Rise of the Rahib, Session 3

•  Razul and Hakim explore the ruins and travel down the hallway which the Sons of Akkai had cleared the rubble from earlier. 
• They discover a set of Black Legion mercenaries doing training exercises, intentionally crowding around a strange sphere that seemed to be dripping black ichor and sending shadow creatures towards them.
• Hiding from the Legion, they turn back and explore the rest of the dormant volcano, sneaking past spiders and wolves.
• Discover a set of Kuyu cavemen who are friendly, but fear a strange door leading deeper into the Volcano.
• Arrive at the lava boiling center of the volcano, urging on scared Kuyu to guide them in, and discover the source of their fear - a Tyrant Lizard, sleeping on a pile of treasures.
• Leave the room and head back out of the volcano, intent on finding some more warriors to help deal with the Tyrant Lizard and get their hands of the treasure - which may or may not have the Nagha scrolls.
• Face off and kill a ghoul they run into, and flee from some spiders and a giant snake out of the volcano.
• Rest at camp for the night, during which Razul is awoken by a demon emissary who tells him his pact granting demon is dissatisfied that he has not used any spells. He prepares a spell called Doctrine of the Subservient Path for the next day sacrificing some blood, and the emissary notes the master is happy for now.
• Travel through a heatwave and run into a fearful nomad family, whom tell them they are fleeing the crumbling of their former settlement which was betrayed to the Black Guard who have taken it over. They refuse offer to help, instead choosing to continue fleeing.
• Continue to travel and forage through thunderstorms, and two days after finding the nomad family, find the mother and two children of the family, a son and daughter.
• The Nomad mother tells how her husband, as well as his mother and sister, were mauled by lizard beasts in the steppes. Now given that she is alone with her child son and daughter, she requests their aid. 
• Razul promises to escort her to the nearest settlement and drop them off - resulting in more mouths to feed every day.

Current Level: Razul 2, Hakim 1

Rise of the Rahib, Session 2

•  Razul is lead into the volcanic caldera dungeon in ropes by the Sons of Akkai.
• They arrive at a carved ivory sculpture of Akkai, which the Sons of Akkai take for their own. 
• Two exits - one blocked by rubble, the other a staircase down. 3 of the Sons of Akkai left to clear rubble, as 5 with Razul head down. 
• A treasure hunter encountered, who is quickly slain by the Sons of Akkai.
• A magical darkness serves as a portal to the next room - Razul is tied with some rope and shoved in. 
• A historian studying the ruin looks to Razul, and through some non verbal communication, cuts the rope to make it seem like Razul was lost. 
• Multiple Sons of Akkai are led in via rope and quickly slaughtered - but not before the historian is slain and bleeds. 
• The leader of the Sons and the rest barge in - only for Razul to sneak off to another room and lure some wolves out to fight the Sons of Akkai as he frees himself.
• 3 of the Sons flee - and Razul leaves the wolves to feast of the corpses of the slain Sons of Akkai when he is ambushed by the 3 fleeing Sons of Akkai, who blame him for their misfortune.
• He manages to rush back to the wolves, but is impaled in the onslaught of the wolves, which manage to kill the remaining Sons of Akkai.
• He stumbles in the room but finds a secret door which he falls into and passes out.
• He awakens outside in a tent, and sees a figure, one historian Hakim who was researching the ruins with his slain partner. Hakim informs him he was in the secret room looking at decaying tombs when Razul stumbled in. 
• Hakim kept them hidden until the wolves left - the creatures which had been preventing him from delving deeper into the dungeon - and then taken Razul to heal - a process taking 6 days.
• The rubble had been ruined from one of the entrances, and Razul and Hakim decide to go exploring the ruins. 
• Razul loses a permanent hit point, but advances to level 2!

Current Level: Razul 2, Hakim 1

Rise of the Rahib, Session 1

I recently got Kal Arath after hearing the hype around it. And to be honest, I was initially skeptical - but boy did it blow me away. I did a couple test sessions, so now I want to try it out longer term. I thought about going in blank slate, but then I had a better idea - telling the story of the rise of the Rahib, the villain within whose prison Badger - the PC from my previous game Lonesome Wanderings - had died. 

