Mallovia

Run Report 1

Roy G. Bivtrium, Levis, Greyscale, Theuderic Leopold Rolandson VII, Ba Roum, Oakedai

The party entered into Mallovia, sneaking through the valley of the great mountains that isolate Malloiva and its stormy clouds from the rest of Avalon. They were seeking to meet with Princess Paymon, who had sent the screaming skull in a box that asked for help regarding a plague monsters had been suffering from. They thus named themselves the "Emissaries of the Screaming Skull", confuisng monsters who thought they were representatives of the Screaming Skull Tavern in Obsidian City, the capital of Mallovia.

On the way to the city, they encountered Grandy, a troll (governor) camping in the mountains, who gave them three riddles, excited to see humans for the first time. They traveled through the Acid Swamps, encountering Kamek, daughter of Witch Governor Babayaga, who used curses on them, before allowing them passage through the Acid Swamps (where they discovered the acid is truly dormant gelatinous cubes). They eventually reached Obsidian City, a bustling capital of ruined Elven structures with obsidian thorns and fragments wrapping around them, and an Obsidian Palace with stained-obsidian windows and thorns wrapping the central tower as if it was choking it.

At the palace, they met Paymon Tempest, who turned out to be a Demogorgon, causing temporary madness amongst the party. She instructed them that there was a plague infecting the region, and she needed them to reach Horus, the all-seeing Court Scholar, for information on it. They further encountered butlers in the castle that they found to be former adventurers, minds wiped and memories altered such that they believed themselves to have always been servants of the Empress, Milonidais Tempest. They struck a deal for Paymon to free them in return for their services.

The party journeyed through the Aether and to the Obelisk, where they stole books from houses before entering the Obelisk, where Horus worked. As they climbed the staircase, they came to realize from the art on the walls that Horus was actually a man-eating Beholder, who had served the Empress since the great Elven War, where she led monster forces to conquering the previous Elven Kingdom. They found Horus, a powerful beholder whose glaucoma prevented his death and petrification eye rays from use. Horus was fascinated to see them, but upon smelling them his instincts took over and he attacked the party.

The party bested Horus, and he regained his senses. Upon learning of the bubble around Mallovia, he realized the plague was actually the effects of the bubble waning, causing magic to falter--sickening monsters (whose anatomy requires magic to function). He theorized monsterkind would die if Mallovia failed to remain in the bubble, and found an old Convergence Ritual Scroll written by the Wizard 254 years ago for the old Elven kingdom, and theorized monsterkind could complete a convergence ritual to remain a part of Avalon if they managed to live in harmony with humanoids in their lands as well.

With this, the party made their way back to the castle. After helping the servants to escape, they joined Paymon in presenting the information to the Empress, and convinced her to sign an imperial decree allowing humanoids to enter Mallovia for the first time. She did so, but told them she would need further humanoids to meet with the 10 monster governors and convince each of them to allow humans in their territories. They also noted that sitting on the throne was a statue of a beautiful Elven Queen, turned to stone and left as some sort of "trophy" by the Empress. With that, the party returned successful and stopped by for a free drink at the now region-renowned Screaming Skull Tavern.

Run Report 2

Myria, Arty, Jean, Duke, Baron, Count

The party became the first humanoids to enter Mallovia legally, besides an enchillada salesman they encountered on the road (Robert). They met with Grandy and answered his riddles as they passed through the mountain valley.

However, the party found themselves intercepted by the vampiric forces of Count Dracuul, the Vampire Governor and a staunchly conservative anti-humanoid. They allowed themselves to go to his court, where he negotiated with them to allow them into Mallovia, in exchange for them dealing with Werewolf encroaches in his territory, lest the next party not be so fortunate. Unfortunately, they did not hold up their end of this bargain, meaning trouble for the parties to come.

The party met with Empress Tempest, and learned they must get all 10 monster governors to agree to allow humans to live in their territories peacefully. They also learned she spoke Draconic. They met with Babayaga, the Witch Governor of the Acid Swamps, who was sceptical they were acting under Kamek's request (who had long tried to get her mother to allow GinGinny GinRum, her "friend" from Shipwreck Alley, to move to Mallovia), but was convinced by their reveal that simple balsamic vinegar can shrink the gelatinous cubes in the swamp, making it safe for humanoids (as for witches, acid was like water and visa versa).

