Rhundorth – Captive Mirabar dwarf forging weapons in the cult’s foundry. Freed now.
Renwick Caradoon – Pacifist lich and original occupant of the Sacred Stone Monestary, Renwick saw Ogrémoch’s entrance into the world while practicing a divination spell, and hastened down to the Black Geode to aid the party. Having been crushed, he is now being laid to final rest with his brother at his request.
Marlos Urnrayle – High priest of the Cult of the Black Earth, Marlos was a medusa that sacrificed Windvane (the spear containing a spark of Yan-C-Bin) to bring Ogrémoch through the earth portal. Dead after being stepped on by Ogrémoch.
Ogrémoch – Prince of Evil Earth Elementals. The Mountain that Walks. Now defeated rubble.
Events
The captured players are made to pile all of their goods on the ground. The cultists find Windvane in Indica’s bag and excitedly take it and the bag with them, leaving most other things behind.
Divested of weapons and goods, Corey, Idra, Indica, and Kronk are led off in magical shackles. They see an armored elemental and mephits, the forges with Rhundorth in a similar state, and are chained to stone columns in a waiting room under watch of guards and nothics.
The cultist with the spear runs to show Marlos what he found.
Maya wakes up in a pile of the other characters’ stuff. She almost draws the attention of the Galeb Duhr, but quietly gathers some of the other players’ goods and hides.
Fairafel uses alter self to appear like a nothic, and creeps past the Galeb Duhr and climbs down.
Maya and Fairafel manage to recognize each other before it comes to blows.
Kronk tries to break his bonds and discovers that they inflict pain on anyone who tries to break out.
Kronk succeeds in breaking the restraints on his second try, quickly finding himself in a one on five fight.
Idra fights surprisingly well while his hands are behind his back and chained to a column.
Corey can’t dispel anything to save his life.
Indica makes a couple attempts to turn into a polar bear. The second attempt has her breaking free.
Once the guards are killed, the nothics scatter looking for help. One flees to the bullete pens, one to the forges, and one to the earth portal room.
Indica pursues the one into the earth portal room and roars, letting everyone know where she is.
Maya and Fairafel, while exploring, find the forges and hear the nothic screaming for help, and rush in to assault the cultists gathered there.
Kronk frees Idra and Corey.
Renwick unexpectedly comes up behind Maya and Fairafel and urges them to hurry, clearing the way and increasing their speed.
The party stumbles into the earth portal room one at a time, to find cultists, gargoyles, and Marlos preparing to sacrifice Windvane’s power to Ogrémoch.
While the party tangles with the minions, the sacrifice is made. Lightning blasts the room and Ogrémoch steps out of the earth portal. Where he almost immediately crushes Marlos by stepping on him. (He didn’t notice the priest.) He also drains the life force out of the human cultists..
Renwick drops a bag of potions for the characters with a quick “Drink these!” then casts Time Stop, followed by three simultaneous Disintegration rays. He softens Ogrémoch up for the players and immediately draws the prince’s ire.
The party chug the potions (which give them the equivalent of a long rest plus some temporary hit points) and get to work on the gargoyles with the occasional fireball sent Ogrémoch’s way.
After tangling with Ogrémoch for a few rounds, Renwick is pummled into a shattered collection of bones and mummified flesh. (The DM breathes a sigh of relief, knowing the NPC made the fight possible for the under-leveled party without winning it for them.)
The party engages Ogrémoch directly. Kronk almost gets driven into the ground like a nail.
Fairafel Lightning Bolts, Maya Fireballs, Corey Guiding Bolts, and Kronk swings. Ogrémoch is getting chipped away bit by bit.
Idra recovers Ironfang from the crushed Marlos’ hand, and strikes Ogrémoch finding it particularly effective.
Indica uses Blight, and Ogrémoch crumbles, revealing the pulsing green crystal that is his heart.
Idra strikes the heart with Ironfang and watches both the heart and weapon crumble.
The earth begins to shake violently and the earth portal starts pulling Ogrémoch’s pieces and much of the surrounding stone in. The party jumps into the bag of holding and Idra uses the boots of speed to flee.
They grab Renwick’s remains and Rhundorth on the way out.
The caverns collapse behind Idra as he runs. When he reaches the surface even the Sacred Stone Monastery collapses.
Over the next few days the party confirms the other temple locations have similarly collapsed, likely crushing the remaining cultists and sealing the portals beneath a mountain of unyielding stone. The other two weapons, Drown and Tinderstrike, are unaccounted for. Though the danger from the Temple of Elemental Evil seems to be past, at least for the time being.
Following a note found in Renwick’s things, the party takes his body to the Knights of Samular, to be interred with his brother. He does not regenerate and goes to Tyr.
Waterdeep recognizes the party as heroes of the realm and rewards them handsomely. They retire to great fame or obscurity as they so choose.
Keltar – Black Earth cultist demanding that those comming through pay tribute to Ogremoch. Deceased.
Gorx – A Xorn eating the “tribute”. Deceased.
Events
Vance was unable to make it. No Maya.
Maya used her prayer beads to summon an angel, which inhabited her. It granted the players resurrection (and true life) for an oath to travel to Chult and stop the lich Acererack from attaining godhood. (Once the local cult was dealt with.)
Maya collapsed unconscious from the strain of being a vessel. The party used a potion to shrink her down and stick her in a pocket. (Not how that potion normally works, but a good way to handle the missing party member.)
Healed up and ready to go, the party headed out and ran into Keltar and Gorx. Keltar demanded they pay tribute, and the party rushed him. Keltar fell quick, but Gorx used earth glide to try and ambush from below, chewing on Indica in an attempt to get to her ridiculous horde of treasure. The party killed them both.
Heading east, the party ran into a Roper. Idra used some fancy footwork and ki to reach the ceiling and shatter the Roper’s foothold. Once on the ground, the roper was still a tough fight, but the party prevailed.
The party heard a distant moaning to the north, but opted to head west towards the glowing crystals. The crystals caused a confusion effect for anyone who entered, which left Kronk standing around listlessly for a bit. They also found an earth cultist corpse, and the Speak with Dead spell informed them that he and a fellow had fallen victim to the crystals. They also found an illusion wall.
The party found a mud waterfall and avoided it, instead going northwest until they heard clacking sounds and saw things moving in the dark.
