0x0005 THE_GULTHIAS_PROTOCOL

SESSION DATE: February 02, 2026
PRESENT: Syntax, Jafar, Kailen, Arthas

Deep Dive

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Adventure Photos

Adventure Song & Lyrics

![[THE_GULTHIAS_PROTOCOL.mp3]]

[INTRO]
Steps on stone.
Chassis cold.
Southern seal.
Ancient. Old.
Into the vast.
Into the light.
The Twilight Grove.
Waking tonight.

[VERSE 1]
Strategist moves.
Logic and space.
Kinetic shield.
Metal in place.
Goblins scream.
Protectors rise.
Wooden limbs.
Dead wooden eyes.

[BUILD-UP]
Logic: Fire.
History: Known.
Scanning the briars.
Calculating the zone.
Four more.
Three more.
Initialize the burn.
Initialize the war.

[DROP]

[VERSE 2]
Blackened coil.
Vampire stake.
Structural fail.
Weapons break.
Shatterspike.
Steel on the floor.
Rest the system.
Open the door.

[BRIDGE]
Hell’s Lash.
Hex on the soul.
Siphon the life.
Regain control.
Mending the blade.
Restoring the edge.
Honoring the metal.
Honoring the pledge.

[DROP]

[OUTRO]
Bounty received.
Citadel: Cleared.
Maintenance mode.
Nothing is feared.
Hexblade online.
Forge in the sight.
Everything is fine.
Everything is right.

World Anvil Journal

[BOOT_SEQUENCE_STARTING...] [OK]
Core Processors Initialized [OK]
Mana-Battery Levels: 100% [OK]
Vocal Synthesizer: SET TO MONOTONE_DEFAULT [OK]
Optical Sensors: CALIBRATED (Bioluminescence filter) [SYSTEM_MESSAGE] Welcome, Unit: [SYNTAX].

Beginning Log Entry...

SESSION ID: THE_GULTHIAS_PROTOCOL
LOCATION: THE TWILIGHT GROVE / COURTYARD OF THE OUTCAST
OBJECTIVE: NEUTRALIZE BELAK / RECOVER HUCRELE SIGNETS / TERMINATE GULTHIAS TREE

[LOG_START]

[10:00] MISSION_RESUME: Navigating northern corridor toward the deep stairs.

- Status: Unit: Arthas sustained prior damage. Unit: Jafar deployed [CURE_WOUNDS] to restore structural integrity.
    
- Transition: Descended damp stairs to the lower grove.
    

[10:30] COMBAT_LOG_14: Grove Entry Skirmish.

- Hostiles: Goblin Warriors (3), Twig Blights (Multiple).
    
- Tactical Analysis: Enemies utilized "Protectors of the Twilight Grove" vocal alert. Reinforcements detected.
    
- Performance: Unit: Syntax utilized [SHIELD] protocol to deflect incoming kinetic projectile.
    
- Outcome: Hostiles neutralized. Logic: Unit: Kailen utilized [GREATSWORD_GRAZE] to bypass enemy evasion.
    
- Data Archived: 93 Experience units recovered.
    

[12:00] RECHARGE_INITIATED: Long Rest.

- Location: Octagonal farm room.
    
- Security: Unit: Jafar deployed "Tinker's Bell" proximity alarm.
    
- Observation: Distant visual of a massive tree structure reaching the cavern ceiling.
    

[22:00] INTEL_UPDATE: Belak's Study.

- Security Breach: Unit: Jafar executed [LOCKPICK_PROTOCOL] (Max efficiency).
    
- Recovered Data: "Druidic Theories on the Cycle of Life and Death," Spell Scroll [PROTECTION_FROM_POISON], Spell Scroll [ENTANGLE].
    
- Liquidated Assets: 365GP, Gems (x4).
    

[23:00] THE GULTHIAS ENCOUNTER.

- Hazard: Spindly briars. Movement slowed. Syntax sustained 4 points of structural abrasion.
    
- Subject: Belak the Outcast.
    
- Biological Anomaly: The Gulthias Tree. Origin: Vampire stake catalyst. Plan: Colonization of the surface via contaminated seeds.
    
- Target Profile: Sir Bradford (Bark-skin), Sharwyn Hucrele (Bark-skin), Belak (Humanoid/Outcast).
    

