for being a skeptic, that it makes my lack of checking in High Lunas look safer. I did not check any signs of damage for anything really. I just saw the creatures, baited one over, and a fight ensued. There was a bunch of hyenas, two giant hyenas, and a gnoll warrior. Stix got injured repeatedly from after it was a great idea to fireball the three big targets. Deliah got in the way of the big hyenas and just ate the minimal damage they dealt. Ozmir notices with the fact these were made by a conjuration spell, but we kept on fighting, because they didn't stop. All of them disappeared except for the warrior. Me and Ozmir start looking around, and we do find the secret stash of goods, and here is my second and third big mistakes. I forgot to examine the tracks leading to it, and I forgot to see based on the dust how long it might have been there, and how far away it was from the actual circus tent. We give the textiles, and she gives us clothing based on the surface thoughts we have, and then I receive a message telepathically from Ozmir stating that Sandra is definitely hiding something.. Stix decides to become Sandra's assistant for the day, but I want to grab Stix, and leave. Still I listened to Ozmir, and did nothing. Me and Leonard doubled back and went to hide in that stash where we find the textiles. At night we see 2 lizard folk and another yuan-ti quickly packing up the tent so quickly something is off. STIX! Now Stix is kidnapped, and the circus is gone. Final mistake I made here: We could have tried to follow the damn caravan, but we were too angry to do anything.. We make our way back, and it turns out it was WAY worse than either of us initially thought. Jitcwal and Cilvdzwucta were also kidnapped, and the explosives used have been destroyed. The worst part is there was, I didn't use any logic. I can't read people better than others, but I am good with puzzles and evidence. I bet if I noticed the condition of the terrain, My alert level would have been a lot higher. SANDRA SANDERSON: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You will not make a fool of me again... </blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">
=== Swallowing and Regurgitating the Facts ===
</div><blockquote>This whole thing of three people being captured and me not being to do anything about it killing me. I gave everything I could to Koro, and Gobbo, but it's still destroying me from the inside. I decided to go see if there was some work I could do to take my anger out on. Working with the scrappers didn't seem like a great idea, because I do not want to get into any more infighting. I don't like the idea in working with the Federation, but I had to pull a favor to get the information I wanted, so it's going to happen someday. I luckily found a job being offered by Lord Pavan to go check on the livestock. That sounds like a Shepherd thing, but beggars, can't be choosers. I would much making good use out of my cannon, than tinkering all day honestly. Maybe it could help me figure out how to make my spells stronger. (It did not.) My only main concern with this is I am working with new folk entirely. There's Rhogar and Syl, who I have interacted with, but it has been.... volatile to say the least. Other people that I have met for the first time are Silgr, a mountain dwarf with similar runes to Rhogars, Mizuka, a desert vulpine bard, but I am not sure which college she attended. To finish this group off, he have Voscaera, a A fighter with incomplete runes of Rhogar's and Silgr's, but she has artificer capabilities instead. I would later find out Voscaera is a Madaer, which is a person of Medusa ancestry. A little unsettling, but there was no bad blood between us. I decided to rent a horse from Dapple, because I heard it was going to be a long haul. I don't mind, but some help would be nice. My only concern I had with this gamble is I need the gold for components. Anyways he head out to check on some livestock, that I now realize could be anything.... Two days later on our travel however, we meet someone by the name of Saltique Petra. She starts reading off a bunch of names, all of which happen to be us. She tells us it's about another week, so I decided to ask for my own curiosity what kind of livestock is being kept. After a few guesses, the answer is kept ominous, so I give up on prying. Low Lunas taught me not to pry when not given on the first go. On day three of travelling we get a nasty dust storm that rolls in. I can barely see in front of me, but I managed to keep the horse calm, so I ended up with the group after it passed. This delayed it by a day, making it 8 days. It would become 9 days after a flash flood came 3 days later. I ended up losing control of the horse, and it sped off. I did my best to keep up, but I had gotten really exhausted from trying to constantly keep my footing. When I wake up the next day, any exhaustion I may have is gone, but I am alone in this harsh desert. With the extra time I have, I set up a fire, but I don't abandon it. When trying to get found, it's best to stay put. It's not like I have a direction to go find the horses, so I am sadly going to lose the deposit. Dammit. After waiting for a few hours, a group of about 6 people cross my vision. Well I'm pretty sure it's the group, but the moment I get a good look at all them, they;re fine. Oddly, Rhogar also lost his horse, so there goes like 100gp+ right there. We debated for a minute to go look for the horses, but I pointed out that we could give the demons more time to transform into other creatures. The rest of the travel will have to be on foot, but at least we only have one more day. On the final day, Saltique explains that we are first collecting some magical fruit to lure the livestock. That's easy enough for me to get and not get ambushed.. When we get there, we split up a little bit to go get as much plants as possible. Syl and I use '''Detect Magic''' to make it easier to get the plants. I manged to get my hands on Anserke, a spiny cactus that allows when made into a potion to improve our constitution for a bit. Okay well I'm not surprised a ambush is happening, but come on. This is a great spot for it. I look up to see a giant spider has jumped Syl, so I pull out the woodcarver's tools, and bring out the cannon to fire at this spider. The spider gets a bite into Syl, but that thing is a fool. Syl is a yuan-ti, so I am willing to bet he has some poison resistance. An ear piercing ring comes out to my left as Mizuka casts something above my level, but it seems to be effective, because There is screeching of another spider. Now how many of these jerks are here, and why have they not been taken care of before this? There ended being 3 other giant spiders lurking. Most of the deaths came from Rhogar just cutting through with his greataxe, along with him getting like 3 times my height. I did manage to get one satisfying kill in a one-two combo to destroy it beyond saving.. I had nothing to gain from getting a rest, but Syl could use it after getting bit multiple times. Rhogar also got injured a good amount, but it seemed Mizuka, Silgr, and Voscaera didn't get injured at all. This never lost my concentration, I go back to harvesting more plants. I manage to get another anserke, which was a little disappointing but not the end of it. I hand over the plants I got, and I was pretty impressed by our pile. Saltique mentioned it might even be enough to get the adult ones out. We head over to another area that is honestly a choke point I'm not too comfortable being in. After an hour...nothing. Then there is tiny amounts of movement underneath our bait. Saltique shakes her head which makes me concerned about how big these 'livestock' are. A huge wave of dust that comes through to my left that I was not expecting. When it settles, there is a WOIM! I'm separated because I'm not about to get clumped in a dangerous spot. Then directly ahead of me about 130ish feet away there is another wave of dust. Underneath that dust lies another woim eating these magical plants. I then see my colleagues coming down off the plateaus for an odd reason until I see three demonic things with mouths in the chest, and three husks following this woim. Perfect. one spell used later, and my cannon makes a return. Analyzing this like the nerd I am, the woims won't attack us, unless we have magic on us. That's like all of us, but the people that have a bigger issue are Rhogar and Silgr These demons has a rhino horn with a mouth next to the abdomen. the hands are long claws with a longsword, and the toes are webbed with sharp 'talons.' I got busy dealing with these abominations from a flank position while the rest of the team got in the fray.. Out main goal is this: Kill the demons before the woims eat them. Easier said than done however, since we our own member are also in danger. Slowly but surely however, these creatures fell one by one. Rhogar had gotten swallowed, but he forced the woim to regurgitate before it became a problem. Same thing happened with Silgr unsurprisingly. We got a nasty surprise when we took down a husk. A jellyfish had exited the body. So we are really dealing 9 creatures, but those need to go first. If not we could get a possessed woim which isn't great. we got rid oftwo mouth abdomen demons, and AN ADULT WOIM showed up! It nearly destroyed my cannon. It ate one of the other woim and just left leaving a massive hole. The other woim starting burrowing with a demon stuck in it, so that's not good, but there is one last jellyfish demon to take down.. It went deep into the hole. With some quick thinking seeing Rhogar down there, I use my last spell to make a burst of blue. And would you LOOK AT THAT. that jellyfish is here. Rhogar used this opportunity to smash it into the ground killing it instantly. I saw the death because the light faded on its death. Rhogar wasn't happy with Saltique's lie by omission, but I ignored that, because I needed to fix my cannon. We got paid a good amount of gold, and we left. Those husks were sadly other Shepherd members which is just lovely. As we headed back, a thought crossed my mind. Is there one grand demon orchestrating, or three? </blockquote>
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=== Bad Favors and Better Bargains ===
</div><blockquote>I knew this day was coming soon. There was supposed to be a group heading out soon, but one of them had to drop. My contact called me in and said he was calling in his favor, so I know I get to go work for the Federation.. We meet up with two Thri-kreen that appear to be twins. They aren't part of the clutch I fought earlier, but their speech was unsettling, as they would talk over one another in perfect sync. All that aside however, we were told that some dust storm had made a return from the initial invasion again. The only thing that seems to know where it is a crow by the name of Moxy. They asked us to take good care of Moxy, which I can do for 3 days’ travel, and to keep this information private. There is a leak somewhere, and no one is supposed to know there is one. Great. Another piece of information kept behind closed doors that will cause more tension.. I swear this is going to be the downfall of this place. Anyways we start following the bird along to get to where we need to. Avel decides to let Moxy onto his shoulders when it needs a rest. On the third day, we find a few birds circling a few areas. Birds often circle points of interest, and then I hear just ever so faintly some rumbling underneath us. With Avel's help, I am now invisible and decide to scout ahead. I scuff my footing really badly, and I'm pretty sure I caught its attention. Oh I guess I forgot to mention other people here. People I have worked with in the past have made a return except for one person. Draz, Avel, and Leonard made a return from our last time together investigating the mysterious disappearance, and Ozmir is also here from our last time together from dealing with Shady Shabby. No they don't derserve an honorable title. They were paid to kidnap people by the Filth Jerk's counterpart. It was nice having another person who I can communicate without saying a word to in case social interactions fail miserably. The only person I haven't worked with before is Grymos, a Duergar artificer with his own robot friend like Razzadrog.. I'm not surprised he's shorter than me, but it's still a first to work with someone smaller than me. Anyways, the birds scatter off, and all we are left with our own thoughts and this rumbling. We decide to have Grymos' bot go in first, and then the thing went offline apparently. From the previous experience those who were from this were cursed, so Avel helped us get entirely covered up from this sandstorm. Since I am still invisible I decide to scout to figure out what is going on. The slope became EXTREMELY steep, but I managed to ground myself, and avoid tumbling or making huge amounts of noise. The sheer force of this wind is hurting however as I continue to step through, so I would like to get back as soon as possible. I can barely see anything right in front of me, so I am pretty much walking blind. I eventually come upon a rough sculpture of sandstone. tracing my hands along this stone, it is so old, it's probably been here since Prehistory. I am about to return when I notice my invisibility drops. I guess they got tired of waiting, which is fair enough, because it's a long way down. We're talking a quarter mile of walking to get here. I notice however only two other people show up, which is a little worrying, but I’m sure the others are fine. I summon the cannon, and we move up the stairs to whatever this place might be. going up the steps of this structure, some creature is waiting for us, and hell breaks loose. Avel gets injured pretty badly, so he just teleports the same way I saw him do earlier. Grymos just moves in, because he's not dealing with it which is fine. I do manage to take my dagger and drag it through the wind as my cannon fires into it. It did a good chunk of damage, but it's still kicking just fine. And then I see it run. I take a quick strike opportunity and look over, to see Leonard is here along with Razzadrog. It does come back down however, and flings me into this place, and the magic here just feels right. I'll have to figure that out in a second, but there are more pressing matters. My cannon fires the creature and it can't get into this place, so I'm safe in here. I turn my attention to the two other people in here who are both hobgoblins. Avel asks them what is going on, and they imply that they are the ones causing it. I tried to reason with them that a fight wasn't necessary, but to no avail.. One of them says in goblin about Bonnet not keeping them at bay, which raises several alarm bells for me. Who is this Bonnet? What is the significance of this room, and what were they trying to cover up in here if anything? the two hobgoblins immediately turn into some demonic vulture. Now an aerial battle is in play here which isn't too big of a worry for me, but maybe not for others. These jerks are also closing their wounds relatively fast, so a heal off it is. A 5 on 2 however is not going in their favor, so we just need to keep chipping them away. Avel managed with '''Mirror Image''' up to not get hit a single time which I thought was honestly really cool. Unfortunately, my cannon got demolished, so I had to create another one to keep up with my help. With everyone piling in together, both of these demon hybrids or whatever they are fall dead. It's funny because they tried to run, but when you're surrounded like they were, you are going to get hurt badly.. Oh what is a new voice doing here? You're irritated about us ruining your plan? You can shove that comment out, because I don't care. You have been hurting others, and I'm not having it. I question this tall figure a little bit, and they reveal they are Bonnet. Bonnet turns to leave after finishing his monologue, and I attempt one more cannon shot at him, just to rub in my hatred for him. He then calls me by name threatening to kill all of us, but if he's really going to do that, don't mention your plans or whatever.. I begin the process of a ritual cast of '''Detect Magic''', while the others start examining this temple. The air creature left seeing it was in danger if it stuck around, which I didn't care for too much.. When I finish my casting, everything all of a sudden registers as all of the schools this world knows. Leylines are a funny thing, because they make the spells possible. These lines converge at certain points known as Nexuses, and here is where the fabric of reality can much more easily be warped. It hurts to honestly keep it up, so after gathering all I could, I let go of the spell.. The other people started investigating the murals on the monoliths in this room, and they were depicting an ancient lizard race that existed well before any of our time.. There was also some pteran writing scrawled along the base of the altar in here, so I got a copy of it, and have left it alone for now. On each of the four pillars there was a direction and some symbols depicting various things. The order goes as follows: North: is Mother, South is War, East is Nature, and West is: Logic. Avel and I agreed to come check this place in our free time, so that we could better understand what is going on.. I give all the information I could privately to the twins, and they tell me that the Shend are where the Hobgoblins came from. That is certainly some questions for Rhogar at another time. Now I am really confident we aren't fighting just one foe, but a few of them. A bigger problem came to mind however. The Altar had the tree the Arboretum is currently, before some blight gets rid of the leaves.. Could they use this to attack us from far away if discovered</blockquote>
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=== New Tools and Enemies Laid Out in the Bones ===
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<blockquote>What? No way I am hearing this right. Apparently the Osteomancer had reached out mentioning something about infernal weapons. I can't get my hopes up yet because this is likely going to be a challenge. I didn't plan on going, but after learning there wasn't many going in the first place, I decided to clear finish up my odd jobs so that I can be apart of this. I meetup with the others who are thankfully people I have worked with in the past. Mezz and Polvo also worked for the Osteomancer with me. Raazdrog, and Leonard had also shown up from when I worked for the Federation. We go to the Osteomancer's 'place,' and here the details are spilled. Swikedom, a kingdom infamous for the divine Blood Law that dictates the social hierarchy has some infernal weapons that need recharging. Odd that magical weapons of that sort don't regain charges on their own, but whatever. The plan is to intercept this trade route, and take them for ourselves. Normally I would be against this kind of thing, but honestly, if it means taking weapons away from people who will abuse it however, I would like less potential damage to be done. Then were all good to steal these. We get over there by some powerful conjuration magic, and we meetup with the Osteomancer's contact Eddarux near the walls of Swikedom, and explained that he knew of a secret tunnel to get us into the kingdom. Mezzi offered the idea of us being 'slaves' to get us through. I was confused until they revealed themselves to be a blue dragonborn. It seemed odd since the mouth should poke out of the mask, but I will figure it out another time. The plan pretty much goes without a hitch. We find a good choke point where they are supposed to head. I decide to scout ahead to see who were up against. when I quietly get up there. I see a drake, one purple dragonborn, and 4 black dragonborn. I don't know the significance of the purple, but they stand out and like means they're the boss of this operation. I have to rush back, if I want my temporary allies to know what's going on. I get into a relatively easy position to drop onto the group, summon the cannon and wait. I notice there is a spoon in this choke point. Is there something I'm missing about spoons. Are they like the most powerful items this realm will ever see? Whatever, I see the group approaching, and when they get into the middle of this area, Mezzi drops a false fog onto a few of them. I take advantage of this by firing the cannon into the leader, and dropping a new spell I learned.. The people in the immediate area where I dropped it cover their ears, which means it works as intended. I injured them pretty good, but the black dragonborn react fast, and they split up to target Mezzi and I. The purple one however starts flying in the air about 30ft off of the ground which is just lovely. I can't tell what happens all that well, but I watch Leonard, and Raazdrog covering their ears which is nice... The drake had rushed up to attack, but couldn't do both. With that Raazdrog, and his bot flank the drake, and start slashing it apart. Polvo had casted some spell, and nothing seems to happen to me. Mezzi had moved the fake fog onto the. soldier who now can't see them which is honestly hilarious, but I see one coming after me, so I shift my position away from the soilder, and continue to attack the purple since I'm the only one who can actually attack from range. It's funny because I watch this purple dragonborn sabotage themselves by making the drake go stupor, but all of my temporary allies resisted whatever the hell was casted. All of the soldiers fall, then the drake, but Mezzi got the coolest kill. I'm pretty sure a '''Sleep''' spell was casted because that dragonborn had plummeted, and didn't wake up. I throw up a '''Detect Magic''' to see if these folk had anything else of magic, but no luck. Mezzi however had found a small chest inside. Leonard tries to pick it a few times, but after failing. I get the chance the pick it. I scuff myself a few times, because I'm not using my potential when I have a second arm I eventually get it open, and I'm an idiot. There was a big explosion as this chest had been trapped. I get out of the away, and luckily no one else was around. so only I got injured. Still it hurt really badly, but there is something in here. There are 8 gems of sort. I use I'''dentify''' to figure out what these are, and these are the infernal weapons we were looking for.. We make out way back to Swikedom like nothing happened until we got ambushed by a bunch of people in masks. It's not even worth mentioning how this fight went other than they were a bunch of people who ran after a few deaths. This infuriated Mezzi. Apparently this wasn't the first encounter. This group did the exact same thing a few weeks ago.. We make our way back from the Osteomancer who let us keep the infernal weapons, and whatever else we got off of them. It was fair to say it was an odd occurrence that the Osteomancer put themselves out like that, but I'm not complaining. However I do not like that this hit and run scheme of attacking. New goal: The next time we face those mask people, I WILL get one of those masks. Mezzi has warned against taking one, but I wonder what these cult people have for wearing these, other than covering their face.</blockquote>
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=== Pulling Off the Masked Power ===
</div>
<blockquote>While it's not impossible to get recruited by the same person twice, it means you did a good job last time. That's the case for me and Saltique Petra who made a two week trip to come meet for hiring people. That isn't exactly the best thing, because that means it's something serious. I was sitting in a tavern listening to rumors of the woims, and it just drove me a little angry. I do nothing to sway the rumors one way or another, because it's just not worth it.They make the risk, they get the rewards. They also (or are supposed to) keep trade routes open, so targeting them has dangerous implications. Anyways, I get hired along with Avel, Razzadrog, and Leonard. I also meet a few new people I had never seen before. There is a human with some heavy armor that seems to be a samurai style. His name is Nikodemus. The other is a half orc with some light armor, and no significant weapon is visible. His name is Markandros, and he's definitely a spell caster of sorts. Were told to look for someone by the name of Vettik, and the following information needs to be kept on low. Another card being kept in the hand I swear. Only the Scrappers have been completely forthright with working together, but ends justifying the means for someone isn't exactly something I want to keep working with. Federation isn't exactly being honest either with what they know, and they told me.

We get to a small ravine that is decently deep at a glance, but also a mouth of a cave about 40-50 feet away. There's also some large boulders at the edge of the ravine, and I use that to take cover. A few others look down, and we hear a man's voice telling us to get down in there. I'm confused as to why until we hear flapping like bats coming out from the cave. Vargouilles as I would come to learn are these head demons with fanged teeth, foaming mouths, bat wings that replaces the ears, and red eyes that scream death. We drop all but two of them in two spells. One of my '''Shatter''', and Leonard's '''Fireball'''. One of the flies near us and screeches so bad that I begin to lose my sense of awareness. My speech was also scuffed horribly at that time which really sucked. The other flew down to me and gives me a kiss. I instantly realize I'm in danger, but not immediately. I got cursed by this jerk. The rest are killed when I regain my bearings, and the man climbs out of the ravine. He introduces himself as Vettik Herbert, so that's a positive. He was stuck down there in case the demons would go after him. The other people go into the mouth of the cave and discover the circle that had been used to summon these bitches, which of course is lovely. Now we gotta track them down. I tell Vettik that I had been cursed by one of them, and we all make hast towards the hideout of the Shepherds. Along the way Nikodemus offered me a blessing, which I was a little hesitant to take, but accepted in hopes of allowing me to survive longer or cure it entirely. Surprisingly the fangs and my ears recede a little. I don't say anything, and we continue out trek over. When we get to the hideout Vettik reveals the illusion rock wall that had been created, which reminded me of Low Lunas and the illusions used there. </Blockquote>
== Character Interactions ==

=== Avel ===
Avel is a man that would make even the devil think twice about risky decisions. He has many scars and even an eye patch that is covering his left eye from something. His love for performing is contagious, which didn't mind Himo since it could pull attention away. Working together several times, a small bond had formed from the dramatic changes that both had. They even went back together to a temple that Himo was only supposed to be there one time, because he was pulled in for a favor. A dark scary truth had emerged from this investigation, and Himo wasn't sure what to do with it, so he let it sit in the back of his mind. Something had changed between the two however after Mizuka's and Abraham's death. Late one night, Avel had approached Himo, and noted that Himo had a new arm and asked about it

=== Gobbo Greenskin ===
After the Conservatory was destroyed, he found Gobbo, a goblin with a robot named FR0G-GY. Gobbo mentioned he could make Himo an arm, which interested him, but that conversation was never followed up on. Gobbo also mentioned knowing where Sparkburn was, but won't elaborate on where the golem is now, which is frustrating Himo.

=== Lenore ===
Lenore was someone who Himo would have never interacted with except in a professional manner, but it took less than five minutes for the mask to come off about his certainty. Lenore is a cleric of Vela, and no one had really offered help without a clause. That sent Himo's brain into overdrive, freezing up at the kind gesture of giving a few names of those who run the Omnichapel as well as a stone of Vela

=== Rhogar Dreel ===
[[File:Rhogar Dreel.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Rhogar Dreel]]
Rhogar is part of the Federation. Himo wanted to initally join the Federation, because he often did a lot of exploitation of vices back in Lunas, but understood that organization would fall to corruption eventually. While trying to figure out the whole coordinated attack Himo managed to set his back on fire because of his obliviousness in front of Rhogar from his OWN cannon!

=== Syl Vipershade ===
Himo has lets say a rocky roller coaster of emotions with Syl. When Himo first met Syl, the interaction wasn't awful, but it didn't take long for the oblivious cracks to seep through. While trying to figure out the attack on the Arboretum, Himo burns himself in front of Syl and Rhogar... with his own cannon. Syl distanced themselves from Himo, which he didn't mind because he was too busy working on his projects. Syl noticed Himo always seems to be ready for a fight, and becomes incredibly jumpy when someone tries to affect his mind. This problem was only amplified however after Stix was captured. While hanging out with Gobbo and Syl, Himo suddenly started feeling burned in his right side despite no actual fire being nearby. Himo accidentally summoned his cannon, to which Gobbo and Syl responded by trying to grapple Himo. While Himo never ended attacking either, Himo made it known that his past he is incredibly fearful of. To Himo's surprise, Syl offered him the chance to let something off of his chest. Even though Himo declined for the moment, he did agree to meet later, and discuss it more with Syl.

=== The Scrappers ===
When Himo first arrived, he was like a ghost in the markets. He bought what he needed, and left in such a hurry, it was hard to track him down. He never really talked to people for more than 5 minutes when he finally met some of the crew of the scrappers, and they seemed to treat him with some respect, but Himo kept to themselves. After learning that were was unnecessary infighting among the Scrappers, he distanced themselves, and ultimately decided to no longer affiliate himself with it. He still does jobs for them with proper compensation, but doesn't consider himself part of that group.

== Relationships ==

=== Nyria Nilo ===

=== Celthron Nilo ===
Lady Nilo is a thin high elf with long flowing golden blond hair that is frail from the clutches of death, eyes of a deep black that show only death behind them, and a poise of confidence and dominance ruling the house that controls the Arcane Materials so well. She believes dead people are just objects that can be used for more than just laying them to rest, and tries to control people as much as possible without magic, often by threatening the used of deceased loved ones. When push comes to shove however, the gloves come off and the dead rise up on her command to destroy those who disobey. Nyria stands really short. Only 4'4" tall due to her 6th century of age creeping in on her, but the tug of life and death is just within fingertips reach. She works tirelessly to use necromancy as a means of preserving her life, but has been unsuccessful while staying within the rules of society. She wasn't a fan when Himo wanted to pursue alchemy, but the secret that she was making deals with demons for extra power proved too great to ignore. She feared that Himo would figure out the arcane knowledge to bring the secret to light, because of his resistance

=== Kynnela Nilo ===
Kynnela is the oldest sibling of the Nilo family. Himo picked up the rebellious attitude from her because she fought with her mother and father all the time. Kynnela who is 478 became a Diviner, and she questioned her past self before leaving the house. She treated Himo with the utmost disgust, and got his other sisters, and even his parents to either join in, or pretends it doesn't happen. On the occasional return to the house, Himo kept her at arms length, refusing to relive the pain that she caused. This made Kynnela bitter, and was the one to plot Himo's death, but ultimately failed. Last Himo has heard, Kynnela has left High Lunas; to where and why Himo doesn't know.

=== Mariela Nilo ===
Mariela is the second sibling of the Nilo family. Mariela is 239 years old at this point, and always had a bitter disappointment for Himo. She constantly questioned why Himo wouldn't apply himself more, and why he fought with all 5 members of this family. It's not like she was innocent either. She would sabotage Himo in any way she could since she didn't approve of her parents letting him take alchemy while she was forced into a school of magic. She chose conjuration as her school, because she preferred summoned things doing the work for her. Last Himo has heard, her bossy behavior isn't being well liked by her colleagues.

=== Tyanna Nilo ===
Tyanna is the youngest member of the Nilo family making Himo the third child. currently just 33, she made Himo's life miserable, but not by actions. She insulted him basically every time he spoke, and these comments are viscous. She often told Himo how he causes the tension for not following tradition, but refuses to acknowledge her own shortcomings. All of these insults were basically ignored by everyone, because they expected Himo to just let it go, but he simply couldn't. She doesn't realize that she is part of the reason that Himo ended up abandoning the family. There was one incident were Himo used physical force to make her panic and show her that actions have consequences, but Himo doubts it made an impact. Last Himo has heard, the coward is studying Abjuration to prevent that incident again.

=== Kamer ===
__FORCETOC__

[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Ichake Asaku

2026-01-25T03:48:49Z

MCAron: Uploaded image

{{Infobox_character|affilliation=Asaku Conclave of Dao Shinto|name={{PAGENAME}}|image=-ai-ichakepng.png|caption=A placeholder image of Ichake Asaku|relatives=None|languages=Common, Sylvan, Celestial, Abyssal, Druid|alias=Asaku of Troverth (Formal name) {{!}} 一明・朝来 (Home name)|marital=Single|birthPlace=Troverth|species=Troverthian Ursin|gender=Male|height=8'9"|weight=1,489lbs|eyes=Black}}

'''{{PAGENAME}} '''is a Level 1 [[Ursin (Player Race)|Troverthian Ursin]] Peace Cleric / Level 2 Shepherd Druid in [[Bedlam in the Badlands]]. He is played by Amia.

A wandering monk from [[Troverth Dynasty|Troverth]], he set out on his journey three years before the events of the campaign began to bring peace, harmony, and happiness with the spirits and the mortals long before he even heard mention of a demonic thread invading Pteris, which he luckily happened to be in the nearby vicinity. As scared as he may be, he sees it as the best test of his faith. After all, his ideals pull him in that direction, do they not?

== Physical Appearance ==
Describe your appearance. Eye color, height, weight, hair color, particular clothing items, scars, tattoos, etc.

== Personality ==
Ichake is incredibly reverent in every aspect in their daily life, but not to a point where

== History ==
A brief history of your character's life.

== The Story So Far ==

== Personal Hymns and Prayers ==

== Relationships==

[[Category:Player Characters]]
{{Worldbuilders}}

Lardriira'xyra

2026-01-07T06:00:02Z

MCAron: Big updates on his Personality and History. Relationships and session recaps are next

Florian

2026-01-02T04:03:14Z

MCAron: +Category:JAMathon; +Category:JAMathon 2025 using HotCat

{{Infobox_god|affilliation=None|name={{PAGENAME}}|domains=Arcana, Nature, Knowledge}}

'''{{PAGENAME}} '''is a god of Wonder and Curiosity.

== History ==
The long standing history of Florian is largely unknown, even to their own worshippers. It is said in tall tales that Florian was once a Cleric without a God, but a central ideal of childlike wonder and joy. At some point or another in history, they amassed enough power on their own to be ascended to godhood for that same central ideal.

== Worshippers ==
Worshippers of Florian refer to themselves as Comets, off of the same central shooting star motif that Florian represents. They do not question the history of Florian's ascent to godhood. In fact, a central part of their worship is coming up with new tales of how they ascended. It is a key part of the wondering and curiosity aspect of the worship.

== Wishing Stars Ceremony ==
Once a year, on the fourth day of Torustell, Comets gather into small communities and launch fireworks into the sky to imitate shooting stars. They wish upon these fireworks, wondering if there's any merit to lighting these explosives in the first place and hoping that their wishes come true.

[[Category:Deities]]
[[Category:JAMathon]]
[[Category:JAMathon 2025]]
{{Worldbuilders}}

First Light

2026-01-02T03:34:42Z

MCAron: +Category:JAMathon; +Category:JAMathon 2025 using HotCat

First Light is a CR holiday, primarily celebrated in Osugboan cities. It is a celebration of the new calendar year, where companies or influential individuals sponsor parties and galas.

=== About: ===
First Light is celebrated on the last day of the calendar year, past midnight, and into the first day of the new calendar year. It is celebrated fairly widely across Quelmar, but the largest celebrations are in Osugbo, with the most famous in Newfaire. It is celebrated with a night of partying, with large elaborate galas. Corportations, companies, or wealthy individuals will sponsor these galas, typically reserving large buildings, manors, or event spaces around the cities. They are filled with food, alcohol, and live entertainment. At some of the more prominent parties, people of importance, such as celebrities or government officials will make appearances or speeches. Attendees typically wear nice formal wear, prioritizing shine and sparkle. During the night, normally around midnight, everyone gathers outside to witness ‘First Light’ - an Aurora Borealis like phenomenon that lights up the sky. It’s often followed by fireworks, noisemakers, and other celebratory instruments.

=== History: ===
The ocular aberrations were first observed in early PR era, and was later scientifically explained as a result of the Fracturing of the Weave. The resulting magic manifests once a year when the remnants between the planes are the thinnest, resulting in the arcane energies manifesting in the visual borealis in the sky. Most people interested it as a symbol of rebirth, and going into the New Year as a ‘new person’ with different goals and motivations to work towards.

[[Category:JAMathon]]
[[Category:JAMathon 2025]]

Celebration of the Raven Queen's Ascension

2026-01-01T22:29:45Z

MCAron: added Category:JAMathon 2025 using HotCat

All Shadar-kai belong to the Raven Queen, and all Shadar-kai have a home in the shadow fell. But not all Shadar-kai worship their mother of shadow, nor do they choose to live in the hidden depths and shadow covered truths of their home realm.

Among the faithful, are many schools of thought behind the celebration of Raven Queen’s birth, or Assentation. Those who lived through what happened directly are bound to both their goddess and silence, refusing or unable to explain what they saw or experienced. It does not mean that those uninvolved in the event directly leading to her ascendance did not take notice the changes.

There was a week where there was no communication between the Goddess and her faithful. No songs from her birds, no magic cast in her name, only the shadows that allowed them to hide whilst they waited for any sign. At the end of the tenday, every church built in her honor and image was covered by Murders and Unkindness and Clamours. In their beaks the ruined sigils and icons of Nerull. The faithful have interpreted this in largely the same ways. That the goddess ascended and that the birds she used were to be known as sacred and holy messengers and to be protected. As such, no faithful Shadar-kai will willing harm a Crow, Raven or Rook, though most will refuse to harm other birds associated with death, such as buzzards or black birds in general.

The more traditional follows insist of a tenday taken largely in silence. Quiet worship only broken tending wounded birds or hatchlings. Some will write down messages, advice or even memories of those they have loved and lost. On the second to last day, they prepare a feast for themselves and the birds. Any one of the birds that eats at a plate prepared by a Shadar-kai has granted them a blessing from the Raven Queen, a chance to attach their message to the bird and it will be carried along, either to the Queen herself or to another follower who may need their words. The last day is spent cleaning and mediation over those who have been guided into the gentle hands of her Majesty and the memories they have of them. No bird flesh is eaten during this tenday celebration.

The main point of contention among worshipers is when this festival should take place in the year. The many sects of the Raven Queen can be sorted into which month they choose to have this tenday event. But as the Shadar-kai leave their mysterious plane to explore the other worlds and realms around them. Some bring home more than stories and trinkets, but customs as well. Leading to what was a solemn tradition of prayer and remembrance into a more joyful expression of faith. Well, as joyful as the Shadar-kai bring themselves to be.

A few Shadar-kai have even started traveling in carnivals. Making their living by travel the shadow fell and bringing something close to joy as they go. Inspired by martial realm traditions and games. Despite some of the more conservative sects looking down their nose at such flights of fancy. Many of the younger generations of the Shadar-kai view them as holding holy purpose, keeping joy and celebration going in the name of the Raven.

Some Shadar-kai who have moved permanently to other realms keep this tradition going but tend to prefer holding it on the cusp between seasons or when it can be ended on a solstice. The other tradition most held to is the festive food being hand pies filled with what would be luxuries in the Shadow fell, fresh meats and cheese, and if available fruits sweetened with sugar and spices. Modest in size, as it was meant to be easy to eat on the go as tending to the birds takes president over all other tasks during this week.

Although this is the only major holiday outsiders to the Raven Queen religion might recognize. These hand pie often marked with bird motifs are the hallmark treat any Shadar-kai will try to bring to a celebration. They do not often make large batches but will offer them to close friends and families and other who hold respect in the community.

[[Category:JAMathon]]
[[Category:JAMathon 2025]]

Celebration of the Raven Queen's Ascension

2026-01-01T22:29:34Z

MCAron: added Category:JAMathon using HotCat

Himo Nilo

2025-12-21T21:24:17Z

MCAron: Naming the session from 12/6/25

== '''Himo Nilo''' ==
{{Infobox character|name=Himo Nilo|image=Himo Nilo.png|caption="The right side of me should show what happens when you don't pay attention."|relatives=2 Parents, 3 Sisters|affilliation="The Chairman"|alias=Thai (Child name)|marital=Single|birthDate=37 PR|birthPlace=High Lunas|species=Elf (High)|height=4'10"|weight=94 lbs.}}

'''Himo''' is a High Elf Rogue/Artillerist that has experienced both the rich and poor side of Lunas. He wanted to visit the Arboretum to modify existing equipment he has, but he never really left until he heard from his contacts in the Arboretum that demon incursions were ramping up. Carrying only what he could quickly pack, he left for the Arboretum with his bag that contains only essentials. He has a habit of checking anything that might look "suspicious" but doesn't really know what might be suspicious.
== Description ==
Himo is a young elf shining with bronze skin with black freckles, Short copper hair that is decently trimmed and eyes that sparkle gold when they catch the light. you would find him like he was a gem in a mine because of the reflection he often carries. He doesn't seem to carry anything with him except maybe a small backpack over A rapier and dagger on his left hip and short sword on his right hip respectively, hang and some tools hanging off of his belt. He wears light reinforced leather armor with a somewhat heavy desert cloak that shines a little in the light. When you peer past the cloak however, you notice two very big change to him that he tries to hide as best as he can. The first one is he really only has half of his hair left. The right side of him looks like he has black char that curls up around the face and neck that has been there for quite some time. The second is he occasionally has no right arm. anything that might have been there is gone, and watching him, he sways a little bit to the left and right as if he can't seem to keep himself balanced. A new projects have shown up on his person. There was a rack where the shoulder would be is a semi circle with a hole cut out of the center, and an arc cut out inside the semi circle. It was only partially done, but it seems to have been scrapped. The second gadget that he has on him at all times, is a disc launcher that fires out coins. Both of these are woodworking projects with small mechanical parts to make them work.

== Manners ==
Himo has a nervous tick carried wherever he goes. If you asked, he would say something along the lines of in a deep graveled voice of not being too careful wherever he goes, but refuses to follow up on why. The eyes seem to look for particular things, but never what is around him. Arcane is of great interest for him, but explosives are not that far off the priority. Often times, random junk that no one has used for some time goes missing, but if you saw him with the junk and asked why, the lips tighten hard. He then usually keeps to himself the rest of the day or two unless it's to discuss plans for missions or logistics. His past is guarded more securely that a vault door with enhanced locks, but the impact of it can easily be seen if he has a PTSD episode. This usually logical, crafty, upbeat personality, snaps faster than a string on a trap, changing him to an aggressive, fearful, volatile person. His hand always seems close to his dagger like he is waiting for a fight to occur. It's hard to tell if you have earned his trust or whether he sees the alliance as one time. On missions of any kind, Himo will tend to find to get out of sight when possible of his teammates, but is always around when trouble strikes. With the death of two people he worked and interacted with, things changed.
<blockquote>"I guess I was wrong. Every slight, every lie, every betrayal. I knew it went nowhere, which is why I never did it myself. Trust however, I simply couldn't rebuild it. It was selfish, and I knew it, but betrayal honestly hit really hard. I especially was sure I couldn't after Lenore almost influenced my mind. The first person who showed me kindness without ever expecting a repay. Yet why do so many people hate the fact I only see one time alliances? Why does it matter to them if I hold up my end of the deal? What do they really want from me while working on these missions? I have everything to lose in trust with a huge benefit. I've gotten something wrong. My logic has a fallacy somewhere. I know that promise to talk about my past is still something Syl can call on at any moment. I will not hide any details, but I also don't want any sympathy. After all, my actions in part led me to the problem I have now. Trust is a scary concept for me. I have some deeply unsettling information when I went back to the temple with Avel.. What will happen when I finally spill the guts of what truly happened? Will I be killed, exiled, belittled?. I must have a heart somewhere, because Gloria told me how surprised she was that I gave a fuck about those who died. I need.... I need someone to talk to. Maybe I've held this in too long.. If I want to protect people, I can't let my distrust. I have to change if I want to be more effective. I don't mind if people still don't trust who I was, but I need to do this for myself. I have the intelligence, the dexterity, now with my fake arm, and the grit to push through failure. I'm missing the why. Why am I doing this? People expect me not to care, but I do. Why do I need to rebuild a sense of trust, and what do I am to do here in the Arboretum?"</blockquote>

== Background ==
Himo was born to a wealthy mage family in High Lunas. They expected him to follow that same tradition, and while he was interested in magic wasn't the most interesting thing to him as physical tasks. Still they made him either take lessons or leave this family. He negotiated to learn alchemy to understand the materials used in spellcasting.

He started to go to the Low Lunas in secret claiming private tutoring sessions when really he got into contact with the local criminal rings to learn skills from their side. He chose to learn lockpicking for his profession and was quite skilled at it. He also refined his careful hand movement to mimic letters. He balanced this double life of learning alchemy by day and learning to pick locks by night. When he went to Lower Lunas, he would bring stories of breaking into homes, taking specific materials and leaving without a trace. by the time they would try to track him down, he would be in the shadows trying to outlast the location spells used to find him. he often had to dump the stolen materials to prevent being caught. This went on for years. he wrote detailed notes about alchemy and his parents were thought he was being an obedient son. One night while learning complicated formulas to show to his parents, he was finally caught by the guards and he was sentenced to death. while in prison, he managed to convince the guards to give him 2 lodestones. He took those lodestones and mended the broken thieves tools that he was hiding in his clothing. This lock however was never supposed to be picked. It had been magically enhanced but he the night to make that happen. He picked the lock and sneaked out and into the Lower Lunas in 102 PR just as the sun was rising.

He excelled in picking locks as a freelancer. If the guild provided sanctuary based on how difficult the lock was, that locked was picked. He became infamous in rings because no lock was safe from him. Booby trapped to Arcane Lock, most locks were not safe from him. Only locks that were sophisticated with an Arcane Lock would he have a hard time picking and often failed at those, but those were few and far for High Lunas. In various guilds, he learned various weapons that he now always with him because he doesn't want to get into a scrap unarmed. He often had a habit of inspecting areas where people invited him never trusting anyone fully. His reputations grew so much that he found himself often travelling to other places to check out security systems. This took the pressure off of him because he could really inspect area he couldn't before. He learned to pickpocket, sneak around, scale buildings and practice his skills of picking locks. He tried to get an honest job in the town of Rwendia but his reputation followed him everywhere. He did odd jobs around places, pick locks here, mend broken stuff back together, and come along with other criminals to look out for traps. The people he often worked under were brutal. They would insult him behind his back, mess up him picking the locks, broke his stuff and moved him around often and lied to him where he was

He started for fun re-learning magic. Make graffiti with magic here, an odor there. This terrified the guilds because he was becoming what he swore he would never do and feared he would turn on him next. His mentor Jumad told him that no one will want someone unreliable if he chooses this path. He continued in spite of their disapproval and learned how to make a bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus. The only person he told this to was his best friend Kamer who supported him in getting new materials. One day while hiding out in the DwaleVale, he received a letter of a formal apology from his family asking him to come back. He eagerly accepted and made his way over. His contacts warned him they were up to no good and were looking for vengeance for bringing shame to the family name. When he got there they magically influenced him to open a complicated safe lock without checking the area. BOOOM!!! A massive explosion covered him from right to left, debris flying every where and scraping by on life. The family were stewing in their loss of the son when his eldest sister, Nylo gave the idea to blow him up in a public execution. That letter he found, was trapped to get him to come whether he wanted to or not. In the chaos, someone in his family had planted one more bomb to take him out. he survived, barely, but lost his right arm in the explosion. He lost everything; everything but his skills, his life and his resolve to fix this. At DAGR (Determined Assassins, Grifters, and Rogues) he received word that they needed people to fix broken things and make them better. he spent the next 6 months fighting for his life, and those 6 months were in a daze. He often found himself in a new place about every month. When finally had the strength to move comfortably, he took essentials and ran for his life in 134 PR, because no matter what he did his family was coming for him and he needed to defend himself.

== Languages ==
Himo knew elvish and common just from listening to his family, but he learned goblin when he would hang around goblins were trying to have a private conversation, not realizing Himo taught himself that from listening to them

== Character information ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |1 Rogue/5 Artificer
|-
|AC 16
|HP 39
|DC 14
|-
|Str 13
|Dex 18
|Con 13
|-
|Int 16
|Wis 10
|Cha 12
|}

=== '''Proficiencies''' ===
Himo is a man of many skills that involve getting around where he needs to in some way. He effectively shows he can get around super quietly, lift or plant things in someone's pocket, has great athletic abilities, and knows how to spot the difference between 2 identical objects. If asked about anything arcane, he has great knowledge of what it is, what the purpose is, and what the process of creating might have looked like. He also seems to have some tools on his belt. Specifically woodcarver's tools are always on his belt, but he has also shown a good deal of knowledge on making mechanical parts with tinker tools, making concoctions with alchemist supplies, and what he is most well known for; picking locks, and disabling traps

=== High elf Abilities ===
* Cantrip (Mending)
* Darkvision
* Elf Weapon Training
* Extra Language (Goblin)
* Fey Ancestry
* Keen Senses
* Trance

=== Rogue Features ===

* Expertise: Stealth, Thieves Tools
* Sneak attack (1d6)
* Thieves’ Cant

=== Artificer Abilities ===

* Infuse Item (bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus)
* Magical Tinkering
* Spellcasting
* Ritual Casting
* Eldritch Cannon
** Force Balista
** Flamethrower
** Protector
* Arcane Firearm

=== Feat: ===
Alert

== Himo's Story ==
<div style="text-align: center;">
=== New Place, New Identity, and a New Dream ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been roughly 8 months since I came here to the Arboretum and very little people know I am actually here. Kamer got me in contact with The Chairman when I got here and it has been hell being around all of these explosive materials. every big explosion sends me back a year when an attempt was made on my life. I trust absolutely NO ONE here because I have been looked down on because of a missing arm. Petty theft was the only way I survived. I was so busy about survival that I didn't realize that Raegina was hiring to make robots until The Chairman sent me a letter telling me '''[[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs|Raegina]]''' was looking for people to recruit for the Scrappers. I collected scraps from grand shoplifting, hid out for four months to wait out people looking for men, then I moved swiftly to the junkyard. My goal is to go back to High Lunas and exact revenge on my parents and sisters who left me in this state I am. I barely remember the explosion or the constant shifting of places because I was so out of it. The people here seem nice enough but I am just waiting for them to betray each other. When I got to the junkyard, I was appalled to see the size of these robots, and the amount of people that came was a little much for me.

When Raegina mocked many of us for having many broken and chipped off parts, I just rolled my eyes because I knew if there as anything she was trying to hide in a safe, I could find that safe without getting caught. In Low Lunas I was known as the Magic Pick because I couldn't be trapped, nor were most locks safe from me. I do need teammates however so I kept my moth shut and just listened. The amount of artificers that were there was astonishing. A tiefling had infused armor, and a goblin had a small automaton with them. But by far the most unique “living” thing saw was a doll that could think for itself. It turns out to test our skills, we would fight Grind, Smash and Cleave, 3 golems with interesting weapon choices. I got excited when I learned that we would be fighting the golems because that meant I could sneak out parts I needed for projects. One of said projects was increasing the throwing range of Thunder Rumble because I have to be relatively close to make good use of it. While fighting, one got destroyed, and it burst into flames. The heat sent me back to the explosion that back at High Lunas, where I almost lost my life. We dispatched the rest and Raegina was impressed enough to let us scrap the robots. So much for trying to do things discreetly... But I haven't really talked with people yet. After scrapping the robots, we split up into two teams. I got paired with [[Stix]] and [[Raazdrog]] which was fine. I can modify my parts and they add theirs, and I saw this as more of a fun project. After all, I like explosive confusion. But it's not like I could focus because I was so nervous with Grind blowing me to bits, I was accidentally disassembling Grind. I was trying to make the saw arm move more fluidly, and trying to add scraps of metal I had in my bag, but I fumbled hard there. It was so embarrassing, because everyone else manage to buff it in some way but not me. I wanted to leave so badly because of that, but I ended up staying in spite of it. I would be throwing away probably my only real opportunity to getting out of the slums like my family expected me to stay. To my surprise Raegina gave each of us 10 gp to bet on the improved robots as to who would win. This was huge to me! This was really the first time someone handed me something without expecting anything in return. I decided to risk all of that money and bet most of it on Grind, and then I had an Idea. I decided to rename Grind to Sparkburn, which Stix and Raazdrog liked a lot. Raazdrog and I got the idea to give Sparkburn a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." and I added "Feel the spark. Feel the burn." Now I really didn't care if we won or lost because I considered this a finished project. Out team ended up winning and I walked away with triple what I put into it. I was ecstatic not only because I won a bet, which I rarely take, but the funds could be used to get the tools I need for projects. That excitement was short-lived however because a horn coming from the Arboretum indicating it was under attack. I hopped on the war rig and we moved to the Arboretum.

Getting towards a entrance root of the Arboretum, a sudden crash hits the war rig and all of us go flying off of it. pieces of the damaged rig flew out and a large skeletal elephant collapsed next to the war rig. I wasn't paying attention because I was sketching my newest tool to assist me. I was thrown hard, losing my sketch to the winds and barely landed standing up, and my vision blacked out for a second. Metal was warping and bending in all the wrong ways and snaps echoed throughout the valley and then silence. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew this was an ambush. Footsteps on the dessert sand was coming from multiple directions, Sparks were flying off of the rig, The screeching of tires spinning out, shoe rubber flaking off the boots I put together with mending, and hearing many colleagues scrape against the dusty ground. When the dust cleared I saw green goo blobs moving towards us, and I heard something angry moving towards us. Pustuloids, Capra demons, and Lesser Rage demons were there. To give me some distance, I climbed the war rig, but as I was climbing, it felt like the floor was falling out from me and nearly fell off. Climbing up I saw roughly 10 Pustuloids, a few lesser rage demons, and a Capra. My team managed to keep hold of a choke point and so I threw my dagger at the Capra repeatedly, but I also noticed Sparkburn, covering our backside. This was great, because the Pustuloids exploded on death with Sparkburn unaffected. Raegina tells me to get off even though I just got on. I wanted to argue because I had a good position of the battle but whatever.You know that rig aint safe from me snagging a few pieces. The fight isn't going in our favor right now, because Raazdrog's steel defender, crashes to the ground in combat, unmoving by the Capra. While this fight is going on, I see a figure moving behind us, but it doesn't look like an ambush. It's a half elf holding a rapier and an instrument; most likely a bard. One by one however, the demons fell starting with the pustuloids. Leftover goo seeping into the ground before turning to ash. Two booms ring out as the lesser rage demons and the Capra are thrown back. Delaia, who has been soaking hits for us, takes the opportunity to get out after that which I don't blame. It didn't look like he was going to stand much longer to be honest. The spells seemed to come from the bard and Delaia, so we have another ally. Good because most of us are spent on resources. We kill all the demons and after a quick introduction, the bard's name is [[Leonard]], and she heard the commotion. She healed Deliaia a significant amount, and Deliaia looks ready to take on another fight. After moving this elephant which turned out to be an Olliphant off of the root, we prepared to charge up only for a wave of energy to come down upon us. There was no point to going up anymore... The Conservatory has been destroyed. There goes many projects that have been put on hold. It's not like I made progress on the parts I needed for Sizzle but still frustrating. Oh crap! More demons of the same types are coming down, and I should have seen this coming. We dispatch the ones that combated us, and the streets fall silent around us....

After the invasion ended, leaders were talking about uniting "not just to fight against the demons, but also to build alliances" or something like that. The thing is, I can only rely on one thing when partnership is formed: people are looking out for themselves. Unless someone can prove they are trustworthy, I will not be in a permanent alliance. That's how I survived Low Lunas; Ally with someone only until the necessity no longer remains. </blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Absent Memories ===
</div>
<blockquote>
A few days go by and Sir Anthony is holding a funeral for the lives lost, when I got approached by Jerbo, a gnome arcanist. He was hiring people to track down why the Kobolds attacked. I agreed but stressed, I needed some help. After getting a few others, and some quick introductions we made our way to Dapple, a satry who rents out horses. I put down the deposit and we made our way over. Oh I should mention who is here because I will be a narcissist otherwise. We have Mezzi who I have never seen take off their mask, Polvo a Air Genasi that had an encounter with death apparently, Diana a human who has a lizard like robot that follows her everywhere, Dallas a mouse I have never seen before but seems like a cool fellow, and Davin a halfling with a longbow, with a trophies on his person.

It takes a little more than two days to get there and along the way, we found a dog in a campsite that was left not long ago. I make an alarm in case people came back while I was within a mile, but I got no signal. When we get to the Osteomancer, their abode is in the ground with sand covering a trapdoor. I volunteer to go planning to be sneaky, but I forgot not everyone can see in the dark as well as I can, because Mezzi lit a torch when we all got down. When we met the Osteomancer, I can only describe what is a elephant person like three feet taller than me with big elephant ears, an elephant trunk and overall a build that could lift more than me with two arms. We were trading a favor for a favor. The Osteomancer's favor was removing a tower that was made of Absence which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I can go along with it. Apparently, when creatures are near said tower, they lose their Identities. Davin beat to the question of how are we going to protect ourselves, so that was nice. I was given a scroll and a black egg to crush when I start to read the scroll that should seal this wound. Another detail that was mentioned was the structure could only be seen through reflections.

We get to the tower, it looked like someone lived inside a crazy home. The outside can't be seen, but when you go inside, it is a ghost white. there was also a spot of complete silence, so I move myself there, crushethe egg and begin reading the scroll. A ghost that looks like he owns the place along with lights that surround us entirely. I placed down, my cannon to give me some cover while the rest of the group combat the lights. I watched my colleagues lose their ability to speak coherently while fighting them. I was blessed with something, but I couldn't tell you what it as but it seems to help me fight this ghost who was trying to make me vanish. As the fight moves on, less lights were attacking, but I can't tell you why. After nearly completing it, I was tired of the things attacking and unleash an ear piercing ring out towards the ghost, along with the nearby lights, which injure the lights a lot more than anticipated. I finish reading, and the entire place began to collapse around us. Which is unfortunate, because I wanted to get parts I need for project. I have to will myself out with Mezzi's help, but luckily everyone got out.

When we get back to the Osteomancer, we learn that when kobolds want to get rid of the Divine Blood law, they make deals with other creatures; in this case demons. This group was led by Snizz the Fortunate, but that group was dead when other people killed the kobolds. It ended with a warning "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free." Confused, I said nothing and headed back for the horses that have been tied up. We went to check up on the dog, and it's still there and there is no sign of return, so we left for the Arboretum. This information is given to Jerbo, but I am still suspicious of hat will happen if someone does make a deal with a devil.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Sinking the Filth and My Feelings ===
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<blockquote>It's been a week since I saw that tower of that "absence" and I am ready to finish what I started or go to the Omnichapel for advice on Vela. I know, I get distracted easily, but I cannot for any reason leave a stone unturned for any reason in case it comes to bite me back later. I left Lunas on some pretty bad terms, both with my family for obvious reasons, but also the Thieve's guilds with relearning the one thing I swore off of. That mistake of saying I will not learn more things about a specific topic was so far my worst one yet. Anyone could come for me for any reason, and I need to be ready for when I get jumped. Today luckily is not one of those days, because a new job offering has appeared who's handwriting is more crude than a thieve's messy handwriting. Baftzmyr as I later found out put up the sign about a giant demon stuck in the sand, and it needed to be killed. Cool, I can just fire with my cannon and it will eventually die if it can't get out. When I get there, I see some new faces, but also a handful of familiar ones. Stix and Razzdrog are here, but among the new ones we have Steady Dee, a tabaxi who wears some unusually heavy armor comparatively that have some runes on it that appear to be of a giant origin, but I guess whatever floats your boat. Koro, an Air Genasi that wears some monk robes, who can't seem to make up his mind when it comes to allegiances, and Ozmir, a tiefling that has powers I have never seen before, but curious as to how they will work. Baftzmyr explains that scout demons have been circling around looking around for a way to get out the great demon. The plan was simple; locate the scouts, follow them, and kill the great demon. Now that follows, but it's under the sand. What is Baftzmyr's plan to expose the demon? I don't know. All I know is I can sneak up on it, and rain cannon fire down where it can't see me. Ozmir who can apparently track creatures really well, starts following a set made not long ago. Along the path, a heatwave catches me completely off guard, and I feel more sluggish than before. Great, now I won't be able to hide nearly as easy I have before, but I am with a group. We get right on top the scout and it pops out ready to attack. It would have died in two hits, if Sparkburn didn't have a weapon infused with fire. Wait! I forgot to mention Sparkburn is with us! Gobbo, I will find you later and confront you for remaining silent. It didn't matter however, because melee attacks are still effective. After that one dies, Stix along with a few others spot three more running from away, and we continue to follow. After a few more hours of travel, we come across some quicksand that is quaking. Quicksand isn't supposed to do that on a large scale; this is where the great demon is. Baftzmyr pulls what appears to be an origami pig that is coated in a layer of wax. It looks like the pig was boiled alive, but I am not one to judge. Stix volunteers to carry to bomb, and all I can say to that is... Ok never mind. This doll, husk? I don't know what it's made of, but regardless, the bomb is carried to it's destination. More importantly however, Stix makes it out unscathed. Maybe Stix has a ratio of strength similar to that of an ant. Ants proportionally can carry more weight to their body mass. Koro and I peek over, and WHAT IS THIS FOR A DEMON!? A cage for a face with a flame inside of it and some kind of disc neck to keep the sand out of the face or something. We give out teammates that knowing look, and the rest of the team gets to work. Raazdrog and MK-2 setup an anti flank position for us on the right as well as making the demon glittery. Steady Dee also sets up an anti flank position for us on the right side as well as growing to giant. With this enlarged form Steady throws a handaxe that lands square in the "face" of the great demon but not as effective as it should have hit . Stix is firing blasts of green energy which makes me think a deal was involved for this power. Koro using the bow pierces the demon with the same problem as Steady, and I am throwing a dagger, firing a cannon, and backing up, because I have no interest in falling in the quicksand and next to this abomination. That caused a different problem however which was I opened the line for more of the scouts to come attack Koro and Ozmir. I planned to fix this by booming them back into it, but that will backfire spectacularly when Koro kills one of the scouts, and stayed within the line of fire. It was also a good thing that I moved out, because the sand started moving out from everyone's feet who were close to the edge. Steady and MK-2 fell in and hell broke loose, literally. I didn't see what happened but the next thing I know, Koro willingly jumps into the pit and now Steady is floating in the air about 20ft. Why that is happening, I couldn't tell you, but Steady was bleeding out and needed help soon. Baftzmyr uttered some word and Steady is conscious again. I go to help Ozmir, because currently 3 scouts are surrounding her, which aint cool. I drive my dagger into a scout's death, and the sand is still moving out from under us, but I can keep myself steady. Raazdrog on the other hand wasn't so lucky and also managed to fall in next to the demon. Things are going fine right now. The great demon is getting whacked by are melee fighters and the people up here in the sand are holding off the scouts just fine. Oh no. My worst fear has come true; this demon will explode on death. I am not going to be around that. I can stabilize those who take the brunt of the explosion. At least, that was my original plan if Koro didn't fall to the giant claws of this demon. I am not ready to lose a colleague here, so I jump down, run to Koro, heal him just enough to get him conscious again and prep for another round of attacks against this creature. Maybe it was better however that I couldn't keep myself steady this time and I was buried in the sand. Not wanting to be stuck in here, I used my last spell to blast out, but that didn't work. Later I learned that I had injured Koro, and Steady who were both super hurt by it, but the worst part was I didn't even get out with that. I got burned, but not by much comparatively to other people who got the full brunt. Stix stabilized Koro, and Raazdrog healed Steady and then Koro. It honestly surprised me that everyone made it out alive. We got our gold, and I moved on because I don't know how much I can trust the Scrappers when working with a Fiend. Working with criminals is bad enough, but trying to work with a creature from the underworld seems like a death sentence.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Old Technology, and Fights ===
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<blockquote>It's been a few days since hunting the Baron of Filth or whatever in the Nine Hells this creature is, and I finished the sketching for my tool arm. I don't have a name for it, but I know the name will come at the end when I finish the project. I should really get some paper however, because each time I sketch it, it's in the sand. I lose it very easily, and often times restart like some mime performing the same trick. I was ready to go buy the materials when I am stopped by Gnash, a half orc who means business. If I had a counterpart, it would be her. Why? because the entire left side of her face is char black. Besides that she needs people to track down some missing people. They have been gone 2 days and she hates mystery. Some other people that get recruited were Leonard, Mezzi, The Scarlet Shadow, Raazdrog, and Avel. I think it's worth mentioning that we have 3 musically inclined, which I don't I have ever been apart of. We are told to look for a carcass of a long dead giant worm, and the distant mountain Tol'Viral on are way to Drywater. Jerbo reads off a scroll and we turn to mist, and boy can we MOVE! With this enhanced movement, met up with Kaleen, a desert vulpine druid who knew of our mission. We got two scrolls. I recognize these and as '''Animal Messenger''' and '''Locate object''' spells. If anything goes wrong we are told to give movement on where they are headed and in how long.. The '''Locate Object''' however is to find a silver bullet the group left behind.. Seems odd, but hey maybe they do that elsewhere to mark where they were. We don't need either however, because Scarlet knows this place like the back of his hand. Apparently the blue dragonborn, and the thri-kreen hate each other enough to capture, but not kill him, which I find very funny. Anyways, he finds tracks of about a dozen thri-kreen. Following them, they reduce to about 4 tracks that were left behind, and end abruptly. Still Scarlet picks up where they began again and we continue to follow. We are moving with the wind while following the tracks, so it was very easy to actually catch up to the thri-kreen Scarlet was following. When I get the chance to look at them, and it looks likes an ant that grew a spine, a brain along with gaining lots of lower insect strength. The color of the shell also seems to be blending in better with the surrounding enviorment, which I wish I could get my hands on that. We transformed into ourselves again, and decided instead of attacking, to talk to them since they might have some useful information regarding the people we are trying to find. I was confused about the execution, until I learned Scarlet could actually communicate with them. Upon seeing us, the group shows off their mandibles, and claws. Scarlet attempts to parley with the clutch but to no avail, since he could speak the language of clack clickers. Before you judge me, that's what I heard. As we got closer, they became blurry and hard to track their position. I recognize this as a '''Blur''' spell. I am about to make them shiny when Raazdrog beats me to that idea. Only one of them got affected however, but there is one idea I have. Some spells you can't put together because you have to think about the actual spell. '''Blur''' happens to be one of those spells, so I plan to attack in a flank or hit them with spells, they have to resist. I summon the cannon, and get to work. They start by swarming Raazdrog, but since only a few attacks hit, they turned the attention to me. They also don't get many hits in, but one did strike me good. A 6 on 4 however doesn't end well for them, and that part of the clutch falls one by one to us swarming them. We leave the corpses behind and continue on our journey to finding the people who went missing. I was honestly expecting more of a fight with how many tracks we say, but hey I'll save some of my resources for later. We get to a dune structure with a very small tunnel with 2 Federation members dead. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a fight broke out here about a day ago, There is a tunnel about 5ft wide, so it's time for a single file line. I go first, after my cannon, so that less people will be affected by any traps that may come. Well dam right I was because my cannon snapped a tripwire leading to a bunch of some decent size rocks they could fit in the ceiling tumble out. I get out of the way get fine, but I couldn't move my cannon, and it get's dented pretty badly from the trap set. Lesson learned; check for traps in a small area like this. I just realized my experience from Low Lunas has been lacking faster than what happened the last time I was in High Lunas. I start examining the area up ahead, and would you look at that; another trap.. It takes me less than 10 seconds to permanently disable the trap however, so no issues there. Continuing to check for traps, I find no more, and I see a room, probably about 40 feet by 30 feet, and there is a decent amount of light in here that seems to be pretty bright. When we get to the maw of this room, I can just barely see to left some kind of rig, but oh come on. Really? A weapon pointed in my face with 2 people standing a few feet away from the arch. From the little I can see, this appears temporary, but I first need to talk to these people.. I told them that we are here to find you. We were sent by Gnash, and got here with the help of Jerbo. Why there are 2 dead Federation members outside this cave, I have a better idea now. AVEL WHY!? I might have been going somewhere with the conversation, but then you decide to teleport behind them and attack? Fine, Seeing this I spring into action, and start to attack the person who drew their weapon at me. Rude, but fine a fight you want? A fight you will get. I blast the cannon into the shin of the guy, and take that opportunity to throw my dagger into his skull, which works out great because that is one less person we have to deal with. Raazdrog, Mk-2, and Scarlet move into the room and attack some of the nearby henchmen. that happen to be near the doorway so less occupancy there. Avel takes this opportunity to corner the leader in a one on one duel. Unhappy with me dropping her main bodyguard, she leaves the duel with Avel, and decides to attack me instead, with a reach weapon. Dammit, my cannon was in the way, but that didn't matter for this dumb weapon. The lightning and fire hurts pretty bad, but I am still here... Then the dork leaves me alone to go get into a 3v1. I think something is being plotted, because they moved away from me, almost like something had a higher priority. Leonard seeing me greatly injured me heals my immediate wounds, which is nice, because I want to help my teamates, but I can't do that with almost being taken out of the fight. There is 3 other henchmen here, so I direct my cannon to fire at one who was next to Avel as I stick my knife into their side for a well thrown shot.. Mezzi managed to released a held spell, after Avel forced the enemy into Mezzi's line of sight. It didn't have any effect, but the more people closer to the leader, the better.. The leader in a desperate move, went to the rig, and pushed a few buttons, and got ready to run., getting slashed, by Raazdrog Mk-2, Scarlet, and Avel.. I now realize what this is; an infernal enhancement. NOW I WANT THAT! this would speed up my projects by who know how long, and I would earn a lot of favor from Raegina.. This person clearly has connections to the Scrappers, which now irritates me, because we are fighting within our own group, but I know I don't have the tongue to get everyone to stop fighting. We managed to get the Tiefling leader to start running, but by that point, the fight was over. I used this opportunity to try and disable this infernal enhancement, but to no avail. It starts burning me... This rig can't be disabled, from a self destruction button, but I have to keep going. I'm getting burned and then I see it; I can get out, where I couldn't before. I will not give up my own life to figure this out. This is my choice now, not some magic that was used on me. I run out with the rest of the group to hear a big explosion ring out. I managed to get some materials out from the rig, but it's now useless... I spend some time with this tiefling who's name is Velza. Apparently her and Raegina have been locking horns because this rig should have come back to the junkyard, There was incursions here that the local tribe could use help with that rig that is now gone. The solution was spiteful and honestly stupid, and as much as I would have loved to get her off the hook, I want to be able to use these tools for good, not just because of a word of law.. I'm not sure how much longer I will be with the Scrappers because of this incident... If all Raegina cares about is this problem of demons within Pteris no matter the cost, desperation will make people do some insane things all trying to better the future for themselves/children with the destruction left behind.The end NEVER EVER for any reason, justifies the means.</blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Logic Lacking and Large Lies ===
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<blockquote>Oh Where do I begin with this incident that I am still beating myself in the head over? I guess I will start with the fact that some Yuan-ti runs into town screaming about someone has stolen all of her textiles and they are very expensive. I put my guard up, because I don't trust people who make a big show like that, but I don't see any odd behavior. Some other people that notice the commotion are Deliah, a teifling with some well enhanced armor, Leonard a half elf, who was first and last person to surprise me with someone else coming, Ozmir and Stix making a return from that nasty Baron, Ozmir is also a teifling, with some unique psionic blades, which looks really cool, and Stix is the doll that roams the Arboretum. I recently learned Stix has a "friend" that speaks to them, which is kind of unsettling, I am now wondering who is puppeteering this doll, when it's likely a god.. The last person I did not mention was Ollie, a ranger who has a pet frog.. The Yuan-ti's name is Sandra Sanderson, and she needed help recovering textiles that were expensive. They were stolen by a bunch of gnolls, but the problem I find with that story is A:gnolls don't do that, B: few gnolls are careful with what they steal. Just look at the goods they have after death, and C: Gnolls are not known for attacking in huge groups. I can't saying anything without sounding paranoid, so I go along with this idea.. We get to the circus tent that these textiles were stolen from, and here is the first of many mistakes I made. I made so many in fact for being a skeptic, that it makes my lack of checking in High Lunas look safer. I did not check any signs of damage for anything really. I just saw the creatures, baited one over, and a fight ensued. There was a bunch of hyenas, two giant hyenas, and a gnoll warrior. Stix got injured repeatedly from after it was a great idea to fireball the three big targets. Deliah got in the way of the big hyenas and just ate the minimal damage they dealt. Ozmir notices with the fact these were made by a conjuration spell, but we kept on fighting, because they didn't stop. All of them disappeared except for the warrior. Me and Ozmir start looking around, and we do find the secret stash of goods, and here is my second and third big mistakes. I forgot to examine the tracks leading to it, and I forgot to see based on the dust how long it might have been there, and how far away it was from the actual circus tent. We give the textiles, and she gives us clothing based on the surface thoughts we have, and then I receive a message telepathically from Ozmir stating that Sandra is definitely hiding something.. Stix decides to become Sandra's assistant for the day, but I want to grab Stix, and leave. Still I listened to Ozmir, and did nothing. Me and Leonard doubled back and went to hide in that stash where we find the textiles. At night we see 2 lizard folk and another yuan-ti quickly packing up the tent so quickly something is off. STIX! Now Stix is kidnapped, and the circus is gone. Final mistake I made here: We could have tried to follow the damn caravan, but we were too angry to do anything.. We make our way back, and it turns out it was WAY worse than either of us initially thought. Jitcwal and Cilvdzwucta were also kidnapped, and the explosives used have been destroyed. The worst part is there was, I didn't use any logic. I can't read people better than others, but I am good with puzzles and evidence. I bet if I noticed the condition of the terrain, My alert level would have been a lot higher. SANDRA SANDERSON: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You will not make a fool of me again... </blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">
=== Swallowing and Regurgitating the Facts ===
</div><blockquote>This whole thing of three people being captured and me not being to do anything about it killing me. I gave everything I could to Koro, and Gobbo, but it's still destroying me from the inside. I decided to go see if there was some work I could do to take my anger out on. Working with the scrappers didn't seem like a great idea, because I do not want to get into any more infighting. I don't like the idea in working with the Federation, but I had to pull a favor to get the information I wanted, so it's going to happen someday. I luckily found a job being offered by Lord Pavan to go check on the livestock. That sounds like a Shepherd thing, but beggars, can't be choosers. I would much making good use out of my cannon, than tinkering all day honestly. Maybe it could help me figure out how to make my spells stronger. (It did not.) My only main concern with this is I am working with new folk entirely. There's Rhogar and Syl, who I have interacted with, but it has been.... volatile to say the least. Other people that I have met for the first time are Silgr, a mountain dwarf with similar runes to Rhogars, Mizuka, a desert vulpine bard, but I am not sure which college she attended. To finish this group off, he have Voscaera, a A fighter with incomplete runes of Rhogar's and Silgr's, but she has artificer capabilities instead. I would later find out Voscaera is a Madaer, which is a person of Medusa ancestry. A little unsettling, but there was no bad blood between us. I decided to rent a horse from Dapple, because I heard it was going to be a long haul. I don't mind, but some help would be nice. My only concern I had with this gamble is I need the gold for components. Anyways he head out to check on some livestock, that I now realize could be anything.... Two days later on our travel however, we meet someone by the name of Saltique Petra. She starts reading off a bunch of names, all of which happen to be us. She tells us it's about another week, so I decided to ask for my own curiosity what kind of livestock is being kept. After a few guesses, the answer is kept ominous, so I give up on prying. Low Lunas taught me not to pry when not given on the first go. On day three of travelling we get a nasty dust storm that rolls in. I can barely see in front of me, but I managed to keep the horse calm, so I ended up with the group after it passed. This delayed it by a day, making it 8 days. It would become 9 days after a flash flood came 3 days later. I ended up losing control of the horse, and it sped off. I did my best to keep up, but I had gotten really exhausted from trying to constantly keep my footing. When I wake up the next day, any exhaustion I may have is gone, but I am alone in this harsh desert. With the extra time I have, I set up a fire, but I don't abandon it. When trying to get found, it's best to stay put. It's not like I have a direction to go find the horses, so I am sadly going to lose the deposit. Dammit. After waiting for a few hours, a group of about 6 people cross my vision. Well I'm pretty sure it's the group, but the moment I get a good look at all them, they;re fine. Oddly, Rhogar also lost his horse, so there goes like 100gp+ right there. We debated for a minute to go look for the horses, but I pointed out that we could give the demons more time to transform into other creatures. The rest of the travel will have to be on foot, but at least we only have one more day. On the final day, Saltique explains that we are first collecting some magical fruit to lure the livestock. That's easy enough for me to get and not get ambushed.. When we get there, we split up a little bit to go get as much plants as possible. Syl and I use '''Detect Magic''' to make it easier to get the plants. I manged to get my hands on Anserke, a spiny cactus that allows when made into a potion to improve our constitution for a bit. Okay well I'm not surprised a ambush is happening, but come on. This is a great spot for it. I look up to see a giant spider has jumped Syl, so I pull out the woodcarver's tools, and bring out the cannon to fire at this spider. The spider gets a bite into Syl, but that thing is a fool. Syl is a yuan-ti, so I am willing to bet he has some poison resistance. An ear piercing ring comes out to my left as Mizuka casts something above my level, but it seems to be effective, because There is screeching of another spider. Now how many of these jerks are here, and why have they not been taken care of before this? There ended being 3 other giant spiders lurking. Most of the deaths came from Rhogar just cutting through with his greataxe, along with him getting like 3 times my height. I did manage to get one satisfying kill in a one-two combo to destroy it beyond saving.. I had nothing to gain from getting a rest, but Syl could use it after getting bit multiple times. Rhogar also got injured a good amount, but it seemed Mizuka, Silgr, and Voscaera didn't get injured at all. This never lost my concentration, I go back to harvesting more plants. I manage to get another anserke, which was a little disappointing but not the end of it. I hand over the plants I got, and I was pretty impressed by our pile. Saltique mentioned it might even be enough to get the adult ones out. We head over to another area that is honestly a choke point I'm not too comfortable being in. After an hour...nothing. Then there is tiny amounts of movement underneath our bait. Saltique shakes her head which makes me concerned about how big these 'livestock' are. A huge wave of dust that comes through to my left that I was not expecting. When it settles, there is a WOIM! I'm separated because I'm not about to get clumped in a dangerous spot. Then directly ahead of me about 130ish feet away there is another wave of dust. Underneath that dust lies another woim eating these magical plants. I then see my colleagues coming down off the plateaus for an odd reason until I see three demonic things with mouths in the chest, and three husks following this woim. Perfect. one spell used later, and my cannon makes a return. Analyzing this like the nerd I am, the woims won't attack us, unless we have magic on us. That's like all of us, but the people that have a bigger issue are Rhogar and Silgr These demons has a rhino horn with a mouth next to the abdomen. the hands are long claws with a longsword, and the toes are webbed with sharp 'talons.' I got busy dealing with these abominations from a flank position while the rest of the team got in the fray.. Out main goal is this: Kill the demons before the woims eat them. Easier said than done however, since we our own member are also in danger. Slowly but surely however, these creatures fell one by one. Rhogar had gotten swallowed, but he forced the woim to regurgitate before it became a problem. Same thing happened with Silgr unsurprisingly. We got a nasty surprise when we took down a husk. A jellyfish had exited the body. So we are really dealing 9 creatures, but those need to go first. If not we could get a possessed woim which isn't great. we got rid oftwo mouth abdomen demons, and AN ADULT WOIM showed up! It nearly destroyed my cannon. It ate one of the other woim and just left leaving a massive hole. The other woim starting burrowing with a demon stuck in it, so that's not good, but there is one last jellyfish demon to take down.. It went deep into the hole. With some quick thinking seeing Rhogar down there, I use my last spell to make a burst of blue. And would you LOOK AT THAT. that jellyfish is here. Rhogar used this opportunity to smash it into the ground killing it instantly. I saw the death because the light faded on its death. Rhogar wasn't happy with Saltique's lie by omission, but I ignored that, because I needed to fix my cannon. We got paid a good amount of gold, and we left. Those husks were sadly other Shepherd members which is just lovely. As we headed back, a thought crossed my mind. Is there one grand demon orchestrating, or three? </blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Bad Favors and Better Bargains ===
</div><blockquote>I knew this day was coming soon. There was supposed to be a group heading out soon, but one of them had to drop. My contact called me in and said he was calling in his favor, so I know I get to go work for the Federation.. We meet up with two Thri-kreen that appear to be twins. They aren't part of the clutch I fought earlier, but their speech was unsettling, as they would talk over one another in perfect sync. All that aside however, we were told that some dust storm had made a return from the initial invasion again. The only thing that seems to know where it is a crow by the name of Moxy. They asked us to take good care of Moxy, which I can do for 3 days’ travel, and to keep this information private. There is a leak somewhere, and no one is supposed to know there is one. Great. Another piece of information kept behind closed doors that will cause more tension.. I swear this is going to be the downfall of this place. Anyways we start following the bird along to get to where we need to. Avel decides to let Moxy onto his shoulders when it needs a rest. On the third day, we find a few birds circling a few areas. Birds often circle points of interest, and then I hear just ever so faintly some rumbling underneath us. With Avel's help, I am now invisible and decide to scout ahead. I scuff my footing really badly, and I'm pretty sure I caught its attention. Oh I guess I forgot to mention other people here. People I have worked with in the past have made a return except for one person. Draz, Avel, and Leonard made a return from our last time together investigating the mysterious disappearance, and Ozmir is also here from our last time together from dealing with Shady Shabby. No they don't derserve an honorable title. They were paid to kidnap people by the Filth Jerk's counterpart. It was nice having another person who I can communicate without saying a word to in case social interactions fail miserably. The only person I haven't worked with before is Grymos, a Duergar artificer with his own robot friend like Razzadrog.. I'm not surprised he's shorter than me, but it's still a first to work with someone smaller than me. Anyways, the birds scatter off, and all we are left with our own thoughts and this rumbling. We decide to have Grymos' bot go in first, and then the thing went offline apparently. From the previous experience those who were from this were cursed, so Avel helped us get entirely covered up from this sandstorm. Since I am still invisible I decide to scout to figure out what is going on. The slope became EXTREMELY steep, but I managed to ground myself, and avoid tumbling or making huge amounts of noise. The sheer force of this wind is hurting however as I continue to step through, so I would like to get back as soon as possible. I can barely see anything right in front of me, so I am pretty much walking blind. I eventually come upon a rough sculpture of sandstone. tracing my hands along this stone, it is so old, it's probably been here since Prehistory. I am about to return when I notice my invisibility drops. I guess they got tired of waiting, which is fair enough, because it's a long way down. We're talking a quarter mile of walking to get here. I notice however only two other people show up, which is a little worrying, but I’m sure the others are fine. I summon the cannon, and we move up the stairs to whatever this place might be. going up the steps of this structure, some creature is waiting for us, and hell breaks loose. Avel gets injured pretty badly, so he just teleports the same way I saw him do earlier. Grymos just moves in, because he's not dealing with it which is fine. I do manage to take my dagger and drag it through the wind as my cannon fires into it. It did a good chunk of damage, but it's still kicking just fine. And then I see it run. I take a quick strike opportunity and look over, to see Leonard is here along with Razzadrog. It does come back down however, and flings me into this place, and the magic here just feels right. I'll have to figure that out in a second, but there are more pressing matters. My cannon fires the creature and it can't get into this place, so I'm safe in here. I turn my attention to the two other people in here who are both hobgoblins. Avel asks them what is going on, and they imply that they are the ones causing it. I tried to reason with them that a fight wasn't necessary, but to no avail.. One of them says in goblin about Bonnet not keeping them at bay, which raises several alarm bells for me. Who is this Bonnet? What is the significance of this room, and what were they trying to cover up in here if anything? the two hobgoblins immediately turn into some demonic vulture. Now an aerial battle is in play here which isn't too big of a worry for me, but maybe not for others. These jerks are also closing their wounds relatively fast, so a heal off it is. A 5 on 2 however is not going in their favor, so we just need to keep chipping them away. Avel managed with '''Mirror Image''' up to not get hit a single time which I thought was honestly really cool. Unfortunately, my cannon got demolished, so I had to create another one to keep up with my help. With everyone piling in together, both of these demon hybrids or whatever they are fall dead. It's funny because they tried to run, but when you're surrounded like they were, you are going to get hurt badly.. Oh what is a new voice doing here? You're irritated about us ruining your plan? You can shove that comment out, because I don't care. You have been hurting others, and I'm not having it. I question this tall figure a little bit, and they reveal they are Bonnet. Bonnet turns to leave after finishing his monologue, and I attempt one more cannon shot at him, just to rub in my hatred for him. He then calls me by name threatening to kill all of us, but if he's really going to do that, don't mention your plans or whatever.. I begin the process of a ritual cast of '''Detect Magic''', while the others start examining this temple. The air creature left seeing it was in danger if it stuck around, which I didn't care for too much.. When I finish my casting, everything all of a sudden registers as all of the schools this world knows. Leylines are a funny thing, because they make the spells possible. These lines converge at certain points known as Nexuses, and here is where the fabric of reality can much more easily be warped. It hurts to honestly keep it up, so after gathering all I could, I let go of the spell.. The other people started investigating the murals on the monoliths in this room, and they were depicting an ancient lizard race that existed well before any of our time.. There was also some pteran writing scrawled along the base of the altar in here, so I got a copy of it, and have left it alone for now. On each of the four pillars there was a direction and some symbols depicting various things. The order goes as follows: North: is Mother, South is War, East is Nature, and West is: Logic. Avel and I agreed to come check this place in our free time, so that we could better understand what is going on.. I give all the information I could privately to the twins, and they tell me that the Shend are where the Hobgoblins came from. That is certainly some questions for Rhogar at another time. Now I am really confident we aren't fighting just one foe, but a few of them. A bigger problem came to mind however. The Altar had the tree the Arboretum is currently, before some blight gets rid of the leaves.. Could they use this to attack us from far away if discovered</blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== New Tools and Enemies Laid Out in the Bones ===
</div>
<blockquote>What? No way I am hearing this right. Apparently the Osteomancer had reached out mentioning something about infernal weapons. I can't get my hopes up yet because this is likely going to be a challenge. I didn't plan on going, but after learning there wasn't many going in the first place, I decided to clear finish up my odd jobs so that I can be apart of this. I meetup with the others who are thankfully people I have worked with in the past. Mezz and Polvo also worked for the Osteomancer with me. Raazdrog, and Leonard had also shown up from when I worked for the Federation. We go to the Osteomancer's 'place,' and here the details are spilled. Swikedom, a kingdom infamous for the divine Blood Law that dictates the social hierarchy has some infernal weapons that need recharging. Odd that magical weapons of that sort don't regain charges on their own, but whatever. The plan is to intercept this trade route, and take them for ourselves. Normally I would be against this kind of thing, but honestly, if it means taking weapons away from people who will abuse it however, I would like less potential damage to be done. Then were all good to steal these. We get over there by some powerful conjuration magic, and we meetup with the Osteomancer's contact Eddarux near the walls of Swikedom, and explained that he knew of a secret tunnel to get us into the kingdom. Mezzi offered the idea of us being 'slaves' to get us through. I was confused until they revealed themselves to be a blue dragonborn. It seemed odd since the mouth should poke out of the mask, but I will figure it out another time. The plan pretty much goes without a hitch. We find a good choke point where they are supposed to head. I decide to scout ahead to see who were up against. when I quietly get up there. I see a drake, one purple dragonborn, and 4 black dragonborn. I don't know the significance of the purple, but they stand out and like means they're the boss of this operation. I have to rush back, if I want my temporary allies to know what's going on. I get into a relatively easy position to drop onto the group, summon the cannon and wait. I notice there is a spoon in this choke point. Is there something I'm missing about spoons. Are they like the most powerful items this realm will ever see? Whatever, I see the group approaching, and when they get into the middle of this area, Mezzi drops a false fog onto a few of them. I take advantage of this by firing the cannon into the leader, and dropping a new spell I learned.. The people in the immediate area where I dropped it cover their ears, which means it works as intended. I injured them pretty good, but the black dragonborn react fast, and they split up to target Mezzi and I. The purple one however starts flying in the air about 30ft off of the ground which is just lovely. I can't tell what happens all that well, but I watch Leonard, and Raazdrog covering their ears which is nice... The drake had rushed up to attack, but couldn't do both. With that Raazdrog, and his bot flank the drake, and start slashing it apart. Polvo had casted some spell, and nothing seems to happen to me. Mezzi had moved the fake fog onto the. soldier who now can't see them which is honestly hilarious, but I see one coming after me, so I shift my position away from the soilder, and continue to attack the purple since I'm the only one who can actually attack from range. It's funny because I watch this purple dragonborn sabotage themselves by making the drake go stupor, but all of my temporary allies resisted whatever the hell was casted. All of the soldiers fall, then the drake, but Mezzi got the coolest kill. I'm pretty sure a '''Sleep''' spell was casted because that dragonborn had plummeted, and didn't wake up. I throw up a '''Detect Magic''' to see if these folk had anything else of magic, but no luck. Mezzi however had found a small chest inside. Leonard tries to pick it a few times, but after failing. I get the chance the pick it. I scuff myself a few times, because I'm not using my potential when I have a second arm I eventually get it open, and I'm an idiot. There was a big explosion as this chest had been trapped. I get out of the away, and luckily no one else was around. so only I got injured. Still it hurt really badly, but there is something in here. There are 8 gems of sort. I use I'''dentify''' to figure out what these are, and these are the infernal weapons we were looking for.. We make out way back to Swikedom like nothing happened until we got ambushed by a bunch of people in masks. It's not even worth mentioning how this fight went other than they were a bunch of people who ran after a few deaths. This infuriated Mezzi. Apparently this wasn't the first encounter. This group did the exact same thing a few weeks ago.. We make our way back from the Osteomancer who let us keep the infernal weapons, and whatever else we got off of them. It was fair to say it was an odd occurrence that the Osteomancer put themselves out like that, but I'm not complaining. However I do not like that this hit and run scheme of attacking. New goal: The next time we face those mask people, I WILL get one of those masks. Mezzi has warned against taking one, but I wonder what these cult people have for wearing these, other than covering their face. </blockquote>
== Character Interactions ==

