Zephros's Flying Cloud Castle Crash Lands

Let me ‘splain…No, there is too much. Let me sum up ...
1 carrion beetle: 3900 XP (4 party members 975 each)
900 XP for roleplaying - good deductive reasoning and entertainment
1875 XP TOTAL
STARTING XP: 4700
ENDING XP: 6575 (14000 xp next level)

Well it seems that Zephros had to contemplate with Lord Arthur advising him as to whether to accept the generous offer of the 9 guests. Occy, Brunelda, Baron, and Tyr were very suspicious of them (as well they should have been). Brunelda . . . they are not thirsty and don't like it when you keep asking !!!
With the assistance of the squire, Baron found out they were seeding the cloud with white sand (and it tastes bitter). After eating the sand, Baron reported to the other members and what happened to Tyr's horsey ?!?!?

When confronted, the cultist acted offended and attempted to leave. Tyre grabbed a water skin and poured out the white powder as proof. They attempted to leave in a hurry and several party members tried to detain them and managed to stop a few from getting on their steeds.

The leader, once airborne, called  out the magic words and the cloud holding the great tower began to dissipate. Oh no the cloud is now falling 1000 feet to its doom. Baron grabs a cultist and leaps off the great cloud nearly falling to their doom before he spreads his wings. The cultist after throwing up many times passes out.

Zephros' griffins get the party to safety and then go back for their master. The party watches as the cloud tower falls into a nearby mountain range and loses view.

Being in the forest is scary. Occy shoots the first moving thing and misses. The party finds an abandoned keep with a single tower and mausoleum. They meet some half elf/deer but talk to them and scare them away. The tower proves old and decrepit and generally useless.

The mausoleum has a disturbed sarcophagus and two skeletons and a beautiful necklace which Brunelda refused to pick up. Boo. But had the captive cultist pick up instead. Yay. Cultist turns into a big bad beetle but the party kills it and the cultist turns back into a winy, asshole cultist again.

Baron scoops the cursed necklace so they can do some shenanigans later, Occy started hearing Arthur as the good voice in his head, Tyr couldn't stop rolling 1's and should have been a halfling, and Brunelda escaped becoming a large unsightly beetle and possibly killing the party.

Nuff said.

CONGRATS ON LEVEL 5 . . . . LEVEL UP FOR NEXT WEEK.

DM OUT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!