Heading back to the illusion, the party discovered an entrance to the Underdark, then they headed back towards the clacking again.
The party fought eight Hook Horrors! Then they slept in the nests made of humanoid bones and refuse.
During Idra’s watch, some troops came through investigating reports of odd noises. They found the hook horror corpses and ran off to tell someone.
After the rest, Idra scaled up to the end of the bridge, where he met a Galeb Duhr guard. A fight broke out, the party was being pulverized by animated bolders, Idra shattered the bridge, and the troops came back with a Nothic.
The troops demanded surrender, the party agreed. Fairafel grabbed Kronk’s greataxe Helga, and Dimension Doored away. (She was just out of line of sight and Kronk didn’t want Helga in the wrong hands.) She is now hiding in some kind of stables for juvenile Bulettes.
Corey, Idra, Indica, and Kronk were divested of their gear, and marched off to be presented to Marlos Urnrayle.
Is Maya still with the gear?
ENDSESSION
XP Log (14000, 2800 each)
Negotiating with an Angel (200 xp)
Getting through the confusion crystal room (1000 xp)
Wyx – Simpering Nothic flattering and entertaining Zegdar. Deceased.
Zegdar – Minotaur commander of the fire cult’s guard in the Fane of the Eye. Deceased.
Karg & Maul – Hill giants passing the time gambling while guarding the entrance to The Black Geode. Deceased.
Events
Maya (Vance) was unable to make it due to a home improvement project.
The party descended from the Temple of the Black Earth to the Fane of the Eye.
Trying the West door, Indica got trapped in an abandoned mine with four Specters.
Idra used Shatter to blow the door open, which alerted enemies in the area.
At the end of that fight, Wyx came looking. Idra tried to grab him, but the Nothic managed to run back and warn Zegdar.
Corey stone shaped the door closed. Zegdar almost immediately started working on breaking through.
The party tried to flee south down the tracks, finding fire cult Minotaurs.
A substantial fight took place with fire breathing Minotaurs, a Nothic scraping brains for secrets, and the discovery that Imix can bless his followers with immunity to fire.
After killing Zegdar and his troups, the party quickly scouted the rooms. They found a little treasure, what they believe is the way down to the fire portal, and inky black clouds that seem to block light and sound in some of the corridors.
The party rested in the Minotaur quarters.
Following some voices, two gambling hill giants playing tick-tac-toe were located.
Fairafel slipped in and challenged the looser to a game. She won. The giant’s club informed her that winning isn’t everything.
After killing the giants, the party realized they were probably at the entrance to the earth cult’s final layer and headed down.
Finding two earth cult guards in the room below, Corey tried to read their minds for the password. That didn’t work.
Fairafel tried to charm the guards. That didn’t work.
A fight broke out. It would have been fine except for the two earth elementals that joined and started beating everyone to a pulp. Including Corey and Fairafel.
Corey and Fairafel bled out. Oh no! Guess we’ll need to find a way to raise dead?
ENDSESSION
XP Log (20000, 4000 each)
Learning the hard way to let the giant win. (250 xp)
Finding the route to the Fire Cult Portal. (2500 xp)
Dynath – Bulette rider investigating the slaughter of his fellows. Deceased.
Miraj Vizann – Earth Genasi wizard working on repairing dwarven stone golems. Only associated with the cult for the magical academic opportunities. Or so he claims.
Events
Everyone leveled up.
After resting, the party heard a group investigating the bodies from the previous battle.
One of the cultists came to check on the Duergar quarters. Kronk turned him into a red mist, and a battle involving cultists and a couple Bulettes followed.
After the battle, the party started looting, while being stalked by the remaining Bulette that kept taking bites out of them. It was eventually slain.
Corey scouted with Arcane Eye. He found Miraj Vizann, an earth genasi wizard working on repairing dwarven stone golems.
Miraj noticed the arcane eye and came to investigate (walking through the stone walls). He used a white flag to approach in truce and tried to bribe the characters into attacking the fire cult. The players refused, saying they wanted to meet the earth cult leader. Miraj gave them directions to the stairs leading further down, and warned them to be quiet. He even gave Corey back his missing tome in exchange for leaving him alone.
The party snuck past some cultists and found the staircase, and started down towards the Fane of the Eye.
XP Log (12000, 2000 each)
Convincing Miraj to tell them how to go further down. (3000xp)
Renwick Caradoon – Lich in the monastery, the players met him while he was hunting some cultists that had decided to come back after the players had cleared it out. Had a nice chat, and set up Corey with some armor and clothes not harvested from a cultist corpse.
Temple of Black Earth
Nartham – Bulette rider and earth cult member. Charged the players, died in a hole.
Yarsha – Stone sorcerer and high ranking member of the earth cult. She died by being double fireballed and crit failing one of the saves.
Events
Indica was unable to join due to work. She spent the session observing a secretive druidic holiday in which she had to remain in the form of a mouse for the session.
Maya returned after a long quest and met the cleric Corey on the rode. Corey had recently been robbed by some earth cultists. They headed towards Sacred Stone Monastery.
The rest of the party decided they didn’t want to walk into an alerted enemy stronghold, so they set off for Sacred Stone Monastery.
After meeting up, they snuck into the building through the kitchen entrance and bumped into Renwick. Renwick had seen a few cultists slip back in and he was trying to make sure none survived in the surface building.
Renwick helped outfit our destitute priest.
The party descended into the Temple of Black Earth and were soon ambushed on a stone bridge by three gargoyles.
Helga was lost over the edge during the fight. Afterwards, the party tried to lower Idra down the 150 feet, but one of the knots gave and he fell. Surviving, but in a great deal of pain.
After a combination of climbing and hauling, Idra was brought back up to the surface just in time to see some enemies getting into position.
A bulette charged and leaped, knocking Kronk off the bridge. (He caught the ledge.)
A fight followed involving hobgoblin archers, invisible duergar, Black Earth guards, and a crazy bulette rider.
After vanquishing the foes, the party retreated into a side room for a quick breather and chance to plan.
Jim – Aarokocra scout leader who met the players outside the temple entrance.
Bero Gladham – Recently freed cult captive. His wife Nerise was “taken below”.