=== Avel ===
Avel is a man that would make even the devil think twice about risky decisions. He has many scars and even an eye patch that is covering his left eye from something. His love for performing is contagious, which didn't mind Himo since it could pull attention away. Working together several times, a small bond had formed from the dramatic changes that both had. They even went back together to a temple that Himo was only supposed to be there one time, because he was pulled in for a favor. A dark scary truth had emerged from this investigation, and Himo wasn't sure what to do with it, so he let it sit in the back of his mind. Something had changed between the two however after Mizuka's and Abraham's death. Late one night, Avel had approached Himo, and noted that Himo had a new arm and asked about it

=== Gobbo Greenskin ===
After the Conservatory was destroyed, he found Gobbo, a goblin with a robot named FR0G-GY. Gobbo mentioned he could make Himo an arm, which interested him, but that conversation was never followed up on. Gobbo also mentioned knowing where Sparkburn was, but won't elaborate on where the golem is now, which is frustrating Himo.

=== Lenore ===
Lenore was someone who Himo would have never interacted with except in a professional manner, but it took less than five minutes for the mask to come off about his certainty. Lenore is a cleric of Vela, and no one had really offered help without a clause. That sent Himo's brain into overdrive, freezing up at the kind gesture of giving a few names of those who run the Omnichapel as well as a stone of Vela

=== Rhogar Dreel ===
[[File:Rhogar Dreel.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Rhogar Dreel]]
Rhogar is part of the Federation. Himo wanted to initally join the Federation, because he often did a lot of exploitation of vices back in Lunas, but understood that organization would fall to corruption eventually. While trying to figure out the whole coordinated attack Himo managed to set his back on fire because of his obliviousness in front of Rhogar from his OWN cannon!

=== Syl Vipershade ===
Himo has lets say a rocky roller coaster of emotions with Syl. When Himo first met Syl, the interaction wasn't awful, but it didn't take long for the oblivious cracks to seep through. While trying to figure out the attack on the Arboretum, Himo burns himself in front of Syl and Rhogar... with his own cannon. Syl distanced themselves from Himo, which he didn't mind because he was too busy working on his projects. Syl noticed Himo always seems to be ready for a fight, and becomes incredibly jumpy when someone tries to affect his mind. This problem was only amplified however after Stix was captured. While hanging out with Gobbo and Syl, Himo suddenly started feeling burned in his right side despite no actual fire being nearby. Himo accidentally summoned his cannon, to which Gobbo and Syl responded by trying to grapple Himo. While Himo never ended attacking either, Himo made it known that his past he is incredibly fearful of. To Himo's surprise, Syl offered him the chance to let something off of his chest. Even though Himo declined for the moment, he did agree to meet later, and discuss it more with Syl.

=== The Scrappers ===
When Himo first arrived, he was like a ghost in the markets. He bought what he needed, and left in such a hurry, it was hard to track him down. He never really talked to people for more than 5 minutes when he finally met some of the crew of the scrappers, and they seemed to treat him with some respect, but Himo kept to themselves. After learning that were was unnecessary infighting among the Scrappers, he distanced themselves, and ultimately decided to no longer affiliate himself with it. He still does jobs for them with proper compensation, but doesn't consider himself part of that group.

== Relationships ==

=== Nyria Nilo ===

=== Celthron Nilo ===
Lady Nilo is a thin high elf with long flowing golden blond hair that is frail from the clutches of death, eyes of a deep black that show only death behind them, and a poise of confidence and dominance ruling the house that controls the Arcane Materials so well. She believes dead people are just objects that can be used for more than just laying them to rest, and tries to control people as much as possible without magic, often by threatening the used of deceased loved ones. When push comes to shove however, the gloves come off and the dead rise up on her command to destroy those who disobey. Nyria stands really short. Only 4'4" tall due to her 6th century of age creeping in on her, but the tug of life and death is just within fingertips reach. She works tirelessly to use necromancy as a means of preserving her life, but has been unsuccessful while staying within the rules of society. She wasn't a fan when Himo wanted to pursue alchemy, but the secret that she was making deals with demons for extra power proved too great to ignore. She feared that Himo would figure out the arcane knowledge to bring the secret to light, because of his resistance

=== Kynnela Nilo ===
Kynnela is the oldest sibling of the Nilo family. Himo picked up the rebellious attitude from her because she fought with her mother and father all the time. Kynnela who is 478 became a Diviner, and she questioned her past self before leaving the house. She treated Himo with the utmost disgust, and got his other sisters, and even his parents to either join in, or pretends it doesn't happen. On the occasional return to the house, Himo kept her at arms length, refusing to relive the pain that she caused. This made Kynnela bitter, and was the one to plot Himo's death, but ultimately failed. Last Himo has heard, Kynnela has left High Lunas; to where and why Himo doesn't know.

=== Mariela Nilo ===
Mariela is the second sibling of the Nilo family. Mariela is 239 years old at this point, and always had a bitter disappointment for Himo. She constantly questioned why Himo wouldn't apply himself more, and why he fought with all 5 members of this family. It's not like she was innocent either. She would sabotage Himo in any way she could since she didn't approve of her parents letting him take alchemy while she was forced into a school of magic. She chose conjuration as her school, because she preferred summoned things doing the work for her. Last Himo has heard, her bossy behavior isn't being well liked by her colleagues.

=== Tyanna Nilo ===
Tyanna is the youngest member of the Nilo family making Himo the third child. currently just 33, she made Himo's life miserable, but not by actions. She insulted him basically every time he spoke, and these comments are viscous. She often told Himo how he causes the tension for not following tradition, but refuses to acknowledge her own shortcomings. All of these insults were basically ignored by everyone, because they expected Himo to just let it go, but he simply couldn't. She doesn't realize that she is part of the reason that Himo ended up abandoning the family. There was one incident were Himo used physical force to make her panic and show her that actions have consequences, but Himo doubts it made an impact. Last Himo has heard, the coward is studying Abjuration to prevent that incident again.

=== Kamer ===
__FORCETOC__

[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Himo Nilo

2025-12-12T07:48:38Z

MCAron: Added Avel to interactions (still needs more), added his reaction to the deaths, and the session from 12/6/25

== '''Himo Nilo''' ==
{{Infobox character|name=Himo Nilo|image=Himo Nilo.png|caption="The right side of me should show what happens when you don't pay attention."|relatives=2 Parents, 3 Sisters|affilliation="The Chairman"|alias=Thai (Child name)|marital=Single|birthDate=37 PR|birthPlace=High Lunas|species=Elf (High)|height=4'10"|weight=94 lbs.}}

'''Himo''' is a High Elf Rogue/Artillerist that has experienced both the rich and poor side of Lunas. He wanted to visit the Arboretum to modify existing equipment he has, but he never really left until he heard from his contacts in the Arboretum that demon incursions were ramping up. Carrying only what he could quickly pack, he left for the Arboretum with his bag that contains only essentials. He has a habit of checking anything that might look "suspicious" but doesn't really know what might be suspicious.
== Description ==
Himo is a young elf shining with bronze skin with black freckles, Short copper hair that is decently trimmed and eyes that sparkle gold when they catch the light. you would find him like he was a gem in a mine because of the reflection he often carries. He doesn't seem to carry anything with him except maybe a small backpack over A rapier and dagger on his left hip and short sword on his right hip respectively, hang and some tools hanging off of his belt. He wears light reinforced leather armor with a somewhat heavy desert cloak that shines a little in the light. When you peer past the cloak however, you notice two very big change to him that he tries to hide as best as he can. The first one is he really only has half of his hair left. The right side of him looks like he has black char that curls up around the face and neck that has been there for quite some time. The second is he occasionally has no right arm. anything that might have been there is gone, and watching him, he sways a little bit to the left and right as if he can't seem to keep himself balanced. A new projects have shown up on his person. There was a rack where the shoulder would be is a semi circle with a hole cut out of the center, and an arc cut out inside the semi circle. It was only partially done, but it seems to have been scrapped. The second gadget that he has on him at all times, is a disc launcher that fires out coins. Both of these are woodworking projects with small mechanical parts to make them work.

== Manners ==
Himo has a nervous tick carried wherever he goes. If you asked, he would say something along the lines of in a deep graveled voice of not being too careful wherever he goes, but refuses to follow up on why. The eyes seem to look for particular things, but never what is around him. Arcane is of great interest for him, but explosives are not that far off the priority. Often times, random junk that no one has used for some time goes missing, but if you saw him with the junk and asked why, the lips tighten hard. He then usually keeps to himself the rest of the day or two unless it's to discuss plans for missions or logistics. His past is guarded more securely that a vault door with enhanced locks, but the impact of it can easily be seen if he has a PTSD episode. This usually logical, crafty, upbeat personality, snaps faster than a string on a trap, changing him to an aggressive, fearful, volatile person. His hand always seems close to his dagger like he is waiting for a fight to occur. It's hard to tell if you have earned his trust or whether he sees the alliance as one time. On missions of any kind, Himo will tend to find to get out of sight when possible of his teammates, but is always around when trouble strikes. With the death of two people he worked and interacted with, things changed.
<blockquote>"I guess I was wrong. Every slight, every lie, every betrayal. I knew it went nowhere, which is why I never did it myself. Trust however, I simply couldn't rebuild it. It was selfish, and I knew it, but betrayal honestly hit really hard. I especially was sure I couldn't after Lenore almost influenced my mind. The first person who showed me kindness without ever expecting a repay. Yet why do so many people hate the fact I only see one time alliances? Why does it matter to them if I hold up my end of the deal? What do they really want from me while working on these missions? I have everything to lose in trust with a huge benefit. I've gotten something wrong. My logic has a fallacy somewhere. I know that promise to talk about my past is still something Syl can call on at any moment. I will not hide any details, but I also don't want any sympathy. After all, my actions in part led me to the problem I have now. Trust is a scary concept for me. I have some deeply unsettling information when I went back to the temple with Avel.. What will happen when I finally spill the guts of what truly happened? Will I be killed, exiled, belittled?. I must have a heart somewhere, because Gloria told me how surprised she was that I gave a fuck about those who died. I need.... I need someone to talk to. Maybe I've held this in too long.. If I want to protect people, I can't let my distrust. I have to change if I want to be more effective. I don't mind if people still don't trust who I was, but I need to do this for myself. I have the intelligence, the dexterity, now with my fake arm, and the grit to push through failure. I'm missing the why. Why am I doing this? People expect me not to care, but I do. Why do I need to rebuild a sense of trust, and what do I am to do here in the Arboretum?"</blockquote>

== Background ==
Himo was born to a wealthy mage family in High Lunas. They expected him to follow that same tradition, and while he was interested in magic wasn't the most interesting thing to him as physical tasks. Still they made him either take lessons or leave this family. He negotiated to learn alchemy to understand the materials used in spellcasting.

He started to go to the Low Lunas in secret claiming private tutoring sessions when really he got into contact with the local criminal rings to learn skills from their side. He chose to learn lockpicking for his profession and was quite skilled at it. He also refined his careful hand movement to mimic letters. He balanced this double life of learning alchemy by day and learning to pick locks by night. When he went to Lower Lunas, he would bring stories of breaking into homes, taking specific materials and leaving without a trace. by the time they would try to track him down, he would be in the shadows trying to outlast the location spells used to find him. he often had to dump the stolen materials to prevent being caught. This went on for years. he wrote detailed notes about alchemy and his parents were thought he was being an obedient son. One night while learning complicated formulas to show to his parents, he was finally caught by the guards and he was sentenced to death. while in prison, he managed to convince the guards to give him 2 lodestones. He took those lodestones and mended the broken thieves tools that he was hiding in his clothing. This lock however was never supposed to be picked. It had been magically enhanced but he the night to make that happen. He picked the lock and sneaked out and into the Lower Lunas in 102 PR just as the sun was rising.

He excelled in picking locks as a freelancer. If the guild provided sanctuary based on how difficult the lock was, that locked was picked. He became infamous in rings because no lock was safe from him. Booby trapped to Arcane Lock, most locks were not safe from him. Only locks that were sophisticated with an Arcane Lock would he have a hard time picking and often failed at those, but those were few and far for High Lunas. In various guilds, he learned various weapons that he now always with him because he doesn't want to get into a scrap unarmed. He often had a habit of inspecting areas where people invited him never trusting anyone fully. His reputations grew so much that he found himself often travelling to other places to check out security systems. This took the pressure off of him because he could really inspect area he couldn't before. He learned to pickpocket, sneak around, scale buildings and practice his skills of picking locks. He tried to get an honest job in the town of Rwendia but his reputation followed him everywhere. He did odd jobs around places, pick locks here, mend broken stuff back together, and come along with other criminals to look out for traps. The people he often worked under were brutal. They would insult him behind his back, mess up him picking the locks, broke his stuff and moved him around often and lied to him where he was

He started for fun re-learning magic. Make graffiti with magic here, an odor there. This terrified the guilds because he was becoming what he swore he would never do and feared he would turn on him next. His mentor Jumad told him that no one will want someone unreliable if he chooses this path. He continued in spite of their disapproval and learned how to make a bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus. The only person he told this to was his best friend Kamer who supported him in getting new materials. One day while hiding out in the DwaleVale, he received a letter of a formal apology from his family asking him to come back. He eagerly accepted and made his way over. His contacts warned him they were up to no good and were looking for vengeance for bringing shame to the family name. When he got there they magically influenced him to open a complicated safe lock without checking the area. BOOOM!!! A massive explosion covered him from right to left, debris flying every where and scraping by on life. The family were stewing in their loss of the son when his eldest sister, Nylo gave the idea to blow him up in a public execution. That letter he found, was trapped to get him to come whether he wanted to or not. In the chaos, someone in his family had planted one more bomb to take him out. he survived, barely, but lost his right arm in the explosion. He lost everything; everything but his skills, his life and his resolve to fix this. At DAGR (Determined Assassins, Grifters, and Rogues) he received word that they needed people to fix broken things and make them better. he spent the next 6 months fighting for his life, and those 6 months were in a daze. He often found himself in a new place about every month. When finally had the strength to move comfortably, he took essentials and ran for his life in 134 PR, because no matter what he did his family was coming for him and he needed to defend himself.

== Languages ==
Himo knew elvish and common just from listening to his family, but he learned goblin when he would hang around goblins were trying to have a private conversation, not realizing Himo taught himself that from listening to them

== Character information ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |1 Rogue/5 Artificer
|-
|AC 16
|HP 39
|DC 14
|-
|Str 13
|Dex 18
|Con 13
|-
|Int 16
|Wis 10
|Cha 12
|}

=== '''Proficiencies''' ===
Himo is a man of many skills that involve getting around where he needs to in some way. He effectively shows he can get around super quietly, lift or plant things in someone's pocket, has great athletic abilities, and knows how to spot the difference between 2 identical objects. If asked about anything arcane, he has great knowledge of what it is, what the purpose is, and what the process of creating might have looked like. He also seems to have some tools on his belt. Specifically woodcarver's tools are always on his belt, but he has also shown a good deal of knowledge on making mechanical parts with tinker tools, making concoctions with alchemist supplies, and what he is most well known for; picking locks, and disabling traps

=== High elf Abilities ===
* Cantrip (Mending)
* Darkvision
* Elf Weapon Training
* Extra Language (Goblin)
* Fey Ancestry
* Keen Senses
* Trance

=== Rogue Features ===

* Expertise: Stealth, Thieves Tools
* Sneak attack (1d6)
* Thieves’ Cant

=== Artificer Abilities ===

* Infuse Item (bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus)
* Magical Tinkering
* Spellcasting
* Ritual Casting
* Eldritch Cannon
** Force Balista
** Flamethrower
** Protector
* Arcane Firearm

=== Feat: ===
Alert

== Himo's Story ==
<div style="text-align: center;">
=== New Place, New Identity, and a New Dream ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been roughly 8 months since I came here to the Arboretum and very little people know I am actually here. Kamer got me in contact with The Chairman when I got here and it has been hell being around all of these explosive materials. every big explosion sends me back a year when an attempt was made on my life. I trust absolutely NO ONE here because I have been looked down on because of a missing arm. Petty theft was the only way I survived. I was so busy about survival that I didn't realize that Raegina was hiring to make robots until The Chairman sent me a letter telling me '''[[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs|Raegina]]''' was looking for people to recruit for the Scrappers. I collected scraps from grand shoplifting, hid out for four months to wait out people looking for men, then I moved swiftly to the junkyard. My goal is to go back to High Lunas and exact revenge on my parents and sisters who left me in this state I am. I barely remember the explosion or the constant shifting of places because I was so out of it. The people here seem nice enough but I am just waiting for them to betray each other. When I got to the junkyard, I was appalled to see the size of these robots, and the amount of people that came was a little much for me.

When Raegina mocked many of us for having many broken and chipped off parts, I just rolled my eyes because I knew if there as anything she was trying to hide in a safe, I could find that safe without getting caught. In Low Lunas I was known as the Magic Pick because I couldn't be trapped, nor were most locks safe from me. I do need teammates however so I kept my moth shut and just listened. The amount of artificers that were there was astonishing. A tiefling had infused armor, and a goblin had a small automaton with them. But by far the most unique “living” thing saw was a doll that could think for itself. It turns out to test our skills, we would fight Grind, Smash and Cleave, 3 golems with interesting weapon choices. I got excited when I learned that we would be fighting the golems because that meant I could sneak out parts I needed for projects. One of said projects was increasing the throwing range of Thunder Rumble because I have to be relatively close to make good use of it. While fighting, one got destroyed, and it burst into flames. The heat sent me back to the explosion that back at High Lunas, where I almost lost my life. We dispatched the rest and Raegina was impressed enough to let us scrap the robots. So much for trying to do things discreetly... But I haven't really talked with people yet. After scrapping the robots, we split up into two teams. I got paired with [[Stix]] and [[Raazdrog]] which was fine. I can modify my parts and they add theirs, and I saw this as more of a fun project. After all, I like explosive confusion. But it's not like I could focus because I was so nervous with Grind blowing me to bits, I was accidentally disassembling Grind. I was trying to make the saw arm move more fluidly, and trying to add scraps of metal I had in my bag, but I fumbled hard there. It was so embarrassing, because everyone else manage to buff it in some way but not me. I wanted to leave so badly because of that, but I ended up staying in spite of it. I would be throwing away probably my only real opportunity to getting out of the slums like my family expected me to stay. To my surprise Raegina gave each of us 10 gp to bet on the improved robots as to who would win. This was huge to me! This was really the first time someone handed me something without expecting anything in return. I decided to risk all of that money and bet most of it on Grind, and then I had an Idea. I decided to rename Grind to Sparkburn, which Stix and Raazdrog liked a lot. Raazdrog and I got the idea to give Sparkburn a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." and I added "Feel the spark. Feel the burn." Now I really didn't care if we won or lost because I considered this a finished project. Out team ended up winning and I walked away with triple what I put into it. I was ecstatic not only because I won a bet, which I rarely take, but the funds could be used to get the tools I need for projects. That excitement was short-lived however because a horn coming from the Arboretum indicating it was under attack. I hopped on the war rig and we moved to the Arboretum.

Getting towards a entrance root of the Arboretum, a sudden crash hits the war rig and all of us go flying off of it. pieces of the damaged rig flew out and a large skeletal elephant collapsed next to the war rig. I wasn't paying attention because I was sketching my newest tool to assist me. I was thrown hard, losing my sketch to the winds and barely landed standing up, and my vision blacked out for a second. Metal was warping and bending in all the wrong ways and snaps echoed throughout the valley and then silence. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew this was an ambush. Footsteps on the dessert sand was coming from multiple directions, Sparks were flying off of the rig, The screeching of tires spinning out, shoe rubber flaking off the boots I put together with mending, and hearing many colleagues scrape against the dusty ground. When the dust cleared I saw green goo blobs moving towards us, and I heard something angry moving towards us. Pustuloids, Capra demons, and Lesser Rage demons were there. To give me some distance, I climbed the war rig, but as I was climbing, it felt like the floor was falling out from me and nearly fell off. Climbing up I saw roughly 10 Pustuloids, a few lesser rage demons, and a Capra. My team managed to keep hold of a choke point and so I threw my dagger at the Capra repeatedly, but I also noticed Sparkburn, covering our backside. This was great, because the Pustuloids exploded on death with Sparkburn unaffected. Raegina tells me to get off even though I just got on. I wanted to argue because I had a good position of the battle but whatever.You know that rig aint safe from me snagging a few pieces. The fight isn't going in our favor right now, because Raazdrog's steel defender, crashes to the ground in combat, unmoving by the Capra. While this fight is going on, I see a figure moving behind us, but it doesn't look like an ambush. It's a half elf holding a rapier and an instrument; most likely a bard. One by one however, the demons fell starting with the pustuloids. Leftover goo seeping into the ground before turning to ash. Two booms ring out as the lesser rage demons and the Capra are thrown back. Delaia, who has been soaking hits for us, takes the opportunity to get out after that which I don't blame. It didn't look like he was going to stand much longer to be honest. The spells seemed to come from the bard and Delaia, so we have another ally. Good because most of us are spent on resources. We kill all the demons and after a quick introduction, the bard's name is [[Leonard]], and she heard the commotion. She healed Deliaia a significant amount, and Deliaia looks ready to take on another fight. After moving this elephant which turned out to be an Olliphant off of the root, we prepared to charge up only for a wave of energy to come down upon us. There was no point to going up anymore... The Conservatory has been destroyed. There goes many projects that have been put on hold. It's not like I made progress on the parts I needed for Sizzle but still frustrating. Oh crap! More demons of the same types are coming down, and I should have seen this coming. We dispatch the ones that combated us, and the streets fall silent around us....

After the invasion ended, leaders were talking about uniting "not just to fight against the demons, but also to build alliances" or something like that. The thing is, I can only rely on one thing when partnership is formed: people are looking out for themselves. Unless someone can prove they are trustworthy, I will not be in a permanent alliance. That's how I survived Low Lunas; Ally with someone only until the necessity no longer remains. </blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Absent Memories ===
</div>
<blockquote>
A few days go by and Sir Anthony is holding a funeral for the lives lost, when I got approached by Jerbo, a gnome arcanist. He was hiring people to track down why the Kobolds attacked. I agreed but stressed, I needed some help. After getting a few others, and some quick introductions we made our way to Dapple, a satry who rents out horses. I put down the deposit and we made our way over. Oh I should mention who is here because I will be a narcissist otherwise. We have Mezzi who I have never seen take off their mask, Polvo a Air Genasi that had an encounter with death apparently, Diana a human who has a lizard like robot that follows her everywhere, Dallas a mouse I have never seen before but seems like a cool fellow, and Davin a halfling with a longbow, with a trophies on his person.

It takes a little more than two days to get there and along the way, we found a dog in a campsite that was left not long ago. I make an alarm in case people came back while I was within a mile, but I got no signal. When we get to the Osteomancer, their abode is in the ground with sand covering a trapdoor. I volunteer to go planning to be sneaky, but I forgot not everyone can see in the dark as well as I can, because Mezzi lit a torch when we all got down. When we met the Osteomancer, I can only describe what is a elephant person like three feet taller than me with big elephant ears, an elephant trunk and overall a build that could lift more than me with two arms. We were trading a favor for a favor. The Osteomancer's favor was removing a tower that was made of Absence which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I can go along with it. Apparently, when creatures are near said tower, they lose their Identities. Davin beat to the question of how are we going to protect ourselves, so that was nice. I was given a scroll and a black egg to crush when I start to read the scroll that should seal this wound. Another detail that was mentioned was the structure could only be seen through reflections.

We get to the tower, it looked like someone lived inside a crazy home. The outside can't be seen, but when you go inside, it is a ghost white. there was also a spot of complete silence, so I move myself there, crushethe egg and begin reading the scroll. A ghost that looks like he owns the place along with lights that surround us entirely. I placed down, my cannon to give me some cover while the rest of the group combat the lights. I watched my colleagues lose their ability to speak coherently while fighting them. I was blessed with something, but I couldn't tell you what it as but it seems to help me fight this ghost who was trying to make me vanish. As the fight moves on, less lights were attacking, but I can't tell you why. After nearly completing it, I was tired of the things attacking and unleash an ear piercing ring out towards the ghost, along with the nearby lights, which injure the lights a lot more than anticipated. I finish reading, and the entire place began to collapse around us. Which is unfortunate, because I wanted to get parts I need for project. I have to will myself out with Mezzi's help, but luckily everyone got out.

When we get back to the Osteomancer, we learn that when kobolds want to get rid of the Divine Blood law, they make deals with other creatures; in this case demons. This group was led by Snizz the Fortunate, but that group was dead when other people killed the kobolds. It ended with a warning "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free." Confused, I said nothing and headed back for the horses that have been tied up. We went to check up on the dog, and it's still there and there is no sign of return, so we left for the Arboretum. This information is given to Jerbo, but I am still suspicious of hat will happen if someone does make a deal with a devil.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Sinking the Filth and My Feelings ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a week since I saw that tower of that "absence" and I am ready to finish what I started or go to the Omnichapel for advice on Vela. I know, I get distracted easily, but I cannot for any reason leave a stone unturned for any reason in case it comes to bite me back later. I left Lunas on some pretty bad terms, both with my family for obvious reasons, but also the Thieve's guilds with relearning the one thing I swore off of. That mistake of saying I will not learn more things about a specific topic was so far my worst one yet. Anyone could come for me for any reason, and I need to be ready for when I get jumped. Today luckily is not one of those days, because a new job offering has appeared who's handwriting is more crude than a thieve's messy handwriting. Baftzmyr as I later found out put up the sign about a giant demon stuck in the sand, and it needed to be killed. Cool, I can just fire with my cannon and it will eventually die if it can't get out. When I get there, I see some new faces, but also a handful of familiar ones. Stix and Razzdrog are here, but among the new ones we have Steady Dee, a tabaxi who wears some unusually heavy armor comparatively that have some runes on it that appear to be of a giant origin, but I guess whatever floats your boat. Koro, an Air Genasi that wears some monk robes, who can't seem to make up his mind when it comes to allegiances, and Ozmir, a tiefling that has powers I have never seen before, but curious as to how they will work. Baftzmyr explains that scout demons have been circling around looking around for a way to get out the great demon. The plan was simple; locate the scouts, follow them, and kill the great demon. Now that follows, but it's under the sand. What is Baftzmyr's plan to expose the demon? I don't know. All I know is I can sneak up on it, and rain cannon fire down where it can't see me. Ozmir who can apparently track creatures really well, starts following a set made not long ago. Along the path, a heatwave catches me completely off guard, and I feel more sluggish than before. Great, now I won't be able to hide nearly as easy I have before, but I am with a group. We get right on top the scout and it pops out ready to attack. It would have died in two hits, if Sparkburn didn't have a weapon infused with fire. Wait! I forgot to mention Sparkburn is with us! Gobbo, I will find you later and confront you for remaining silent. It didn't matter however, because melee attacks are still effective. After that one dies, Stix along with a few others spot three more running from away, and we continue to follow. After a few more hours of travel, we come across some quicksand that is quaking. Quicksand isn't supposed to do that on a large scale; this is where the great demon is. Baftzmyr pulls what appears to be an origami pig that is coated in a layer of wax. It looks like the pig was boiled alive, but I am not one to judge. Stix volunteers to carry to bomb, and all I can say to that is... Ok never mind. This doll, husk? I don't know what it's made of, but regardless, the bomb is carried to it's destination. More importantly however, Stix makes it out unscathed. Maybe Stix has a ratio of strength similar to that of an ant. Ants proportionally can carry more weight to their body mass. Koro and I peek over, and WHAT IS THIS FOR A DEMON!? A cage for a face with a flame inside of it and some kind of disc neck to keep the sand out of the face or something. We give out teammates that knowing look, and the rest of the team gets to work. Raazdrog and MK-2 setup an anti flank position for us on the right as well as making the demon glittery. Steady Dee also sets up an anti flank position for us on the right side as well as growing to giant. With this enlarged form Steady throws a handaxe that lands square in the "face" of the great demon but not as effective as it should have hit . Stix is firing blasts of green energy which makes me think a deal was involved for this power. Koro using the bow pierces the demon with the same problem as Steady, and I am throwing a dagger, firing a cannon, and backing up, because I have no interest in falling in the quicksand and next to this abomination. That caused a different problem however which was I opened the line for more of the scouts to come attack Koro and Ozmir. I planned to fix this by booming them back into it, but that will backfire spectacularly when Koro kills one of the scouts, and stayed within the line of fire. It was also a good thing that I moved out, because the sand started moving out from everyone's feet who were close to the edge. Steady and MK-2 fell in and hell broke loose, literally. I didn't see what happened but the next thing I know, Koro willingly jumps into the pit and now Steady is floating in the air about 20ft. Why that is happening, I couldn't tell you, but Steady was bleeding out and needed help soon. Baftzmyr uttered some word and Steady is conscious again. I go to help Ozmir, because currently 3 scouts are surrounding her, which aint cool. I drive my dagger into a scout's death, and the sand is still moving out from under us, but I can keep myself steady. Raazdrog on the other hand wasn't so lucky and also managed to fall in next to the demon. Things are going fine right now. The great demon is getting whacked by are melee fighters and the people up here in the sand are holding off the scouts just fine. Oh no. My worst fear has come true; this demon will explode on death. I am not going to be around that. I can stabilize those who take the brunt of the explosion. At least, that was my original plan if Koro didn't fall to the giant claws of this demon. I am not ready to lose a colleague here, so I jump down, run to Koro, heal him just enough to get him conscious again and prep for another round of attacks against this creature. Maybe it was better however that I couldn't keep myself steady this time and I was buried in the sand. Not wanting to be stuck in here, I used my last spell to blast out, but that didn't work. Later I learned that I had injured Koro, and Steady who were both super hurt by it, but the worst part was I didn't even get out with that. I got burned, but not by much comparatively to other people who got the full brunt. Stix stabilized Koro, and Raazdrog healed Steady and then Koro. It honestly surprised me that everyone made it out alive. We got our gold, and I moved on because I don't know how much I can trust the Scrappers when working with a Fiend. Working with criminals is bad enough, but trying to work with a creature from the underworld seems like a death sentence.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Old Technology, and Fights ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a few days since hunting the Baron of Filth or whatever in the Nine Hells this creature is, and I finished the sketching for my tool arm. I don't have a name for it, but I know the name will come at the end when I finish the project. I should really get some paper however, because each time I sketch it, it's in the sand. I lose it very easily, and often times restart like some mime performing the same trick. I was ready to go buy the materials when I am stopped by Gnash, a half orc who means business. If I had a counterpart, it would be her. Why? because the entire left side of her face is char black. Besides that she needs people to track down some missing people. They have been gone 2 days and she hates mystery. Some other people that get recruited were Leonard, Mezzi, The Scarlet Shadow, Raazdrog, and Avel. I think it's worth mentioning that we have 3 musically inclined, which I don't I have ever been apart of. We are told to look for a carcass of a long dead giant worm, and the distant mountain Tol'Viral on are way to Drywater. Jerbo reads off a scroll and we turn to mist, and boy can we MOVE! With this enhanced movement, met up with Kaleen, a desert vulpine druid who knew of our mission. We got two scrolls. I recognize these and as '''Animal Messenger''' and '''Locate object''' spells. If anything goes wrong we are told to give movement on where they are headed and in how long.. The '''Locate Object''' however is to find a silver bullet the group left behind.. Seems odd, but hey maybe they do that elsewhere to mark where they were. We don't need either however, because Scarlet knows this place like the back of his hand. Apparently the blue dragonborn, and the thri-kreen hate each other enough to capture, but not kill him, which I find very funny. Anyways, he finds tracks of about a dozen thri-kreen. Following them, they reduce to about 4 tracks that were left behind, and end abruptly. Still Scarlet picks up where they began again and we continue to follow. We are moving with the wind while following the tracks, so it was very easy to actually catch up to the thri-kreen Scarlet was following. When I get the chance to look at them, and it looks likes an ant that grew a spine, a brain along with gaining lots of lower insect strength. The color of the shell also seems to be blending in better with the surrounding enviorment, which I wish I could get my hands on that. We transformed into ourselves again, and decided instead of attacking, to talk to them since they might have some useful information regarding the people we are trying to find. I was confused about the execution, until I learned Scarlet could actually communicate with them. Upon seeing us, the group shows off their mandibles, and claws. Scarlet attempts to parley with the clutch but to no avail, since he could speak the language of clack clickers. Before you judge me, that's what I heard. As we got closer, they became blurry and hard to track their position. I recognize this as a '''Blur''' spell. I am about to make them shiny when Raazdrog beats me to that idea. Only one of them got affected however, but there is one idea I have. Some spells you can't put together because you have to think about the actual spell. '''Blur''' happens to be one of those spells, so I plan to attack in a flank or hit them with spells, they have to resist. I summon the cannon, and get to work. They start by swarming Raazdrog, but since only a few attacks hit, they turned the attention to me. They also don't get many hits in, but one did strike me good. A 6 on 4 however doesn't end well for them, and that part of the clutch falls one by one to us swarming them. We leave the corpses behind and continue on our journey to finding the people who went missing. I was honestly expecting more of a fight with how many tracks we say, but hey I'll save some of my resources for later. We get to a dune structure with a very small tunnel with 2 Federation members dead. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a fight broke out here about a day ago, There is a tunnel about 5ft wide, so it's time for a single file line. I go first, after my cannon, so that less people will be affected by any traps that may come. Well dam right I was because my cannon snapped a tripwire leading to a bunch of some decent size rocks they could fit in the ceiling tumble out. I get out of the way get fine, but I couldn't move my cannon, and it get's dented pretty badly from the trap set. Lesson learned; check for traps in a small area like this. I just realized my experience from Low Lunas has been lacking faster than what happened the last time I was in High Lunas. I start examining the area up ahead, and would you look at that; another trap.. It takes me less than 10 seconds to permanently disable the trap however, so no issues there. Continuing to check for traps, I find no more, and I see a room, probably about 40 feet by 30 feet, and there is a decent amount of light in here that seems to be pretty bright. When we get to the maw of this room, I can just barely see to left some kind of rig, but oh come on. Really? A weapon pointed in my face with 2 people standing a few feet away from the arch. From the little I can see, this appears temporary, but I first need to talk to these people.. I told them that we are here to find you. We were sent by Gnash, and got here with the help of Jerbo. Why there are 2 dead Federation members outside this cave, I have a better idea now. AVEL WHY!? I might have been going somewhere with the conversation, but then you decide to teleport behind them and attack? Fine, Seeing this I spring into action, and start to attack the person who drew their weapon at me. Rude, but fine a fight you want? A fight you will get. I blast the cannon into the shin of the guy, and take that opportunity to throw my dagger into his skull, which works out great because that is one less person we have to deal with. Raazdrog, Mk-2, and Scarlet move into the room and attack some of the nearby henchmen. that happen to be near the doorway so less occupancy there. Avel takes this opportunity to corner the leader in a one on one duel. Unhappy with me dropping her main bodyguard, she leaves the duel with Avel, and decides to attack me instead, with a reach weapon. Dammit, my cannon was in the way, but that didn't matter for this dumb weapon. The lightning and fire hurts pretty bad, but I am still here... Then the dork leaves me alone to go get into a 3v1. I think something is being plotted, because they moved away from me, almost like something had a higher priority. Leonard seeing me greatly injured me heals my immediate wounds, which is nice, because I want to help my teamates, but I can't do that with almost being taken out of the fight. There is 3 other henchmen here, so I direct my cannon to fire at one who was next to Avel as I stick my knife into their side for a well thrown shot.. Mezzi managed to released a held spell, after Avel forced the enemy into Mezzi's line of sight. It didn't have any effect, but the more people closer to the leader, the better.. The leader in a desperate move, went to the rig, and pushed a few buttons, and got ready to run., getting slashed, by Raazdrog Mk-2, Scarlet, and Avel.. I now realize what this is; an infernal enhancement. NOW I WANT THAT! this would speed up my projects by who know how long, and I would earn a lot of favor from Raegina.. This person clearly has connections to the Scrappers, which now irritates me, because we are fighting within our own group, but I know I don't have the tongue to get everyone to stop fighting. We managed to get the Tiefling leader to start running, but by that point, the fight was over. I used this opportunity to try and disable this infernal enhancement, but to no avail. It starts burning me... This rig can't be disabled, from a self destruction button, but I have to keep going. I'm getting burned and then I see it; I can get out, where I couldn't before. I will not give up my own life to figure this out. This is my choice now, not some magic that was used on me. I run out with the rest of the group to hear a big explosion ring out. I managed to get some materials out from the rig, but it's now useless... I spend some time with this tiefling who's name is Velza. Apparently her and Raegina have been locking horns because this rig should have come back to the junkyard, There was incursions here that the local tribe could use help with that rig that is now gone. The solution was spiteful and honestly stupid, and as much as I would have loved to get her off the hook, I want to be able to use these tools for good, not just because of a word of law.. I'm not sure how much longer I will be with the Scrappers because of this incident... If all Raegina cares about is this problem of demons within Pteris no matter the cost, desperation will make people do some insane things all trying to better the future for themselves/children with the destruction left behind.The end NEVER EVER for any reason, justifies the means.</blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Logic Lacking and Large Lies ===
</div>
<blockquote>Oh Where do I begin with this incident that I am still beating myself in the head over? I guess I will start with the fact that some Yuan-ti runs into town screaming about someone has stolen all of her textiles and they are very expensive. I put my guard up, because I don't trust people who make a big show like that, but I don't see any odd behavior. Some other people that notice the commotion are Deliah, a teifling with some well enhanced armor, Leonard a half elf, who was first and last person to surprise me with someone else coming, Ozmir and Stix making a return from that nasty Baron, Ozmir is also a teifling, with some unique psionic blades, which looks really cool, and Stix is the doll that roams the Arboretum. I recently learned Stix has a "friend" that speaks to them, which is kind of unsettling, I am now wondering who is puppeteering this doll, when it's likely a god.. The last person I did not mention was Ollie, a ranger who has a pet frog.. The Yuan-ti's name is Sandra Sanderson, and she needed help recovering textiles that were expensive. They were stolen by a bunch of gnolls, but the problem I find with that story is A:gnolls don't do that, B: few gnolls are careful with what they steal. Just look at the goods they have after death, and C: Gnolls are not known for attacking in huge groups. I can't saying anything without sounding paranoid, so I go along with this idea.. We get to the circus tent that these textiles were stolen from, and here is the first of many mistakes I made. I made so many in fact for being a skeptic, that it makes my lack of checking in High Lunas look safer. I did not check any signs of damage for anything really. I just saw the creatures, baited one over, and a fight ensued. There was a bunch of hyenas, two giant hyenas, and a gnoll warrior. Stix got injured repeatedly from after it was a great idea to fireball the three big targets. Deliah got in the way of the big hyenas and just ate the minimal damage they dealt. Ozmir notices with the fact these were made by a conjuration spell, but we kept on fighting, because they didn't stop. All of them disappeared except for the warrior. Me and Ozmir start looking around, and we do find the secret stash of goods, and here is my second and third big mistakes. I forgot to examine the tracks leading to it, and I forgot to see based on the dust how long it might have been there, and how far away it was from the actual circus tent. We give the textiles, and she gives us clothing based on the surface thoughts we have, and then I receive a message telepathically from Ozmir stating that Sandra is definitely hiding something.. Stix decides to become Sandra's assistant for the day, but I want to grab Stix, and leave. Still I listened to Ozmir, and did nothing. Me and Leonard doubled back and went to hide in that stash where we find the textiles. At night we see 2 lizard folk and another yuan-ti quickly packing up the tent so quickly something is off. STIX! Now Stix is kidnapped, and the circus is gone. Final mistake I made here: We could have tried to follow the damn caravan, but we were too angry to do anything.. We make our way back, and it turns out it was WAY worse than either of us initially thought. Jitcwal and Cilvdzwucta were also kidnapped, and the explosives used have been destroyed. The worst part is there was, I didn't use any logic. I can't read people better than others, but I am good with puzzles and evidence. I bet if I noticed the condition of the terrain, My alert level would have been a lot higher. SANDRA SANDERSON: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You will not make a fool of me again... </blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">
=== Swallowing and Regurgitating the Facts ===
</div><blockquote>This whole thing of three people being captured and me not being to do anything about it killing me. I gave everything I could to Koro, and Gobbo, but it's still destroying me from the inside. I decided to go see if there was some work I could do to take my anger out on. Working with the scrappers didn't seem like a great idea, because I do not want to get into any more infighting. I don't like the idea in working with the Federation, but I had to pull a favor to get the information I wanted, so it's going to happen someday. I luckily found a job being offered by Lord Pavan to go check on the livestock. That sounds like a Shepherd thing, but beggars, can't be choosers. I would much making good use out of my cannon, than tinkering all day honestly. Maybe it could help me figure out how to make my spells stronger. (It did not.) My only main concern with this is I am working with new folk entirely. There's Rhogar and Syl, who I have interacted with, but it has been.... volatile to say the least. Other people that I have met for the first time are Silgr, a mountain dwarf with similar runes to Rhogars, Mizuka, a desert vulpine bard, but I am not sure which college she attended. To finish this group off, he have Voscaera, a A fighter with incomplete runes of Rhogar's and Silgr's, but she has artificer capabilities instead. I would later find out Voscaera is a Madaer, which is a person of Medusa ancestry. A little unsettling, but there was no bad blood between us. I decided to rent a horse from Dapple, because I heard it was going to be a long haul. I don't mind, but some help would be nice. My only concern I had with this gamble is I need the gold for components. Anyways he head out to check on some livestock, that I now realize could be anything.... Two days later on our travel however, we meet someone by the name of Saltique Petra. She starts reading off a bunch of names, all of which happen to be us. She tells us it's about another week, so I decided to ask for my own curiosity what kind of livestock is being kept. After a few guesses, the answer is kept ominous, so I give up on prying. Low Lunas taught me not to pry when not given on the first go. On day three of travelling we get a nasty dust storm that rolls in. I can barely see in front of me, but I managed to keep the horse calm, so I ended up with the group after it passed. This delayed it by a day, making it 8 days. It would become 9 days after a flash flood came 3 days later. I ended up losing control of the horse, and it sped off. I did my best to keep up, but I had gotten really exhausted from trying to constantly keep my footing. When I wake up the next day, any exhaustion I may have is gone, but I am alone in this harsh desert. With the extra time I have, I set up a fire, but I don't abandon it. When trying to get found, it's best to stay put. It's not like I have a direction to go find the horses, so I am sadly going to lose the deposit. Dammit. After waiting for a few hours, a group of about 6 people cross my vision. Well I'm pretty sure it's the group, but the moment I get a good look at all them, they;re fine. Oddly, Rhogar also lost his horse, so there goes like 100gp+ right there. We debated for a minute to go look for the horses, but I pointed out that we could give the demons more time to transform into other creatures. The rest of the travel will have to be on foot, but at least we only have one more day. On the final day, Saltique explains that we are first collecting some magical fruit to lure the livestock. That's easy enough for me to get and not get ambushed.. When we get there, we split up a little bit to go get as much plants as possible. Syl and I use '''Detect Magic''' to make it easier to get the plants. I manged to get my hands on Anserke, a spiny cactus that allows when made into a potion to improve our constitution for a bit. Okay well I'm not surprised a ambush is happening, but come on. This is a great spot for it. I look up to see a giant spider has jumped Syl, so I pull out the woodcarver's tools, and bring out the cannon to fire at this spider. The spider gets a bite into Syl, but that thing is a fool. Syl is a yuan-ti, so I am willing to bet he has some poison resistance. An ear piercing ring comes out to my left as Mizuka casts something above my level, but it seems to be effective, because There is screeching of another spider. Now how many of these jerks are here, and why have they not been taken care of before this? There ended being 3 other giant spiders lurking. Most of the deaths came from Rhogar just cutting through with his greataxe, along with him getting like 3 times my height. I did manage to get one satisfying kill in a one-two combo to destroy it beyond saving.. I had nothing to gain from getting a rest, but Syl could use it after getting bit multiple times. Rhogar also got injured a good amount, but it seemed Mizuka, Silgr, and Voscaera didn't get injured at all. This never lost my concentration, I go back to harvesting more plants. I manage to get another anserke, which was a little disappointing but not the end of it. I hand over the plants I got, and I was pretty impressed by our pile. Saltique mentioned it might even be enough to get the adult ones out. We head over to another area that is honestly a choke point I'm not too comfortable being in. After an hour...nothing. Then there is tiny amounts of movement underneath our bait. Saltique shakes her head which makes me concerned about how big these 'livestock' are. A huge wave of dust that comes through to my left that I was not expecting. When it settles, there is a WOIM! I'm separated because I'm not about to get clumped in a dangerous spot. Then directly ahead of me about 130ish feet away there is another wave of dust. Underneath that dust lies another woim eating these magical plants. I then see my colleagues coming down off the plateaus for an odd reason until I see three demonic things with mouths in the chest, and three husks following this woim. Perfect. one spell used later, and my cannon makes a return. Analyzing this like the nerd I am, the woims won't attack us, unless we have magic on us. That's like all of us, but the people that have a bigger issue are Rhogar and Silgr These demons has a rhino horn with a mouth next to the abdomen. the hands are long claws with a longsword, and the toes are webbed with sharp 'talons.' I got busy dealing with these abominations from a flank position while the rest of the team got in the fray.. Out main goal is this: Kill the demons before the woims eat them. Easier said than done however, since we our own member are also in danger. Slowly but surely however, these creatures fell one by one. Rhogar had gotten swallowed, but he forced the woim to regurgitate before it became a problem. Same thing happened with Silgr unsurprisingly. We got a nasty surprise when we took down a husk. A jellyfish had exited the body. So we are really dealing 9 creatures, but those need to go first. If not we could get a possessed woim which isn't great. we got rid oftwo mouth abdomen demons, and AN ADULT WOIM showed up! It nearly destroyed my cannon. It ate one of the other woim and just left leaving a massive hole. The other woim starting burrowing with a demon stuck in it, so that's not good, but there is one last jellyfish demon to take down.. It went deep into the hole. With some quick thinking seeing Rhogar down there, I use my last spell to make a burst of blue. And would you LOOK AT THAT. that jellyfish is here. Rhogar used this opportunity to smash it into the ground killing it instantly. I saw the death because the light faded on its death. Rhogar wasn't happy with Saltique's lie by omission, but I ignored that, because I needed to fix my cannon. We got paid a good amount of gold, and we left. Those husks were sadly other Shepherd members which is just lovely. As we headed back, a thought crossed my mind. Is there one grand demon orchestrating, or three? </blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Bad Favors and Better Bargains ===
</div><blockquote>I knew this day was coming soon. There was supposed to be a group heading out soon, but one of them had to drop. My contact called me in and said he was calling in his favor, so I know I get to go work for the Federation.. We meet up with two Thri-kreen that appear to be twins. They aren't part of the clutch I fought earlier, but their speech was unsettling, as they would talk over one another in perfect sync. All that aside however, we were told that some dust storm had made a return from the initial invasion again. The only thing that seems to know where it is a crow by the name of Moxy. They asked us to take good care of Moxy, which I can do for 3 days’ travel, and to keep this information private. There is a leak somewhere, and no one is supposed to know there is one. Great. Another piece of information kept behind closed doors that will cause more tension.. I swear this is going to be the downfall of this place. Anyways we start following the bird along to get to where we need to. Avel decides to let Moxy onto his shoulders when it needs a rest. On the third day, we find a few birds circling a few areas. Birds often circle points of interest, and then I hear just ever so faintly some rumbling underneath us. With Avel's help, I am now invisible and decide to scout ahead. I scuff my footing really badly, and I'm pretty sure I caught its attention. Oh I guess I forgot to mention other people here. People I have worked with in the past have made a return except for one person. Draz, Avel, and Leonard made a return from our last time together investigating the mysterious disappearance, and Ozmir is also here from our last time together from dealing with Shady Shabby. No they don't derserve an honorable title. They were paid to kidnap people by the Filth Jerk's counterpart. It was nice having another person who I can communicate without saying a word to in case social interactions fail miserably. The only person I haven't worked with before is Grymos, a Duergar artificer with his own robot friend like Razzadrog.. I'm not surprised he's shorter than me, but it's still a first to work with someone smaller than me. Anyways, the birds scatter off, and all we are left with our own thoughts and this rumbling. We decide to have Grymos' bot go in first, and then the thing went offline apparently. From the previous experience those who were from this were cursed, so Avel helped us get entirely covered up from this sandstorm. Since I am still invisible I decide to scout to figure out what is going on. The slope became EXTREMELY steep, but I managed to ground myself, and avoid tumbling or making huge amounts of noise. The sheer force of this wind is hurting however as I continue to step through, so I would like to get back as soon as possible. I can barely see anything right in front of me, so I am pretty much walking blind. I eventually come upon a rough sculpture of sandstone. tracing my hands along this stone, it is so old, it's probably been here since Prehistory. I am about to return when I notice my invisibility drops. I guess they got tired of waiting, which is fair enough, because it's a long way down. We're talking a quarter mile of walking to get here. I notice however only two other people show up, which is a little worrying, but I’m sure the others are fine. I summon the cannon, and we move up the stairs to whatever this place might be. going up the steps of this structure, some creature is waiting for us, and hell breaks loose. Avel gets injured pretty badly, so he just teleports the same way I saw him do earlier. Grymos just moves in, because he's not dealing with it which is fine. I do manage to take my dagger and drag it through the wind as my cannon fires into it. It did a good chunk of damage, but it's still kicking just fine. And then I see it run. I take a quick strike opportunity and look over, to see Leonard is here along with Razzadrog. It does come back down however, and flings me into this place, and the magic here just feels right. I'll have to figure that out in a second, but there are more pressing matters. My cannon fires the creature and it can't get into this place, so I'm safe in here. I turn my attention to the two other people in here who are both hobgoblins. Avel asks them what is going on, and they imply that they are the ones causing it. I tried to reason with them that a fight wasn't necessary, but to no avail.. One of them says in goblin about Bonnet not keeping them at bay, which raises several alarm bells for me. Who is this Bonnet? What is the significance of this room, and what were they trying to cover up in here if anything? the two hobgoblins immediately turn into some demonic vulture. Now an aerial battle is in play here which isn't too big of a worry for me, but maybe not for others. These jerks are also closing their wounds relatively fast, so a heal off it is. A 5 on 2 however is not going in their favor, so we just need to keep chipping them away. Avel managed with '''Mirror Image''' up to not get hit a single time which I thought was honestly really cool. Unfortunately, my cannon got demolished, so I had to create another one to keep up with my help. With everyone piling in together, both of these demon hybrids or whatever they are fall dead. It's funny because they tried to run, but when you're surrounded like they were, you are going to get hurt badly.. Oh what is a new voice doing here? You're irritated about us ruining your plan? You can shove that comment out, because I don't care. You have been hurting others, and I'm not having it. I question this tall figure a little bit, and they reveal they are Bonnet. Bonnet turns to leave after finishing his monologue, and I attempt one more cannon shot at him, just to rub in my hatred for him. He then calls me by name threatening to kill all of us, but if he's really going to do that, don't mention your plans or whatever.. I begin the process of a ritual cast of '''Detect Magic''', while the others start examining this temple. The air creature left seeing it was in danger if it stuck around, which I didn't care for too much.. When I finish my casting, everything all of a sudden registers as all of the schools this world knows. Leylines are a funny thing, because they make the spells possible. These lines converge at certain points known as Nexuses, and here is where the fabric of reality can much more easily be warped. It hurts to honestly keep it up, so after gathering all I could, I let go of the spell.. The other people started investigating the murals on the monoliths in this room, and they were depicting an ancient lizard race that existed well before any of our time.. There was also some pteran writing scrawled along the base of the altar in here, so I got a copy of it, and have left it alone for now. On each of the four pillars there was a direction and some symbols depicting various things. The order goes as follows: North: is Mother, South is War, East is Nature, and West is: Logic. Avel and I agreed to come check this place in our free time, so that we could better understand what is going on.. I give all the information I could privately to the twins, and they tell me that the Shend are where the Hobgoblins came from. That is certainly some questions for Rhogar at another time. Now I am really confident we aren't fighting just one foe, but a few of them. A bigger problem came to mind however. The Altar had the tree the Arboretum is currently, before some blight gets rid of the leaves.. Could they use this to attack us from far away if discovered</blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Some name incoming. If you want to name it. you have until Dec 19th ===
</div>
<blockquote>What? No way I am hearing this right. Apparently the Osteomancer had reached out mentioning something about infernal weapons. I can't get my hopes up yet because this is likely going to be a challenge. I didn't plan on going, but after learning there wasn't many going in the first place, I decided to clear finish up my odd jobs so that I can be apart of this. I meetup with the others who are thankfully people I have worked with in the past. Mezz and Polvo also worked for the Osteomancer with me. Raazdrog, and Leonard had also shown up from when I worked for the Federation. We go to the Osteomancer's 'place,' and here the details are spilled. Swikedom, a kingdom infamous for the divine Blood Law that dictates the social hierarchy has some infernal weapons that need recharging. Odd that magical weapons of that sort don't regain charges on their own, but whatever. The plan is to intercept this trade route, and take them for ourselves. Normally I would be against this kind of thing, but honestly, if it means taking weapons away from people who will abuse it however, I would like less potential damage to be done. Then were all good to steal these. We get over there by some powerful conjuration magic, and we meetup with the Osteomancer's contact Eddarux near the walls of Swikedom, and explained that he knew of a secret tunnel to get us into the kingdom. Mezzi offered the idea of us being 'slaves' to get us through. I was confused until they revealed themselves to be a blue dragonborn. It seemed odd since the mouth should poke out of the mask, but I will figure it out another time. The plan pretty much goes without a hitch. We find a good choke point where they are supposed to head. I decide to scout ahead to see who were up against. when I quietly get up there. I see a drake, one purple dragonborn, and 4 black dragonborn. I don't know the significance of the purple, but they stand out and like means they're the boss of this operation. I have to rush back, if I want my temporary allies to know what's going on. I get into a relatively easy position to drop onto the group, summon the cannon and wait. I notice there is a spoon in this choke point. Is there something I'm missing about spoons. Are they like the most powerful items this realm will ever see? Whatever, I see the group approaching, and when they get into the middle of this area, Mezzi drops a false fog onto a few of them. I take advantage of this by firing the cannon into the leader, and dropping a new spell I learned.. The people in the immediate area where I dropped it cover their ears, which means it works as intended. I injured them pretty good, but the black dragonborn react fast, and they split up to target Mezzi and I. The purple one however starts flying in the air about 30ft off of the ground which is just lovely. I can't tell what happens all that well, but I watch Leonard, and Raazdrog covering their ears which is nice... The drake had rushed up to attack, but couldn't do both. With that Raazdrog, and his bot flank the drake, and start slashing it apart. Polvo had casted some spell, and nothing seems to happen to me. Mezzi had moved the fake fog onto the. soldier who now can't see them which is honestly hilarious, but I see one coming after me, so I shift my position away from the soilder, and continue to attack the purple since I'm the only one who can actually attack from range. It's funny because I watch this purple dragonborn sabotage themselves by making the drake go stupor, but all of my temporary allies resisted whatever the hell was casted. All of the soldiers fall, then the drake, but Mezzi got the coolest kill. I'm pretty sure a '''Sleep''' spell was casted because that dragonborn had plummeted, and didn't wake up. I throw up a '''Detect Magic''' to see if these folk had anything else of magic, but no luck. Mezzi however had found a small chest inside. Leonard tries to pick it a few times, but after failing. I get the chance the pick it. I scuff myself a few times, because I'm not using my potential when I have a second arm I eventually get it open, and I'm an idiot. There was a big explosion as this chest had been trapped. I get out of the away, and luckily no one else was around. so only I got injured. Still it hurt really badly, but there is something in here. There are 8 gems of sort. I use I'''dentify''' to figure out what these are, and these are the infernal weapons we were looking for.. We make out way back to Swikedom like nothing happened until we got ambushed by a bunch of people in masks. It's not even worth mentioning how this fight went other than they were a bunch of people who ran after a few deaths. This infuriated Mezzi. Apparently this wasn't the first encounter. This group did the exact same thing a few weeks ago.. We make our way back from the Osteomancer who let us keep the infernal weapons, and whatever else we got off of them. It was fair to say it was an odd occurrence that the Osteomancer put themselves out like that, but I'm not complaining. However I do not like that this hit and run scheme of attacking. New goal: The next time we face those mask people, I WILL get one of those masks. Mezzi has warned against taking one, but I wonder what these cult people have for wearing these, other than covering their face. </blockquote>
== Character Interactions ==

=== Avel ===
Avel is a man that would make even the devil think twice about risky decisions. He has many scars and even an eye patch that is covering his left eye from something. His love for performing is contagious, which didn't mind Himo since it could pull attention away. Working together several times, a small bond had formed from the dramatic changes that both had. They even went back together to a temple that Himo was only supposed to be there one time, because he was pulled in for a favor. A dark scary truth had emerged from this investigation, and Himo wasn't sure what to do with it, so he let it sit in the back of his mind. Something had changed between the two however after Mizuka's and Abraham's death. Late one night, Avel had approached Himo, and noted that Himo had a new arm and asked about it

=== Gobbo Greenskin ===
After the Conservatory was destroyed, he found Gobbo, a goblin with a robot named FR0G-GY. Gobbo mentioned he could make Himo an arm, which interested him, but that conversation was never followed up on. Gobbo also mentioned knowing where Sparkburn was, but won't elaborate on where the golem is now, which is frustrating Himo.

=== Lenore ===
Lenore was someone who Himo would have never interacted with except in a professional manner, but it took less than five minutes for the mask to come off about his certainty. Lenore is a cleric of Vela, and no one had really offered help without a clause. That sent Himo's brain into overdrive, freezing up at the kind gesture of giving a few names of those who run the Omnichapel as well as a stone of Vela

=== Rhogar Dreel ===
[[File:Rhogar Dreel.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Rhogar Dreel]]
Rhogar is part of the Federation. Himo wanted to initally join the Federation, because he often did a lot of exploitation of vices back in Lunas, but understood that organization would fall to corruption eventually. While trying to figure out the whole coordinated attack Himo managed to set his back on fire because of his obliviousness in front of Rhogar from his OWN cannon!

=== Syl Vipershade ===
Himo has lets say a rocky roller coaster of emotions with Syl. When Himo first met Syl, the interaction wasn't awful, but it didn't take long for the oblivious cracks to seep through. While trying to figure out the attack on the Arboretum, Himo burns himself in front of Syl and Rhogar... with his own cannon. Syl distanced themselves from Himo, which he didn't mind because he was too busy working on his projects. Syl noticed Himo always seems to be ready for a fight, and becomes incredibly jumpy when someone tries to affect his mind. This problem was only amplified however after Stix was captured. While hanging out with Gobbo and Syl, Himo suddenly started feeling burned in his right side despite no actual fire being nearby. Himo accidentally summoned his cannon, to which Gobbo and Syl responded by trying to grapple Himo. While Himo never ended attacking either, Himo made it known that his past he is incredibly fearful of. To Himo's surprise, Syl offered him the chance to let something off of his chest. Even though Himo declined for the moment, he did agree to meet later, and discuss it more with Syl.