They then made their way to the Circus, a sprawling, dreamlike mirror maze of clowns, dentists, and circus events. They were lost in there for a good while, using dream logic to find their way through the ever-spinning carnival, until they found themselves on a swanboat ride. As they traveled along, they realized their swanboats were actually heading towards the gaping maw of a massive underwater KLOWN--King KLOWN. King KLOWN was actually a beholder, and after defeating him and his clown minions, they threatened him to allow humanoids to live in the Circus peacefully (without being eaten).

With that, they went back to Crystalheart.

Run Report 3

Olo Wavebreaker, Yava Picklebottom, Johnny Oscar Faust, Callian, Willow, Uprighteous Oak The party entered into Mallovia, again answering Grandy's riddles. Recognizing him as the Troll Governor, now, they asked him to allow humanoids in his territory. He agreed, but couldn't get permission until Beirus, the Gorgon Governor, agreed, as both Trolls and Gorgons shared the territory of Crystal Rock Quarry. They also convinced him he is in a documentary, a movie he is still waiting for to come out to this day.

The party met with Kamek, who used her powers to mind swap multiple party members as a prank. This power was noted as unique, and not a typical witch power, even for the strongest of witches, though she seemed to just use it for harmless pranks.

Joined by Grandy and Kamek (and, secretly, the Wizard), the party made their way to the Silver Forests, home of werewolves, where they convinced Wolfgang, the Werewolf Governor, to allow humanoids to live in his territory by hunting deer (and accidentally bears) without any spells, equipment, or magic items, showing humanoids could be respectful of nature.

After this, the party made their way to Crystal Rock Quarry, where they met Beirus, the Gorgon Governor. She was frightened of them, revealing to them that she's been terrified of humanoids ever since she saw an old elven humanoid hunt and murder her mother (and former Gorgon Governor), Medusa, and take her head as a magic weapon. The party consoled her, and constructed crystal veils gorgons could wear so that humanoids could look at their faces without petrification.

The party additionally managed to get Babayaga's permission to allow Kamek's friend from Shipwreck Alley, GinGinny GinRum, to move to Mallovia, as a vinegar industry emerged among the new humanoid community in the Acid Swamps to counter the threat of gelatinous cubes. They figure out this GinGinny may be more than a friend to Kamek.

After their meeting wtih Beirus, they investigated further into the elf who took Medusa's life. They found an old elven temple with some recently abandoned items in it. 253 years ago, at the year of the fall of the Elven Kingdom, an elf named Vlayd swore a promise of revenge against the Empress, as Mallovia conquered the elves without the Wizard's intervention. Vlayd was revealed by a photograph to be the same man who slayed Medusa.

Run Report 4

Hederson, Dodson, Flick, Teyo, Jaglas, Chesshire.

The party entered into Mallovia, again answering Grandy's riddles. They met with the Empress after passing thorugh a much more humanoid-friendly Mallovia, and set off to convince the remaining governors.

They met with Bloo, the Ghost Governor, who taught history at MalNec after being eaten as an elf by Horus during the Elven War. The two now have tea. He agreed to allow humans to enter the Aether and apply to go to MalNec for college. From conclusions drawn from their conversation with Bloo, they spoke with Wolfgang and discovered he was the long lost child of Mother Bones, a powerful necromancer who had previously taught with Bloo at MalNec, exiled by Empress Tempest after elves lost the war, fleeing north of the mountains. They also managed to gain Horus, the Aberration Governor, to allow humans into the Obelisk, excited to have new research assistance and information.

They met with Count Dracuul, the Vampire Governor, who was incredibly hostile after the second run's party failed him. He attempted to attack them, but unfortuantely his powerful vampiric abilities (he had Strahd's stat block) were no match for the fact that he was weak to every canonical vampire weakness, and the party through thousands of grains of sugar on the floor, forcing him to count each individual grain, and surrouned him with salt, trapping him and forcing him to agree to allow humans in the Bloody Peaks.

The party then traveled to the Kraken Kliffs across the sea, and met with Rothgard, the Illithid Governor, who could only communicate with them by going through their memories, where the party relived some emotional moments from their pasts. Eventually, they turned the table and went into his memories, showing he is taking care of a sick and dying Mother Brain. They convinced him that helping the Convergence Ritual would restore the Mother Brain's health, and Rothgard allowed humans into his territory.