Rivergard Keep
Margie Maah – Sea hag guarding the Rivergaurd Keep docks. Originally appeared as a sea-green haired half-elf.
Timmy – Water elemental. Now deceased.
Events
The party exited the Temple of Howling Hatred and immediately ran into some spear wielding Aarokocra who were guarding the freed captives. Bero identified and introduced the party but was disappointed that they had not found his wife.
The leader of the Aarokocra, Jim (that’s the name he gives to those who can’t pronounce his real name), told the party that the local Aarokocra had been hunted by the Feathergale Knights. Their scouting party was surprised and relieved to find the Spire abandoned. As a whole, their clan is grateful that the threat has been destroyed.
The party rested in Feathergale Spire while planning their next attack. It was decided to try and access the water temple through Rivergard Keep.
After a uneventful couple days travel, the party decided to approach the keep at night from the south shore.
Indica walked on the riverbed, and saw feet dangling in the water from the dock above her. She returned to the group.
Attempting to avoid detection from the owner of the feet, Idra used a grappling hook to get everyone up the wall. Indica almost fell, but thankfully she can hover.
Stealth did not go well, Kronk tripped and his weapons clattered. The figure on the dock took notice and started to head there way with a lit torch.
Hurrying to the main keep, the party tried to sneak in, but ran into Margie. She appeared to be a sea-green haired half-elf with mismatched blue and green eyes that wouldn’t quite focus.
Margie said her sister had asked her to keep watch for the marauders who killed the people in the keep. She asked if the players had seen them.
Margie made a reference to her friend Timmy who lived in the water. She convinced the party to follow her and meet Timmy. They were wary.
Margie dangled her feet and hands in the water and called for Timmy. Fairafel joined her. A river otter showed up, and while most of the party was looking at that Timmy the water elemental reached up and yanked Fairafel into the water.
Indica feared something was amiss and cast bark skin.
Fairafel tried to cut the thing holding her with a dagger, but it didn’t have much affect.
Margie shed her illusion and tried to strike at the party, but tripped and fell into the water.
Idra used his bottled breath and dove in after Fairafel. Kronk readied a crossbow bolt with a rope.
Timmy slammed Fairafel into a rock at the bottom of the river.
Idra used shatter on Timmy and Fairafel both and swam for her.
Fairafel dimension doored out, only to have Idra be captured by the Water Elemental.
The fighting continued with Indica and Kronk trying to kill Margie and Idra freeing himself and returning to the dock.
Timmy surged onto the dock, taking Idra again, and knocking him out.
Fairafel rained fire onto the water elemental.
Margie tried to swim for the underground stream, but was cut off by Indica in polar bear form. She turned and made for the river.
Indica climbed out of the water and used healing word to revive Idra.
Kronk, Fairafel, and Indica battered the water elemental to the edge of death.
Idra, almost dead, finished it off with another shatter cast inside the elemental. It blew up.
The party retired to the barracks that had previously been occupied by water cultists.
During Fairafel’s watch, she saw a dark form swimming below the surface of the water, followed by the clatter of the chain holding the gate to the underground river shut falling away.
In the morning they found the gate open. It is assumed Margie went to alert the cultists.
XP Log (4000, 1000 each)
Having pleasent conversation with Jim and Margie. (1000 xp)
Learning that the water cultists are expecting them. (750 xp)
Foes Defeated (2250 xp)
○ Sea Hag (CR 2)
○ Water Elemental (CR 5)
Lyzandra “Lyzzie” Calderos – Human female fire cult mage, overseeing the southwestern temple entrance defense. She is now dead.
Events
After a rest, the party decided to search the ruins in the Northwest of the Temple of Howling Hatred.
Skipping past the dwarven tombs, they were ambushed by a hungry Umber Hulk. They learned really quickly that Umber Hulks should not be looked in the eye or trifled with.
Once the Umber Hulk was slain, the party took a short rest, then explored further north finding the Temple of Eternal Flame and some hobgoblins.
Idra was unsuccessful at guessing the password and the hobgoblins rushed him. They were dispatched after a brief fight.
After fleecing the hobgoblins for a surprising amount of money and trying to assemble some passable fire cultist disguises, Idra walked through the door and did a better job bluffing the cultists working on smithing weapons.
Kronk tried to follow without a disguise and got called out as a spy. A cult fanatic grabbed his hand and forced it into the hot coals to try and get Kronk to break character.
Idra tried to intervene, the cult fanatic went to go talk to Lyzandra.
Lyzandra asked what they want, they said the air cult had been wiped out. Lyzandra wanted them to show her and see if she could secure Windvane as a way to impress Vanifer. (The fire cult leader.)
Faerafel and Indica were listening at the door and retreated back before anyone came through.
Lyzandra had Idra and Kronk lead her, a cult fanatic, a hobgoblin captain, a squad of hobgoblins, and her pet magmins to the air cult.
Seeing the blood and dead hobgoblins down the hall, Lyzandra suspiciously asked what happened. Idra tried to pass it off as they found them that way. Kronk went for the direct route and punched Lyzandra in the nose then turned to run, magmin setting his close on fire on the way out.
Lyzandra tried to immolate Idra. Kronk used his tiefling ability to cast darkness, and when Indica rounded the corner she cast wall of thorns down the hall.
Wall of thorns skewered a darkness enveloped Lyzandra and two of her magmin. Magmin explode!
A fight broke out that had the surviving cult fanatic and hobgoblins falling back to the door.
After taking down the darkness and the wall of thorns, Kronk rushed through the door… into the cult fanatic’s waiting 2nd level inflict wounds which dropped him.
Indica sent two summoned dire wolves through the door to break up the ambush, then rushed through as a polar bear with Idra hot on her heals. Fairafel tossed a fireball through the door to burn the smith working cultists to death.
Kronk was saved, the enemies were killed. However not before another cult fanatic ran to alert the temple.
The party quickly stripped the rooms of valuables, ran to the air temple, and are headed to the surface to find another entrance where they can come in unannounced.
XP Log (8000, 2000 each)
Finding the Temple of Eternal Flame (1000 xp)
An interesting mix of passable and terrible bluffs. (550 xp)
Aerisi Kalinoth – The head of the air cult. She is DEAD.
Walter – A howling hatred initiate who was waiting on a ranking priest. He managed to raise the alarm for Aerisi to regroup.