=== The Scrappers ===
When Himo first arrived, he was like a ghost in the markets. He bought what he needed, and left in such a hurry, it was hard to track him down. He never really talked to people for more than 5 minutes when he finally met some of the crew of the scrappers, and they seemed to treat him with some respect, but Himo kept to themselves. After learning that were was unnecessary infighting among the Scrappers, he distanced themselves, and ultimately decided to no longer affiliate himself with it. He still does jobs for them with proper compensation, but doesn't consider himself part of that group.

== Relationships ==

=== Nyria Nilo ===

=== Celthron Nilo ===
Lady Nilo is a thin high elf with long flowing golden blond hair that is frail from the clutches of death, eyes of a deep black that show only death behind them, and a poise of confidence and dominance ruling the house that controls the Arcane Materials so well. She believes dead people are just objects that can be used for more than just laying them to rest, and tries to control people as much as possible without magic, often by threatening the used of deceased loved ones. When push comes to shove however, the gloves come off and the dead rise up on her command to destroy those who disobey. Nyria stands really short. Only 4'4" tall due to her 6th century of age creeping in on her, but the tug of life and death is just within fingertips reach. She works tirelessly to use necromancy as a means of preserving her life, but has been unsuccessful while staying within the rules of society. She wasn't a fan when Himo wanted to pursue alchemy, but the secret that she was making deals with demons for extra power proved too great to ignore. She feared that Himo would figure out the arcane knowledge to bring the secret to light, because of his resistance

=== Kynnela Nilo ===
Kynnela is the oldest sibling of the Nilo family. Himo picked up the rebellious attitude from her because she fought with her mother and father all the time. Kynnela who is 478 became a Diviner, and she questioned her past self before leaving the house. She treated Himo with the utmost disgust, and got his other sisters, and even his parents to either join in, or pretends it doesn't happen. On the occasional return to the house, Himo kept her at arms length, refusing to relive the pain that she caused. This made Kynnela bitter, and was the one to plot Himo's death, but ultimately failed. Last Himo has heard, Kynnela has left High Lunas; to where and why Himo doesn't know.

=== Mariela Nilo ===
Mariela is the second sibling of the Nilo family. Mariela is 239 years old at this point, and always had a bitter disappointment for Himo. She constantly questioned why Himo wouldn't apply himself more, and why he fought with all 5 members of this family. It's not like she was innocent either. She would sabotage Himo in any way she could since she didn't approve of her parents letting him take alchemy while she was forced into a school of magic. She chose conjuration as her school, because she preferred summoned things doing the work for her. Last Himo has heard, her bossy behavior isn't being well liked by her colleagues.

=== Tyanna Nilo ===
Tyanna is the youngest member of the Nilo family making Himo the third child. currently just 33, she made Himo's life miserable, but not by actions. She insulted him basically every time he spoke, and these comments are viscous. She often told Himo how he causes the tension for not following tradition, but refuses to acknowledge her own shortcomings. All of these insults were basically ignored by everyone, because they expected Himo to just let it go, but he simply couldn't. She doesn't realize that she is part of the reason that Himo ended up abandoning the family. There was one incident were Himo used physical force to make her panic and show her that actions have consequences, but Himo doubts it made an impact. Last Himo has heard, the coward is studying Abjuration to prevent that incident again.

=== Kamer ===
__FORCETOC__

[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Himo Nilo

2025-12-11T16:11:18Z

MCAron: correcting what Himo knows

== '''Himo Nilo''' ==
{{Infobox character|name=Himo Nilo|image=Himo Nilo.png|caption="The right side of me should show what happens when you don't pay attention."|relatives=2 Parents, 3 Sisters|affilliation="The Chairman,"The Scrappers|alias=Thai (Child name), The Magic Pick|marital=Single|birthDate=37 PR|birthPlace=High Lunas|species=Elf (High)|height=4'10"|weight=94 lbs.}}

'''Himo''' is a High Elf Rogue/Artillerist that has experienced both the rich and poor side of Lunas. He wanted to visit the Arboretum to modify existing equipment he has, but he never really left until he heard from his contacts in the Arboretum that demon incursions were ramping up. Carrying only what he could quickly pack, he left for the Arboretum with his bag that contains only essentials. He has a habit of checking anything that might look "suspicious" but doesn't really know what might be suspicious.
== Description ==
Himo is a young elf shining with bronze skin with black freckles, Short copper hair that is decently trimmed and eyes that sparkle gold when they catch the light. you would find him like he was a gem in a mine because of the reflection he often carries. He doesn't seem to carry anything with him except maybe a satchel over his back, A rapier and dagger on his left hip and short sword on his right hip respectively, hang and some tools hanging off of his belt. He wears light leather armor with a somewhat heavy desert cloak that shines a little in the light. When you peer past the cloak however, you notice two very big changes to him that he tries to hide as best as he can. The first on is he really only has half of his hair left. The right side of him looks like he has black char that curls up around the face and neck that has been there for quite some time. The second is he has no right arm. anything that might have been there is gone, and watching him, he sways a little bit to the left and right as if he can't seem to keep himself balanced. Some new projects have shown up on his person. The first seems to only be partially done, but on a rack where the shoulder would be is a semi circle with a hole cut out of the center, and an arc cut out inside the semi circle. The second gadget that he has on him at all times, is a disc launcher that fires out coins. Both of these are woodworking projects with small mechanical parts to make them work.

== Manners ==
Himo has a nervous tick carried wherever he goes. If you asked, he would say something along the lines of in a deep graveled voice of not being too careful wherever he goes, but refuses to follow up on why. The eyes seem to look for particular things, but never what is around him. Arcane is of great interest for him, but explosives are not that far off the priority. Often times, random junk that no one has used for some time goes missing, but if you saw him with the junk and asked why, the lips tighten hard. He then usually keeps to himself the rest of the day or two unless it's to discuss plans for missions or logistics. His past is guarded more securely that a vault door with enhanced locks, but the impact of it can easily be seen if he has a PTSD episode. This usually logical, crafty, upbeat personality, snaps faster than a string on a trap, changing him to an aggressive, fearful, volatile person. His hand always seems close to his dagger like he is waiting for a fight to occur. It's hard to tell if you have earned his trust or whether he sees the alliance as one time. On missions of any kind, Himo will tend to find to get out of sight when possible of his teammates, but is always around when trouble strikes. With the death of two people he worked and interacted with, things changed. <blockquote>"I guess I was wrong. Every slight, every lie, every betrayal. I knew it went nowhere, which is why I never did it myself. Trust however, I simply couldn't rebuild it. It was selfish, and I knew it, but betrayal honestly hit really hard. I especially was sure I couldn't after Lenore almost influenced my mind. The first person who showed me kindness without ever expecting a repay. Yet why do so many people hate the fact I only see one time alliances? Why does it matter to them if I hold up my end of the deal? What do they really want from me while working on these missions? I have everything to lose in trust with a huge benefit. I've gotten something wrong. My logic has a fallacy somewhere. I know that promise to talk about my past is still something Syl can call on at any moment. I will not hide any details, but I also don't want any sympathy. After all, my actions in part led me to the problem I have now. Trust is a scary concept for me. I have some deeply unsettling information when I went back to the temple with Avel.. What will happen when I finally spill the guts of what truly happened? Will I be killed, exiled, belittled?. I must have a heart somewhere, because Gloria told me how surprised she was that I gave a fuck about those who died. I need.... I need someone to talk to. Maybe I've held this in too long.. If I want to protect people, I can't let my distrust. I have to change if I want to be more effective. I don't mind if people still don't trust who I was, but I need to do this for myself. I have the intelligence, the dexterity, now with my fake arm, and the grit to push through failure. I'm missing the why. Why am I doing this? People expect me not to care, but I do. Why do I need to rebuild a sense of trust, and what do I am to do here in the Arboretum?"</blockquote>

== Background ==
Himo was born to a wealthy mage family in High Lunas. They expected him to follow that same tradition, and while he was interested in magic wasn't the most interesting thing to him as physical tasks. Still they made him either take lessons or leave this family. He negotiated to learn alchemy to understand the materials used in spellcasting.

He started to go to the Low Lunas in secret claiming private tutoring sessions when really he got into contact with the local criminal rings to learn skills from their side. He chose to learn lockpicking for his profession and was quite skilled at it. He also refined his careful hand movement to mimic letters. He balanced this double life of learning alchemy by day and learning to pick locks by night. When he went to Lower Lunas, he would bring stories of breaking into homes, taking specific materials and leaving without a trace. by the time they would try to track him down, he would be in the shadows trying to outlast the location spells used to find him. he often had to dump the stolen materials to prevent being caught. This went on for years. he wrote detailed notes about alchemy and his parents were thought he was being an obedient son. One night while learning complicated formulas to show to his parents, he was finally caught by the guards and he was sentenced to death. while in prison, he managed to convince the guards to give him 2 lodestones. He took those lodestones and mended the broken thieves tools that he was hiding in his clothing. This lock however was never supposed to be picked. It had been magically enhanced but he the night to make that happen. He picked the lock and sneaked out and into the Lower Lunas in 102 PR just as the sun was rising.

He excelled in picking locks as a freelancer. If the guild provided sanctuary based on how difficult the lock was, that locked was picked. He became infamous in rings because no lock was safe from him. Booby trapped to Arcane Lock, most locks were not safe from him. Only locks that were sophisticated with an Arcane Lock would he have a hard time picking and often failed at those, but those were few and far for High Lunas. In various guilds, he learned various weapons that he now always with him because he doesn't want to get into a scrap unarmed. He often had a habit of inspecting areas where people invited him never trusting anyone fully. His reputations grew so much that he found himself often travelling to other places to check out security systems. This took the pressure off of him because he could really inspect area he couldn't before. He learned to pickpocket, sneak around, scale buildings and practice his skills of picking locks. He tried to get an honest job in the town of Rwendia but his reputation followed him everywhere. He did odd jobs around places, pick locks here, mend broken stuff back together, and come along with other criminals to look out for traps. The people he often worked under were brutal. They would insult him behind his back, mess up him picking the locks, broke his stuff and moved him around often and lied to him where he was

He started for fun re-learning magic. Make graffiti with magic here, an odor there. This terrified the guilds because he was becoming what he swore he would never do and feared he would turn on him next. His mentor Jumad told him that no one will want someone unreliable if he chooses this path. He continued in spite of their disapproval and learned how to make a bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus. The only person he told this to was his best friend Kamer who supported him in getting new materials. One day while hiding out in the DwaleVale, he received a letter of a formal apology from his family asking him to come back. He eagerly accepted and made his way over. His contacts warned him they were up to no good and were looking for vengeance for bringing shame to the family name. When he got there they magically influenced him to open a complicated safe lock without checking the area. BOOOM!!! A massive explosion covered him from right to left, debris flying every where and scraping by on life. The family were stewing in their loss of the son when his eldest sister, Nylo gave the idea to blow him up in a public execution. That letter he found, was trapped to get him to come whether he wanted to or not. In the chaos, someone in his family had planted one more bomb to take him out. he survived, barely, but lost his right arm in the explosion. He lost everything; everything but his skills, his life and his resolve to fix this. At DAGR (Determined Assassins, Grifters, and Rogues) he received word that they needed people to fix broken things and make them better. he spent the next 6 months fighting for his life, and those 6 months were in a daze. He often found himself in a new place about every month. When finally had the strength to move comfortably, he took essentials and ran for his life in 134 PR, because no matter what he did his family was coming for him and he needed to defend himself.

== Languages ==
Himo knew elvish and common just from listening to his family, but he learned goblin when he would hang around goblins were trying to have a private conversation, not realizing Himo taught himself that from listening to them

== Character information ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |1 Rogue/4 Artificer
|-
|AC 15
|HP 33
|DC 14
|-
|Str 13
|Dex 18
|Con 13
|-
|Int 16
|Wis 10
|Cha 12
|}

=== '''Proficiencies''' ===
Himo is a man of many skills that involve getting around where he needs to in some way. He effectively shows he can get around super quietly, lift or plant things in someone's pocket, has great athletic abilities, and knows how to spot the difference between 2 identical objects. If asked about anything arcane, he has great knowledge of what it is, what the purpose is, and what the process of creating might have looked like. He also seems to have some tools on his belt. Specifically woodcarver's tools are always on his belt, but he has also shown a good deal of knowledge on making mechanical parts with tinker tools, making concoctions with alchemist supplies, and what he is most well known for; picking locks, and disabling traps

=== High elf Abilities ===
* Cantrip (Mending)
* Darkvision
* Elf Weapon Training
* Extra Language (Goblin)
* Fey Ancestry
* Keen Senses
* Trance

=== Rogue Features ===

* Expertise: Stealth, Thieves Tools
* Sneak attack (1d6)
* Thieves’ Cant

=== Artificer Abilities ===

* Infuse Item (bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus)
* Magical Tinkering
* Spellcasting
* Ritual Casting

=== Feats: ===
Alert

== Himo's Story ==
<div style="text-align: center;">
=== New Place, New Identity, and a New Dream ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been roughly 8 months since I came here to the Arboretum and very little people know I am actually here. Kamer got me in contact with The Chairman when I got here and it has been hell being around all of these explosive materials. every big explosion sends me back a year when an attempt was made on my life. I trust absolutely NO ONE here because I have been looked down on because of a missing arm. Petty theft was the only way I survived. I was so busy about survival that I didn't realize that Raegina was hiring to make robots until The Chairman sent me a letter telling me '''[[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs|Raegina]]''' was looking for people to recruit for the Scrappers. I collected scraps from grand shoplifting, hid out for four months to wait out people looking for men, then I moved swiftly to the junkyard. My goal is to go back to High Lunas and exact revenge on my parents and sisters who left me in this state I am. I barely remember the explosion or the constant shifting of places because I was so out of it. The people here seem nice enough but I am just waiting for them to betray each other. When I got to the junkyard, I was appalled to see the size of these robots, and the amount of people that came was a little much for me.

When Raegina mocked many of us for having many broken and chipped off parts, I just rolled my eyes because I knew if there as anything she was trying to hide in a safe, I could find that safe without getting caught. In Low Lunas I was known as the Magic Pick because I couldn't be trapped, nor were most locks safe from me. I do need teammates however so I kept my moth shut and just listened. The amount of artificers that were there was astonishing. A tiefling had infused armor, and a goblin had a small automaton with them. But by far the most unique “living” thing saw was a doll that could think for itself. It turns out to test our skills, we would fight Grind, Smash and Cleave, 3 golems with interesting weapon choices. I got excited when I learned that we would be fighting the golems because that meant I could sneak out parts I needed for projects. One of said projects was increasing the throwing range of Thunder Rumble because I have to be relatively close to make good use of it. While fighting, one got destroyed, and it burst into flames. The heat sent me back to the explosion that back at High Lunas, where I almost lost my life. We dispatched the rest and Raegina was impressed enough to let us scrap the robots. So much for trying to do things discreetly... But I haven't really talked with people yet. After scrapping the robots, we split up into two teams. I got paired with [[Stix]] and [[Raazdrog]] which was fine. I can modify my parts and they add theirs, and I saw this as more of a fun project. After all, I like explosive confusion. But it's not like I could focus because I was so nervous with Grind blowing me to bits, I was accidentally disassembling Grind. I was trying to make the saw arm move more fluidly, and trying to add scraps of metal I had in my bag, but I fumbled hard there. It was so embarrassing, because everyone else manage to buff it in some way but not me. I wanted to leave so badly because of that, but I ended up staying in spite of it. I would be throwing away probably my only real opportunity to getting out of the slums like my family expected me to stay. To my surprise Raegina gave each of us 10 gp to bet on the improved robots as to who would win. This was huge to me! This was really the first time someone handed me something without expecting anything in return. I decided to risk all of that money and bet most of it on Grind, and then I had an Idea. I decided to rename Grind to Sparkburn, which Stix and Raazdrog liked a lot. Raazdrog and I got the idea to give Sparkburn a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." and I added "Feel the spark. Feel the burn." Now I really didn't care if we won or lost because I considered this a finished project. Out team ended up winning and I walked away with triple what I put into it. I was ecstatic not only because I won a bet, which I rarely take, but the funds could be used to get the tools I need for projects. That excitement was short-lived however because a horn coming from the Arboretum indicating it was under attack. I hopped on the war rig and we moved to the Arboretum.

Getting towards a entrance root of the Arboretum, a sudden crash hits the war rig and all of us go flying off of it. pieces of the damaged rig flew out and a large skeletal elephant collapsed next to the war rig. I wasn't paying attention because I was sketching my newest tool to assist me. I was thrown hard, losing my sketch to the winds and barely landed standing up, and my vision blacked out for a second. Metal was warping and bending in all the wrong ways and snaps echoed throughout the valley and then silence. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew this was an ambush. Footsteps on the dessert sand was coming from multiple directions, Sparks were flying off of the rig, The screeching of tires spinning out, shoe rubber flaking off the boots I put together with mending, and hearing many colleagues scrape against the dusty ground. When the dust cleared I saw green goo blobs moving towards us, and I heard something angry moving towards us. Pustuloids, Capra demons, and Lesser Rage demons were there. To give me some distance, I climbed the war rig, but as I was climbing, it felt like the floor was falling out from me and nearly fell off. Climbing up I saw roughly 10 Pustuloids, a few lesser rage demons, and a Capra. My team managed to keep hold of a choke point and so I threw my dagger at the Capra repeatedly, but I also noticed Sparkburn, covering our backside. This was great, because the Pustuloids exploded on death with Sparkburn unaffected. Raegina tells me to get off even though I just got on. I wanted to argue because I had a good position of the battle but whatever.You know that rig aint safe from me snagging a few pieces. The fight isn't going in our favor right now, because Raazdrog's steel defender, crashes to the ground in combat, unmoving by the Capra. While this fight is going on, I see a figure moving behind us, but it doesn't look like an ambush. It's a half elf holding a rapier and an instrument; most likely a bard. One by one however, the demons fell starting with the pustuloids. Leftover goo seeping into the ground before turning to ash. Two booms ring out as the lesser rage demons and the Capra are thrown back. Delaia, who has been soaking hits for us, takes the opportunity to get out after that which I don't blame. It didn't look like he was going to stand much longer to be honest. The spells seemed to come from the bard and Delaia, so we have another ally. Good because most of us are spent on resources. We kill all the demons and after a quick introduction, the bard's name is [[Leonard]], and she heard the commotion. She healed Deliaia a significant amount, and Deliaia looks ready to take on another fight. After moving this elephant which turned out to be an Olliphant off of the root, we prepared to charge up only for a wave of energy to come down upon us. There was no point to going up anymore... The Conservatory has been destroyed. There goes many projects that have been put on hold. It's not like I made progress on the parts I needed for Sizzle but still frustrating. Oh crap! More demons of the same types are coming down, and I should have seen this coming. We dispatch the ones that combated us, and the streets fall silent around us....

After the invasion ended, leaders were talking about uniting "not just to fight against the demons, but also to build alliances" or something like that. The thing is, I can only rely on one thing when partnership is formed: people are looking out for themselves. Unless someone can prove they are trustworthy, I will not be in a permanent alliance. That's how I survived Low Lunas; Ally with someone only until the necessity no longer remains. </blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Absent Memories ===
</div>
<blockquote>
A few days go by and Sir Anthony is holding a funeral for the lives lost, when I got approached by Jerbo, a gnome arcanist. He was hiring people to track down why the Kobolds attacked. I agreed but stressed, I needed some help. After getting a few others, and some quick introductions we made our way to Dapple, a satry who rents out horses. I put down the deposit and we made our way over. Oh I should mention who is here because I will be a narcissist otherwise. We have Mezzi who I have never seen take off their mask, Polvo a Air Genasi that had an encounter with death apparently, Diana a human who has a lizard like robot that follows her everywhere, Dallas a mouse I have never seen before but seems like a cool fellow, and Davin a halfling with a longbow, with a trophies on his person.

It takes a little more than two days to get there and along the way, we found a dog in a campsite that was left not long ago. I make an alarm in case people came back while I was within a mile, but I got no signal. When we get to the Osteomancer, their abode is in the ground with sand covering a trapdoor. I volunteer to go planning to be sneaky, but I forgot not everyone can see in the dark as well as I can, because Mezzi lit a torch when we all got down. When we met the Osteomancer, I can only describe what is a elephant person like three feet taller than me with big elephant ears, an elephant trunk and overall a build that could lift more than me with two arms. We were trading a favor for a favor. The Osteomancer's favor was removing a tower that was made of Absence which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I can go along with it. Apparently, when creatures are near said tower, they lose their Identities. Davin beat to the question of how are we going to protect ourselves, so that was nice. I was given a scroll and a black egg to crush when I start to read the scroll that should seal this wound. Another detail that was mentioned was the structure could only be seen through reflections.

We get to the tower, it looked like someone lived inside a crazy home. The outside can't be seen, but when you go inside, it is a ghost white. there was also a spot of complete silence, so I move myself there, crushethe egg and begin reading the scroll. A ghost that looks like he owns the place along with lights that surround us entirely. I placed down, my cannon to give me some cover while the rest of the group combat the lights. I watched my colleagues lose their ability to speak coherently while fighting them. I was blessed with something, but I couldn't tell you what it as but it seems to help me fight this ghost who was trying to make me vanish. As the fight moves on, less lights were attacking, but I can't tell you why. After nearly completing it, I was tired of the things attacking and unleash an ear piercing ring out towards the ghost, along with the nearby lights, which injure the lights a lot more than anticipated. I finish reading, and the entire place began to collapse around us. Which is unfortunate, because I wanted to get parts I need for project. I have to will myself out with Mezzi's help, but luckily everyone got out.

When we get back to the Osteomancer, we learn that when kobolds want to get rid of the Divine Blood law, they make deals with other creatures; in this case demons. This group was led by Snizz the Fortunate, but that group was dead when other people killed the kobolds. It ended with a warning "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free." Confused, I said nothing and headed back for the horses that have been tied up. We went to check up on the dog, and it's still there and there is no sign of return, so we left for the Arboretum. This information is given to Jerbo, but I am still suspicious of hat will happen if someone does make a deal with a devil.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Sinking the Filth and My Feelings ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a week since I saw that tower of that "absence" and I am ready to finish what I started or go to the Omnichapel for advice on Vela. I know, I get distracted easily, but I cannot for any reason leave a stone unturned for any reason in case it comes to bite me back later. I left Lunas on some pretty bad terms, both with my family for obvious reasons, but also the Thieve's guilds with relearning the one thing I swore off of. That mistake of saying I will not learn more things about a specific topic was so far my worst one yet. Anyone could come for me for any reason, and I need to be ready for when I get jumped. Today luckily is not one of those days, because a new job offering has appeared who's handwriting is more crude than a thieve's messy handwriting. Baftzmyr as I later found out put up the sign about a giant demon stuck in the sand, and it needed to be killed. Cool, I can just fire with my cannon and it will eventually die if it can't get out. When I get there, I see some new faces, but also a handful of familiar ones. Stix and Razzdrog are here, but among the new ones we have Steady Dee, a tabaxi who wears some unusually heavy armor comparatively that have some runes on it that appear to be of a giant origin, but I guess whatever floats your boat. Koro, an Air Genasi that wears some monk robes, who can't seem to make up his mind when it comes to allegiances, and Ozmir, a tiefling that has powers I have never seen before, but curious as to how they will work. Baftzmyr explains that scout demons have been circling around looking around for a way to get out the great demon. The plan was simple; locate the scouts, follow them, and kill the great demon. Now that follows, but it's under the sand. What is Baftzmyr's plan to expose the demon? I don't know. All I know is I can sneak up on it, and rain cannon fire down where it can't see me. Ozmir who can apparently track creatures really well, starts following a set made not long ago. Along the path, a heatwave catches me completely off guard, and I feel more sluggish than before. Great, now I won't be able to hide nearly as easy I have before, but I am with a group. We get right on top the scout and it pops out ready to attack. It would have died in two hits, if Sparkburn didn't have a weapon infused with fire. Wait! I forgot to mention Sparkburn is with us! Gobbo, I will find you later and confront you for remaining silent. It didn't matter however, because melee attacks are still effective. After that one dies, Stix along with a few others spot three more running from away, and we continue to follow. After a few more hours of travel, we come across some quicksand that is quaking. Quicksand isn't supposed to do that on a large scale; this is where the great demon is. Baftzmyr pulls what appears to be an origami pig that is coated in a layer of wax. It looks like the pig was boiled alive, but I am not one to judge. Stix volunteers to carry to bomb, and all I can say to that is... Ok never mind. This doll, husk? I don't know what it's made of, but regardless, the bomb is carried to it's destination. More importantly however, Stix makes it out unscathed. Maybe Stix has a ratio of strength similar to that of an ant. Ants proportionally can carry more weight to their body mass. Koro and I peek over, and WHAT IS THIS FOR A DEMON!? A cage for a face with a flame inside of it and some kind of disc neck to keep the sand out of the face or something. We give out teammates that knowing look, and the rest of the team gets to work. Raazdrog and MK-2 setup an anti flank position for us on the right as well as making the demon glittery. Steady Dee also sets up an anti flank position for us on the right side as well as growing to giant. With this enlarged form Steady throws a handaxe that lands square in the "face" of the great demon but not as effective as it should have hit . Stix is firing blasts of green energy which makes me think a deal was involved for this power. Koro using the bow pierces the demon with the same problem as Steady, and I am throwing a dagger, firing a cannon, and backing up, because I have no interest in falling in the quicksand and next to this abomination. That caused a different problem however which was I opened the line for more of the scouts to come attack Koro and Ozmir. I planned to fix this by booming them back into it, but that will backfire spectacularly when Koro kills one of the scouts, and stayed within the line of fire. It was also a good thing that I moved out, because the sand started moving out from everyone's feet who were close to the edge. Steady and MK-2 fell in and hell broke loose, literally. I didn't see what happened but the next thing I know, Koro willingly jumps into the pit and now Steady is floating in the air about 20ft. Why that is happening, I couldn't tell you, but Steady was bleeding out and needed help soon. Baftzmyr uttered some word and Steady is conscious again. I go to help Ozmir, because currently 3 scouts are surrounding her, which aint cool. I drive my dagger into a scout's death, and the sand is still moving out from under us, but I can keep myself steady. Raazdrog on the other hand wasn't so lucky and also managed to fall in next to the demon. Things are going fine right now. The great demon is getting whacked by are melee fighters and the people up here in the sand are holding off the scouts just fine. Oh no. My worst fear has come true; this demon will explode on death. I am not going to be around that. I can stabilize those who take the brunt of the explosion. At least, that was my original plan if Koro didn't fall to the giant claws of this demon. I am not ready to lose a colleague here, so I jump down, run to Koro, heal him just enough to get him conscious again and prep for another round of attacks against this creature. Maybe it was better however that I couldn't keep myself steady this time and I was buried in the sand. Not wanting to be stuck in here, I used my last spell to blast out, but that didn't work. Later I learned that I had injured Koro, and Steady who were both super hurt by it, but the worst part was I didn't even get out with that. I got burned, but not by much comparatively to other people who got the full brunt. Stix stabilized Koro, and Raazdrog healed Steady and then Koro. It honestly surprised me that everyone made it out alive. We got our gold, and I moved on because I don't know how much I can trust the Scrappers when working with a Fiend. Working with criminals is bad enough, but trying to work with a creature from the underworld seems like a death sentence.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Old Technology, and Fights ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a few days since hunting the Baron of Filth or whatever in the Nine Hells this creature is, and I finished the sketching for my tool arm. I don't have a name for it, but I know the name will come at the end when I finish the project. I should really get some paper however, because each time I sketch it, it's in the sand. I lose it very easily, and often times restart like some mime performing the same trick. I was ready to go buy the materials when I am stopped by Gnash, a half orc who means business. If I had a counterpart, it would be her. Why? because the entire left side of her face is char black. Besides that she needs people to track down some missing people. They have been gone 2 days and she hates mystery. Some other people that get recruited were Leonard, Mezzi, The Scarlet Shadow, Raazdrog, and Avel. I think it's worth mentioning that we have 3 musically inclined, which I don't I have ever been apart of. We are told to look for a carcass of a long dead giant worm, and the distant mountain Tol'Viral on are way to Drywater. Jerbo reads off a scroll and we turn to mist, and boy can we MOVE! With this enhanced movement, met up with Kaleen, a desert vulpine druid who knew of our mission. We got two scrolls. I recognize these and as '''Animal Messenger''' and '''Locate object''' spells. If anything goes wrong we are told to give movement on where they are headed and in how long.. The '''Locate Object''' however is to find a silver bullet the group left behind.. Seems odd, but hey maybe they do that elsewhere to mark where they were. We don't need either however, because Scarlet knows this place like the back of his hand. Apparently the blue dragonborn, and the thri-kreen hate each other enough to capture, but not kill him, which I find very funny. Anyways, he finds tracks of about a dozen thri-kreen. Following them, they reduce to about 4 tracks that were left behind, and end abruptly. Still Scarlet picks up where they began again and we continue to follow. We are moving with the wind while following the tracks, so it was very easy to actually catch up to the thri-kreen Scarlet was following. When I get the chance to look at them, and it looks likes an ant that grew a spine, a brain along with gaining lots of lower insect strength. The color of the shell also seems to be blending in better with the surrounding enviorment, which I wish I could get my hands on that. We transformed into ourselves again, and decided instead of attacking, to talk to them since they might have some useful information regarding the people we are trying to find. I was confused about the execution, until I learned Scarlet could actually communicate with them. Upon seeing us, the group shows off their mandibles, and claws. Scarlet attempts to parley with the clutch but to no avail, since he could speak the language of clack clickers. Before you judge me, that's what I heard. As we got closer, they became blurry and hard to track their position. I recognize this as a '''Blur''' spell. I am about to make them shiny when Raazdrog beats me to that idea. Only one of them got affected however, but there is one idea I have. Some spells you can't put together because you have to think about the actual spell. '''Blur''' happens to be one of those spells, so I plan to attack in a flank or hit them with spells, they have to resist. I summon the cannon, and get to work. They start by swarming Raazdrog, but since only a few attacks hit, they turned the attention to me. They also don't get many hits in, but one did strike me good. A 6 on 4 however doesn't end well for them, and that part of the clutch falls one by one to us swarming them. We leave the corpses behind and continue on our journey to finding the people who went missing. I was honestly expecting more of a fight with how many tracks we say, but hey I'll save some of my resources for later. We get to a dune structure with a very small tunnel with 2 Federation members dead. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a fight broke out here about a day ago, There is a tunnel about 5ft wide, so it's time for a single file line. I go first, after my cannon, so that less people will be affected by any traps that may come. Well dam right I was because my cannon snapped a tripwire leading to a bunch of some decent size rocks they could fit in the ceiling tumble out. I get out of the way get fine, but I couldn't move my cannon, and it get's dented pretty badly from the trap set. Lesson learned; check for traps in a small area like this. I just realized my experience from Low Lunas has been lacking faster than what happened the last time I was in High Lunas. I start examining the area up ahead, and would you look at that; another trap.. It takes me less than 10 seconds to permanently disable the trap however, so no issues there. Continuing to check for traps, I find no more, and I see a room, probably about 40 feet by 30 feet, and there is a decent amount of light in here that seems to be pretty bright. When we get to the maw of this room, I can just barely see to left some kind of rig, but oh come on. Really? A weapon pointed in my face with 2 people standing a few feet away from the arch. From the little I can see, this appears temporary, but I first need to talk to these people.. I told them that we are here to find you. We were sent by Gnash, and got here with the help of Jerbo. Why there are 2 dead Federation members outside this cave, I have a better idea now. AVEL WHY!? I might have been going somewhere with the conversation, but then you decide to teleport behind them and attack? Fine, Seeing this I spring into action, and start to attack the person who drew their weapon at me. Rude, but fine a fight you want? A fight you will get. I blast the cannon into the shin of the guy, and take that opportunity to throw my dagger into his skull, which works out great because that is one less person we have to deal with. Raazdrog, Mk-2, and Scarlet move into the room and attack some of the nearby henchmen. that happen to be near the doorway so less occupancy there. Avel takes this opportunity to corner the leader in a one on one duel. Unhappy with me dropping her main bodyguard, she leaves the duel with Avel, and decides to attack me instead, with a reach weapon. Dammit, my cannon was in the way, but that didn't matter for this dumb weapon. The lightning and fire hurts pretty bad, but I am still here... Then the dork leaves me alone to go get into a 3v1. I think something is being plotted, because they moved away from me, almost like something had a higher priority. Leonard seeing me greatly injured me heals my immediate wounds, which is nice, because I want to help my teamates, but I can't do that with almost being taken out of the fight. There is 3 other henchmen here, so I direct my cannon to fire at one who was next to Avel as I stick my knife into their side for a well thrown shot.. Mezzi managed to released a held spell, after Avel forced the enemy into Mezzi's line of sight. It didn't have any effect, but the more people closer to the leader, the better.. The leader in a desperate move, went to the rig, and pushed a few buttons, and got ready to run., getting slashed, by Raazdrog Mk-2, Scarlet, and Avel.. I now realize what this is; an infernal enhancement. NOW I WANT THAT! this would speed up my projects by who know how long, and I would earn a lot of favor from Raegina.. This person clearly has connections to the Scrappers, which now irritates me, because we are fighting within our own group, but I know I don't have the tongue to get everyone to stop fighting. We managed to get the Tiefling leader to start running, but by that point, the fight was over. I used this opportunity to try and disable this infernal enhancement, but to no avail. It starts burning me... This rig can't be disabled, from a self destruction button, but I have to keep going. I'm getting burned and then I see it; I can get out, where I couldn't before. I will not give up my own life to figure this out. This is my choice now, not some magic that was used on me. I run out with the rest of the group to hear a big explosion ring out. I managed to get some materials out from the rig, but it's now useless... I spend some time with this tiefling who's name is Velza. Apparently her and Raegina have been locking horns because this rig should have come back to the junkyard, There was incursions here that the local tribe could use help with that rig that is now gone. The solution was spiteful and honestly stupid, and as much as I would have loved to get her off the hook, I want to be able to use these tools for good, not just because of a word of law.. I'm not sure how much longer I will be with the Scrappers because of this incident... If all Raegina cares about is this problem of demons within Pteris no matter the cost, desperation will make people do some insane things all trying to better the future for themselves/children with the destruction left behind.The end NEVER EVER for any reason, justifies the means.</blockquote>
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=== Logic Lacking and Large Lies ===
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<blockquote>Oh Where do I begin with this incident that I am still beating myself in the head over? I guess I will start with the fact that some Yuan-ti runs into town screaming about someone has stolen all of her textiles and they are very expensive. I put my guard up, because I don't trust people who make a big show like that, but I don't see any odd behavior. Some other people that notice the commotion are Deliah, a teifling with some well enhanced armor, Leonard a half elf, who was first and last person to surprise me with someone else coming, Ozmir and Stix making a return from that nasty Baron, Ozmir is also a teifling, with some unique psionic blades, which looks really cool, and Stix is the doll that roams the Arboretum. I recently learned Stix has a "friend" that speaks to them, which is kind of unsettling, I am now wondering who is puppeteering this doll, when it's likely a god.. The last person I did not mention was Ollie, a ranger who has a pet frog.. The Yuan-ti's name is Sandra Sanderson, and she needed help recovering textiles that were expensive. They were stolen by a bunch of gnolls, but the problem I find with that story is A:gnolls don't do that, B: few gnolls are careful with what they steal. Just look at the goods they have after death, and C: Gnolls are not known for attacking in huge groups. I can't saying anything without sounding paranoid, so I go along with this idea.. We get to the circus tent that these textiles were stolen from, and here is the first of many mistakes I made. I made so many in fact for being a skeptic, that it makes my lack of checking in High Lunas look safer. I did not check any signs of damage for anything really. I just saw the creatures, baited one over, and a fight ensued. There was a bunch of hyenas, two giant hyenas, and a gnoll warrior. Stix got injured repeatedly from after it was a great idea to fireball the three big targets. Deliah got in the way of the big hyenas and just ate the minimal damage they dealt. Ozmir notices with the fact these were made by a conjuration spell, but we kept on fighting, because they didn't stop. All of them disappeared except for the warrior. Me and Ozmir start looking around, and we do find the secret stash of goods, and here is my second and third big mistakes. I forgot to examine the tracks leading to it, and I forgot to see based on the dust how long it might have been there, and how far away it was from the actual circus tent. We give the textiles, and she gives us clothing based on the surface thoughts we have, and then I receive a message telepathically from Ozmir stating that Sandra is definitely hiding something.. Stix decides to become Sandra's assistant for the day, but I want to grab Stix, and leave. Still I listened to Ozmir, and did nothing. Me and Leonard doubled back and went to hide in that stash where we find the textiles. At night we see 2 lizard folk and another yuan-ti quickly packing up the tent so quickly something is off. STIX! Now Stix is kidnapped, and the circus is gone. Final mistake I made here: We could have tried to follow the damn caravan, but we were too angry to do anything.. We make our way back, and it turns out it was WAY worse than either of us initially thought. Jitcwal and Cilvdzwucta were also kidnapped, and the explosives used have been destroyed. The worst part is there was, I didn't use any logic. I can't read people better than others, but I am good with puzzles and evidence. I bet if I noticed the condition of the terrain, My alert level would have been a lot higher. SANDRA SANDERSON: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You will not make a fool of me again... </blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">
=== Swallowing and Regurgitating the Facts ===
</div><blockquote>This whole thing of three people being captured and me not being to do anything about it killing me. I gave everything I could to Koro, and Gobbo, but it's still destroying me from the inside. I decided to go see if there was some work I could do to take my anger out on. Working with the scrappers didn't seem like a great idea, because I do not want to get into any more infighting. I don't like the idea in working with the Federation, but I had to pull a favor to get the information I wanted, so it's going to happen someday. I luckily found a job being offered by Lord Pavan to go check on the livestock. That sounds like a Shepherd thing, but beggars, can't be choosers. I would much making good use out of my cannon, than tinkering all day honestly. Maybe it could help me figure out how to make my spells stronger. (It did not.) My only main concern with this is I am working with new folk entirely. There's Rhogar and Syl, who I have interacted with, but it has been.... volatile to say the least. Other people that I have met for the first time are Silgr, a mountain dwarf with similar runes to Rhogars, Mizuka, a desert vulpine bard, but I am not sure which college she attended. To finish this group off, he have Voscaera, a A fighter with incomplete runes of Rhogar's and Silgr's, but she has artificer capabilities instead. I would later find out Voscaera is a Madaer, which is a person of Medusa ancestry. A little unsettling, but there was no bad blood between us. I decided to rent a horse from Dapple, because I heard it was going to be a long haul. I don't mind, but some help would be nice. My only concern I had with this gamble is I need the gold for components. Anyways he head out to check on some livestock, that I now realize could be anything.... Two days later on our travel however, we meet someone by the name of Saltique Petra. She starts reading off a bunch of names, all of which happen to be us. She tells us it's about another week, so I decided to ask for my own curiosity what kind of livestock is being kept. After a few guesses, the answer is kept ominous, so I give up on prying. Low Lunas taught me not to pry when not given on the first go. On day three of travelling we get a nasty dust storm that rolls in. I can barely see in front of me, but I managed to keep the horse calm, so I ended up with the group after it passed. This delayed it by a day, making it 8 days. It would become 9 days after a flash flood came 3 days later. I ended up losing control of the horse, and it sped off. I did my best to keep up, but I had gotten really exhausted from trying to constantly keep my footing. When I wake up the next day, any exhaustion I may have is gone, but I am alone in this harsh desert. With the extra time I have, I set up a fire, but I don't abandon it. When trying to get found, it's best to stay put. It's not like I have a direction to go find the horses, so I am sadly going to lose the deposit. Dammit. After waiting for a few hours, a group of about 6 people cross my vision. Well I'm pretty sure it's the group, but the moment I get a good look at all them, they;re fine. Oddly, Rhogar also lost his horse, so there goes like 100gp+ right there. We debated for a minute to go look for the horses, but I pointed out that we could give the demons more time to transform into other creatures. The rest of the travel will have to be on foot, but at least we only have one more day. On the final day, Saltique explains that we are first collecting some magical fruit to lure the livestock. That's easy enough for me to get and not get ambushed.. When we get there, we split up a little bit to go get as much plants as possible. Syl and I use '''Detect Magic''' to make it easier to get the plants. I manged to get my hands on Anserke, a spiny cactus that allows when made into a potion to improve our constitution for a bit. Okay well I'm not surprised a ambush is happening, but come on. This is a great spot for it. I look up to see a giant spider has jumped Syl, so I pull out the woodcarver's tools, and bring out the cannon to fire at this spider. The spider gets a bite into Syl, but that thing is a fool. Syl is a yuan-ti, so I am willing to bet he has some poison resistance. An ear piercing ring comes out to my left as Mizuka casts something above my level, but it seems to be effective, because There is screeching of another spider. Now how many of these jerks are here, and why have they not been taken care of before this? There ended being 3 other giant spiders lurking. Most of the deaths came from Rhogar just cutting through with his greataxe, along with him getting like 3 times my height. I did manage to get one satisfying kill in a one-two combo to destroy it beyond saving.. I had nothing to gain from getting a rest, but Syl could use it after getting bit multiple times. Rhogar also got injured a good amount, but it seemed Mizuka, Silgr, and Voscaera didn't get injured at all. This never lost my concentration, I go back to harvesting more plants. I manage to get another anserke, which was a little disappointing but not the end of it. I hand over the plants I got, and I was pretty impressed by our pile. Saltique mentioned it might even be enough to get the adult ones out. We head over to another area that is honestly a choke point I'm not too comfortable being in. After an hour...nothing. Then there is tiny amounts of movement underneath our bait. Saltique shakes her head which makes me concerned about how big these 'livestock' are. A huge wave of dust that comes through to my left that I was not expecting. When it settles, there is a WOIM! I'm separated because I'm not about to get clumped in a dangerous spot. Then directly ahead of me about 130ish feet away there is another wave of dust. Underneath that dust lies another woim eating these magical plants. I then see my colleagues coming down off the plateaus for an odd reason until I see three demonic things with mouths in the chest, and three husks following this woim. Perfect. one spell used later, and my cannon makes a return. Analyzing this like the nerd I am, the woims won't attack us, unless we have magic on us. That's like all of us, but the people that have a bigger issue are Rhogar and Silgr These demons has a rhino horn with a mouth next to the abdomen. the hands are long claws with a longsword, and the toes are webbed with sharp 'talons.' I got busy dealing with these abominations from a flank position while the rest of the team got in the fray.. Out main goal is this: Kill the demons before the woims eat them. Easier said than done however, since we our own member are also in danger. Slowly but surely however, these creatures fell one by one. Rhogar had gotten swallowed, but he forced the woim to regurgitate before it became a problem. Same thing happened with Silgr unsurprisingly. We got a nasty surprise when we took down a husk. A jellyfish had exited the body. So we are really dealing 9 creatures, but those need to go first. If not we could get a possessed woim which isn't great. we got rid oftwo mouth abdomen demons, and AN ADULT WOIM showed up! It nearly destroyed my cannon. It ate one of the other woim and just left leaving a massive hole. The other woim starting burrowing with a demon stuck in it, so that's not good, but there is one last jellyfish demon to take down.. It went deep into the hole. With some quick thinking seeing Rhogar down there, I use my last spell to make a burst of blue. And would you LOOK AT THAT. that jellyfish is here. Rhogar used this opportunity to smash it into the ground killing it instantly. I saw the death because the light faded on its death. Rhogar wasn't happy with Saltique's lie by omission, but I ignored that, because I needed to fix my cannon. We got paid a good amount of gold, and we left. Those husks were sadly other Shepherd members which is just lovely. As we headed back, a thought crossed my mind. Is there one grand demon orchestrating, or three? </blockquote>
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=== Bad Favors and Better Bargains ===
</div><blockquote>I knew this day was coming soon. There was supposed to be a group heading out soon, but one of them had to drop. My contact called me in and said he was calling in his favor, so I know I get to go work for the Federation.. We meet up with two Thri-kreen that appear to be twins. They aren't part of the clutch I fought earlier, but their speech was unsettling, as they would talk over one another in perfect sync. All that aside however, we were told that some dust storm had made a return from the initial invasion again. The only thing that seems to know where it is a crow by the name of Moxy. They asked us to take good care of Moxy, which I can do for 3 days’ travel, and to keep this information private. There is a leak somewhere, and no one is supposed to know there is one. Great. Another piece of information kept behind closed doors that will cause more tension.. I swear this is going to be the downfall of this place. Anyways we start following the bird along to get to where we need to. Avel decides to let Moxy onto his shoulders when it needs a rest. On the third day, we find a few birds circling a few areas. Birds often circle points of interest, and then I hear just ever so faintly some rumbling underneath us. With Avel's help, I am now invisible and decide to scout ahead. I scuff my footing really badly, and I'm pretty sure I caught its attention. Oh I guess I forgot to mention other people here. People I have worked with in the past have made a return except for one person. Draz, Avel, and Leonard made a return from our last time together investigating the mysterious disappearance, and Ozmir is also here from our last time together from dealing with Shady Shabby. No they don't derserve an honorable title. They were paid to kidnap people by the Filth Jerk's counterpart. It was nice having another person who I can communicate without saying a word to in case social interactions fail miserably. The only person I haven't worked with before is Grymos, a Duergar artificer with his own robot friend like Razzadrog.. I'm not surprised he's shorter than me, but it's still a first to work with someone smaller than me. Anyways, the birds scatter off, and all we are left with our own thoughts and this rumbling. We decide to have Grymos' bot go in first, and then the thing went offline apparently. From the previous experience those who were from this were cursed, so Avel helped us get entirely covered up from this sandstorm. Since I am still invisible I decide to scout to figure out what is going on. The slope became EXTREMELY steep, but I managed to ground myself, and avoid tumbling or making huge amounts of noise. The sheer force of this wind is hurting however as I continue to step through, so I would like to get back as soon as possible. I can barely see anything right in front of me, so I am pretty much walking blind. I eventually come upon a rough sculpture of sandstone. tracing my hands along this stone, it is so old, it's probably been here since Prehistory. I am about to return when I notice my invisibility drops. I guess they got tired of waiting, which is fair enough, because it's a long way down. We're talking a quarter mile of walking to get here. I notice however only two other people show up, which is a little worrying, but I’m sure the others are fine. I summon the cannon, and we move up the stairs to whatever this place might be. going up the steps of this structure, some creature is waiting for us, and hell breaks loose. Avel gets injured pretty badly, so he just teleports the same way I saw him do earlier. Grymos just moves in, because he's not dealing with it which is fine. I do manage to take my dagger and drag it through the wind as my cannon fires into it. It did a good chunk of damage, but it's still kicking just fine. And then I see it run. I take a quick strike opportunity and look over, to see Leonard is here along with Razzadrog. It does come back down however, and flings me into this place, and the magic here just feels right. I'll have to figure that out in a second, but there are more pressing matters. My cannon fires the creature and it can't get into this place, so I'm safe in here. I turn my attention to the two other people in here who are both hobgoblins. Avel asks them what is going on, and they imply that they are the ones causing it. I tried to reason with them that a fight wasn't necessary, but to no avail.. One of them says in goblin about Bonnet not keeping them at bay, which raises several alarm bells for me. Who is this Bonnet? What is the significance of this room, and what were they trying to cover up in here if anything? the two hobgoblins immediately turn into some demonic vulture. Now an aerial battle is in play here which isn't too big of a worry for me, but maybe not for others. These jerks are also closing their wounds relatively fast, so a heal off it is. A 5 on 2 however is not going in their favor, so we just need to keep chipping them away. Avel managed with '''Mirror Image''' up to not get hit a single time which I thought was honestly really cool. Unfortunately, my cannon got demolished, so I had to create another one to keep up with my help. With everyone piling in together, both of these demon hybrids or whatever they are fall dead. It's funny because they tried to run, but when you're surrounded like they were, you are going to get hurt badly.. Oh what is a new voice doing here? You're irritated about us ruining your plan? You can shove that comment out, because I don't care. You have been hurting others, and I'm not having it. I question this tall figure a little bit, and they reveal they are Bonnet. Bonnet turns to leave after finishing his monologue, and I attempt one more cannon shot at him, just to rub in my hatred for him. He then calls me by name threatening to kill all of us, but if he's really going to do that, don't mention your plans or whatever.. I begin the process of a ritual cast of '''Detect Magic''', while the others start examining this temple. The air creature left seeing it was in danger if it stuck around, which I didn't care for too much.. When I finish my casting, everything all of a sudden registers as all of the schools this world knows. Leylines are a funny thing, because they make the spells possible. These lines converge at certain points known as Nexuses, and here is where the fabric of reality can much more easily be warped. It hurts to honestly keep it up, so after gathering all I could, I let go of the spell.. The other people started investigating the murals on the monoliths in this room, and they were depicting an ancient lizard race that existed well before any of our time.. There was also some pteran writing scrawled along the base of the altar in here, so I got a copy of it, and have left it alone for now. On each of the four pillars there was a direction and some symbols depicting various things. The order goes as follows: North: is Mother, South is War, East is Nature, and West is: Logic. Avel and I agreed to come check this place in our free time, so that we could better understand what is going on.. I give all the information I could privately to the twins, and they tell me that the Shend are where the Hobgoblins came from. That is certainly some questions for Rhogar at another time. Now I am really confident we aren't fighting just one foe, but a few of them. A bigger problem came to mind however. The Altar had the tree the Arboretum is currently, before some blight gets rid of the leaves.. Could they use this to attack us from far away if discovered</blockquote>

== Character Interactions ==

=== The Scrappers ===
When Himo first arrived, he was like a ghost in the markets. He bought what he needed, and left in such a hurry, it was hard to track them down. He never really talked to people for more than 5 minutes when he finally met some of the crew of the scrappers, and they seemed to treat him with some respect, but Himo kept to themselves.

=== Gobbo Greenskin ===
After the Conservatory was destroyed, he found Gobbo, a goblin with a robot named FR0G-GY. Gobbo mentioned he could make Himo an arm, which interested him, but that conversation was never followed up on. Gobbo also mentioned knowing where Sparkburn was, but won't elaborate on where the golem is now, which is frustrating Himo.

=== Rhogar Dreel ===
[[File:Rhogar Dreel.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Rhogar Dreel]]
Rhogar is part of the Federation. Himo wanted to initally join the Federation, because he often did a lot of exploitation of vices back in Lunas, but understood that organization would fall to corruption eventually. While trying to figure out the whole coordinated attack Himo managed to set his back on fire because of his obliviousness in front of Rhogar from his OWN cannon!

=== Syl Vipershade ===
Himo has lets say a rocky roller coaster of emotions with Syl. When Himo first met Syl, the interaction wasn't awful, but it didn't take long for the oblivious cracks to seep through. While trying to figure out the attack on the Arboretum, Himo burns himself in front of Syl and Rhogar... with his own cannon. Syl distanced themselves from Himo, which he didn't mind because he was too busy working on his projects. Syl noticed Himo always seems to be ready for a fight, and becomes incredibly jumpy when someone tries to affect his mind. This problem was only amplified however after Stix was captured. While hanging out with Gobbo and Syl, Himo suddenly started feeling burned in his right side despite no actual fire being nearby. Himo accidentally summoned his cannon, to which Gobbo and Syl responded by trying to grapple Himo. While Himo never ended attacking either, Himo made it known that his past he is incredibly fearful of. To Himo's surprise, Syl offered him the chance to let something off of his chest. Even though Himo declined for the moment, he did agree to meet later, and discuss it more with Syl.

=== Lenore ===
Lenore was someone who Himo would have never interacted with except in a professional manner, but it took less than five minutes for the mask to come off about his certainty. Lenore is a cleric of Vela, and no one had really offered help without a clause. That sent Himo's brain into overdrive, freezing up at the kind gesture of giving a few names of those who run the Omnichapel as well as a stone of Vela

== Relationships '''(COMING SOON!)''' ==
=== Nyria Nilo ===

=== Celthron Nilo ===
Lady Nilo is a thin high elf with long flowing golden blond hair that is frail from the clutches of death, eyes of a deep black that show only death behind them, and a poise of confidence and dominance ruling the house that controls the Arcane Materials so well. She believes dead people are just objects that can be used for more than just laying them to rest, and tries to control people as much as possible without magic, often by threatening the used of deceased loved ones. When push comes to shove however, the gloves come off and the dead rise up on her command to destroy those who disobey. Nyria stands really short. Only 4'4" tall due to her 6th century of age creeping in on her, but the tug of life and death is just within fingertips reach. She works tirelessly to use necromancy as a means of preserving her life, but has been unsuccessful while staying within the rules of society. She wasn't a fan when Himo wanted to pursue alchemy, but the secret that she was making deals with demons for extra power proved too great to ignore. She feared that Himo would figure out the arcane knowledge to bring the secret to light, because of his resistance

=== Kynnela Nilo ===
Kynnela is the oldest sibling of the Nilo family. Himo picked up the rebellious attitude from her because she fought with her mother and father all the time. Kynnela who is 478 became a Diviner, and she questioned her past self before leaving the house. She treated Himo with the utmost disgust, and got his other sisters, and even his parents to either join in, or pretends it doesn't happen. On the occasional return to the house, Himo kept her at arms length, refusing to relive the pain that she caused. This made Kynnela bitter, and was the one to plot Himo's death, but ultimately failed. Last Himo has heard, Kynnela has left High Lunas; to where and why Himo doesn't know.

=== Mariela Nilo ===
Mariela is the second sibling of the Nilo family. Mariela is 239 years old at this point, and always had a bitter disappointment for Himo. She constantly questioned why Himo wouldn't apply himself more, and why he fought with all 5 members of this family. It's not like she was innocent either. She would sabotage Himo in any way she could since she didn't approve of her parents letting him take alchemy while she was forced into a school of magic. She chose conjuration as her school, because she preferred summoned things doing the work for her. Last Himo has heard, her bossy behavior isn't being well liked by her colleagues.

=== Tyanna Nilo ===
Tyanna is the youngest member of the Nilo family making Himo the third child. currently just 33, she made Himo's life miserable, but not by actions. She insulted him basically every time he spoke, and these comments are viscous. She often told Himo how he causes the tension for not following tradition, but refuses to acknowledge her own shortcomings. All of these insults were basically ignored by everyone, because they expected Himo to just let it go, but he simply couldn't. She doesn't realize that she is part of the reason that Himo ended up abandoning the family. There was one incident were Himo used physical force to make her panic and show her that actions have consequences, but Himo doubts it made an impact. Last Himo has heard, the coward is studying Abjuration to prevent that incident again.

=== Kamer ===
__FORCETOC__

[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Himo Nilo

2025-12-11T16:06:36Z

MCAron: Added his reaction to the deaths. His past is coming >:)

== '''Himo Nilo''' ==
{{Infobox character|name=Himo Nilo|image=Himo Nilo.png|caption="The right side of me should show what happens when you don't pay attention."|relatives=2 Parents, 3 Sisters|affilliation="The Chairman,"The Scrappers|alias=Thai (Child name), The Magic Pick|marital=Single|birthDate=37 PR|birthPlace=High Lunas|species=Elf (High)|height=4'10"|weight=94 lbs.}}

'''Himo''' is a High Elf Rogue/Artillerist that has experienced both the rich and poor side of Lunas. He wanted to visit the Arboretum to modify existing equipment he has, but he never really left until he heard from his contacts in the Arboretum that demon incursions were ramping up. Carrying only what he could quickly pack, he left for the Arboretum with his bag that contains only essentials. He has a habit of checking anything that might look "suspicious" but doesn't really know what might be suspicious.
== Description ==
Himo is a young elf shining with bronze skin with black freckles, Short copper hair that is decently trimmed and eyes that sparkle gold when they catch the light. you would find him like he was a gem in a mine because of the reflection he often carries. He doesn't seem to carry anything with him except maybe a satchel over his back, A rapier and dagger on his left hip and short sword on his right hip respectively, hang and some tools hanging off of his belt. He wears light leather armor with a somewhat heavy desert cloak that shines a little in the light. When you peer past the cloak however, you notice two very big changes to him that he tries to hide as best as he can. The first on is he really only has half of his hair left. The right side of him looks like he has black char that curls up around the face and neck that has been there for quite some time. The second is he has no right arm. anything that might have been there is gone, and watching him, he sways a little bit to the left and right as if he can't seem to keep himself balanced. Some new projects have shown up on his person. The first seems to only be partially done, but on a rack where the shoulder would be is a semi circle with a hole cut out of the center, and an arc cut out inside the semi circle. The second gadget that he has on him at all times, is a disc launcher that fires out coins. Both of these are woodworking projects with small mechanical parts to make them work.

== Manners ==
Himo has a nervous tick carried wherever he goes. If you asked, he would say something along the lines of in a deep graveled voice of not being too careful wherever he goes, but refuses to follow up on why. The eyes seem to look for particular things, but never what is around him. Arcane is of great interest for him, but explosives are not that far off the priority. Often times, random junk that no one has used for some time goes missing, but if you saw him with the junk and asked why, the lips tighten hard. He then usually keeps to himself the rest of the day or two unless it's to discuss plans for missions or logistics. His past is guarded more securely that a vault door with enhanced locks, but the impact of it can easily be seen if he has a PTSD episode. This usually logical, crafty, upbeat personality, snaps faster than a string on a trap, changing him to an aggressive, fearful, volatile person. His hand always seems close to his dagger like he is waiting for a fight to occur. It's hard to tell if you have earned his trust or whether he sees the alliance as one time. On missions of any kind, Himo will tend to find to get out of sight when possible of his teammates, but is always around when trouble strikes. With the death of two people he worked and interacted with, things changed. <blockquote>"I guess I was wrong. Every slight, every lie, every betrayal. I knew it went nowhere, which is why I never did it myself. Trust however, I simply couldn't rebuild it. It was selfish, and I knew it, but betrayal honestly hit really hard. I especially was sure I couldn't after Lenore almost influenced my mind. The first person who showed me kindness without ever expecting a repay. Yet why do so many people hate the fact I only see one time alliances? Why does it matter to them if I hold up my end of the deal? What do they really want from me while working on these missions? I have everything to lose in trust with a huge benefit. I've gotten something wrong. My logic has a fallacy somewhere. I know that promise to talk about my past is still something Syl can call on at any moment. I will not hide any details, but I also don't want any sympathy. After all, my actions in part led me to the problem I have now. Trust is a scary concept for me. I have some deeply unsettling information when I went back to the temple with Avel.. What will happen when I finally spill the guts of what truly happened? Will I be killed, exiled, belittled?. I must have a heart somewhere, because Glorivesh told me how surprised she was that I gave a fuck about those who died. I need.... I need someone to talk to. Maybe I've held this in too long.. If I want to protect people, I can't let my distrust. I have to change if I want to be more effective. I don't mind if people still don't trust who I was, but I need to do this for myself. I have the intelligence, the dexterity, now with my fake arm, and the grit to push through failure. I'm missing the why. Why am I doing this? People expect me not to care, but I do. Why do I need to rebuild a sense of trust, and what do I am to do here in the Arboretum?"</blockquote>

== Background ==
Himo was born to a wealthy mage family in High Lunas. They expected him to follow that same tradition, and while he was interested in magic wasn't the most interesting thing to him as physical tasks. Still they made him either take lessons or leave this family. He negotiated to learn alchemy to understand the materials used in spellcasting.

He started to go to the Low Lunas in secret claiming private tutoring sessions when really he got into contact with the local criminal rings to learn skills from their side. He chose to learn lockpicking for his profession and was quite skilled at it. He also refined his careful hand movement to mimic letters. He balanced this double life of learning alchemy by day and learning to pick locks by night. When he went to Lower Lunas, he would bring stories of breaking into homes, taking specific materials and leaving without a trace. by the time they would try to track him down, he would be in the shadows trying to outlast the location spells used to find him. he often had to dump the stolen materials to prevent being caught. This went on for years. he wrote detailed notes about alchemy and his parents were thought he was being an obedient son. One night while learning complicated formulas to show to his parents, he was finally caught by the guards and he was sentenced to death. while in prison, he managed to convince the guards to give him 2 lodestones. He took those lodestones and mended the broken thieves tools that he was hiding in his clothing. This lock however was never supposed to be picked. It had been magically enhanced but he the night to make that happen. He picked the lock and sneaked out and into the Lower Lunas in 102 PR just as the sun was rising.

He excelled in picking locks as a freelancer. If the guild provided sanctuary based on how difficult the lock was, that locked was picked. He became infamous in rings because no lock was safe from him. Booby trapped to Arcane Lock, most locks were not safe from him. Only locks that were sophisticated with an Arcane Lock would he have a hard time picking and often failed at those, but those were few and far for High Lunas. In various guilds, he learned various weapons that he now always with him because he doesn't want to get into a scrap unarmed. He often had a habit of inspecting areas where people invited him never trusting anyone fully. His reputations grew so much that he found himself often travelling to other places to check out security systems. This took the pressure off of him because he could really inspect area he couldn't before. He learned to pickpocket, sneak around, scale buildings and practice his skills of picking locks. He tried to get an honest job in the town of Rwendia but his reputation followed him everywhere. He did odd jobs around places, pick locks here, mend broken stuff back together, and come along with other criminals to look out for traps. The people he often worked under were brutal. They would insult him behind his back, mess up him picking the locks, broke his stuff and moved him around often and lied to him where he was

He started for fun re-learning magic. Make graffiti with magic here, an odor there. This terrified the guilds because he was becoming what he swore he would never do and feared he would turn on him next. His mentor Jumad told him that no one will want someone unreliable if he chooses this path. He continued in spite of their disapproval and learned how to make a bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus. The only person he told this to was his best friend Kamer who supported him in getting new materials. One day while hiding out in the DwaleVale, he received a letter of a formal apology from his family asking him to come back. He eagerly accepted and made his way over. His contacts warned him they were up to no good and were looking for vengeance for bringing shame to the family name. When he got there they magically influenced him to open a complicated safe lock without checking the area. BOOOM!!! A massive explosion covered him from right to left, debris flying every where and scraping by on life. The family were stewing in their loss of the son when his eldest sister, Nylo gave the idea to blow him up in a public execution. That letter he found, was trapped to get him to come whether he wanted to or not. In the chaos, someone in his family had planted one more bomb to take him out. he survived, barely, but lost his right arm in the explosion. He lost everything; everything but his skills, his life and his resolve to fix this. At DAGR (Determined Assassins, Grifters, and Rogues) he received word that they needed people to fix broken things and make them better. he spent the next 6 months fighting for his life, and those 6 months were in a daze. He often found himself in a new place about every month. When finally had the strength to move comfortably, he took essentials and ran for his life in 134 PR, because no matter what he did his family was coming for him and he needed to defend himself.

== Languages ==
Himo knew elvish and common just from listening to his family, but he learned goblin when he would hang around goblins were trying to have a private conversation, not realizing Himo taught himself that from listening to them

== Character information ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |1 Rogue/4 Artificer
|-
|AC 15
|HP 33
|DC 14
|-
|Str 13
|Dex 18
|Con 13
|-
|Int 16
|Wis 10
|Cha 12
|}

=== '''Proficiencies''' ===
Himo is a man of many skills that involve getting around where he needs to in some way. He effectively shows he can get around super quietly, lift or plant things in someone's pocket, has great athletic abilities, and knows how to spot the difference between 2 identical objects. If asked about anything arcane, he has great knowledge of what it is, what the purpose is, and what the process of creating might have looked like. He also seems to have some tools on his belt. Specifically woodcarver's tools are always on his belt, but he has also shown a good deal of knowledge on making mechanical parts with tinker tools, making concoctions with alchemist supplies, and what he is most well known for; picking locks, and disabling traps

=== High elf Abilities ===
* Cantrip (Mending)
* Darkvision
* Elf Weapon Training
* Extra Language (Goblin)
* Fey Ancestry
* Keen Senses
* Trance

=== Rogue Features ===

* Expertise: Stealth, Thieves Tools
* Sneak attack (1d6)
* Thieves’ Cant

=== Artificer Abilities ===

* Infuse Item (bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus)
* Magical Tinkering
* Spellcasting
* Ritual Casting

=== Feats: ===
Alert

== Himo's Story ==
<div style="text-align: center;">
=== New Place, New Identity, and a New Dream ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been roughly 8 months since I came here to the Arboretum and very little people know I am actually here. Kamer got me in contact with The Chairman when I got here and it has been hell being around all of these explosive materials. every big explosion sends me back a year when an attempt was made on my life. I trust absolutely NO ONE here because I have been looked down on because of a missing arm. Petty theft was the only way I survived. I was so busy about survival that I didn't realize that Raegina was hiring to make robots until The Chairman sent me a letter telling me '''[[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs|Raegina]]''' was looking for people to recruit for the Scrappers. I collected scraps from grand shoplifting, hid out for four months to wait out people looking for men, then I moved swiftly to the junkyard. My goal is to go back to High Lunas and exact revenge on my parents and sisters who left me in this state I am. I barely remember the explosion or the constant shifting of places because I was so out of it. The people here seem nice enough but I am just waiting for them to betray each other. When I got to the junkyard, I was appalled to see the size of these robots, and the amount of people that came was a little much for me.

When Raegina mocked many of us for having many broken and chipped off parts, I just rolled my eyes because I knew if there as anything she was trying to hide in a safe, I could find that safe without getting caught. In Low Lunas I was known as the Magic Pick because I couldn't be trapped, nor were most locks safe from me. I do need teammates however so I kept my moth shut and just listened. The amount of artificers that were there was astonishing. A tiefling had infused armor, and a goblin had a small automaton with them. But by far the most unique “living” thing saw was a doll that could think for itself. It turns out to test our skills, we would fight Grind, Smash and Cleave, 3 golems with interesting weapon choices. I got excited when I learned that we would be fighting the golems because that meant I could sneak out parts I needed for projects. One of said projects was increasing the throwing range of Thunder Rumble because I have to be relatively close to make good use of it. While fighting, one got destroyed, and it burst into flames. The heat sent me back to the explosion that back at High Lunas, where I almost lost my life. We dispatched the rest and Raegina was impressed enough to let us scrap the robots. So much for trying to do things discreetly... But I haven't really talked with people yet. After scrapping the robots, we split up into two teams. I got paired with [[Stix]] and [[Raazdrog]] which was fine. I can modify my parts and they add theirs, and I saw this as more of a fun project. After all, I like explosive confusion. But it's not like I could focus because I was so nervous with Grind blowing me to bits, I was accidentally disassembling Grind. I was trying to make the saw arm move more fluidly, and trying to add scraps of metal I had in my bag, but I fumbled hard there. It was so embarrassing, because everyone else manage to buff it in some way but not me. I wanted to leave so badly because of that, but I ended up staying in spite of it. I would be throwing away probably my only real opportunity to getting out of the slums like my family expected me to stay. To my surprise Raegina gave each of us 10 gp to bet on the improved robots as to who would win. This was huge to me! This was really the first time someone handed me something without expecting anything in return. I decided to risk all of that money and bet most of it on Grind, and then I had an Idea. I decided to rename Grind to Sparkburn, which Stix and Raazdrog liked a lot. Raazdrog and I got the idea to give Sparkburn a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." and I added "Feel the spark. Feel the burn." Now I really didn't care if we won or lost because I considered this a finished project. Out team ended up winning and I walked away with triple what I put into it. I was ecstatic not only because I won a bet, which I rarely take, but the funds could be used to get the tools I need for projects. That excitement was short-lived however because a horn coming from the Arboretum indicating it was under attack. I hopped on the war rig and we moved to the Arboretum.

Getting towards a entrance root of the Arboretum, a sudden crash hits the war rig and all of us go flying off of it. pieces of the damaged rig flew out and a large skeletal elephant collapsed next to the war rig. I wasn't paying attention because I was sketching my newest tool to assist me. I was thrown hard, losing my sketch to the winds and barely landed standing up, and my vision blacked out for a second. Metal was warping and bending in all the wrong ways and snaps echoed throughout the valley and then silence. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew this was an ambush. Footsteps on the dessert sand was coming from multiple directions, Sparks were flying off of the rig, The screeching of tires spinning out, shoe rubber flaking off the boots I put together with mending, and hearing many colleagues scrape against the dusty ground. When the dust cleared I saw green goo blobs moving towards us, and I heard something angry moving towards us. Pustuloids, Capra demons, and Lesser Rage demons were there. To give me some distance, I climbed the war rig, but as I was climbing, it felt like the floor was falling out from me and nearly fell off. Climbing up I saw roughly 10 Pustuloids, a few lesser rage demons, and a Capra. My team managed to keep hold of a choke point and so I threw my dagger at the Capra repeatedly, but I also noticed Sparkburn, covering our backside. This was great, because the Pustuloids exploded on death with Sparkburn unaffected. Raegina tells me to get off even though I just got on. I wanted to argue because I had a good position of the battle but whatever.You know that rig aint safe from me snagging a few pieces. The fight isn't going in our favor right now, because Raazdrog's steel defender, crashes to the ground in combat, unmoving by the Capra. While this fight is going on, I see a figure moving behind us, but it doesn't look like an ambush. It's a half elf holding a rapier and an instrument; most likely a bard. One by one however, the demons fell starting with the pustuloids. Leftover goo seeping into the ground before turning to ash. Two booms ring out as the lesser rage demons and the Capra are thrown back. Delaia, who has been soaking hits for us, takes the opportunity to get out after that which I don't blame. It didn't look like he was going to stand much longer to be honest. The spells seemed to come from the bard and Delaia, so we have another ally. Good because most of us are spent on resources. We kill all the demons and after a quick introduction, the bard's name is [[Leonard]], and she heard the commotion. She healed Deliaia a significant amount, and Deliaia looks ready to take on another fight. After moving this elephant which turned out to be an Olliphant off of the root, we prepared to charge up only for a wave of energy to come down upon us. There was no point to going up anymore... The Conservatory has been destroyed. There goes many projects that have been put on hold. It's not like I made progress on the parts I needed for Sizzle but still frustrating. Oh crap! More demons of the same types are coming down, and I should have seen this coming. We dispatch the ones that combated us, and the streets fall silent around us....

After the invasion ended, leaders were talking about uniting "not just to fight against the demons, but also to build alliances" or something like that. The thing is, I can only rely on one thing when partnership is formed: people are looking out for themselves. Unless someone can prove they are trustworthy, I will not be in a permanent alliance. That's how I survived Low Lunas; Ally with someone only until the necessity no longer remains. </blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Absent Memories ===
</div>
<blockquote>
A few days go by and Sir Anthony is holding a funeral for the lives lost, when I got approached by Jerbo, a gnome arcanist. He was hiring people to track down why the Kobolds attacked. I agreed but stressed, I needed some help. After getting a few others, and some quick introductions we made our way to Dapple, a satry who rents out horses. I put down the deposit and we made our way over. Oh I should mention who is here because I will be a narcissist otherwise. We have Mezzi who I have never seen take off their mask, Polvo a Air Genasi that had an encounter with death apparently, Diana a human who has a lizard like robot that follows her everywhere, Dallas a mouse I have never seen before but seems like a cool fellow, and Davin a halfling with a longbow, with a trophies on his person.

