On the way to a minotaur city called Feldspar, famed for its garnet mine and entertainment attractions. Our intrepid heroes Alga, Timothy, and Velinda are greeted with a most horrific sight. A caravan was attacked, two minotaur, a hobgoblin, an elf, and Dirty Darebritrud of Ornamentis lay cowering in the wreckage of the attack. Further investigation found it to be an attack by a roving band of hobgoblins, goblins, bugbears, and orcs. They helped the small caravan regain some stability in their cart and replaced the broken wheel axel with wood from the nearby forest. Along the way finding a trail that led straight to the hobgoblin camp.

The intrepid explorers push on towards the hobgoblin camp, sending the survivors back to Feldspar. Approaching the camp they see it is far bigger endeavor than they initially thought. They took the high road and approached with brazen confidence. They called upon the leader to show himself, and thankfully their bold tactic paid off. A hobgoblin ventured out from his tent, one who called himself The Hammer. The Hammer challenged them to group combat for command of the warband and its scepter, Masomenos, a warhammer with strange gravitational properties. Alga, Timothy, and Velinda made short work of them and renamed the hobgoblin leader Anvil. Unfortunately they lost Karen in the process.

They took Anvil and the hammer the rest of the way to Feldspar, they met with the Captain of the Echo Knight order, Ireta, and the Matron of the Garnet Hall, Seodera. The hobgoblin camp was added to the Feldspar fold, providing toll services for the road to the Minotaur town.

After the business was taken care of the heroes took leave to the Hornlands. During the evening, Timothy P. Jones would flit to the Mournlands, laid waste by conflict with the elves many years ago, to look bodies for his necromantic partnership. He would find this body in the form of a recently dead half-orc roguish figure. After a short misadventure where Timothy used the new zombie to mess with the heads of roaming elves, the new partner was dubbed Houdini.

There was not much rest before adventure came calling once more. A monk came to Feldspar looking for help in a great task and the Knights of the Garnet Bellows was gathered to hear the call. A three headed dragon attacked the neighboring monastery and Velinda, Alga, and Timothy volunteered to fight the beast.

They purchased a few supplies before the journey, the normal essentials; potions of fire-breathing, a potion of growth, and a couple magic items. Timothy grabbed a scroll of Wall of Water. Then they were off, journeying into the mountains with a crew of fifteen hirelings (paid for by the city) hauling three ballistae. They found the dragon, popped their potions; each using fire resistance, and Alga used the growth potion as well. Dragon flew right past the thirteen foot tall minotaur breathing fire on the party behind. Timothy was ready though; cast Wall of Water between the breath attack and the targets, greatly reducing the calamity of the dragon's breath. The overture now completed, the battle went into full swing.

Volleys rained from the ballistae, Timothy casted reduce on the dragon, Alga grappled and tripped it. The dragon, now bound to the ground, was swiftly descended upon by the party and dispatched with ferocity. After the fight, the monk from the monastery panicked; this dragon is the wrong color; wrong one! Quickly, though they were on the trail of the other dragon.

Tracking the dragons' trails, Alga, Timothy, and Velinda followed it all the way to a cave lair tucked into the mountain. Inside they found hobgoblins speaking in hushed tones, as they ambushed the hobgoblins the other dragon made triple approach into the lair. Petrifying one of the hobgoblins and destroying one of Timothy's skeleton partners, this three headed dragon proved a far more dangerous foe than the last. Though difficult the task, the heroes proved the greater match for the creature, unfortunately the other hobgoblins also lost their lives during the fight.

Within the lair's deeper caverns, they discovered a trove of treasures: mounds of gold, potions, and The Cat's Nine Lives. The Cat's Nine Lives granted the wearer a sense of warning and a bit of luck. They returned to Feldspar and parted ways with their new monk friend, confident in the knowledge that they cleared the land of a potentially dangerous threat. Along the way they discovered Houdini had an odd habit of having useful items on his person, items Timothy was certain he had not paid for. It seemed Houdini still had some vestiges of his old living self as a rogue.

Weeks later Velinda is approached by cult-like sect of the Church of the Laughing Cow. Followers of Brother Ox felt that Velinda was a perfect example of the Minotaur community and pushed her to meet with their deity. Velinda took Alga and Timothy to the Udder of Salvation and atop its hill stood a giant minotaur-like figure, the avatar of Brother Ox, Veles.

Veles told the adventurers of his past and the realm beneath the udder he controls. He raised the udder to divert the waters Garnet River to support the community of Feldspar. But the lack of water into the Devil's Sieve caused other issues, the ankheg dug into depths of the udder looking for water and ended up stealing a gem from Veles' treasures. It was causing an upheaval in the nest one that had finally spilled over into Feldspar.

In this distance a stack of smoke was coming from the town, they had a choice to make: take care of the Ankheg at the source or help the town first. Their choice was the nest. With great haste they traversed to the Devil's Sieve finding a hole big enough for them to pass through. In an attempt to make the hole bigger, or rinse out the acid that coated the tunnel walls, Alga used a decanter of endless water to clear out ant hole with a geyser of pressurized water. Just like spraying down a small ant hill, tunnels collapsed and a swarm of large acid ants attacked the adventurers.

After dealing with the swarm of exploding acidic ants, the group entered the Ankheg hive and staved off several attacks as they pushed forward. They passed a larva pit, and Timothy lost poor Carlton and Houdini to a boulder perched precariously atop tall pillars. Luckily Timothy was able to replace them with some skeletons found in the hive.

Finally, our brave explorers reach the chamber of the Ankheg Queen. Deep in her nest laid a crystal, the gem from Brother Veles' realm. It seemed to be granting the ankheg a heightened sense of awareness. Causing quakes throughout her lair and summoning larvae to her side the queen lashed out at the intruders in her nest. the battle was grueling, even the dirt beneath their feet was giving way. By the time the queen was dead, they were tired and their resources spent. They gathered the stone and left.

When they left the nest, they were greeted with a familiar face. Houdini had somehow survived and made it to the surface, and as an added bonus he managed to make it out with his zombie companion Carlton's corpse as well. By some miracle, or cruel cosmic joke, Houdini had become an awakened undead, his intelligence returning to him and no longer under the command of Timothy; much to Timothy's chagrin.

Returning the crystal to Veles, the adventurers were at a rush to get back to town, the dark smoke in the distance getting far far worse. They rushed back into town through the guard district adjacent to the sieve. Guards from the district notified them of the ankheg's attack on the town. Alga and his companions rushed to help protect the town. They found the creatures were popping up from the ground attacking buildings and people alike. Their magic and powers expended from the fight at the nest, they fought the wave all but fatigued from the troubles of the day. Finally clearing out the monsters, the town of Feldspar was saved and the heroes could take a well deserved rest.