Bero Gladham – A commoner captured by the cult. His wife Nerise was “taken below”.
Events
After resting in Aerisi’s throne room (and leveling) the party descended down to see which way Aerisi went. They found a deep shaft they couldn’t see the bottom of.
They went east, exploring the quarry, then ambushed some air cultists. A kenku tried to run and tell others, but with a heal click the monk ran it down and shattered it’s bones.
Walter, weary and released from his duties, came out of the priest’s quarters to find the party listening outside the door. Fairafel tried to shush him. He ran back into the room screaming.
A fight broke out. Lightning bolts hurt, but the party crushed them.
Walter just barely managed to blow a silent whistle without being killed first. The entire temple vibrated.
The party heard rushing footsteps.
Fairafel roasted some Kenku.
Fairafel lightning bolted two priests, but they returned the favor. (They both cast Witch Bolt at 3rd level. One of them crit, so it was 9d12.)
Fairafel dropped. Indica (In direwolf form) ran at the priests. Idra cut through the rooms and dropped a priest. Kronk also cut through the room and dropped the other.
After using Healing Word on Fairafel, the party took a short rest.
They found some tortured commoners, including Bero. They unshackled and armed them.
They found a group of would-be cultists chained to a chain hoist. They freed the two that wanted to leave, and left the other three to rot.
Intending to lead the captives to the exit, Idra entered the fortress murder shoot and found a couple Kenku aiming arrows.
They hid the commoners in a room and went to try and find a way to get the waiting Kenku.
They instead found that Aerisi was rallying what was left of her troops in the pyramid. Time to end this.
Fairafel snuck up to the open eastern doorway with Idra nearby, while Kronk and Indica went to the western doors.
Fairafel blew all of her Sorcerous strength silently casting a 4th level fireball and centering it on an unaware Aerisi. This badly wounded Aerisi and killed half her troops.
Hearing the explosion, Indica and Kronk burst the door open.
Not knowing where the attack actually came from, Aerisi lashed out at Indica and Kronk with Chain Lightning.
Kronk responded with Hellish Rebuke.
Indica burst in and used her staff to Wall of Thorns Aerisi, killing her and a Kenku.
The party mopped up the rest, taking one Kenku prisoner.
Indica took Windvane. She can tell it’s powerful but hasn’t attuned to it… yet.
Idra vaulted over to the waterfall wall, and climbed around to get at the Kenku. They died swiftly.
The party escorted the commoners out.
The party killed the cultists trying to learn to live “on air alone”.
The party is resting in the pyramid. The northern portion of the map still needs to be explored, but presumably it’s cultists were part of the rallied forces.
ENDSESSION.
XP Log (16000, 4000 each)
Locating the entrance to the Temple of the Crushing Wave. (895xp)
Saving 7 commoners from torture, indoctrination, and/or ritual sacrifice. (3500xp)
Capturing Windvane, the legendary spear containing a fragment of Yin-C-Bin. (4000xp)
Aerisi Kalinoth – The head of the cult who was in her throne room. When cornered, she ordered those loyal to her to attack and fled to a lower level.
Kaz Hanar – Second in command within the Temple of Howling hatred, he’s a bully riding on a wyvern. Now deceased.
Ahtayir – A djinni summoned to cover Aerisi’s retreat. The party destroyed the horn that bound him before he could kill them, and he thanked them and gave gifts before departing for his home plane.
Windharrow – Apparently the air cult’s minstrel. He beat a hasty escape when the fighting started.
Events
The party decided to try and sneak in to the pyramid to find and assasinate the cult leader.
They were met by Kaz again. It devolved to fighting, which he fled from.
Continuing to sneak, they heard Kaz gathering reinforcements and ducked into the pyramid.
In the pyramid were a number of cultists who said the area was off limits to initiates. The party successfully claimed that they were sent to get reinforcements for a fight. All but one Skyweaver left.
The Skyweaver insisted they leave, which they did, but found themselves surrounded by cultists.
Kaz spotted them and a fight started!
Kaz got to fly over the waterfall like the emperor. The party found that wyverns hurt a lot. (Fairafel dropped.) Blasts of lightning were exchanged, and giant eagles were summoned to tear into the wyvern. In the end, the party stood victorious.
After a lunch break and a couple healing spells, the party headed up the stairs to the top of the pyramid.
They found Aerisi there looking bored. A fight broke out. Fairafel tried to lightning bolt Aerisi (not terribly effective), Kronk traded blows with an invisible stalker, the Djinni Ahtayir was summoned to cover Aerisi’s flight, the minstrel Windharrow fled, and general chaos ensued.
Idra got the horn that bound Ahtayir and Kronk managed to destroy it. After that Ahtayir helped the party cut down the cultists.
The party asked Ahtayir about the cults. Ahtayir answered as best he could and gifted them with flasks of bottled breath and a rejuvenation of health and magic. Then he departed for his home plane.
Aerisi Kalinoth – The head of the cult is said to be in the throne room at the top of the pyramid. She is likely the one who appeared to Indica in the vision.
Kaz Hanar – Second in command within the Temple of Howling hatred, he’s a bully riding on a wyvern.
Ahtayir – A djinni seen in the distance.
Events
The party, having recently fled Scarlet Moon Hall, found a place to rest.
During the last watch, Indica had a vision of a shadowy figure appearing as a woman with wings, who threatened to destroy Beliard in two days.
The party made great haste, riding horses Indica summoned and marching until midnight to go north, cross the stone bridge, and get between where they expect the cult is and Beliard.
Once past the hill where they expected the cultists were making preparations, the party collapsed for a well deserved rest.
In the morning, the cultists came down the road with a suspicious looking box on a horse drawn cart.
The party prepared to ambush the cultists, lashing out with spells once Kronk was spotted.
Fairafel’s fireball blew the crate open along with burning the enemies. Within the crate was a grey stone orb that started glowing with a blue light and shaking.
Kronk started running while the other party members took down their opponents and then followed suite.
A couple of the cultists tried to put the crate back together before it was too late, but to no avail.
The orb exploded in blasts of lightning (which clipped Kronk) and a sudden tornado that tore through the area.
After the tornado dissipated, the party regrouped, told the approaching Beliard town guard what was happening, and then rested in town.