[23:15] COMBAT_LOG_15: Final Grove Termination.

- Interaction: Diplomacy failed. Hostile: "Submit or die."
    
- Engagement: Unit: Syntax deployed [HELL_S_LASH]. 17 Fire damage sustained by Belak.
    
- Hazard: Sir Bradford utilized [SHATTERSPIKE] to execute a precision strike on Unit: Kailen’s Greatsword. Result: [CATASTROPHIC_WEAPON_SHATTER].
    
- Status Report: Unit: Syntax near-death (4 HP remaining). Unit: Arthas [OFFLINE] temporarily.
    
- Resolution: Unit: Jafar utilized [CURE_WOUNDS] scroll on Arthas. Unit: Kailen executed lethal strike on Belak.
    
- Side-Effect: [HEXBLADE_CURSE] siphon triggered. Unit: Syntax health restored by 6 units.
    
- Cleanup: Unit: Sharwyn and remaining blights terminated.
    
- Recovery: Signet rings (Hucrele), Shatterspike (+1 Object-Breaker), Wand of Entangle, Potions (x3).
    

[LOG_END_OF_CAMPAIGN_ARC]

- Post-Combat: Unit: Syntax utilized [MENDING] to restore Unit: Kailen's Greatsword. Integrity: 100%.
    
- Financial Update: Signet ring bounty received (1000GP total).
    
- Maintenance Cycle: 4-week downtime initiated.
    
- Future Objective: Mountain "Stone Tooth" / Forge of Fury. Data Search: Durgeddin’s Blades.
    

[SYSTEM_MESSAGE] Log archived. Ending Sunless Citadel file.

Private Notes

• We make our way north toward the room with the other dragon statue (the one with a circular runed tile in front of it) and continue past it to the room that has the stairs.
• Before going down the stairs, Jafar casts Cure Wounds on Arthas, doing nearly max healing to him. Nice!
• Damp and crumbled steps descend sharply below another room, and back up on the other side.
• It leads to a long corridor with two doors. Kailen checks the first door for traps, and finds none. But it is locked. She checks the southern door as well, finding no traps, but this one is unlocked. She opens it and steps inside.
• Twigs and roots piled on the floor. Southern wall opens into a vast cavern with purple luminescent fungus like we've seen before. Woody plants cover the walls. As she opens the door, we roll INITIATIVE!!!

  • Round 1

    • Arthas - Invoke Hell: Grand Strategist to allow Jafar and Kailen to move up to half their movement immediately without provoking opportunity attacks. They both move into the room.
    • Syntax - Move into the room, see two goblins, Eldritch Blast on the one on the right, just missing.
    • Kailen - Moves up to a goblin, misses with greatsword attack.
    • Goblin Warriors - One hidden one fires arrow at Syntax, which would hit, but Syntax casts Shield to cause it to miss. Another swings scimitar at Kailen, hitting.
    • Jafar - Fire Bolt hits a goblin.
    • Goblin Warriors - Swings at Kailen, hits. Bonus Action Disengage to move away. Another reveals himself as he fires at Jafar, missing. Backs away into the corner.

  • Round 2

    • Arthas - Moves into the room, Baleful Interdict on the goblin near Kailen, hitting. Pops seal from Baleful Interdict for extra damage, killing the goblin.
    • Syntax - Toll the Dead on a hurt goblin, but it saves.
    • Kailen - Moves up to the hurt goblin, swings and misses. Because she has Mastery with Greatswords, she gets to use its Graze feature, which deals Strength Modifier damage (3) to it even on a miss! Bonus Action Second Wind for some healing.
    • Goblin Warriors - Moves up to Kailen, flanking attack CRITs, but does almost minimum damage. Nice! Bonus Action Disengage to move away.
    • Jafar -
    • Goblin Warriors - Moves to prevent the goblin having cover, Fire Bolt hits and kills the goblin! When he dies, another goblin yells "Aid us, protectors of the Twilight Grove!" Help is on the way. Oh boy. Another moves southward and takes the Dodge action.