It takes a little more than two days to get there and along the way, we found a dog in a campsite that was left not long ago. I make an alarm in case people came back while I was within a mile, but I got no signal. When we get to the Osteomancer, their abode is in the ground with sand covering a trapdoor. I volunteer to go planning to be sneaky, but I forgot not everyone can see in the dark as well as I can, because Mezzi lit a torch when we all got down. When we met the Osteomancer, I can only describe what is a elephant person like three feet taller than me with big elephant ears, an elephant trunk and overall a build that could lift more than me with two arms. We were trading a favor for a favor. The Osteomancer's favor was removing a tower that was made of Absence which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I can go along with it. Apparently, when creatures are near said tower, they lose their Identities. Davin beat to the question of how are we going to protect ourselves, so that was nice. I was given a scroll and a black egg to crush when I start to read the scroll that should seal this wound. Another detail that was mentioned was the structure could only be seen through reflections.

We get to the tower, it looked like someone lived inside a crazy home. The outside can't be seen, but when you go inside, it is a ghost white. there was also a spot of complete silence, so I move myself there, crushethe egg and begin reading the scroll. A ghost that looks like he owns the place along with lights that surround us entirely. I placed down, my cannon to give me some cover while the rest of the group combat the lights. I watched my colleagues lose their ability to speak coherently while fighting them. I was blessed with something, but I couldn't tell you what it as but it seems to help me fight this ghost who was trying to make me vanish. As the fight moves on, less lights were attacking, but I can't tell you why. After nearly completing it, I was tired of the things attacking and unleash an ear piercing ring out towards the ghost, along with the nearby lights, which injure the lights a lot more than anticipated. I finish reading, and the entire place began to collapse around us. Which is unfortunate, because I wanted to get parts I need for project. I have to will myself out with Mezzi's help, but luckily everyone got out.

When we get back to the Osteomancer, we learn that when kobolds want to get rid of the Divine Blood law, they make deals with other creatures; in this case demons. This group was led by Snizz the Fortunate, but that group was dead when other people killed the kobolds. It ended with a warning "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free." Confused, I said nothing and headed back for the horses that have been tied up. We went to check up on the dog, and it's still there and there is no sign of return, so we left for the Arboretum. This information is given to Jerbo, but I am still suspicious of hat will happen if someone does make a deal with a devil.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Sinking the Filth and My Feelings ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a week since I saw that tower of that "absence" and I am ready to finish what I started or go to the Omnichapel for advice on Vela. I know, I get distracted easily, but I cannot for any reason leave a stone unturned for any reason in case it comes to bite me back later. I left Lunas on some pretty bad terms, both with my family for obvious reasons, but also the Thieve's guilds with relearning the one thing I swore off of. That mistake of saying I will not learn more things about a specific topic was so far my worst one yet. Anyone could come for me for any reason, and I need to be ready for when I get jumped. Today luckily is not one of those days, because a new job offering has appeared who's handwriting is more crude than a thieve's messy handwriting. Baftzmyr as I later found out put up the sign about a giant demon stuck in the sand, and it needed to be killed. Cool, I can just fire with my cannon and it will eventually die if it can't get out. When I get there, I see some new faces, but also a handful of familiar ones. Stix and Razzdrog are here, but among the new ones we have Steady Dee, a tabaxi who wears some unusually heavy armor comparatively that have some runes on it that appear to be of a giant origin, but I guess whatever floats your boat. Koro, an Air Genasi that wears some monk robes, who can't seem to make up his mind when it comes to allegiances, and Ozmir, a tiefling that has powers I have never seen before, but curious as to how they will work. Baftzmyr explains that scout demons have been circling around looking around for a way to get out the great demon. The plan was simple; locate the scouts, follow them, and kill the great demon. Now that follows, but it's under the sand. What is Baftzmyr's plan to expose the demon? I don't know. All I know is I can sneak up on it, and rain cannon fire down where it can't see me. Ozmir who can apparently track creatures really well, starts following a set made not long ago. Along the path, a heatwave catches me completely off guard, and I feel more sluggish than before. Great, now I won't be able to hide nearly as easy I have before, but I am with a group. We get right on top the scout and it pops out ready to attack. It would have died in two hits, if Sparkburn didn't have a weapon infused with fire. Wait! I forgot to mention Sparkburn is with us! Gobbo, I will find you later and confront you for remaining silent. It didn't matter however, because melee attacks are still effective. After that one dies, Stix along with a few others spot three more running from away, and we continue to follow. After a few more hours of travel, we come across some quicksand that is quaking. Quicksand isn't supposed to do that on a large scale; this is where the great demon is. Baftzmyr pulls what appears to be an origami pig that is coated in a layer of wax. It looks like the pig was boiled alive, but I am not one to judge. Stix volunteers to carry to bomb, and all I can say to that is... Ok never mind. This doll, husk? I don't know what it's made of, but regardless, the bomb is carried to it's destination. More importantly however, Stix makes it out unscathed. Maybe Stix has a ratio of strength similar to that of an ant. Ants proportionally can carry more weight to their body mass. Koro and I peek over, and WHAT IS THIS FOR A DEMON!? A cage for a face with a flame inside of it and some kind of disc neck to keep the sand out of the face or something. We give out teammates that knowing look, and the rest of the team gets to work. Raazdrog and MK-2 setup an anti flank position for us on the right as well as making the demon glittery. Steady Dee also sets up an anti flank position for us on the right side as well as growing to giant. With this enlarged form Steady throws a handaxe that lands square in the "face" of the great demon but not as effective as it should have hit . Stix is firing blasts of green energy which makes me think a deal was involved for this power. Koro using the bow pierces the demon with the same problem as Steady, and I am throwing a dagger, firing a cannon, and backing up, because I have no interest in falling in the quicksand and next to this abomination. That caused a different problem however which was I opened the line for more of the scouts to come attack Koro and Ozmir. I planned to fix this by booming them back into it, but that will backfire spectacularly when Koro kills one of the scouts, and stayed within the line of fire. It was also a good thing that I moved out, because the sand started moving out from everyone's feet who were close to the edge. Steady and MK-2 fell in and hell broke loose, literally. I didn't see what happened but the next thing I know, Koro willingly jumps into the pit and now Steady is floating in the air about 20ft. Why that is happening, I couldn't tell you, but Steady was bleeding out and needed help soon. Baftzmyr uttered some word and Steady is conscious again. I go to help Ozmir, because currently 3 scouts are surrounding her, which aint cool. I drive my dagger into a scout's death, and the sand is still moving out from under us, but I can keep myself steady. Raazdrog on the other hand wasn't so lucky and also managed to fall in next to the demon. Things are going fine right now. The great demon is getting whacked by are melee fighters and the people up here in the sand are holding off the scouts just fine. Oh no. My worst fear has come true; this demon will explode on death. I am not going to be around that. I can stabilize those who take the brunt of the explosion. At least, that was my original plan if Koro didn't fall to the giant claws of this demon. I am not ready to lose a colleague here, so I jump down, run to Koro, heal him just enough to get him conscious again and prep for another round of attacks against this creature. Maybe it was better however that I couldn't keep myself steady this time and I was buried in the sand. Not wanting to be stuck in here, I used my last spell to blast out, but that didn't work. Later I learned that I had injured Koro, and Steady who were both super hurt by it, but the worst part was I didn't even get out with that. I got burned, but not by much comparatively to other people who got the full brunt. Stix stabilized Koro, and Raazdrog healed Steady and then Koro. It honestly surprised me that everyone made it out alive. We got our gold, and I moved on because I don't know how much I can trust the Scrappers when working with a Fiend. Working with criminals is bad enough, but trying to work with a creature from the underworld seems like a death sentence.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Old Technology, and Fights ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a few days since hunting the Baron of Filth or whatever in the Nine Hells this creature is, and I finished the sketching for my tool arm. I don't have a name for it, but I know the name will come at the end when I finish the project. I should really get some paper however, because each time I sketch it, it's in the sand. I lose it very easily, and often times restart like some mime performing the same trick. I was ready to go buy the materials when I am stopped by Gnash, a half orc who means business. If I had a counterpart, it would be her. Why? because the entire left side of her face is char black. Besides that she needs people to track down some missing people. They have been gone 2 days and she hates mystery. Some other people that get recruited were Leonard, Mezzi, The Scarlet Shadow, Raazdrog, and Avel. I think it's worth mentioning that we have 3 musically inclined, which I don't I have ever been apart of. We are told to look for a carcass of a long dead giant worm, and the distant mountain Tol'Viral on are way to Drywater. Jerbo reads off a scroll and we turn to mist, and boy can we MOVE! With this enhanced movement, met up with Kaleen, a desert vulpine druid who knew of our mission. We got two scrolls. I recognize these and as '''Animal Messenger''' and '''Locate object''' spells. If anything goes wrong we are told to give movement on where they are headed and in how long.. The '''Locate Object''' however is to find a silver bullet the group left behind.. Seems odd, but hey maybe they do that elsewhere to mark where they were. We don't need either however, because Scarlet knows this place like the back of his hand. Apparently the blue dragonborn, and the thri-kreen hate each other enough to capture, but not kill him, which I find very funny. Anyways, he finds tracks of about a dozen thri-kreen. Following them, they reduce to about 4 tracks that were left behind, and end abruptly. Still Scarlet picks up where they began again and we continue to follow. We are moving with the wind while following the tracks, so it was very easy to actually catch up to the thri-kreen Scarlet was following. When I get the chance to look at them, and it looks likes an ant that grew a spine, a brain along with gaining lots of lower insect strength. The color of the shell also seems to be blending in better with the surrounding enviorment, which I wish I could get my hands on that. We transformed into ourselves again, and decided instead of attacking, to talk to them since they might have some useful information regarding the people we are trying to find. I was confused about the execution, until I learned Scarlet could actually communicate with them. Upon seeing us, the group shows off their mandibles, and claws. Scarlet attempts to parley with the clutch but to no avail, since he could speak the language of clack clickers. Before you judge me, that's what I heard. As we got closer, they became blurry and hard to track their position. I recognize this as a '''Blur''' spell. I am about to make them shiny when Raazdrog beats me to that idea. Only one of them got affected however, but there is one idea I have. Some spells you can't put together because you have to think about the actual spell. '''Blur''' happens to be one of those spells, so I plan to attack in a flank or hit them with spells, they have to resist. I summon the cannon, and get to work. They start by swarming Raazdrog, but since only a few attacks hit, they turned the attention to me. They also don't get many hits in, but one did strike me good. A 6 on 4 however doesn't end well for them, and that part of the clutch falls one by one to us swarming them. We leave the corpses behind and continue on our journey to finding the people who went missing. I was honestly expecting more of a fight with how many tracks we say, but hey I'll save some of my resources for later. We get to a dune structure with a very small tunnel with 2 Federation members dead. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a fight broke out here about a day ago, There is a tunnel about 5ft wide, so it's time for a single file line. I go first, after my cannon, so that less people will be affected by any traps that may come. Well dam right I was because my cannon snapped a tripwire leading to a bunch of some decent size rocks they could fit in the ceiling tumble out. I get out of the way get fine, but I couldn't move my cannon, and it get's dented pretty badly from the trap set. Lesson learned; check for traps in a small area like this. I just realized my experience from Low Lunas has been lacking faster than what happened the last time I was in High Lunas. I start examining the area up ahead, and would you look at that; another trap.. It takes me less than 10 seconds to permanently disable the trap however, so no issues there. Continuing to check for traps, I find no more, and I see a room, probably about 40 feet by 30 feet, and there is a decent amount of light in here that seems to be pretty bright. When we get to the maw of this room, I can just barely see to left some kind of rig, but oh come on. Really? A weapon pointed in my face with 2 people standing a few feet away from the arch. From the little I can see, this appears temporary, but I first need to talk to these people.. I told them that we are here to find you. We were sent by Gnash, and got here with the help of Jerbo. Why there are 2 dead Federation members outside this cave, I have a better idea now. AVEL WHY!? I might have been going somewhere with the conversation, but then you decide to teleport behind them and attack? Fine, Seeing this I spring into action, and start to attack the person who drew their weapon at me. Rude, but fine a fight you want? A fight you will get. I blast the cannon into the shin of the guy, and take that opportunity to throw my dagger into his skull, which works out great because that is one less person we have to deal with. Raazdrog, Mk-2, and Scarlet move into the room and attack some of the nearby henchmen. that happen to be near the doorway so less occupancy there. Avel takes this opportunity to corner the leader in a one on one duel. Unhappy with me dropping her main bodyguard, she leaves the duel with Avel, and decides to attack me instead, with a reach weapon. Dammit, my cannon was in the way, but that didn't matter for this dumb weapon. The lightning and fire hurts pretty bad, but I am still here... Then the dork leaves me alone to go get into a 3v1. I think something is being plotted, because they moved away from me, almost like something had a higher priority. Leonard seeing me greatly injured me heals my immediate wounds, which is nice, because I want to help my teamates, but I can't do that with almost being taken out of the fight. There is 3 other henchmen here, so I direct my cannon to fire at one who was next to Avel as I stick my knife into their side for a well thrown shot.. Mezzi managed to released a held spell, after Avel forced the enemy into Mezzi's line of sight. It didn't have any effect, but the more people closer to the leader, the better.. The leader in a desperate move, went to the rig, and pushed a few buttons, and got ready to run., getting slashed, by Raazdrog Mk-2, Scarlet, and Avel.. I now realize what this is; an infernal enhancement. NOW I WANT THAT! this would speed up my projects by who know how long, and I would earn a lot of favor from Raegina.. This person clearly has connections to the Scrappers, which now irritates me, because we are fighting within our own group, but I know I don't have the tongue to get everyone to stop fighting. We managed to get the Tiefling leader to start running, but by that point, the fight was over. I used this opportunity to try and disable this infernal enhancement, but to no avail. It starts burning me... This rig can't be disabled, from a self destruction button, but I have to keep going. I'm getting burned and then I see it; I can get out, where I couldn't before. I will not give up my own life to figure this out. This is my choice now, not some magic that was used on me. I run out with the rest of the group to hear a big explosion ring out. I managed to get some materials out from the rig, but it's now useless... I spend some time with this tiefling who's name is Velza. Apparently her and Raegina have been locking horns because this rig should have come back to the junkyard, There was incursions here that the local tribe could use help with that rig that is now gone. The solution was spiteful and honestly stupid, and as much as I would have loved to get her off the hook, I want to be able to use these tools for good, not just because of a word of law.. I'm not sure how much longer I will be with the Scrappers because of this incident... If all Raegina cares about is this problem of demons within Pteris no matter the cost, desperation will make people do some insane things all trying to better the future for themselves/children with the destruction left behind.The end NEVER EVER for any reason, justifies the means.</blockquote>
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=== Logic Lacking and Large Lies ===
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<blockquote>Oh Where do I begin with this incident that I am still beating myself in the head over? I guess I will start with the fact that some Yuan-ti runs into town screaming about someone has stolen all of her textiles and they are very expensive. I put my guard up, because I don't trust people who make a big show like that, but I don't see any odd behavior. Some other people that notice the commotion are Deliah, a teifling with some well enhanced armor, Leonard a half elf, who was first and last person to surprise me with someone else coming, Ozmir and Stix making a return from that nasty Baron, Ozmir is also a teifling, with some unique psionic blades, which looks really cool, and Stix is the doll that roams the Arboretum. I recently learned Stix has a "friend" that speaks to them, which is kind of unsettling, I am now wondering who is puppeteering this doll, when it's likely a god.. The last person I did not mention was Ollie, a ranger who has a pet frog.. The Yuan-ti's name is Sandra Sanderson, and she needed help recovering textiles that were expensive. They were stolen by a bunch of gnolls, but the problem I find with that story is A:gnolls don't do that, B: few gnolls are careful with what they steal. Just look at the goods they have after death, and C: Gnolls are not known for attacking in huge groups. I can't saying anything without sounding paranoid, so I go along with this idea.. We get to the circus tent that these textiles were stolen from, and here is the first of many mistakes I made. I made so many in fact for being a skeptic, that it makes my lack of checking in High Lunas look safer. I did not check any signs of damage for anything really. I just saw the creatures, baited one over, and a fight ensued. There was a bunch of hyenas, two giant hyenas, and a gnoll warrior. Stix got injured repeatedly from after it was a great idea to fireball the three big targets. Deliah got in the way of the big hyenas and just ate the minimal damage they dealt. Ozmir notices with the fact these were made by a conjuration spell, but we kept on fighting, because they didn't stop. All of them disappeared except for the warrior. Me and Ozmir start looking around, and we do find the secret stash of goods, and here is my second and third big mistakes. I forgot to examine the tracks leading to it, and I forgot to see based on the dust how long it might have been there, and how far away it was from the actual circus tent. We give the textiles, and she gives us clothing based on the surface thoughts we have, and then I receive a message telepathically from Ozmir stating that Sandra is definitely hiding something.. Stix decides to become Sandra's assistant for the day, but I want to grab Stix, and leave. Still I listened to Ozmir, and did nothing. Me and Leonard doubled back and went to hide in that stash where we find the textiles. At night we see 2 lizard folk and another yuan-ti quickly packing up the tent so quickly something is off. STIX! Now Stix is kidnapped, and the circus is gone. Final mistake I made here: We could have tried to follow the damn caravan, but we were too angry to do anything.. We make our way back, and it turns out it was WAY worse than either of us initially thought. Jitcwal and Cilvdzwucta were also kidnapped, and the explosives used have been destroyed. The worst part is there was, I didn't use any logic. I can't read people better than others, but I am good with puzzles and evidence. I bet if I noticed the condition of the terrain, My alert level would have been a lot higher. SANDRA SANDERSON: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You will not make a fool of me again... </blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">
=== Swallowing and Regurgitating the Facts ===
</div><blockquote>This whole thing of three people being captured and me not being to do anything about it killing me. I gave everything I could to Koro, and Gobbo, but it's still destroying me from the inside. I decided to go see if there was some work I could do to take my anger out on. Working with the scrappers didn't seem like a great idea, because I do not want to get into any more infighting. I don't like the idea in working with the Federation, but I had to pull a favor to get the information I wanted, so it's going to happen someday. I luckily found a job being offered by Lord Pavan to go check on the livestock. That sounds like a Shepherd thing, but beggars, can't be choosers. I would much making good use out of my cannon, than tinkering all day honestly. Maybe it could help me figure out how to make my spells stronger. (It did not.) My only main concern with this is I am working with new folk entirely. There's Rhogar and Syl, who I have interacted with, but it has been.... volatile to say the least. Other people that I have met for the first time are Silgr, a mountain dwarf with similar runes to Rhogars, Mizuka, a desert vulpine bard, but I am not sure which college she attended. To finish this group off, he have Voscaera, a A fighter with incomplete runes of Rhogar's and Silgr's, but she has artificer capabilities instead. I would later find out Voscaera is a Madaer, which is a person of Medusa ancestry. A little unsettling, but there was no bad blood between us. I decided to rent a horse from Dapple, because I heard it was going to be a long haul. I don't mind, but some help would be nice. My only concern I had with this gamble is I need the gold for components. Anyways he head out to check on some livestock, that I now realize could be anything.... Two days later on our travel however, we meet someone by the name of Saltique Petra. She starts reading off a bunch of names, all of which happen to be us. She tells us it's about another week, so I decided to ask for my own curiosity what kind of livestock is being kept. After a few guesses, the answer is kept ominous, so I give up on prying. Low Lunas taught me not to pry when not given on the first go. On day three of travelling we get a nasty dust storm that rolls in. I can barely see in front of me, but I managed to keep the horse calm, so I ended up with the group after it passed. This delayed it by a day, making it 8 days. It would become 9 days after a flash flood came 3 days later. I ended up losing control of the horse, and it sped off. I did my best to keep up, but I had gotten really exhausted from trying to constantly keep my footing. When I wake up the next day, any exhaustion I may have is gone, but I am alone in this harsh desert. With the extra time I have, I set up a fire, but I don't abandon it. When trying to get found, it's best to stay put. It's not like I have a direction to go find the horses, so I am sadly going to lose the deposit. Dammit. After waiting for a few hours, a group of about 6 people cross my vision. Well I'm pretty sure it's the group, but the moment I get a good look at all them, they;re fine. Oddly, Rhogar also lost his horse, so there goes like 100gp+ right there. We debated for a minute to go look for the horses, but I pointed out that we could give the demons more time to transform into other creatures. The rest of the travel will have to be on foot, but at least we only have one more day. On the final day, Saltique explains that we are first collecting some magical fruit to lure the livestock. That's easy enough for me to get and not get ambushed.. When we get there, we split up a little bit to go get as much plants as possible. Syl and I use '''Detect Magic''' to make it easier to get the plants. I manged to get my hands on Anserke, a spiny cactus that allows when made into a potion to improve our constitution for a bit. Okay well I'm not surprised a ambush is happening, but come on. This is a great spot for it. I look up to see a giant spider has jumped Syl, so I pull out the woodcarver's tools, and bring out the cannon to fire at this spider. The spider gets a bite into Syl, but that thing is a fool. Syl is a yuan-ti, so I am willing to bet he has some poison resistance. An ear piercing ring comes out to my left as Mizuka casts something above my level, but it seems to be effective, because There is screeching of another spider. Now how many of these jerks are here, and why have they not been taken care of before this? There ended being 3 other giant spiders lurking. Most of the deaths came from Rhogar just cutting through with his greataxe, along with him getting like 3 times my height. I did manage to get one satisfying kill in a one-two combo to destroy it beyond saving.. I had nothing to gain from getting a rest, but Syl could use it after getting bit multiple times. Rhogar also got injured a good amount, but it seemed Mizuka, Silgr, and Voscaera didn't get injured at all. This never lost my concentration, I go back to harvesting more plants. I manage to get another anserke, which was a little disappointing but not the end of it. I hand over the plants I got, and I was pretty impressed by our pile. Saltique mentioned it might even be enough to get the adult ones out. We head over to another area that is honestly a choke point I'm not too comfortable being in. After an hour...nothing. Then there is tiny amounts of movement underneath our bait. Saltique shakes her head which makes me concerned about how big these 'livestock' are. A huge wave of dust that comes through to my left that I was not expecting. When it settles, there is a WOIM! I'm separated because I'm not about to get clumped in a dangerous spot. Then directly ahead of me about 130ish feet away there is another wave of dust. Underneath that dust lies another woim eating these magical plants. I then see my colleagues coming down off the plateaus for an odd reason until I see three demonic things with mouths in the chest, and three husks following this woim. Perfect. one spell used later, and my cannon makes a return. Analyzing this like the nerd I am, the woims won't attack us, unless we have magic on us. That's like all of us, but the people that have a bigger issue are Rhogar and Silgr These demons has a rhino horn with a mouth next to the abdomen. the hands are long claws with a longsword, and the toes are webbed with sharp 'talons.' I got busy dealing with these abominations from a flank position while the rest of the team got in the fray.. Out main goal is this: Kill the demons before the woims eat them. Easier said than done however, since we our own member are also in danger. Slowly but surely however, these creatures fell one by one. Rhogar had gotten swallowed, but he forced the woim to regurgitate before it became a problem. Same thing happened with Silgr unsurprisingly. We got a nasty surprise when we took down a husk. A jellyfish had exited the body. So we are really dealing 9 creatures, but those need to go first. If not we could get a possessed woim which isn't great. we got rid oftwo mouth abdomen demons, and AN ADULT WOIM showed up! It nearly destroyed my cannon. It ate one of the other woim and just left leaving a massive hole. The other woim starting burrowing with a demon stuck in it, so that's not good, but there is one last jellyfish demon to take down.. It went deep into the hole. With some quick thinking seeing Rhogar down there, I use my last spell to make a burst of blue. And would you LOOK AT THAT. that jellyfish is here. Rhogar used this opportunity to smash it into the ground killing it instantly. I saw the death because the light faded on its death. Rhogar wasn't happy with Saltique's lie by omission, but I ignored that, because I needed to fix my cannon. We got paid a good amount of gold, and we left. Those husks were sadly other Shepherd members which is just lovely. As we headed back, a thought crossed my mind. Is there one grand demon orchestrating, or three? </blockquote>
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=== Bad Favors and Better Bargains ===
</div><blockquote>I knew this day was coming soon. There was supposed to be a group heading out soon, but one of them had to drop. My contact called me in and said he was calling in his favor, so I know I get to go work for the Federation.. We meet up with two Thri-kreen that appear to be twins. They aren't part of the clutch I fought earlier, but their speech was unsettling, as they would talk over one another in perfect sync. All that aside however, we were told that some dust storm had made a return from the initial invasion again. The only thing that seems to know where it is a crow by the name of Moxy. They asked us to take good care of Moxy, which I can do for 3 days’ travel, and to keep this information private. There is a leak somewhere, and no one is supposed to know there is one. Great. Another piece of information kept behind closed doors that will cause more tension.. I swear this is going to be the downfall of this place. Anyways we start following the bird along to get to where we need to. Avel decides to let Moxy onto his shoulders when it needs a rest. On the third day, we find a few birds circling a few areas. Birds often circle points of interest, and then I hear just ever so faintly some rumbling underneath us. With Avel's help, I am now invisible and decide to scout ahead. I scuff my footing really badly, and I'm pretty sure I caught its attention. Oh I guess I forgot to mention other people here. People I have worked with in the past have made a return except for one person. Draz, Avel, and Leonard made a return from our last time together investigating the mysterious disappearance, and Ozmir is also here from our last time together from dealing with Shady Shabby. No they don't derserve an honorable title. They were paid to kidnap people by the Filth Jerk's counterpart. It was nice having another person who I can communicate without saying a word to in case social interactions fail miserably. The only person I haven't worked with before is Grymos, a Duergar artificer with his own robot friend like Razzadrog.. I'm not surprised he's shorter than me, but it's still a first to work with someone smaller than me. Anyways, the birds scatter off, and all we are left with our own thoughts and this rumbling. We decide to have Grymos' bot go in first, and then the thing went offline apparently. From the previous experience those who were from this were cursed, so Avel helped us get entirely covered up from this sandstorm. Since I am still invisible I decide to scout to figure out what is going on. The slope became EXTREMELY steep, but I managed to ground myself, and avoid tumbling or making huge amounts of noise. The sheer force of this wind is hurting however as I continue to step through, so I would like to get back as soon as possible. I can barely see anything right in front of me, so I am pretty much walking blind. I eventually come upon a rough sculpture of sandstone. tracing my hands along this stone, it is so old, it's probably been here since Prehistory. I am about to return when I notice my invisibility drops. I guess they got tired of waiting, which is fair enough, because it's a long way down. We're talking a quarter mile of walking to get here. I notice however only two other people show up, which is a little worrying, but I’m sure the others are fine. I summon the cannon, and we move up the stairs to whatever this place might be. going up the steps of this structure, some creature is waiting for us, and hell breaks loose. Avel gets injured pretty badly, so he just teleports the same way I saw him do earlier. Grymos just moves in, because he's not dealing with it which is fine. I do manage to take my dagger and drag it through the wind as my cannon fires into it. It did a good chunk of damage, but it's still kicking just fine. And then I see it run. I take a quick strike opportunity and look over, to see Leonard is here along with Razzadrog. It does come back down however, and flings me into this place, and the magic here just feels right. I'll have to figure that out in a second, but there are more pressing matters. My cannon fires the creature and it can't get into this place, so I'm safe in here. I turn my attention to the two other people in here who are both hobgoblins. Avel asks them what is going on, and they imply that they are the ones causing it. I tried to reason with them that a fight wasn't necessary, but to no avail.. One of them says in goblin about Bonnet not keeping them at bay, which raises several alarm bells for me. Who is this Bonnet? What is the significance of this room, and what were they trying to cover up in here if anything? the two hobgoblins immediately turn into some demonic vulture. Now an aerial battle is in play here which isn't too big of a worry for me, but maybe not for others. These jerks are also closing their wounds relatively fast, so a heal off it is. A 5 on 2 however is not going in their favor, so we just need to keep chipping them away. Avel managed with '''Mirror Image''' up to not get hit a single time which I thought was honestly really cool. Unfortunately, my cannon got demolished, so I had to create another one to keep up with my help. With everyone piling in together, both of these demon hybrids or whatever they are fall dead. It's funny because they tried to run, but when you're surrounded like they were, you are going to get hurt badly.. Oh what is a new voice doing here? You're irritated about us ruining your plan? You can shove that comment out, because I don't care. You have been hurting others, and I'm not having it. I question this tall figure a little bit, and they reveal they are Bonnet. Bonnet turns to leave after finishing his monologue, and I attempt one more cannon shot at him, just to rub in my hatred for him. He then calls me by name threatening to kill all of us, but if he's really going to do that, don't mention your plans or whatever.. I begin the process of a ritual cast of '''Detect Magic''', while the others start examining this temple. The air creature left seeing it was in danger if it stuck around, which I didn't care for too much.. When I finish my casting, everything all of a sudden registers as all of the schools this world knows. Leylines are a funny thing, because they make the spells possible. These lines converge at certain points known as Nexuses, and here is where the fabric of reality can much more easily be warped. It hurts to honestly keep it up, so after gathering all I could, I let go of the spell.. The other people started investigating the murals on the monoliths in this room, and they were depicting an ancient lizard race that existed well before any of our time.. There was also some pteran writing scrawled along the base of the altar in here, so I got a copy of it, and have left it alone for now. On each of the four pillars there was a direction and some symbols depicting various things. The order goes as follows: North: is Mother, South is War, East is Nature, and West is: Logic. Avel and I agreed to come check this place in our free time, so that we could better understand what is going on.. I give all the information I could privately to the twins, and they tell me that the Shend are where the Hobgoblins came from. That is certainly some questions for Rhogar at another time. Now I am really confident we aren't fighting just one foe, but a few of them. A bigger problem came to mind however. The Altar had the tree the Arboretum is currently, before some blight gets rid of the leaves.. Could they use this to attack us from far away if discovered</blockquote>

== Character Interactions ==

=== The Scrappers ===
When Himo first arrived, he was like a ghost in the markets. He bought what he needed, and left in such a hurry, it was hard to track them down. He never really talked to people for more than 5 minutes when he finally met some of the crew of the scrappers, and they seemed to treat him with some respect, but Himo kept to themselves.

=== Gobbo Greenskin ===
After the Conservatory was destroyed, he found Gobbo, a goblin with a robot named FR0G-GY. Gobbo mentioned he could make Himo an arm, which interested him, but that conversation was never followed up on. Gobbo also mentioned knowing where Sparkburn was, but won't elaborate on where the golem is now, which is frustrating Himo.

=== Rhogar Dreel ===
[[File:Rhogar Dreel.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Rhogar Dreel]]
Rhogar is part of the Federation. Himo wanted to initally join the Federation, because he often did a lot of exploitation of vices back in Lunas, but understood that organization would fall to corruption eventually. While trying to figure out the whole coordinated attack Himo managed to set his back on fire because of his obliviousness in front of Rhogar from his OWN cannon!

=== Syl Vipershade ===
Himo has lets say a rocky roller coaster of emotions with Syl. When Himo first met Syl, the interaction wasn't awful, but it didn't take long for the oblivious cracks to seep through. While trying to figure out the attack on the Arboretum, Himo burns himself in front of Syl and Rhogar... with his own cannon. Syl distanced themselves from Himo, which he didn't mind because he was too busy working on his projects. Syl noticed Himo always seems to be ready for a fight, and becomes incredibly jumpy when someone tries to affect his mind. This problem was only amplified however after Stix was captured. While hanging out with Gobbo and Syl, Himo suddenly started feeling burned in his right side despite no actual fire being nearby. Himo accidentally summoned his cannon, to which Gobbo and Syl responded by trying to grapple Himo. While Himo never ended attacking either, Himo made it known that his past he is incredibly fearful of. To Himo's surprise, Syl offered him the chance to let something off of his chest. Even though Himo declined for the moment, he did agree to meet later, and discuss it more with Syl.

=== Lenore ===
Lenore was someone who Himo would have never interacted with except in a professional manner, but it took less than five minutes for the mask to come off about his certainty. Lenore is a cleric of Vela, and no one had really offered help without a clause. That sent Himo's brain into overdrive, freezing up at the kind gesture of giving a few names of those who run the Omnichapel as well as a stone of Vela

== Relationships '''(COMING SOON!)''' ==
=== Nyria Nilo ===

=== Celthron Nilo ===
Lady Nilo is a thin high elf with long flowing golden blond hair that is frail from the clutches of death, eyes of a deep black that show only death behind them, and a poise of confidence and dominance ruling the house that controls the Arcane Materials so well. She believes dead people are just objects that can be used for more than just laying them to rest, and tries to control people as much as possible without magic, often by threatening the used of deceased loved ones. When push comes to shove however, the gloves come off and the dead rise up on her command to destroy those who disobey. Nyria stands really short. Only 4'4" tall due to her 6th century of age creeping in on her, but the tug of life and death is just within fingertips reach. She works tirelessly to use necromancy as a means of preserving her life, but has been unsuccessful while staying within the rules of society. She wasn't a fan when Himo wanted to pursue alchemy, but the secret that she was making deals with demons for extra power proved too great to ignore. She feared that Himo would figure out the arcane knowledge to bring the secret to light, because of his resistance

=== Kynnela Nilo ===
Kynnela is the oldest sibling of the Nilo family. Himo picked up the rebellious attitude from her because she fought with her mother and father all the time. Kynnela who is 478 became a Diviner, and she questioned her past self before leaving the house. She treated Himo with the utmost disgust, and got his other sisters, and even his parents to either join in, or pretends it doesn't happen. On the occasional return to the house, Himo kept her at arms length, refusing to relive the pain that she caused. This made Kynnela bitter, and was the one to plot Himo's death, but ultimately failed. Last Himo has heard, Kynnela has left High Lunas; to where and why Himo doesn't know.

=== Mariela Nilo ===
Mariela is the second sibling of the Nilo family. Mariela is 239 years old at this point, and always had a bitter disappointment for Himo. She constantly questioned why Himo wouldn't apply himself more, and why he fought with all 5 members of this family. It's not like she was innocent either. She would sabotage Himo in any way she could since she didn't approve of her parents letting him take alchemy while she was forced into a school of magic. She chose conjuration as her school, because she preferred summoned things doing the work for her. Last Himo has heard, her bossy behavior isn't being well liked by her colleagues.

=== Tyanna Nilo ===
Tyanna is the youngest member of the Nilo family making Himo the third child. currently just 33, she made Himo's life miserable, but not by actions. She insulted him basically every time he spoke, and these comments are viscous. She often told Himo how he causes the tension for not following tradition, but refuses to acknowledge her own shortcomings. All of these insults were basically ignored by everyone, because they expected Himo to just let it go, but he simply couldn't. She doesn't realize that she is part of the reason that Himo ended up abandoning the family. There was one incident were Himo used physical force to make her panic and show her that actions have consequences, but Himo doubts it made an impact. Last Himo has heard, the coward is studying Abjuration to prevent that incident again.

=== Kamer ===
__FORCETOC__

[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Himo Nilo

2025-12-04T01:17:28Z

MCAron: Correcting the last time Himo worked with Ozmir

== '''Himo Nilo''' ==
{{Infobox character|name=Himo Nilo|image=Himo Nilo.png|caption="The right side of me should show what happens when you don't pay attention."|relatives=2 Parents, 3 Sisters|affilliation="The Chairman,"The Scrappers|alias=Thai (Child name), The Magic Pick|marital=Single|birthDate=37 PR|birthPlace=High Lunas|species=Elf (High)|height=4'10"|weight=94 lbs.}}

'''Himo''' is a High Elf Rogue/Artillerist that has experienced both the rich and poor side of Lunas. He wanted to visit the Arboretum to modify existing equipment he has, but he never really left until he heard from his contacts in the Arboretum that demon incursions were ramping up. Carrying only what he could quickly pack, he left for the Arboretum with his bag that contains only essentials. He has a habit of checking anything that might look "suspicious" but doesn't really know what might be suspicious.
== Description ==
Himo is a young elf shining with bronze skin with black freckles, Short copper hair that is decently trimmed and eyes that sparkle gold when they catch the light. you would find him like he was a gem in a mine because of the reflection he often carries. He doesn't seem to carry anything with him except maybe a satchel over his back, A rapier and dagger on his left hip and short sword on his right hip respectively, hang and some tools hanging off of his belt. He wears light leather armor with a somewhat heavy desert cloak that shines a little in the light. When you peer past the cloak however, you notice two very big changes to him that he tries to hide as best as he can. The first on is he really only has half of his hair left. The right side of him looks like he has black char that curls up around the face and neck that has been there for quite some time. The second is he has no right arm. anything that might have been there is gone, and watching him, he sways a little bit to the left and right as if he can't seem to keep himself balanced. Some new projects have shown up on his person. The first seems to only be partially done, but on a rack where the shoulder would be is a semi circle with a hole cut out of the center, and an arc cut out inside the semi circle. The second gadget that he has on him at all times, is a disc launcher that fires out coins. Both of these are woodworking projects with small mechanical parts to make them work.

== Manners ==
Himo has a nervous tick carried wherever he goes. If you asked, he would say something along the lines of in a deep graveled voice of not being too careful wherever he goes, but refuses to follow up on why. The eyes seem to look for particular things, but never what is around him. Arcane is of great interest for him, but explosives are not that far off the priority. Often times, random junk that no one has used for some time goes missing, but if you saw him with the junk and asked why, the lips tighten hard. He then usually keeps to himself the rest of the day or two unless it's to discuss plans for missions or logistics. His past is guarded more securely that a vault door with enhanced locks, but the impact of it can easily be seen if he has a PTSD episode. This usually logical, crafty, upbeat personality, snaps faster than a string on a trap, changing him to an aggressive, fearful, volatile person. His hand always seems close to his dagger like he is waiting for a fight to occur. It's hard to tell if you have earned his trust or whether he sees the alliance as one time. On missions of any kind, Himo will tend to find to get out of sight when possible of his teammates, but is always around when trouble strikes.

== Background ==
Himo was born to a wealthy mage family in High Lunas. They expected him to follow that same tradition, and while he was interested in magic wasn't the most interesting thing to him as physical tasks. Still they made him either take lessons or leave this family. He negotiated to learn alchemy to understand the materials used in spellcasting.

He started to go to the Low Lunas in secret claiming private tutoring sessions when really he got into contact with the local criminal rings to learn skills from their side. He chose to learn lockpicking for his profession and was quite skilled at it. He also refined his careful hand movement to mimic letters. He balanced this double life of learning alchemy by day and learning to pick locks by night. When he went to Lower Lunas, he would bring stories of breaking into homes, taking specific materials and leaving without a trace. by the time they would try to track him down, he would be in the shadows trying to outlast the location spells used to find him. he often had to dump the stolen materials to prevent being caught. This went on for years. he wrote detailed notes about alchemy and his parents were thought he was being an obedient son. One night while learning complicated formulas to show to his parents, he was finally caught by the guards and he was sentenced to death. while in prison, he managed to convince the guards to give him 2 lodestones. He took those lodestones and mended the broken thieves tools that he was hiding in his clothing. This lock however was never supposed to be picked. It had been magically enhanced but he the night to make that happen. He picked the lock and sneaked out and into the Lower Lunas in 102 PR just as the sun was rising.

He excelled in picking locks as a freelancer. If the guild provided sanctuary based on how difficult the lock was, that locked was picked. He became infamous in rings because no lock was safe from him. Booby trapped to Arcane Lock, most locks were not safe from him. Only locks that were sophisticated with an Arcane Lock would he have a hard time picking and often failed at those, but those were few and far for High Lunas. In various guilds, he learned various weapons that he now always with him because he doesn't want to get into a scrap unarmed. He often had a habit of inspecting areas where people invited him never trusting anyone fully. His reputations grew so much that he found himself often travelling to other places to check out security systems. This took the pressure off of him because he could really inspect area he couldn't before. He learned to pickpocket, sneak around, scale buildings and practice his skills of picking locks. He tried to get an honest job in the town of Rwendia but his reputation followed him everywhere. He did odd jobs around places, pick locks here, mend broken stuff back together, and come along with other criminals to look out for traps. The people he often worked under were brutal. They would insult him behind his back, mess up him picking the locks, broke his stuff and moved him around often and lied to him where he was

He started for fun re-learning magic. Make graffiti with magic here, an odor there. This terrified the guilds because he was becoming what he swore he would never do and feared he would turn on him next. His mentor Jumad told him that no one will want someone unreliable if he chooses this path. He continued in spite of their disapproval and learned how to make a bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus. The only person he told this to was his best friend Kamer who supported him in getting new materials. One day while hiding out in the DwaleVale, he received a letter of a formal apology from his family asking him to come back. He eagerly accepted and made his way over. His contacts warned him they were up to no good and were looking for vengeance for bringing shame to the family name. When he got there they magically influenced him to open a complicated safe lock without checking the area. BOOOM!!! A massive explosion covered him from right to left, debris flying every where and scraping by on life. The family were stewing in their loss of the son when his eldest sister, Nylo gave the idea to blow him up in a public execution. That letter he found, was trapped to get him to come whether he wanted to or not. In the chaos, someone in his family had planted one more bomb to take him out. he survived, barely, but lost his right arm in the explosion. He lost everything; everything but his skills, his life and his resolve to fix this. At DAGR (Determined Assassins, Grifters, and Rogues) he received word that they needed people to fix broken things and make them better. he spent the next 6 months fighting for his life, and those 6 months were in a daze. He often found himself in a new place about every month. When finally had the strength to move comfortably, he took essentials and ran for his life in 134 PR, because no matter what he did his family was coming for him and he needed to defend himself.

== Languages ==
Himo knew elvish and common just from listening to his family, but he learned goblin when he would hang around goblins were trying to have a private conversation, not realizing Himo taught himself that from listening to them

== Character information ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |1 Rogue/4 Artificer
|-
|AC 15
|HP 33
|DC 14
|-
|Str 13
|Dex 18
|Con 13
|-
|Int 16
|Wis 10
|Cha 12
|}

=== '''Proficiencies''' ===
Himo is a man of many skills that involve getting around where he needs to in some way. He effectively shows he can get around super quietly, lift or plant things in someone's pocket, has great athletic abilities, and knows how to spot the difference between 2 identical objects. If asked about anything arcane, he has great knowledge of what it is, what the purpose is, and what the process of creating might have looked like. He also seems to have some tools on his belt. Specifically woodcarver's tools are always on his belt, but he has also shown a good deal of knowledge on making mechanical parts with tinker tools, making concoctions with alchemist supplies, and what he is most well known for; picking locks, and disabling traps

=== High elf Abilities ===
* Cantrip (Mending)
* Darkvision
* Elf Weapon Training
* Extra Language (Goblin)
* Fey Ancestry
* Keen Senses
* Trance

=== Rogue Features ===

* Expertise: Stealth, Thieves Tools
* Sneak attack (1d6)
* Thieves’ Cant

=== Artificer Abilities ===

* Infuse Item (bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus)
* Magical Tinkering
* Spellcasting
* Ritual Casting

=== Feats: ===
Alert

== Himo's Story ==
<div style="text-align: center;">
=== New Place, New Identity, and a New Dream ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been roughly 8 months since I came here to the Arboretum and very little people know I am actually here. Kamer got me in contact with The Chairman when I got here and it has been hell being around all of these explosive materials. every big explosion sends me back a year when an attempt was made on my life. I trust absolutely NO ONE here because I have been looked down on because of a missing arm. Petty theft was the only way I survived. I was so busy about survival that I didn't realize that Raegina was hiring to make robots until The Chairman sent me a letter telling me '''[[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs|Raegina]]''' was looking for people to recruit for the Scrappers. I collected scraps from grand shoplifting, hid out for four months to wait out people looking for men, then I moved swiftly to the junkyard. My goal is to go back to High Lunas and exact revenge on my parents and sisters who left me in this state I am. I barely remember the explosion or the constant shifting of places because I was so out of it. The people here seem nice enough but I am just waiting for them to betray each other. When I got to the junkyard, I was appalled to see the size of these robots, and the amount of people that came was a little much for me.

When Raegina mocked many of us for having many broken and chipped off parts, I just rolled my eyes because I knew if there as anything she was trying to hide in a safe, I could find that safe without getting caught. In Low Lunas I was known as the Magic Pick because I couldn't be trapped, nor were most locks safe from me. I do need teammates however so I kept my moth shut and just listened. The amount of artificers that were there was astonishing. A tiefling had infused armor, and a goblin had a small automaton with them. But by far the most unique “living” thing saw was a doll that could think for itself. It turns out to test our skills, we would fight Grind, Smash and Cleave, 3 golems with interesting weapon choices. I got excited when I learned that we would be fighting the golems because that meant I could sneak out parts I needed for projects. One of said projects was increasing the throwing range of Thunder Rumble because I have to be relatively close to make good use of it. While fighting, one got destroyed, and it burst into flames. The heat sent me back to the explosion that back at High Lunas, where I almost lost my life. We dispatched the rest and Raegina was impressed enough to let us scrap the robots. So much for trying to do things discreetly... But I haven't really talked with people yet. After scrapping the robots, we split up into two teams. I got paired with [[Stix]] and [[Raazdrog]] which was fine. I can modify my parts and they add theirs, and I saw this as more of a fun project. After all, I like explosive confusion. But it's not like I could focus because I was so nervous with Grind blowing me to bits, I was accidentally disassembling Grind. I was trying to make the saw arm move more fluidly, and trying to add scraps of metal I had in my bag, but I fumbled hard there. It was so embarrassing, because everyone else manage to buff it in some way but not me. I wanted to leave so badly because of that, but I ended up staying in spite of it. I would be throwing away probably my only real opportunity to getting out of the slums like my family expected me to stay. To my surprise Raegina gave each of us 10 gp to bet on the improved robots as to who would win. This was huge to me! This was really the first time someone handed me something without expecting anything in return. I decided to risk all of that money and bet most of it on Grind, and then I had an Idea. I decided to rename Grind to Sparkburn, which Stix and Raazdrog liked a lot. Raazdrog and I got the idea to give Sparkburn a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." and I added "Feel the spark. Feel the burn." Now I really didn't care if we won or lost because I considered this a finished project. Out team ended up winning and I walked away with triple what I put into it. I was ecstatic not only because I won a bet, which I rarely take, but the funds could be used to get the tools I need for projects. That excitement was short-lived however because a horn coming from the Arboretum indicating it was under attack. I hopped on the war rig and we moved to the Arboretum.

Getting towards a entrance root of the Arboretum, a sudden crash hits the war rig and all of us go flying off of it. pieces of the damaged rig flew out and a large skeletal elephant collapsed next to the war rig. I wasn't paying attention because I was sketching my newest tool to assist me. I was thrown hard, losing my sketch to the winds and barely landed standing up, and my vision blacked out for a second. Metal was warping and bending in all the wrong ways and snaps echoed throughout the valley and then silence. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew this was an ambush. Footsteps on the dessert sand was coming from multiple directions, Sparks were flying off of the rig, The screeching of tires spinning out, shoe rubber flaking off the boots I put together with mending, and hearing many colleagues scrape against the dusty ground. When the dust cleared I saw green goo blobs moving towards us, and I heard something angry moving towards us. Pustuloids, Capra demons, and Lesser Rage demons were there. To give me some distance, I climbed the war rig, but as I was climbing, it felt like the floor was falling out from me and nearly fell off. Climbing up I saw roughly 10 Pustuloids, a few lesser rage demons, and a Capra. My team managed to keep hold of a choke point and so I threw my dagger at the Capra repeatedly, but I also noticed Sparkburn, covering our backside. This was great, because the Pustuloids exploded on death with Sparkburn unaffected. Raegina tells me to get off even though I just got on. I wanted to argue because I had a good position of the battle but whatever.You know that rig aint safe from me snagging a few pieces. The fight isn't going in our favor right now, because Raazdrog's steel defender, crashes to the ground in combat, unmoving by the Capra. While this fight is going on, I see a figure moving behind us, but it doesn't look like an ambush. It's a half elf holding a rapier and an instrument; most likely a bard. One by one however, the demons fell starting with the pustuloids. Leftover goo seeping into the ground before turning to ash. Two booms ring out as the lesser rage demons and the Capra are thrown back. Delaia, who has been soaking hits for us, takes the opportunity to get out after that which I don't blame. It didn't look like he was going to stand much longer to be honest. The spells seemed to come from the bard and Delaia, so we have another ally. Good because most of us are spent on resources. We kill all the demons and after a quick introduction, the bard's name is [[Leonard]], and she heard the commotion. She healed Deliaia a significant amount, and Deliaia looks ready to take on another fight. After moving this elephant which turned out to be an Olliphant off of the root, we prepared to charge up only for a wave of energy to come down upon us. There was no point to going up anymore... The Conservatory has been destroyed. There goes many projects that have been put on hold. It's not like I made progress on the parts I needed for Sizzle but still frustrating. Oh crap! More demons of the same types are coming down, and I should have seen this coming. We dispatch the ones that combated us, and the streets fall silent around us....

After the invasion ended, leaders were talking about uniting "not just to fight against the demons, but also to build alliances" or something like that. The thing is, I can only rely on one thing when partnership is formed: people are looking out for themselves. Unless someone can prove they are trustworthy, I will not be in a permanent alliance. That's how I survived Low Lunas; Ally with someone only until the necessity no longer remains. </blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Absent Memories ===
</div>
<blockquote>
A few days go by and Sir Anthony is holding a funeral for the lives lost, when I got approached by Jerbo, a gnome arcanist. He was hiring people to track down why the Kobolds attacked. I agreed but stressed, I needed some help. After getting a few others, and some quick introductions we made our way to Dapple, a satry who rents out horses. I put down the deposit and we made our way over. Oh I should mention who is here because I will be a narcissist otherwise. We have Mezzi who I have never seen take off their mask, Polvo a Air Genasi that had an encounter with death apparently, Diana a human who has a lizard like robot that follows her everywhere, Dallas a mouse I have never seen before but seems like a cool fellow, and Davin a halfling with a longbow, with a trophies on his person.

It takes a little more than two days to get there and along the way, we found a dog in a campsite that was left not long ago. I make an alarm in case people came back while I was within a mile, but I got no signal. When we get to the Osteomancer, their abode is in the ground with sand covering a trapdoor. I volunteer to go planning to be sneaky, but I forgot not everyone can see in the dark as well as I can, because Mezzi lit a torch when we all got down. When we met the Osteomancer, I can only describe what is a elephant person like three feet taller than me with big elephant ears, an elephant trunk and overall a build that could lift more than me with two arms. We were trading a favor for a favor. The Osteomancer's favor was removing a tower that was made of Absence which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I can go along with it. Apparently, when creatures are near said tower, they lose their Identities. Davin beat to the question of how are we going to protect ourselves, so that was nice. I was given a scroll and a black egg to crush when I start to read the scroll that should seal this wound. Another detail that was mentioned was the structure could only be seen through reflections.

We get to the tower, it looked like someone lived inside a crazy home. The outside can't be seen, but when you go inside, it is a ghost white. there was also a spot of complete silence, so I move myself there, crushethe egg and begin reading the scroll. A ghost that looks like he owns the place along with lights that surround us entirely. I placed down, my cannon to give me some cover while the rest of the group combat the lights. I watched my colleagues lose their ability to speak coherently while fighting them. I was blessed with something, but I couldn't tell you what it as but it seems to help me fight this ghost who was trying to make me vanish. As the fight moves on, less lights were attacking, but I can't tell you why. After nearly completing it, I was tired of the things attacking and unleash an ear piercing ring out towards the ghost, along with the nearby lights, which injure the lights a lot more than anticipated. I finish reading, and the entire place began to collapse around us. Which is unfortunate, because I wanted to get parts I need for project. I have to will myself out with Mezzi's help, but luckily everyone got out.

When we get back to the Osteomancer, we learn that when kobolds want to get rid of the Divine Blood law, they make deals with other creatures; in this case demons. This group was led by Snizz the Fortunate, but that group was dead when other people killed the kobolds. It ended with a warning "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free." Confused, I said nothing and headed back for the horses that have been tied up. We went to check up on the dog, and it's still there and there is no sign of return, so we left for the Arboretum. This information is given to Jerbo, but I am still suspicious of hat will happen if someone does make a deal with a devil.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Sinking the Filth and My Feelings ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a week since I saw that tower of that "absence" and I am ready to finish what I started or go to the Omnichapel for advice on Vela. I know, I get distracted easily, but I cannot for any reason leave a stone unturned for any reason in case it comes to bite me back later. I left Lunas on some pretty bad terms, both with my family for obvious reasons, but also the Thieve's guilds with relearning the one thing I swore off of. That mistake of saying I will not learn more things about a specific topic was so far my worst one yet. Anyone could come for me for any reason, and I need to be ready for when I get jumped. Today luckily is not one of those days, because a new job offering has appeared who's handwriting is more crude than a thieve's messy handwriting. Baftzmyr as I later found out put up the sign about a giant demon stuck in the sand, and it needed to be killed. Cool, I can just fire with my cannon and it will eventually die if it can't get out. When I get there, I see some new faces, but also a handful of familiar ones. Stix and Razzdrog are here, but among the new ones we have Steady Dee, a tabaxi who wears some unusually heavy armor comparatively that have some runes on it that appear to be of a giant origin, but I guess whatever floats your boat. Koro, an Air Genasi that wears some monk robes, who can't seem to make up his mind when it comes to allegiances, and Ozmir, a tiefling that has powers I have never seen before, but curious as to how they will work. Baftzmyr explains that scout demons have been circling around looking around for a way to get out the great demon. The plan was simple; locate the scouts, follow them, and kill the great demon. Now that follows, but it's under the sand. What is Baftzmyr's plan to expose the demon? I don't know. All I know is I can sneak up on it, and rain cannon fire down where it can't see me. Ozmir who can apparently track creatures really well, starts following a set made not long ago. Along the path, a heatwave catches me completely off guard, and I feel more sluggish than before. Great, now I won't be able to hide nearly as easy I have before, but I am with a group. We get right on top the scout and it pops out ready to attack. It would have died in two hits, if Sparkburn didn't have a weapon infused with fire. Wait! I forgot to mention Sparkburn is with us! Gobbo, I will find you later and confront you for remaining silent. It didn't matter however, because melee attacks are still effective. After that one dies, Stix along with a few others spot three more running from away, and we continue to follow. After a few more hours of travel, we come across some quicksand that is quaking. Quicksand isn't supposed to do that on a large scale; this is where the great demon is. Baftzmyr pulls what appears to be an origami pig that is coated in a layer of wax. It looks like the pig was boiled alive, but I am not one to judge. Stix volunteers to carry to bomb, and all I can say to that is... Ok never mind. This doll, husk? I don't know what it's made of, but regardless, the bomb is carried to it's destination. More importantly however, Stix makes it out unscathed. Maybe Stix has a ratio of strength similar to that of an ant. Ants proportionally can carry more weight to their body mass. Koro and I peek over, and WHAT IS THIS FOR A DEMON!? A cage for a face with a flame inside of it and some kind of disc neck to keep the sand out of the face or something. We give out teammates that knowing look, and the rest of the team gets to work. Raazdrog and MK-2 setup an anti flank position for us on the right as well as making the demon glittery. Steady Dee also sets up an anti flank position for us on the right side as well as growing to giant. With this enlarged form Steady throws a handaxe that lands square in the "face" of the great demon but not as effective as it should have hit . Stix is firing blasts of green energy which makes me think a deal was involved for this power. Koro using the bow pierces the demon with the same problem as Steady, and I am throwing a dagger, firing a cannon, and backing up, because I have no interest in falling in the quicksand and next to this abomination. That caused a different problem however which was I opened the line for more of the scouts to come attack Koro and Ozmir. I planned to fix this by booming them back into it, but that will backfire spectacularly when Koro kills one of the scouts, and stayed within the line of fire. It was also a good thing that I moved out, because the sand started moving out from everyone's feet who were close to the edge. Steady and MK-2 fell in and hell broke loose, literally. I didn't see what happened but the next thing I know, Koro willingly jumps into the pit and now Steady is floating in the air about 20ft. Why that is happening, I couldn't tell you, but Steady was bleeding out and needed help soon. Baftzmyr uttered some word and Steady is conscious again. I go to help Ozmir, because currently 3 scouts are surrounding her, which aint cool. I drive my dagger into a scout's death, and the sand is still moving out from under us, but I can keep myself steady. Raazdrog on the other hand wasn't so lucky and also managed to fall in next to the demon. Things are going fine right now. The great demon is getting whacked by are melee fighters and the people up here in the sand are holding off the scouts just fine. Oh no. My worst fear has come true; this demon will explode on death. I am not going to be around that. I can stabilize those who take the brunt of the explosion. At least, that was my original plan if Koro didn't fall to the giant claws of this demon. I am not ready to lose a colleague here, so I jump down, run to Koro, heal him just enough to get him conscious again and prep for another round of attacks against this creature. Maybe it was better however that I couldn't keep myself steady this time and I was buried in the sand. Not wanting to be stuck in here, I used my last spell to blast out, but that didn't work. Later I learned that I had injured Koro, and Steady who were both super hurt by it, but the worst part was I didn't even get out with that. I got burned, but not by much comparatively to other people who got the full brunt. Stix stabilized Koro, and Raazdrog healed Steady and then Koro. It honestly surprised me that everyone made it out alive. We got our gold, and I moved on because I don't know how much I can trust the Scrappers when working with a Fiend. Working with criminals is bad enough, but trying to work with a creature from the underworld seems like a death sentence.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Old Technology, and Fights ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a few days since hunting the Baron of Filth or whatever in the Nine Hells this creature is, and I finished the sketching for my tool arm. I don't have a name for it, but I know the name will come at the end when I finish the project. I should really get some paper however, because each time I sketch it, it's in the sand. I lose it very easily, and often times restart like some mime performing the same trick. I was ready to go buy the materials when I am stopped by Gnash, a half orc who means business. If I had a counterpart, it would be her. Why? because the entire left side of her face is char black. Besides that she needs people to track down some missing people. They have been gone 2 days and she hates mystery. Some other people that get recruited were Leonard, Mezzi, The Scarlet Shadow, Raazdrog, and Avel. I think it's worth mentioning that we have 3 musically inclined, which I don't I have ever been apart of. We are told to look for a carcass of a long dead giant worm, and the distant mountain Tol'Viral on are way to Drywater. Jerbo reads off a scroll and we turn to mist, and boy can we MOVE! With this enhanced movement, met up with Kaleen, a desert vulpine druid who knew of our mission. We got two scrolls. I recognize these and as '''Animal Messenger''' and '''Locate object''' spells. If anything goes wrong we are told to give movement on where they are headed and in how long.. The '''Locate Object''' however is to find a silver bullet the group left behind.. Seems odd, but hey maybe they do that elsewhere to mark where they were. We don't need either however, because Scarlet knows this place like the back of his hand. Apparently the blue dragonborn, and the thri-kreen hate each other enough to capture, but not kill him, which I find very funny. Anyways, he finds tracks of about a dozen thri-kreen. Following them, they reduce to about 4 tracks that were left behind, and end abruptly. Still Scarlet picks up where they began again and we continue to follow. We are moving with the wind while following the tracks, so it was very easy to actually catch up to the thri-kreen Scarlet was following. When I get the chance to look at them, and it looks likes an ant that grew a spine, a brain along with gaining lots of lower insect strength. The color of the shell also seems to be blending in better with the surrounding enviorment, which I wish I could get my hands on that. We transformed into ourselves again, and decided instead of attacking, to talk to them since they might have some useful information regarding the people we are trying to find. I was confused about the execution, until I learned Scarlet could actually communicate with them. Upon seeing us, the group shows off their mandibles, and claws. Scarlet attempts to parley with the clutch but to no avail, since he could speak the language of clack clickers. Before you judge me, that's what I heard. As we got closer, they became blurry and hard to track their position. I recognize this as a '''Blur''' spell. I am about to make them shiny when Raazdrog beats me to that idea. Only one of them got affected however, but there is one idea I have. Some spells you can't put together because you have to think about the actual spell. '''Blur''' happens to be one of those spells, so I plan to attack in a flank or hit them with spells, they have to resist. I summon the cannon, and get to work. They start by swarming Raazdrog, but since only a few attacks hit, they turned the attention to me. They also don't get many hits in, but one did strike me good. A 6 on 4 however doesn't end well for them, and that part of the clutch falls one by one to us swarming them. We leave the corpses behind and continue on our journey to finding the people who went missing. I was honestly expecting more of a fight with how many tracks we say, but hey I'll save some of my resources for later. We get to a dune structure with a very small tunnel with 2 Federation members dead. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a fight broke out here about a day ago, There is a tunnel about 5ft wide, so it's time for a single file line. I go first, after my cannon, so that less people will be affected by any traps that may come. Well dam right I was because my cannon snapped a tripwire leading to a bunch of some decent size rocks they could fit in the ceiling tumble out. I get out of the way get fine, but I couldn't move my cannon, and it get's dented pretty badly from the trap set. Lesson learned; check for traps in a small area like this. I just realized my experience from Low Lunas has been lacking faster than what happened the last time I was in High Lunas. I start examining the area up ahead, and would you look at that; another trap.. It takes me less than 10 seconds to permanently disable the trap however, so no issues there. Continuing to check for traps, I find no more, and I see a room, probably about 40 feet by 30 feet, and there is a decent amount of light in here that seems to be pretty bright. When we get to the maw of this room, I can just barely see to left some kind of rig, but oh come on. Really? A weapon pointed in my face with 2 people standing a few feet away from the arch. From the little I can see, this appears temporary, but I first need to talk to these people.. I told them that we are here to find you. We were sent by Gnash, and got here with the help of Jerbo. Why there are 2 dead Federation members outside this cave, I have a better idea now. AVEL WHY!? I might have been going somewhere with the conversation, but then you decide to teleport behind them and attack? Fine, Seeing this I spring into action, and start to attack the person who drew their weapon at me. Rude, but fine a fight you want? A fight you will get. I blast the cannon into the shin of the guy, and take that opportunity to throw my dagger into his skull, which works out great because that is one less person we have to deal with. Raazdrog, Mk-2, and Scarlet move into the room and attack some of the nearby henchmen. that happen to be near the doorway so less occupancy there. Avel takes this opportunity to corner the leader in a one on one duel. Unhappy with me dropping her main bodyguard, she leaves the duel with Avel, and decides to attack me instead, with a reach weapon. Dammit, my cannon was in the way, but that didn't matter for this dumb weapon. The lightning and fire hurts pretty bad, but I am still here... Then the dork leaves me alone to go get into a 3v1. I think something is being plotted, because they moved away from me, almost like something had a higher priority. Leonard seeing me greatly injured me heals my immediate wounds, which is nice, because I want to help my teamates, but I can't do that with almost being taken out of the fight. There is 3 other henchmen here, so I direct my cannon to fire at one who was next to Avel as I stick my knife into their side for a well thrown shot.. Mezzi managed to released a held spell, after Avel forced the enemy into Mezzi's line of sight. It didn't have any effect, but the more people closer to the leader, the better.. The leader in a desperate move, went to the rig, and pushed a few buttons, and got ready to run., getting slashed, by Raazdrog Mk-2, Scarlet, and Avel.. I now realize what this is; an infernal enhancement. NOW I WANT THAT! this would speed up my projects by who know how long, and I would earn a lot of favor from Raegina.. This person clearly has connections to the Scrappers, which now irritates me, because we are fighting within our own group, but I know I don't have the tongue to get everyone to stop fighting. We managed to get the Tiefling leader to start running, but by that point, the fight was over. I used this opportunity to try and disable this infernal enhancement, but to no avail. It starts burning me... This rig can't be disabled, from a self destruction button, but I have to keep going. I'm getting burned and then I see it; I can get out, where I couldn't before. I will not give up my own life to figure this out. This is my choice now, not some magic that was used on me. I run out with the rest of the group to hear a big explosion ring out. I managed to get some materials out from the rig, but it's now useless... I spend some time with this tiefling who's name is Velza. Apparently her and Raegina have been locking horns because this rig should have come back to the junkyard, There was incursions here that the local tribe could use help with that rig that is now gone. The solution was spiteful and honestly stupid, and as much as I would have loved to get her off the hook, I want to be able to use these tools for good, not just because of a word of law.. I'm not sure how much longer I will be with the Scrappers because of this incident... If all Raegina cares about is this problem of demons within Pteris no matter the cost, desperation will make people do some insane things all trying to better the future for themselves/children with the destruction left behind.The end NEVER EVER for any reason, justifies the means.</blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Logic Lacking and Large Lies ===
</div>
<blockquote>Oh Where do I begin with this incident that I am still beating myself in the head over? I guess I will start with the fact that some Yuan-ti runs into town screaming about someone has stolen all of her textiles and they are very expensive. I put my guard up, because I don't trust people who make a big show like that, but I don't see any odd behavior. Some other people that notice the commotion are Deliah, a teifling with some well enhanced armor, Leonard a half elf, who was first and last person to surprise me with someone else coming, Ozmir and Stix making a return from that nasty Baron, Ozmir is also a teifling, with some unique psionic blades, which looks really cool, and Stix is the doll that roams the Arboretum. I recently learned Stix has a "friend" that speaks to them, which is kind of unsettling, I am now wondering who is puppeteering this doll, when it's likely a god.. The last person I did not mention was Ollie, a ranger who has a pet frog.. The Yuan-ti's name is Sandra Sanderson, and she needed help recovering textiles that were expensive. They were stolen by a bunch of gnolls, but the problem I find with that story is A:gnolls don't do that, B: few gnolls are careful with what they steal. Just look at the goods they have after death, and C: Gnolls are not known for attacking in huge groups. I can't saying anything without sounding paranoid, so I go along with this idea.. We get to the circus tent that these textiles were stolen from, and here is the first of many mistakes I made. I made so many in fact for being a skeptic, that it makes my lack of checking in High Lunas look safer. I did not check any signs of damage for anything really. I just saw the creatures, baited one over, and a fight ensued. There was a bunch of hyenas, two giant hyenas, and a gnoll warrior. Stix got injured repeatedly from after it was a great idea to fireball the three big targets. Deliah got in the way of the big hyenas and just ate the minimal damage they dealt. Ozmir notices with the fact these were made by a conjuration spell, but we kept on fighting, because they didn't stop. All of them disappeared except for the warrior. Me and Ozmir start looking around, and we do find the secret stash of goods, and here is my second and third big mistakes. I forgot to examine the tracks leading to it, and I forgot to see based on the dust how long it might have been there, and how far away it was from the actual circus tent. We give the textiles, and she gives us clothing based on the surface thoughts we have, and then I receive a message telepathically from Ozmir stating that Sandra is definitely hiding something.. Stix decides to become Sandra's assistant for the day, but I want to grab Stix, and leave. Still I listened to Ozmir, and did nothing. Me and Leonard doubled back and went to hide in that stash where we find the textiles. At night we see 2 lizard folk and another yuan-ti quickly packing up the tent so quickly something is off. STIX! Now Stix is kidnapped, and the circus is gone. Final mistake I made here: We could have tried to follow the damn caravan, but we were too angry to do anything.. We make our way back, and it turns out it was WAY worse than either of us initially thought. Jitcwal and Cilvdzwucta were also kidnapped, and the explosives used have been destroyed. The worst part is there was, I didn't use any logic. I can't read people better than others, but I am good with puzzles and evidence. I bet if I noticed the condition of the terrain, My alert level would have been a lot higher. SANDRA SANDERSON: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You will not make a fool of me again... </blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">
=== Swallowing and Regurgitating the Facts ===
</div><blockquote>This whole thing of three people being captured and me not being to do anything about it killing me. I gave everything I could to Koro, and Gobbo, but it's still destroying me from the inside. I decided to go see if there was some work I could do to take my anger out on. Working with the scrappers didn't seem like a great idea, because I do not want to get into any more infighting. I don't like the idea in working with the Federation, but I had to pull a favor to get the information I wanted, so it's going to happen someday. I luckily found a job being offered by Lord Pavan to go check on the livestock. That sounds like a Shepherd thing, but beggars, can't be choosers. I would much making good use out of my cannon, than tinkering all day honestly. Maybe it could help me figure out how to make my spells stronger. (It did not.) My only main concern with this is I am working with new folk entirely. There's Rhogar and Syl, who I have interacted with, but it has been.... volatile to say the least. Other people that I have met for the first time are Silgr, a mountain dwarf with similar runes to Rhogars, Mizuka, a desert vulpine bard, but I am not sure which college she attended. To finish this group off, he have Voscaera, a A fighter with incomplete runes of Rhogar's and Silgr's, but she has artificer capabilities instead. I would later find out Voscaera is a Madaer, which is a person of Medusa ancestry. A little unsettling, but there was no bad blood between us. I decided to rent a horse from Dapple, because I heard it was going to be a long haul. I don't mind, but some help would be nice. My only concern I had with this gamble is I need the gold for components. Anyways he head out to check on some livestock, that I now realize could be anything.... Two days later on our travel however, we meet someone by the name of Saltique Petra. She starts reading off a bunch of names, all of which happen to be us. She tells us it's about another week, so I decided to ask for my own curiosity what kind of livestock is being kept. After a few guesses, the answer is kept ominous, so I give up on prying. Low Lunas taught me not to pry when not given on the first go. On day three of travelling we get a nasty dust storm that rolls in. I can barely see in front of me, but I managed to keep the horse calm, so I ended up with the group after it passed. This delayed it by a day, making it 8 days. It would become 9 days after a flash flood came 3 days later. I ended up losing control of the horse, and it sped off. I did my best to keep up, but I had gotten really exhausted from trying to constantly keep my footing. When I wake up the next day, any exhaustion I may have is gone, but I am alone in this harsh desert. With the extra time I have, I set up a fire, but I don't abandon it. When trying to get found, it's best to stay put. It's not like I have a direction to go find the horses, so I am sadly going to lose the deposit. Dammit. After waiting for a few hours, a group of about 6 people cross my vision. Well I'm pretty sure it's the group, but the moment I get a good look at all them, they;re fine. Oddly, Rhogar also lost his horse, so there goes like 100gp+ right there. We debated for a minute to go look for the horses, but I pointed out that we could give the demons more time to transform into other creatures. The rest of the travel will have to be on foot, but at least we only have one more day. On the final day, Saltique explains that we are first collecting some magical fruit to lure the livestock. That's easy enough for me to get and not get ambushed.. When we get there, we split up a little bit to go get as much plants as possible. Syl and I use '''Detect Magic''' to make it easier to get the plants. I manged to get my hands on Anserke, a spiny cactus that allows when made into a potion to improve our constitution for a bit. Okay well I'm not surprised a ambush is happening, but come on. This is a great spot for it. I look up to see a giant spider has jumped Syl, so I pull out the woodcarver's tools, and bring out the cannon to fire at this spider. The spider gets a bite into Syl, but that thing is a fool. Syl is a yuan-ti, so I am willing to bet he has some poison resistance. An ear piercing ring comes out to my left as Mizuka casts something above my level, but it seems to be effective, because There is screeching of another spider. Now how many of these jerks are here, and why have they not been taken care of before this? There ended being 3 other giant spiders lurking. Most of the deaths came from Rhogar just cutting through with his greataxe, along with him getting like 3 times my height. I did manage to get one satisfying kill in a one-two combo to destroy it beyond saving.. I had nothing to gain from getting a rest, but Syl could use it after getting bit multiple times. Rhogar also got injured a good amount, but it seemed Mizuka, Silgr, and Voscaera didn't get injured at all. This never lost my concentration, I go back to harvesting more plants. I manage to get another anserke, which was a little disappointing but not the end of it. I hand over the plants I got, and I was pretty impressed by our pile. Saltique mentioned it might even be enough to get the adult ones out. We head over to another area that is honestly a choke point I'm not too comfortable being in. After an hour...nothing. Then there is tiny amounts of movement underneath our bait. Saltique shakes her head which makes me concerned about how big these 'livestock' are. A huge wave of dust that comes through to my left that I was not expecting. When it settles, there is a WOIM! I'm separated because I'm not about to get clumped in a dangerous spot. Then directly ahead of me about 130ish feet away there is another wave of dust. Underneath that dust lies another woim eating these magical plants. I then see my colleagues coming down off the plateaus for an odd reason until I see three demonic things with mouths in the chest, and three husks following this woim. Perfect. one spell used later, and my cannon makes a return. Analyzing this like the nerd I am, the woims won't attack us, unless we have magic on us. That's like all of us, but the people that have a bigger issue are Rhogar and Silgr These demons has a rhino horn with a mouth next to the abdomen. the hands are long claws with a longsword, and the toes are webbed with sharp 'talons.' I got busy dealing with these abominations from a flank position while the rest of the team got in the fray.. Out main goal is this: Kill the demons before the woims eat them. Easier said than done however, since we our own member are also in danger. Slowly but surely however, these creatures fell one by one. Rhogar had gotten swallowed, but he forced the woim to regurgitate before it became a problem. Same thing happened with Silgr unsurprisingly. We got a nasty surprise when we took down a husk. A jellyfish had exited the body. So we are really dealing 9 creatures, but those need to go first. If not we could get a possessed woim which isn't great. we got rid oftwo mouth abdomen demons, and AN ADULT WOIM showed up! It nearly destroyed my cannon. It ate one of the other woim and just left leaving a massive hole. The other woim starting burrowing with a demon stuck in it, so that's not good, but there is one last jellyfish demon to take down.. It went deep into the hole. With some quick thinking seeing Rhogar down there, I use my last spell to make a burst of blue. And would you LOOK AT THAT. that jellyfish is here. Rhogar used this opportunity to smash it into the ground killing it instantly. I saw the death because the light faded on its death. Rhogar wasn't happy with Saltique's lie by omission, but I ignored that, because I needed to fix my cannon. We got paid a good amount of gold, and we left. Those husks were sadly other Shepherd members which is just lovely. As we headed back, a thought crossed my mind. Is there one grand demon orchestrating, or three? </blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Bad Favors and Better Bargains ===
</div><blockquote>I knew this day was coming soon. There was supposed to be a group heading out soon, but one of them had to drop. My contact called me in and said he was calling in his favor, so I know I get to go work for the Federation.. We meet up with two Thri-kreen that appear to be twins. They aren't part of the clutch I fought earlier, but their speech was unsettling, as they would talk over one another in perfect sync. All that aside however, we were told that some dust storm had made a return from the initial invasion again. The only thing that seems to know where it is a crow by the name of Moxy. They asked us to take good care of Moxy, which I can do for 3 days’ travel, and to keep this information private. There is a leak somewhere, and no one is supposed to know there is one. Great. Another piece of information kept behind closed doors that will cause more tension.. I swear this is going to be the downfall of this place. Anyways we start following the bird along to get to where we need to. Avel decides to let Moxy onto his shoulders when it needs a rest. On the third day, we find a few birds circling a few areas. Birds often circle points of interest, and then I hear just ever so faintly some rumbling underneath us. With Avel's help, I am now invisible and decide to scout ahead. I scuff my footing really badly, and I'm pretty sure I caught its attention. Oh I guess I forgot to mention other people here. People I have worked with in the past have made a return except for one person. Draz, Avel, and Leonard made a return from our last time together investigating the mysterious disappearance, and Ozmir is also here from our last time together from dealing with Shady Shabby. No they don't derserve an honorable title. They were paid to kidnap people by the Filth Jerk's counterpart. It was nice having another person who I can communicate without saying a word to in case social interactions fail miserably. The only person I haven't worked with before is Grymos, a Duergar artificer with his own robot friend like Razzadrog.. I'm not surprised he's shorter than me, but it's still a first to work with someone smaller than me. Anyways, the birds scatter off, and all we are left with our own thoughts and this rumbling. We decide to have Grymos' bot go in first, and then the thing went offline apparently. From the previous experience those who were from this were cursed, so Avel helped us get entirely covered up from this sandstorm. Since I am still invisible I decide to scout to figure out what is going on. The slope became EXTREMELY steep, but I managed to ground myself, and avoid tumbling or making huge amounts of noise. The sheer force of this wind is hurting however as I continue to step through, so I would like to get back as soon as possible. I can barely see anything right in front of me, so I am pretty much walking blind. I eventually come upon a rough sculpture of sandstone. tracing my hands along this stone, it is so old, it's probably been here since Prehistory. I am about to return when I notice my invisibility drops. I guess they got tired of waiting, which is fair enough, because it's a long way down. We're talking a quarter mile of walking to get here. I notice however only two other people show up, which is a little worrying, but I’m sure the others are fine. I summon the cannon, and we move up the stairs to whatever this place might be. going up the steps of this structure, some creature is waiting for us, and hell breaks loose. Avel gets injured pretty badly, so he just teleports the same way I saw him do earlier. Grymos just moves in, because he's not dealing with it which is fine. I do manage to take my dagger and drag it through the wind as my cannon fires into it. It did a good chunk of damage, but it's still kicking just fine. And then I see it run. I take a quick strike opportunity and look over, to see Leonard is here along with Razzadrog. It does come back down however, and flings me into this place, and the magic here just feels right. I'll have to figure that out in a second, but there are more pressing matters. My cannon fires the creature and it can't get into this place, so I'm safe in here. I turn my attention to the two other people in here who are both hobgoblins. Avel asks them what is going on, and they imply that they are the ones causing it. I tried to reason with them that a fight wasn't necessary, but to no avail.. One of them says in goblin about Bonnet not keeping them at bay, which raises several alarm bells for me. Who is this Bonnet? What is the significance of this room, and what were they trying to cover up in here if anything? the two hobgoblins immediately turn into some demonic vulture. Now an aerial battle is in play here which isn't too big of a worry for me, but maybe not for others. These jerks are also closing their wounds relatively fast, so a heal off it is. A 5 on 2 however is not going in their favor, so we just need to keep chipping them away. Avel managed with '''Mirror Image''' up to not get hit a single time which I thought was honestly really cool. Unfortunately, my cannon got demolished, so I had to create another one to keep up with my help. With everyone piling in together, both of these demon hybrids or whatever they are fall dead. It's funny because they tried to run, but when you're surrounded like they were, you are going to get hurt badly.. Oh what is a new voice doing here? You're irritated about us ruining your plan? You can shove that comment out, because I don't care. You have been hurting others, and I'm not having it. I question this tall figure a little bit, and they reveal they are Bonnet. Bonnet turns to leave after finishing his monologue, and I attempt one more cannon shot at him, just to rub in my hatred for him. He then calls me by name threatening to kill all of us, but if he's really going to do that, don't mention your plans or whatever.. I begin the process of a ritual cast of '''Detect Magic''', while the others start examining this temple. The air creature left seeing it was in danger if it stuck around, which I didn't care for too much.. When I finish my casting, everything all of a sudden registers as all of the schools this world knows. Leylines are a funny thing, because they make the spells possible. These lines converge at certain points known as Nexuses, and here is where the fabric of reality can much more easily be warped. It hurts to honestly keep it up, so after gathering all I could, I let go of the spell.. The other people started investigating the murals on the monoliths in this room, and they were depicting an ancient lizard race that existed well before any of our time.. There was also some pteran writing scrawled along the base of the altar in here, so I got a copy of it, and have left it alone for now. On each of the four pillars there was a direction and some symbols depicting various things. The order goes as follows: North: is Mother, South is War, East is Nature, and West is: Logic. Avel and I agreed to come check this place in our free time, so that we could better understand what is going on.. I give all the information I could privately to the twins, and they tell me that the Shend are where the Hobgoblins came from. That is certainly some questions for Rhogar at another time. Now I am really confident we aren't fighting just one foe, but a few of them. A bigger problem came to mind however. The Altar had the tree the Arboretum is currently, before some blight gets rid of the leaves.. Could they use this to attack us from far away if discovered</blockquote>

== Character Interactions ==

=== The Scrappers ===
When Himo first arrived, he was like a ghost in the markets. He bought what he needed, and left in such a hurry, it was hard to track them down. He never really talked to people for more than 5 minutes when he finally met some of the crew of the scrappers, and they seemed to treat him with some respect, but Himo kept to themselves.