The next day they rode for Red Larch to deliver a warning, while Beliard sent out runners to the other settlements in the regions. The Dessarin Valley was clearly not a safe place to be.
After delivering the message to Red Larch, the party headed to Feathergale Spire to see what remained of the air cultists who were clearly at fault.
Feathergale Spire was abandoned, but after a night’s rest the party headed down into the canyon, and found the winding trail leading underground.
They approached an ancient dwarven ruin, in which they could hear screams and bad music?
The screams turned out to be Kenku, mimicking what must have been some unfortunates within the cultists’ grasps.
Some initiates were trying to learn to “survive on air alone”. They were left to continue wasting away.
Gold was spotted in a moat. Indica went swimming and gathered some of it, leaving the water before a stone golem could crush her.
Circling the pyramid, the party caught site of a djinni doing something, but a man named Kaz swooped in while riding a wyvern. The party convinced him they were new recruits.
Kaz told them to head to another room for manual labor and twenty lashes each. They went that direction until they were out of sight.
Going through a different door, the party surprised a monk who was making copies of prayers to the Prince of Evil Elemental Air. They claimed Kaz sent them. The monk made them start making copies.
After getting bored with this sharade, Idra snuck up when the monk was turned and beat him unconscious. The other monk in the same room was struck down by Fairafel and Kronk.
Once hog tied and awake, the monk was questioned and the party learned where Aerisi was.
The monk was locked in a trunk, and another hall was explored. They heard someone yelling at “Walter” to get the voice their tea.
The party decided to go the other way, heading to the pyramid.
ENDSESSION.
XP Log (8000, 2000 each)
Reaching the cultists before they got to Beliard. (1000xp)
Dealing with the bomb and it’s escorts. (350xp)
Getting a warning out to the surrounding towns. (1000xp)
Lytin – Eternal Flame priestess trying to recruit at Scarlet Moon Hall. Now deceased.
Gariena – Druid who plays a fiddle. Was waiting for induction into the rite of the wicker giant.
Flix & Afid – Sprites who accompany Gariena.
Elizar Dryflagon – Head of the cult at the Scarlet Moon Hall. Now deceased.
Events
Fairafel is back!
Fairafel, having hung back to assist with the Red Larch relief work, arrived just after the patrols searching for the rest of the party stopped.
She met the druids who looked nervous, but directed her to Lytin.
Lytin was interested in Fairafel as a recruit due to her affinity with fire spells and offered a couple camping spots.
Fairafel camped with Gariena and the sprites. They played music, Fairafel doesn’t sing well apparently. Everyone was friendly though.
Idra looked around a bit, realizing there were hostiles nearby and spotting Fairafel.
Indica turned into a cat and carried Fairafel a message saying to sit tight.
Everyone got some sleep.
In the morning, Lytin started leading potential recruites into the tower, saving Fairafel for last. No one came back out.
Idra snuck over to talk briefly with Fairafel, going with the plan that she would go in the front, and the rest would try to go in the back.
Idra snuck back, and planned a climbing assent to a window 50 feet up the tower. Kronk and Indica climbed into the bag of holding, and up he went.
Hanging just outside the window, Idra witnessed a water cult spy getting kicked down the stairs and put into magical sleep. The unconscious spy got hauled outside and added to the wicker giant.
Lytin came for Fairafel and lead her into the tower. Fairafel saw the new wicker giant being built for the fire, but she failed to see a number of other “potentials” unconscious inside it.
Fairafel got marched up the tower. When she got to the floor Idra was peering into, he chucked the bag of holding into the room. Out came a Barbarian and Druid. Initiative!
Idra vaulted in and ran to pummel a priest. Noticed the floor was weak.
Indica went full polar bear.
Kronk put Helga to good use.
Fairafel started blasting EVERYTHING with magic missile.
Lytin and goons started dropping.
Elizar started down the stairs to investigate, Idra blew up the stairs under neath him. (Shatter) Elizar fell into the weak part of the floor, collapsing it but catching the edge.
Indica pushed him into the 50 foot fall.
Everyone fought, Fairafel noticed the fall didn’t kill Elizar.
Elizar fireballed the room. 4th level, didn’t care which friendlies he hit.
Fairafel magic missiled him, didn’t drop.
Kronk pinned Elizar to the floor with a Javilin.
Fighting continued, more goons and an Azer joined the fray.
Idra dropped.
Indica, badly hurt, used healing word on Idra and dived out the window.
Kronk tried to toss a guard down the hole, got shoved into the hole himself and missed the grip on the ledge.
Kronk hit the next floor down and managed to grab hold, just to see more goons at the door.
Fairafel also ran for the window, saw Indica now looking at another guard and two hellhounds heading her way.
Idra dropped again.
Indica turned her staff into a tree and rode it up to the window. Healed Idra again.
Kronk dropped the remaining 30 feet. It hurt. Found himself surrounded by curious magmin. Gained their friendship through the sharing of a cheese bun.
Fairafel used her staff to Command the remaining combatants to flee.
Kronk found a way out, but it led underground. Used Darkness on the door with the enemies to buy some time.
Idra tied a rope to the staff/tree and lowered it. Dangling above Kronk’s head.
Indica, sitting in the tree, blasts the guard who is trying to climb up after her with the wand of magic missiles. Fairafel follows that lead.
Kronk jumps up, grabs the very end of the rope, and tries to muscle up the rope. Fails.
Idra ties a second rope to the first and re-lowers it.
Indica starts calling lightning.
Fairafel makes an impressive leap from the tree to the wall below. Uses Crown of Madness on the guard.
Guard and Hellhounds start trying to kill each other.
The staff/tree starts to smolder… uh oh.
Kronk is meanwhile climbing the rope, slowly.
Another guard starts taking pot shots with a heavy crossbow.
Idra starts catching bolts.
Hellhounds and maddened guard are all killed.
Indica and Fairafel are trying to keep the staff/tree from burning.
Kronk finishes his climb, then climbs down the tree.
Indica reclaims her staff.
Everyone piles into the bag of holding as a hord of enemies round the tower.
Idra clicks his heels, jumps the wall, and runs.
They all get away!
Smoke rising behind them indicates the wicker man is burning… sadly that makes it likely the sacrifices were sacrificed. This noticeably dampens the “We cut the head off the snake!” vibe.