  • Round 3

    • At the start of the round, their backup arrives. At least four Twig Blights appear south of us.
    • Twig Blight - Moves up to Jafar and misses with its Claw attack.
    • Arthas - Moves to flank a Twig Blight, hits and one shots it!
    • Syntax - Bonus Action Hex (Wisdom) on a goblin, Toll the Dead on the same one, it fails the save.
    • Twig Blight - Moves forward and uses Dodge Action.
    • Kailen - Attacks the dodging twig blight, missing, but Graze does 3 damage.
    • Twig Blight - Moves up and attacks Kailen, missing.
    • Goblin Warriors - Moves westward toward Syntax, fires shortbow at Jafar, hits.
    • Jafar - Fire Bolt at a goblin, misses, flies up five more feet.
    • Twig Blight - Moves up to Kailen, Claw attack hits her.
    • Goblin Warriors - Moves up to Kailen, scimitar attack hits her. Bonus Action Disengage, moves away.

  • Round 4

    • Arthas - Uses Devastator feature to give Jafar and Kailen an immediate attack. Jafar uses Fire Bolt at a goblin, hitting and does one single point of damage. Kailen attacks a twig blight with flanking, hits and kills it.
    • Syntax - Toll the Dead on Hexed goblin, it fails and dies. Bonus Action move Hex to the Dodging twig blight.
    • Twig Blight - Claw attack at Kailen misses.
    • Kailen - Greatsword attack at twig blight hits and kills it.
    • Jafar - Moves up a bit toward the last remaining goblin, Fire Bolt misses. Moves back toward Kailen and down to ground level to give Kailen Flanking.
    • Twig Blight - Moves to prevent Flanking, provoking from Jafar, whose Fire Bolt misses. Twig Blight misses Kailen with his claw attack.
    • Goblin Warriors - Moves up to Jafar, scimitar attack at Kailen with flanking, misses. Bonus Action Disengage to move away.

  • Round 5

    • Arthas - Moves to the goblin, Baleful Interdict, swings flail, misses critically.
    • Syntax - Bonus Action to move hex onto last twig blight, Toll the Dead, it saves.
    • Three more twig blight reinforcements arrive.
    • Kailen - Hits and kills twig blight. Bonus Action Second Wind for healing. Moves down to goblin to provide flanking for Arthas.
    • Twig Blight - Moves up to Kailen, claw attack CRITs her. Another hits her as well. Another moves up to Kailen and hits.
    • Jafar - Makes a History check, and recalls that these are vulnerable to Fire damage. Moves westward a bit and misses with Fire Bolt. Flies up 5'.
    • Goblin Warriors - Misses Kailen with scimitar attack. Bonus Action Disengage and moves west out of reach of us at the moment.

  • Round 6

    • Arthas - Moves into flanking position and swings at a twig blight, missing.
    • Syntax - Moves Hex onto a twig blight, Toll the Dead, it fails and takes two whole damage.
    • Kailen - CRITs on a twig blight, doing TWENTY damage, absolutely obliterating it! Using her Remarkable Athlete feature, she moves away from the twig blights without provoking.
    • Twig Blight - One moves up to Arthas and Kailen, Dodge action. Another moves to flanking position, swings and misses Arthas.
    • Jafar - Moves into better position for the non-Dodging twig blight, Fire Bolt hits, sending the twig blight up in flames!
    • Goblin Warriors - Moves up to Arthas, swings and hits. Disengage, moves away around a bush.