Finally, they went with Princess Paymon Tempest to confront MAW, the Lich King and Undead Governor. He lived in a small, rotting house called the "Oldest House", at the far, isolated edge of the Field of Graves. MAW's name was revealed to me an acronym for "Mallovia's Ancient Wizard". MAW, upon seeing them, immediately informed them that "I'm going to kill you". They fought MAW, as he used a power called "Power Word: Random" to cast a random power word spell form a list of 100 power words. He attempted to use Power Word: Kill on Paymon, which the party skillfully prevented. They managed to steal his phylactery, but realized they couldn't destroy it with dragon breath. Fortunately, one party member managed to reach the Empress's attention and inform her MAW was attempting to kill her daughter while the rest of the party distracted MAW with continued combat. Upon hearing this, Empress Tempest revealed her true form--an Ancient Obsidian Dragon, and blew apart the top of her castle flying to the battlefield. As the party struck a killing blow to MAW, he laughed telling them he would simply respawn and slaughter them all with his phylactery, before seeing Tempest rain dragonfire upon his phylactery. As he realized he would finally die a true death, he let out a simple "oh", as the party landed their killing blow.

While Empress Tempest instituted a replacement Undead Governor, Mayor Bones, the party returned to Crystalheart City.

Run Report 5

Olo Wavebreaker, Yava Picklebottom, Johnny Oscar Faust, Dagu, Callis, Merry The party made their way though a joyous and celebrating Mallovia, as the Convergence Ritual was set to begin today. They made their way to meet with Empress Tempest, who for the first time was genuinely smiling, and her daughter. All monster governors gave joyful speeches (with the exception of Dracuul), and left to their regions to complete their part of the ritual while Tempest returned to the castle for hers.

The party, however, saw something amiss. A scared elven lad, young and foolish, holding a gun and taking aim at Paymon. They immediately disarmed him and beat the daylights out of him, preventing his assassination. They demanded to know what he was attempting to do, to which he responsed "...it's already too late." They looked down and saw he was wearing a suicide vest, which detonated in the town square, as some party members managed to shield Paymon from the blast. All fell unconcious as bombs exploded across Obsidian City.

253 years ago, one man made a promise of vengeance against Empress Milonidais Tempest. Vlayd made a promise that Mallovia would never see a day of peace. They would never be a part of Avalon. They would never see a better day. After gathering elven soldiers for centuries, he had finally come to fulfill his promise.

The party awoke to the Obsidian City under attack by a massive army of elven soldiers. Artillery fire rained upon the city as collumns of soldiers marched through, slaughtering any monster in sight--soldier and citizen alike. To the elven attackers, all monsters were inhuman, and deserving of slaughter.

The party used a t-rex polymorph form combined with water walk to ride across to the water entrance to the catacombs beneath the Obsidian Palace (after destroying some elven siege equipment, of course). They met with the Empress, who was becoming consumed with fear and unfathomable rage. They found that where once there was a stone statue of the petrified elven queen, now there was but rubble, as the Elven Queen escaped thanks to Vlayd earlier when the ceremony was just beginning. Empress Tempest said she would handle the elven armies attacking Obsidian City, but they must move quickly to stop the other places the elves were attacking.

The party had in their possession a scrying mirror, which would cast scrying upon the person who the party member thought to be the most beautiful (after reciting "mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"). They managed to gaslight themself into believing that Queen Iraius, the Elven Queen, was the most beautiful woman in the world, and found through the mirror's scrying that she was with Vlayd, the First Crusader, as he led forces setting fire to the Silver Forests and searching the Acid Swamps for a "person of interest".

The party raced to the Acid Swamps, and found Kamek who was desperately searching for her girlfriend, GinGinny GinRum, who had gone missing in the chaos. They allowed her to search for her alone while they aided a pack of werewolves being attacked by elven pikemen. They defeated the horde of elven pikemen, and were eventually confronted with Kalo, the Third Crusader, leading the attack on the Silver Forests. They bested her in combat, though not without some heavy losses, and left her to turn into a werewolf from her werewolf bite (which she failed a saving throw to avoid lycanthropy on).

The party then used Mirror Mirror again to find that the queen had joined Vlyad as he observed the siege on the monster college, MalNec, and promised the capture of the Obsidian Heart.

Before leaving to stop the siege, the party raided the Third Crusader's camp and found that they had successfully captured GinGinny GinRum in order to lure Kamek, who they then also captured. Babyaga warned the party that Kamek had incredible powers--the power to swap people's minds--that the elves might use against Empress Tempest, who was far too powerful for even Queen Iraius to defeat as is. They worried they might use GinGinny GinRum as a hostage to force Kamek to comply.

