Blackstone: Massive Update

  Time for a dump of all the adventuring done in Blackstone since Christmas!

The Fever Lands
  Two groups of PCs went to the Fever lands.

      In the East a tough team of PCs crept down the Viper River, passt the ruins of Tamoachan (where they saw the ancient city swarming with megalocentipedes), and scouted the foreboding Jade Tower.
  They were forced to be very careful because of the winged apes that hunt throughout this area, but eventually learned that the last surviving leaders of the Necromancer Cult were hidden in the Jade Tower, led by an Ogre Mage chieftain. A judicious  use of illusions and misdirection and they successfully ambushed the Ogre Mage. It was a fierce battle, but the badly-bloodied party prevailed.
  They threw down the tower and left.

      In the West a very different party went to the colony established by the King of Blackstone two decades before and right into the middle of political intrigue.
  The military governor was Baron Addan, formerly an independent nobleman whose domain was annihilated by a dragon (an adventure the players had in in 2009!). Forced to appeal to the King he has been the military governor of the colony for almost a decade. Under his leadership the sleepy village that cost money to own was turned into a bustling trade town making the King great wealthAddan's triplet son Arran, Bordann, and Eamonn, were great assets. The soldiers were 50/50 retainers of Addan (and fiercely loyal to him) and royal recruits (who worshiped the triplets).
  But the king had sent his cousin, Count Farnorr, to the town to become the new noble ruler. Farnorr had brought his own sizeable group of retainers. The triplets were openly bitter and Addan had focused on building a sturdy walled village 2 days South into the jungle and was openly manning it with those most loyal to himself.
  Count Farnorr met with the adventurers (who were there for the Inquisition) along with the local bishop and Farnorr's daughter, Faella. They discussed the search for cultists, the dangers of the Fever Lands, and more.
  Addan left for the remote village the next day. And 2 nights later the PCs were summoned in the middle of the night - the triplets had kidnapped Faella and fled South, taking some of Addan's most loyal with them! As the Count prepared an actual army he begged the party to pursue, and pursue they did.

  things got weird almost immediately. Just 3 miles outside of town they found one of Addan's men beheaded next to a lame horse. The ranger was able to piece together that one of the triplets had had his horse tumble and go lame and then seemed to kill his own soldier and take his horse. They later found the rest of the troops, all killed in melee. But no sign of the triplets or Faella.
  The party forged on with horses, slowly losing ground to the triplets who were switching between 4 horses each.Then the party saw smoke on the horizon.
  The arrived to the village in flames. The dead were Addan's own men and the royal soldiers with Addan himself dead at the door to the main keep. The palisade and keep were burning allowing the ranger to deduce that the soldiers loyal to the triplets had ambushed their father and his men, then the triplets had killed the survivors before setting off South on foot (no horses beyond the village). Faella was still with them.

  The party buried Addan, placed the other bodies in the fires, and briefly rested before continuing on foot.
  Faella was slowing down the triplets and the party hoped to catch them when they were suddenly ambushed by a tasloi warband, including tasloi on giant wasps dropping nets.
  The fight was very tough, especially one the chieftain showed up armed with a Ring of Blinking, a Potion of Invulnerability, Bracers of AC 4,and a poisoned spear. But after a very, very tough fight the party prevailed, killing the chief and shaman and scattering many survivors.
  Pressing onward they were approached by a pair of jungle elves. Impressed that the party had defeated the tasloi warband the elves exchanged information about the terrain and the tasloi village for some arrowheads. The jungle elves referred to the triplets as 'the ancient evil' and reluctantly told the party where to find them.

  The party is soon ambushed by another tasloi warband... and the chieftain?! The fight was rough and the chieftain was insanely tough. And when they killed the chief? He turned back into he normal form.
A doppleganger.

  The party was able to track down Where the warband came from and found "the chieftain" exhorting another warband! The pary ambushed the warband, for once, and when the doppelganger was killed the tasloi fled.

  Following the directions the jungle elves had given (finally!) the party found an ancient Jade Empire (Mayincatec) building. As they approached the 30' stone dwelling two Faella's emerged! There was a bit of a standoff trying to figure out which was which until the mage cast Sleep and they killed the one who was confused, THEN fell down (the mage has a Ring of Mind Shielding).

  Looting the building they learned a lot, including that the dopplegangers had been living there for at least 3,000 years. The found a map to the Flint Skies (the mythical capitol of the ancient Jade Empire). Now, there are 6-7 maps to the Flint Skies but they are all proven inaccurate. This one, though, was complete enough for them to figure out why all the maps are broken - the map gave directions based on the stars and the map was so old the stars have moved.
  The party stashed the accurate map (they can adjust!) and took Faella home.

  They met the Count at the village. He was very happy to see his daughter. Over the next few days the truth of Addan's loyalty, the evidence that his son's had been murdered and replaced a year previously, and his tragic death, believing he was betrayed by his own sons, had a profound effect on the Count.

  The party rested, re-equipped, and headed right back out. With scouting they located the tasloi village and staged an attack that killed a few, but fell back, planning guerilla tactics against the number humanoids.
  But then a massive green dragon landed. At first the tasloi greeted it warmly, saying they were under attack and asking 'their master' to kill the intruders.
  But the dragon grew angry. When he learned that the magic items he had loaned to them had been stolen he bellowed,
  "You have failed me! You are TOO WEAK to be my servants!"
  And he killed them all before flying away.

  The party left, fast, and warned the count of the dragon just 4 days away!.

Next entry - catching up on Seaward.