PORTALS

CAST

  • Grolsch (Human Paladin) – Jeremy Hilts
  • Isachar (Human Cleric) – James Lockhart
  • Lirosell (Elf Ranger) – Christine Armstrong
  • Starling (Half-Elf Rogue) – Jen Germyn
  • Torius (Half-Elf Druid) – Chris Paul
  • Wilhelm (Halfling Bard) – Karl Germyn

The town of Erl is the easternmost town in the Duchy of Dunsany, bordered by Elfland Forest to the north and the River Styk to the west which separates Dunsany from Talmorda.

The festival of Sylvanastra

The adventurers were there for Sylvanastra, a mid-summer festival held when the border between Hyracanum and Elfland is thinnest and the Elves come to visit, such as Lirosell. The event draws merchants from nearby towns and even as far as Dunsany City, whence Wilhelm and Starling come. Grolsch, Isachar and Torius are native sons of Erl.

One stall featured a captive Owlbear which got loose, only to be subdued by the adventurers, drawing them together. Another Bard visiting the festival, Hanarina, blamed mischievious Elves for letting the beast loose, but Lirosell’s involvement in stopping the rampage kept the heat off her kind.

The Owlbear gets loose at Sylvanastra


In the morning, however, twelve babies were missing from their beds. Again, Hanarina blamed Elves and this time public sentiment was less favourable. Grolsch and Isachar were chosen for a rescue mission into Elfland with Lirosell as their guide, but the Elves they met laughed off the accusations as the work of the same Goblins who had harassed the Owlbear into a rampage and then joined the racist Hanarina marching into Talmorda that very dawn carrying armfuls of babies.

In Elfland, time does not exist and so Lirosell was able to lead the party back to Hyracanum at more or less the same time as they had left it and they immediately went after Hanarina and her Goblins into the Realm of the Dead. By sunset they had caught up with the villains at the edge of a village ruin where Hanarina had been met by an Evil Warlock intent on sacrificing the babies of Erl – a scheme soon ended by the heroes.

Fighting Goblins

Night was falling in the Realm of the Dead and the adventurers made a hasty retreat for home, dodging the wandering zombies and ghouls which were appearing with increasing frequency. They made it across the River Styk at dawn and were hailed as heroes for successfully returning all twelve of the stolen children. Wilhelm and Starling left for Dunsany City the next day and all was well.

Then Torius suffered a nightmare vision of the Green Man, a figure of Elfland known for great mischief. There was enough concern that Groslch and Isachar offered to go with Torius into Elfland once more with Lirosell as guide and search for the Summer Queen, another figure of Elfland who was more agreeable than her counterpart.

The Summer Queen

Neither the Summer Queen nor her court could be found in her usual glade, which was odd. The party decided to dive into the pool of her glade which led to the Elemental Plane of Water, by which other pools in other realms could be accessed. One such pool led them to a night-time palace garden at the base of a tall ivory tower whose top held the Summer Queen captive.

Unable to free her, the party ran back to the pool when confronted by palace guards. Following a length of rope they had anchored in a safe place, the party found themselves exiting a pool not in Elfland but in a sweltering jungle. It appeared that the Green Man had changed the anchor-point of the rope while they were in the ivory tower, leading them far, far astray.

The forest of giant treeshrooms

Climbing the tall, alien trees with their skinny trunks and broad, cap-like canopies, the party encountered a pair of Fairie Dragons, Tinfel and Azala, who needed their help overcoming a pack of Perytons who were harassing them. The adventurers ventured up higher and out along the top branches to reach the edge of the canopy and get topside. There they discovered the truth: the trees were in fact gigantic mushrooms rooted in moon-sized spore-balls floating through the endless blue sky of the Elemental Plane of Air. Not only that, but in the distance a flying boat could be seen.

The Elemental Plane of Air

Once the adventurers eliminated the Perytons, they started a fire to signal the ship and it came their way, crewed by a single Wizard called Mr. Skybell. He was from another world entirely and knew nothing of the Summer Queen or Hyracanum and was on his way home from mapping the Sporedrift when he saw the party. Skybell promised to return to help them as soon as he was able, so the adventurers camped and waited.

While they waited, Tinfel and Azala asked for their help in eliminating a Wyvern from the local area. The adventurers kindly obliged and nearly lost their lives fighting the creature when they tracked it to its lair, but in the litter of bones and other scraps they found a map of the Ruins of Gith. When they reunited with Mr. Skybell and told him about it he instantly formed a partnership with them to go looking for it.

Mr. Skybell’s ship, The Everdrifter

Sailing through the endless sky aboard the Everdrifter, the party selected a treasure from the ship’s hold to appease a Green Hag who knew the location of the Ruins of Gith. The crumbling dungeon was found to be infested by giant spiders and Ettercaps and the party needed to regroup before making another attempt at delving.

Skybell sailed for a door floating in empty airspace which led to his home world and he promised to return with supplies but after a few days of waiting the adventurers got restless and went through the door looking for him. Behind it lay a twisting cramped corridor lined with overflowing bookshelves.

Deeper and deeper they went, only to find the passageways would shift and change behind them, making it impossible to get back to where they came from. They did manage to find Skybell under some kind of trance, his mental faculties being slowly drained by a magical creature which fled in the face of superior numbers.

Mr. Skybell forced to read

Snapping out of it, Skybell thanked the party and, picking up a ball of string he had with him, led them out of the magical labyrinthian library into the halls of a great magical university. Skybell informed them that they were now in his world, in the Independent City-State of Mort, where they would stay until ready to return to the Ruins of Gith.

The Independent City-State of Mort

The campaign ended in the original campaign setting I had invented in high school.

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