They made it to the siege at MalNec in the Aether, and devised a plan with Bloo to free them. They journeyed on Davy Jones's ship to the Kraken Kliffs and demanded to speak with Rothgard. After an emotional flashback for Johnny, the party managed to convince Rothgard to sacrifice the Elder Brain, Mother Brain, in order to send out one last call for reinforcements among the sea. He did so, and the Elder Brain, with the last of its power, put out a call across the sea for aid in breaking the siege on MalNec. The party joined onto Davy Jones's ship again, and rode back to MalNec, now backed by an incredible navy of 13 Krakens.

The elven forces were annihilated, and began to flee as the unstoppable Kraken army attacked. The party managed to intercept Borus, the Second Crusader, and fed him to the mighty kraken they rode. They named the Kraken Slick (which the Kraken preferred to his actual name, "Paul").

Using the Mirror Mirror again, they saw and angry Queen Iraius speak harshly to Vlayd as his crusade began to turn south, telling him that he was to lead the attack on the Crystal Rock Quarry and seize the Crystal Heart of the Quarry. They raced to stop him. The party made their way to Crystal Rock Quarry, where trolls led by Grandy threw boulders down onto the invading elven soldiers as they pushed their way up the rockface. The party entered the tunnels to the side, and realized the forces attacking on the mountain were a distraction force to distract the trolls while their sorcerers attacked the Gorgons and took the Crystal Heart behind their lines.

The party found Beirus, terrified as the elves, led by the man who killed her mother, stormed the quarry. The elves were armed with crystal visors that allowed them to not turn to stone while looking at the gorgons, negating the gorgons' one defense. Additionally, they learned Vlayd, the First Crusader, had been using Medusa's head to attack gorgons, as her magic had been so powerful she could turn even gorgons to stone.

The party stole some visors from unsuspecting invading sorcerers, and journeyed with Beirus to the Crystal Heart to stop Vlayd. The Crystal Heart was a massive cavern with all surfaces entirely reflective crystals, making it impossible to not look at everything in the room without closing your eyes. They found Vlayd, who attacked them with powerful magic as he taunted Beirus and the party, upset they had not joined his side as fellow humanoids, calling them traitors. They managed to disarm Vlayd, take off his visor, and forced his eyes open as he stared at Beirus, the daughter whose mother he had slaughtered, forced to watch from every angle as the room infintely reflected him turning to stone.

The party shattered the stone Vlayd, finishing him off for good.

With all Crusaders defeated and all attacks stopped, the party used Mirror Mirror one last time and found the Elven Queen in the Obsidian City, holding a tribunal to execute the kind-hearted Princess Paymon Tempest.

The party raced to Obsidian City to stop this, flying on giant eagles, before landing in the midst of the sham tribunal. Queen Iraius, acting as the judge of the trial, found Paymon guilty of having a "monstrous soul" and sentenced her to be executed, chaining her to a ritual spell that would summon thje god of death to strike them down. The Queen fumed at the party's interruption, and spoke of how she would cleanse Mallovia of its monstrous infection with blood, fire, and elven steel, promising to rebuild her kingdom from the rot which had destroyed it, starting by taking the Empress's daughter's life.

The party began to fight her, and managed to break Paymon from her chains and drag her away before Queen Iraius could activate the ritual circle to execute her. However, as the battle turned against her, Queen Iraius revealed her ultimate plan:

Holding her head down in defeat, and with eyes sore from tears, Kamek stepped out behind Queen Iraius. Queen Iraius revealed Kamek to have been her daughter, blessed with mind control powers from her pure elven bloodine. She ordered Kamek to mind control Paymon, or else she would have GinGinny GinRum executed. The party called out desperately to Kamek, and managed to convince her that her mother cannot be reasoned with and she would not spare GinGinny GinRum. In a critical moment, Kamek made her choice as she activated her mind control powers.

Queen Iraius laughed at this, believing her victory to be assured, until she found her own body forced to walk into the center of the Execution Circle. She screamed in rage at her daughter, who refused to look her in the eye. Party member assisted by using two powerful potions, one party member becoming invulnerable to all damage and the other gaining temporary mind control herself.

