DnDNerds!

Young bugbear paladin Roff leads Rasprax, Simple Jack, Cassius, and Swift Current to hunt down the goblin necromancer Chetiin, who recently caused an undead outbreak in the Upperthorn Domain. Despite some bad weather, they discover the hideout in a series of caves, and while battling some undead, one zombie flees to raise the alarm. Swift Current pursues and is the first to fall to the necromancer's magic. As the others start to flee, Chetiin repositions to the entrance cave, and cuts down Rasprax, Cassius and Simple Jack. Roff tries to flee a different way but is killed by skeletons. An attempt is made to recover the bodies before they are lost forever, but Chetiin grows stronger with the raised zombies of this party of PCs, setting the stage for a new direction in the campaign.

Render leads Jhank, Arty, and Swift Current in an epic battle against cyclops cousins Harpalos and Palados, who have finally decided to rid the world of the deceitful guests under Harpalos' house. Palados throws a couple of giant ticks into the mix, Jhank gets big, Arty and Swift move all over the map, and Render mostly shoots from afar until Harpalos closes to him and starts wailing on him. Eventually the adventurers turn the tide and destroy the cyclops cousins, taking Harpalos' home and several magical items as loot! They decide to explore a nearby hex and encounter a strange abandoned mine with a bizarre inhabitant known as Moon Crab who controls a magical machine called the Cimmerian Device. They help Moon Crab back to his home in Hidden Lake and check on the dwarves there, who seem to have gotten even stranger since anyone spoke to them.

Rasprax leads Jorgrim, Swift Current, some pikemen and skirmishers, and two new adventurers - feytouched human sorcerer John Doe/Simple Jack and dwarven forge cleric Bors McCraw - out of the Drow Caves and towards the trading post known as Oleg's where the whole campaign began, carting a wagon full of tin ingots to sell. Along the way the discover a bulette lair, stop at a local vineyard to buy a keg of fine Melshimber wine, and happen across a magical fey-well that causes Jorgrim and Simple Jack to switch bodies. They are attacked by an angry bulette that kills half their soldiers, then meet the ettin BorisChorus who relieves them of their new wine and escorts them to the rock outcrop known as the Horned Titan. Camping there, they are beset by giant ants, who agree to take some of their supplies in exchange for peace. At Oleg's, now renamed Zas Gor, they discover a thriving Zhent operation with a stone fort and palisaded trading area. They sell their tin to shady tobacco merchant Brooks Hyland and investigate the defenses of the fortification.

Jhank leads Gemwin, Cassius, and STEVEN III on an exploratory expedition out of Axeholm, where they discover the dangers of Snow Scorpion Crevasse, the cruel Thorny Hills, a grotto cave home to crag cats, a griffon nest, a votive shrine to the water goddess Eldath, some barrow wight mounds, the polluted quarry, and the stirge-infested sinkhole, ending in the town of Llorkh, where the crew join up with the spellcasters of the Manticore's Muse.

The Llorkh spellcasters Cassius and Kain are joined by War Cleric Sigurd, who is looking for his lost friend Ivar, taken prisoner by the Zhents. With Sigurd leading the way, they cut a deal with Winget Sparrow of the Black Network for some information, then find a drug dealer named Chuka who knows the way to Lost Hope Prison up in the mountains. They encounter kobolds, the stone giant Hazbarg, centaurs, and the cyclops Palidos, who relieves them of a mule. At the prison, they don't manage to get past the security to find and rescue Ivar, so that will have to be a future quest. On the journey back they stop in and visit the Axeholm dwarves.

Arty leads Jorgrim, Bariq, MikMek, and Swift Current back into the giants' lair, where they detour into a forge haunted by undead dwarves, who life drain everyone and drop Jorgrim with mummy rot! They retreat back into the open air, then regroup and come back again the following day to take on the remaining giants. A mine cart is used as a diversion and the group descends by rope and stairway to take on a hill giant and verbeeg. All the former captive miners have been slain by the giants, but luckily there's some treasure at the bottom of the mine, including a magical battleaxe that MikMek reluctantly accepts.

Dwarven paladin Gemwin leads Render, S.T.E.V.E.N. III, Roff, and the survivors of New Ammarindar as they retake the dwarven hold of Axeholm. Roff shows how a very big bugbear fits into a small arrow slit. In the throne room, Gemwin is attacked by a licklash ghoul and other undead start to pour into the room, but the dwarven priests of Dumathoin summon their Spirit Guardians and destroy the unclean ghouls. Upstairs, the party runs into two spectral elf banshees that cause them some problems, but luckily the two warforged artificers are immune to the wailing effect. Gemwin begins to make plans to settle the dwarves here and start New New Ammarindar...