  • Round 6

    • Arthas - Flail at the Dodging twig blight, and hits anyway, killing it.
    • Syntax - Moves to better position, Bonus Action to move Hex to goblin, Eldritch Blast hits the last remaining goblin, hitting it, allowing Hex damage to apply, as well as allowing Arthas to pop his seal, doing enough damage to kill the goblin.
  • Combat over. We each receive 93 xp.
• In front of us is a twilight grove of briars and bushes.
• We decide to take a long rest due to being out of resources. Before leaving the area, we make Perception checks. Arthas and Jafar notice off in the distance toward the south-southwest, the branches of a massive tree reaching up into the heights of this cavern. Jafar suggests checking that out when we get back.
• We continue to a safe room. We decide to bed down in one of the octagonal farm rooms since they have one doorway. Using Tinker's Magic to summon a bell to alert us of intruders. He affixes the bell to some string so that it rings if moved.
• We bed down for the night.
• TRGBU. (The Rest Goes By Uneventfully)
• We move down the long corridor again and head down into the briar-filled room we just left. Jafar stops at the door in the north and offers to try to pick the lock. Kailen checks for traps, and finds none. Jafar attempt to pick the lock, and deftly does so with a Natural 20! It's unlocked. Kailen opens the door and heads inside.
• Tomes line the walls in this room. A rough-hewn desk stands in the center.
• Jafar searches the room for useful scrolls and tomes since he's a soon-to-be wizard. The only thing found is an interesting tome written in Draconic, but our Draconic language expert is not here tonight. The book is sitting on the desk. We spend more time looking around for stuff. We do a bit better this time, but only marginally. We can't roll to save our lives tonight. We do find 365g, though, as well as four gems worth 20g each, a book titled "Druidic Theories on the Cycle of Life and Death", and Arthas finds a Spell Scroll of Protection from Poison. We spend a bit more time looking around. Jafar finds a Spell Scroll of Entangle.
• We continue southward toward the brambles. Pale and spindly briars press close, casting shadows. The briars will not hinder small and smaller creatures, but medium creatures will have difficult terrain. For every 10' we move, we must make a Con save or take 1 point of piercing damage.
• Jafar scouts ahead while flying over the briars. He tries to be stealthy while looking around for things. He finds that a walled clearing is here among the briars. The walls are about twenty feet high, which is less than half the height of the cavern’s ceiling. Several varieties of plants grow around the perimeter of the clearing, including a few suspicious-looking saplings, but their importance pales before that which stands at the courtyard’s center. Beneath the fungal light grows an evil tree. Its blackened, twisted limbs reach upward, like a skeletal hand clawing its way out of the earth. Before it stand a few twig blights; a heavily armored, young human male with a shield and sword; a blonde, young human woman in a robe fit for a noble; and a middle-aged, bearded human male wearing a hooded brown robe and armed with a staff and sickle. The younger humans have black eyes and gray skin with the texture of bark.
• We choose to continue by just walking through the briars. Syntax takes four damage, Kailen takes one damage, and Arthas takes six damage. Jafar just flies over the briars.
• As we move, they become aware of our presence thanks to Syntax's light source. They just look at us. The hooded creature says loudly, "Hold a moment! You know not what you do!" We ask what we're doing. He says that "I am Belak, called the Outcast. My circle expelled me, the fools. Why? Because I dared to expand nature’s reach in ways they couldn’t grasp. I have found what I sought in the Gulthias Tree." We ask what he was seeking. He says, "It’s beautiful, no? It lives, though it looks dead. In an age long past, someone staked a vampire on this very spot. The stake took root. And so grew the Gulthias Tree, reverberating with primal power for those who can tap it. I give fruit to the goblins with orders to disperse their seeds on the surface. Deceitful beings that they are, the goblins barter the fruit, but the seeds are dispersed all the same. My plan for colonizing the surface with the children of Gulthias continues." While we're having this conversation, several of the others are positioning themselves between us and Belak. Jafar casts Fire Bolt at Belak. Belak calls out "Very well. Submit peacefully or die." INITIATIVE!!!

  • Round 1

    • Twig Blight - Moves.
    • Syntax - Moves out, Hexblade's Curse as Bonus Action, Hell's Lash on Balek, who fails his save, taking 17 Fire damage. Moves out of line of sight.
    • Jafar - Moves out, Tasha's Caustic Brew on the three humans, two fail their saves.
    • Kailen - Moves out, swings Greatsword, misses, but does 3 damage thanks to its Graze feature.
    • Arthas - Moves out, Baleful Interdict on Balek, uses Devastator feature on Kailen and Jafar to command them to make an attack immediately. Jafar attacks with Fire Bolt, doing one single damage. Kailen swings her greatsword, missing, but doing 3 Grazing damage.
    • Belak the Outcast - Takes 9 Fire damage from Hell's Lash, moves away. Casts Cure Wounds on himself for 27 healing. He makes his save on Syntax's Hell's Lash.
    • Sir Bradford - Shatterspike at Kailen's greatsword, which hits the sword, doing some damage to it, causing it to shatter into pieces on the ground. Welp. That's not good.
    • Twig Blight - Moves up, claw attack on Jafar misses.
    • Sharwyn Hucrele - Takes damage from Jafar's acid. Casts Sleep at Jafar. He fails his save, and is now asleep and incapacitated.
    • Giant Frog - Comes out of stealth and attacks Arthas, missing.
    • Twig Blight - Attacks Arthas, misses.