I created a character, a magus by the name Razul, but the story of who would actually become the evil Rahib was going to be left to fate based on who survived in my playthroughs of the game. Perhaps it would be Razul - or perhaps another companion picked up along the way? And eventually, the timeline of the game would catch up to Lonesome Wanderings, once a stronghold had been established of course. But first, a character must survive the wastes of Kal Arath to get to that point.

So without further ado - session 1 of the Rise of the Rahib.

• Razul makes a pact with the Demon of Domination, a shadowy entity which requires blood sacrifice to be able to cast spells, with the cost of part of his vitality (1 HP) per spell prepared.
• He has the goal of gaining the Nagha Scrolls, hidden in a monastery and lost to time - which makes sense as they have arcane knowledge many would do anything to gain, a worthy goal for a magus.
• Razul's hut is devastated and destroyed by a tornado, but he manages to avoid getting sucked into it himself - though he is only able to salvage 2 days worth of food from the rubble.
• He forages for food the next day, finding just enough berries and nuts to get him one more meal, despite the light rain fall and pleasant summer weather.
• That night, he comes across 3 Sons of Akkai - Akkai being the demon lord ruling over the steppe of Kal Arath. They immediately proceed to attack to subdue and possibly kill him.
• Despite his best efforts, he is subdued and goes unconscious. He awakens tied to a log over a fire, with cultists chanting with him as their human sacrifice to Akkai.
• He yells out that he knows where the Nagha Scrolls are - the leader of the Sons of Akkai halts the ceremony and questions Razul.
• Razul tries to convince him - and while the leader does not believe him, seeing through his lies, he is convinced by Razul's logic that there is only a benefit to letting him live and lead them to the scrolls, and gives Razul 7 days to produce this lost location - as a prisoner in chains leading the Sons to said location of the scrolls.
• As Razul and the Sons of Akkai, who have him tied up, travel north, they become lost. Frustrated, they at least are able to forage for plenty of food.
• They arrive at an ancient large volcanic caldera - and the cultists prostrate before it, seeing sacred symbols of Akkai on its surface near an entrance.
• Razul decides to gamble given no chance of escape from the Sons of Akkai in the daylight - but perhaps a better chance in the dark of the caves beneath the volcano. He tells the Sons of Akkai the Nagha scrolls are within the caldera.
• The Sons of Akkai buy into this as they and Razul, still in chains, descend into the bowels of the ancient volcanic caldera.

Current Level: Razul 1

Tales from the Whitebox, Session 20

 In which the party...

• Sets out to find the Bastion against the Red Mist. 
• Travels through various locales, including 7' tall plains, rugged hills, and deep valleys.
• Fights off wolves, in which Grubz shatters his right arm and skull, passing away.
• Are forced to camp out with a raging tornado ripping through the lands for nearly 3 days, staying barely alive and running low on rations.
• Encounter a poor straggling innkeeper who requests aid to fight off Red Mist zombies at their inn, which have taken over the Inn.
• Forage for food after the tornado, picking berries and hunting rabbit to stay alive on their way to the Inn.
• Head to the inn and formulate a plan - since the inn rests on the edge of a cliff, and there are 6 zombies, each party member will push a zombie off the edge of the cliff and the remaining will be fought till they get pushed off as well.
• The plan immediately goes horribly wrong as one 1 zombie is pushed off the cliff. Tom and Millie both are turned, having been bitten into zombies and Thumb, Ophelia hide in the Inn with the innkeeper against the zombie hordes.
• However, this victory is short lived as the Red Mist Zombies break in, and despite their best efforts, both Thumb and Ophelia are slain and turned to zombies themselves. 

And so ends Tales from the Whitebox. A shorter story, where time and time again the party, and notably Thumb survives by the skin of its teeth. But in the end, the harsh world managed to bury them as well.