Jhank leads Render, new warforged artificer S.T.E.V.E.N. Mk III, new bugbear paladin Roff, and new dwarven paladin Gemwin (yes, that's three new PCs) on an expedition into the Greypeak Mountains to save the survivors of the fall of New Ammarindar, who are sheltering at some abandoned goliath caves. Once there, they decide to look for the abandoned dwarfhold of Axeholme as a possible new start to the elusive dream of a dwarven domain in the harsh Greypeaks.

Elior leads Kain and Neville out into the wilderness near Llorkh, where they get attacked by stirges, find the Red Wizard Tharidun Mirza excavating some mysterious Netherese ruins with a zombie crew that includes the body of their dead friend Zimevos, then they run out of food in the hills. Foraging separately, Elior is attacked and killed by a panther. His friends find the body and are then joined by young goliath barbarian Bron, who explores several nearby hexes with the spellcasters (and narrowly survives a leucrotta attack) before getting back to Llorkh. Over in Upperthorn, Swift Current goes as emissary to the Bignose Goblins, and Mike contemplates his next moves to save New Ammarindar and send an expedition north into the ruins of Orlbar.

In Llorkh, Rustle Ironbottom accepts a job from Winget Sparrow of the Black Network to protect his boss Jahan during a meeting with the Miner's Cooperative at a shady warehouse. Rustle, Neville, Zim, and Kain make plans to protect their VIP and try to find a Sleep scroll. On the evening of the meet, things go well until a hit squad shows up and kills the miners, then throws poison and shoots arrows at Jahan. The party is caught between deadly archers and unknown shady figures in the warehouse and gets into a tricky spot, while Neville makes his way outside and around to try to rescue them with the wagon. Suddenly the building itself collapses and the trapped wizards and their protectee Jahan are all crushed in the rubble! In a dramatic set of death saves, all players get to their fifth and final round - Zim perishes while Kain and Rustle pull through. Before the city guard can arrive, Neville loads all the bodies in the wagon and they make their way to Winget, who takes posession of Zim's corpse and one of the hostiles, and Jahan decides its time to take that out of town promotion he's been considering. A few days later, the party accepts a job from Gunther Strojny of the Miners Cooperative to smuggle the goliath skull they previously stole to a waiting goliath warrior, but Rustle has awful dreams where he is haunted by the dead shaman's skull and cannot rest properly, leading to exhaustion and near death.

Gnome druid Jorgrim leads Arty, Swift, and Bariq to hunt down a threat from a misshapen fomorian giant near the Shrine of Lurue. On the way there they encounter some bandits, a bear, a crag cat, some giant snakes, and a few curious settlers, and they borrow some skirmishers from the village of Perfection. Once there, they interrogate a bugbear and formulate an ambush, which almost goes as planned, but the giant's evil eyes and the wicked blades of its redcap companions are a vicious threat and not every party member will survive the battle.

Dwarven death cleric Thronor leads Jhank, Artvirous, Jorgrim, and Swift Current to try and secure the hexes where the Maze of Moradin and Moradin's Forge are located, but they are attacked by the fang dragon Incyzor, who downs Jhank while everyone else scrambles for cover! Some quick thinking saves Jhank's life and the party explores looking for all the ways in to the Maze of Moradin. They explore the cave of giant bats and encounter the rust myconids, then try another way in the hopes of finding where the drow raiding parties are coming from. They conduct reconnaissance on a drow outpost and make plans to counter this threat to their nearby domains.

Jhank leads Floki, Swift Current, Thronor, and Render to the monastery of the Order of the Burning Forge, where grief-stricken widow Yulia Bronzevow detains them for the murder of her husband Gorya (Episode 34!). They face a dwarven tribunal of justice, and their sentence involves going upriver to battle foul spider-children of the demon queen Lolth!

Render the warforged artificer leads Jhank, Caradoc, Eaglebane, and Bariq to explore the ruined workshops and laboratories underneath the house of the cyclops Harpalos. On the way there they have a run-in with the stone giant Kuljarn, meet some goliath shepherds, and see evidence of ettins in the area. Harpalos welcomes them into his home and allows them in his basement on condition of bringing him back treasure. The party quickly gets entangled with a guardian wood golem, finds an enchanted oil vat and explores the ruins. A password found in the ruins allows them to avoid combat with the kitchen golems, and they find a strange viewing room haunted by a wraith. Eaglebane causes it to flee and they backtrack to explore another wing, where they once again get into a scrap with one of the guardian constructs. They send Caradoc down a privy to look for gold and find a wall safe that they can't quite crack. Big plans are made to restore the ruins to some of their former glory if they can either convince Harpalos to let them stay or, y'know, murder him...