Next Time: Visions from the air cult, and the start of the temple dungeon crawl!
XP Log (8000, 2000 each)
Decapitating the Scarlet Moon Hall Leadership (1000xp)
Alfons Wands – Norman and Gretchen’s uncle (the late Norman Wands Sr.‘s brother) is in charge of the magic item trade. He runs the warehouses, acquisitions, and sales. He’s far more interested in collecting magic items than money or power, and boasts a considerable personal collection separate from the warehouses.
Lady Laeral Silverhand – The “Open Lord” of Waterdeep, Laeral is the figure of authority and rule within the city-state. She is a 700 year old elf with a gift for creating magic items. She mysteriously disappeared for a period, but has recently returned and re-taken her position on the council.
Scarlet Moon Hall
Druids – Iniri, Mahoon, Fariya, and Varigo are druids waiting to be initiated in the Rite of the Wicker Giant.
Rough Looking Men – Storol and Wiglaf are unfriendly barbarian types camping outside the hall.
Eternal Flame Guardians – Biart (Dead), Orm (Dead), and Malin (Not dead!) are Eternal Flame Guardians disguised as rangers. They were providing muscle for Lytin.
Lytin – An Eternal Flame Priestess / Druid, Lytin is a half-elf woman interviewing prospects for the Rite of the Wicker Giant.
Elizar Dryflagon – Individual running the show at the Scarlet Moon Hall. Haven’t met him yet.
Events
Fairafel was unable to attend and will likely not be present for the next couple sessions.
We used Roll20 again, this time not using vision cones which was a lot less fiddly.
The party returned to Waterdeep and went to give Alfons the bad news. He accepted the Guard Drake Egg as a consolation prize.
Next they went to tell the city guard about the dragon, and were dragged to the main keep and a meeting with Lady Laeral Silverhand.
She met them in the garden, where she was doing a tarot reading.
After the party turned down her ask for them to take up dragon slaying, they asked her about the situation in Red Larch.
While Laeral was unwilling to provide military support, lest her neighbors think Waterdeep was looking to expand it’s territory, she did promise some relief workers for Red Larch.
Laeral also provided the location of Scarlet Moon Hall, as well as some information that druids were gathering there and she thought it was the cult’s doing. She sent the party back to Red Larch with an escort, and a contact in Amphail if they need further “descrete” assistance.
The party cleaned up, traveled to Red Larch, and then marched out to the Scarlet Moon Hall. They arrived just after dark.
They first ran into a group of druids that the Rite was a mystery cult initiation. They seemed friendly, and directed the party to Lytin for more information.
Indica mostly took the direct approach walking around, while Indra and Kronk did their best to sneak.
Met a couple of rough looking barbarian types camping, there is something off about them…
Indica had a chat with Lytin. Lytin initially wanted to recruit Indica, but started to suspect she wasn’t a good candidate. Insisted that Indica needed to come with them to meet Elizar for “further information”.
As Indica passed through a shadowed area, Idra snuffed her torch with ki.
A fight broke out. The party got fireballed and beaten. Indica got to use the Wall of Thorns spell from the new staff. (DM forgot about that.)
Party ran and hid in the darkness to the north. Idra and Indica hid in the bag of holding while Kronk crept around in the dark and avoided the patrol.
Next time the fight begins for real!
XP Log (2100, 700 each)
Settling up with Alfons. (300xp)
Meeting Laeral, reporting the dragon, and getting a tip. (300xp)
Chatting up the druids and realizing there are innocents at Scarlet Moon Hall. (300xp)
Getting in a fight and managing to retreat to a hiding place. (300xp)
Azhi – A young green dragon, about a century old. Almost killed the party. They didn’t actually catch his name as they ran from the breath weapon.
Meepo – A kobold scale sorcerer with a considerable talent for alchemy. He was cut down mercilessly.
Events
Fairafel was unable to attend and will likely not be present for the next couple sessions.
We used Roll20 with Dynamic Lighting and Line of Sight for the first time. It went well!
The party crept deeper into the kobold’s layer and spotted a sleeping guard.
Idra watched the guard while Kronk and Indica explored side passeges.
They found a mimic. Indica managed to not get stuck, but there was a fight and Idra killed the kobold before it could wake up.
Kronk got TWO axes stuck in the mimic before it was killed. (Natural 1s.)
The party continued exploring, finding water with gold pieces shimmering in it. Indra also spotted some kobolds and nests, so the party backed up and tried a different route.
Indica fell in a spike pit. It hurt.
The party continued to creep through the tunnels eventually finding Meepo’s alchemy lab/quarters.
Meepo only had time to scream before he was killed at range.
Meepo’s Guard Drake attacked the party. Kronk grabbed it by the tail. Indica turned into a bear and fell off a cliff. Kronk and Idra beat it to death.
Indica tried carrying a torch in her mouth in bear form. It worked well enough provided she was very careful.
Meepo’s quarters were raided. 8 potions (1 Heal, 2 Greater Heal, 1 Diminution, 4 Flight) were found, a decent purse of tarnished silver, 3 green dragon scales, and a guard drake egg.
Starting to explore again, the party found a door with mining sounds muffled but audible. They went the other way.
Spotted piles of gold. Then a “sleeping” young green dragon’s head. (The party wasn’t stealthy enough, but Azhi wanted to see what they would do.)
Indica tried to take some of the gold. Azhi indicated that would be a bad idea and asked why he shouldn’t kill them.
Despite the sardonic patience of the dragon, the party couldn’t really come up with a good answer, and let slip that they had killed Meepo. Azhi considered Meepo useful.
Breath weapons HURT. (Indica dropped. Kronk and Idra realized they needed to run.)
Kronk pulled himself and the unconscious Indica into the bag of holding. Idra chugged a healing potion, clicked his boots of speed, and ran with the bag. (Azhi’s attack of opportunity took Idra down to 1 hp.)
Idra tore back through the area the party had came. Azhi gave some chase, then roared a command to the remaining kobolds and returned to guard his gold. (It would be helpful if any of the PCs knew draconic.)
Not knowing where Azhi was anymore and afraid to get caught in the open with a dragon, Idra ran back to the mimic room. It was a dead end, but a good bottleneck on the way in.
