Session 18: The Mad Mage

General Summary

Journey to the North

• Sir Godfrey Gwilym and his friends stand vigil while you rest for the night, then you all begin the journey back north.
• Above table, the players present decided to progress a side quest instead of progressing the heist; with the eventual plan that you would all look for the tower at Lake Baratok.
• You all felt "unprepared" to find Ezmerelda d'Avenir for now, instead opting to investigate the weird lights at Mount Baratok and practice your mountain climbing.
• Your journey is for the most part uneventful, until while you're deep in the Slavich Woods; you encounter a group of Barovian hunters and scouts.
• These men are searching for a young man named Bogan from the Town of Vallaki, he's apparently a bit of a fool and has been missing for a night. They give you a brief description of him and Maisie says the party will keep an eye out for him.
• North of the mountain lake, the trees began their steady climb up the slopes of Mount Baratok, its monolithic presence oppressive in the distance.
• The ground there was rocky, uneven, and tiring to navigate. Even the wolves avoided this neck of the woods. Soon, you all climbed above the blanket of fog that engulfs the valley. Dark thunderclouds rolled overhead.

A Mage in Shambles

• Towards the summit, you all saw an elk standing on a rocky spur about sixty feet away. Suddenly, it assumed the form of a man in tattered black robes.
• His hair and beard were long, black, and streaked with gray, and his eyes crackled with eldritch power.
• You all approached The Mad Mage and attempted reason, though he was convinced you were agents of darkness sent to destroy him.
• This figure was familiar to Skeleton Archer, as this was his initial employer that bought him to the Valley of Barovia.
• Despite his pleas to the Mage, nothing seems to break through.
• Eventually you are able to subdue the Mage and spend a significant amount of time trying to figure out how to help him. You all would learn later that this Mage had used a Mind Blank spell to prevent his mind being altered in anyway, including for his own benefit.
• At last, a Greater Restoration spell successfully brings him back.
• The Mage is none other than the powerful Archmage, Mordenkainen. Grateful for your help, he invites you all to take shelter with him for the evening.

Hey Alexa? Play House Tour by Sabrina Carpenter

• This shelter is a mansion (one could even say its Mordenkainen’s magnificent mansion...) that is accessed from an invisible doorway in an alcove of the mountain.
• Inside, is a grand home full of faceless servants and creature comforts fit for any adventure across the Multiverse. While he goes to freshen up (aka shave his head bald again and trim his beard), you are all invited to use any of the rooms and amenities (except his own) to rest for the night.
• Some of you take a much needed bath, including Kendrick. It's cute.
• Garreak uses the kitchen to prepare simple snacks using his mother's recipes with the help of the servants as extra hands.
• Skeleton Archer finds his old room, untouched since the night before the siege on Ravenloft. He grabs some extra arrows and a small horse figurine.
• In warm beds and with full bellies, you all rest for the night. Mordenkainen leaves to search for his staff and spellbook (above table, don't expect a deus ex machina from this man; he did leave you all with some Charms of Heroism).

Session ended at 9pm 23/9/735; 23rd of Sintavr, 735

Rewards Granted

Everyone PC in the party received the following...