=== Gobbo Greenskin ===
After the Conservatory was destroyed, he found Gobbo, a goblin with a robot named FR0G-GY. Gobbo mentioned he could make Himo an arm, which interested him, but that conversation was never followed up on. Gobbo also mentioned knowing where Sparkburn was, but won't elaborate on where the golem is now, which is frustrating Himo.

=== Rhogar Dreel ===
[[File:Rhogar Dreel.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Rhogar Dreel]]
Rhogar is part of the Federation. Himo wanted to initally join the Federation, because he often did a lot of exploitation of vices back in Lunas, but understood that organization would fall to corruption eventually. While trying to figure out the whole coordinated attack Himo managed to set his back on fire because of his obliviousness in front of Rhogar from his OWN cannon!

=== Syl Vipershade ===
Himo has lets say a rocky roller coaster of emotions with Syl. When Himo first met Syl, the interaction wasn't awful, but it didn't take long for the oblivious cracks to seep through. While trying to figure out the attack on the Arboretum, Himo burns himself in front of Syl and Rhogar... with his own cannon. Syl distanced themselves from Himo, which he didn't mind because he was too busy working on his projects. Syl noticed Himo always seems to be ready for a fight, and becomes incredibly jumpy when someone tries to affect his mind. This problem was only amplified however after Stix was captured. While hanging out with Gobbo and Syl, Himo suddenly started feeling burned in his right side despite no actual fire being nearby. Himo accidentally summoned his cannon, to which Gobbo and Syl responded by trying to grapple Himo. While Himo never ended attacking either, Himo made it known that his past he is incredibly fearful of. To Himo's surprise, Syl offered him the chance to let something off of his chest. Even though Himo declined for the moment, he did agree to meet later, and discuss it more with Syl.

=== Lenore ===
Lenore was someone who Himo would have never interacted with except in a professional manner, but it took less than five minutes for the mask to come off about his certainty. Lenore is a cleric of Vela, and no one had really offered help without a clause. That sent Himo's brain into overdrive, freezing up at the kind gesture of giving a few names of those who run the Omnichapel as well as a stone of Vela

== Relationships '''(COMING SOON!)''' ==
=== Nyria Nilo ===

=== Celthron Nilo ===
Lady Nilo is a thin high elf with long flowing golden blond hair that is frail from the clutches of death, eyes of a deep black that show only death behind them, and a poise of confidence and dominance ruling the house that controls the Arcane Materials so well. She believes dead people are just objects that can be used for more than just laying them to rest, and tries to control people as much as possible without magic, often by threatening the used of deceased loved ones. When push comes to shove however, the gloves come off and the dead rise up on her command to destroy those who disobey. Nyria stands really short. Only 4'4" tall due to her 6th century of age creeping in on her, but the tug of life and death is just within fingertips reach. She works tirelessly to use necromancy as a means of preserving her life, but has been unsuccessful while staying within the rules of society. She wasn't a fan when Himo wanted to pursue alchemy, but the secret that she was making deals with demons for extra power proved too great to ignore. She feared that Himo would figure out the arcane knowledge to bring the secret to light, because of his resistance

=== Kynnela Nilo ===
Kynnela is the oldest sibling of the Nilo family. Himo picked up the rebellious attitude from her because she fought with her mother and father all the time. Kynnela who is 478 became a Diviner, and she questioned her past self before leaving the house. She treated Himo with the utmost disgust, and got his other sisters, and even his parents to either join in, or pretends it doesn't happen. On the occasional return to the house, Himo kept her at arms length, refusing to relive the pain that she caused. This made Kynnela bitter, and was the one to plot Himo's death, but ultimately failed. Last Himo has heard, Kynnela has left High Lunas; to where and why Himo doesn't know.

=== Mariela Nilo ===
Mariela is the second sibling of the Nilo family. Mariela is 239 years old at this point, and always had a bitter disappointment for Himo. She constantly questioned why Himo wouldn't apply himself more, and why he fought with all 5 members of this family. It's not like she was innocent either. She would sabotage Himo in any way she could since she didn't approve of her parents letting him take alchemy while she was forced into a school of magic. She chose conjuration as her school, because she preferred summoned things doing the work for her. Last Himo has heard, her bossy behavior isn't being well liked by her colleagues.

=== Tyanna Nilo ===
Tyanna is the youngest member of the Nilo family making Himo the third child. currently just 33, she made Himo's life miserable, but not by actions. She insulted him basically every time he spoke, and these comments are viscous. She often told Himo how he causes the tension for not following tradition, but refuses to acknowledge her own shortcomings. All of these insults were basically ignored by everyone, because they expected Himo to just let it go, but he simply couldn't. She doesn't realize that she is part of the reason that Himo ended up abandoning the family. There was one incident were Himo used physical force to make her panic and show her that actions have consequences, but Himo doubts it made an impact. Last Himo has heard, the coward is studying Abjuration to prevent that incident again.

=== Kamer ===
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[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Himo Nilo

2025-11-25T23:04:38Z

MCAron: Added Titles to Himo's sessions

== '''Himo Nilo''' ==
{{Infobox character|name=Himo Nilo|image=Himo Nilo.png|caption="The right side of me should show what happens when you don't pay attention."|relatives=2 Parents, 3 Sisters|affilliation="The Chairman,"The Scrappers|alias=Thai (Child name), The Magic Pick|marital=Single|birthDate=37 PR|birthPlace=High Lunas|species=Elf (High)|height=4'10"|weight=94 lbs.}}

'''Himo''' is a High Elf Rogue/Artillerist that has experienced both the rich and poor side of Lunas. He wanted to visit the Arboretum to modify existing equipment he has, but he never really left until he heard from his contacts in the Arboretum that demon incursions were ramping up. Carrying only what he could quickly pack, he left for the Arboretum with his bag that contains only essentials. He has a habit of checking anything that might look "suspicious" but doesn't really know what might be suspicious.
== Description ==
Himo is a young elf shining with bronze skin with black freckles, Short copper hair that is decently trimmed and eyes that sparkle gold when they catch the light. you would find him like he was a gem in a mine because of the reflection he often carries. He doesn't seem to carry anything with him except maybe a satchel over his back, A rapier and dagger on his left hip and short sword on his right hip respectively, hang and some tools hanging off of his belt. He wears light leather armor with a somewhat heavy desert cloak that shines a little in the light. When you peer past the cloak however, you notice two very big changes to him that he tries to hide as best as he can. The first on is he really only has half of his hair left. The right side of him looks like he has black char that curls up around the face and neck that has been there for quite some time. The second is he has no right arm. anything that might have been there is gone, and watching him, he sways a little bit to the left and right as if he can't seem to keep himself balanced. Some new projects have shown up on his person. The first seems to only be partially done, but on a rack where the shoulder would be is a semi circle with a hole cut out of the center, and an arc cut out inside the semi circle. The second gadget that he has on him at all times, is a disc launcher that fires out coins. Both of these are woodworking projects with small mechanical parts to make them work.

== Manners ==
Himo has a nervous tick carried wherever he goes. If you asked, he would say something along the lines of in a deep graveled voice of not being too careful wherever he goes, but refuses to follow up on why. The eyes seem to look for particular things, but never what is around him. Arcane is of great interest for him, but explosives are not that far off the priority. Often times, random junk that no one has used for some time goes missing, but if you saw him with the junk and asked why, the lips tighten hard. He then usually keeps to himself the rest of the day or two unless it's to discuss plans for missions or logistics. His past is guarded more securely that a vault door with enhanced locks, but the impact of it can easily be seen if he has a PTSD episode. This usually logical, crafty, upbeat personality, snaps faster than a string on a trap, changing him to an aggressive, fearful, volatile person. His hand always seems close to his dagger like he is waiting for a fight to occur. It's hard to tell if you have earned his trust or whether he sees the alliance as one time. On missions of any kind, Himo will tend to find to get out of sight when possible of his teammates, but is always around when trouble strikes.

== Background ==
Himo was born to a wealthy mage family in High Lunas. They expected him to follow that same tradition, and while he was interested in magic wasn't the most interesting thing to him as physical tasks. Still they made him either take lessons or leave this family. He negotiated to learn alchemy to understand the materials used in spellcasting.

He started to go to the Low Lunas in secret claiming private tutoring sessions when really he got into contact with the local criminal rings to learn skills from their side. He chose to learn lockpicking for his profession and was quite skilled at it. He also refined his careful hand movement to mimic letters. He balanced this double life of learning alchemy by day and learning to pick locks by night. When he went to Lower Lunas, he would bring stories of breaking into homes, taking specific materials and leaving without a trace. by the time they would try to track him down, he would be in the shadows trying to outlast the location spells used to find him. he often had to dump the stolen materials to prevent being caught. This went on for years. he wrote detailed notes about alchemy and his parents were thought he was being an obedient son. One night while learning complicated formulas to show to his parents, he was finally caught by the guards and he was sentenced to death. while in prison, he managed to convince the guards to give him 2 lodestones. He took those lodestones and mended the broken thieves tools that he was hiding in his clothing. This lock however was never supposed to be picked. It had been magically enhanced but he the night to make that happen. He picked the lock and sneaked out and into the Lower Lunas in 102 PR just as the sun was rising.

He excelled in picking locks as a freelancer. If the guild provided sanctuary based on how difficult the lock was, that locked was picked. He became infamous in rings because no lock was safe from him. Booby trapped to Arcane Lock, most locks were not safe from him. Only locks that were sophisticated with an Arcane Lock would he have a hard time picking and often failed at those, but those were few and far for High Lunas. In various guilds, he learned various weapons that he now always with him because he doesn't want to get into a scrap unarmed. He often had a habit of inspecting areas where people invited him never trusting anyone fully. His reputations grew so much that he found himself often travelling to other places to check out security systems. This took the pressure off of him because he could really inspect area he couldn't before. He learned to pickpocket, sneak around, scale buildings and practice his skills of picking locks. He tried to get an honest job in the town of Rwendia but his reputation followed him everywhere. He did odd jobs around places, pick locks here, mend broken stuff back together, and come along with other criminals to look out for traps. The people he often worked under were brutal. They would insult him behind his back, mess up him picking the locks, broke his stuff and moved him around often and lied to him where he was

He started for fun re-learning magic. Make graffiti with magic here, an odor there. This terrified the guilds because he was becoming what he swore he would never do and feared he would turn on him next. His mentor Jumad told him that no one will want someone unreliable if he chooses this path. He continued in spite of their disapproval and learned how to make a bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus. The only person he told this to was his best friend Kamer who supported him in getting new materials. One day while hiding out in the DwaleVale, he received a letter of a formal apology from his family asking him to come back. He eagerly accepted and made his way over. His contacts warned him they were up to no good and were looking for vengeance for bringing shame to the family name. When he got there they magically influenced him to open a complicated safe lock without checking the area. BOOOM!!! A massive explosion covered him from right to left, debris flying every where and scraping by on life. The family were stewing in their loss of the son when his eldest sister, Nylo gave the idea to blow him up in a public execution. That letter he found, was trapped to get him to come whether he wanted to or not. In the chaos, someone in his family had planted one more bomb to take him out. he survived, barely, but lost his right arm in the explosion. He lost everything; everything but his skills, his life and his resolve to fix this. At DAGR (Determined Assassins, Grifters, and Rogues) he received word that they needed people to fix broken things and make them better. he spent the next 6 months fighting for his life, and those 6 months were in a daze. He often found himself in a new place about every month. When finally had the strength to move comfortably, he took essentials and ran for his life in 134 PR, because no matter what he did his family was coming for him and he needed to defend himself.

== Languages ==
Himo knew elvish and common just from listening to his family, but he learned goblin when he would hang around goblins were trying to have a private conversation, not realizing Himo taught himself that from listening to them

== Character information ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |1 Rogue/4 Artificer
|-
|AC 15
|HP 33
|DC 14
|-
|Str 13
|Dex 18
|Con 13
|-
|Int 16
|Wis 10
|Cha 12
|}

=== '''Proficiencies''' ===
Himo is a man of many skills that involve getting around where he needs to in some way. He effectively shows he can get around super quietly, lift or plant things in someone's pocket, has great athletic abilities, and knows how to spot the difference between 2 identical objects. If asked about anything arcane, he has great knowledge of what it is, what the purpose is, and what the process of creating might have looked like. He also seems to have some tools on his belt. Specifically woodcarver's tools are always on his belt, but he has also shown a good deal of knowledge on making mechanical parts with tinker tools, making concoctions with alchemist supplies, and what he is most well known for; picking locks, and disabling traps

=== High elf Abilities ===
* Cantrip (Mending)
* Darkvision
* Elf Weapon Training
* Extra Language (Goblin)
* Fey Ancestry
* Keen Senses
* Trance

=== Rogue Features ===

* Expertise: Stealth, Thieves Tools
* Sneak attack (1d6)
* Thieves’ Cant

=== Artificer Abilities ===

* Infuse Item (bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus)
* Magical Tinkering
* Spellcasting
* Ritual Casting

=== Feats: ===
Alert

== Himo's Story ==
<div style="text-align: center;">
=== New Place, New Identity, and a New Dream ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been roughly 8 months since I came here to the Arboretum and very little people know I am actually here. Kamer got me in contact with The Chairman when I got here and it has been hell being around all of these explosive materials. every big explosion sends me back a year when an attempt was made on my life. I trust absolutely NO ONE here because I have been looked down on because of a missing arm. Petty theft was the only way I survived. I was so busy about survival that I didn't realize that Raegina was hiring to make robots until The Chairman sent me a letter telling me '''[[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs|Raegina]]''' was looking for people to recruit for the Scrappers. I collected scraps from grand shoplifting, hid out for four months to wait out people looking for men, then I moved swiftly to the junkyard. My goal is to go back to High Lunas and exact revenge on my parents and sisters who left me in this state I am. I barely remember the explosion or the constant shifting of places because I was so out of it. The people here seem nice enough but I am just waiting for them to betray each other. When I got to the junkyard, I was appalled to see the size of these robots, and the amount of people that came was a little much for me.

When Raegina mocked many of us for having many broken and chipped off parts, I just rolled my eyes because I knew if there as anything she was trying to hide in a safe, I could find that safe without getting caught. In Low Lunas I was known as the Magic Pick because I couldn't be trapped, nor were most locks safe from me. I do need teammates however so I kept my moth shut and just listened. The amount of artificers that were there was astonishing. A tiefling had infused armor, and a goblin had a small automaton with them. But by far the most unique “living” thing saw was a doll that could think for itself. It turns out to test our skills, we would fight Grind, Smash and Cleave, 3 golems with interesting weapon choices. I got excited when I learned that we would be fighting the golems because that meant I could sneak out parts I needed for projects. One of said projects was increasing the throwing range of Thunder Rumble because I have to be relatively close to make good use of it. While fighting, one got destroyed, and it burst into flames. The heat sent me back to the explosion that back at High Lunas, where I almost lost my life. We dispatched the rest and Raegina was impressed enough to let us scrap the robots. So much for trying to do things discreetly... But I haven't really talked with people yet. After scrapping the robots, we split up into two teams. I got paired with [[Stix]] and [[Raazdrog]] which was fine. I can modify my parts and they add theirs, and I saw this as more of a fun project. After all, I like explosive confusion. But it's not like I could focus because I was so nervous with Grind blowing me to bits, I was accidentally disassembling Grind. I was trying to make the saw arm move more fluidly, and trying to add scraps of metal I had in my bag, but I fumbled hard there. It was so embarrassing, because everyone else manage to buff it in some way but not me. I wanted to leave so badly because of that, but I ended up staying in spite of it. I would be throwing away probably my only real opportunity to getting out of the slums like my family expected me to stay. To my surprise Raegina gave each of us 10 gp to bet on the improved robots as to who would win. This was huge to me! This was really the first time someone handed me something without expecting anything in return. I decided to risk all of that money and bet most of it on Grind, and then I had an Idea. I decided to rename Grind to Sparkburn, which Stix and Raazdrog liked a lot. Raazdrog and I got the idea to give Sparkburn a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." and I added "Feel the spark. Feel the burn." Now I really didn't care if we won or lost because I considered this a finished project. Out team ended up winning and I walked away with triple what I put into it. I was ecstatic not only because I won a bet, which I rarely take, but the funds could be used to get the tools I need for projects. That excitement was short-lived however because a horn coming from the Arboretum indicating it was under attack. I hopped on the war rig and we moved to the Arboretum.

Getting towards a entrance root of the Arboretum, a sudden crash hits the war rig and all of us go flying off of it. pieces of the damaged rig flew out and a large skeletal elephant collapsed next to the war rig. I wasn't paying attention because I was sketching my newest tool to assist me. I was thrown hard, losing my sketch to the winds and barely landed standing up, and my vision blacked out for a second. Metal was warping and bending in all the wrong ways and snaps echoed throughout the valley and then silence. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew this was an ambush. Footsteps on the dessert sand was coming from multiple directions, Sparks were flying off of the rig, The screeching of tires spinning out, shoe rubber flaking off the boots I put together with mending, and hearing many colleagues scrape against the dusty ground. When the dust cleared I saw green goo blobs moving towards us, and I heard something angry moving towards us. Pustuloids, Capra demons, and Lesser Rage demons were there. To give me some distance, I climbed the war rig, but as I was climbing, it felt like the floor was falling out from me and nearly fell off. Climbing up I saw roughly 10 Pustuloids, a few lesser rage demons, and a Capra. My team managed to keep hold of a choke point and so I threw my dagger at the Capra repeatedly, but I also noticed Sparkburn, covering our backside. This was great, because the Pustuloids exploded on death with Sparkburn unaffected. Raegina tells me to get off even though I just got on. I wanted to argue because I had a good position of the battle but whatever.You know that rig aint safe from me snagging a few pieces. The fight isn't going in our favor right now, because Raazdrog's steel defender, crashes to the ground in combat, unmoving by the Capra. While this fight is going on, I see a figure moving behind us, but it doesn't look like an ambush. It's a half elf holding a rapier and an instrument; most likely a bard. One by one however, the demons fell starting with the pustuloids. Leftover goo seeping into the ground before turning to ash. Two booms ring out as the lesser rage demons and the Capra are thrown back. Delaia, who has been soaking hits for us, takes the opportunity to get out after that which I don't blame. It didn't look like he was going to stand much longer to be honest. The spells seemed to come from the bard and Delaia, so we have another ally. Good because most of us are spent on resources. We kill all the demons and after a quick introduction, the bard's name is [[Leonard]], and she heard the commotion. She healed Deliaia a significant amount, and Deliaia looks ready to take on another fight. After moving this elephant which turned out to be an Olliphant off of the root, we prepared to charge up only for a wave of energy to come down upon us. There was no point to going up anymore... The Conservatory has been destroyed. There goes many projects that have been put on hold. It's not like I made progress on the parts I needed for Sizzle but still frustrating. Oh crap! More demons of the same types are coming down, and I should have seen this coming. We dispatch the ones that combated us, and the streets fall silent around us....

After the invasion ended, leaders were talking about uniting "not just to fight against the demons, but also to build alliances" or something like that. The thing is, I can only rely on one thing when partnership is formed: people are looking out for themselves. Unless someone can prove they are trustworthy, I will not be in a permanent alliance. That's how I survived Low Lunas; Ally with someone only until the necessity no longer remains. </blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Absent Memories ===
</div>
<blockquote>
A few days go by and Sir Anthony is holding a funeral for the lives lost, when I got approached by Jerbo, a gnome arcanist. He was hiring people to track down why the Kobolds attacked. I agreed but stressed, I needed some help. After getting a few others, and some quick introductions we made our way to Dapple, a satry who rents out horses. I put down the deposit and we made our way over. Oh I should mention who is here because I will be a narcissist otherwise. We have Mezzi who I have never seen take off their mask, Polvo a Air Genasi that had an encounter with death apparently, Diana a human who has a lizard like robot that follows her everywhere, Dallas a mouse I have never seen before but seems like a cool fellow, and Davin a halfling with a longbow, with a trophies on his person.

It takes a little more than two days to get there and along the way, we found a dog in a campsite that was left not long ago. I make an alarm in case people came back while I was within a mile, but I got no signal. When we get to the Osteomancer, their abode is in the ground with sand covering a trapdoor. I volunteer to go planning to be sneaky, but I forgot not everyone can see in the dark as well as I can, because Mezzi lit a torch when we all got down. When we met the Osteomancer, I can only describe what is a elephant person like three feet taller than me with big elephant ears, an elephant trunk and overall a build that could lift more than me with two arms. We were trading a favor for a favor. The Osteomancer's favor was removing a tower that was made of Absence which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I can go along with it. Apparently, when creatures are near said tower, they lose their Identities. Davin beat to the question of how are we going to protect ourselves, so that was nice. I was given a scroll and a black egg to crush when I start to read the scroll that should seal this wound. Another detail that was mentioned was the structure could only be seen through reflections.

We get to the tower, it looked like someone lived inside a crazy home. The outside can't be seen, but when you go inside, it is a ghost white. there was also a spot of complete silence, so I move myself there, crushethe egg and begin reading the scroll. A ghost that looks like he owns the place along with lights that surround us entirely. I placed down, my cannon to give me some cover while the rest of the group combat the lights. I watched my colleagues lose their ability to speak coherently while fighting them. I was blessed with something, but I couldn't tell you what it as but it seems to help me fight this ghost who was trying to make me vanish. As the fight moves on, less lights were attacking, but I can't tell you why. After nearly completing it, I was tired of the things attacking and unleash an ear piercing ring out towards the ghost, along with the nearby lights, which injure the lights a lot more than anticipated. I finish reading, and the entire place began to collapse around us. Which is unfortunate, because I wanted to get parts I need for project. I have to will myself out with Mezzi's help, but luckily everyone got out.

When we get back to the Osteomancer, we learn that when kobolds want to get rid of the Divine Blood law, they make deals with other creatures; in this case demons. This group was led by Snizz the Fortunate, but that group was dead when other people killed the kobolds. It ended with a warning "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free." Confused, I said nothing and headed back for the horses that have been tied up. We went to check up on the dog, and it's still there and there is no sign of return, so we left for the Arboretum. This information is given to Jerbo, but I am still suspicious of hat will happen if someone does make a deal with a devil.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Sinking the Filth and My Feelings ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a week since I saw that tower of that "absence" and I am ready to finish what I started or go to the Omnichapel for advice on Vela. I know, I get distracted easily, but I cannot for any reason leave a stone unturned for any reason in case it comes to bite me back later. I left Lunas on some pretty bad terms, both with my family for obvious reasons, but also the Thieve's guilds with relearning the one thing I swore off of. That mistake of saying I will not learn more things about a specific topic was so far my worst one yet. Anyone could come for me for any reason, and I need to be ready for when I get jumped. Today luckily is not one of those days, because a new job offering has appeared who's handwriting is more crude than a thieve's messy handwriting. Baftzmyr as I later found out put up the sign about a giant demon stuck in the sand, and it needed to be killed. Cool, I can just fire with my cannon and it will eventually die if it can't get out. When I get there, I see some new faces, but also a handful of familiar ones. Stix and Razzdrog are here, but among the new ones we have Steady Dee, a tabaxi who wears some unusually heavy armor comparatively that have some runes on it that appear to be of a giant origin, but I guess whatever floats your boat. Koro, an Air Genasi that wears some monk robes, who can't seem to make up his mind when it comes to allegiances, and Ozmir, a tiefling that has powers I have never seen before, but curious as to how they will work. Baftzmyr explains that scout demons have been circling around looking around for a way to get out the great demon. The plan was simple; locate the scouts, follow them, and kill the great demon. Now that follows, but it's under the sand. What is Baftzmyr's plan to expose the demon? I don't know. All I know is I can sneak up on it, and rain cannon fire down where it can't see me. Ozmir who can apparently track creatures really well, starts following a set made not long ago. Along the path, a heatwave catches me completely off guard, and I feel more sluggish than before. Great, now I won't be able to hide nearly as easy I have before, but I am with a group. We get right on top the scout and it pops out ready to attack. It would have died in two hits, if Sparkburn didn't have a weapon infused with fire. Wait! I forgot to mention Sparkburn is with us! Gobbo, I will find you later and confront you for remaining silent. It didn't matter however, because melee attacks are still effective. After that one dies, Stix along with a few others spot three more running from away, and we continue to follow. After a few more hours of travel, we come across some quicksand that is quaking. Quicksand isn't supposed to do that on a large scale; this is where the great demon is. Baftzmyr pulls what appears to be an origami pig that is coated in a layer of wax. It looks like the pig was boiled alive, but I am not one to judge. Stix volunteers to carry to bomb, and all I can say to that is... Ok never mind. This doll, husk? I don't know what it's made of, but regardless, the bomb is carried to it's destination. More importantly however, Stix makes it out unscathed. Maybe Stix has a ratio of strength similar to that of an ant. Ants proportionally can carry more weight to their body mass. Koro and I peek over, and WHAT IS THIS FOR A DEMON!? A cage for a face with a flame inside of it and some kind of disc neck to keep the sand out of the face or something. We give out teammates that knowing look, and the rest of the team gets to work. Raazdrog and MK-2 setup an anti flank position for us on the right as well as making the demon glittery. Steady Dee also sets up an anti flank position for us on the right side as well as growing to giant. With this enlarged form Steady throws a handaxe that lands square in the "face" of the great demon but not as effective as it should have hit . Stix is firing blasts of green energy which makes me think a deal was involved for this power. Koro using the bow pierces the demon with the same problem as Steady, and I am throwing a dagger, firing a cannon, and backing up, because I have no interest in falling in the quicksand and next to this abomination. That caused a different problem however which was I opened the line for more of the scouts to come attack Koro and Ozmir. I planned to fix this by booming them back into it, but that will backfire spectacularly when Koro kills one of the scouts, and stayed within the line of fire. It was also a good thing that I moved out, because the sand started moving out from everyone's feet who were close to the edge. Steady and MK-2 fell in and hell broke loose, literally. I didn't see what happened but the next thing I know, Koro willingly jumps into the pit and now Steady is floating in the air about 20ft. Why that is happening, I couldn't tell you, but Steady was bleeding out and needed help soon. Baftzmyr uttered some word and Steady is conscious again. I go to help Ozmir, because currently 3 scouts are surrounding her, which aint cool. I drive my dagger into a scout's death, and the sand is still moving out from under us, but I can keep myself steady. Raazdrog on the other hand wasn't so lucky and also managed to fall in next to the demon. Things are going fine right now. The great demon is getting whacked by are melee fighters and the people up here in the sand are holding off the scouts just fine. Oh no. My worst fear has come true; this demon will explode on death. I am not going to be around that. I can stabilize those who take the brunt of the explosion. At least, that was my original plan if Koro didn't fall to the giant claws of this demon. I am not ready to lose a colleague here, so I jump down, run to Koro, heal him just enough to get him conscious again and prep for another round of attacks against this creature. Maybe it was better however that I couldn't keep myself steady this time and I was buried in the sand. Not wanting to be stuck in here, I used my last spell to blast out, but that didn't work. Later I learned that I had injured Koro, and Steady who were both super hurt by it, but the worst part was I didn't even get out with that. I got burned, but not by much comparatively to other people who got the full brunt. Stix stabilized Koro, and Raazdrog healed Steady and then Koro. It honestly surprised me that everyone made it out alive. We got our gold, and I moved on because I don't know how much I can trust the Scrappers when working with a Fiend. Working with criminals is bad enough, but trying to work with a creature from the underworld seems like a death sentence.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Old Technology, and Fights ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a few days since hunting the Baron of Filth or whatever in the Nine Hells this creature is, and I finished the sketching for my tool arm. I don't have a name for it, but I know the name will come at the end when I finish the project. I should really get some paper however, because each time I sketch it, it's in the sand. I lose it very easily, and often times restart like some mime performing the same trick. I was ready to go buy the materials when I am stopped by Gnash, a half orc who means business. If I had a counterpart, it would be her. Why? because the entire left side of her face is char black. Besides that she needs people to track down some missing people. They have been gone 2 days and she hates mystery. Some other people that get recruited were Leonard, Mezzi, The Scarlet Shadow, Raazdrog, and Avel. I think it's worth mentioning that we have 3 musically inclined, which I don't I have ever been apart of. We are told to look for a carcass of a long dead giant worm, and the distant mountain Tol'Viral on are way to Drywater. Jerbo reads off a scroll and we turn to mist, and boy can we MOVE! With this enhanced movement, met up with Kaleen, a desert vulpine druid who knew of our mission. We got two scrolls. I recognize these and as '''Animal Messenger''' and '''Locate object''' spells. If anything goes wrong we are told to give movement on where they are headed and in how long.. The '''Locate Object''' however is to find a silver bullet the group left behind.. Seems odd, but hey maybe they do that elsewhere to mark where they were. We don't need either however, because Scarlet knows this place like the back of his hand. Apparently the blue dragonborn, and the thri-kreen hate each other enough to capture, but not kill him, which I find very funny. Anyways, he finds tracks of about a dozen thri-kreen. Following them, they reduce to about 4 tracks that were left behind, and end abruptly. Still Scarlet picks up where they began again and we continue to follow. We are moving with the wind while following the tracks, so it was very easy to actually catch up to the thri-kreen Scarlet was following. When I get the chance to look at them, and it looks likes an ant that grew a spine, a brain along with gaining lots of lower insect strength. The color of the shell also seems to be blending in better with the surrounding enviorment, which I wish I could get my hands on that. We transformed into ourselves again, and decided instead of attacking, to talk to them since they might have some useful information regarding the people we are trying to find. I was confused about the execution, until I learned Scarlet could actually communicate with them. Upon seeing us, the group shows off their mandibles, and claws. Scarlet attempts to parley with the clutch but to no avail, since he could speak the language of clack clickers. Before you judge me, that's what I heard. As we got closer, they became blurry and hard to track their position. I recognize this as a '''Blur''' spell. I am about to make them shiny when Raazdrog beats me to that idea. Only one of them got affected however, but there is one idea I have. Some spells you can't put together because you have to think about the actual spell. '''Blur''' happens to be one of those spells, so I plan to attack in a flank or hit them with spells, they have to resist. I summon the cannon, and get to work. They start by swarming Raazdrog, but since only a few attacks hit, they turned the attention to me. They also don't get many hits in, but one did strike me good. A 6 on 4 however doesn't end well for them, and that part of the clutch falls one by one to us swarming them. We leave the corpses behind and continue on our journey to finding the people who went missing. I was honestly expecting more of a fight with how many tracks we say, but hey I'll save some of my resources for later. We get to a dune structure with a very small tunnel with 2 Federation members dead. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a fight broke out here about a day ago, There is a tunnel about 5ft wide, so it's time for a single file line. I go first, after my cannon, so that less people will be affected by any traps that may come. Well dam right I was because my cannon snapped a tripwire leading to a bunch of some decent size rocks they could fit in the ceiling tumble out. I get out of the way get fine, but I couldn't move my cannon, and it get's dented pretty badly from the trap set. Lesson learned; check for traps in a small area like this. I just realized my experience from Low Lunas has been lacking faster than what happened the last time I was in High Lunas. I start examining the area up ahead, and would you look at that; another trap.. It takes me less than 10 seconds to permanently disable the trap however, so no issues there. Continuing to check for traps, I find no more, and I see a room, probably about 40 feet by 30 feet, and there is a decent amount of light in here that seems to be pretty bright. When we get to the maw of this room, I can just barely see to left some kind of rig, but oh come on. Really? A weapon pointed in my face with 2 people standing a few feet away from the arch. From the little I can see, this appears temporary, but I first need to talk to these people.. I told them that we are here to find you. We were sent by Gnash, and got here with the help of Jerbo. Why there are 2 dead Federation members outside this cave, I have a better idea now. AVEL WHY!? I might have been going somewhere with the conversation, but then you decide to teleport behind them and attack? Fine, Seeing this I spring into action, and start to attack the person who drew their weapon at me. Rude, but fine a fight you want? A fight you will get. I blast the cannon into the shin of the guy, and take that opportunity to throw my dagger into his skull, which works out great because that is one less person we have to deal with. Raazdrog, Mk-2, and Scarlet move into the room and attack some of the nearby henchmen. that happen to be near the doorway so less occupancy there. Avel takes this opportunity to corner the leader in a one on one duel. Unhappy with me dropping her main bodyguard, she leaves the duel with Avel, and decides to attack me instead, with a reach weapon. Dammit, my cannon was in the way, but that didn't matter for this dumb weapon. The lightning and fire hurts pretty bad, but I am still here... Then the dork leaves me alone to go get into a 3v1. I think something is being plotted, because they moved away from me, almost like something had a higher priority. Leonard seeing me greatly injured me heals my immediate wounds, which is nice, because I want to help my teamates, but I can't do that with almost being taken out of the fight. There is 3 other henchmen here, so I direct my cannon to fire at one who was next to Avel as I stick my knife into their side for a well thrown shot.. Mezzi managed to released a held spell, after Avel forced the enemy into Mezzi's line of sight. It didn't have any effect, but the more people closer to the leader, the better.. The leader in a desperate move, went to the rig, and pushed a few buttons, and got ready to run., getting slashed, by Raazdrog Mk-2, Scarlet, and Avel.. I now realize what this is; an infernal enhancement. NOW I WANT THAT! this would speed up my projects by who know how long, and I would earn a lot of favor from Raegina.. This person clearly has connections to the Scrappers, which now irritates me, because we are fighting within our own group, but I know I don't have the tongue to get everyone to stop fighting. We managed to get the Tiefling leader to start running, but by that point, the fight was over. I used this opportunity to try and disable this infernal enhancement, but to no avail. It starts burning me... This rig can't be disabled, from a self destruction button, but I have to keep going. I'm getting burned and then I see it; I can get out, where I couldn't before. I will not give up my own life to figure this out. This is my choice now, not some magic that was used on me. I run out with the rest of the group to hear a big explosion ring out. I managed to get some materials out from the rig, but it's now useless... I spend some time with this tiefling who's name is Velza. Apparently her and Raegina have been locking horns because this rig should have come back to the junkyard, There was incursions here that the local tribe could use help with that rig that is now gone. The solution was spiteful and honestly stupid, and as much as I would have loved to get her off the hook, I want to be able to use these tools for good, not just because of a word of law.. I'm not sure how much longer I will be with the Scrappers because of this incident... If all Raegina cares about is this problem of demons within Pteris no matter the cost, desperation will make people do some insane things all trying to better the future for themselves/children with the destruction left behind.The end NEVER EVER for any reason, justifies the means.</blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Logic Lacking and Large Lies ===
</div>
<blockquote>Oh Where do I begin with this incident that I am still beating myself in the head over? I guess I will start with the fact that some Yuan-ti runs into town screaming about someone has stolen all of her textiles and they are very expensive. I put my guard up, because I don't trust people who make a big show like that, but I don't see any odd behavior. Some other people that notice the commotion are Deliah, a teifling with some well enhanced armor, Leonard a half elf, who was first and last person to surprise me with someone else coming, Ozmir and Stix making a return from that nasty Baron, Ozmir is also a teifling, with some unique psionic blades, which looks really cool, and Stix is the doll that roams the Arboretum. I recently learned Stix has a "friend" that speaks to them, which is kind of unsettling, I am now wondering who is puppeteering this doll, when it's likely a god.. The last person I did not mention was Ollie, a ranger who has a pet frog.. The Yuan-ti's name is Sandra Sanderson, and she needed help recovering textiles that were expensive. They were stolen by a bunch of gnolls, but the problem I find with that story is A:gnolls don't do that, B: few gnolls are careful with what they steal. Just look at the goods they have after death, and C: Gnolls are not known for attacking in huge groups. I can't saying anything without sounding paranoid, so I go along with this idea.. We get to the circus tent that these textiles were stolen from, and here is the first of many mistakes I made. I made so many in fact for being a skeptic, that it makes my lack of checking in High Lunas look safer. I did not check any signs of damage for anything really. I just saw the creatures, baited one over, and a fight ensued. There was a bunch of hyenas, two giant hyenas, and a gnoll warrior. Stix got injured repeatedly from after it was a great idea to fireball the three big targets. Deliah got in the way of the big hyenas and just ate the minimal damage they dealt. Ozmir notices with the fact these were made by a conjuration spell, but we kept on fighting, because they didn't stop. All of them disappeared except for the warrior. Me and Ozmir start looking around, and we do find the secret stash of goods, and here is my second and third big mistakes. I forgot to examine the tracks leading to it, and I forgot to see based on the dust how long it might have been there, and how far away it was from the actual circus tent. We give the textiles, and she gives us clothing based on the surface thoughts we have, and then I receive a message telepathically from Ozmir stating that Sandra is definitely hiding something.. Stix decides to become Sandra's assistant for the day, but I want to grab Stix, and leave. Still I listened to Ozmir, and did nothing. Me and Leonard doubled back and went to hide in that stash where we find the textiles. At night we see 2 lizard folk and another yuan-ti quickly packing up the tent so quickly something is off. STIX! Now Stix is kidnapped, and the circus is gone. Final mistake I made here: We could have tried to follow the damn caravan, but we were too angry to do anything.. We make our way back, and it turns out it was WAY worse than either of us initially thought. Jitcwal and Cilvdzwucta were also kidnapped, and the explosives used have been destroyed. The worst part is there was, I didn't use any logic. I can't read people better than others, but I am good with puzzles and evidence. I bet if I noticed the condition of the terrain, My alert level would have been a lot higher. SANDRA SANDERSON: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You will not make a fool of me again... </blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">
=== Swallowing and Regurgitating the Facts ===
</div><blockquote>This whole thing of three people being captured and me not being to do anything about it killing me. I gave everything I could to Koro, and Gobbo, but it's still destroying me from the inside. I decided to go see if there was some work I could do to take my anger out on. Working with the scrappers didn't seem like a great idea, because I do not want to get into any more infighting. I don't like the idea in working with the Federation, but I had to pull a favor to get the information I wanted, so it's going to happen someday. I luckily found a job being offered by Lord Pavan to go check on the livestock. That sounds like a Shepherd thing, but beggars, can't be choosers. I would much making good use out of my cannon, than tinkering all day honestly. Maybe it could help me figure out how to make my spells stronger. (It did not.) My only main concern with this is I am working with new folk entirely. There's Rhogar and Syl, who I have interacted with, but it has been.... volatile to say the least. Other people that I have met for the first time are Silgr, a mountain dwarf with similar runes to Rhogars, Mizuka, a desert vulpine bard, but I am not sure which college she attended. To finish this group off, he have Voscaera, a A fighter with incomplete runes of Rhogar's and Silgr's, but she has artificer capabilities instead. I would later find out Voscaera is a Madaer, which is a person of Medusa ancestry. A little unsettling, but there was no bad blood between us. I decided to rent a horse from Dapple, because I heard it was going to be a long haul. I don't mind, but some help would be nice. My only concern I had with this gamble is I need the gold for components. Anyways he head out to check on some livestock, that I now realize could be anything.... Two days later on our travel however, we meet someone by the name of Saltique Petra. She starts reading off a bunch of names, all of which happen to be us. She tells us it's about another week, so I decided to ask for my own curiosity what kind of livestock is being kept. After a few guesses, the answer is kept ominous, so I give up on prying. Low Lunas taught me not to pry when not given on the first go. On day three of travelling we get a nasty dust storm that rolls in. I can barely see in front of me, but I managed to keep the horse calm, so I ended up with the group after it passed. This delayed it by a day, making it 8 days. It would become 9 days after a flash flood came 3 days later. I ended up losing control of the horse, and it sped off. I did my best to keep up, but I had gotten really exhausted from trying to constantly keep my footing. When I wake up the next day, any exhaustion I may have is gone, but I am alone in this harsh desert. With the extra time I have, I set up a fire, but I don't abandon it. When trying to get found, it's best to stay put. It's not like I have a direction to go find the horses, so I am sadly going to lose the deposit. Dammit. After waiting for a few hours, a group of about 6 people cross my vision. Well I'm pretty sure it's the group, but the moment I get a good look at all them, they;re fine. Oddly, Rhogar also lost his horse, so there goes like 100gp+ right there. We debated for a minute to go look for the horses, but I pointed out that we could give the demons more time to transform into other creatures. The rest of the travel will have to be on foot, but at least we only have one more day. On the final day, Saltique explains that we are first collecting some magical fruit to lure the livestock. That's easy enough for me to get and not get ambushed.. When we get there, we split up a little bit to go get as much plants as possible. Syl and I use '''Detect Magic''' to make it easier to get the plants. I manged to get my hands on Anserke, a spiny cactus that allows when made into a potion to improve our constitution for a bit. Okay well I'm not surprised a ambush is happening, but come on. This is a great spot for it. I look up to see a giant spider has jumped Syl, so I pull out the woodcarver's tools, and bring out the cannon to fire at this spider. The spider gets a bite into Syl, but that thing is a fool. Syl is a yuan-ti, so I am willing to bet he has some poison resistance. An ear piercing ring comes out to my left as Mizuka casts something above my level, but it seems to be effective, because There is screeching of another spider. Now how many of these jerks are here, and why have they not been taken care of before this? There ended being 3 other giant spiders lurking. Most of the deaths came from Rhogar just cutting through with his greataxe, along with him getting like 3 times my height. I did manage to get one satisfying kill in a one-two combo to destroy it beyond saving.. I had nothing to gain from getting a rest, but Syl could use it after getting bit multiple times. Rhogar also got injured a good amount, but it seemed Mizuka, Silgr, and Voscaera didn't get injured at all. This never lost my concentration, I go back to harvesting more plants. I manage to get another anserke, which was a little disappointing but not the end of it. I hand over the plants I got, and I was pretty impressed by our pile. Saltique mentioned it might even be enough to get the adult ones out. We head over to another area that is honestly a choke point I'm not too comfortable being in. After an hour...nothing. Then there is tiny amounts of movement underneath our bait. Saltique shakes her head which makes me concerned about how big these 'livestock' are. A huge wave of dust that comes through to my left that I was not expecting. When it settles, there is a WOIM! I'm separated because I'm not about to get clumped in a dangerous spot. Then directly ahead of me about 130ish feet away there is another wave of dust. Underneath that dust lies another woim eating these magical plants. I then see my colleagues coming down off the plateaus for an odd reason until I see three demonic things with mouths in the chest, and three husks following this woim. Perfect. one spell used later, and my cannon makes a return. Analyzing this like the nerd I am, the woims won't attack us, unless we have magic on us. That's like all of us, but the people that have a bigger issue are Rhogar and Silgr These demons has a rhino horn with a mouth next to the abdomen. the hands are long claws with a longsword, and the toes are webbed with sharp 'talons.' I got busy dealing with these abominations from a flank position while the rest of the team got in the fray.. Out main goal is this: Kill the demons before the woims eat them. Easier said than done however, since we our own member are also in danger. Slowly but surely however, these creatures fell one by one. Rhogar had gotten swallowed, but he forced the woim to regurgitate before it became a problem. Same thing happened with Silgr unsurprisingly. We got a nasty surprise when we took down a husk. A jellyfish had exited the body. So we are really dealing 9 creatures, but those need to go first. If not we could get a possessed woim which isn't great. we got rid oftwo mouth abdomen demons, and AN ADULT WOIM showed up! It nearly destroyed my cannon. It ate one of the other woim and just left leaving a massive hole. The other woim starting burrowing with a demon stuck in it, so that's not good, but there is one last jellyfish demon to take down.. It went deep into the hole. With some quick thinking seeing Rhogar down there, I use my last spell to make a burst of blue. And would you LOOK AT THAT. that jellyfish is here. Rhogar used this opportunity to smash it into the ground killing it instantly. I saw the death because the light faded on its death. Rhogar wasn't happy with Saltique's lie by omission, but I ignored that, because I needed to fix my cannon. We got paid a good amount of gold, and we left. Those husks were sadly other Shepherd members which is just lovely. As we headed back, a thought crossed my mind. Is there one grand demon orchestrating, or three? </blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== Bad Favors and Better Bargains ===
</div><blockquote>I knew this day was coming soon. There was supposed to be a group heading out soon, but one of them had to drop. My contact called me in and said he was calling in his favor, so I know I get to go work for the Federation.. We meet up with two Thri-kreen that appear to be twins. They aren't part of the clutch I fought earlier, but their speech was unsettling, as they would talk over one another in perfect sync. All that aside however, we were told that some dust storm had made a return from the initial invasion again. The only thing that seems to know where it is a crow by the name of Moxy. They asked us to take good care of Moxy, which I can do for 3 days’ travel, and to keep this information private. There is a leak somewhere, and no one is supposed to know there is one. Great. Another piece of information kept behind closed doors that will cause more tension.. I swear this is going to be the downfall of this place. Anyways we start following the bird along to get to where we need to. Avel decides to let Moxy onto his shoulders when it needs a rest. On the third day, we find a few birds circling a few areas. Birds often circle points of interest, and then I hear just ever so faintly some rumbling underneath us. With Avel's help, I am now invisible and decide to scout ahead. I scuff my footing really badly, and I'm pretty sure I caught its attention. Oh I guess I forgot to mention other people here. People I have worked with in the past have made a return except for one person. Draz, Avel, and Leonard made a return from our last time together investigating the mysterious disappearance, and Ozmir is also here from our last time together from that Filth Jerk. No, he doesn't deserve an honorable title when that demon isn't. It was nice having another person who I can communicate without saying a word to in case social interactions fail miserably. The only person I haven't worked with before is Grymos, a Duergar artificer with his own robot friend like Razzadrog.. I'm not surprised he's shorter than me, but it's still a first to work with someone smaller than me. Anyways, the birds scatter off, and all we are left with our own thoughts and this rumbling. We decide to have Grymos' bot go in first, and then the thing went offline apparently. From the previous experience those who were from this were cursed, so Avel helped us get entirely covered up from this sandstorm. Since I am still invisible I decide to scout to figure out what is going on. The slope became EXTREMELY steep, but I managed to ground myself, and avoid tumbling or making huge amounts of noise. The sheer force of this wind is hurting however as I continue to step through, so I would like to get back as soon as possible. I can barely see anything right in front of me, so I am pretty much walking blind. I eventually come upon a rough sculpture of sandstone. tracing my hands along this stone, it is so old, it's probably been here since Prehistory. I am about to return when I notice my invisibility drops. I guess they got tired of waiting, which is fair enough, because it's a long way down. We're talking a quarter mile of walking to get here. I notice however only two other people show up, which is a little worrying, but I’m sure the others are fine. I summon the cannon, and we move up the stairs to whatever this place might be. going up the steps of this structure, some creature is waiting for us, and hell breaks loose. Avel gets injured pretty badly, so he just teleports the same way I saw him do earlier. Grymos just moves in, because he's not dealing with it which is fine. I do manage to take my dagger and drag it through the wind as my cannon fires into it. It did a good chunk of damage, but it's still kicking just fine. And then I see it run. I take a quick strike opportunity and look over, to see Leonard is here along with Razzadrog. It does come back down however, and flings me into this place, and the magic here just feels right. I'll have to figure that out in a second, but there are more pressing matters. My cannon fires the creature and it can't get into this place, so I'm safe in here. I turn my attention to the two other people in here who are both hobgoblins. Avel asks them what is going on, and they imply that they are the ones causing it. I tried to reason with them that a fight wasn't necessary, but to no avail.. One of them says in goblin about Bonnet not keeping them at bay, which raises several alarm bells for me. Who is this Bonnet? What is the significance of this room, and what were they trying to cover up in here if anything? the two hobgoblins immediately turn into some demonic vulture. Now an aerial battle is in play here which isn't too big of a worry for me, but maybe not for others. These jerks are also closing their wounds relatively fast, so a heal off it is. A 5 on 2 however is not going in their favor, so we just need to keep chipping them away. Avel managed with '''Mirror Image''' up to not get hit a single time which I thought was honestly really cool. Unfortunately, my cannon got demolished, so I had to create another one to keep up with my help. With everyone piling in together, both of these demon hybrids or whatever they are fall dead. It's funny because they tried to run, but when you're surrounded like they were, you are going to get hurt badly.. Oh what is a new voice doing here? You're irritated about us ruining your plan? You can shove that comment out, because I don't care. You have been hurting others, and I'm not having it. I question this tall figure a little bit, and they reveal they are Bonnet. Bonnet turns to leave after finishing his monologue, and I attempt one more cannon shot at him, just to rub in my hatred for him. He then calls me by name threatening to kill all of us, but if he's really going to do that, don't mention your plans or whatever.. I begin the process of a ritual cast of '''Detect Magic''', while the others start examining this temple. The air creature left seeing it was in danger if it stuck around, which I didn't care for too much.. When I finish my casting, everything all of a sudden registers as all of the schools this world knows. Leylines are a funny thing, because they make the spells possible. These lines converge at certain points known as Nexuses, and here is where the fabric of reality can much more easily be warped. It hurts to honestly keep it up, so after gathering all I could, I let go of the spell.. The other people started investigating the murals on the monoliths in this room, and they were depicting an ancient lizard race that existed well before any of our time.. There was also some pteran writing scrawled along the base of the altar in here, so I got a copy of it, and have left it alone for now. On each of the four pillars there was a direction and some symbols depicting various things. The order goes as follows: North: is Mother, South is War, East is Nature, and West is: Logic. Avel and I agreed to come check this place in our free time, so that we could better understand what is going on.. I give all the information I could privately to the twins, and they tell me that the Shend are where the Hobgoblins came from. That is certainly some questions for Rhogar at another time. Now I am really confident we aren't fighting just one foe, but a few of them. A bigger problem came to mind however. The Altar had the tree the Arboretum is currently, before some blight gets rid of the leaves.. Could they use this to attack us from far away if discovered</blockquote>

== Character Interactions ==

=== The Scrappers ===
When Himo first arrived, he was like a ghost in the markets. He bought what he needed, and left in such a hurry, it was hard to track them down. He never really talked to people for more than 5 minutes when he finally met some of the crew of the scrappers, and they seemed to treat him with some respect, but Himo kept to themselves.

=== Gobbo Greenskin ===
After the Conservatory was destroyed, he found Gobbo, a goblin with a robot named FR0G-GY. Gobbo mentioned he could make Himo an arm, which interested him, but that conversation was never followed up on. Gobbo also mentioned knowing where Sparkburn was, but won't elaborate on where the golem is now, which is frustrating Himo.

=== Rhogar Dreel ===
[[File:Rhogar Dreel.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Rhogar Dreel]]
Rhogar is part of the Federation. Himo wanted to initally join the Federation, because he often did a lot of exploitation of vices back in Lunas, but understood that organization would fall to corruption eventually. While trying to figure out the whole coordinated attack Himo managed to set his back on fire because of his obliviousness in front of Rhogar from his OWN cannon!

=== Syl Vipershade ===
Himo has lets say a rocky roller coaster of emotions with Syl. When Himo first met Syl, the interaction wasn't awful, but it didn't take long for the oblivious cracks to seep through. While trying to figure out the attack on the Arboretum, Himo burns himself in front of Syl and Rhogar... with his own cannon. Syl distanced themselves from Himo, which he didn't mind because he was too busy working on his projects. Syl noticed Himo always seems to be ready for a fight, and becomes incredibly jumpy when someone tries to affect his mind. This problem was only amplified however after Stix was captured. While hanging out with Gobbo and Syl, Himo suddenly started feeling burned in his right side despite no actual fire being nearby. Himo accidentally summoned his cannon, to which Gobbo and Syl responded by trying to grapple Himo. While Himo never ended attacking either, Himo made it known that his past he is incredibly fearful of. To Himo's surprise, Syl offered him the chance to let something off of his chest. Even though Himo declined for the moment, he did agree to meet later, and discuss it more with Syl.

=== Lenore ===
Lenore was someone who Himo would have never interacted with except in a professional manner, but it took less than five minutes for the mask to come off about his certainty. Lenore is a cleric of Vela, and no one had really offered help without a clause. That sent Himo's brain into overdrive, freezing up at the kind gesture of giving a few names of those who run the Omnichapel as well as a stone of Vela

== Relationships '''(COMING SOON!)''' ==
=== Nyria Nilo ===

=== Celthron Nilo ===
Lady Nilo is a thin high elf with long flowing golden blond hair that is frail from the clutches of death, eyes of a deep black that show only death behind them, and a poise of confidence and dominance ruling the house that controls the Arcane Materials so well. She believes dead people are just objects that can be used for more than just laying them to rest, and tries to control people as much as possible without magic, often by threatening the used of deceased loved ones. When push comes to shove however, the gloves come off and the dead rise up on her command to destroy those who disobey. Nyria stands really short. Only 4'4" tall due to her 6th century of age creeping in on her, but the tug of life and death is just within fingertips reach. She works tirelessly to use necromancy as a means of preserving her life, but has been unsuccessful while staying within the rules of society. She wasn't a fan when Himo wanted to pursue alchemy, but the secret that she was making deals with demons for extra power proved too great to ignore. She feared that Himo would figure out the arcane knowledge to bring the secret to light, because of his resistance

=== Kynnela Nilo ===
Kynnela is the oldest sibling of the Nilo family. Himo picked up the rebellious attitude from her because she fought with her mother and father all the time. Kynnela who is 478 became a Diviner, and she questioned her past self before leaving the house. She treated Himo with the utmost disgust, and got his other sisters, and even his parents to either join in, or pretends it doesn't happen. On the occasional return to the house, Himo kept her at arms length, refusing to relive the pain that she caused. This made Kynnela bitter, and was the one to plot Himo's death, but ultimately failed. Last Himo has heard, Kynnela has left High Lunas; to where and why Himo doesn't know.

=== Mariela Nilo ===
Mariela is the second sibling of the Nilo family. Mariela is 239 years old at this point, and always had a bitter disappointment for Himo. She constantly questioned why Himo wouldn't apply himself more, and why he fought with all 5 members of this family. It's not like she was innocent either. She would sabotage Himo in any way she could since she didn't approve of her parents letting him take alchemy while she was forced into a school of magic. She chose conjuration as her school, because she preferred summoned things doing the work for her. Last Himo has heard, her bossy behavior isn't being well liked by her colleagues.

=== Tyanna Nilo ===
Tyanna is the youngest member of the Nilo family making Himo the third child. currently just 33, she made Himo's life miserable, but not by actions. She insulted him basically every time he spoke, and these comments are viscous. She often told Himo how he causes the tension for not following tradition, but refuses to acknowledge her own shortcomings. All of these insults were basically ignored by everyone, because they expected Himo to just let it go, but he simply couldn't. She doesn't realize that she is part of the reason that Himo ended up abandoning the family. There was one incident were Himo used physical force to make her panic and show her that actions have consequences, but Himo doubts it made an impact. Last Himo has heard, the coward is studying Abjuration to prevent that incident again.

=== Kamer ===
__FORCETOC__

[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Gobbo Greenskin

2025-11-25T20:08:16Z

MCAron: Courtesy of Amia, Gobbo's art is now on the page!

{{Infobox_character|affilliation=The Scrappers, Greenskin's Crew|name={{PAGENAME}}|image=Gobbo_Greenskin.pdf.png|caption=Gobbo in all their pirate legacy, seeking to live up to the legacy of Captain Greenskin, not knowing that they themselves are the illustrious pirate.|relatives=Nid (Adoptive Brother)|languages=Common, Goblin, Draconic|alias=Captain Greenskin (Pryderi), Ruler Of The Skies|marital=Single|birthDate=Rranos 21, 117 PR|birthPlace=The Fairytale Woods|species=Fairytale Goblin|gender=Nonbinary|height=3'7"|eyes=Golden}}

'''{{PAGENAME}} '''is a Fairytale Goblin Battle Smith in [[Bedlam in the Badlands]]. They are played by Amia.

== Physical Appearance ==
Gobbo Greenskin is a very soft-faced [[goblin]], often seen wearing an oversized red swashbuckler's coat with scale mail armor underneath. They wear worn work boots, as well as an eyepatch with small grooves etched into it that wires run through. On their belt is a pair of goggles, and they cart around a massive backpack filled with their inventions. The weight of it is hard to carry, so they often move around atop Froggy, a BDX-Droid that they have created, by sitting atop their large head.

== Personality ==
Gobbo has quite an electric personality, often fixating on whatever it is most in that moment, though they are just as easily distractible. Though they always try to be nice, this fixative nature often causes them to miss social cues.

They are known for thinking logically, and not smartly, and are more easily excitable than a small puppy if enticed with something that fits their goals. Though they claim to be just "independent" and "headstrong," they are just as easily controlled as a child, if you know how to appeal to them.

== History ==
Gobbo grew up a traditional Fairytale Goblin, imbued with the innate curiosity and wanderlust of the little creatures so often part of storybook tales. And though they were warned to keep their hubris in check, Gobbo often investigated things with an unchecked curiosity unlike most others, and with a mix of dumb luck and goblin nimbleness, they were able to keep their life about then.

One day, when Gobbo was 8, their hometown was attacked by Shend, Hobgoblin slavers who wished to enslave the goblins and use them as fodder in their oncoming battles. As Gobbo returned, they were thankfully able to spot them from afar, and though Shend attempted to give chase, Gobbo's distance head-start allowed them to make it into an oncoming dust-storm, giving Gobbo the cover they needed to escape. However, the arid sands combined with heat quickly exhausted Gobbo's energy, and with no water or food, they quickly passed out, hitting their head against a rock and suffering from retrograde amnesia. A few days later, they were found by Nid and joined the Scrappers, working for Miss Raegina because they don't know anything else. They use the missions to gather and build as an excuse to try and learn more about Goblins, hoping to find some someday, and with Gloria's tales of a Captain Greenskin off in the east, pirating the coasts with a crew of Goblins, Gobbo wants to seek them out.

== Languages ==
Common, Goblin, Draconic

== Gobbo's Inventions / The Magitek Files ==

=== '''<u>MAGITEK</u>''' ===
''Rules as written: Arcane Focus, general''
<blockquote>''"I say that Froggy was my first invention...but in a sense, this was. I was lucky to find it in the first place...it's the core of everything that I do. Everything that I make. It's all powered by Magitek...it's like a dream come true, with how much it can do."''

''-Gobbo Greenskin''</blockquote>The first night after leaving the Fairytale Woods after it was attacked by Shend, Gobbo took shelter inside a cave at the mouth of a babbling brook. Crying and afraid, they pulled out a frog puppet that their mother gave them, and began to let it dance over the cave floor. Unbeknownst to Gobbo, when it touched the shimmering, pulsing blue crystals growing off of the cave wall, the puppet came to life, animated by its magic. The rest is history...

Magitek is a specialized arcane crystal that Gobbo discovered, and uses as the magical core to power most of their inventions, creating a seamless fusion between the arcane forces and Gobbo's technological machinations. Though, they have no idea what precisely it is yet, they're happy to take the slow road and learn, often refusing spells such as ''Identify'' that would skip that process. In their eyes, the journey to discovery is the most important part.

Due to their retrograde amnesia, they do not remember the circumstances that led them to discovering Magitek, but since no one else seems to be in possession of it, they have led themselves to believing that they are, in fact, the sole discoverer.

=== '''<u>CHANGEOVER CRYSTAL</u>''' ===
''Rules as written: Arcane Focus, Ray of Frost''
<blockquote>''"I gotta get these guys off my tail! What's good at slowing people down? Slow, slow...ice is slow! If I can shoot them with ice, they should stop dead in their tracks!"''

''-Gobbo Greenskin''</blockquote>The changeover crystal is a specialized attachment that can be added to the Tommy Bow (see below) in order to change the damage type. It looks like a scope, but is slotted in the middle of the bolt groove, and is lined with Magitek. When a bolt passes through it, the Magitek in the scope works to unravel it, turning it from a piercing bolt into a beaming ray. It is also water-cooled, but since Gobbo hasn't necessarily mastered the arts of weapon crafting, some of the water leaks out of the scope, creating a bit of a frosty ray that covers targets with a thin layer of ice. Gobbo doesn't mind this, calling it a "happy accident," but the volatile nature means it cannot be fired as quickly as a normal bolt.

Either way, it is still an effective modification for a weapon.

=== '''<u>FIX-IT STICK</u>''' ===
''Rules as written: Arcane Focus, Mending''
<blockquote>''"My bonking stick isn't good enough...but it's my favorite stick. Even if I used it to run away, it's gotten me this far."''

''-Gobbo Greenskin''</blockquote>The Fix-It Stick is a marbled club, where grooves of the wood have been removed and replaced with Magitek. This crystal infusion to the club does not give it any combative benefit, but noticeably, has a weird effect when the club is used to hit objects or constructs, often repairing them instead of breaking them down further. It was created as part of Gobbo's experiments with Magitek, and therefore, they have no idea why it does this. Due to that unrefined nature, it often takes many, MANY whacks from the Fix-It Stick before things are actually repaired, and Gobbo is stuck at a loss for how to further refine this, if it's even possible.

Still, though, it proves to be an effective-enough tool in combat, though Gobbo wants to replace the club with a better weapon for when they actually want to hurt things.

=== '''<u>.///OVERCLOCK_PROTOCOL</u>''' ===
''Rules as written: Arcane Focus, Heroism (only on Scrappers or Constructs)''
<blockquote>''"Yeah, I know about automotons! But anyway, I found a way to take physical Magitek, and then I was able to rewrite it out into something intangible. It's weird, though, if it gets infused into something...they kind of just...go wild? But in a good way!"''

''-Gobbo Greenskin''</blockquote>The Overclock Protocol is the first experiment that Gobbo made with Magitek that actually does what they intended for it to do, and even still, "intended" is a loose term. By investigating the core magic that makes up these mysterious crystals, Gobbo discovered that it is incredibly volatile and feral, which made Gobbo curious as to what would happen if it was infused it into something. When they attempted on Froggy, it seemed to magically bolster their defenses and make Froggy quite fearless, but also the lack of concentrative control caused Froggy to accidentally attack Gobbo and gouge out their eye. Gobbo took this in stride, however, and created a Magitek-infused interface within Froggy's controls, allowing for Froggy to gain the positive effects of the feral arcane pulse without any of the uncontrollable side effects. However, it involves constant management and oversight, which prevents Gobbo from doing any other complex tasks while it is active.

=== '''<u>WIRETAP</u>''' ===
''Rules as written: Arcane Focus, Heroism''
<blockquote>''"My first limitation is that anything I was able to do with the specific magical signature of Magitek can't be replicated on humans. But, if I can take physical Magitek, and turn it into what makes it up at it's core, then surely I can take that core and turn it back into something physical and transferrable!"''

''-Gobbo Greenskin''</blockquote>The Wiretap is an invention to further the use of the Overclock Protocol, as Gobbo was able to further refine the frequency enough in order to make it safe for consumer use. They were able to create a small, injectable implant that could channel the intangible frequency from Gobbo's interface, allowing Gobbo to infuse a living being's blood with the Overclock Protocol. On a similar vein, they were able to create a much-needed failsafe, making the Overclock Protocol much safer to use, as if Gobbo's oversight falls through, they can cancel the connection before it has any averse effect.

It is noted, however, that they have yet to test this on someone.

=== '''<u>.///BARRIER</u>''' ===
''Rules as written: Arcane Focus, Shield''
<blockquote>''"It's curious...the Magitek pulse, when injected into my armor, almost seems to...work to protect me. Maybe the source of this substance isn't as naturally feral as I first prescribed...maybe it's a magical amplifier for things. I'll have to research it further."''

''-Gobbo Greenskin''</blockquote>Once the signature of Magitek was discovered to be able to be harnessed, Gobbo worked to inject it into as many things as possible, starting with their armor, and ending with their armor because of the effect that they had. When injected into an inanimate object, the magical frequencies that made up Magitek seemed to lie dormant, as if waiting for something. Gobbo worked tirelessly to discover what it meant, and when they finally were able to get a line into their armor, they discovered that, when activated, it was able to create a temporary bubble of magical force around Gobbo, which protected them from most physical offensive efforts, such as weapons, ammunition, and magical siege. They connected the line into two buttons on the cuffs of their armor, that they can reach and quickly press in case it's needed.

=== '''<u>AURA GOGGLES</u>''' ===
''Rules as written: Arcane Focus, Detect Magic''
<blockquote>''"Shapes and colors! No, really, don't try on my glasses. You'll think you're on drugs. It's something you have to get used to, being able to see magic in front of you. Plus, without a direct Magitek source, it takes too long to power up. If only I could make it more efficient..."''