Having a minute for a couple cure spells, but not enough time for a rest, the party readied for a last stand.
A horde of kobolds swarmed them, as well as another guard drake. The party held the doorway, but Kronk dropped.
Idra managed to get the Kobolds to back off with a well placed sweeping cinder strike.
Indica healed Kronk a bit. Out of identified potions and low on spells.
Kronk crept forward to scout the hall. Saw both ways out of the hall were guarded with kobolds. It appeared the larger number were between them and the only known exit. Retreated back to the group.
Group heard a metallic clatter like a handful of coins dropped.
Indica decided to blow a last spell on thunderwave to try and clear the way out through the larger mass of kobolds. She ran for the kobolds, but collapsed unconscious when she embedded several poisoned caltrops in her feet.
Kronk switched to shield and axe and charged the other direction, trying to cut through the smaller number of kobolds and head for the previously found flowing water, hoping to get out wherever it was comming in.
Idra grabbed Indica and followed hot on Kronk’s heals while dodging spears and being pelted by slings.
They outran the kobolds, sprinting through ankle deep tidal seawater with gold coins scattered about but no time to retrieve them.
The party found where the water was comming in (clearly Azhi’s entrance) and could see faint daylight, though they would have to dive under to get out.
Swam for it. They got out and found a place to hunker down, stabilize Indica, breathe, and identify the potions.
Next, they need to figure out what they are going to tell Alfons…
DING, LEVEL UP!
XP Log (3900, 1300 each)
Explored most of the Kobold layer. (250xp)
Determined the likely location of the deck of many things. (800xp)
Pissed off a dragon and still got everybody out. (1000xp)
Bob the Dwarf. – Courier responsible for delivering a magical artifact (Deck of Many Things) to Alfons. Drinking himself stupid in the Yawning Portal. (Yes, the name is terrible. DM hates making up names.)
Toby & Jeremy – Thieves who were identifying targets for Kenku to sneak in and steal jewels and gold.
Alfons Wands – Waiting mostly patiently for the return of his property.
Events
Fairafel was unable to attend and will likely not be present for the next couple sessions.
The group learned that Alfons’ courier had an artifact stolen from him. A bejeweled box was taken, but the Deck of Many Things within it was the real valuable.
Bob was tracked down and interviewed while drunk. He had been knocked out upon returning to his room at the Yawning Portal. He didn’t see anything, but he found a “Raven” feather after the robbery.
The party investigated Bob’s room, found evidence of forced entry through the window and another feather. There were also scratch marks that seemed to indicate a giant bird’s feet.
Upon asking the bartender, there has apparently been a rash of burglaries with a raven feather left behind as a calling card. The thief is being called “The Raven”, which is descriptive if not particularly creative.
Next was an interview with the town guard. In which the party learned “they were doing everything possible to catch the thief”. More usefully, it was said that most things stolen were highly visible objects, like ostentatious jewelry.
Returning to Bob, who was now even more drunk, the party learned he had showed the box to a shiphand named Jeremy on the “Give it a Chance”.
Visiting the dock ward and the dock master, the party learned that Jeremy had come into some money and liked to drink at the Dripping Dagger.
The party found Jeremy at the Dripping Dagger talking to his friend Toby. Kronk tried to join them, and they left in a huff.
After following them to another dive bar, Idra sat at the table next to them, and overheard that Jeremy was being paid well in “tarnished silver” for targets who had gold or gems.
Indica got a gaudy piece of costume jewelry, pretended to be drunk, and flashed it in front of Jeremy and Toby. They escorted her back to the party’s room at the Yawning Portal. They didn’t try anything, but cased the joint and left. Kronk followed.
Jeremy and Toby killed time until dusk, then went to climb up a trail on Mount Waterdeep. Part way up they met with a robbed figure standing in a tree.
Kronk accidentally made a loud noise, and the near-do-wells all scattered.
Taking a fake gem from the necklace, Indica went to bed and feigned sleep.
Idra watched from a neighboring rooftop while a figure in dark robes expertly scaled the inn wall and entered through the window.
The thief left with the necklace, and Idra tried to follow, but lost him in the dark. Indica’s scrying using the fake gem was much more effective. They learned it went up the mountain to a large nest.
In the morning, the party climbed the mountain guided by a squirrel Indica bribed.
They found a nest with 4 figures standing around it. The thief wasn’t “the Raven”, it was a group of kenku.
The kenku heard the party and Indica cast fog cloud. The kenku crept into ambush points, but didn’t strike.
Idra rushed the nest, and was surprised to find several kenku eggs and a winged kobold clutching the necklace. There were also some vials that weren’t identified.
The kobold used those little wings to jump off the cliff.
Idra threatened to break an egg and the Kenku’s response was to try and drop him with an arrow. Idra batted it aside and delivered on his promise.
All of the kenku rushed the nest in horror. Kronk grabbed one by the throat and Idra threatened to break another egg. They dropped their weapons in surrender.
There was a brief interrogation of the weeping kenku. They were apparently stealing gold and gems on contract for kobolds to curry favor with “The Great One”.
The party left the nest feeling more than a little bad about breaking that egg, and scryed on the necklace again. Saw a secret entrance to a tunnel outside of town that the kobold used.
Traveling to the tunnel, the party entered. They tried the first fork and found a 20 foot drop to a tunnel below, doubling back they took a tunnel that angled more downward.
Kronk didn’t step into the waiting gelatinous cube, but was quickly engulfed. Battle with a gelatinous cube!
After cursing that particular passage and stopping for lunch; they moved on to find a latrine, the mines (which appeared to go deep down), a caltrop trap, the hatchery (no kobold eggs were hurt in the making of this adventure), food storage, and finally the common sleeping area for the kobolds.
There was a merciless slaughter of 12 kobolds.
We had to pause as they crept down the next passage.
XP Log (2520, 840 each)
Following the clues to find out that “The Raven” is a group of Kenku. (1000xp)
Finding the kenku nest and finding out who they were giving the goods to. (300xp)
Norman Wands Jr. – Wastrel young noble of a magic item dealing house. Stuck in Amphail due to some indiscretions.
Nurvureem, The Dark Lady – A shadow dragon who presents herself as an attractive female drow and primarily layers in Rundreth Manor. Nurvureem has been “courted” by the elemental cults, but she has chosen to eat most of them and allowed a few to flee in terror to discourage further visits.