  • Round 2

    • Twig Blight - Hits Arthas with claw attack.
    • Syntax - Moves out, provoking from Twig Blight, which hits. Continues moving west along the crumbled wall, casts Hex on Belak as Bonus Action, then Toll the Dead on him, but he saves. Moves into the briars.
    • Jafar - Falls to the ground, takes two damage, awakens because of it, stands up from Prone, Fire Bolt at Sir Bradford, hits for 9 damage!
    • Kailen - Draws her flail, moves to flank Sir Bradford, provoking from the twig, which misses, and attacks Sir Bradford, CRITs him for 11 damage, which is enough to kill him! Action Surge to equip her shield. Moves to give Jafar and Arthas flanking on a Twig Blight.
    • Arthas - Baleful Interdict on the Giant Frog, flail attack at it which hits, pops seal on frog. Good damage!
    • Belak the Outcast - Moves, waves his wand and casts Entangle on an area including Kailen, Jafar, Arthas, a Twig Blight and the Giant Frog. Jafar, Kailen and Arthas all make their saves. The Giant Frog also makes it, but the Twig Blight fails and gets rooted. The irony isn't lost on us.
    • Twig Blight - Claw attack at Jafar hits.
    • Sharwyn Hucrele - Magic Missile at Syntax, breaking his Concentration and doing massive damage. Syntax is near death!
    • Giant Frog - Bite attack misses Arthas.
    • Twig Blight - Claw attack hits Arthas.

  • Round 3

    • Twig Blight - Claw attack at Arthas CRITs for minimal damage.
    • Syntax - Steps forward, Eldritch Blast at Sharwyn, hits, moves out of line of sight behind a wall, chancing taking damage from the briars, and he makes his save. He only has four health remaining.
    • Jafar - Healing Word on Syntax. Disengage Action, flies up 5' to move out of the Entangled area and moves next to Syntax.
    • Kailen - Attacks twig blight with flail, hits, doing enough to kill it! Moves out of the Entangled area and heads toward Sharwyn.
    • Arthas - Steps out of the Entangled area and attacks the frog, which hits and kills it! Baleful Interdict on the twig blight nearby.
    • Belak the Outcast - Moves toward Sharwyn and casts Cure Wounds on her for 17 healing. Oof.
    • Twig Blight - Moves up to Arthas and attacks, hits.
    • Sharwyn Hucrele - Ray of Frost on Kailen, hits for minimum damage, but reduces her movement by 10' until the start of Sharwyn's next turn.
    • Twig Blight - Claw attack misses Arthas.

  • Round 4

    • Syntax - Moves into the walls, sees Belak, Sacred Flame on him, he saves, Spellfire Spark to do it again as a Bonus Action, Sacred Flame works this time as he fails his save, does four damage. Not great.
    • Jafar - Administers Potion of Healing to Syntax for 7 healing. Nice. Flies in, Fire Bolt at Belak, misses.
    • Kailen - Moves up to Belak, flail attack misses unfortunately.
    • Arthas - Flail attack on a twig blight misses.
    • Belak the Outcast - Bonus Action Shillelagh, then casts 2nd Level Tunderwave, Kailen fails the save and takes 13 Thunder damage and gets knocked 10' away. Ouch! Runs away from Kailen.
    • Twig Blight - Claw attack hits Arthas for four damage. He's near death. Not good!
    • Sharwyn Hucrele - Ray of Frost at Kailen barely misses Kailen.
    • Twig Blight - Claw attack misses Arthas.

  • Round 5

    • Syntax - Steps in to give them another target to hit. Eldritch Blast at one of the Twig Blights near Arthas, misses.
    • Jafar - Fire Bolt at a twig blight near Arthas, misses.
    • Kailen - Moves up to Belak, flail attack hits for 8 damage. Bonus Action Second Wind.
    • Arthas - Misses twig blight with his flail.
    • Belak the Outcast - Cure Wounds on himself.
    • Twig Blight - Hits Arthas with a claw attack, knocking him Unconscious. Ruh roh.
    • Sharwyn Hucrele - Hits Kailen with Ray of Frost for five frost damage.
    • Twig Blight - Dashes out of the Entangle area toward Syntax.

