Session III: The Forgotten Forge

General Summary

7 Menphina 996 YK   A beautiful human female in a dark blue cloak with delicate features, dark blue eyes, and sleek black hair bound silver and turquoise ornaments approaches the adventurers. She wears a signet of House Macuil on her right ring finger and speaks in a soft but clear voice. Her name is Lady Elaydren d’Vown of House Macuil, also known as the House of Litigation. After sitting down with the adventurers and ordering some masala chai tea and biscuits, she calmly informs the adventurers she understands the legal predicament they are in after the incident the night before with Gaston Gassedoff Jr. House Gassedoff is looking for blood and they will do whatever it takes to punish them. She tells them that her patron is a powerful and well-connected man in the City of Sharn who is willing to protect them from legal retribution if they help him acquire something.   The adventurers are particularly interested in Elaydren’s offer but are skeptical and suspicious of the mysterious woman. They question her thoroughly and after much discussion they conclude that she indeed works for House Macuil (she raises her left sleeve to show the Mark of the Morningstar covering her left arm), that the request is reasonable (they are to acquire the research of a retired Morgrave University professor of Ancient Brelish History named Bonald McRonald in order to locate and acquire the requested artifact), clarified why they were specifically requested for this mission (her patron has been watching them and believe they, as a group, have the specific and collective talents needed to acquire the artifact), that her patron has the power to help them and will honor his word (she conjures a lengthy and legitimate magical contract of Macuil stating the exact terms and conditions of the agreement), and that her patron will continue to support them if the mission takes longer than expected. Gideon thoroughly reads through the magical contract, requests Elaydren to make some changes to the agreement to make it equitable, and the party imparts their magical signatures binding themselves together with Elaydren and her mysterious patron to the task at hand. Satisfied, Elaydren lets them know she will be waiting for them at the Broken Anvil, a small tavern located in the Mason’s Tower, once they have completed their mission. She gives them a warm smile before awkwardly running away from a mortified Xaris after Kanye tries to set up the two together.   Koko, a former graduate of the culinary arts at Morgrave University, recalls one of her old roommates (the female gnome doctoral candidate Nizzy Mizmot) had a class with Professor Bonal McRonald. Kanye, a former frat bro in Morgrave University’s Kappa Kappa Kappa, also recalls Professor McRonald doing a keg stand at one of his many parties a few years back. Ignoring Kanye’s nonsense, Gideon asks Koko to send a messenger cat to Nizzy to see if they can catch up so they can gather some information on Professor McRonald. Koko writes a message to see if Nizzy wants to catch up for lunch and a few hours later she receives a message back from an excited Nizzy inviting her for some early drinks and grubs at Gears and Beers in the gnome neighborhood of Den’iyas within the towers of the Upper Menthis Plateau. The adventurers gather their belongings preparing for the adventure ahead and head off.   They arrive at Gears and Beers and squeeze into a bustling brewhouse particularly designed for gnomes and other smallfolk. Koko and Nizzy excitedly embrace as Gideon orders one bucket of oil for Fives and pitchers of beer for the table. Kanye smirks as he watches a still embarrassed Xaris drink her anxiety away while Rias quietly sips her drink and observes the scene. While Gideon and the owner of the tavern, Jinzic Labric, discuss new and creative ways to consume alcohol, Koko and Nizzy catch up about the recent events in their lives. Koko subtly asks Nizzy if she remembers taking an introductory course taught by Professor Bonal McRonald and the gnome girl immediately starts complaining how hard the class was during their sophomore year. After some probing, Nizzy tells Koko that Professor McRonald is living in one of the residential townhouses in the Ivy Towers now where a significant number of the faculty have made their home. After Gideon and Jinzic knock out Kanye, Xaris, and 60% of the occupants inside the brewhouse with their new, uncontained, condensed alcoholic vapor contraption, the adventurers say their goodbyes to Nizzy as they head off to the Ivy Tower.   By way of skycoach, the adventurers ascend to the Ivy Towers, a generally unremarkable residential district of townhouses that ring around Upper Menthis. They arrive at the locked front door of Professor Bonal McRonald’s residence and ring the doorbell with no reply. Kanye masterfully picks the lock open and the adventurers find a ransacked home with notes, books, and journals sprawled across the floor. As Gideon and Fives board up the front door to prevent any further entry, the other split up to search the home. Koko heads upstairs to find in the master bedroom the body of Bonal McRonald cleanly stabbed in the heart with a katana. Still clutched tightly in Bonal’s hand is a small codex, measuring about 3 inches by 6 inches and 1 inch thick, with a dark brown leather cover with strands of mithril thread woven in a strange pattern. It bears no title, just the mithril-thread icon on the front cover which seems to glow in a soft blue light when Gideon touches it. Koko yells to the group to come upstairs and after a bit of examination Gideon concludes that this is the journal that they have been looking for. As they deliberate on what to do with the body, they hear a knock on the door. It is the Sharn Watch. Quickly devising a plan, Gideon looks outside Bonal’s house and finds a 100 foot drop to the lower level of the Ivy Towers. Koko gleefully jumps using her ring of featherfall and the party follows with their own featherfall thanks to Gideon’s magic. They escape safely from the scene of the crime. Needing to lie low, Xaris invites her friends to her place to stay overnight until things blow over. She leads them by foot to the quiet and peaceful residential tower of Little Barrington and successfully arrive at Xaris’ meager but charming apartment with little difficulty.   