Waterdeep
Gretchen Wands – Executor of the Wands’ estate and sister of Norman, Gretchen is the sensible member of the family. She’s responsible for the family’s wealth, status, and making sure her little brother doesn’t ruin everything.
Alfons Wands – Norman and Gretchen’s uncle (the late Norman Wands Sr.‘s brother) is in charge of the magic item trade. He runs the warehouses, acquisitions, and sales. He’s far more interested in collecting magic items than money or power, and boasts a considerable personal collection separate from the warehouses.
Events
Went into Amphail, bought nice clothing, went to the bathhouse, and otherwise made sure that they didn’t look like wandering murder hobos.
Indica bought tight leather pants at a children’s store?
Idra gambled in a tavern. Wound up down 5 gold, but gained some information.
Kronk got Ezema groomed.
Fairefel found our skeezy young noble, Norman, and got him to tell them what he needed to do to go home. (Convince the “Dark Lady” not to join some weird religious cults for his sister’s Lord’s Alliance contacts. He was fuzzy on the details.)
The party met up with Norman the next day and headed to Rundreth Manor. It was oddly swampy, overgrown, and misty.
The party found the ruins and a starecase leading into a large basement.
Idra almost fell 40 feet due to the trapped collapsing stairs.
The party lit torches and decended to find what looked like it was an enormouse kitchen and storage space.
They were approached by Nurvureem’s drow projected. Everyone chatted while trying to keep Norman from hitting on her.
The party learned that the keeps are over entrances to a dwarven ruin that sits over a drow shrine that is corrupted by the Elemental Evil Eye.
They also learned that there are four magical weapons that were forged there, each has a connection to the evil princes.
They learned who the evil princes are and got descriptions of them. It can be summed up with “big and very bad”.
The party departed when told to go by Nurvureem. Glad they didn’t pick a fight.
Norman hired a carriage and guards for the trip to Waterdeep. The party got a taste of the good life.
They arrived in Waterdeep after an uneventful trip, and were immediately introduced to Gretchen.
Gretchen clearly had mixed feelings about her brother not being eaten by a dragon, but she took them to the warehouse and told Alfons to give them “the family price”.
The party sold off magic items they didn’t need, and bought ones they wanted.
They didn’t have quite enough gold to cover everything they wanted, so they agreed to another small job for Alfons. (Next session you will be “liberating” something from one of his rivals. He might throw in a couple other items if you do it with discretion.)
XP Log (4000, 1000 each)
Finding a young noble and negotiating a deal. (1000 xp)
Meeting Nurvureem, having a nice chat, learning a lot, and NOT getting into a fight with an adult shadow dragon. (3000 xp)
The Unnamed – A group of bounty hunter/assassin wights that have a reputation for messy work with the Zhentarim. They killed a rancher homestead off, used the zombies to assault the party during the day, then tried attacking on their own in the dark of night. The party killed them, and cut off the heads just to be sure. This bounty may be a problem.
Events
The party decided that they should use the wealth acquired while fighting the cult to try and purchase some magic items to improve their odds of success.
Waterdeep was the place most likely to have someone selling magical items, however the party expects they will need some kind of noble sponsor to have the opportunity to spend their coin on the fairly heavily regulated trade.
The party set out South on the Long Road, planning to stop in Amphail for provisions and to see if they could get a noble’s wastrel child out of whatever trouble got them sent away and hopefully gain a sponsor.
The first day of travel was uneventful.
On day two a raven from Kronk’s Zhentarim contact showed up with a message warning of Shoalar’s sizable bounty on the party and a lot of interest from cold blooded killers. (500gp a head for the party members.)
On day three, the party hid as air cultists flew overhead towards Amphail, spotted fire cultists on the road ahead of them, and in the evening had a water cult group come up from behind them. Apparently a few groups wanted to head this way.
Kronk was spotted by the water cult and tried to claim his name was “Steve” and he was recently robbed. It wasn’t a very good lie though, since he was still clearly heavily armed, supplied, and relatively uninjured. There was a fight.
Water cult priest had some kind of magic trident. Cool.
Camping spaced between the fire cult’s camp and the dead water cultists on night three, the party heard what they thought were scavengers eating the bodies of the water cultists. They decided to sleep in trees.
While they slept, four ghouls and a ghast (the scavangers) crept up and pulled them out of the trees. The party killed them, but have a healthy respect for ghoul paralysis now. (Fairafel almost died.)
The party hid further off trail to avoid the fire cultists investigating the commotion. They decided to sleep in the next morning to give some extra space.
In the late morning of day four, the party set out again, noting the fire cult should be several hours ahead of them.
In the evening the party spotted a camp for three bugbear bandits planning a highway robbery spot. The party eavesdropped and then left, deciding they didn’t want to fight any more.
It was raining day 5, and the party came across a rancher homestead. The fields were full of dead horses and the house had signs of a fight but no bodies. The house had also clearly been robbed and showed the mark of a Zhentarim assassin, but Kronk couldn’t remember who.
While stopping for lunch, the party was charged by four people on horses. Idra flying kicked one off the horse, and the group found that the riders and horses were zombies.
At any time, three of the zombies had glowing eyes, and they attacked with more coordination than was normal.
Fairafel theorized that they were being remotely controlled by individuals seeing through the glowing eyes.
Lightning blasts, axes, and other implements brought the zombies down, but not without remembering what a pain it is to make a zombie drop. They were decapitated and burned just in case.
This jogged Kronk’s memory enough to remember that there were a group of three bounty hunter/ assassins known as “The Unnamed” with a reputation for messy work and refusing live bounties. The recollection that they are never seen and payment is usually collected by the zombie corpse of the person the bounty was on was really what sealed it.
The party stopped to make camp for the night.
Shortly after midnight, the Unnamed attacked, it turns out they were wights. The party was victorious and cut off the wights’ heads in what is now becoming a tradition. Looting the bodies turned up some gold, a magic ring of X-Ray vision, and some kind of scrying stone.
Late morning of day six, the party noticed the fire cultists’ trail broke off from the road and headed east. They decided to press on to town.
Arrived at Amphail. Currently camping outside of town, as they don’t want any would-be-bounty-hunters recognizing them.
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