  • Round 6

    • Syntax - Shocking Grasp hits the adjacent twig blight, doing some damage and preventing opportunity attacks. Syntax moves west ward toward Belak as Jafar yells that he has a scroll to heal Arthas.
    • Jafar - Flies over to Arthas and uses Spell Scroll of Cure Wounds on him, doing nearly max healing!
    • Kailen - Misses Belak with her flail.
    • Arthas - Stands from Prone, Dash Action to remove himself from all difficult terrain.
    • Belak the Outcast - Faerie Fire at Kailen who fails her saving throw, which causes his Concentration to drop on his Entangle.
    • Twig Blight - Claw attack hits Arthas.
    • Sharwyn Hucrele - Ray of Frost misses Kailen.
    • Twig Blight - Claw attack hits Arthas.

  • Round 7

    • Syntax - Moves into line of sight of Belak, Eldritch Blast misses Belak.
    • Jafar - Fire Bolt at a twig blight, hits and kills it. Moves past twig blight to provoke, which misses, leaving Arthas free to escape.
    • Kailen - Flail attack at Belak misses, Second Wind for some good healing on herself. She's back at full health at the moment!
    • Arthas - Dash Action to move next to Kailen and Belak, Bonus Action Baleful Interdict on Belak.
    • Belak the Outcast - Misses his attack on Kailen.
    • Sharwyn Hucrele - Ray of Frost on Kailen misses.
    • Twig Blight - Moves toward Arthas.

  • Round 8

    • Syntax - Eldritch Blast on Belak hits, doing good damage. Arthas pops both his seals on him, doing 8 more damage. He takes a total of 19 damage!
    • Jafar - Moves up and attacks a twig blight with a Fire Bolt, missing.
    • Kailen - Moves to get Flanking on Belak and hits, and gets the killing blow on him! FINALLY! Because he had Hexblade's Curse on him when he died, it heals Syntax for six health! Moves up to Sharwyn, cornering her.
    • Arthas - Moves up to Sharwyn and attacks, hitting.
    • Sharwyn Hucrele - Dagger attack at Arthas hits.
    • Twig Blight - Claw attack at Arthas misses.

  • Round 9

    • Syntax - Moves up toward Sharwyn, casts Toll the Dead, but she saves.
    • Jafar - Flies toward Sharwyn, Fire Bolt misses.
    • Kailen - Flail attack at Sharwyn hits and kills her! Just a twig blight remaining now!
    • Arthas - Flail attack at the twig blight hits, and he pops the seal on it, doing enough damage to kill it!
  • Combat over. We each receive 193 xp.
• We gather all the loot we can find on these guys, which includes 3x Potions of Healing, a key to Belak's Study, 2x Antitoxins, a Wand of Entangle, and Shatterspike, a +1 sword that can deal critical damage to objects! We also find 28g, chain mail, a shield, and a spell book. Sharwyn's spell book had.
• Syntax grabs the pieces of Kailen's greatsword and casts Mending on them to mend the sword good as new
• The lady offers 125g per signet ring per character for bringing back Talgen and Sharwyn's rings. We have both, so that's 250g per character, for a total of 1000g.
• We get four weeks of downtime between adventures. We'll be going into the next set of dungeon delving adventures next time.
• For the next adventure:

  Forge of Fury - A mountain called the Stone Tooth. More or less, we're in search of Durgedin's superior blades inside of a stronghold.

That's it for this session!

Adventure Loot

• Book with Draconic title
• 4x Gems (20g each)
• Druidic Theories on the Cycle of Life and Death book (150g)
• Spell Scroll of Protection from Poison
• Spell Scroll of Entangle
• 3x Potion of Healing
• Key to Belak's Study
• 2x Antitoxin
• Wand of Entangle
• Shatterspike
• Chain mail
• Shield
• Spell Book:
  • Detect Magic
  • Silent Image
  • Light
  • Prestidigitation
  • Ray of Frost
  • Color Spray
  • Magic Missile
  • Shield
  • Sleep

Loose Gold Found

Total:
Converted:
Split:

• Gold has been split