Kanye, Rias, Koko, and Xaris immediately crash from their morning and afternoon of drinking and investigating as Fives keeps watch and Gideon researches the journal. Inside every page is blank at first glance, but whenever Gideon touches the journal the sigils on the journal lights up and the words on the pages become legible. After eight hours of careful reading and analysis, Gideon deciphers that the artifact is somewhere in the UnderSharn and the closest route to get to there is through sewers of the Dorasharn Tower somewhere beyond the E-213 Valve Cluster behind a sealed door. The tunnel beyond will lead them to the long-forgotten level far below where the artifact should reside. The rest of the party has awakened and, after listening to the new information from Gideon, decide they will head out the next morning to the UnderSharn and retrieve the artifact. The adventurers head to the big retail store, Targé, to get supplies and goods for tomorrow. They get Fives a pet canary which he loves.   The adventurers wake up to the smell of a delicious continental breakfast from Fives and head down to Dorasharn Tower in Lower Dura. The tunnels and corridors of the place are narrow and dark until they arrive in the lowest part of Dorasharn Tower to find a large chamber of goblins, humans, and shifters begging for rations and bartering for meager goods. During this time, Kanye’s ocular dragonmark is going off and he notices a creature has been following them since they arrived but pays no heed to it. At the Rat’s Market they decide it would be faster to request a local for some help to find the valve cluster and ask a goblin bazaar owner by the name of Dopinder Gopinder for some help. The goblin does not give out information freely without something in return, and Kanye barters with Dopinder and they agree to give their everburning lantern to the goblin after they have retrieved the item they need inside the sewers. The goblin gets his bike carriage and pedals for an hour to the E-213 Valve Cluster.   They descend into the sewers for about an hour until they reach the entrance into the E-213 Valve Cluster. As they step into the trench of sewage water and filth, they are ambushed by four shifters and an agent of the Lord of Blades. The fight is quick and fierce as they fight off the transforming humanoids and dexterous warforged fencer while dodging the geyser of sewage filth excreting from the other twelve valves inside the valve cluster. Once defeated, the group cleans themselves with magic and take a short rest in between the valve openings before descending further. They wade through the sewage trenches again for another half hour until they reach the sealed door which bears the ancient symbol of House Cannith. Kanye’s ocular dragonmark activates and he notices the magical trip encapsulating the magic door. The tiefling rogue informs Gideon, who then uses this knowledge to dispel the magic on the door before safely opening it and proceeding further in.   They descend a vertical shaft of crumbling earth and ancient stone covered with centipedes and other insects for fifteen minutes until it opens to a vast chamber, thought it emerges about thirty feet above the floor. Koko safely jumps down with her ring of featherfall as Fives fasten a rope onto the grappling hook to let the others safely climb down to the UnderSharn chamber below. The ruins of nearby walls and building appear as deep shadows in the ternal tower night, but they can feel the change in air currents and pressure from the large open space beyond them. The adventurers explore the chamber fighting off swarms of beetles and horrid rats before arriving to a ruined Shrine of Althaea where they find a fount of healing and a place to rest before moving further ahead. After taking a short rest and playing several games of Two Dragon Ante (Fives winning a couple of gold pieces off Koko, Rias, and Kanye), they find the ancient and largely intact foundry of House Cannith described in the journal. Gideon observes the front entrance which is blocked by a large statue of a Gorgon and two iron canines. As Gideon investigates how to open the doors, he is attacked by one of the iron canines and the rest of the party comes to protect him while he continues to figure out how to open the doors. He realizes the truth of the foundry and why they were chosen for this mission as raises his left arm with his Mark of Alexander glowing and gives sentience to the large Gorgon statue. It moves away from the front door to open the path into the foundry and helps the party defeat the two iron dogs. They enter the ancient foundry and find a sack of ancient coins, some gold ingots, potions of healing and fire resistance, an old magical wand, a decanter of endless water, and a fragment of the artifact they have been looking for… an ancient creation schema of House Cannith.   As they emerge from the foundry, a dagger streaks from the rubble surrounding the large stone column. They hear a powerful voice call out from that direction. “Weak flesh! Now you face Wakizashi, greatest of the devoted followers of the Lord of Blades. Throw down the schema and walk away. This day does not have to end with your blood on my hands.” The adventurers refuse to back down and they have a deadly encounter. Wakizashi fights them one on six using his katana and magical dagger to blink back and forth between the adventurers to attack and subdue them. The battle is fierce and deadly with Koko, Rias, and Gideon going down before Wakizashi admits he underestimated the group before retreating. Kanye, Xaris, and a healed Rias attempt to chase the Warforged samurai down, but he is too fast as he blinks away leaving his magical dagger behind. With part of the artifact now in their possession, the adventurers make there way back up to Mason’s Tower to inform Elaydren d’Vown of their success and the troubling developments with the Lord of Blades and her patron.

Rewards Granted

sack of coins, potions of greater healing, potion of resistance against fire, +1 wand of the war mage, +1 blink dagger, decanter of endless water, old map, part of ancient creation scheme of House Cannith

Character(s) interacted with

Elaydren d’Vown, Bonald McRonald, Nizzy Mizmot, Jinzic Labric, Dopinder Gopinder, Wakizashi