When word reaches the higher-level characters in the western forest that MikMek was petrified in the Razorvine Ruins, wildfire druid Bariq leads Artvirous the lizardfolk ranger, Jhank the dwarven rune knight, and Jorgrim the gnome druid back eastward to try to rescue him. Along the way they encounter a hostage situation with some bandits, which they resolve with a combination of cunning and violence. At the Giant Skunk Hunting Lodge they exchange Jorgrim for the warforged artificer Render and make their way up to the basilisk-infested ruins. Relying on Jhank and Arty's blindsight capabilities, they try to take on the basilisks without getting anyone else turned to stone. However, the ruins hold a few other surprises including a gelatinous cube and a minotaur skeleton. MikMek is rescued and turned back from a statue into a kobold and the ruins are cleared of hostile creatures so that the Lowerthorn domain can try to expand here. Post-game, we have a discussion about some of our house rule systems and whether it would be worthwhile to try to publish them for other gaming groups to enjoy.

Continuing their exploration of the Razorvine Ruins, kobold rogue Mikmek leads dwarf paladin Riswynn Ruby-Eye, goliath cleric/rogue Eaglebane, warforged artificer Render and dragonborn rogue/monk Swift Current deeper into the ruined fort. Things go terribly awry when Mikmek opens a door onto a basilisk and fails both petrification saves, getting turned to stone. The party tries to drag him back through the hallway but Riswynn gets bitten by the basilisk's poisonous bite and other basilisks are drawn to the commotion. Eaglebane, Render, and Swift flee for the exit and head to the nearby hunting lodge, leaving Mikmek a statue and Riswynn unconscious and left for dead! Riswynn manages to escape some hours later and makes her way alone through the wilderness, but Mikmek's fate is uncertain. Switching gears, dwarven anthropologist warrior Jhank leads OG party members Bariq, Artvirous, Caradoc, and gnome druid Jorgim on a grand exploration into the Southwood. They discover an elvish tomb near the source of the Skunk River, a forest fort controlled by earth elementals, the source of another river flowing east (which Jhank names the Jhank River), some territorial shambling mounds, and the nearly intact ruins of an artificer's workshop. Caradoc, an artificer himself, wants to stay here and study what he can of the library of bizarre contraptions and constructs.

Swift Currrent, a tabaxi rogue/monk reincarnated as a dragonborn, leads kobold rogue Mikmek, goliath rogue/cleric Eaglebane, warforged artificer Render, and new dwarven paladin Riswynn Ruby-Eye in search of some ruins along the Thorn River. Along the way they encounter a leucrotta ambush, some tricky fey boggarts, and a grove of reveling satyrs before arriving in the razorvine-infested ruins. There are some suspiciously lifelike statues there, and as the party begins to explore their fears are realized as they are attacked by several stone-cursed and a basilisk! As several of their party members become petrified, the remaining crew must figure out how to help them and still escape with their lives.

Jared guest-GM's a DarkWizard Quest Special Episode! Goblin wizard Litesnak leads Balifra, Bariq, Arty, and Render to a cave where the barghest Rockfire the Magnificent has taken refuge. The party absails in and starts to explore but ends up in a dangerous battle with a roper and the barghest! Eventually the baddies are defeated and some treasure is gained from Darkwizard, who is glad his goblin minions can now live without fear of a demonic barghest in their midst.

Atrvirous leads Bariq, Balifra, Swift, Jorgrim, and Oneiros against the Corpse Flower that has taken over the former Sootscale Caverns complex. They take it on in its zombie-filled lair and cleanse the caverns of its foul stench forever. They leave the skirmisher teams called Lyas Lions there to begin converting it into a base, and the party travels to the Altar of Nomog-Geaya, where they battle goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears led by a hobgoblin holy man called Fenic. Diplomacy unexpectedly breaks out when Fenic threatens to unleash the hordes of Urshani hobgoblins upon the nascent Lowerthorn domain, and a tenuous accord is reached, which includes Oneiros taking on a bugbear henchman.

Oneiros joins the party in the Feywild and leads Swift, Floki, Mikmek, Jorgrim, and Barriq against the evil archfey hag Mother Wormwood! It quickly turns into a battle on three fronts when a shambling mound and some redcaps join the hag's side. Both sides Entangle each other and after taking out the redcaps Oneiros gets polymorphed into a beached whale! Floki gets engulfed by the shambling mound and the other heroes start to fall prey to the hag's wicked claws. Mikmek keeps shooting from cover, Jorgrim unleashes ball lightning from his Ring of Stars, Bariq lights her up with Moonbeam, and Oneiros pops back into tiefling shape and starts putting the hurt on. After downing most of the party Mother Wormwood is finally taken out, and we start rolling bizarre changes and mutations for those who died in the Feywild - Barriq gets meaty hooves and penalties away from solid ground, Floki gets cat claws, MikMek can Speak with Dead once a day, and Swift the Tabaxi is reincarnated as a dwarf much to John's chagrin.  They search through Loomlurch and find some pretty weird hag treasures, then pop back into their own plane, where delayed death saves take the lives of Swift and Mikmek.  Swift is reincarnated for the second time this evening by Shrubritney, this time into white dragonborn form, and Mikmek is taken to Loudwater to be raised.