''-Gobbo Greenskin''</blockquote>Back on the vein of simple, non-insanity inducing inventions, Gobbo tried shaping Magitek down into thin lenses, and placing them into a set of goggles. When charged by lightning, looking through the goggles has an interesting effect, as it highlights various different magical signatures on objects, color-coding them based on the intensity and effect. Gobbo created a simple wind generator in order to power the glasses, and grooved in a Magitek slot in case of emergencies, but without it, the generator takes around 10 minutes to charge up the goggles to full efficacy.

=== '''<u>DATAFRAME PACK</u>''' ===
''Rules as written: Arcane Focus, Identify''
<blockquote>''"I haven't been able to get this one to work in a while. For some reason, when I slot a Magitek crystal into it, it just...tries to read what it does. I need it to power it! I don't know why it's insistent on absorbing new information instead of telling it to me. Am I missing a part?"''

''-Gobbo Greenskin''</blockquote>After Froggy's ecological survey data started to reach a peak, Gobbo tried to create a compact method of quickly storing and drawing from the data that Froggy collects, but they have been having too much difficulty in getting it to work. Whether or not it is powered by Magitek, it seems to only want to store data, but not share it. When Gobbo can figure out how to get it to showcase information, there will be approximately 10 years of collected information for Gobbo to sift through, which they do not look forward to in the slightest.

=== '''<u>THE BELCHER</u>''' ===
''Rules as written: Arcane Focus, Tasha's Caustic Brew''
<blockquote>''"Now, this one's a beaut! I took inspiration from some of the demons we've been fighting, and their ability to spit up all kinds of corrosive shit, and made this spitfire...thingy! It, just, um...makes a mess. A mess that also dissolves armor and flesh and bone in a very slow, excruciating death! Just like a demon!"''

''-Gobbo Greenskin''</blockquote>By inspecting and sketching out the anatomy of the demons that the group has been killing, Gobbo decided to fully go off of the deep end and try to replicate their digestive tract, just to see what they could learn from it. However, curiosity and function got the better of them, and they created a two-handed mechanism modeled after a demon's ability to vomit that is capable of shooting immense amounts of corrosive acid in a line in front of it. It's quite heavy, and Gobbo tends to shy away from using it too often, but it's always a good tool that Gobbo has in their back pocket in case enemies decide to try and line up in front of Gobbo.

=== '''<u>MEDI-SPRAY</u>''' ===
''Rules as written: Arcane Focus, Cure Wounds''
<blockquote>''"This one's saved my life too many times. Through acid, scratches, cuts, explosions...electrical fires...poisons...really everything, this general-purpose medi-spray that I was able to craft is great at healing wounds. It focuses on purpose, and not efficacy, so it's not the BEST healing solution on the market yet, but it can heal most anything you come across!:"''

''-Gobbo Greenskin''</blockquote>It's just antibiotic. In a bottle. That's sprayable. The spray has been infused with Magitek for improved efficacy.

Gobbo does not like being confronted about this invention, because it is too simple, and was created out of necessity instead of curiosity, because Gobbo was tired of needing to ask people for medical assistance after an invention went awry, and created a solution that they could use on themself. It can't heal major things, but most minor accidents are fixable with a dose of the spray.

=== '''<u>GOBBO'S TOOLBOX</u>''' ===
''Rules as written: Bag of Holding (Replicate Magic Item Infusion)''
<blockquote>''"Well, they certainly look happy with all of those tools at their disposal."''

''-Syl Vipershade''</blockquote>Gobbo's toolbox has the exterior of one, but held so much Magitek Crystal at one point that they accidentally began to react with one another, creating a Hammerspace within. Gobbo does not mind this at all, and is in fact happy that they have a pocket-sized compartment for their bigger inventions and multitude of tools, which has enabled them to get...ambitious with the things they create (see The Belcher).

=== '''<u>INFERNAL EYES</u>''' ===
''Rules as written: Sending Stone (Replicate Magic Item Infusion)''
<blockquote>''"Most of the Scrappers have enhancements, to make up for their shortcomings, or to make them more powerful. This one's mine. I'm missing an eye, so I was given another one."''</blockquote>This is not actually an invention of Gobbo's to start, but an enhancement given to them while they were in service of the Scrappers. To replace their missing eye, they were given a stone that allowed them to see to fill the eyehole, painted to look just like Gobbo's other eye. Gobbo decided to mess with it a little, and see how Magitek and Infernal Power would interact, creating a replica stone out of Magitek to see what it would do. The two do not interact in any way, except weirdly, the two stones can be used to communicate with each other in a very limited capacity, each only being able to send one message per day. This makes Gobbo very sad that they cannot create a very powerful weapon that fuses Infernal Power and Magitek, though the resulting firepower could likely level a city if it was theoretically possible.

=== '''<u>BLUE DRAGON ARMOR</u>''' ===
''Rules as written: Scale Mail Armor, Mind Sharpener Infusion''
<blockquote>''"Blue Eyes, White Dragon! Wait, no, White Eyes, Blue Dragon? I mean, Blue Dragons are always really good at keeping ahold of their focus, I want to see if I can replicate it!" -Gobbo''</blockquote>By harnessing the scales of very young b

=== '''<u>TOMMY BOW</u>''' ===
''Rules as Written: Light Crossbow, Repeating Shot Infusion''
<blockquote>''"I'm not very good at firing my crossbow to be strong...but maybe, with a few bells and whistles, I can make it fire to be really, REALLY fast!"''

''-Gobbo Greenskin''</blockquote>The Tommy Bow is Gobbo's main weapon of choice, though with the amount of tweaks Gobbo has done to it, it hardly resembles the crossbow it once was. Gobbo has removed the arrow bar, instead lining it with Magitek in order to create bolts of pure light. The camwheels have also been replaced with Magitek, allowing them to instantly create the string to propel bolts forward, instead of Gobbo having to use their own strength to pull the string back, which saves both time and energy. The rest of the parts of the crossbow have been subtly changed to accommodate for this new form of firing, as well as to make it generally lighter to carry, sleeker in design, and more efficient to fire, increasing it's combat potential by a nominal amount. Gobbo has also been working to form and fire tommy-gun-esq barrels that can rotate on the front of the crossbow, allowing Gobbo to add explosive power to the bolts, increasing their average damage. The rotating chambers would also allow Gobbo to fire more frequently, and at multiple targets at once, planning to use Infernal Power to charge the spinning of the barrel.

=== '''<u>FROGGY</u>''' ===
''Rules as written: Battle Smith Steel Defender''
<blockquote>''"Now, this is my magnum opus! We've been through a lot together, but I know that Froggy's always got my back. He helped me get to the Scrapyard, and now he's a lean, mean, killing machine! But he's still adorable!''

''-Gobbo Greenskin''</blockquote>

== Greenskin's Crew==
Though Gobbo doesn't know it yet, they are the fabled Captain Greenskin that Gloria told stories of in the Arboretum Tavern. These are the members of Gobbo's Crew:

'''CAPTAIN -''' Gobbo Greenskin

'''FIRST MATE''' - Nid

'''SECOND MATE''' - Rhogar Dreel

'''BOATSWAIN''' - Unrecruited

'''COOK''' - Unrecruited

'''DOCTOR''' - Pryderi

'''NAVIGATOR''' - Unrecruited

'''SHIPWRIGHT''' - Lethe Bloodhorn

'''SNIPER -''' Koro

'''BAILMEN:'''

Silgr

Syl Vipershade

[[Category:Player Characters]]
[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]

== [[Bedlam in the Badlands/The Story So Far|The Story So Far]]... ==
Gobbo Greenskin first appeared in the Bedlam in the Badlands Megagame Episode "Out Of The Pot," where they, alongside Syl Vipershade and Sixsplitter, ventured forth to a Shend camp to investigate. Gobbo was originally not to be part of a mission, but was recruited by Syl as a desperate last hope, and Gobbo, wanting to help Rhogar, accepted. Together, the four of them tracked the Shend Camp down in the desert, finding all of the prisoners dead, except for a prisoner named Brandran, who was suffering from minor insanity. However, his drabbles were able to warn Gobbo and the others about the bugs and bats in the cave that would attack them, shapeshifting between the forms, though the nature of their biology was unclear. The group was able to rescue Brandran from the prison, and Gobbo was also able to sample a small vial of the alleged shapeshifter's black ichorous blood, which they hope to look into later.

Gobbo also had a brief cameo in Part 2 of the megagame, "And Into The Fire," where they, alongside Syl and Sixsplitter, responded to a signal flare just outside the Arboretum after leaving the Shend camp, meeting up with Caesanna, Lyrina, and Dallas, facing an impending wave of creature caravans, adorned with two ballistas. Knowing that Brandran couldn't fight (and being somewhat of a consumate coward themselves), Gobbo retreated back to the Arboretum with Brandran to get them medical assistance.

Gobbo next appeared in "The Doll, The Vulpine, and the Corpse Girl" where they, alongside Demil, Diana, Razzdrogg, Steady Wind, and Koro, took Koro, Syl, and Himo's scouting knowledge to head to the rendezvous point where the Shabby Scales were attempting to sell off Cilvldy, Jitcwal, and Stix to the Baroness of Filth in exchange for money and to draw Raegina out. They encountered a large band of demons and Shabby Scales outside the rendezvous point, where Gobbo attempted to fight, but was taken out and almost eaten by a demon in order to turn them into one. Gobbo was saved, and they managed to find the cages holding Stix, Cilvdy, and Jitcwal, working hurriedly to try and pick the locks, going down a second time. Koro managed to stabilize them, and the group was able to get Stix, Cilvdy, and Jitcwal home.

The journey continues...

== Relationships (Last Updated - 11.08.25) ==
<blockquote>
==== THIS SEGMENT ONLY CONTAINS RELATIONSHIPS WITH PLAYER CHARACTERS AS OF THE MOST RECENT UPDATE. ====
</blockquote>'''<u>RHOGAR DREEL</u> - HIGH'''

"An esteemed member of my crew. They know what needs to be done, and how to do it. They have some anger issues...but together, we can work on pointing that anger in the right direction.

'''<u>DELAIAH</u> - LOW'''

"She has a penchant for antagonism, and doesn't see it. For being so careful, she still takes so many risks."

'''<u>SILGR ÞYRIKK</u> - MEDIUM'''

"A craftsman friend is always good to have. I like his vibe. He's very comforting."

'''<u>NID</u> - EXCEPTIONAL'''

"I mean...what is there more to say, really? He's my brother, literally. He saved my life, and we grew up together. I'd never leave him behind."

'''<u>PRYDERI</u> - HIGH'''

"A craftsman friend is always good in my book. And she's lots of fun! She calls me "Captain" a lot though, which is a little embarrassing..."

'''<u>LENORE</u> - MEDIUM'''

"Her music is always super nice and calming. I like to sit by her while I work. I hope she doesn't mind it, my work can get pretty loud."

'''<u>[[Glorivesh|GLORIA]]</u> - NEUTRAL'''

"Truly? I don't know where I stand with her. Sometimes she treats me well, sometimes I feel like I'm walking on eggshells around her. I don't know what to make of it...but she did tell me the Greenskin story."

'''<u>ABRAHAM MAUL</u> - MEDIUM'''

"Another musician! We had a great jam session together. He's super cool, and his voice makes me feel like...like everything's gonna be okay. I like that a lot."

'''<u>SYL VIPERSHADE</u> - NEUTRAL'''

"I think...that they don't see me as capable. And I'm still not over the whole "guts-spilling" stuff. They speak with such gentleness towards me...but I can't trust it."

'''<u>GOLDMARY FLUTTERHEART</u> - MEDIUM'''

"I want SO BADLY for her to join the crew! But I can't force it. I know I can't...I just hope she'll consider someday. It'd be a gem to have her on board."

'''<u>LETHE BLOODHORN</u> - HIGH'''

"I think that they see themselves as a lot weaker than they actually are. I hope they don't take that to heart too much...they're really strong. Even if I did beat them, they almost beat me back. I'm honored to have them on my crew."

'''<u>CHANTERELLE VISCARYN</u> - NEUTRAL'''

"I've talked to her once or twice. She seems so serious...maybe we just don't click that way. But I know she's formidable, which is good."

'''<u>SORVANAN DUSTWALKER</u> - NEUTRAL'''

"I AM CONVINCED that they are two people at once, somehow. I can't put my finger on it. But other than that, I think they're cool."

'''<u>KORO</u> - High'''

"They have a penchant for peace that I like. You think they'd also be super relaxed, and yet, they're kinda not. They're serious when they need to be. Everyone looks at them weird sometimes, but they saved my life, so I couldn't care less.

'''<u>HIMO NILO</u> - LOW'''

"He has this innate entitlement to him. The way he talks, the way he acts, and the way he presents himself, it all just reads "I am more important." He keeps insisting on my help a lot, but once he's gotten it, he'll turn away. I'm glad he thinks that I took Sparkburn from him. I'll revel in that."

'''<u>STEADY WIND</u>''' '''- MEDIUM'''

"We only got to work together for one mission...but I can already tell that they're very capable. I mostly hope that the wounds that they're nursing are okay...we both took quite a beating. I'm glad Froggy was able to save them."

'''<u>DEMIR</u>''' '''- NEUTRAL'''

"I didn't see much of them, but they didn't die while we were saving Cilvdy, Jitcwal, and Stix, so they seem alright."

'''<u>DIANA BELKACEM</u> - MEDIUM'''

"Another craftsman! With a penchant for robots, too! I can't wait to continue to work with them, it'll be so much fun to talk about robots together!"

'''<u>RAZZDROGG</u>''' '''- NEUTRAL'''

"Though they are also a craftsman who has a penchant for robots...I don't know. Something about Razzdrogg puts me more on edge than Diana. I can't place it yet."

File:Gobbo Greenskin.pdf.png

2025-11-25T19:42:21Z

MCAron:

Gobbo's Character Art

Himo Nilo

2025-11-25T08:25:46Z

MCAron: Grammar issues

== '''Himo Nilo''' ==
{{Infobox character|name=Himo Nilo|image=Himo Nilo.png|caption="The right side of me should show what happens when you don't pay attention."|relatives=2 Parents, 3 Sisters|affilliation="The Chairman,"The Scrappers|alias=Thai (Child name), The Magic Pick|marital=Single|birthDate=37 PR|birthPlace=High Lunas|species=Elf (High)|height=4'10"|weight=94 lbs.}}

'''Himo''' is a High Elf Rogue/Artillerist that has experienced both the rich and poor side of Lunas. He wanted to visit the Arboretum to modify existing equipment he has, but he never really left until he heard from his contacts in the Arboretum that demon incursions were ramping up. Carrying only what he could quickly pack, he left for the Arboretum with his bag that contains only essentials. He has a habit of checking anything that might look "suspicious" but doesn't really know what might be suspicious.
== Description ==
Himo is a young elf shining with bronze skin with black freckles, Short copper hair that is decently trimmed and eyes that sparkle gold when they catch the light. you would find him like he was a gem in a mine because of the reflection he often carries. He doesn't seem to carry anything with him except maybe a satchel over his back, A rapier and dagger on his left hip and short sword on his right hip respectively, hang and some tools hanging off of his belt. He wears light leather armor with a somewhat heavy desert cloak that shines a little in the light. When you peer past the cloak however, you notice two very big changes to him that he tries to hide as best as he can. The first on is he really only has half of his hair left. The right side of him looks like he has black char that curls up around the face and neck that has been there for quite some time. The second is he has no right arm. anything that might have been there is gone, and watching him, he sways a little bit to the left and right as if he can't seem to keep himself balanced. Some new projects have shown up on his person. The first seems to only be partially done, but on a rack where the shoulder would be is a semi circle with a hole cut out of the center, and an arc cut out inside the semi circle. The second gadget that he has on him at all times, is a disc launcher that fires out coins. Both of these are woodworking projects with small mechanical parts to make them work.

== Manners ==
Himo has a nervous tick carried wherever he goes. If you asked, he would say something along the lines of in a deep graveled voice of not being too careful wherever he goes, but refuses to follow up on why. The eyes seem to look for particular things, but never what is around him. Arcane is of great interest for him, but explosives are not that far off the priority. Often times, random junk that no one has used for some time goes missing, but if you saw him with the junk and asked why, the lips tighten hard. He then usually keeps to himself the rest of the day or two unless it's to discuss plans for missions or logistics. His past is guarded more securely that a vault door with enhanced locks, but the impact of it can easily be seen if he has a PTSD episode. This usually logical, crafty, upbeat personality, snaps faster than a string on a trap, changing him to an aggressive, fearful, volatile person. His hand always seems close to his dagger like he is waiting for a fight to occur. It's hard to tell if you have earned his trust or whether he sees the alliance as one time. On missions of any kind, Himo will tend to find to get out of sight when possible of his teammates, but is always around when trouble strikes.

== Background ==
Himo was born to a wealthy mage family in High Lunas. They expected him to follow that same tradition, and while he was interested in magic wasn't the most interesting thing to him as physical tasks. Still they made him either take lessons or leave this family. He negotiated to learn alchemy to understand the materials used in spellcasting.

He started to go to the Low Lunas in secret claiming private tutoring sessions when really he got into contact with the local criminal rings to learn skills from their side. He chose to learn lockpicking for his profession and was quite skilled at it. He also refined his careful hand movement to mimic letters. He balanced this double life of learning alchemy by day and learning to pick locks by night. When he went to Lower Lunas, he would bring stories of breaking into homes, taking specific materials and leaving without a trace. by the time they would try to track him down, he would be in the shadows trying to outlast the location spells used to find him. he often had to dump the stolen materials to prevent being caught. This went on for years. he wrote detailed notes about alchemy and his parents were thought he was being an obedient son. One night while learning complicated formulas to show to his parents, he was finally caught by the guards and he was sentenced to death. while in prison, he managed to convince the guards to give him 2 lodestones. He took those lodestones and mended the broken thieves tools that he was hiding in his clothing. This lock however was never supposed to be picked. It had been magically enhanced but he the night to make that happen. He picked the lock and sneaked out and into the Lower Lunas in 102 PR just as the sun was rising.

He excelled in picking locks as a freelancer. If the guild provided sanctuary based on how difficult the lock was, that locked was picked. He became infamous in rings because no lock was safe from him. Booby trapped to Arcane Lock, most locks were not safe from him. Only locks that were sophisticated with an Arcane Lock would he have a hard time picking and often failed at those, but those were few and far for High Lunas. In various guilds, he learned various weapons that he now always with him because he doesn't want to get into a scrap unarmed. He often had a habit of inspecting areas where people invited him never trusting anyone fully. His reputations grew so much that he found himself often travelling to other places to check out security systems. This took the pressure off of him because he could really inspect area he couldn't before. He learned to pickpocket, sneak around, scale buildings and practice his skills of picking locks. He tried to get an honest job in the town of Rwendia but his reputation followed him everywhere. He did odd jobs around places, pick locks here, mend broken stuff back together, and come along with other criminals to look out for traps. The people he often worked under were brutal. They would insult him behind his back, mess up him picking the locks, broke his stuff and moved him around often and lied to him where he was

He started for fun re-learning magic. Make graffiti with magic here, an odor there. This terrified the guilds because he was becoming what he swore he would never do and feared he would turn on him next. His mentor Jumad told him that no one will want someone unreliable if he chooses this path. He continued in spite of their disapproval and learned how to make a bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus. The only person he told this to was his best friend Kamer who supported him in getting new materials. One day while hiding out in the DwaleVale, he received a letter of a formal apology from his family asking him to come back. He eagerly accepted and made his way over. His contacts warned him they were up to no good and were looking for vengeance for bringing shame to the family name. When he got there they magically influenced him to open a complicated safe lock without checking the area. BOOOM!!! A massive explosion covered him from right to left, debris flying every where and scraping by on life. The family were stewing in their loss of the son when his eldest sister, Nylo gave the idea to blow him up in a public execution. That letter he found, was trapped to get him to come whether he wanted to or not. In the chaos, someone in his family had planted one more bomb to take him out. he survived, barely, but lost his right arm in the explosion. He lost everything; everything but his skills, his life and his resolve to fix this. At DAGR (Determined Assassins, Grifters, and Rogues) he received word that they needed people to fix broken things and make them better. he spent the next 6 months fighting for his life, and those 6 months were in a daze. He often found himself in a new place about every month. When finally had the strength to move comfortably, he took essentials and ran for his life in 134 PR, because no matter what he did his family was coming for him and he needed to defend himself.

== Languages ==
Himo knew elvish and common just from listening to his family, but he learned goblin when he would hang around goblins were trying to have a private conversation, not realizing Himo taught himself that from listening to them

== Character information ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |1 Rogue/4 Artificer
|-
|AC 15
|HP 33
|DC 14
|-
|Str 13
|Dex 18
|Con 13
|-
|Int 16
|Wis 10
|Cha 12
|}

=== '''Proficiencies''' ===
Himo is a man of many skills that involve getting around where he needs to in some way. He effectively shows he can get around super quietly, lift or plant things in someone's pocket, has great athletic abilities, and knows how to spot the difference between 2 identical objects. If asked about anything arcane, he has great knowledge of what it is, what the purpose is, and what the process of creating might have looked like. He also seems to have some tools on his belt. Specifically woodcarver's tools are always on his belt, but he has also shown a good deal of knowledge on making mechanical parts with tinker tools, making concoctions with alchemist supplies, and what he is most well known for; picking locks, and disabling traps

=== High elf Abilities ===
* Cantrip (Mending)
* Darkvision
* Elf Weapon Training
* Extra Language (Goblin)
* Fey Ancestry
* Keen Senses
* Trance

=== Rogue Features ===

* Expertise: Stealth, Thieves Tools
* Sneak attack (1d6)
* Thieves’ Cant

=== Artificer Abilities ===

* Infuse Item (bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus)
* Magical Tinkering
* Spellcasting
* Ritual Casting

=== Feats: ===
Alert

== Himo's Story ==
This is Himo's accounts of what happened in these sessions. I encourage you to come up with a goofy, but also descriptive name for each session. I have the first one done<div style="text-align: center;">
=== New Place, New Identity, and a New Dream ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been roughly 8 months since I came here to the Arboretum and very little people know I am actually here. Kamer got me in contact with The Chairman when I got here and it has been hell being around all of these explosive materials. every big explosion sends me back a year when an attempt was made on my life. I trust absolutely NO ONE here because I have been looked down on because of a missing arm. Petty theft was the only way I survived. I was so busy about survival that I didn't realize that Raegina was hiring to make robots until The Chairman sent me a letter telling me '''[[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs|Raegina]]''' was looking for people to recruit for the Scrappers. I collected scraps from grand shoplifting, hid out for four months to wait out people looking for men, then I moved swiftly to the junkyard. My goal is to go back to High Lunas and exact revenge on my parents and sisters who left me in this state I am. I barely remember the explosion or the constant shifting of places because I was so out of it. The people here seem nice enough but I am just waiting for them to betray each other. When I got to the junkyard, I was appalled to see the size of these robots, and the amount of people that came was a little much for me.

When Raegina mocked many of us for having many broken and chipped off parts, I just rolled my eyes because I knew if there as anything she was trying to hide in a safe, I could find that safe without getting caught. In Low Lunas I was known as the Magic Pick because I couldn't be trapped, nor were most locks safe from me. I do need teammates however so I kept my moth shut and just listened. The amount of artificers that were there was astonishing. A tiefling had infused armor, and a goblin had a small automaton with them. But by far the most unique “living” thing saw was a doll that could think for itself. It turns out to test our skills, we would fight Grind, Smash and Cleave, 3 golems with interesting weapon choices. I got excited when I learned that we would be fighting the golems because that meant I could sneak out parts I needed for projects. One of said projects was increasing the throwing range of Thunder Rumble because I have to be relatively close to make good use of it. While fighting, one got destroyed, and it burst into flames. The heat sent me back to the explosion that back at High Lunas, where I almost lost my life. We dispatched the rest and Raegina was impressed enough to let us scrap the robots. So much for trying to do things discreetly... But I haven't really talked with people yet. After scrapping the robots, we split up into two teams. I got paired with [[Stix]] and [[Raazdrog]] which was fine. I can modify my parts and they add theirs, and I saw this as more of a fun project. After all, I like explosive confusion. But it's not like I could focus because I was so nervous with Grind blowing me to bits, I was accidentally disassembling Grind. I was trying to make the saw arm move more fluidly, and trying to add scraps of metal I had in my bag, but I fumbled hard there. It was so embarrassing, because everyone else manage to buff it in some way but not me. I wanted to leave so badly because of that, but I ended up staying in spite of it. I would be throwing away probably my only real opportunity to getting out of the slums like my family expected me to stay. To my surprise Raegina gave each of us 10 gp to bet on the improved robots as to who would win. This was huge to me! This was really the first time someone handed me something without expecting anything in return. I decided to risk all of that money and bet most of it on Grind, and then I had an Idea. I decided to rename Grind to Sparkburn, which Stix and Raazdrog liked a lot. Raazdrog and I got the idea to give Sparkburn a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." and I added "Feel the spark. Feel the burn." Now I really didn't care if we won or lost because I considered this a finished project. Out team ended up winning and I walked away with triple what I put into it. I was ecstatic not only because I won a bet, which I rarely take, but the funds could be used to get the tools I need for projects. That excitement was short-lived however because a horn coming from the Arboretum indicating it was under attack. I hopped on the war rig and we moved to the Arboretum.

Getting towards a entrance root of the Arboretum, a sudden crash hits the war rig and all of us go flying off of it. pieces of the damaged rig flew out and a large skeletal elephant collapsed next to the war rig. I wasn't paying attention because I was sketching my newest tool to assist me. I was thrown hard, losing my sketch to the winds and barely landed standing up, and my vision blacked out for a second. Metal was warping and bending in all the wrong ways and snaps echoed throughout the valley and then silence. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew this was an ambush. Footsteps on the dessert sand was coming from multiple directions, Sparks were flying off of the rig, The screeching of tires spinning out, shoe rubber flaking off the boots I put together with mending, and hearing many colleagues scrape against the dusty ground. When the dust cleared I saw green goo blobs moving towards us, and I heard something angry moving towards us. Pustuloids, Capra demons, and Lesser Rage demons were there. To give me some distance, I climbed the war rig, but as I was climbing, it felt like the floor was falling out from me and nearly fell off. Climbing up I saw roughly 10 Pustuloids, a few lesser rage demons, and a Capra. My team managed to keep hold of a choke point and so I threw my dagger at the Capra repeatedly, but I also noticed Sparkburn, covering our backside. This was great, because the Pustuloids exploded on death with Sparkburn unaffected. Raegina tells me to get off even though I just got on. I wanted to argue because I had a good position of the battle but whatever.You know that rig aint safe from me snagging a few pieces. The fight isn't going in our favor right now, because Raazdrog's steel defender, crashes to the ground in combat, unmoving by the Capra. While this fight is going on, I see a figure moving behind us, but it doesn't look like an ambush. It's a half elf holding a rapier and an instrument; most likely a bard. One by one however, the demons fell starting with the pustuloids. Leftover goo seeping into the ground before turning to ash. Two booms ring out as the lesser rage demons and the Capra are thrown back. Delaia, who has been soaking hits for us, takes the opportunity to get out after that which I don't blame. It didn't look like he was going to stand much longer to be honest. The spells seemed to come from the bard and Delaia, so we have another ally. Good because most of us are spent on resources. We kill all the demons and after a quick introduction, the bard's name is [[Leonard]], and she heard the commotion. She healed Deliaia a significant amount, and Deliaia looks ready to take on another fight. After moving this elephant which turned out to be an Olliphant off of the root, we prepared to charge up only for a wave of energy to come down upon us. There was no point to going up anymore... The Conservatory has been destroyed. There goes many projects that have been put on hold. It's not like I made progress on the parts I needed for Sizzle but still frustrating. Oh crap! More demons of the same types are coming down, and I should have seen this coming. We dispatch the ones that combated us, and the streets fall silent around us....

After the invasion ended, leaders were talking about uniting "not just to fight against the demons, but also to build alliances" or something like that. The thing is, I can only rely on one thing when partnership is formed: people are looking out for themselves. Unless someone can prove they are trustworthy, I will not be in a permanent alliance. That's how I survived Low Lunas; Ally with someone only until the necessity no longer remains. </blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div>
<blockquote>
A few days go by and Sir Anthony is holding a funeral for the lives lost, when I got approached by Jerbo, a gnome arcanist. He was hiring people to track down why the Kobolds attacked. I agreed but stressed, I needed some help. After getting a few others, and some quick introductions we made our way to Dapple, a satry who rents out horses. I put down the deposit and we made our way over. Oh I should mention who is here because I will be a narcissist otherwise. We have Mezzi who I have never seen take off their mask, Polvo a Air Genasi that had an encounter with death apparently, Diana a human who has a lizard like robot that follows her everywhere, Dallas a mouse I have never seen before but seems like a cool fellow, and Davin a halfling with a longbow, with a trophies on his person.

It takes a little more than two days to get there and along the way, we found a dog in a campsite that was left not long ago. I make an alarm in case people came back while I was within a mile, but I got no signal. When we get to the Osteomancer, their abode is in the ground with sand covering a trapdoor. I volunteer to go planning to be sneaky, but I forgot not everyone can see in the dark as well as I can, because Mezzi lit a torch when we all got down. When we met the Osteomancer, I can only describe what is a elephant person like three feet taller than me with big elephant ears, an elephant trunk and overall a build that could lift more than me with two arms. We were trading a favor for a favor. The Osteomancer's favor was removing a tower that was made of Absence which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I can go along with it. Apparently, when creatures are near said tower, they lose their Identities. Davin beat to the question of how are we going to protect ourselves, so that was nice. I was given a scroll and a black egg to crush when I start to read the scroll that should seal this wound. Another detail that was mentioned was the structure could only be seen through reflections.

We get to the tower, it looked like someone lived inside a crazy home. The outside can't be seen, but when you go inside, it is a ghost white. there was also a spot of complete silence, so I move myself there, crushethe egg and begin reading the scroll. A ghost that looks like he owns the place along with lights that surround us entirely. I placed down, my cannon to give me some cover while the rest of the group combat the lights. I watched my colleagues lose their ability to speak coherently while fighting them. I was blessed with something, but I couldn't tell you what it as but it seems to help me fight this ghost who was trying to make me vanish. As the fight moves on, less lights were attacking, but I can't tell you why. After nearly completing it, I was tired of the things attacking and unleash an ear piercing ring out towards the ghost, along with the nearby lights, which injure the lights a lot more than anticipated. I finish reading, and the entire place began to collapse around us. Which is unfortunate, because I wanted to get parts I need for project. I have to will myself out with Mezzi's help, but luckily everyone got out.

When we get back to the Osteomancer, we learn that when kobolds want to get rid of the Divine Blood law, they make deals with other creatures; in this case demons. This group was led by Snizz the Fortunate, but that group was dead when other people killed the kobolds. It ended with a warning "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free." Confused, I said nothing and headed back for the horses that have been tied up. We went to check up on the dog, and it's still there and there is no sign of return, so we left for the Arboretum. This information is given to Jerbo, but I am still suspicious of hat will happen if someone does make a deal with a devil.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a week since I saw that tower of that "absence" and I am ready to finish what I started or go to the Omnichapel for advice on Vela. I know, I get distracted easily, but I cannot for any reason leave a stone unturned for any reason in case it comes to bite me back later. I left Lunas on some pretty bad terms, both with my family for obvious reasons, but also the Thieve's guilds with relearning the one thing I swore off of. That mistake of saying I will not learn more things about a specific topic was so far my worst one yet. Anyone could come for me for any reason, and I need to be ready for when I get jumped. Today luckily is not one of those days, because a new job offering has appeared who's handwriting is more crude than a thieve's messy handwriting. Baftzmyr as I later found out put up the sign about a giant demon stuck in the sand, and it needed to be killed. Cool, I can just fire with my cannon and it will eventually die if it can't get out. When I get there, I see some new faces, but also a handful of familiar ones. Stix and Razzdrog are here, but among the new ones we have Steady Dee, a tabaxi who wears some unusually heavy armor comparatively that have some runes on it that appear to be of a giant origin, but I guess whatever floats your boat. Koro, an Air Genasi that wears some monk robes, who can't seem to make up his mind when it comes to allegiances, and Ozmir, a tiefling that has powers I have never seen before, but curious as to how they will work. Baftzmyr explains that scout demons have been circling around looking around for a way to get out the great demon. The plan was simple; locate the scouts, follow them, and kill the great demon. Now that follows, but it's under the sand. What is Baftzmyr's plan to expose the demon? I don't know. All I know is I can sneak up on it, and rain cannon fire down where it can't see me. Ozmir who can apparently track creatures really well, starts following a set made not long ago. Along the path, a heatwave catches me completely off guard, and I feel more sluggish than before. Great, now I won't be able to hide nearly as easy I have before, but I am with a group. We get right on top the scout and it pops out ready to attack. It would have died in two hits, if Sparkburn didn't have a weapon infused with fire. Wait! I forgot to mention Sparkburn is with us! Gobbo, I will find you later and confront you for remaining silent. It didn't matter however, because melee attacks are still effective. After that one dies, Stix along with a few others spot three more running from away, and we continue to follow. After a few more hours of travel, we come across some quicksand that is quaking. Quicksand isn't supposed to do that on a large scale; this is where the great demon is. Baftzmyr pulls what appears to be an origami pig that is coated in a layer of wax. It looks like the pig was boiled alive, but I am not one to judge. Stix volunteers to carry to bomb, and all I can say to that is... Ok never mind. This doll, husk? I don't know what it's made of, but regardless, the bomb is carried to it's destination. More importantly however, Stix makes it out unscathed. Maybe Stix has a ratio of strength similar to that of an ant. Ants proportionally can carry more weight to their body mass. Koro and I peek over, and WHAT IS THIS FOR A DEMON!? A cage for a face with a flame inside of it and some kind of disc neck to keep the sand out of the face or something. We give out teammates that knowing look, and the rest of the team gets to work. Raazdrog and MK-2 setup an anti flank position for us on the right as well as making the demon glittery. Steady Dee also sets up an anti flank position for us on the right side as well as growing to giant. With this enlarged form Steady throws a handaxe that lands square in the "face" of the great demon but not as effective as it should have hit . Stix is firing blasts of green energy which makes me think a deal was involved for this power. Koro using the bow pierces the demon with the same problem as Steady, and I am throwing a dagger, firing a cannon, and backing up, because I have no interest in falling in the quicksand and next to this abomination. That caused a different problem however which was I opened the line for more of the scouts to come attack Koro and Ozmir. I planned to fix this by booming them back into it, but that will backfire spectacularly when Koro kills one of the scouts, and stayed within the line of fire. It was also a good thing that I moved out, because the sand started moving out from everyone's feet who were close to the edge. Steady and MK-2 fell in and hell broke loose, literally. I didn't see what happened but the next thing I know, Koro willingly jumps into the pit and now Steady is floating in the air about 20ft. Why that is happening, I couldn't tell you, but Steady was bleeding out and needed help soon. Baftzmyr uttered some word and Steady is conscious again. I go to help Ozmir, because currently 3 scouts are surrounding her, which aint cool. I drive my dagger into a scout's death, and the sand is still moving out from under us, but I can keep myself steady. Raazdrog on the other hand wasn't so lucky and also managed to fall in next to the demon. Things are going fine right now. The great demon is getting whacked by are melee fighters and the people up here in the sand are holding off the scouts just fine. Oh no. My worst fear has come true; this demon will explode on death. I am not going to be around that. I can stabilize those who take the brunt of the explosion. At least, that was my original plan if Koro didn't fall to the giant claws of this demon. I am not ready to lose a colleague here, so I jump down, run to Koro, heal him just enough to get him conscious again and prep for another round of attacks against this creature. Maybe it was better however that I couldn't keep myself steady this time and I was buried in the sand. Not wanting to be stuck in here, I used my last spell to blast out, but that didn't work. Later I learned that I had injured Koro, and Steady who were both super hurt by it, but the worst part was I didn't even get out with that. I got burned, but not by much comparatively to other people who got the full brunt. Stix stabilized Koro, and Raazdrog healed Steady and then Koro. It honestly surprised me that everyone made it out alive. We got our gold, and I moved on because I don't know how much I can trust the Scrappers when working with a Fiend. Working with criminals is bad enough, but trying to work with a creature from the underworld seems like a death sentence.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a few days since hunting the Baron of Filth or whatever in the Nine Hells this creature is, and I finished the sketching for my tool arm. I don't have a name for it, but I know the name will come at the end when I finish the project. I should really get some paper however, because each time I sketch it, it's in the sand. I lose it very easily, and often times restart like some mime performing the same trick. I was ready to go buy the materials when I am stopped by Gnash, a half orc who means business. If I had a counterpart, it would be her. Why? because the entire left side of her face is char black. Besides that she needs people to track down some missing people. They have been gone 2 days and she hates mystery. Some other people that get recruited were Leonard, Mezzi, The Scarlet Shadow, Raazdrog, and Avel. I think it's worth mentioning that we have 3 musically inclined, which I don't I have ever been apart of. We are told to look for a carcass of a long dead giant worm, and the distant mountain Tol'Viral on are way to Drywater. Jerbo reads off a scroll and we turn to mist, and boy can we MOVE! With this enhanced movement, met up with Kaleen, a desert vulpine druid who knew of our mission. We got two scrolls. I recognize these and as '''Animal Messenger''' and '''Locate object''' spells. If anything goes wrong we are told to give movement on where they are headed and in how long.. The '''Locate Object''' however is to find a silver bullet the group left behind.. Seems odd, but hey maybe they do that elsewhere to mark where they were. We don't need either however, because Scarlet knows this place like the back of his hand. Apparently the blue dragonborn, and the thri-kreen hate each other enough to capture, but not kill him, which I find very funny. Anyways, he finds tracks of about a dozen thri-kreen. Following them, they reduce to about 4 tracks that were left behind, and end abruptly. Still Scarlet picks up where they began again and we continue to follow. We are moving with the wind while following the tracks, so it was very easy to actually catch up to the thri-kreen Scarlet was following. When I get the chance to look at them, and it looks likes an ant that grew a spine, a brain along with gaining lots of lower insect strength. The color of the shell also seems to be blending in better with the surrounding enviorment, which I wish I could get my hands on that. We transformed into ourselves again, and decided instead of attacking, to talk to them since they might have some useful information regarding the people we are trying to find. I was confused about the execution, until I learned Scarlet could actually communicate with them. Upon seeing us, the group shows off their mandibles, and claws. Scarlet attempts to parley with the clutch but to no avail, since he could speak the language of clack clickers. Before you judge me, that's what I heard. As we got closer, they became blurry and hard to track their position. I recognize this as a '''Blur''' spell. I am about to make them shiny when Raazdrog beats me to that idea. Only one of them got affected however, but there is one idea I have. Some spells you can't put together because you have to think about the actual spell. '''Blur''' happens to be one of those spells, so I plan to attack in a flank or hit them with spells, they have to resist. I summon the cannon, and get to work. They start by swarming Raazdrog, but since only a few attacks hit, they turned the attention to me. They also don't get many hits in, but one did strike me good. A 6 on 4 however doesn't end well for them, and that part of the clutch falls one by one to us swarming them. We leave the corpses behind and continue on our journey to finding the people who went missing. I was honestly expecting more of a fight with how many tracks we say, but hey I'll save some of my resources for later. We get to a dune structure with a very small tunnel with 2 Federation members dead. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a fight broke out here about a day ago, There is a tunnel about 5ft wide, so it's time for a single file line. I go first, after my cannon, so that less people will be affected by any traps that may come. Well dam right I was because my cannon snapped a tripwire leading to a bunch of some decent size rocks they could fit in the ceiling tumble out. I get out of the way get fine, but I couldn't move my cannon, and it get's dented pretty badly from the trap set. Lesson learned; check for traps in a small area like this. I just realized my experience from Low Lunas has been lacking faster than what happened the last time I was in High Lunas. I start examining the area up ahead, and would you look at that; another trap.. It takes me less than 10 seconds to permanently disable the trap however, so no issues there. Continuing to check for traps, I find no more, and I see a room, probably about 40 feet by 30 feet, and there is a decent amount of light in here that seems to be pretty bright. When we get to the maw of this room, I can just barely see to left some kind of rig, but oh come on. Really? A weapon pointed in my face with 2 people standing a few feet away from the arch. From the little I can see, this appears temporary, but I first need to talk to these people.. I told them that we are here to find you. We were sent by Gnash, and got here with the help of Jerbo. Why there are 2 dead Federation members outside this cave, I have a better idea now. AVEL WHY!? I might have been going somewhere with the conversation, but then you decide to teleport behind them and attack? Fine, Seeing this I spring into action, and start to attack the person who drew their weapon at me. Rude, but fine a fight you want? A fight you will get. I blast the cannon into the shin of the guy, and take that opportunity to throw my dagger into his skull, which works out great because that is one less person we have to deal with. Raazdrog, Mk-2, and Scarlet move into the room and attack some of the nearby henchmen. that happen to be near the doorway so less occupancy there. Avel takes this opportunity to corner the leader in a one on one duel. Unhappy with me dropping her main bodyguard, she leaves the duel with Avel, and decides to attack me instead, with a reach weapon. Dammit, my cannon was in the way, but that didn't matter for this dumb weapon. The lightning and fire hurts pretty bad, but I am still here... Then the dork leaves me alone to go get into a 3v1. I think something is being plotted, because they moved away from me, almost like something had a higher priority. Leonard seeing me greatly injured me heals my immediate wounds, which is nice, because I want to help my teamates, but I can't do that with almost being taken out of the fight. There is 3 other henchmen here, so I direct my cannon to fire at one who was next to Avel as I stick my knife into their side for a well thrown shot.. Mezzi managed to released a held spell, after Avel forced the enemy into Mezzi's line of sight. It didn't have any effect, but the more people closer to the leader, the better.. The leader in a desperate move, went to the rig, and pushed a few buttons, and got ready to run., getting slashed, by Raazdrog Mk-2, Scarlet, and Avel.. I now realize what this is; an infernal enhancement. NOW I WANT THAT! this would speed up my projects by who know how long, and I would earn a lot of favor from Raegina.. This person clearly has connections to the Scrappers, which now irritates me, because we are fighting within our own group, but I know I don't have the tongue to get everyone to stop fighting. We managed to get the Tiefling leader to start running, but by that point, the fight was over. I used this opportunity to try and disable this infernal enhancement, but to no avail. It starts burning me... This rig can't be disabled, from a self destruction button, but I have to keep going. I'm getting burned and then I see it; I can get out, where I couldn't before. I will not give up my own life to figure this out. This is my choice now, not some magic that was used on me. I run out with the rest of the group to hear a big explosion ring out. I managed to get some materials out from the rig, but it's now useless... I spend some time with this tiefling who's name is Velza. Apparently her and Raegina have been locking horns because this rig should have come back to the junkyard, There was incursions here that the local tribe could use help with that rig that is now gone. The solution was spiteful and honestly stupid, and as much as I would have loved to get her off the hook, I want to be able to use these tools for good, not just because of a word of law.. I'm not sure how much longer I will be with the Scrappers because of this incident... If all Raegina cares about is this problem of demons within Pteris no matter the cost, desperation will make people do some insane things all trying to better the future for themselves/children with the destruction left behind.The end NEVER EVER for any reason, justifies the means.</blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div>
<blockquote>Oh Where do I begin with this incident that I am still beating myself in the head over? I guess I will start with the fact that some Yuan-ti runs into town screaming about someone has stolen all of her textiles and they are very expensive. I put my guard up, because I don't trust people who make a big show like that, but I don't see any odd behavior. Some other people that notice the commotion are Deliah, a teifling with some well enhanced armor, Leonard a half elf, who was first and last person to surprise me with someone else coming, Ozmir and Stix making a return from that nasty Baron, Ozmir is also a teifling, with some unique psionic blades, which looks really cool, and Stix is the doll that roams the Arboretum. I recently learned Stix has a "friend" that speaks to them, which is kind of unsettling, I am now wondering who is puppeteering this doll, when it's likely a god.. The last person I did not mention was Ollie, a ranger who has a pet frog.. The Yuan-ti's name is Sandra Sanderson, and she needed help recovering textiles that were expensive. They were stolen by a bunch of gnolls, but the problem I find with that story is A:gnolls don't do that, B: few gnolls are careful with what they steal. Just look at the goods they have after death, and C: Gnolls are not known for attacking in huge groups. I can't saying anything without sounding paranoid, so I go along with this idea.. We get to the circus tent that these textiles were stolen from, and here is the first of many mistakes I made. I made so many in fact for being a skeptic, that it makes my lack of checking in High Lunas look safer. I did not check any signs of damage for anything really. I just saw the creatures, baited one over, and a fight ensued. There was a bunch of hyenas, two giant hyenas, and a gnoll warrior. Stix got injured repeatedly from after it was a great idea to fireball the three big targets. Deliah got in the way of the big hyenas and just ate the minimal damage they dealt. Ozmir notices with the fact these were made by a conjuration spell, but we kept on fighting, because they didn't stop. All of them disappeared except for the warrior. Me and Ozmir start looking around, and we do find the secret stash of goods, and here is my second and third big mistakes. I forgot to examine the tracks leading to it, and I forgot to see based on the dust how long it might have been there, and how far away it was from the actual circus tent. We give the textiles, and she gives us clothing based on the surface thoughts we have, and then I receive a message telepathically from Ozmir stating that Sandra is definitely hiding something.. Stix decides to become Sandra's assistant for the day, but I want to grab Stix, and leave. Still I listened to Ozmir, and did nothing. Me and Leonard doubled back and went to hide in that stash where we find the textiles. At night we see 2 lizard folk and another yuan-ti quickly packing up the tent so quickly something is off. STIX! Now Stix is kidnapped, and the circus is gone. Final mistake I made here: We could have tried to follow the damn caravan, but we were too angry to do anything.. We make our way back, and it turns out it was WAY worse than either of us initially thought. Jitcwal and Cilvdzwucta were also kidnapped, and the explosives used have been destroyed. The worst part is there was, I didn't use any logic. I can't read people better than others, but I am good with puzzles and evidence. I bet if I noticed the condition of the terrain, My alert level would have been a lot higher. SANDRA SANDERSON: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You will not make a fool of me again... </blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div><blockquote>This whole thing of three people being captured and me not being to do anything about it killing me. I gave everything I could to Koro, and Gobbo, but it's still destroying me from the inside. I decided to go see if there was some work I could do to take my anger out on. Working with the scrappers didn't seem like a great idea, because I do not want to get into any more infighting. I don't like the idea in working with the Federation, but I had to pull a favor to get the information I wanted, so it's going to happen someday. I luckily found a job being offered by Lord Pavan to go check on the livestock. That sounds like a Shepherd thing, but beggars, can't be choosers. I would much making good use out of my cannon, than tinkering all day honestly. Maybe it could help me figure out how to make my spells stronger. (It did not.) My only main concern with this is I am working with new folk entirely. There's Rhogar and Syl, who I have interacted with, but it has been.... volatile to say the least. Other people that I have met for the first time are Silgr, a mountain dwarf with similar runes to Rhogars, Mizuka, a desert vulpine bard, but I am not sure which college she attended. To finish this group off, he have Voscaera, a A fighter with incomplete runes of Rhogar's and Silgr's, but she has artificer capabilities instead. I would later find out Voscaera is a Madaer, which is a person of Medusa ancestry. A little unsettling, but there was no bad blood between us. I decided to rent a horse from Dapple, because I heard it was going to be a long haul. I don't mind, but some help would be nice. My only concern I had with this gamble is I need the gold for components. Anyways he head out to check on some livestock, that I now realize could be anything.... Two days later on our travel however, we meet someone by the name of Saltique Petra. She starts reading off a bunch of names, all of which happen to be us. She tells us it's about another week, so I decided to ask for my own curiosity what kind of livestock is being kept. After a few guesses, the answer is kept ominous, so I give up on prying. Low Lunas taught me not to pry when not given on the first go. On day three of travelling we get a nasty dust storm that rolls in. I can barely see in front of me, but I managed to keep the horse calm, so I ended up with the group after it passed. This delayed it by a day, making it 8 days. It would become 9 days after a flash flood came 3 days later. I ended up losing control of the horse, and it sped off. I did my best to keep up, but I had gotten really exhausted from trying to constantly keep my footing. When I wake up the next day, any exhaustion I may have is gone, but I am alone in this harsh desert. With the extra time I have, I set up a fire, but I don't abandon it. When trying to get found, it's best to stay put. It's not like I have a direction to go find the horses, so I am sadly going to lose the deposit. Dammit. After waiting for a few hours, a group of about 6 people cross my vision. Well I'm pretty sure it's the group, but the moment I get a good look at all them, they;re fine. Oddly, Rhogar also lost his horse, so there goes like 100gp+ right there. We debated for a minute to go look for the horses, but I pointed out that we could give the demons more time to transform into other creatures. The rest of the travel will have to be on foot, but at least we only have one more day. On the final day, Saltique explains that we are first collecting some magical fruit to lure the livestock. That's easy enough for me to get and not get ambushed.. When we get there, we split up a little bit to go get as much plants as possible. Syl and I use '''Detect Magic''' to make it easier to get the plants. I manged to get my hands on Anserke, a spiny cactus that allows when made into a potion to improve our constitution for a bit. Okay well I'm not surprised a ambush is happening, but come on. This is a great spot for it. I look up to see a giant spider has jumped Syl, so I pull out the woodcarver's tools, and bring out the cannon to fire at this spider. The spider gets a bite into Syl, but that thing is a fool. Syl is a yuan-ti, so I am willing to bet he has some poison resistance. An ear piercing ring comes out to my left as Mizuka casts something above my level, but it seems to be effective, because There is screeching of another spider. Now how many of these jerks are here, and why have they not been taken care of before this? There ended being 3 other giant spiders lurking. Most of the deaths came from Rhogar just cutting through with his greataxe, along with him getting like 3 times my height. I did manage to get one satisfying kill in a one-two combo to destroy it beyond saving.. I had nothing to gain from getting a rest, but Syl could use it after getting bit multiple times. Rhogar also got injured a good amount, but it seemed Mizuka, Silgr, and Voscaera didn't get injured at all. This never lost my concentration, I go back to harvesting more plants. I manage to get another anserke, which was a little disappointing but not the end of it. I hand over the plants I got, and I was pretty impressed by our pile. Saltique mentioned it might even be enough to get the adult ones out. We head over to another area that is honestly a choke point I'm not too comfortable being in. After an hour...nothing. Then there is tiny amounts of movement underneath our bait. Saltique shakes her head which makes me concerned about how big these 'livestock' are. A huge wave of dust that comes through to my left that I was not expecting. When it settles, there is a WOIM! I'm separated because I'm not about to get clumped in a dangerous spot. Then directly ahead of me about 130ish feet away there is another wave of dust. Underneath that dust lies another woim eating these magical plants. I then see my colleagues coming down off the plateaus for an odd reason until I see three demonic things with mouths in the chest, and three husks following this woim. Perfect. one spell used later, and my cannon makes a return. Analyzing this like the nerd I am, the woims won't attack us, unless we have magic on us. That's like all of us, but the people that have a bigger issue are Rhogar and Silgr These demons has a rhino horn with a mouth next to the abdomen. the hands are long claws with a longsword, and the toes are webbed with sharp 'talons.' I got busy dealing with these abominations from a flank position while the rest of the team got in the fray.. Out main goal is this: Kill the demons before the woims eat them. Easier said than done however, since we our own member are also in danger. Slowly but surely however, these creatures fell one by one. Rhogar had gotten swallowed, but he forced the woim to regurgitate before it became a problem. Same thing happened with Silgr unsurprisingly. We got a nasty surprise when we took down a husk. A jellyfish had exited the body. So we are really dealing 9 creatures, but those need to go first. If not we could get a possessed woim which isn't great. we got rid oftwo mouth abdomen demons, and AN ADULT WOIM showed up! It nearly destroyed my cannon. It ate one of the other woim and just left leaving a massive hole. The other woim starting burrowing with a demon stuck in it, so that's not good, but there is one last jellyfish demon to take down.. It went deep into the hole. With some quick thinking seeing Rhogar down there, I use my last spell to make a burst of blue. And would you LOOK AT THAT. that jellyfish is here. Rhogar used this opportunity to smash it into the ground killing it instantly. I saw the death because the light faded on its death. Rhogar wasn't happy with Saltique's lie by omission, but I ignored that, because I needed to fix my cannon. We got paid a good amount of gold, and we left. Those husks were sadly other Shepherd members which is just lovely. As we headed back, a thought crossed my mind. Is there one grand demon orchestrating, or three? </blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div><blockquote>I knew this day was coming soon. There was supposed to be a group heading out soon, but one of them had to drop. My contact called me in and said he was calling in his favor, so I know I get to go work for the Federation.. We meet up with two Thri-kreen that appear to be twins. They aren't part of the clutch I fought earlier, but their speech was unsettling, as they would talk over one another in perfect sync. All that aside however, we were told that some dust storm had made a return from the initial invasion again. The only thing that seems to know where it is a crow by the name of Moxy. They asked us to take good care of Moxy, which I can do for 3 days’ travel, and to keep this information private. There is a leak somewhere, and no one is supposed to know there is one. Great. Another piece of information kept behind closed doors that will cause more tension.. I swear this is going to be the downfall of this place. Anyways we start following the bird along to get to where we need to. Avel decides to let Moxy onto his shoulders when it needs a rest. On the third day, we find a few birds circling a few areas. Birds often circle points of interest, and then I hear just ever so faintly some rumbling underneath us. With Avel's help, I am now invisible and decide to scout ahead. I scuff my footing really badly, and I'm pretty sure I caught its attention. Oh I guess I forgot to mention other people here. People I have worked with in the past have made a return except for one person. Draz, Avel, and Leonard made a return from our last time together investigating the mysterious disappearance, and Ozmir is also here from our last time together from that Filth Jerk. No, he doesn't deserve an honorable title when that demon isn't. It was nice having another person who I can communicate without saying a word to in case social interactions fail miserably. The only person I haven't worked with before is Grymos, a Duergar artificer with his own robot friend like Razzadrog.. I'm not surprised he's shorter than me, but it's still a first to work with someone smaller than me. Anyways, the birds scatter off, and all we are left with our own thoughts and this rumbling. We decide to have Grymos' bot go in first, and then the thing went offline apparently. From the previous experience those who were from this were cursed, so Avel helped us get entirely covered up from this sandstorm. Since I am still invisible I decide to scout to figure out what is going on. The slope became EXTREMELY steep, but I managed to ground myself, and avoid tumbling or making huge amounts of noise. The sheer force of this wind is hurting however as I continue to step through, so I would like to get back as soon as possible. I can barely see anything right in front of me, so I am pretty much walking blind. I eventually come upon a rough sculpture of sandstone. tracing my hands along this stone, it is so old, it's probably been here since Prehistory. I am about to return when I notice my invisibility drops. I guess they got tired of waiting, which is fair enough, because it's a long way down. We're talking a quarter mile of walking to get here. I notice however only two other people show up, which is a little worrying, but I’m sure the others are fine. I summon the cannon, and we move up the stairs to whatever this place might be. going up the steps of this structure, some creature is waiting for us, and hell breaks loose. Avel gets injured pretty badly, so he just teleports the same way I saw him do earlier. Grymos just moves in, because he's not dealing with it which is fine. I do manage to take my dagger and drag it through the wind as my cannon fires into it. It did a good chunk of damage, but it's still kicking just fine. And then I see it run. I take a quick strike opportunity and look over, to see Leonard is here along with Razzadrog. It does come back down however, and flings me into this place, and the magic here just feels right. I'll have to figure that out in a second, but there are more pressing matters. My cannon fires the creature and it can't get into this place, so I'm safe in here. I turn my attention to the two other people in here who are both hobgoblins. Avel asks them what is going on, and they imply that they are the ones causing it. I tried to reason with them that a fight wasn't necessary, but to no avail.. One of them says in goblin about Bonnet not keeping them at bay, which raises several alarm bells for me. Who is this Bonnet? What is the significance of this room, and what were they trying to cover up in here if anything? the two hobgoblins immediately turn into some demonic vulture. Now an aerial battle is in play here which isn't too big of a worry for me, but maybe not for others. These jerks are also closing their wounds relatively fast, so a heal off it is. A 5 on 2 however is not going in their favor, so we just need to keep chipping them away. Avel managed with '''Mirror Image''' up to not get hit a single time which I thought was honestly really cool. Unfortunately, my cannon got demolished, so I had to create another one to keep up with my help. With everyone piling in together, both of these demon hybrids or whatever they are fall dead. It's funny because they tried to run, but when you're surrounded like they were, you are going to get hurt badly.. Oh what is a new voice doing here? You're irritated about us ruining your plan? You can shove that comment out, because I don't care. You have been hurting others, and I'm not having it. I question this tall figure a little bit, and they reveal they are Bonnet. Bonnet turns to leave after finishing his monologue, and I attempt one more cannon shot at him, just to rub in my hatred for him. He then calls me by name threatening to kill all of us, but if he's really going to do that, don't mention your plans or whatever.. I begin the process of a ritual cast of '''Detect Magic''', while the others start examining this temple. The air creature left seeing it was in danger if it stuck around, which I didn't care for too much.. When I finish my casting, everything all of a sudden registers as all of the schools this world knows. Leylines are a funny thing, because they make the spells possible. These lines converge at certain points known as Nexuses, and here is where the fabric of reality can much more easily be warped. It hurts to honestly keep it up, so after gathering all I could, I let go of the spell.. The other people started investigating the murals on the monoliths in this room, and they were depicting an ancient lizard race that existed well before any of our time.. There was also some pteran writing scrawled along the base of the altar in here, so I got a copy of it, and have left it alone for now. On each of the four pillars there was a direction and some symbols depicting various things. The order goes as follows: North: is Mother, South is War, East is Nature, and West is: Logic. Avel and I agreed to come check this place in our free time, so that we could better understand what is going on.. I give all the information I could privately to the twins, and they tell me that the Shend are where the Hobgoblins came from. That is certainly some questions for Rhogar at another time. Now I am really confident we aren't fighting just one foe, but a few of them. A bigger problem came to mind however. The Altar had the tree the Arboretum is currently, before some blight gets rid of the leaves.. Could they use this to attack us from far away if discovered</blockquote>

== Character Interactions ==

=== The Scrappers ===
When Himo first arrived, he was like a ghost in the markets. He bought what he needed, and left in such a hurry, it was hard to track them down. He never really talked to people for more than 5 minutes when he finally met some of the crew of the scrappers, and they seemed to treat him with some respect, but Himo kept to themselves.

=== Gobbo Greenskin ===
After the Conservatory was destroyed, he found Gobbo, a goblin with a robot named FR0G-GY. Gobbo mentioned he could make Himo an arm, which interested him, but that conversation was never followed up on. Gobbo also mentioned knowing where Sparkburn was, but won't elaborate on where the golem is now, which is frustrating Himo.

=== Rhogar Dreel ===
[[File:Rhogar Dreel.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Rhogar Dreel]]
Rhogar is part of the Federation. Himo wanted to initally join the Federation, because he often did a lot of exploitation of vices back in Lunas, but understood that organization would fall to corruption eventually. While trying to figure out the whole coordinated attack Himo managed to set his back on fire because of his obliviousness in front of Rhogar from his OWN cannon!

=== Syl Vipershade ===
Himo has lets say a rocky roller coaster of emotions with Syl. When Himo first met Syl, the interaction wasn't awful, but it didn't take long for the oblivious cracks to seep through. While trying to figure out the attack on the Arboretum, Himo burns himself in front of Syl and Rhogar... with his own cannon. Syl distanced themselves from Himo, which he didn't mind because he was too busy working on his projects. Syl noticed Himo always seems to be ready for a fight, and becomes incredibly jumpy when someone tries to affect his mind. This problem was only amplified however after Stix was captured. While hanging out with Gobbo and Syl, Himo suddenly started feeling burned in his right side despite no actual fire being nearby. Himo accidentally summoned his cannon, to which Gobbo and Syl responded by trying to grapple Himo. While Himo never ended attacking either, Himo made it known that his past he is incredibly fearful of. To Himo's surprise, Syl offered him the chance to let something off of his chest. Even though Himo declined for the moment, he did agree to meet later, and discuss it more with Syl.

=== Lenore ===
Lenore was someone who Himo would have never interacted with except in a professional manner, but it took less than five minutes for the mask to come off about his certainty. Lenore is a cleric of Vela, and no one had really offered help without a clause. That sent Himo's brain into overdrive, freezing up at the kind gesture of giving a few names of those who run the Omnichapel as well as a stone of Vela

== Relationships '''(COMING SOON!)''' ==
=== Nyria Nilo ===

=== Celthron Nilo ===
Lady Nilo is a thin high elf with long flowing golden blond hair that is frail from the clutches of death, eyes of a deep black that show only death behind them, and a poise of confidence and dominance ruling the house that controls the Arcane Materials so well. She believes dead people are just objects that can be used for more than just laying them to rest, and tries to control people as much as possible without magic, often by threatening the used of deceased loved ones. When push comes to shove however, the gloves come off and the dead rise up on her command to destroy those who disobey. Nyria stands really short. Only 4'4" tall due to her 6th century of age creeping in on her, but the tug of life and death is just within fingertips reach. She works tirelessly to use necromancy as a means of preserving her life, but has been unsuccessful while staying within the rules of society. She wasn't a fan when Himo wanted to pursue alchemy, but the secret that she was making deals with demons for extra power proved too great to ignore. She feared that Himo would figure out the arcane knowledge to bring the secret to light, because of his resistance

=== Kynnela Nilo ===
Kynnela is the oldest sibling of the Nilo family. Himo picked up the rebellious attitude from her because she fought with her mother and father all the time. Kynnela who is 478 became a Diviner, and she questioned her past self before leaving the house. She treated Himo with the utmost disgust, and got his other sisters, and even his parents to either join in, or pretends it doesn't happen. On the occasional return to the house, Himo kept her at arms length, refusing to relive the pain that she caused. This made Kynnela bitter, and was the one to plot Himo's death, but ultimately failed. Last Himo has heard, Kynnela has left High Lunas; to where and why Himo doesn't know.

=== Mariela Nilo ===
Mariela is the second sibling of the Nilo family. Mariela is 239 years old at this point, and always had a bitter disappointment for Himo. She constantly questioned why Himo wouldn't apply himself more, and why he fought with all 5 members of this family. It's not like she was innocent either. She would sabotage Himo in any way she could since she didn't approve of her parents letting him take alchemy while she was forced into a school of magic. She chose conjuration as her school, because she preferred summoned things doing the work for her. Last Himo has heard, her bossy behavior isn't being well liked by her colleagues.

=== Tyanna Nilo ===
Tyanna is the youngest member of the Nilo family making Himo the third child. currently just 33, she made Himo's life miserable, but not by actions. She insulted him basically every time he spoke, and these comments are viscous. She often told Himo how he causes the tension for not following tradition, but refuses to acknowledge her own shortcomings. All of these insults were basically ignored by everyone, because they expected Himo to just let it go, but he simply couldn't. She doesn't realize that she is part of the reason that Himo ended up abandoning the family. There was one incident were Himo used physical force to make her panic and show her that actions have consequences, but Himo doubts it made an impact. Last Himo has heard, the coward is studying Abjuration to prevent that incident again.

=== Kamer ===
__FORCETOC__

[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Himo Nilo

2025-11-25T08:14:02Z

MCAron: Added Himo's account from 11/22/25. Give it a fun name!

== '''Himo Nilo''' ==
{{Infobox character|name=Himo Nilo|image=Himo Nilo.png|caption="The right side of me should show what happens when you don't pay attention."|relatives=2 Parents, 3 Sisters|affilliation="The Chairman,"The Scrappers|alias=Thai (Child name), The Magic Pick|marital=Single|birthDate=37 PR|birthPlace=High Lunas|species=Elf (High)|height=4'10"|weight=94 lbs.}}

'''Himo''' is a High Elf Rogue/Artillerist that has experienced both the rich and poor side of Lunas. He wanted to visit the Arboretum to modify existing equipment he has, but he never really left until he heard from his contacts in the Arboretum that demon incursions were ramping up. Carrying only what he could quickly pack, he left for the Arboretum with his bag that contains only essentials. He has a habit of checking anything that might look "suspicious" but doesn't really know what might be suspicious.
== Description ==
Himo is a young elf shining with bronze skin with black freckles, Short copper hair that is decently trimmed and eyes that sparkle gold when they catch the light. you would find him like he was a gem in a mine because of the reflection he often carries. He doesn't seem to carry anything with him except maybe a satchel over his back, A rapier and dagger on his left hip and short sword on his right hip respectively, hang and some tools hanging off of his belt. He wears light leather armor with a somewhat heavy desert cloak that shines a little in the light. When you peer past the cloak however, you notice two very big changes to him that he tries to hide as best as he can. The first on is he really only has half of his hair left. The right side of him looks like he has black char that curls up around the face and neck that has been there for quite some time. The second is he has no right arm. anything that might have been there is gone, and watching him, he sways a little bit to the left and right as if he can't seem to keep himself balanced. Some new projects have shown up on his person. The first seems to only be partially done, but on a rack where the shoulder would be is a semi circle with a hole cut out of the center, and an arc cut out inside the semi circle. The second gadget that he has on him at all times, is a disc launcher that fires out coins. Both of these are woodworking projects with small mechanical parts to make them work.

== Manners ==
Himo has a nervous tick carried wherever he goes. If you asked, he would say something along the lines of in a deep graveled voice of not being too careful wherever he goes, but refuses to follow up on why. The eyes seem to look for particular things, but never what is around him. Arcane is of great interest for him, but explosives are not that far off the priority. Often times, random junk that no one has used for some time goes missing, but if you saw him with the junk and asked why, the lips tighten hard. He then usually keeps to himself the rest of the day or two unless it's to discuss plans for missions or logistics. His past is guarded more securely that a vault door with enhanced locks, but the impact of it can easily be seen if he has a PTSD episode. This usually logical, crafty, upbeat personality, snaps faster than a string on a trap, changing him to an aggressive, fearful, volatile person. His hand always seems close to his dagger like he is waiting for a fight to occur. It's hard to tell if you have earned his trust or whether he sees the alliance as one time. On missions of any kind, Himo will tend to find to get out of sight when possible of his teammates, but is always around when trouble strikes.

== Background ==
Himo was born to a wealthy mage family in High Lunas. They expected him to follow that same tradition, and while he was interested in magic wasn't the most interesting thing to him as physical tasks. Still they made him either take lessons or leave this family. He negotiated to learn alchemy to understand the materials used in spellcasting.

He started to go to the Low Lunas in secret claiming private tutoring sessions when really he got into contact with the local criminal rings to learn skills from their side. He chose to learn lockpicking for his profession and was quite skilled at it. He also refined his careful hand movement to mimic letters. He balanced this double life of learning alchemy by day and learning to pick locks by night. When he went to Lower Lunas, he would bring stories of breaking into homes, taking specific materials and leaving without a trace. by the time they would try to track him down, he would be in the shadows trying to outlast the location spells used to find him. he often had to dump the stolen materials to prevent being caught. This went on for years. he wrote detailed notes about alchemy and his parents were thought he was being an obedient son. One night while learning complicated formulas to show to his parents, he was finally caught by the guards and he was sentenced to death. while in prison, he managed to convince the guards to give him 2 lodestones. He took those lodestones and mended the broken thieves tools that he was hiding in his clothing. This lock however was never supposed to be picked. It had been magically enhanced but he the night to make that happen. He picked the lock and sneaked out and into the Lower Lunas in 102 PR just as the sun was rising.

He excelled in picking locks as a freelancer. If the guild provided sanctuary based on how difficult the lock was, that locked was picked. He became infamous in rings because no lock was safe from him. Booby trapped to Arcane Lock, most locks were not safe from him. Only locks that were sophisticated with an Arcane Lock would he have a hard time picking and often failed at those, but those were few and far for High Lunas. In various guilds, he learned various weapons that he now always with him because he doesn't want to get into a scrap unarmed. He often had a habit of inspecting areas where people invited him never trusting anyone fully. His reputations grew so much that he found himself often travelling to other places to check out security systems. This took the pressure off of him because he could really inspect area he couldn't before. He learned to pickpocket, sneak around, scale buildings and practice his skills of picking locks. He tried to get an honest job in the town of Rwendia but his reputation followed him everywhere. He did odd jobs around places, pick locks here, mend broken stuff back together, and come along with other criminals to look out for traps. The people he often worked under were brutal. They would insult him behind his back, mess up him picking the locks, broke his stuff and moved him around often and lied to him where he was

He started for fun re-learning magic. Make graffiti with magic here, an odor there. This terrified the guilds because he was becoming what he swore he would never do and feared he would turn on him next. His mentor Jumad told him that no one will want someone unreliable if he chooses this path. He continued in spite of their disapproval and learned how to make a bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus. The only person he told this to was his best friend Kamer who supported him in getting new materials. One day while hiding out in the DwaleVale, he received a letter of a formal apology from his family asking him to come back. He eagerly accepted and made his way over. His contacts warned him they were up to no good and were looking for vengeance for bringing shame to the family name. When he got there they magically influenced him to open a complicated safe lock without checking the area. BOOOM!!! A massive explosion covered him from right to left, debris flying every where and scraping by on life. The family were stewing in their loss of the son when his eldest sister, Nylo gave the idea to blow him up in a public execution. That letter he found, was trapped to get him to come whether he wanted to or not. In the chaos, someone in his family had planted one more bomb to take him out. he survived, barely, but lost his right arm in the explosion. He lost everything; everything but his skills, his life and his resolve to fix this. At DAGR (Determined Assassins, Grifters, and Rogues) he received word that they needed people to fix broken things and make them better. he spent the next 6 months fighting for his life, and those 6 months were in a daze. He often found himself in a new place about every month. When finally had the strength to move comfortably, he took essentials and ran for his life in 134 PR, because no matter what he did his family was coming for him and he needed to defend himself.

== Languages ==
Himo knew elvish and common just from listening to his family, but he learned goblin when he would hang around goblins were trying to have a private conversation, not realizing Himo taught himself that from listening to them

== Character information ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |1 Rogue/4 Artificer
|-
|AC 15
|HP 33
|DC 14
|-
|Str 13
|Dex 18
|Con 13
|-
|Int 16
|Wis 10
|Cha 12
|}

=== '''Proficiencies''' ===
Himo is a man of many skills that involve getting around where he needs to in some way. He effectively shows he can get around super quietly, lift or plant things in someone's pocket, has great athletic abilities, and knows how to spot the difference between 2 identical objects. If asked about anything arcane, he has great knowledge of what it is, what the purpose is, and what the process of creating might have looked like. He also seems to have some tools on his belt. Specifically woodcarver's tools are always on his belt, but he has also shown a good deal of knowledge on making mechanical parts with tinker tools, making concoctions with alchemist supplies, and what he is most well known for; picking locks, and disabling traps

=== High elf Abilities ===
* Cantrip (Mending)
* Darkvision
* Elf Weapon Training
* Extra Language (Goblin)
* Fey Ancestry
* Keen Senses
* Trance

=== Rogue Features ===

* Expertise: Stealth, Thieves Tools
* Sneak attack (1d6)
* Thieves’ Cant

=== Artificer Abilities ===

* Infuse Item (bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus)
* Magical Tinkering
* Spellcasting
* Ritual Casting

=== Feats: ===
Alert

== Himo's Story ==
This is Himo's accounts of what happened in these sessions. I encourage you to come up with a goofy, but also descriptive name for each session. I have the first one done<div style="text-align: center;">
=== New Place, New Identity, and a New Dream ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been roughly 8 months since I came here to the Arboretum and very little people know I am actually here. Kamer got me in contact with The Chairman when I got here and it has been hell being around all of these explosive materials. every big explosion sends me back a year when an attempt was made on my life. I trust absolutely NO ONE here because I have been looked down on because of a missing arm. Petty theft was the only way I survived. I was so busy about survival that I didn't realize that Raegina was hiring to make robots until The Chairman sent me a letter telling me '''[[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs|Raegina]]''' was looking for people to recruit for the Scrappers. I collected scraps from grand shoplifting, hid out for four months to wait out people looking for men, then I moved swiftly to the junkyard. My goal is to go back to High Lunas and exact revenge on my parents and sisters who left me in this state I am. I barely remember the explosion or the constant shifting of places because I was so out of it. The people here seem nice enough but I am just waiting for them to betray each other. When I got to the junkyard, I was appalled to see the size of these robots, and the amount of people that came was a little much for me.