The invulnerable party member entered into the Execution Circle with the Queen and the other used their mind control to force Queen Iraius to activate the circle. At this, a beam of incredible white light flooded the circle, and the invulnerable party member, able to survive being inside the beam, was the sole witness as the Hand of the God of Death came down and grasped the screaming Queen Iraius, flinging her into the Oblivion in the skies above.

Paymon sustained injuries from the circle, losing her right arm in the process. Thankfully, a party member provided her with an artificial arm to replace it.

With this, the fires began to settle as the crusade ended. Monsters had experienced severe casualties, but the worst of it was avoided thanks to the incredible efforts by the party.

Rain fell, as monsters began to put down their weapons and mourn the dead among them.

Empress Tempest arrived as a few remaining elven soldiers attempted one last strike at killing Paymon, and her psychic scream destroyed them all in an instant. Empress Tempest held her injured daughter in her hands, bringing her to a doctor with the party. From the slaughter, all of the Empress's greatest fears about humanoids and opening up Mallovia had been confirmed in one terrible specatacle.

Empress Tempest turned to the party and monsters and told them her new decree: humanoids were banned from Mallovia. All previous privilidges were revoked. All humans currently living in Mallovia were exiled, including Kamek.

Empress Tempest, consumed with fear and rage, said that her magic alone would sustain Mallovia, and they would no longer be a part of Avalon. She alone could protect Mallovia, and Mallovia was to be alone. Isolated from the humanoid world which had maimed it.

Before the party and monsters could question her, she began to transform to her true form of an Ancient Obsidian Dragon, flying to the highest tower of the Obsidian Palace and letting out a roar heard across all of Mallovia.

But before the party left, Paymon desperately pleaded with them through tears, telling them that Mallovia could still be saved. They had to try.

Run Report 6

Callis, Myra, Beeflo Bungo, Shush, Rupus Tucket, Prongol Tucket

Joined by the exiled Kamek, the monster governors, and Paymon Tempest, the party marched to the Obsidian Palace to stop Empress Tempest. All of them pleaded with the Empress, but their words fell on deaf ears as she fumed at this "mutiny".

In an instant, all monsters and Kamek were frozen in a protective stasis by the Empress's magic, as the thorns wrapped around them. The party drew their weapons as the Empress transformed into a terrifying, gargantuan Ancient Obsidian Dragon and began to battle. In an instant, Tempest flooded the throne room with lava, and thorns separated the party from each other. Things began to look poorly as the combat progressed, however one party member managed to pull off something incredible: divine intervention.

The hand of the Twilight God came down, and tore open a portal to the one place they could truly save her: the Mindscape. Puglord — Yesterday at 6:46 PM The party launched into the mindscape, leaving a few behind to free the monsters in stasis and deal with Tempest. They found her story played out through memories, from the death of her mother Tiamat as a baby, to her discovering the baby Horus, to her protecting her growing "horde" of monsters, and defending them against the Elven Kingdom.

The party battled not the Empress, but her fear, which they realized was eating her alive. The love she had for her people and her daughter had become her weakness. She wanted so desperately to protect the ones she loved, that she couldn't handle the reality that for all of her draconic power, for all of her minions, for all of her magic, she couldn't do it alone.

As the party began to save her from herself, she began to break down into tears, as the party left in the physical plane saw the monsters released, and the dragon fall to their knees in huge, shuddering tears.

The party exited the mindscape, and used all of their most powerful magical items not to harm her, but to hug her.

This was the hug that saved Mallovia.

With all monsters and humans united, they finally performed their Convergence Ritual. Mallovia finally became a part of Avalon.

And not only was Mallovia saved, but so was Tempest. In the end, one of the fiercest advocates for monsters, Callis, became knighted under House Tempest. The Paladin who had begun destroying all that was unnatural had become an oathbreaker after siding with Mother Bones. But now, he had found a new oath: The Oath of Mallovia.

Shush became the Eye of Horus, a spy reporting to the aging Beholder as he became less able to carry out his “all-seeing duties”.

Myra became the hand of the Empress, vowing to serve the land of Mallovia diligently as its first humanoid hand since the elven times.

Beeflo Bunglo became a Druid of the land of Mallovia, finding peace in the strange nature of the region.

And the Tucket Brothers finally settled down. The Tucket Brother Tavern is now a staple of Mallovia, and the finest place to buy moonshine in all of Mallovia.

Besides perhaps, its rival, the Screaming Skull.

The end.

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