When Raegina mocked many of us for having many broken and chipped off parts, I just rolled my eyes because I knew if there as anything she was trying to hide in a safe, I could find that safe without getting caught. In Low Lunas I was known as the Magic Pick because I couldn't be trapped, nor were most locks safe from me. I do need teammates however so I kept my moth shut and just listened. The amount of artificers that were there was astonishing. A tiefling had infused armor, and a goblin had a small automaton with them. But by far the most unique “living” thing saw was a doll that could think for itself. It turns out to test our skills, we would fight Grind, Smash and Cleave, 3 golems with interesting weapon choices. I got excited when I learned that we would be fighting the golems because that meant I could sneak out parts I needed for projects. One of said projects was increasing the throwing range of Thunder Rumble because I have to be relatively close to make good use of it. While fighting, one got destroyed, and it burst into flames. The heat sent me back to the explosion that back at High Lunas, where I almost lost my life. We dispatched the rest and Raegina was impressed enough to let us scrap the robots. So much for trying to do things discreetly... But I haven't really talked with people yet. After scrapping the robots, we split up into two teams. I got paired with [[Stix]] and [[Raazdrog]] which was fine. I can modify my parts and they add theirs, and I saw this as more of a fun project. After all, I like explosive confusion. But it's not like I could focus because I was so nervous with Grind blowing me to bits, I was accidentally disassembling Grind. I was trying to make the saw arm move more fluidly, and trying to add scraps of metal I had in my bag, but I fumbled hard there. It was so embarrassing, because everyone else manage to buff it in some way but not me. I wanted to leave so badly because of that, but I ended up staying in spite of it. I would be throwing away probably my only real opportunity to getting out of the slums like my family expected me to stay. To my surprise Raegina gave each of us 10 gp to bet on the improved robots as to who would win. This was huge to me! This was really the first time someone handed me something without expecting anything in return. I decided to risk all of that money and bet most of it on Grind, and then I had an Idea. I decided to rename Grind to Sparkburn, which Stix and Raazdrog liked a lot. Raazdrog and I got the idea to give Sparkburn a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." and I added "Feel the spark. Feel the burn." Now I really didn't care if we won or lost because I considered this a finished project. Out team ended up winning and I walked away with triple what I put into it. I was ecstatic not only because I won a bet, which I rarely take, but the funds could be used to get the tools I need for projects. That excitement was short-lived however because a horn coming from the Arboretum indicating it was under attack. I hopped on the war rig and we moved to the Arboretum.

Getting towards a entrance root of the Arboretum, a sudden crash hits the war rig and all of us go flying off of it. pieces of the damaged rig flew out and a large skeletal elephant collapsed next to the war rig. I wasn't paying attention because I was sketching my newest tool to assist me. I was thrown hard, losing my sketch to the winds and barely landed standing up, and my vision blacked out for a second. Metal was warping and bending in all the wrong ways and snaps echoed throughout the valley and then silence. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew this was an ambush. Footsteps on the dessert sand was coming from multiple directions, Sparks were flying off of the rig, The screeching of tires spinning out, shoe rubber flaking off the boots I put together with mending, and hearing many colleagues scrape against the dusty ground. When the dust cleared I saw green goo blobs moving towards us, and I heard something angry moving towards us. Pustuloids, Capra demons, and Lesser Rage demons were there. To give me some distance, I climbed the war rig, but as I was climbing, it felt like the floor was falling out from me and nearly fell off. Climbing up I saw roughly 10 Pustuloids, a few lesser rage demons, and a Capra. My team managed to keep hold of a choke point and so I threw my dagger at the Capra repeatedly, but I also noticed Sparkburn, covering our backside. This was great, because the Pustuloids exploded on death with Sparkburn unaffected. Raegina tells me to get off even though I just got on. I wanted to argue because I had a good position of the battle but whatever.You know that rig aint safe from me snagging a few pieces. The fight isn't going in our favor right now, because Raazdrog's steel defender, crashes to the ground in combat, unmoving by the Capra. While this fight is going on, I see a figure moving behind us, but it doesn't look like an ambush. It's a half elf holding a rapier and an instrument; most likely a bard. One by one however, the demons fell starting with the pustuloids. Leftover goo seeping into the ground before turning to ash. Two booms ring out as the lesser rage demons and the Capra are thrown back. Delaia, who has been soaking hits for us, takes the opportunity to get out after that which I don't blame. It didn't look like he was going to stand much longer to be honest. The spells seemed to come from the bard and Delaia, so we have another ally. Good because most of us are spent on resources. We kill all the demons and after a quick introduction, the bard's name is [[Leonard]], and she heard the commotion. She healed Deliaia a significant amount, and Deliaia looks ready to take on another fight. After moving this elephant which turned out to be an Olliphant off of the root, we prepared to charge up only for a wave of energy to come down upon us. There was no point to going up anymore... The Conservatory has been destroyed. There goes many projects that have been put on hold. It's not like I made progress on the parts I needed for Sizzle but still frustrating. Oh crap! More demons of the same types are coming down, and I should have seen this coming. We dispatch the ones that combated us, and the streets fall silent around us....

After the invasion ended, leaders were talking about uniting "not just to fight against the demons, but also to build alliances" or something like that. The thing is, I can only rely on one thing when partnership is formed: people are looking out for themselves. Unless someone can prove they are trustworthy, I will not be in a permanent alliance. That's how I survived Low Lunas; Ally with someone only until the necessity no longer remains. </blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div>
<blockquote>
A few days go by and Sir Anthony is holding a funeral for the lives lost, when I got approached by Jerbo, a gnome arcanist. He was hiring people to track down why the Kobolds attacked. I agreed but stressed, I needed some help. After getting a few others, and some quick introductions we made our way to Dapple, a satry who rents out horses. I put down the deposit and we made our way over. Oh I should mention who is here because I will be a narcissist otherwise. We have Mezzi who I have never seen take off their mask, Polvo a Air Genasi that had an encounter with death apparently, Diana a human who has a lizard like robot that follows her everywhere, Dallas a mouse I have never seen before but seems like a cool fellow, and Davin a halfling with a longbow, with a trophies on his person.

It takes a little more than two days to get there and along the way, we found a dog in a campsite that was left not long ago. I make an alarm in case people came back while I was within a mile, but I got no signal. When we get to the Osteomancer, their abode is in the ground with sand covering a trapdoor. I volunteer to go planning to be sneaky, but I forgot not everyone can see in the dark as well as I can, because Mezzi lit a torch when we all got down. When we met the Osteomancer, I can only describe what is a elephant person like three feet taller than me with big elephant ears, an elephant trunk and overall a build that could lift more than me with two arms. We were trading a favor for a favor. The Osteomancer's favor was removing a tower that was made of Absence which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I can go along with it. Apparently, when creatures are near said tower, they lose their Identities. Davin beat to the question of how are we going to protect ourselves, so that was nice. I was given a scroll and a black egg to crush when I start to read the scroll that should seal this wound. Another detail that was mentioned was the structure could only be seen through reflections.

We get to the tower, it looked like someone lived inside a crazy home. The outside can't be seen, but when you go inside, it is a ghost white. there was also a spot of complete silence, so I move myself there, crushethe egg and begin reading the scroll. A ghost that looks like he owns the place along with lights that surround us entirely. I placed down, my cannon to give me some cover while the rest of the group combat the lights. I watched my colleagues lose their ability to speak coherently while fighting them. I was blessed with something, but I couldn't tell you what it as but it seems to help me fight this ghost who was trying to make me vanish. As the fight moves on, less lights were attacking, but I can't tell you why. After nearly completing it, I was tired of the things attacking and unleash an ear piercing ring out towards the ghost, along with the nearby lights, which injure the lights a lot more than anticipated. I finish reading, and the entire place began to collapse around us. Which is unfortunate, because I wanted to get parts I need for project. I have to will myself out with Mezzi's help, but luckily everyone got out.

When we get back to the Osteomancer, we learn that when kobolds want to get rid of the Divine Blood law, they make deals with other creatures; in this case demons. This group was led by Snizz the Fortunate, but that group was dead when other people killed the kobolds. It ended with a warning "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free." Confused, I said nothing and headed back for the horses that have been tied up. We went to check up on the dog, and it's still there and there is no sign of return, so we left for the Arboretum. This information is given to Jerbo, but I am still suspicious of hat will happen if someone does make a deal with a devil.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a week since I saw that tower of that "absence" and I am ready to finish what I started or go to the Omnichapel for advice on Vela. I know, I get distracted easily, but I cannot for any reason leave a stone unturned for any reason in case it comes to bite me back later. I left Lunas on some pretty bad terms, both with my family for obvious reasons, but also the Thieve's guilds with relearning the one thing I swore off of. That mistake of saying I will not learn more things about a specific topic was so far my worst one yet. Anyone could come for me for any reason, and I need to be ready for when I get jumped. Today luckily is not one of those days, because a new job offering has appeared who's handwriting is more crude than a thieve's messy handwriting. Baftzmyr as I later found out put up the sign about a giant demon stuck in the sand, and it needed to be killed. Cool, I can just fire with my cannon and it will eventually die if it can't get out. When I get there, I see some new faces, but also a handful of familiar ones. Stix and Razzdrog are here, but among the new ones we have Steady Dee, a tabaxi who wears some unusually heavy armor comparatively that have some runes on it that appear to be of a giant origin, but I guess whatever floats your boat. Koro, an Air Genasi that wears some monk robes, who can't seem to make up his mind when it comes to allegiances, and Ozmir, a tiefling that has powers I have never seen before, but curious as to how they will work. Baftzmyr explains that scout demons have been circling around looking around for a way to get out the great demon. The plan was simple; locate the scouts, follow them, and kill the great demon. Now that follows, but it's under the sand. What is Baftzmyr's plan to expose the demon? I don't know. All I know is I can sneak up on it, and rain cannon fire down where it can't see me. Ozmir who can apparently track creatures really well, starts following a set made not long ago. Along the path, a heatwave catches me completely off guard, and I feel more sluggish than before. Great, now I won't be able to hide nearly as easy I have before, but I am with a group. We get right on top the scout and it pops out ready to attack. It would have died in two hits, if Sparkburn didn't have a weapon infused with fire. Wait! I forgot to mention Sparkburn is with us! Gobbo, I will find you later and confront you for remaining silent. It didn't matter however, because melee attacks are still effective. After that one dies, Stix along with a few others spot three more running from away, and we continue to follow. After a few more hours of travel, we come across some quicksand that is quaking. Quicksand isn't supposed to do that on a large scale; this is where the great demon is. Baftzmyr pulls what appears to be an origami pig that is coated in a layer of wax. It looks like the pig was boiled alive, but I am not one to judge. Stix volunteers to carry to bomb, and all I can say to that is... Ok never mind. This doll, husk? I don't know what it's made of, but regardless, the bomb is carried to it's destination. More importantly however, Stix makes it out unscathed. Maybe Stix has a ratio of strength similar to that of an ant. Ants proportionally can carry more weight to their body mass. Koro and I peek over, and WHAT IS THIS FOR A DEMON!? A cage for a face with a flame inside of it and some kind of disc neck to keep the sand out of the face or something. We give out teammates that knowing look, and the rest of the team gets to work. Raazdrog and MK-2 setup an anti flank position for us on the right as well as making the demon glittery. Steady Dee also sets up an anti flank position for us on the right side as well as growing to giant. With this enlarged form Steady throws a handaxe that lands square in the "face" of the great demon but not as effective as it should have hit . Stix is firing blasts of green energy which makes me think a deal was involved for this power. Koro using the bow pierces the demon with the same problem as Steady, and I am throwing a dagger, firing a cannon, and backing up, because I have no interest in falling in the quicksand and next to this abomination. That caused a different problem however which was I opened the line for more of the scouts to come attack Koro and Ozmir. I planned to fix this by booming them back into it, but that will backfire spectacularly when Koro kills one of the scouts, and stayed within the line of fire. It was also a good thing that I moved out, because the sand started moving out from everyone's feet who were close to the edge. Steady and MK-2 fell in and hell broke loose, literally. I didn't see what happened but the next thing I know, Koro willingly jumps into the pit and now Steady is floating in the air about 20ft. Why that is happening, I couldn't tell you, but Steady was bleeding out and needed help soon. Baftzmyr uttered some word and Steady is conscious again. I go to help Ozmir, because currently 3 scouts are surrounding her, which aint cool. I drive my dagger into a scout's death, and the sand is still moving out from under us, but I can keep myself steady. Raazdrog on the other hand wasn't so lucky and also managed to fall in next to the demon. Things are going fine right now. The great demon is getting whacked by are melee fighters and the people up here in the sand are holding off the scouts just fine. Oh no. My worst fear has come true; this demon will explode on death. I am not going to be around that. I can stabilize those who take the brunt of the explosion. At least, that was my original plan if Koro didn't fall to the giant claws of this demon. I am not ready to lose a colleague here, so I jump down, run to Koro, heal him just enough to get him conscious again and prep for another round of attacks against this creature. Maybe it was better however that I couldn't keep myself steady this time and I was buried in the sand. Not wanting to be stuck in here, I used my last spell to blast out, but that didn't work. Later I learned that I had injured Koro, and Steady who were both super hurt by it, but the worst part was I didn't even get out with that. I got burned, but not by much comparatively to other people who got the full brunt. Stix stabilized Koro, and Raazdrog healed Steady and then Koro. It honestly surprised me that everyone made it out alive. We got our gold, and I moved on because I don't know how much I can trust the Scrappers when working with a Fiend. Working with criminals is bad enough, but trying to work with a creature from the underworld seems like a death sentence.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a few days since hunting the Baron of Filth or whatever in the Nine Hells this creature is, and I finished the sketching for my tool arm. I don't have a name for it, but I know the name will come at the end when I finish the project. I should really get some paper however, because each time I sketch it, it's in the sand. I lose it very easily, and often times restart like some mime performing the same trick. I was ready to go buy the materials when I am stopped by Gnash, a half orc who means business. If I had a counterpart, it would be her. Why? because the entire left side of her face is char black. Besides that she needs people to track down some missing people. They have been gone 2 days and she hates mystery. Some other people that get recruited were Leonard, Mezzi, The Scarlet Shadow, Raazdrog, and Avel. I think it's worth mentioning that we have 3 musically inclined, which I don't I have ever been apart of. We are told to look for a carcass of a long dead giant worm, and the distant mountain Tol'Viral on are way to Drywater. Jerbo reads off a scroll and we turn to mist, and boy can we MOVE! With this enhanced movement, met up with Kaleen, a desert vulpine druid who knew of our mission. We got two scrolls. I recognize these and as '''Animal Messenger''' and '''Locate object''' spells. If anything goes wrong we are told to give movement on where they are headed and in how long.. The '''Locate Object''' however is to find a silver bullet the group left behind.. Seems odd, but hey maybe they do that elsewhere to mark where they were. We don't need either however, because Scarlet knows this place like the back of his hand. Apparently the blue dragonborn, and the thri-kreen hate each other enough to capture, but not kill him, which I find very funny. Anyways, he finds tracks of about a dozen thri-kreen. Following them, they reduce to about 4 tracks that were left behind, and end abruptly. Still Scarlet picks up where they began again and we continue to follow. We are moving with the wind while following the tracks, so it was very easy to actually catch up to the thri-kreen Scarlet was following. When I get the chance to look at them, and it looks likes an ant that grew a spine, a brain along with gaining lots of lower insect strength. The color of the shell also seems to be blending in better with the surrounding enviorment, which I wish I could get my hands on that. We transformed into ourselves again, and decided instead of attacking, to talk to them since they might have some useful information regarding the people we are trying to find. I was confused about the execution, until I learned Scarlet could actually communicate with them. Upon seeing us, the group shows off their mandibles, and claws. Scarlet attempts to parley with the clutch but to no avail, since he could speak the language of clack clickers. Before you judge me, that's what I heard. As we got closer, they became blurry and hard to track their position. I recognize this as a '''Blur''' spell. I am about to make them shiny when Raazdrog beats me to that idea. Only one of them got affected however, but there is one idea I have. Some spells you can't put together because you have to think about the actual spell. '''Blur''' happens to be one of those spells, so I plan to attack in a flank or hit them with spells, they have to resist. I summon the cannon, and get to work. They start by swarming Raazdrog, but since only a few attacks hit, they turned the attention to me. They also don't get many hits in, but one did strike me good. A 6 on 4 however doesn't end well for them, and that part of the clutch falls one by one to us swarming them. We leave the corpses behind and continue on our journey to finding the people who went missing. I was honestly expecting more of a fight with how many tracks we say, but hey I'll save some of my resources for later. We get to a dune structure with a very small tunnel with 2 Federation members dead. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a fight broke out here about a day ago, There is a tunnel about 5ft wide, so it's time for a single file line. I go first, after my cannon, so that less people will be affected by any traps that may come. Well dam right I was because my cannon snapped a tripwire leading to a bunch of some decent size rocks they could fit in the ceiling tumble out. I get out of the way get fine, but I couldn't move my cannon, and it get's dented pretty badly from the trap set. Lesson learned; check for traps in a small area like this. I just realized my experience from Low Lunas has been lacking faster than what happened the last time I was in High Lunas. I start examining the area up ahead, and would you look at that; another trap.. It takes me less than 10 seconds to permanently disable the trap however, so no issues there. Continuing to check for traps, I find no more, and I see a room, probably about 40 feet by 30 feet, and there is a decent amount of light in here that seems to be pretty bright. When we get to the maw of this room, I can just barely see to left some kind of rig, but oh come on. Really? A weapon pointed in my face with 2 people standing a few feet away from the arch. From the little I can see, this appears temporary, but I first need to talk to these people.. I told them that we are here to find you. We were sent by Gnash, and got here with the help of Jerbo. Why there are 2 dead Federation members outside this cave, I have a better idea now. AVEL WHY!? I might have been going somewhere with the conversation, but then you decide to teleport behind them and attack? Fine, Seeing this I spring into action, and start to attack the person who drew their weapon at me. Rude, but fine a fight you want? A fight you will get. I blast the cannon into the shin of the guy, and take that opportunity to throw my dagger into his skull, which works out great because that is one less person we have to deal with. Raazdrog, Mk-2, and Scarlet move into the room and attack some of the nearby henchmen. that happen to be near the doorway so less occupancy there. Avel takes this opportunity to corner the leader in a one on one duel. Unhappy with me dropping her main bodyguard, she leaves the duel with Avel, and decides to attack me instead, with a reach weapon. Dammit, my cannon was in the way, but that didn't matter for this dumb weapon. The lightning and fire hurts pretty bad, but I am still here... Then the dork leaves me alone to go get into a 3v1. I think something is being plotted, because they moved away from me, almost like something had a higher priority. Leonard seeing me greatly injured me heals my immediate wounds, which is nice, because I want to help my teamates, but I can't do that with almost being taken out of the fight. There is 3 other henchmen here, so I direct my cannon to fire at one who was next to Avel as I stick my knife into their side for a well thrown shot.. Mezzi managed to released a held spell, after Avel forced the enemy into Mezzi's line of sight. It didn't have any effect, but the more people closer to the leader, the better.. The leader in a desperate move, went to the rig, and pushed a few buttons, and got ready to run., getting slashed, by Raazdrog Mk-2, Scarlet, and Avel.. I now realize what this is; an infernal enhancement. NOW I WANT THAT! this would speed up my projects by who know how long, and I would earn a lot of favor from Raegina.. This person clearly has connections to the Scrappers, which now irritates me, because we are fighting within our own group, but I know I don't have the tongue to get everyone to stop fighting. We managed to get the Tiefling leader to start running, but by that point, the fight was over. I used this opportunity to try and disable this infernal enhancement, but to no avail. It starts burning me... This rig can't be disabled, from a self destruction button, but I have to keep going. I'm getting burned and then I see it; I can get out, where I couldn't before. I will not give up my own life to figure this out. This is my choice now, not some magic that was used on me. I run out with the rest of the group to hear a big explosion ring out. I managed to get some materials out from the rig, but it's now useless... I spend some time with this tiefling who's name is Velza. Apparently her and Raegina have been locking horns because this rig should have come back to the junkyard, There was incursions here that the local tribe could use help with that rig that is now gone. The solution was spiteful and honestly stupid, and as much as I would have loved to get her off the hook, I want to be able to use these tools for good, not just because of a word of law.. I'm not sure how much longer I will be with the Scrappers because of this incident... If all Raegina cares about is this problem of demons within Pteris no matter the cost, desperation will make people do some insane things all trying to better the future for themselves/children with the destruction left behind.The end NEVER EVER for any reason, justifies the means.</blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div>
<blockquote>Oh Where do I begin with this incident that I am still beating myself in the head over? I guess I will start with the fact that some Yuan-ti runs into town screaming about someone has stolen all of her textiles and they are very expensive. I put my guard up, because I don't trust people who make a big show like that, but I don't see any odd behavior. Some other people that notice the commotion are Deliah, a teifling with some well enhanced armor, Leonard a half elf, who was first and last person to surprise me with someone else coming, Ozmir and Stix making a return from that nasty Baron, Ozmir is also a teifling, with some unique psionic blades, which looks really cool, and Stix is the doll that roams the Arboretum. I recently learned Stix has a "friend" that speaks to them, which is kind of unsettling, I am now wondering who is puppeteering this doll, when it's likely a god.. The last person I did not mention was Ollie, a ranger who has a pet frog.. The Yuan-ti's name is Sandra Sanderson, and she needed help recovering textiles that were expensive. They were stolen by a bunch of gnolls, but the problem I find with that story is A:gnolls don't do that, B: few gnolls are careful with what they steal. Just look at the goods they have after death, and C: Gnolls are not known for attacking in huge groups. I can't saying anything without sounding paranoid, so I go along with this idea.. We get to the circus tent that these textiles were stolen from, and here is the first of many mistakes I made. I made so many in fact for being a skeptic, that it makes my lack of checking in High Lunas look safer. I did not check any signs of damage for anything really. I just saw the creatures, baited one over, and a fight ensued. There was a bunch of hyenas, two giant hyenas, and a gnoll warrior. Stix got injured repeatedly from after it was a great idea to fireball the three big targets. Deliah got in the way of the big hyenas and just ate the minimal damage they dealt. Ozmir notices with the fact these were made by a conjuration spell, but we kept on fighting, because they didn't stop. All of them disappeared except for the warrior. Me and Ozmir start looking around, and we do find the secret stash of goods, and here is my second and third big mistakes. I forgot to examine the tracks leading to it, and I forgot to see based on the dust how long it might have been there, and how far away it was from the actual circus tent. We give the textiles, and she gives us clothing based on the surface thoughts we have, and then I receive a message telepathically from Ozmir stating that Sandra is definitely hiding something.. Stix decides to become Sandra's assistant for the day, but I want to grab Stix, and leave. Still I listened to Ozmir, and did nothing. Me and Leonard doubled back and went to hide in that stash where we find the textiles. At night we see 2 lizard folk and another yuan-ti quickly packing up the tent so quickly something is off. STIX! Now Stix is kidnapped, and the circus is gone. Final mistake I made here: We could have tried to follow the damn caravan, but we were too angry to do anything.. We make our way back, and it turns out it was WAY worse than either of us initially thought. Jitcwal and Cilvdzwucta were also kidnapped, and the explosives used have been destroyed. The worst part is there was, I didn't use any logic. I can't read people better than others, but I am good with puzzles and evidence. I bet if I noticed the condition of the terrain, My alert level would have been a lot higher. SANDRA SANDERSON: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You will not make a fool of me again... </blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div><blockquote>This whole thing of three people being captured and me not being to do anything about it killing me. I gave everything I could to Koro, and Gobbo, but it's still destroying me from the inside. I decided to go see if there was some work I could do to take my anger out on. Working with the scrappers didn't seem like a great idea, because I do not want to get into any more infighting. I don't like the idea in working with the Federation, but I had to pull a favor to get the information I wanted, so it's going to happen someday. I luckily found a job being offered by Lord Pavan to go check on the livestock. That sounds like a Shepherd thing, but beggars, can't be choosers. I would much making good use out of my cannon, than tinkering all day honestly. Maybe it could help me figure out how to make my spells stronger. (It did not.) My only main concern with this is I am working with new folk entirely. There's Rhogar and Syl, who I have interacted with, but it has been.... volatile to say the least. Other people that I have met for the first time are Silgr, a mountain dwarf with similar runes to Rhogars, Mizuka, a desert vulpine bard, but I am not sure which college she attended. To finish this group off, he have Voscaera, a A fighter with incomplete runes of Rhogar's and Silgr's, but she has artificer capabilities instead. I would later find out Voscaera is a Madaer, which is a person of Medusa ancestry. A little unsettling, but there was no bad blood between us. I decided to rent a horse from Dapple, because I heard it was going to be a long haul. I don't mind, but some help would be nice. My only concern I had with this gamble is I need the gold for components. Anyways he head out to check on some livestock, that I now realize could be anything.... Two days later on our travel however, we meet someone by the name of Saltique Petra. She starts reading off a bunch of names, all of which happen to be us. She tells us it's about another week, so I decided to ask for my own curiosity what kind of livestock is being kept. After a few guesses, the answer is kept ominous, so I give up on prying. Low Lunas taught me not to pry when not given on the first go. On day three of travelling we get a nasty dust storm that rolls in. I can barely see in front of me, but I managed to keep the horse calm, so I ended up with the group after it passed. This delayed it by a day, making it 8 days. It would become 9 days after a flash flood came 3 days later. I ended up losing control of the horse, and it sped off. I did my best to keep up, but I had gotten really exhausted from trying to constantly keep my footing. When I wake up the next day, any exhaustion I may have is gone, but I am alone in this harsh desert. With the extra time I have, I set up a fire, but I don't abandon it. When trying to get found, it's best to stay put. It's not like I have a direction to go find the horses, so I am sadly going to lose the deposit. Dammit. After waiting for a few hours, a group of about 6 people cross my vision. Well I'm pretty sure it's the group, but the moment I get a good look at all them, they;re fine. Oddly, Rhogar also lost his horse, so there goes like 100gp+ right there. We debated for a minute to go look for the horses, but I pointed out that we could give the demons more time to transform into other creatures. The rest of the travel will have to be on foot, but at least we only have one more day. On the final day, Saltique explains that we are first collecting some magical fruit to lure the livestock. That's easy enough for me to get and not get ambushed.. When we get there, we split up a little bit to go get as much plants as possible. Syl and I use '''Detect Magic''' to make it easier to get the plants. I manged to get my hands on Anserke, a spiny cactus that allows when made into a potion to improve our constitution for a bit. Okay well I'm not surprised a ambush is happening, but come on. This is a great spot for it. I look up to see a giant spider has jumped Syl, so I pull out the woodcarver's tools, and bring out the cannon to fire at this spider. The spider gets a bite into Syl, but that thing is a fool. Syl is a yuan-ti, so I am willing to bet he has some poison resistance. An ear piercing ring comes out to my left as Mizuka casts something above my level, but it seems to be effective, because There is screeching of another spider. Now how many of these jerks are here, and why have they not been taken care of before this? There ended being 3 other giant spiders lurking. Most of the deaths came from Rhogar just cutting through with his greataxe, along with him getting like 3 times my height. I did manage to get one satisfying kill in a one-two combo to destroy it beyond saving.. I had nothing to gain from getting a rest, but Syl could use it after getting bit multiple times. Rhogar also got injured a good amount, but it seemed Mizuka, Silgr, and Voscaera didn't get injured at all. This never lost my concentration, I go back to harvesting more plants. I manage to get another anserke, which was a little disappointing but not the end of it. I hand over the plants I got, and I was pretty impressed by our pile. Saltique mentioned it might even be enough to get the adult ones out. We head over to another area that is honestly a choke point I'm not too comfortable being in. After an hour...nothing. Then there is tiny amounts of movement underneath our bait. Saltique shakes her head which makes me concerned about how big these 'livestock' are. A huge wave of dust that comes through to my left that I was not expecting. When it settles, there is a WOIM! I'm separated because I'm not about to get clumped in a dangerous spot. Then directly ahead of me about 130ish feet away there is another wave of dust. Underneath that dust lies another woim eating these magical plants. I then see my colleagues coming down off the plateaus for an odd reason until I see three demonic things with mouths in the chest, and three husks following this woim. Perfect. one spell used later, and my cannon makes a return. Analyzing this like the nerd I am, the woims won't attack us, unless we have magic on us. That's like all of us, but the people that have a bigger issue are Rhogar and Silgr These demons has a rhino horn with a mouth next to the abdomen. the hands are long claws with a longsword, and the toes are webbed with sharp 'talons.' I got busy dealing with these abominations from a flank position while the rest of the team got in the fray.. Out main goal is this: Kill the demons before the woims eat them. Easier said than done however, since we our own member are also in danger. Slowly but surely however, these creatures fell one by one. Rhogar had gotten swallowed, but he forced the woim to regurgitate before it became a problem. Same thing happened with Silgr unsurprisingly. We got a nasty surprise when we took down a husk. A jellyfish had exited the body. So we are really dealing 9 creatures, but those need to go first. If not we could get a possessed woim which isn't great. we got rid oftwo mouth abdomen demons, and AN ADULT WOIM showed up! It nearly destroyed my cannon. It ate one of the other woim and just left leaving a massive hole. The other woim starting burrowing with a demon stuck in it, so that's not good, but there is one last jellyfish demon to take down.. It went deep into the hole. With some quick thinking seeing Rhogar down there, I use my last spell to make a burst of blue. And would you LOOK AT THAT. that jellyfish is here. Rhogar used this opportunity to smash it into the ground killing it instantly. I saw the death because the light faded on its death. Rhogar wasn't happy with Saltique's lie by omission, but I ignored that, because I needed to fix my cannon. We got paid a good amount of gold, and we left. Those husks were sadly other Shepherd members which is just lovely. As we headed back, a thought crossed my mind. Is there one grand demon orchestrating, or three? </blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div><blockquote>I knew this day was coming soon. There was supposed to be a group heading out soon, but one of them had to drop. My contact called me in and said he was calling in his favor, so I know I get to go work for the Federation.. We meet up with two Thri-kreen that appear to be twins. They aren't part of the clutch I fought earlier, but their speech was unsettling, as they would talk over one another in perfect sync. All that aside however, we were told that some dust storm had made a return from the initial invasion again. The only thing that seems to know where it is a crow by the name of Moxy. They asked us to take good care of Moxy, which I can do for this 3 day travel, and to keep this information private. There is a leak somewhere, and no one is supposed to know there is one. Great. Another piece of information kept behind closed doors that will cause more tension.. I swear this is going to be the downfall of this place. Anyways we start following the bird along to get to where we need to. Avel decides to let Moxy onto his shoulders when it needs a rest. On the third day, we find a few birds circling a few areas. Birds often circle points of interest, and then I hear just ever so faintly some rumbling underneath us. With Avel's help, I am now invisible and decide to scout ahead, I scuffed my footing really badly, and I'm pretty sure I caught it's attention.. Oh I guess I forgot to mention other people here. People I have worked with in the past has made a return except for one person. Draz, Avel, and Leonard made a return from our last time together investigating the mysterious disappearance, and Ozmir is also here from our last time together from that Filth Jerk. No, he doesn't deserve an honorable title when that demon isn't. It was nice having another person who I can communicate without a saying a word to in case things social interactions fail miserably. The only person I haven't worked with before is Grymos, a Duergar artificer with his own robot friend like Razzadrog.. I'm not surprised He's shorter than me, but it's still a first to work with someone smaller than me. Anyways, the birds scatter off, and all we are left with out own thoughts and this rumbling.. We decide to have Grymos' bot go in first. And then the thing went offline apparently. From the previous experience those who were from this were cursed, so Avel helped us get entirely covered up from this sandstorm. Since I was still invisible I decided to go continue to scout to figure out what is going on. The slope became EXTREMELY steep, but I managed to ground myself, and avoid tumbling or making huge amounts of noise The sheer force of this wind is hurting however as I continue to step through, so I would like to get back as soon as possible. I can barely see anything right in front of, so I am pretty much walking blind. I eventually come upon a rough sculpture of sandstone. tracing my hands along this stone, it is so old, it's probably been here since Prehistory. I was about to return when I notice my invisibility drops. I guess they got tired of waiting to which fair enough, because it's a long way down. We're talking a quarter mile of walking to get here. I notice however only two other people showed up., which is a little worrying, but I;m sure the others are fine. I summon the cannon, and we move up the stairs to whatever this place might be. going up the steps of this structure, some creature is waiting for us, and hell breaks loose. Avel gets injured pretty badly, so he just teleports the same way I saw him do earlier. Grymos just moves in, because he's not dealing with it which is fine. I do manage to take my dagger and drag is through the wind as my cannon fires into it. It did a good chunk of damage, but it's still kicking just fine. And then I see it run. I take a quick strike opportunity and look over, to see Leonard is here along with Razzadrog. It does come back down however, and flings me into this place, and the magic here just feels right. I'll have to figure that out in a second, but there are more pressing matters. My cannon fires the creature and it can't get into this place, so I'm safe in here. I turn my attention to the two other people in here who are both hobgoblins. Avel asks them what is going on, and they imply that they are the ones causing it. I tried to reason with them that a fight wasn't necessary, but to no avail.. One of them says in goblin about Bonnet not keeping them at bay, which raises several alarm bells for me. Who is this Bonnet. What is the significance of this room, and what were they trying to cover up in here if anything? the two hobgoblins immediately turn into some demonic vulture. Now an ariel battle is in play here which isn't too big of a worry for me, but maybe not for others. These jerks are also closing their wounds relatively fast, so a heal off it is. A 5 on 2 however is not going in their favor, so we just need to keep chipping them away. Avel managed with M'''irror Image''' up to not get hit a single time which I thought was honestly really cool. Unfortunately, my cannon got demolished, so I had to create another one to keep up with my help. With everyone piling in together, both of these demon hybrids or whatever they are fall dead. It's funny because they tried to run, but when you're surrounded like they were, you are going to get hurt badly.. Oh what is a new voice doing here? You're irritated about us ruining your plan? You can shove that comment out, because I don't care. You have been hurting others, and I'm not having it. I question this tall figure a little bit, and they reveal they are Bonnet. Bonnet turns to leave after finishing his monologue, and I attempt one more cannon shot at him, just to rub in my hatred for him. He then names me by name threatening to kill all of us, but if he's really going to do that, don't mention your plans or whatever.. I begin the process of a ritual cast of '''Detect Magic''', while the others start examining this temple. The air creature left seeing it was in danger if it stuck around, which I didn't care for too much.. When I finish my casting, everything all of a sudden registers as all of the schools this world knows. Leylines are a funny thing, because they make the spells possible. These lines converge at certain points known as Nexuses, and here is where the fabric of reality can much more easily be warped. It hurts to honestly keep it up, so after gathering all I could, I let go of the spell.. The other people started investigating the murals on the monoliths in this room, and they were depicting an ancient lizard race that existed well before any of our time.. There was also some pteran writing scrawled along the base of the altar in here, so I got a copy of it, and have left it slone for now. On each of the four pillars there was a direction and some symbols depicting various things. The order goes as follows: North: is Mother, South is War, East is Nature, and West is: Logic. Avel and I agreed to come check this place in our free time, so that we could better understand what is going on.. I give all the information I could privately to the twins, and they tell me that the Shend are where the Hobgoblins came from. That is certainly some questions for Rhogar at another time. Now I am really confident we aren't fighting just one foe, but a few of them. A bigger problem came to mind however. The Altar had the tree the Arboretum is currently, before some blight gets rid of the leaves.. Could they use this to attack us from far away if discovered?</blockquote>

== Character Interactions ==

=== The Scrappers ===
When Himo first arrived, he was like a ghost in the markets. He bought what he needed, and left in such a hurry, it was hard to track them down. He never really talked to people for more than 5 minutes when he finally met some of the crew of the scrappers, and they seemed to treat him with some respect, but Himo kept to themselves.

=== Gobbo Greenskin ===
After the Conservatory was destroyed, he found Gobbo, a goblin with a robot named FR0G-GY. Gobbo mentioned he could make Himo an arm, which interested him, but that conversation was never followed up on. Gobbo also mentioned knowing where Sparkburn was, but won't elaborate on where the golem is now, which is frustrating Himo.

=== Rhogar Dreel ===
[[File:Rhogar Dreel.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Rhogar Dreel]]
Rhogar is part of the Federation. Himo wanted to initally join the Federation, because he often did a lot of exploitation of vices back in Lunas, but understood that organization would fall to corruption eventually. While trying to figure out the whole coordinated attack Himo managed to set his back on fire because of his obliviousness in front of Rhogar from his OWN cannon!

=== Syl Vipershade ===
Himo has lets say a rocky roller coaster of emotions with Syl. When Himo first met Syl, the interaction wasn't awful, but it didn't take long for the oblivious cracks to seep through. While trying to figure out the attack on the Arboretum, Himo burns himself in front of Syl and Rhogar... with his own cannon. Syl distanced themselves from Himo, which he didn't mind because he was too busy working on his projects. Syl noticed Himo always seems to be ready for a fight, and becomes incredibly jumpy when someone tries to affect his mind. This problem was only amplified however after Stix was captured. While hanging out with Gobbo and Syl, Himo suddenly started feeling burned in his right side despite no actual fire being nearby. Himo accidentally summoned his cannon, to which Gobbo and Syl responded by trying to grapple Himo. While Himo never ended attacking either, Himo made it known that his past he is incredibly fearful of. To Himo's surprise, Syl offered him the chance to let something off of his chest. Even though Himo declined for the moment, he did agree to meet later, and discuss it more with Syl.

=== Lenore ===
Lenore was someone who Himo would have never interacted with except in a professional manner, but it took less than five minutes for the mask to come off about his certainty. Lenore is a cleric of Vela, and no one had really offered help without a clause. That sent Himo's brain into overdrive, freezing up at the kind gesture of giving a few names of those who run the Omnichapel as well as a stone of Vela

== Relationships '''(COMING SOON!)''' ==
=== Nyria Nilo ===

=== Celthron Nilo ===
Lady Nilo is a thin high elf with long flowing golden blond hair that is frail from the clutches of death, eyes of a deep black that show only death behind them, and a poise of confidence and dominance ruling the house that controls the Arcane Materials so well. She believes dead people are just objects that can be used for more than just laying them to rest, and tries to control people as much as possible without magic, often by threatening the used of deceased loved ones. When push comes to shove however, the gloves come off and the dead rise up on her command to destroy those who disobey. Nyria stands really short. Only 4'4" tall due to her 6th century of age creeping in on her, but the tug of life and death is just within fingertips reach. She works tirelessly to use necromancy as a means of preserving her life, but has been unsuccessful while staying within the rules of society. She wasn't a fan when Himo wanted to pursue alchemy, but the secret that she was making deals with demons for extra power proved too great to ignore. She feared that Himo would figure out the arcane knowledge to bring the secret to light, because of his resistance

=== Kynnela Nilo ===
Kynnela is the oldest sibling of the Nilo family. Himo picked up the rebellious attitude from her because she fought with her mother and father all the time. Kynnela who is 478 became a Diviner, and she questioned her past self before leaving the house. She treated Himo with the utmost disgust, and got his other sisters, and even his parents to either join in, or pretends it doesn't happen. On the occasional return to the house, Himo kept her at arms length, refusing to relive the pain that she caused. This made Kynnela bitter, and was the one to plot Himo's death, but ultimately failed. Last Himo has heard, Kynnela has left High Lunas; to where and why Himo doesn't know.

=== Mariela Nilo ===
Mariela is the second sibling of the Nilo family. Mariela is 239 years old at this point, and always had a bitter disappointment for Himo. She constantly questioned why Himo wouldn't apply himself more, and why he fought with all 5 members of this family. It's not like she was innocent either. She would sabotage Himo in any way she could since she didn't approve of her parents letting him take alchemy while she was forced into a school of magic. She chose conjuration as her school, because she preferred summoned things doing the work for her. Last Himo has heard, her bossy behavior isn't being well liked by her colleagues.

=== Tyanna Nilo ===
Tyanna is the youngest member of the Nilo family making Himo the third child. currently just 33, she made Himo's life miserable, but not by actions. She insulted him basically every time he spoke, and these comments are viscous. She often told Himo how he causes the tension for not following tradition, but refuses to acknowledge her own shortcomings. All of these insults were basically ignored by everyone, because they expected Himo to just let it go, but he simply couldn't. She doesn't realize that she is part of the reason that Himo ended up abandoning the family. There was one incident were Himo used physical force to make her panic and show her that actions have consequences, but Himo doubts it made an impact. Last Himo has heard, the coward is studying Abjuration to prevent that incident again.

=== Kamer ===
__FORCETOC__

[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Himo Nilo

2025-11-24T23:07:29Z

MCAron: Removing a duplicate account

Himo Nilo

2025-11-24T23:06:03Z

MCAron: Added Himo's account from 11/15/25. Give it a fun name!

== '''Himo Nilo''' ==
{{Infobox character|name=Himo Nilo|image=Himo Nilo.png|caption="The right side of me should show what happens when you don't pay attention."|relatives=2 Parents, 3 Sisters|affilliation="The Chairman,"The Scrappers|alias=Thai (Child name), The Magic Pick|marital=Single|birthDate=37 PR|birthPlace=High Lunas|species=Elf (High)|height=4'10"|weight=94 lbs.}}

'''Himo''' is a High Elf Rogue/Artillerist that has experienced both the rich and poor side of Lunas. He wanted to visit the Arboretum to modify existing equipment he has, but he never really left until he heard from his contacts in the Arboretum that demon incursions were ramping up. Carrying only what he could quickly pack, he left for the Arboretum with his bag that contains only essentials. He has a habit of checking anything that might look "suspicious" but doesn't really know what might be suspicious.
== Description ==
Himo is a young elf shining with bronze skin with black freckles, Short copper hair that is decently trimmed and eyes that sparkle gold when they catch the light. you would find him like he was a gem in a mine because of the reflection he often carries. He doesn't seem to carry anything with him except maybe a satchel over his back, A rapier and dagger on his left hip and short sword on his right hip respectively, hang and some tools hanging off of his belt. He wears light leather armor with a somewhat heavy desert cloak that shines a little in the light. When you peer past the cloak however, you notice two very big changes to him that he tries to hide as best as he can. The first on is he really only has half of his hair left. The right side of him looks like he has black char that curls up around the face and neck that has been there for quite some time. The second is he has no right arm. anything that might have been there is gone, and watching him, he sways a little bit to the left and right as if he can't seem to keep himself balanced. Some new projects have shown up on his person. The first seems to only be partially done, but on a rack where the shoulder would be is a semi circle with a hole cut out of the center, and an arc cut out inside the semi circle. The second gadget that he has on him at all times, is a disc launcher that fires out coins. Both of these are woodworking projects with small mechanical parts to make them work.

== Manners ==
Himo has a nervous tick carried wherever he goes. If you asked, he would say something along the lines of in a deep graveled voice of not being too careful wherever he goes, but refuses to follow up on why. The eyes seem to look for particular things, but never what is around him. Arcane is of great interest for him, but explosives are not that far off the priority. Often times, random junk that no one has used for some time goes missing, but if you saw him with the junk and asked why, the lips tighten hard. He then usually keeps to himself the rest of the day or two unless it's to discuss plans for missions or logistics. His past is guarded more securely that a vault door with enhanced locks, but the impact of it can easily be seen if he has a PTSD episode. This usually logical, crafty, upbeat personality, snaps faster than a string on a trap, changing him to an aggressive, fearful, volatile person. His hand always seems close to his dagger like he is waiting for a fight to occur. It's hard to tell if you have earned his trust or whether he sees the alliance as one time. On missions of any kind, Himo will tend to find to get out of sight when possible of his teammates, but is always around when trouble strikes.

== Background ==
Himo was born to a wealthy mage family in High Lunas. They expected him to follow that same tradition, and while he was interested in magic wasn't the most interesting thing to him as physical tasks. Still they made him either take lessons or leave this family. He negotiated to learn alchemy to understand the materials used in spellcasting.

He started to go to the Low Lunas in secret claiming private tutoring sessions when really he got into contact with the local criminal rings to learn skills from their side. He chose to learn lockpicking for his profession and was quite skilled at it. He also refined his careful hand movement to mimic letters. He balanced this double life of learning alchemy by day and learning to pick locks by night. When he went to Lower Lunas, he would bring stories of breaking into homes, taking specific materials and leaving without a trace. by the time they would try to track him down, he would be in the shadows trying to outlast the location spells used to find him. he often had to dump the stolen materials to prevent being caught. This went on for years. he wrote detailed notes about alchemy and his parents were thought he was being an obedient son. One night while learning complicated formulas to show to his parents, he was finally caught by the guards and he was sentenced to death. while in prison, he managed to convince the guards to give him 2 lodestones. He took those lodestones and mended the broken thieves tools that he was hiding in his clothing. This lock however was never supposed to be picked. It had been magically enhanced but he the night to make that happen. He picked the lock and sneaked out and into the Lower Lunas in 102 PR just as the sun was rising.

He excelled in picking locks as a freelancer. If the guild provided sanctuary based on how difficult the lock was, that locked was picked. He became infamous in rings because no lock was safe from him. Booby trapped to Arcane Lock, most locks were not safe from him. Only locks that were sophisticated with an Arcane Lock would he have a hard time picking and often failed at those, but those were few and far for High Lunas. In various guilds, he learned various weapons that he now always with him because he doesn't want to get into a scrap unarmed. He often had a habit of inspecting areas where people invited him never trusting anyone fully. His reputations grew so much that he found himself often travelling to other places to check out security systems. This took the pressure off of him because he could really inspect area he couldn't before. He learned to pickpocket, sneak around, scale buildings and practice his skills of picking locks. He tried to get an honest job in the town of Rwendia but his reputation followed him everywhere. He did odd jobs around places, pick locks here, mend broken stuff back together, and come along with other criminals to look out for traps. The people he often worked under were brutal. They would insult him behind his back, mess up him picking the locks, broke his stuff and moved him around often and lied to him where he was

He started for fun re-learning magic. Make graffiti with magic here, an odor there. This terrified the guilds because he was becoming what he swore he would never do and feared he would turn on him next. His mentor Jumad told him that no one will want someone unreliable if he chooses this path. He continued in spite of their disapproval and learned how to make a bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus. The only person he told this to was his best friend Kamer who supported him in getting new materials. One day while hiding out in the DwaleVale, he received a letter of a formal apology from his family asking him to come back. He eagerly accepted and made his way over. His contacts warned him they were up to no good and were looking for vengeance for bringing shame to the family name. When he got there they magically influenced him to open a complicated safe lock without checking the area. BOOOM!!! A massive explosion covered him from right to left, debris flying every where and scraping by on life. The family were stewing in their loss of the son when his eldest sister, Nylo gave the idea to blow him up in a public execution. That letter he found, was trapped to get him to come whether he wanted to or not. In the chaos, someone in his family had planted one more bomb to take him out. he survived, barely, but lost his right arm in the explosion. He lost everything; everything but his skills, his life and his resolve to fix this. At DAGR (Determined Assassins, Grifters, and Rogues) he received word that they needed people to fix broken things and make them better. he spent the next 6 months fighting for his life, and those 6 months were in a daze. He often found himself in a new place about every month. When finally had the strength to move comfortably, he took essentials and ran for his life in 134 PR, because no matter what he did his family was coming for him and he needed to defend himself.

== Languages ==
Himo knew elvish and common just from listening to his family, but he learned goblin when he would hang around goblins were trying to have a private conversation, not realizing Himo taught himself that from listening to them

== Character information ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |1 Rogue/4 Artificer
|-
|AC 15
|HP 33
|DC 14
|-
|Str 13
|Dex 18
|Con 13
|-
|Int 16
|Wis 10
|Cha 12
|}

=== '''Proficiencies''' ===
Himo is a man of many skills that involve getting around where he needs to in some way. He effectively shows he can get around super quietly, lift or plant things in someone's pocket, has great athletic abilities, and knows how to spot the difference between 2 identical objects. If asked about anything arcane, he has great knowledge of what it is, what the purpose is, and what the process of creating might have looked like. He also seems to have some tools on his belt. Specifically woodcarver's tools are always on his belt, but he has also shown a good deal of knowledge on making mechanical parts with tinker tools, making concoctions with alchemist supplies, and what he is most well known for; picking locks, and disabling traps

=== High elf Abilities ===
* Cantrip (Mending)
* Darkvision
* Elf Weapon Training
* Extra Language (Goblin)
* Fey Ancestry
* Keen Senses
* Trance

=== Rogue Features ===

* Expertise: Stealth, Thieves Tools
* Sneak attack (1d6)
* Thieves’ Cant

=== Artificer Abilities ===

* Infuse Item (bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus)
* Magical Tinkering
* Spellcasting
* Ritual Casting

=== Feats: ===
Alert

== Himo's Story ==
This is Himo's accounts of what happened in these sessions. I encourage you to come up with a goofy, but also descriptive name for each session. I have the first one done<div style="text-align: center;">
=== New Place, New Identity, and a New Dream ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been roughly 8 months since I came here to the Arboretum and very little people know I am actually here. Kamer got me in contact with The Chairman when I got here and it has been hell being around all of these explosive materials. every big explosion sends me back a year when an attempt was made on my life. I trust absolutely NO ONE here because I have been looked down on because of a missing arm. Petty theft was the only way I survived. I was so busy about survival that I didn't realize that Raegina was hiring to make robots until The Chairman sent me a letter telling me '''[[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs|Raegina]]''' was looking for people to recruit for the Scrappers. I collected scraps from grand shoplifting, hid out for four months to wait out people looking for men, then I moved swiftly to the junkyard. My goal is to go back to High Lunas and exact revenge on my parents and sisters who left me in this state I am. I barely remember the explosion or the constant shifting of places because I was so out of it. The people here seem nice enough but I am just waiting for them to betray each other. When I got to the junkyard, I was appalled to see the size of these robots, and the amount of people that came was a little much for me.

When Raegina mocked many of us for having many broken and chipped off parts, I just rolled my eyes because I knew if there as anything she was trying to hide in a safe, I could find that safe without getting caught. In Low Lunas I was known as the Magic Pick because I couldn't be trapped, nor were most locks safe from me. I do need teammates however so I kept my moth shut and just listened. The amount of artificers that were there was astonishing. A tiefling had infused armor, and a goblin had a small automaton with them. But by far the most unique “living” thing saw was a doll that could think for itself. It turns out to test our skills, we would fight Grind, Smash and Cleave, 3 golems with interesting weapon choices. I got excited when I learned that we would be fighting the golems because that meant I could sneak out parts I needed for projects. One of said projects was increasing the throwing range of Thunder Rumble because I have to be relatively close to make good use of it. While fighting, one got destroyed, and it burst into flames. The heat sent me back to the explosion that back at High Lunas, where I almost lost my life. We dispatched the rest and Raegina was impressed enough to let us scrap the robots. So much for trying to do things discreetly... But I haven't really talked with people yet. After scrapping the robots, we split up into two teams. I got paired with [[Stix]] and [[Raazdrog]] which was fine. I can modify my parts and they add theirs, and I saw this as more of a fun project. After all, I like explosive confusion. But it's not like I could focus because I was so nervous with Grind blowing me to bits, I was accidentally disassembling Grind. I was trying to make the saw arm move more fluidly, and trying to add scraps of metal I had in my bag, but I fumbled hard there. It was so embarrassing, because everyone else manage to buff it in some way but not me. I wanted to leave so badly because of that, but I ended up staying in spite of it. I would be throwing away probably my only real opportunity to getting out of the slums like my family expected me to stay. To my surprise Raegina gave each of us 10 gp to bet on the improved robots as to who would win. This was huge to me! This was really the first time someone handed me something without expecting anything in return. I decided to risk all of that money and bet most of it on Grind, and then I had an Idea. I decided to rename Grind to Sparkburn, which Stix and Raazdrog liked a lot. Raazdrog and I got the idea to give Sparkburn a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." and I added "Feel the spark. Feel the burn." Now I really didn't care if we won or lost because I considered this a finished project. Out team ended up winning and I walked away with triple what I put into it. I was ecstatic not only because I won a bet, which I rarely take, but the funds could be used to get the tools I need for projects. That excitement was short-lived however because a horn coming from the Arboretum indicating it was under attack. I hopped on the war rig and we moved to the Arboretum.

Getting towards a entrance root of the Arboretum, a sudden crash hits the war rig and all of us go flying off of it. pieces of the damaged rig flew out and a large skeletal elephant collapsed next to the war rig. I wasn't paying attention because I was sketching my newest tool to assist me. I was thrown hard, losing my sketch to the winds and barely landed standing up, and my vision blacked out for a second. Metal was warping and bending in all the wrong ways and snaps echoed throughout the valley and then silence. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew this was an ambush. Footsteps on the dessert sand was coming from multiple directions, Sparks were flying off of the rig, The screeching of tires spinning out, shoe rubber flaking off the boots I put together with mending, and hearing many colleagues scrape against the dusty ground. When the dust cleared I saw green goo blobs moving towards us, and I heard something angry moving towards us. Pustuloids, Capra demons, and Lesser Rage demons were there. To give me some distance, I climbed the war rig, but as I was climbing, it felt like the floor was falling out from me and nearly fell off. Climbing up I saw roughly 10 Pustuloids, a few lesser rage demons, and a Capra. My team managed to keep hold of a choke point and so I threw my dagger at the Capra repeatedly, but I also noticed Sparkburn, covering our backside. This was great, because the Pustuloids exploded on death with Sparkburn unaffected. Raegina tells me to get off even though I just got on. I wanted to argue because I had a good position of the battle but whatever.You know that rig aint safe from me snagging a few pieces. The fight isn't going in our favor right now, because Raazdrog's steel defender, crashes to the ground in combat, unmoving by the Capra. While this fight is going on, I see a figure moving behind us, but it doesn't look like an ambush. It's a half elf holding a rapier and an instrument; most likely a bard. One by one however, the demons fell starting with the pustuloids. Leftover goo seeping into the ground before turning to ash. Two booms ring out as the lesser rage demons and the Capra are thrown back. Delaia, who has been soaking hits for us, takes the opportunity to get out after that which I don't blame. It didn't look like he was going to stand much longer to be honest. The spells seemed to come from the bard and Delaia, so we have another ally. Good because most of us are spent on resources. We kill all the demons and after a quick introduction, the bard's name is [[Leonard]], and she heard the commotion. She healed Deliaia a significant amount, and Deliaia looks ready to take on another fight. After moving this elephant which turned out to be an Olliphant off of the root, we prepared to charge up only for a wave of energy to come down upon us. There was no point to going up anymore... The Conservatory has been destroyed. There goes many projects that have been put on hold. It's not like I made progress on the parts I needed for Sizzle but still frustrating. Oh crap! More demons of the same types are coming down, and I should have seen this coming. We dispatch the ones that combated us, and the streets fall silent around us....

After the invasion ended, leaders were talking about uniting "not just to fight against the demons, but also to build alliances" or something like that. The thing is, I can only rely on one thing when partnership is formed: people are looking out for themselves. Unless someone can prove they are trustworthy, I will not be in a permanent alliance. That's how I survived Low Lunas; Ally with someone only until the necessity no longer remains. </blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div>
<blockquote>
A few days go by and Sir Anthony is holding a funeral for the lives lost, when I got approached by Jerbo, a gnome arcanist. He was hiring people to track down why the Kobolds attacked. I agreed but stressed, I needed some help. After getting a few others, and some quick introductions we made our way to Dapple, a satry who rents out horses. I put down the deposit and we made our way over. Oh I should mention who is here because I will be a narcissist otherwise. We have Mezzi who I have never seen take off their mask, Polvo a Air Genasi that had an encounter with death apparently, Diana a human who has a lizard like robot that follows her everywhere, Dallas a mouse I have never seen before but seems like a cool fellow, and Davin a halfling with a longbow, with a trophies on his person.

It takes a little more than two days to get there and along the way, we found a dog in a campsite that was left not long ago. I make an alarm in case people came back while I was within a mile, but I got no signal. When we get to the Osteomancer, their abode is in the ground with sand covering a trapdoor. I volunteer to go planning to be sneaky, but I forgot not everyone can see in the dark as well as I can, because Mezzi lit a torch when we all got down. When we met the Osteomancer, I can only describe what is a elephant person like three feet taller than me with big elephant ears, an elephant trunk and overall a build that could lift more than me with two arms. We were trading a favor for a favor. The Osteomancer's favor was removing a tower that was made of Absence which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I can go along with it. Apparently, when creatures are near said tower, they lose their Identities. Davin beat to the question of how are we going to protect ourselves, so that was nice. I was given a scroll and a black egg to crush when I start to read the scroll that should seal this wound. Another detail that was mentioned was the structure could only be seen through reflections.

We get to the tower, it looked like someone lived inside a crazy home. The outside can't be seen, but when you go inside, it is a ghost white. there was also a spot of complete silence, so I move myself there, crushethe egg and begin reading the scroll. A ghost that looks like he owns the place along with lights that surround us entirely. I placed down, my cannon to give me some cover while the rest of the group combat the lights. I watched my colleagues lose their ability to speak coherently while fighting them. I was blessed with something, but I couldn't tell you what it as but it seems to help me fight this ghost who was trying to make me vanish. As the fight moves on, less lights were attacking, but I can't tell you why. After nearly completing it, I was tired of the things attacking and unleash an ear piercing ring out towards the ghost, along with the nearby lights, which injure the lights a lot more than anticipated. I finish reading, and the entire place began to collapse around us. Which is unfortunate, because I wanted to get parts I need for project. I have to will myself out with Mezzi's help, but luckily everyone got out.

When we get back to the Osteomancer, we learn that when kobolds want to get rid of the Divine Blood law, they make deals with other creatures; in this case demons. This group was led by Snizz the Fortunate, but that group was dead when other people killed the kobolds. It ended with a warning "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free." Confused, I said nothing and headed back for the horses that have been tied up. We went to check up on the dog, and it's still there and there is no sign of return, so we left for the Arboretum. This information is given to Jerbo, but I am still suspicious of hat will happen if someone does make a deal with a devil.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a week since I saw that tower of that "absence" and I am ready to finish what I started or go to the Omnichapel for advice on Vela. I know, I get distracted easily, but I cannot for any reason leave a stone unturned for any reason in case it comes to bite me back later. I left Lunas on some pretty bad terms, both with my family for obvious reasons, but also the Thieve's guilds with relearning the one thing I swore off of. That mistake of saying I will not learn more things about a specific topic was so far my worst one yet. Anyone could come for me for any reason, and I need to be ready for when I get jumped. Today luckily is not one of those days, because a new job offering has appeared who's handwriting is more crude than a thieve's messy handwriting. Baftzmyr as I later found out put up the sign about a giant demon stuck in the sand, and it needed to be killed. Cool, I can just fire with my cannon and it will eventually die if it can't get out. When I get there, I see some new faces, but also a handful of familiar ones. Stix and Razzdrog are here, but among the new ones we have Steady Dee, a tabaxi who wears some unusually heavy armor comparatively that have some runes on it that appear to be of a giant origin, but I guess whatever floats your boat. Koro, an Air Genasi that wears some monk robes, who can't seem to make up his mind when it comes to allegiances, and Ozmir, a tiefling that has powers I have never seen before, but curious as to how they will work. Baftzmyr explains that scout demons have been circling around looking around for a way to get out the great demon. The plan was simple; locate the scouts, follow them, and kill the great demon. Now that follows, but it's under the sand. What is Baftzmyr's plan to expose the demon? I don't know. All I know is I can sneak up on it, and rain cannon fire down where it can't see me. Ozmir who can apparently track creatures really well, starts following a set made not long ago. Along the path, a heatwave catches me completely off guard, and I feel more sluggish than before. Great, now I won't be able to hide nearly as easy I have before, but I am with a group. We get right on top the scout and it pops out ready to attack. It would have died in two hits, if Sparkburn didn't have a weapon infused with fire. Wait! I forgot to mention Sparkburn is with us! Gobbo, I will find you later and confront you for remaining silent. It didn't matter however, because melee attacks are still effective. After that one dies, Stix along with a few others spot three more running from away, and we continue to follow. After a few more hours of travel, we come across some quicksand that is quaking. Quicksand isn't supposed to do that on a large scale; this is where the great demon is. Baftzmyr pulls what appears to be an origami pig that is coated in a layer of wax. It looks like the pig was boiled alive, but I am not one to judge. Stix volunteers to carry to bomb, and all I can say to that is... Ok never mind. This doll, husk? I don't know what it's made of, but regardless, the bomb is carried to it's destination. More importantly however, Stix makes it out unscathed. Maybe Stix has a ratio of strength similar to that of an ant. Ants proportionally can carry more weight to their body mass. Koro and I peek over, and WHAT IS THIS FOR A DEMON!? A cage for a face with a flame inside of it and some kind of disc neck to keep the sand out of the face or something. We give out teammates that knowing look, and the rest of the team gets to work. Raazdrog and MK-2 setup an anti flank position for us on the right as well as making the demon glittery. Steady Dee also sets up an anti flank position for us on the right side as well as growing to giant. With this enlarged form Steady throws a handaxe that lands square in the "face" of the great demon but not as effective as it should have hit . Stix is firing blasts of green energy which makes me think a deal was involved for this power. Koro using the bow pierces the demon with the same problem as Steady, and I am throwing a dagger, firing a cannon, and backing up, because I have no interest in falling in the quicksand and next to this abomination. That caused a different problem however which was I opened the line for more of the scouts to come attack Koro and Ozmir. I planned to fix this by booming them back into it, but that will backfire spectacularly when Koro kills one of the scouts, and stayed within the line of fire. It was also a good thing that I moved out, because the sand started moving out from everyone's feet who were close to the edge. Steady and MK-2 fell in and hell broke loose, literally. I didn't see what happened but the next thing I know, Koro willingly jumps into the pit and now Steady is floating in the air about 20ft. Why that is happening, I couldn't tell you, but Steady was bleeding out and needed help soon. Baftzmyr uttered some word and Steady is conscious again. I go to help Ozmir, because currently 3 scouts are surrounding her, which aint cool. I drive my dagger into a scout's death, and the sand is still moving out from under us, but I can keep myself steady. Raazdrog on the other hand wasn't so lucky and also managed to fall in next to the demon. Things are going fine right now. The great demon is getting whacked by are melee fighters and the people up here in the sand are holding off the scouts just fine. Oh no. My worst fear has come true; this demon will explode on death. I am not going to be around that. I can stabilize those who take the brunt of the explosion. At least, that was my original plan if Koro didn't fall to the giant claws of this demon. I am not ready to lose a colleague here, so I jump down, run to Koro, heal him just enough to get him conscious again and prep for another round of attacks against this creature. Maybe it was better however that I couldn't keep myself steady this time and I was buried in the sand. Not wanting to be stuck in here, I used my last spell to blast out, but that didn't work. Later I learned that I had injured Koro, and Steady who were both super hurt by it, but the worst part was I didn't even get out with that. I got burned, but not by much comparatively to other people who got the full brunt. Stix stabilized Koro, and Raazdrog healed Steady and then Koro. It honestly surprised me that everyone made it out alive. We got our gold, and I moved on because I don't know how much I can trust the Scrappers when working with a Fiend. Working with criminals is bad enough, but trying to work with a creature from the underworld seems like a death sentence.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been a few days since hunting the Baron of Filth or whatever in the Nine Hells this creature is, and I finished the sketching for my tool arm. I don't have a name for it, but I know the name will come at the end when I finish the project. I should really get some paper however, because each time I sketch it, it's in the sand. I lose it very easily, and often times restart like some mime performing the same trick. I was ready to go buy the materials when I am stopped by Gnash, a half orc who means business. If I had a counterpart, it would be her. Why? because the entire left side of her face is char black. Besides that she needs people to track down some missing people. They have been gone 2 days and she hates mystery. Some other people that get recruited were Leonard, Mezzi, The Scarlet Shadow, Raazdrog, and Avel. I think it's worth mentioning that we have 3 musically inclined, which I don't I have ever been apart of. We are told to look for a carcass of a long dead giant worm, and the distant mountain Tol'Viral on are way to Drywater. Jerbo reads off a scroll and we turn to mist, and boy can we MOVE! With this enhanced movement, met up with Kaleen, a desert vulpine druid who knew of our mission. We got two scrolls. I recognize these and as '''Animal Messenger''' and '''Locate object''' spells. If anything goes wrong we are told to give movement on where they are headed and in how long.. The '''Locate Object''' however is to find a silver bullet the group left behind.. Seems odd, but hey maybe they do that elsewhere to mark where they were. We don't need either however, because Scarlet knows this place like the back of his hand. Apparently the blue dragonborn, and the thri-kreen hate each other enough to capture, but not kill him, which I find very funny. Anyways, he finds tracks of about a dozen thri-kreen. Following them, they reduce to about 4 tracks that were left behind, and end abruptly. Still Scarlet picks up where they began again and we continue to follow. We are moving with the wind while following the tracks, so it was very easy to actually catch up to the thri-kreen Scarlet was following. When I get the chance to look at them, and it looks likes an ant that grew a spine, a brain along with gaining lots of lower insect strength. The color of the shell also seems to be blending in better with the surrounding enviorment, which I wish I could get my hands on that. We transformed into ourselves again, and decided instead of attacking, to talk to them since they might have some useful information regarding the people we are trying to find. I was confused about the execution, until I learned Scarlet could actually communicate with them. Upon seeing us, the group shows off their mandibles, and claws. Scarlet attempts to parley with the clutch but to no avail, since he could speak the language of clack clickers. Before you judge me, that's what I heard. As we got closer, they became blurry and hard to track their position. I recognize this as a '''Blur''' spell. I am about to make them shiny when Raazdrog beats me to that idea. Only one of them got affected however, but there is one idea I have. Some spells you can't put together because you have to think about the actual spell. '''Blur''' happens to be one of those spells, so I plan to attack in a flank or hit them with spells, they have to resist. I summon the cannon, and get to work. They start by swarming Raazdrog, but since only a few attacks hit, they turned the attention to me. They also don't get many hits in, but one did strike me good. A 6 on 4 however doesn't end well for them, and that part of the clutch falls one by one to us swarming them. We leave the corpses behind and continue on our journey to finding the people who went missing. I was honestly expecting more of a fight with how many tracks we say, but hey I'll save some of my resources for later. We get to a dune structure with a very small tunnel with 2 Federation members dead. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a fight broke out here about a day ago, There is a tunnel about 5ft wide, so it's time for a single file line. I go first, after my cannon, so that less people will be affected by any traps that may come. Well dam right I was because my cannon snapped a tripwire leading to a bunch of some decent size rocks they could fit in the ceiling tumble out. I get out of the way get fine, but I couldn't move my cannon, and it get's dented pretty badly from the trap set. Lesson learned; check for traps in a small area like this. I just realized my experience from Low Lunas has been lacking faster than what happened the last time I was in High Lunas. I start examining the area up ahead, and would you look at that; another trap.. It takes me less than 10 seconds to permanently disable the trap however, so no issues there. Continuing to check for traps, I find no more, and I see a room, probably about 40 feet by 30 feet, and there is a decent amount of light in here that seems to be pretty bright. When we get to the maw of this room, I can just barely see to left some kind of rig, but oh come on. Really? A weapon pointed in my face with 2 people standing a few feet away from the arch. From the little I can see, this appears temporary, but I first need to talk to these people.. I told them that we are here to find you. We were sent by Gnash, and got here with the help of Jerbo. Why there are 2 dead Federation members outside this cave, I have a better idea now. AVEL WHY!? I might have been going somewhere with the conversation, but then you decide to teleport behind them and attack? Fine, Seeing this I spring into action, and start to attack the person who drew their weapon at me. Rude, but fine a fight you want? A fight you will get. I blast the cannon into the shin of the guy, and take that opportunity to throw my dagger into his skull, which works out great because that is one less person we have to deal with. Raazdrog, Mk-2, and Scarlet move into the room and attack some of the nearby henchmen. that happen to be near the doorway so less occupancy there. Avel takes this opportunity to corner the leader in a one on one duel. Unhappy with me dropping her main bodyguard, she leaves the duel with Avel, and decides to attack me instead, with a reach weapon. Dammit, my cannon was in the way, but that didn't matter for this dumb weapon. The lightning and fire hurts pretty bad, but I am still here... Then the dork leaves me alone to go get into a 3v1. I think something is being plotted, because they moved away from me, almost like something had a higher priority. Leonard seeing me greatly injured me heals my immediate wounds, which is nice, because I want to help my teamates, but I can't do that with almost being taken out of the fight. There is 3 other henchmen here, so I direct my cannon to fire at one who was next to Avel as I stick my knife into their side for a well thrown shot.. Mezzi managed to released a held spell, after Avel forced the enemy into Mezzi's line of sight. It didn't have any effect, but the more people closer to the leader, the better.. The leader in a desperate move, went to the rig, and pushed a few buttons, and got ready to run., getting slashed, by Raazdrog Mk-2, Scarlet, and Avel.. I now realize what this is; an infernal enhancement. NOW I WANT THAT! this would speed up my projects by who know how long, and I would earn a lot of favor from Raegina.. This person clearly has connections to the Scrappers, which now irritates me, because we are fighting within our own group, but I know I don't have the tongue to get everyone to stop fighting. We managed to get the Tiefling leader to start running, but by that point, the fight was over. I used this opportunity to try and disable this infernal enhancement, but to no avail. It starts burning me... This rig can't be disabled, from a self destruction button, but I have to keep going. I'm getting burned and then I see it; I can get out, where I couldn't before. I will not give up my own life to figure this out. This is my choice now, not some magic that was used on me. I run out with the rest of the group to hear a big explosion ring out. I managed to get some materials out from the rig, but it's now useless... I spend some time with this tiefling who's name is Velza. Apparently her and Raegina have been locking horns because this rig should have come back to the junkyard, There was incursions here that the local tribe could use help with that rig that is now gone. The solution was spiteful and honestly stupid, and as much as I would have loved to get her off the hook, I want to be able to use these tools for good, not just because of a word of law.. I'm not sure how much longer I will be with the Scrappers because of this incident... If all Raegina cares about is this problem of demons within Pteris no matter the cost, desperation will make people do some insane things all trying to better the future for themselves/children with the destruction left behind.The end NEVER EVER for any reason, justifies the means.</blockquote>
<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div><blockquote>Oh Where do I begin with this incident that I am still beating myself in the head over? I guess I will start with the fact that some Yuan-ti runs into town screaming about someone has stolen all of her textiles and they are very expensive. I put my guard up, because I don't trust people who make a big show like that, but I don't see any odd behavior. Some other people that notice the commotion are Deliah, a teifling with some well enhanced armor, Leonard a half elf, who was first and last person to surprise me with someone else coming, Ozmir and Stix making a return from that nasty Baron, Ozmir is also a teifling, with some unique psionic blades, which looks really cool, and Stix is the doll that roams the Arboretum. I recently learned Stix has a "friend" that speaks to them, which is kind of unsettling, I am now wondering who is puppeteering this doll, when it's likely a god.. The last person I did not mention was Ollie, a ranger who has a pet frog.. The Yuan-ti's name is Sandra Sanderson, and she needed help recovering textiles that were expensive. They were stolen by a bunch of gnolls, but the problem I find with that story is A:gnolls don't do that, B: few gnolls are careful with what they steal. Just look at the goods they have after death, and C: Gnolls are not known for attacking in huge groups. I can't saying anything without sounding paranoid, so I go along with this idea.. We get to the circus tent that these textiles were stolen from, and here is the first of many mistakes I made. I made so many in fact for being a skeptic, that it makes my lack of checking in High Lunas look safer. I did not check any signs of damage for anything really. I just saw the creatures, baited one over, and a fight ensued. There was a bunch of hyenas, two giant hyenas, and a gnoll warrior. Stix got injured repeatedly from after it was a great idea to fireball the three big targets. Deliah got in the way of the big hyenas and just ate the minimal damage they dealt. Ozmir notices with the fact these were made by a conjuration spell, but we kept on fighting, because they didn't stop. All of them disappeared except for the warrior. Me and Ozmir start looking around, and we do find the secret stash of goods, and here is my second and third big mistakes. I forgot to examine the tracks leading to it, and I forgot to see based on the dust how long it might have been there, and how far away it was from the actual circus tent. We give the textiles, and she gives us clothing based on the surface thoughts we have, and then I receive a message telepathically from Ozmir stating that Sandra is definitely hiding something.. Stix decides to become Sandra's assistant for the day, but I want to grab Stix, and leave. Still I listened to Ozmir, and did nothing. Me and Leonard doubled back and went to hide in that stash where we find the textiles. At night we see 2 lizard folk and another yuan-ti quickly packing up the tent so quickly something is off. STIX! Now Stix is kidnapped, and the circus is gone. Final mistake I made here: We could have tried to follow the damn caravan, but we were too angry to do anything.. We make our way back, and it turns out it was WAY worse than either of us initially thought. Jitcwal and Cilvdzwucta were also kidnapped, and the explosives used have been destroyed. The worst part is there was, I didn't use any logic. I can't read people better than others, but I am good with puzzles and evidence. I bet if I noticed the condition of the terrain, My alert level would have been a lot higher. SANDRA SANDERSON: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You will not make a fool of me again... </blockquote><blockquote>Oh Where do I begin with this incident that I am still beating myself in the head over? I guess I will start with the fact that some Yuan-ti runs into town screaming about someone has stolen all of her textiles and they are very expensive. I put my guard up, because I don't trust people who make a big show like that, but I don't see any odd behavior. Some other people that notice the commotion are Deliah, a teifling with some well enhanced armor, Leonard a half elf, who was first and last person to surprise me with someone else coming, Ozmir and Stix making a return from that nasty Baron, Ozmir is also a teifling, with some unique psionic blades, which looks really cool, and Stix is the doll that roams the Arboretum. I recently learned Stix has a "friend" that speaks to them, which is kind of unsettling, I am now wondering who is puppeteering this doll, when it's likely a god.. The last person I did not mention was Ollie, a ranger who has a pet frog.. The Yuan-ti's name is Sandra Sanderson, and she needed help recovering textiles that were expensive. They were stolen by a bunch of gnolls, but the problem I find with that story is A:gnolls don't do that, B: few gnolls are careful with what they steal. Just look at the goods they have after death, and C: Gnolls are not known for attacking in huge groups. I can't saying anything without sounding paranoid, so I go along with this idea.. We get to the circus tent that these textiles were stolen from, and here is the first of many mistakes I made. I made so many in fact for being a skeptic, that it makes my lack of checking in High Lunas look safer. I did not check any signs of damage for anything really. I just saw the creatures, baited one over, and a fight ensued. There was a bunch of hyenas, two giant hyenas, and a gnoll warrior. Stix got injured repeatedly from after it was a great idea to fireball the three big targets. Deliah got in the way of the big hyenas and just ate the minimal damage they dealt. Ozmir notices with the fact these were made by a conjuration spell, but we kept on fighting, because they didn't stop. All of them disappeared except for the warrior. Me and Ozmir start looking around, and we do find the secret stash of goods, and here is my second and third big mistakes. I forgot to examine the tracks leading to it, and I forgot to see based on the dust how long it might have been there, and how far away it was from the actual circus tent. We give the textiles, and she gives us clothing based on the surface thoughts we have, and then I receive a message telepathically from Ozmir stating that Sandra is definitely hiding something.. Stix decides to become Sandra's assistant for the day, but I want to grab Stix, and leave. Still I listened to Ozmir, and did nothing. Me and Leonard doubled back and went to hide in that stash where we find the textiles. At night we see 2 lizard folk and another yuan-ti quickly packing up the tent so quickly something is off. STIX! Now Stix is kidnapped, and the circus is gone. Final mistake I made here: We could have tried to follow the damn caravan, but we were too angry to do anything.. We make our way back, and it turns out it was WAY worse than either of us initially thought. Jitcwal and Cilvdzwucta were also kidnapped, and the explosives used have been destroyed. The worst part is there was, I didn't use any logic. I can't read people better than others, but I am good with puzzles and evidence. I bet if I noticed the condition of the terrain, My alert level would have been a lot higher. SANDRA SANDERSON: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You will not make a fool of me again...</blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
</div><blockquote>This whole thing of three people being captured and me not being to do anything about it killing me. I gave everything I could to Koro, and Gobbo, but it's still destroying me from the inside. I decided to go see if there was some work I could do to take my anger out on. Working with the scrappers didn't seem like a great idea, because I do not want to get into any more infighting. I don't like the idea in working with the Federation, but I had to pull a favor to get the information I wanted, so it's going to happen someday. I luckily found a job being offered by Lord Pavan to go check on the livestock. That sounds like a Shepherd thing, but beggars, can't be choosers. I would much making good use out of my cannon, than tinkering all day honestly. Maybe it could help me figure out how to make my spells stronger. (It did not.) My only main concern with this is I am working with new folk entirely. There's Rhogar and Syl, who I have interacted with, but it has been.... volatile to say the least. Other people that I have met for the first time are Silgr, a mountain dwarf with similar runes to Rhogars, Mizuka, a desert vulpine bard, but I am not sure which college she attended. To finish this group off, he have Voscaera, a A fighter with incomplete runes of Rhogar's and Silgr's, but she has artificer capabilities instead. I would later find out Voscaera is a Madaer, which is a person of Medusa ancestry. A little unsettling, but there was no bad blood between us. I decided to rent a horse from Dapple, because I heard it was going to be a long haul. I don't mind, but some help would be nice. My only concern I had with this gamble is I need the gold for components. Anyways he head out to check on some livestock, that I now realize could be anything.... Two days later on our travel however, we meet someone by the name of Saltique Petra. She starts reading off a bunch of names, all of which happen to be us. She tells us it's about another week, so I decided to ask for my own curiosity what kind of livestock is being kept. After a few guesses, the answer is kept ominous, so I give up on prying. Low Lunas taught me not to pry when not given on the first go. On day three of travelling we get a nasty dust storm that rolls in. I can barely see in front of me, but I managed to keep the horse calm, so I ended up with the group after it passed. This delayed it by a day, making it 8 days. It would become 9 days after a flash flood came 3 days later. I ended up losing control of the horse, and it sped off. I did my best to keep up, but I had gotten really exhausted from trying to constantly keep my footing. When I wake up the next day, any exhaustion I may have is gone, but I am alone in this harsh desert. With the extra time I have, I set up a fire, but I don't abandon it. When trying to get found, it's best to stay put. It's not like I have a direction to go find the horses, so I am sadly going to lose the deposit. Dammit. After waiting for a few hours, a group of about 6 people cross my vision. Well I'm pretty sure it's the group, but the moment I get a good look at all them, they;re fine. Oddly, Rhogar also lost his horse, so there goes like 100gp+ right there. We debated for a minute to go look for the horses, but I pointed out that we could give the demons more time to transform into other creatures. The rest of the travel will have to be on foot, but at least we only have one more day. On the final day, Saltique explains that we are first collecting some magical fruit to lure the livestock. That's easy enough for me to get and not get ambushed.. When we get there, we split up a little bit to go get as much plants as possible. Syl and I use '''Detect Magic''' to make it easier to get the plants. I manged to get my hands on Anserke, a spiny cactus that allows when made into a potion to improve our constitution for a bit. Okay well I'm not surprised a ambush is happening, but come on. This is a great spot for it. I look up to see a giant spider has jumped Syl, so I pull out the woodcarver's tools, and bring out the cannon to fire at this spider. The spider gets a bite into Syl, but that thing is a fool. Syl is a yuan-ti, so I am willing to bet he has some poison resistance. An ear piercing ring comes out to my left as Mizuka casts something above my level, but it seems to be effective, because There is screeching of another spider. Now how many of these jerks are here, and why have they not been taken care of before this? There ended being 3 other giant spiders lurking. Most of the deaths came from Rhogar just cutting through with his greataxe, along with him getting like 3 times my height. I did manage to get one satisfying kill in a one-two combo to destroy it beyond saving.. I had nothing to gain from getting a rest, but Syl could use it after getting bit multiple times. Rhogar also got injured a good amount, but it seemed Mizuka, Silgr, and Voscaera didn't get injured at all. This never lost my concentration, I go back to harvesting more plants. I manage to get another anserke, which was a little disappointing but not the end of it. I hand over the plants I got, and I was pretty impressed by our pile. Saltique mentioned it might even be enough to get the adult ones out. We head over to another area that is honestly a choke point I'm not too comfortable being in. After an hour...nothing. Then there is tiny amounts of movement underneath our bait. Saltique shakes her head which makes me concerned about how big these 'livestock' are. A huge wave of dust that comes through to my left that I was not expecting. When it settles, there is a WOIM! I'm separated because I'm not about to get clumped in a dangerous spot. Then directly ahead of me about 130ish feet away there is another wave of dust. Underneath that dust lies another woim eating these magical plants. I then see my colleagues coming down off the plateaus for an odd reason until I see three demonic things with mouths in the chest, and three husks following this woim. Perfect. one spell used later, and my cannon makes a return. Analyzing this like the nerd I am, the woims won't attack us, unless we have magic on us. That's like all of us, but the people that have a bigger issue are Rhogar and Silgr These demons has a rhino horn with a mouth next to the abdomen. the hands are long claws with a longsword, and the toes are webbed with sharp 'talons.' I got busy dealing with these abominations from a flank position while the rest of the team got in the fray.. Out main goal is this: Kill the demons before the woims eat them. Easier said than done however, since we our own member are also in danger. Slowly but surely however, these creatures fell one by one. Rhogar had gotten swallowed, but he forced the woim to regurgitate before it became a problem. Same thing happened with Silgr unsurprisingly. We got a nasty surprise when we took down a husk. A jellyfish had exited the body. So we are really dealing 9 creatures, but those need to go first. If not we could get a possessed woim which isn't great. we got rid oftwo mouth abdomen demons, and AN ADULT WOIM showed up! It nearly destroyed my cannon. It ate one of the other woim and just left leaving a massive hole. The other woim starting burrowing with a demon stuck in it, so that's not good, but there is one last jellyfish demon to take down.. It went deep into the hole. With some quick thinking seeing Rhogar down there, I use my last spell to make a burst of blue. And would you LOOK AT THAT. that jellyfish is here. Rhogar used this opportunity to smash it into the ground killing it instantly. I saw the death because the light faded on its death. Rhogar wasn't happy with Saltique's lie by omission, but I ignored that, because I needed to fix my cannon. We got paid a good amount of gold, and we left. Those husks were sadly other Shepherd members which is just lovely. As we headed back, a thought crossed my mind. Is there one grand demon orchestrating, or three? </blockquote>

== Character Interactions ==

=== The Scrappers ===
When Himo first arrived, he was like a ghost in the markets. He bought what he needed, and left in such a hurry, it was hard to track them down. He never really talked to people for more than 5 minutes when he finally met some of the crew of the scrappers, and they seemed to treat him with some respect, but Himo kept to themselves.

=== Gobbo Greenskin ===
After the Conservatory was destroyed, he found Gobbo, a goblin with a robot named FR0G-GY. Gobbo mentioned he could make Himo an arm, which interested him, but that conversation was never followed up on. Gobbo also mentioned knowing where Sparkburn was, but won't elaborate on where the golem is now, which is frustrating Himo.

=== Rhogar Dreel ===
[[File:Rhogar Dreel.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Rhogar Dreel]]
Rhogar is part of the Federation. Himo wanted to initally join the Federation, because he often did a lot of exploitation of vices back in Lunas, but understood that organization would fall to corruption eventually. While trying to figure out the whole coordinated attack Himo managed to set his back on fire because of his obliviousness in front of Rhogar from his OWN cannon!

=== Syl Vipershade ===
Himo has lets say a rocky roller coaster of emotions with Syl. When Himo first met Syl, the interaction wasn't awful, but it didn't take long for the oblivious cracks to seep through. While trying to figure out the attack on the Arboretum, Himo burns himself in front of Syl and Rhogar... with his own cannon. Syl distanced themselves from Himo, which he didn't mind because he was too busy working on his projects. Syl noticed Himo always seems to be ready for a fight, and becomes incredibly jumpy when someone tries to affect his mind. This problem was only amplified however after Stix was captured. While hanging out with Gobbo and Syl, Himo suddenly started feeling burned in his right side despite no actual fire being nearby. Himo accidentally summoned his cannon, to which Gobbo and Syl responded by trying to grapple Himo. While Himo never ended attacking either, Himo made it known that his past he is incredibly fearful of. To Himo's surprise, Syl offered him the chance to let something off of his chest. Even though Himo declined for the moment, he did agree to meet later, and discuss it more with Syl.

=== Lenore ===
Lenore was someone who Himo would have never interacted with except in a professional manner, but it took less than five minutes for the mask to come off about his certainty. Lenore is a cleric of Vela, and no one had really offered help without a clause. That sent Himo's brain into overdrive, freezing up at the kind gesture of giving a few names of those who run the Omnichapel as well as a stone of Vela

== Relationships '''(COMING SOON!)''' ==
=== Nyria Nilo ===

=== Celthron Nilo ===
Lady Nilo is a thin high elf with long flowing golden blond hair that is frail from the clutches of death, eyes of a deep black that show only death behind them, and a poise of confidence and dominance ruling the house that controls the Arcane Materials so well. She believes dead people are just objects that can be used for more than just laying them to rest, and tries to control people as much as possible without magic, often by threatening the used of deceased loved ones. When push comes to shove however, the gloves come off and the dead rise up on her command to destroy those who disobey. Nyria stands really short. Only 4'4" tall due to her 6th century of age creeping in on her, but the tug of life and death is just within fingertips reach. She works tirelessly to use necromancy as a means of preserving her life, but has been unsuccessful while staying within the rules of society. She wasn't a fan when Himo wanted to pursue alchemy, but the secret that she was making deals with demons for extra power proved too great to ignore. She feared that Himo would figure out the arcane knowledge to bring the secret to light, because of his resistance

=== Kynnela Nilo ===
Kynnela is the oldest sibling of the Nilo family. Himo picked up the rebellious attitude from her because she fought with her mother and father all the time. Kynnela who is 478 became a Diviner, and she questioned her past self before leaving the house. She treated Himo with the utmost disgust, and got his other sisters, and even his parents to either join in, or pretends it doesn't happen. On the occasional return to the house, Himo kept her at arms length, refusing to relive the pain that she caused. This made Kynnela bitter, and was the one to plot Himo's death, but ultimately failed. Last Himo has heard, Kynnela has left High Lunas; to where and why Himo doesn't know.

=== Mariela Nilo ===
Mariela is the second sibling of the Nilo family. Mariela is 239 years old at this point, and always had a bitter disappointment for Himo. She constantly questioned why Himo wouldn't apply himself more, and why he fought with all 5 members of this family. It's not like she was innocent either. She would sabotage Himo in any way she could since she didn't approve of her parents letting him take alchemy while she was forced into a school of magic. She chose conjuration as her school, because she preferred summoned things doing the work for her. Last Himo has heard, her bossy behavior isn't being well liked by her colleagues.

=== Tyanna Nilo ===
Tyanna is the youngest member of the Nilo family making Himo the third child. currently just 33, she made Himo's life miserable, but not by actions. She insulted him basically every time he spoke, and these comments are viscous. She often told Himo how he causes the tension for not following tradition, but refuses to acknowledge her own shortcomings. All of these insults were basically ignored by everyone, because they expected Himo to just let it go, but he simply couldn't. She doesn't realize that she is part of the reason that Himo ended up abandoning the family. There was one incident were Himo used physical force to make her panic and show her that actions have consequences, but Himo doubts it made an impact. Last Himo has heard, the coward is studying Abjuration to prevent that incident again.

=== Kamer ===
__FORCETOC__

[[Category:Bedlam in the Badlands]]
[[Category:Player Characters]]

Lardriira'xyra

2025-11-14T22:18:02Z

MCAron: Forgot an additional language

{{Infobox_character|affilliation=Witherbloom|name=Lardriira'xyra|image=Casual Lardriira'xyra.jpg|caption="Do I know what happens in the future? No, the question should be, what can I do to improve the future?"|relatives=relatives|languages=languages|marital=Single|birthDate=703 BR|birthPlace=birthplace|species=High Elf|gender=Male|height=6'2"|weight=110 lbs|eyes=Medicinal green}}

'''{{PAGENAME}} '''is (Information on your heritage/background/class)

NOTE: I am purposefully omitting details. More will be in as you interact with him more

== Description ==
Lardiira’xyra is really tall for a high elf. Standing at 6’2”, he carries a confident posture in the young years he’s in with serious but kind eyes. He has long thick black hair that goes past the shoulder with herbalist colored eyes and wears some long robes that cover everything but the hands. Only showing the wrist and a little bit of the forearm, you can see a few minor chemical burn scars on his left hand. He tends to keep his appearance minimal, but professional.

== Personality ==
Lardiira’xyra is a reserved, but observant individual. He empathizes with those who struggle with the name, and offers either Xyra or Iira. He doesn’t care what you call him as long as it’s faithful to the original, and any titles he has are also included (I’m looking at you Cassi.) Being the tall elf he is, oftentimes he will lower himself to make eye contact with those who are much shorter. Having been a tutor in the past, he’s patient with those who need help, and the door for help is always open. He speaks in a calm confident voice that has a curious confidence to it.

== History ==
A brief history of your character's life.

== Languages ==
Examples include Common, Elvish,Gnomish, (Extra Language to be revealed)

== Knacks and attacks. ==

= . =
[[Category:Player Characters]]
{{Worldbuilders}}

Lardriira'xyra

2025-11-14T22:16:53Z

MCAron: A little bit about Lardriira'xyra

{{Infobox_character|affilliation=Witherbloom|name=Lardriira'xyra|image=Casual Lardriira'xyra.jpg|caption="Do I know what happens in the future? No, the question should be, what can I do to improve the future?"|relatives=relatives|languages=languages|marital=Single|birthDate=703 BR|birthPlace=birthplace|species=High Elf|gender=Male|height=6'2"|weight=110 lbs|eyes=Medicinal green}}

'''{{PAGENAME}} '''is (Information on your heritage/background/class)

NOTE: I am purposefully omitting details. More will be in as you interact with him more

== Description ==
Lardiira’xyra is really tall for a high elf. Standing at 6’2”, he carries a confident posture in the young years he’s in with serious but kind eyes. He has long thick black hair that goes past the shoulder with herbalist colored eyes and wears some long robes that cover everything but the hands. Only showing the wrist and a little bit of the forearm, you can see a few minor chemical burn scars on his left hand. He tends to keep his appearance minimal, but professional.

== Personality ==
Lardiira’xyra is a reserved, but observant individual. He empathizes with those who struggle with the name, and offers either Xyra or Iira. He doesn’t care what you call him as long as it’s faithful to the original, and any titles he has are also included (I’m looking at you Cassi.) Being the tall elf he is, oftentimes he will lower himself to make eye contact with those who are much shorter. Having been a tutor in the past, he’s patient with those who need help, and the door for help is always open. He speaks in a calm confident voice that has a curious confidence to it.

== History ==
A brief history of your character's life.

== Languages ==
Examples include Common, Elvish, (Extra Language to be revealed)

== Knacks and attacks. ==

= . =
[[Category:Player Characters]]
{{Worldbuilders}}

File:Casual Lardriira'xyra.jpg

2025-11-14T22:12:05Z

MCAron:

Character art of what Lardriira'xyra, might wear on a casual day

Himo Nilo

2025-11-09T04:01:34Z

MCAron: Added the session of 10/22/25 and the relationship with his mother; or the start of it.

Himo Nilo

2025-11-05T01:51:01Z

MCAron: Added his relationship with his 3 sisters. None of them were left on a positive note...

== '''The Himo Nilo''' ==
{{Infobox character|name=Himo Nilo|pronouns/gender=He/him|image=Himo Nilo.png|caption="The right side of me should show what happens when you don't pay attention."|relatives=2 Parents, 3 Sisters|affilliation="The Chairman,"The Scrappers|alias=Thai (Child name), The Magic Pick|marital=Single|birthDate=37 PR|birthPlace=High Lunas|species=Elf (High)|height=4'10"|weight=94 lbs.}}

'''Disclaimer:''' DM's of Bedlam in the Badlands, I encourage you to use as much or as little as you wish regarding NPCs and backstory.

'''Himo''' is a High Elf Rogue/Artillerist that has experienced both the rich and poor side of Lunas. He wanted to visit the Arboretum to modify existing equipment he has, but he never really left until he heard from his contacts in the Arboretum that demon incursions were ramping up. Carrying only what he could quickly pack, he left for the Arboretum with his bag that contains only essentials. He has a habit of checking anything that might look "suspicious" but doesn't really know what might be suspicious.

== Description ==
Himo is a young elf shining with bronze skin with black freckles, Short copper hair that is decently trimmed and eyes that sparkle gold when they catch the light. you would find him like he was a gem in a mine because of the reflection he often carries. He doesn't seem to carry anything with him except maybe a satchel over his back, A rapier and dagger on his left hip and short sword on his right hip respectively, hang and some tools hanging off of his belt. He wears light leather armor with a somewhat heavy desert cloak that shines a little in the light. When you peer past the cloak however, you notice two very big changes to him that he tries to hide as best as he can. The first on is he really only has half of his hair left. The right side of him looks like he has black char that curls up around the face and neck that has been there for quite some time. The second is he has no right arm. anything that might have been there is gone, and watching him, he sways a little bit to the left and right as if he can't seem to keep himself balanced. Some new projects have shown up on his person. The first seems to only be partially done, but on a rack where the shoulder would be is a semi circle with a hole cut out of the center, and an arc cut out inside the semi circle. The second gadget that he has on him at all times, is a disc launcher that fires out coins. Both of these are woodworking projects with small mechanical parts to make them work.

== Manners ==
Himo has a nervous tick carried wherever he goes. If you asked, he would say something along the lines of in a deep graveled voice of not being too careful wherever he goes, but refuses to follow up on why. The eyes seem to look for particular things, but never what is around him. Arcane is of great interest for him, but explosives are not that far off the priority. Often times, random junk that no one has used for some time goes missing, but if you saw him with the junk and asked why, the lips tighten hard. He then usually keeps to himself the rest of the day or two unless it's to discuss plans for missions or logistics. His past is guarded more securely that a vault door with enhanced locks, but the impact of it can easily be seen if he has a PTSD episode. This usually logical, crafty, upbeat personality, snaps faster than a string on a trap, changing him to an aggressive, fearful, volatile person. His hand always seems close to his dagger like he is waiting for a fight to occur. It's hard to tell if you have earned his trust or whether he sees the alliance as one time. On missions of any kind, Himo will tend to find to get out of sight when possible of his teammates, but is always around when trouble strikes.

== Background ==
Himo was born to a wealthy mage family in High Lunas. They expected him to follow that same tradition, and while he was interested in magic wasn't the most interesting thing to him as physical tasks. Still they made him either take lessons or leave this family. He negotiated to learn alchemy to understand the materials used in spellcasting.

He started to go to the Low Lunas in secret claiming private tutoring sessions when really he got into contact with the local criminal rings to learn skills from their side. He chose to learn lockpicking for his profession and was quite skilled at it. He also refined his careful hand movement to mimic letters. He balanced this double life of learning alchemy by day and learning to pick locks by night. When he went to Lower Lunas, he would bring stories of breaking into homes, taking specific materials and leaving without a trace. by the time they would try to track him down, he would be in the shadows trying to outlast the location spells used to find him. he often had to dump the stolen materials to prevent being caught. This went on for years. he wrote detailed notes about alchemy and his parents were thought he was being an obedient son. One night while learning complicated formulas to show to his parents, he was finally caught by the guards and he was sentenced to death. while in prison, he managed to convince the guards to give him 2 lodestones. He took those lodestones and mended the broken thieves tools that he was hiding in his clothing. This lock however was never supposed to be picked. It had been magically enhanced but he the night to make that happen. He picked the lock and sneaked out and into the Lower Lunas in 102 PR just as the sun was rising.

He excelled in picking locks as a freelancer. If the guild provided sanctuary based on how difficult the lock was, that locked was picked. He became infamous in rings because no lock was safe from him. Booby trapped to Arcane Lock, most locks were not safe from him. Only locks that were sophisticated with an Arcane Lock would he have a hard time picking and often failed at those, but those were few and far for High Lunas. In various guilds, he learned various weapons that he now always with him because he doesn't want to get into a scrap unarmed. He often had a habit of inspecting areas where people invited him never trusting anyone fully. His reputations grew so much that he found himself often travelling to other places to check out security systems. This took the pressure off of him because he could really inspect area he couldn't before. He learned to pickpocket, sneak around, scale buildings and practice his skills of picking locks. He tried to get an honest job in the town of Rwendia but his reputation followed him everywhere. He did odd jobs around places, pick locks here, mend broken stuff back together, and come along with other criminals to look out for traps. The people he often worked under were brutal. They would insult him behind his back, mess up him picking the locks, broke his stuff and moved him around often and lied to him where he was

He started for fun re-learning magic. Make graffiti with magic here, an odor there. This terrified the guilds because he was becoming what he swore he would never do and feared he would turn on him next. His mentor Jumad told him that no one will want someone unreliable if he chooses this path. He continued in spite of their disapproval and learned how to make a bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus. The only person he told this to was his best friend Kamer who supported him in getting new materials. One day while hiding out in the DwaleVale, he received a letter of a formal apology from his family asking him to come back. He eagerly accepted and made his way over. His contacts warned him they were up to no good and were looking for vengeance for bringing shame to the family name. When he got there they magically influenced him to open a complicated safe lock without checking the area. BOOOM!!! A massive explosion covered him from right to left, debris flying every where and scraping by on life. The family were stewing in their loss of the son when his eldest sister, Nylo gave the idea to blow him up in a public execution. That letter he found, was trapped to get him to come whether he wanted to or not. In the chaos, someone in his family had planted one more bomb to take him out. he survived, barely, but lost his right arm in the explosion. He lost everything; everything but his skills, his life and his resolve to fix this. At DAGR (Determined Assassins, Grifters, and Rogues) he received word that they needed people to fix broken things and make them better. he spent the next 6 months fighting for his life, and those 6 months were in a daze. He often found himself in a new place about every month. When finally had the strength to move comfortably, he took essentials and ran for his life in 134 PR, because no matter what he did his family was coming for him and he needed to defend himself.

== Languages ==
Himo knew elvish and common just from listening to his family, but he learned goblin when he would hang around goblins were trying to have a private conversation, not realizing Himo taught himself that from listening to them

== Character information ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="3" |1 Rogue/4 Artificer
|-
|AC 15
|HP 33
|DC 14
|-
|Str 13
|Dex 18
|Con 13
|-
|Int 16
|Wis 10
|Cha 12
|}

=== '''Proficiencies''' ===
Himo is a man of many skills that involve getting around where he needs to in some way. He effectively shows he can get around super quietly, lift or plant things in someone's pocket, has great athletic abilities, and knows how to spot the difference between 2 identical objects. If asked about anything arcane, he has great knowledge of what it is, what the purpose is, and what the process of creating might have looked like. He also seems to have some tools on his belt. Specifically woodcarver's tools are always on his belt, but he has also shown a good deal of knowledge on making mechanical parts with tinker tools, making concoctions with alchemist supplies, and what he is most well known for; picking locks, and disabling traps

=== High elf Abilities ===
* Cantrip (Mending)
* Darkvision
* Elf Weapon Training
* Extra Language (Goblin)
* Fey Ancestry
* Keen Senses
* Trance

=== Rogue Features ===

* Expertise: Stealth, Thieves Tools
* Sneak attack (1d6)
* Thieves’ Cant

=== Artificer Abilities ===

* Infuse Item (bag of holding, a returning weapon, enhanced armor and enhanced focus)
* Magical Tinkering
* Spellcasting
* Ritual Casting

=== Feats: ===
Alert

== Himo's Story ==
This is Himo's accounts of what happened in these sessions. I encourage you to come up with a goofy, but also descriptive name for each session. I have the first one done<div style="text-align: center;">
=== New Place, New Identity, and a New Dream ===
</div>
<blockquote>It's been roughly 8 months since I came here to the Arboretum and very little people know I am actually here. Kamer got me in contact with The Chairman when I got here and it has been hell being around all of these explosive materials. every big explosion sends me back a year when an attempt was made on my life. I trust absolutely NO ONE here because I have been looked down on because of a missing arm. Petty theft was the only way I survived. I was so busy about survival that I didn't realize that Raegina was hiring to make robots until The Chairman sent me a letter telling me '''[[Bedlam in the Badlands/NPCs|Raegina]]''' was looking for people to recruit for the Scrappers. I collected scraps from grand shoplifting, hid out for four months to wait out people looking for men, then I moved swiftly to the junkyard. My goal is to go back to High Lunas and exact revenge on my parents and sisters who left me in this state I am. I barely remember the explosion or the constant shifting of places because I was so out of it. The people here seem nice enough but I am just waiting for them to betray each other. When I got to the junkyard, I was appalled to see the size of these robots, and the amount of people that came was a little much for me.

When Raegina mocked many of us for having many broken and chipped off parts, I just rolled my eyes because I knew if there as anything she was trying to hide in a safe, I could find that safe without getting caught. In Low Lunas I was known as the Magic Pick because I couldn't be trapped, nor were most locks safe from me. I do need teammates however so I kept my moth shut and just listened. The amount of artificers that were there was astonishing. A tiefling had infused armor, and a goblin had a small automaton with them. But by far the most unique “living” thing saw was a doll that could think for itself. It turns out to test our skills, we would fight Grind, Smash and Cleave, 3 golems with interesting weapon choices. I got excited when I learned that we would be fighting the golems because that meant I could sneak out parts I needed for projects. One of said projects was increasing the throwing range of Thunder Rumble because I have to be relatively close to make good use of it. While fighting, one got destroyed, and it burst into flames. The heat sent me back to the explosion that back at High Lunas, where I almost lost my life. We dispatched the rest and Raegina was impressed enough to let us scrap the robots. So much for trying to do things discreetly... But I haven't really talked with people yet. After scrapping the robots, we split up into two teams. I got paired with [[Stix]] and [[Raazdrog]] which was fine. I can modify my parts and they add theirs, and I saw this as more of a fun project. After all, I like explosive confusion. But it's not like I could focus because I was so nervous with Grind blowing me to bits, I was accidentally disassembling Grind. I was trying to make the saw arm move more fluidly, and trying to add scraps of metal I had in my bag, but I fumbled hard there. It was so embarrassing, because everyone else manage to buff it in some way but not me. I wanted to leave so badly because of that, but I ended up staying in spite of it. I would be throwing away probably my only real opportunity to getting out of the slums like my family expected me to stay. To my surprise Raegina gave each of us 10 gp to bet on the improved robots as to who would win. This was huge to me! This was really the first time someone handed me something without expecting anything in return. I decided to risk all of that money and bet most of it on Grind, and then I had an Idea. I decided to rename Grind to Sparkburn, which Stix and Raazdrog liked a lot. Raazdrog and I got the idea to give Sparkburn a voice. Raazdrog gave it "I am fire. I am death." and I added "Feel the spark. Feel the burn." Now I really didn't care if we won or lost because I considered this a finished project. Out team ended up winning and I walked away with triple what I put into it. I was ecstatic not only because I won a bet, which I rarely take, but the funds could be used to get the tools I need for projects. That excitement was short-lived however because a horn coming from the Arboretum indicating it was under attack. I hopped on the war rig and we moved to the Arboretum.

Getting towards a entrance root of the Arboretum, a sudden crash hits the war rig and all of us go flying off of it. pieces of the damaged rig flew out and a large skeletal elephant collapsed next to the war rig. I wasn't paying attention because I was sketching my newest tool to assist me. I was thrown hard, losing my sketch to the winds and barely landed standing up, and my vision blacked out for a second. Metal was warping and bending in all the wrong ways and snaps echoed throughout the valley and then silence. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew this was an ambush. Footsteps on the dessert sand was coming from multiple directions, Sparks were flying off of the rig, The screeching of tires spinning out, shoe rubber flaking off the boots I put together with mending, and hearing many colleagues scrape against the dusty ground. When the dust cleared I saw green goo blobs moving towards us, and I heard something angry moving towards us. Pustuloids, Capra demons, and Lesser Rage demons were there. To give me some distance, I climbed the war rig, but as I was climbing, it felt like the floor was falling out from me and nearly fell off. Climbing up I saw roughly 10 Pustuloids, a few lesser rage demons, and a Capra. My team managed to keep hold of a choke point and so I threw my dagger at the Capra repeatedly, but I also noticed Sparkburn, covering our backside. This was great, because the Pustuloids exploded on death with Sparkburn unaffected. Raegina tells me to get off even though I just got on. I wanted to argue because I had a good position of the battle but whatever.You know that rig aint safe from me snagging a few pieces. The fight isn't going in our favor right now, because Raazdrog's steel defender, crashes to the ground in combat, unmoving by the Capra. While this fight is going on, I see a figure moving behind us, but it doesn't look like an ambush. It's a half elf holding a rapier and an instrument; most likely a bard. One by one however, the demons fell starting with the pustuloids. Leftover goo seeping into the ground before turning to ash. Two booms ring out as the lesser rage demons and the Capra are thrown back. Delaia, who has been soaking hits for us, takes the opportunity to get out after that which I don't blame. It didn't look like he was going to stand much longer to be honest. The spells seemed to come from the bard and Delaia, so we have another ally. Good because most of us are spent on resources. We kill all the demons and after a quick introduction, the bard's name is [[Leonard]], and she heard the commotion. She healed Deliaia a significant amount, and Deliaia looks ready to take on another fight. After moving this elephant which turned out to be an Olliphant off of the root, we prepared to charge up only for a wave of energy to come down upon us. There was no point to going up anymore... The Conservatory has been destroyed. There goes many projects that have been put on hold. It's not like I made progress on the parts I needed for Sizzle but still frustrating. Oh crap! More demons of the same types are coming down, and I should have seen this coming. We dispatch the ones that combated us, and the streets fall silent around us....

After the invasion ended, leaders were talking about uniting "not just to fight against the demons, but also to build alliances" or something like that. The thing is, I can only rely on one thing when partnership is formed: people are looking out for themselves. Unless someone can prove they are trustworthy, I will not be in a permanent alliance. That's how I survived Low Lunas; Ally with someone only until the necessity no longer remains. </blockquote>

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=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
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<blockquote>
A few days go by and Sir Anthony is holding a funeral for the lives lost, when I got approached by Jerbo, a gnome arcanist. He was hiring people to track down why the Kobolds attacked. I agreed but stressed, I needed some help. After getting a few others, and some quick introductions we made our way to Dapple, a satry who rents out horses. I put down the deposit and we made our way over. Oh I should mention who is here because I will be a narcissist otherwise. We have Mezzi who I have never seen take off their mask, Polvo a Air Genasi that had an encounter with death apparently, Diana a human who has a lizard like robot that follows her everywhere, Dallas a mouse I have never seen before but seems like a cool fellow, and Davin a halfling with a longbow, with a trophies on his person.

It takes a little more than two days to get there and along the way, we found a dog in a campsite that was left not long ago. I make an alarm in case people came back while I was within a mile, but I got no signal. When we get to the Osteomancer, their abode is in the ground with sand covering a trapdoor. I volunteer to go planning to be sneaky, but I forgot not everyone can see in the dark as well as I can, because Mezzi lit a torch when we all got down. When we met the Osteomancer, I can only describe what is a elephant person like three feet taller than me with big elephant ears, an elephant trunk and overall a build that could lift more than me with two arms. We were trading a favor for a favor. The Osteomancer's favor was removing a tower that was made of Absence which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I can go along with it. Apparently, when creatures are near said tower, they lose their Identities. Davin beat to the question of how are we going to protect ourselves, so that was nice. I was given a scroll and a black egg to crush when I start to read the scroll that should seal this wound. Another detail that was mentioned was the structure could only be seen through reflections.

We get to the tower, it looked like someone lived inside a crazy home. The outside can't be seen, but when you go inside, it is a ghost white. there was also a spot of complete silence, so I move myself there, crushethe egg and begin reading the scroll. A ghost that looks like he owns the place along with lights that surround us entirely. I placed down, my cannon to give me some cover while the rest of the group combat the lights. I watched my colleagues lose their ability to speak coherently while fighting them. I was blessed with something, but I couldn't tell you what it as but it seems to help me fight this ghost who was trying to make me vanish. As the fight moves on, less lights were attacking, but I can't tell you why. After nearly completing it, I was tired of the things attacking and unleash an ear piercing ring out towards the ghost, along with the nearby lights, which injure the lights a lot more than anticipated. I finish reading, and the entire place began to collapse around us. Which is unfortunate, because I wanted to get parts I need for project. I have to will myself out with Mezzi's help, but luckily everyone got out.

When we get back to the Osteomancer, we learn that when kobolds want to get rid of the Divine Blood law, they make deals with other creatures; in this case demons. This group was led by Snizz the Fortunate, but that group was dead when other people killed the kobolds. It ended with a warning "The Beast of Cinderspire will roam free." Confused, I said nothing and headed back for the horses that have been tied up. We went to check up on the dog, and it's still there and there is no sign of return, so we left for the Arboretum. This information is given to Jerbo, but I am still suspicious of hat will happen if someone does make a deal with a devil.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
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<blockquote>It's been a week since I saw that tower of that "absence" and I am ready to finish what I started or go to the Omnichapel for advice on Vela. I know, I get distracted easily, but I cannot for any reason leave a stone unturned for any reason in case it comes to bite me back later. I left Lunas on some pretty bad terms, both with my family for obvious reasons, but also the Thieve's guilds with relearning the one thing I swore off of. That mistake of saying I will not learn more things about a specific topic was so far my worst one yet. Anyone could come for me for any reason, and I need to be ready for when I get jumped. Today luckily is not one of those days, because a new job offering has appeared who's handwriting is more crude than a thieve's messy handwriting. Baftzmyr as I later found out put up the sign about a giant demon stuck in the sand, and it needed to be killed. Cool, I can just fire with my cannon and it will eventually die if it can't get out. When I get there, I see some new faces, but also a handful of familiar ones. Stix and Razzdrog are here, but among the new ones we have Steady Dee, a tabaxi who wears some unusually heavy armor comparatively that have some runes on it that appear to be of a giant origin, but I guess whatever floats your boat. Koro, an Air Genasi that wears some monk robes, who can't seem to make up his mind when it comes to allegiances, and Ozmir, a tiefling that has powers I have never seen before, but curious as to how they will work. Baftzmyr explains that scout demons have been circling around looking around for a way to get out the great demon. The plan was simple; locate the scouts, follow them, and kill the great demon. Now that follows, but it's under the sand. What is Baftzmyr's plan to expose the demon? I don't know. All I know is I can sneak up on it, and rain cannon fire down where it can't see me. Ozmir who can apparently track creatures really well, starts following a set made not long ago. Along the path, a heatwave catches me completely off guard, and I feel more sluggish than before. Great, now I won't be able to hide nearly as easy I have before, but I am with a group. We get right on top the scout and it pops out ready to attack. It would have died in two hits, if Sparkburn didn't have a weapon infused with fire. Wait! I forgot to mention Sparkburn is with us! Gobbo, I will find you later and confront you for remaining silent. It didn't matter however, because melee attacks are still effective. After that one dies, Stix along with a few others spot three more running from away, and we continue to follow. After a few more hours of travel, we come across some quicksand that is quaking. Quicksand isn't supposed to do that on a large scale; this is where the great demon is. Baftzmyr pulls what appears to be an origami pig that is coated in a layer of wax. It looks like the pig was boiled alive, but I am not one to judge. Stix volunteers to carry to bomb, and all I can say to that is... Ok never mind. This doll, husk? I don't know what it's made of, but regardless, the bomb is carried to it's destination. More importantly however, Stix makes it out unscathed. Maybe Stix has a ratio of strength similar to that of an ant. Ants proportionally can carry more weight to their body mass. Koro and I peek over, and WHAT IS THIS FOR A DEMON!? A cage for a face with a flame inside of it and some kind of disc neck to keep the sand out of the face or something. We give out teammates that knowing look, and the rest of the team gets to work. Raazdrog and MK-2 setup an anti flank position for us on the right as well as making the demon glittery. Steady Dee also sets up an anti flank position for us on the right side as well as growing to giant. With this enlarged form Steady throws a handaxe that lands square in the "face" of the great demon but not as effective as it should have hit . Stix is firing blasts of green energy which makes me think a deal was involved for this power. Koro using the bow pierces the demon with the same problem as Steady, and I am throwing a dagger, firing a cannon, and backing up, because I have no interest in falling in the quicksand and next to this abomination. That caused a different problem however which was I opened the line for more of the scouts to come attack Koro and Ozmir. I planned to fix this by booming them back into it, but that will backfire spectacularly when Koro kills one of the scouts, and stayed within the line of fire. It was also a good thing that I moved out, because the sand started moving out from everyone's feet who were close to the edge. Steady and MK-2 fell in and hell broke loose, literally. I didn't see what happened but the next thing I know, Koro willingly jumps into the pit and now Steady is floating in the air about 20ft. Why that is happening, I couldn't tell you, but Steady was bleeding out and needed help soon. Baftzmyr uttered some word and Steady is conscious again. I go to help Ozmir, because currently 3 scouts are surrounding her, which aint cool. I drive my dagger into a scout's death, and the sand is still moving out from under us, but I can keep myself steady. Raazdrog on the other hand wasn't so lucky and also managed to fall in next to the demon. Things are going fine right now. The great demon is getting whacked by are melee fighters and the people up here in the sand are holding off the scouts just fine. Oh no. My worst fear has come true; this demon will explode on death. I am not going to be around that. I can stabilize those who take the brunt of the explosion. At least, that was my original plan if Koro didn't fall to the giant claws of this demon. I am not ready to lose a colleague here, so I jump down, run to Koro, heal him just enough to get him conscious again and prep for another round of attacks against this creature. Maybe it was better however that I couldn't keep myself steady this time and I was buried in the sand. Not wanting to be stuck in here, I used my last spell to blast out, but that didn't work. Later I learned that I had injured Koro, and Steady who were both super hurt by it, but the worst part was I didn't even get out with that. I got burned, but not by much comparatively to other people who got the full brunt. Stix stabilized Koro, and Raazdrog healed Steady and then Koro. It honestly surprised me that everyone made it out alive. We got our gold, and I moved on because I don't know how much I can trust the Scrappers when working with a Fiend. Working with criminals is bad enough, but trying to work with a creature from the underworld seems like a death sentence.</blockquote>

<div style='text-align: center;'>
=== <Insert name here> Credit: __________ ===
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<blockquote>It's been a few days since hunting the Baron of Filth or whatever in the Nine Hells this creature is, and I finished the sketching for my tool arm. I don't have a name for it, but I know the name will come at the end when I finish the project. I should really get some paper however, because each time I sketch it, it's in the sand. I lose it very easily, and often times restart like some mime performing the same trick. I was ready to go buy the materials when I am stopped by Gnash, a half orc who means business. If I had a counterpart, it would be her. Why? because the entire left side of her face is char black. Besides that she needs people to track down some missing people. They have been gone 2 days and she hates mystery. Some other people that get recruited were Leonard, Mezzi, The Scarlet Shadow, Raazdrog, and Avel. I think it's worth mentioning that we have 3 musically inclined, which I don't I have ever been apart of. We are told to look for a carcass of a long dead giant worm, and the distant mountain Tol'Viral on are way to Drywater. Jerbo reads off a scroll and we turn to mist, and boy can we MOVE! With this enhanced movement, met up with Kaleen, a desert vulpine druid who knew of our mission. We got two scrolls. I recognize these and as '''Animal Messenger''' and '''Locate object''' spells. If anything goes wrong we are told to give movement on where they are headed and in how long.. The '''Locate Object''' however is to find a silver bullet the group left behind.. Seems odd, but hey maybe they do that elsewhere to mark where they were. We don't need either however, because Scarlet knows this place like the back of his hand. Apparently the blue dragonborn, and the thri-kreen hate each other enough to capture, but not kill him, which I find very funny. Anyways, he finds tracks of about a dozen thri-kreen. Following them, they reduce to about 4 tracks that were left behind, and end abruptly. Still Scarlet picks up where they began again and we continue to follow. We are moving with the wind while following the tracks, so it was very easy to actually catch up to the thri-kreen Scarlet was following. When I get the chance to look at them, and it looks likes an ant that grew a spine, a brain along with gaining lots of lower insect strength. The color of the shell also seems to be blending in better with the surrounding enviorment, which I wish I could get my hands on that. We transformed into ourselves again, and decided instead of attacking, to talk to them since they might have some useful information regarding the people we are trying to find. I was confused about the execution, until I learned Scarlet could actually communicate with them. Upon seeing us, the group shows off their mandibles, and claws. Scarlet attempts to parley with the clutch but to no avail, since he could speak the language of clack clickers. Before you judge me, that's what I heard. As we got closer, they became blurry and hard to track their position. I recognize this as a '''Blur''' spell. I am about to make them shiny when Raazdrog beats me to that idea. Only one of them got affected however, but there is one idea I have. Some spells you can't put together because you have to think about the actual spell. '''Blur''' happens to be one of those spells, so I plan to attack in a flank or hit them with spells, they have to resist. I summon the cannon, and get to work. They start by swarming Raazdrog, but since only a few attacks hit, they turned the attention to me. They also don't get many hits in, but one did strike me good. A 6 on 4 however doesn't end well for them, and that part of the clutch falls one by one to us swarming them. We leave the corpses behind and continue on our journey to finding the people who went missing. I was honestly expecting more of a fight with how many tracks we say, but hey I'll save some of my resources for later. We get to a dune structure with a very small tunnel with 2 Federation members dead. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a fight broke out here about a day ago, There is a tunnel about 5ft wide, so it's time for a single file line. I go first, after my cannon, so that less people will be affected by any traps that may come. Well dam right I was because my cannon snapped a tripwire leading to a bunch of some decent size rocks they could fit in the ceiling tumble out. I get out of the way get fine, but I couldn't move my cannon, and it get's dented pretty badly from the trap set. Lesson learned; check for traps in a small area like this. I just realized my experience from Low Lunas has been lacking faster than what happened the last time I was in High Lunas. I start examining the area up ahead, and would you look at that; another trap.. It takes me less than 10 seconds to permanently disable the trap however, so no issues there. Continuing to check for traps, I find no more, and I see a room, probably about 40 feet by 30 feet, and there is a decent amount of light in here that seems to be pretty bright. When we get to the maw of this room, I can just barely see to left some kind of rig, but oh come on. Really? A weapon pointed in my face with 2 people standing a few feet away from the arch. From the little I can see, this appears temporary, but I first need to talk to these people.. I told them that we are here to find you. We were sent by Gnash, and got here with the help of Jerbo. Why there are 2 dead Federation members outside this cave, I have a better idea now. AVEL WHY!? I might have been going somewhere with the conversation, but then you decide to teleport behind them and attack? Fine, Seeing this I spring into action, and start to attack the person who drew their weapon at me. Rude, but fine a fight you want? A fight you will get. I blast the cannon into the shin of the guy, and take that opportunity to throw my dagger into his skull, which works out great because that is one less person we have to deal with. Raazdrog, Mk-2, and Scarlet move into the room and attack some of the nearby henchmen. that happen to be near the doorway so less occupancy there. Avel takes this opportunity to corner the leader in a one on one duel. Unhappy with me dropping her main bodyguard, she leaves the duel with Avel, and decides to attack me instead, with a reach weapon. Dammit, my cannon was in the way, but that didn't matter for this dumb weapon. The lightning and fire hurts pretty bad, but I am still here... Then the dork leaves me alone to go get into a 3v1. I think something is being plotted, because they moved away from me, almost like something had a higher priority. Leonard seeing me greatly injured me heals my immediate wounds, which is nice, because I want to help my teamates, but I can't do that with almost being taken out of the fight. There is 3 other henchmen here, so I direct my cannon to fire at one who was next to Avel as I stick my knife into their side for a well thrown shot.. Mezzi managed to released a held spell, after Avel forced the enemy into Mezzi's line of sight. It didn't have any effect, but the more people closer to the leader, the better.. The leader in a desperate move, went to the rig, and pushed a few buttons, and got ready to run., getting slashed, by Raazdrog Mk-2, Scarlet, and Avel.. I now realize what this is; an infernal enhancement. NOW I WANT THAT! this would speed up my projects by who know how long, and I would earn a lot of favor from Raegina.. This person clearly has connections to the Scrappers, which now irritates me, because we are fighting within our own group, but I know I don't have the tongue to get everyone to stop fighting. We managed to get the Tiefling leader to start running, but by that point, the fight was over. I used this opportunity to try and disable this infernal enhancement, but to no avail. It starts burning me... This rig can't be disabled, from a self destruction button, but I have to keep going. I'm getting burned and then I see it; I can get out, where I couldn't before. I will not give up my own life to figure this out. This is my choice now, not some magic that was used on me. I run out with the rest of the group to hear a big explosion ring out. I managed to get some materials out from the rig, but it's now useless... I spend some time with this tiefling who's name is Velza. Apparently her and Raegina have been locking horns because this rig should have come back to the junkyard, There was incursions here that the local tribe could use help with that rig that is now gone. The solution was spiteful and honestly stupid, and as much as I would have loved to get her off the hook, I want to be able to use these tools for good, not just because of a word of law.. I'm not sure how much longer I will be with the Scrappers because of this incident... If all Raegina cares about is this problem of demons within Pteris no matter the cost, desperation will make people do some insane things all trying to better the future for themselves/children with the destruction left behind..

The end NEVER EVER for any reason, justifies the means.</blockquote>

== Character Interactions ==

=== The Scrappers ===
When Himo first arrived, he was like a ghost in the markets. He bought what he needed, and left in such a hurry, it was hard to track them down. He never really talked to people for more than 5 minutes when he finally met some of the crew of the scrappers, and they seemed to treat him with some respect, but Himo kept to themselves.

=== Gobbo Greenskin ===
After the Conservatory was destroyed, he found Gobbo, a goblin with a robot named FR0G-GY. Gobbo mentioned he could make Himo an arm, which interested him, but that conversation was never followed up on. Gobbo also mentioned knowing where Sparkburn was, but won't elaborate on where the golem is now, which is frustrating Himo.

=== Rhogar Dreel ===
[[File:Rhogar Dreel.jpg|thumb|200x200px|Rhogar Dreel]]
Rhogar is part of the Federation. Himo wanted to initally join the Federation, because he often did a lot of exploitation of vices back in Lunas, but understood that organization would fall to corruption eventually. While trying to figure out the whole coordinated attack Himo managed to set his back on fire because of his obliviousness in front of Rhogar from his OWN cannon!

=== Syl Vipershade ===
Himo has lets say a rocky roller coaster of emotions with Syl. When Himo first met Syl, the interaction wasn't awful, but it didn't take long for the oblivious cracks to seep through. While trying to figure out the attack on the Arboretum, Himo burns himself in front of Syl and Rhogar... with his own cannon. Syl distanced themselves from Himo, which he didn't mind because he was too busy working on his projects. Syl noticed Himo always seems to be ready for a fight, and becomes incredibly jumpy when someone tries to affect his mind. This problem was only amplified however after Stix was captured. While hanging out with Gobbo and Syl, Himo suddenly started feeling burned in his right side despite no actual fire being nearby. Himo accidentally summoned his cannon, to which Gobbo and Syl responded by trying to grapple Himo. While Himo never ended attacking either, Himo made it known that his past he is incredibly fearful of. To Himo's surprise, Syl offered him the chance to let something off of his chest. Even though Himo declined for the moment, he did agree to meet later, and discuss it more with Syl.

=== Lenore ===
Lenore was someone who Himo would have never interacted with except in a professional manner, but it took less than five minutes for the mask to come off about his certainty. Lenore is a cleric of Vela, and no one had really offered help without a clause. That sent Himo's brain into overdrive, freezing up at the kind gesture of giving a few names of those who run the Omnichapel as well as a stone of Vela

== Relationships '''(COMING SOON!)''' ==
=== Nyria Nilo ===

=== Celthron Nilo ===

=== Kynnela Nilo ===
Kynnela is the oldest sibling of the Nilo family. Himo picked up the rebellious attitude from her because she fought with her mother and father all the time. Kynnela who is 478 became a Diviner, and she questioned her past self before leaving the house. She treated Himo with the utmost disgust, and got his other sisters, and even his parents to either join in, or pretends it doesn't happen. On the occasional return to the house, Himo kept her at arms length, refusing to relive the pain that she caused. This made Kynnela bitter, and was the one to plot Himo's death, but ultimately failed. Last Himo has heard, Kynnela has left High Lunas; to where and why Himo doesn't know.

=== Mariela Nilo ===
Mariela is the second sibling of the Nilo family. Mariela is 239 years old at this point, and always had a bitter disappointment for Himo. She constantly questioned why Himo wouldn't apply himself more, and why he fought with all 5 members of this family. It's not like she was innocent either. She would sabotage Himo in any way she could since she didn't approve of her parents letting him take alchemy while she was forced into a school of magic. She chose conjuration as her school, because she preferred summoned things doing the work for her. Last Himo has heard, her bossy behavior isn't being well liked by her colleagues.

=== Tyanna Nilo ===
Tyanna is the youngest member of the Nilo family making Himo the third child. currently just 33, she made Himo's life miserable, but not by actions. She insulted him basically every time he spoke, and these comments are viscous. She often told Himo how he causes the tension for not following tradition, but refuses to acknowledge her own shortcomings. All of these insults were basically ignored by everyone, because they expected Himo to just let it go, but he simply couldn't. She doesn't realize that she is part of the reason that Himo ended up abandoning the family. There was one incident were Himo used physical force to make her panic and show her that actions have consequences, but Himo doubts it made an impact. Last Himo has heard, the coward is studying Abjuration to prevent that incident again.

=== Kamer ===
__FORCETOC__

Lunas

2025-11-02T03:31:52Z

MCAron: niche Formatting

<big>🚧 '''Under construction'''</big>

'''This page will be getting a lot more updates!'''{{Infobox location|title = Lunas|image = Lunas.PNG|type = Bisectioned City|Government = High: Presidency, Low: Anarchy|location = Oppidan, Pteris|inhabiting Race = Humanoids}}
'''Lunas''' is the collective name for a province which really should be considered two segregated zones of the city: High Lunas and Low Lunas. On the one side you have some of the richest people to ever live in High Lunas. They most likely were born into it, and worked their way up the house ladder until they either became the leader of that house, or became president for all of High Lunas. High Lunas offers some the best materials and services for pets and training animals, mansions, travel supplies, arcane materials, and brewing the best drinks people know of

On the other side of the bridge, has some of the greatest mercenaries, black markets, and Divination magic in Oppidian. These people learned the trade out desperation, but with a reputation to maintain, getting out of this criminal lifestyle is harder than starting an honest business within High Lunas. Your more likely to earn enough to scrape by in Low Lunas, than you are to start a successful business within a market that has cornered many markets already.

= High Lunas =

== History ==
High Lunas was only accessible by the wealthy and the powerful. In the 650s [[PR]], a day's pass into High Lunas cost 25 GP, which was more than most peasants made in a year. Over time, the price fluctuated, meaning that entrance into High Lunas would be anywhere between 10 GP and 50 GP. Those who could not pay the price and receive a temporary pin would be banned from entering.

In the 740s [[PR]] High Lunas branded itself as the "Lunas Resort" and for a period of time upcharged it's entrance fees to 100 GP per person. As part of the "Resort" branding, High Lunas also offered a 1000 GP annual pass that gave unlimited entry into the city for a year.

== Society ==

=== High Lunas Houses and Hierarchies ===

== Religion ==

== Government ==

=== Economy ===
In Oppidan, High Lunas was considered to have the best
* Animals and Pets
* Manors
* Camping and Travel Supplies
* Ships
* Arcane Materials
* Brewing

=== Notable Locations ===
* '''[[Golden Asylum|The Golden Asylum]]''', the realm's second largest bank, home to protective services for nobles, kings, and the wealthy from across nearly all of [[Quelmar]].
* The Mythril Theatre
* The [[Oppidan]] Library
* Wealthy Yards

== Daily Life ==
Flaunting wealth like it was your last was praised, but those who hid their wealth were looked down upon. One of the most universal ways this was done, was through suing others with some huge rationale. Another popular method of flaunting was to "string" the servants along to show how obedient they were with the families. Families who did this were scrutinized and suspected to be hiding assets for tax reasons. Servants will never retaliate lest they face consequences such as beatings, public humiliation, pay cuts, or even jail time. Deals that were made without paper is like the deal never existed, or is taken so literally, that no amount of wording without paper can get the contract secured with no loopholes.

Banquets are breakfast, lunch and dinner, but it's not like the people of High Lunas honestly care about the food going. When desperation is high enough, servants will sneak off to the garbage to eat whatever eloquent food that hasn't already been stolen by the small rodents that prowl in the kitchens. Competitive is an understatement for work done in High Lunas. At the start each month a toastman from each house will bring the reports of how the house did from the last month. Those who under performed without a reasonable exception, were punished by being forced through the other houses to pay the houses that did better than expected to pay for the daily entrance fee for every person who belonged in that house. For this reason in particular, reports of bad days went "missing," but everyone knows that the house is lying.

Marriage for selfish reasons are just as prevalent, and children were forced to work in the same trade as their parents. Those who disobeyed got blamed for why the house didn't do as well, and the punishments at home are just as harsh for those who are servants. The one thing all houses avoided like their livelihood depended on, (because it did) was to wrong another house, because provoking a civil war would destroy the economy of the proud Lunas: You did not wrong a house, unless you can prove they did something illegal. Since the president had no say on how the economy was run due to a "Hands Off" approach, the matter had to be solved among the houses. Whispers of houses subverting their rivals in some way or another however, is not the hard to get in on when you know the right people.

= Low Lunas =

Welcome to a maze of dark alleys, blighted streets, passages right under the foot, and tenuous alliances where one slight sparks the gang wars innocents hear about in hushed whispers. Traps lurk in every inch of a safe house, vault, and alley. It's not like anyone is innocent in Low Lunas. Everyone committed crimes to survive. What gets you safe is the alliances you forged in the darkest corners of the city, and honoring those pacts. Those who don't know how to get around quietly quickly find themselves a target for Ambush, Larceny, Arson, and framed slights.

== History ==
'''Low Lunas''' existed completely ignored by High Lunas for many years following the segregation. The first steps towards unification took place in 693 PR when a noble from High Lunas went undercover as "The Beggar Prince" and assisted a passionate leader in Low Lunas who called himself "The Red Sash". Together the two of them started a violent uprising, that led to Lord Luiras to allocate budget towards fighting the blight in Low Lunas

== Society ==

=== High Lunas Houses and Hierarchies ===

== Religion ==

== Government ==

=== Economy ===
In Oppidan, Low Lunas was considered to have the best
* Mercenaries
* Poisons
* Illegal items
* Scrying and other clairvoyant Magic

=== Notable Locations ===
* The Blood Market, a black market that sells things that rogues may need. Also dabbles in brothel services.
* The Poor Quarters Graveyard
* The Shaded Lamp
* [[The Council of Wrath]] Headquarters

== Daily Life ==
The mood here in Low Lunas is one of desperation, anger, vengeful, calculated, and unforgiving. Kindness unlike High Lunas, means nothing in a lawless section of the city, and will make you more of a target for those who wish to exploit that kindness. When you come to Low Lunas, you either join a ring soon, or become a target.

Every word must be chosen carefully, every action thought out. Otherwise, one misstep is more than likely to be your last. Alliances are one time, lest you risk a betrayal that is common here in Lunas. Marriage is a foreign word to these people, and children brought into Low Lunas follow their parents footsteps of alliances and skills learned. One thing always remained true in Low Lunas. You give the job to someone else, and they will do the dirty work for you and leave no trace behind, but don't be fooled that they won't ask for a favor in return

= Mid Lunas =
Initially just a guard outpost, Mid Lunas grew to be a small community of like minded individuals from both sides of the river in the aftermath of [[The Oppidan War]].

== Notable Events ==

=== The Shadow Man and Shade Maiden ===
[[Category:Pteris]]
[[Category:Pteris Cities]]

Lunas

2025-11-01T18:18:18Z

MCAron: Setting up the framework for city lore

= Lunas =
<big>🚧 '''Under construction'''</big>'''This page will be getting a lot more updates!'''{{Infobox location|title = Lunas|image = Lunas.PNG|type = Bisectioned City|Government = High: Presidency, Low: Anarchy|location = Oppidan, Pteris|inhabiting Race = Humanoids}}
'''Lunas''' is the collective name for a province which really should be considered two segregated zones of the city: High Lunas and Low Lunas. On the one side you have some of the richest people to ever live in High Lunas. They most likely were born into it, and worked their way up the house ladder until they either became the leader of that house, or became president for all of High Lunas. High Lunas offers some the best materials and services for pets and training animals, mansions, travel supplies, arcane materials, and brewing the best drinks people know of

On the other side of the bridge, has some of the greatest mercenaries, black markets, and Divination magic in Oppidian. These people learned the trade out desperation, but with a reputation to maintain, getting out of this criminal lifestyle is harder than starting an honest business within High Lunas. Your more likely to earn enough to scrape by in Low Lunas, than you are to start a successful business within a market that has cornered many markets already.

= High Lunas =

== History ==
High Lunas was only accessible by the wealthy and the powerful. In the 650s [[PR]], a day's pass into High Lunas cost 25 GP, which was more than most peasants made in a year. Over time, the price fluctuated, meaning that entrance into High Lunas would be anywhere between 10 GP and 50 GP. Those who could not pay the price and receive a temporary pin would be banned from entering.

In the 740s [[PR]] High Lunas branded itself as the "Lunas Resort" and for a period of time upcharged it's entrance fees to 100 GP per person. As part of the "Resort" branding, High Lunas also offered a 1000 GP annual pass that gave unlimited entry into the city for a year.

== Society ==

=== High Lunas Houses and Hierarchies ===

== Religion ==

== Government ==

=== Economy ===
In Oppidan, High Lunas was considered to have the best
* Animals and Pets
* Manors
* Camping and Travel Supplies
* Ships
* Arcane Materials
* Brewing

=== Notable Locations ===
* '''[[Golden Asylum|The Golden Asylum]]''', the realm's second largest bank, home to protective services for nobles, kings, and the wealthy from across nearly all of [[Quelmar]].
* The Mythril Theatre
* The [[Oppidan]] Library
* Wealthy Yards

== Daily Life ==
Flaunting wealth like it was your last was praised, but those who hid their wealth were looked down upon. One of the most universal ways this was done, was through suing others with some huge rationale. Another popular method of flaunting was to "string" the servants along to show how obedient they were with the families. Families who did this were scrutinized and suspected to be hiding assets for tax reasons. Servants will never retaliate lest they face consequences such as beatings, public humiliation, pay cuts, or even jail time. Deals that were made without paper is like the deal never existed, or is taken so literally, that no amount of wording without paper can get the contract secured with no loopholes.

Banquets are breakfast, lunch and dinner, but it's not like the people of High Lunas honestly care about the food going. When desperation is high enough, servants will sneak off to the garbage to eat whatever eloquent food that hasn't already been stolen by the small rodents that prowl in the kitchens. Competitive is an understatement for work done in High Lunas. At the start each month a toastman from each house will bring the reports of how the house did from the last month. Those who under performed without a reasonable exception, were punished by being forced through the other houses to pay the houses that did better than expected to pay for the daily entrance fee for every person who belonged in that house. For this reason in particular, reports of bad days went "missing," but everyone knows that the house is lying.

Marriage for selfish reasons are just as prevalent, and children were forced to work in the same trade as their parents. Those who disobeyed got blamed for why the house didn't do as well, and the punishments at home are just as harsh for those who are servants. The one thing all houses avoided like their livelihood depended on, (because it did) was to wrong another house, because provoking a civil war would destroy the economy of the proud Lunas: You did not wrong a house, unless you can prove they did something illegal. Since the president had no say on how the economy was run due to a "Hands Off" approach, the matter had to be solved among the houses. Whispers of houses subverting their rivals in some way or another however, is not the hard to get in on when you know the right people.

= Low Lunas =

Welcome to a maze of dark alleys, blighted streets, passages right under the foot, and tenuous alliances where one slight sparks the gang wars innocents hear about in hushed whispers. Traps lurk in every inch of a safe house, vault, and alley. It's not like anyone is innocent in Low Lunas. Everyone committed crimes to survive. What gets you safe is the alliances you forged in the darkest corners of the city, and honoring those pacts. Those who don't know how to get around quietly quickly find themselves a target for Ambush, Larceny, Arson, and framed slights.

== History ==
'''Low Lunas''' existed completely ignored by High Lunas for many years following the segregation. The first steps towards unification took place in 693 PR when a noble from High Lunas went undercover as "The Beggar Prince" and assisted a passionate leader in Low Lunas who called himself "The Red Sash". Together the two of them started a violent uprising, that led to Lord Luiras to allocate budget towards fighting the blight in Low Lunas

== Society ==

=== High Lunas Houses and Hierarchies ===

== Religion ==

== Government ==

=== Economy ===
In Oppidan, Low Lunas was considered to have the best
* Mercenaries
* Poisons
* Illegal items
* Scrying and other clairvoyant Magic

=== Notable Locations ===
* The Blood Market, a black market that sells things that rogues may need. Also dabbles in brothel services.
* The Poor Quarters Graveyard
* The Shaded Lamp
* [[The Council of Wrath]] Headquarters

== Daily Life ==
The mood here in Low Lunas is one of desperation, anger, vengeful, calculated, and unforgiving. Kindness unlike High Lunas, means nothing in a lawless section of the city, and will make you more of a target for those who wish to exploit that kindness. When you come to Low Lunas, you either join a ring soon, or become a target.

Every word must be chosen carefully, every action thought out. Otherwise, one misstep is more than likely to be your last. Alliances are one time, lest you risk a betrayal that is common here in Lunas. Marriage is a foreign word to these people, and children brought into Low Lunas follow their parents footsteps of alliances and skills learned. One thing always remained true in Low Lunas. You give the job to someone else, and they will do the dirty work for you and leave no trace behind, but don't be fooled that they won't ask for a favor in return

= Mid Lunas =
Initially just a guard outpost, Mid Lunas grew to be a small community of like minded individuals from both sides of the river in the aftermath of [[The Oppidan War]].

== Notable Events ==

=== The Shadow Man and Shade Maiden ===
[[Category:Pteris]]
[[Category:Pteris Cities]]

Lunas

2025-10-31T23:01:34Z

MCAron: Added High Luna's daily life

{{Worldbuilders}} {{Infobox location|title = Lunas|image = Lunas.PNG|type = Bisectioned City|Government = High: Presidency, Low: Anarchy|location = Oppidan, Pteris|inhabiting Race = Humanoids}}
'''Lunas''' is the collective name for a province which really should be considered two segregated zones of the city: High Lunas and Low Lunas.
<big>🚧 Under construction</big>
'''This page will be getting a lot more updates!'''

== High Lunas ==
High Lunas was only accessible by the wealthy and the powerful. In the 650s [[PR]], a day's pass into High Lunas cost 25 GP, which was more than most peasants made in a year. Over time, the price fluctuated, meaning that entrance into High Lunas would be anywhere between 10 GP and 50 GP. Those who could not pay the price and receive a temporary pin would be banned from entering.

In the 740s [[PR]] High Lunas branded itself as the "Lunas Resort" and for a period of time upcharged it's entrance fees to 100 GP per person. As part of the "Resort" branding, High Lunas also offered a 1000 GP annual pass that gave unlimited entry into the city for a year.

=== Notable Locations ===
* '''[[Golden Asylum|The Golden Asylum]]''', the realm's second largest bank, home to protective services for nobles, kings, and the wealthy from across nearly all of [[Quelmar]].
* The Mythril Theatre
* The [[Oppidan]] Library
* Wealthy Yards

=== Specialties ===
In Oppidan, High Lunas was considered to have the best
* Animals and Pets
* Manors
* Camping and Travel Supplies
* Ships
* Arcane Materials
* Brewing

=== High Lunas Daily Life ===
Flaunting wealth like it was your last was praised, but those who hid their wealth were looked down upon. Families who did this were scrutinized and suspected to be hiding assets for tax reasons. One of the most universal ways this was done, was through suing others with some huge rationale. Another popular method of flaunting was to "string" the servants along to show how obedient they were with the families. Servants will never retaliate lest they face consequences such as beatings, public humiliation, pay cuts, or even jail time. Deals that were made without paper is like the deal never existed, or is taken so literally, that no amount of wording without paper can get the contract secured with no loopholes.

Banquets are breakfast, lunch and dinner, but it's not like the people of High Lunas honestly care about the food going. When desperation is high enough, Servants will sneak off to the garbage to eat whatever eloquent food that hasn't already been stolen by the small rodents that prowl in the kitchens Competitive is an understatement for work done in High Lunas. At the start each month a toastman from each house will bring the reports of how the house did from the last month. Those who under performed without a reasonable exception, were punished by being forced through the other houses to pay the houses that did better than expected to pay for the daily entrance fee for every person who belonged in that house. For this reason in particular, reports of bad days went "missing," but everyone knows that is the house is lying.

Marriage for selfish reasons are just as prevalent, and children were forced to work in the same trade as their parents. Those who disobeyed got blamed for why the house didn't do as well, and the punishments at home are just as harsh for those who are servants

There is one thing all houses avoided at all costs, because provoking a civil war would destroy the economy of the proud Lunas: You did not wrong a house, unless you can prove they did something illegal. Since the president had no say on how the economy was run due to a "Hands Off" approach, the matter had to be solved among the houses. Whispers of houses subverting their rivals in some way or another however, is not the hard to get in on when you know the right people.

== Low Lunas ==
'''Low Lunas''' existed completely ignored by High Lunas for many years following the segregation. The first steps towards unification took place in 693 PR when a noble from High Lunas went undercover as "The Beggar Prince" and assisted a passionate leader in Low Lunas who called himself "The Red Sash". Together the two of them started a violent uprising, that led to Lord Luiras to allocate budget towards fighting the blight in Low Lunas.

=== Notable Locations ===
* The Blood Market, a black market that sells things that rogues may need. Also dabbles in brothel services.
* The Poor Quarters Graveyard
* The Shaded Lamp
* [[The Council of Wrath]] Headquarters

=== Specialties ===
In Oppidan, Low Lunas was considered to have the best
* Mercenaries
* Poisons
* Illegal items
* Scrying and other clairvoyant Magic

== Mid Lunas ==
Initially just a guard outpost, Mid Lunas grew to be a small community of like minded individuals from both sides of the river in the aftermath of [[The Oppidan War]].

== Notable Events ==

=== The Shadow Man and Shade Maiden ===
[[Category:Pteris]]
[[Category:Pteris Cities]]