EM.0.1 Hammer of Tyr

Session Preface

  You stand before a magnificent, miraculously preserved temple to Ubtao, the progenitor god of these savage lands, the father of dinosaurs. Beams of light gleam off of golden archways and vibrant mosaic tiles of blue, red, and orange.   This journey has not been an easy one. In many ways, it started well before Tristain set foot on the shores of Chult.   In truth, this journey started back in a snow-laden cave when Tristain came face to face with his first contract, he who would eventually reveal himself to be Draxhar, Demon of a Thousand Faces. The demon bested the young Knight, but spared him, leaving him clinging to life, burdened with the shame of defeat.   Tristian would go on to be named Demonslayer, heralded and celebrated by his fellow Knights before he could bring the truth of defeat from his lips. When he tried to tell the truth, they would hear nothing of it. For who would face a demon and survive if they had not been victorious? So he was promoted, given a trio of contracts to pursue, but always carrying the burden of truth with him in silence.   His journeys instead next took him across the Sword Coast, facing the threats of hags, giants, and vampires, the last of which would be his premature demise. Through faithful friends and the light of Lathander, Tristain was restored to life. In the gap between death and life, the Knight experienced a vision. His father, Rulidd, stood before him, proud and welcoming. But he urged Tristain to return to his contracts to uncover the secrets tying them together, for they served some greater, nefarious purpose.   Following this experience, Tristain returned to Sundabar, the home of the Knights of Holy Judgment. There he received another promotion to the level of Paladin as a result of a heartfelt recommendation sent on his behalf by Second. During his sacred vigil, Tristain found himself assaulted by mental projections of Draxhar, challenging and mocking him. The same day, the city of Sundabar came under attack, overrun by the combined might of orcs and drow, forcing the Knights to retreat amidst devastating destruction and staggering losses.   Though the Knights of Holy Judgment eventually retook Sundabar, they found themselves destitute and demoralized. The remaining leaders enact the ancient tradition of Triads, calling upon Knights to travel in threes, completing contracts and rebuilding the reputation and resources of the order.   With his new companions, Tristain traveled to Silverymoon and then Neverwinter, completing two of his bounties. In both instances, he discovered traces of Cyric’s machinations, with Arkmenos the thief and Folio the Githyanki assassin both conducting operations to steal or extract magic from powerful artifacts and individuals.   After completing his second contract, Tristain received another vision, revealing his father’s fate. His soul, restless, remained trapped in Chult, where he’d fallen victim to the death plague some twenty years ago. In this vision, Tristain learned he must travel to Chult and discover the truth lost to time, keeping his father’s spirit trapped in the material plane.   And so this journey unfolded. Boarding a ship from Neverwinter to Baldur’s Gate and then a Flaming Fist vessel from Baldur’s Gate to Port Nyanzaru. In the port city, Tristain met Reshla, a Spirit Seeker, one of the dedicated Clerics of Ubtao who seeks to free the spirits of the jungle. In communing with the lingering spirits, these Seekers uncover how to fulfill their unfinished lives, granting them the peace to pass on. It is their hope that by saving the souls of those still wandering the jungle, they will make Chult worthy of Ubtao's return.   Together, the two companions set out into the jungles. Their journey has been harrowing, as the jungles of Chult, even decades after the effects of the death curse, remains one of the most dangerous and deadliest regions in all the realms. Yet with noble, divine purpose and a resolute heart, Tristain presses on towards the truth he seeks and the destiny upon which he now stands at the precipice.  

Session Summary

  Though Reshla can sense Rulidd's spirit, she believes his presence to be scattered, tethered within the temple. To free his spirit, she believes Tristain will need to find and break whatever holds this place has on his father and why he lingers here.   Within the temple, Tristain navigates a corridor of trapped statues and pits, coming to a wide stairwell, the site of some terrible battle in the past, with remnants and remains strewn about. He follows a flurry of reptilian footsteps in the otherwise undisturbed dust and approaches a frenzied group of kobolds. Tristain discovers the kobolds are holding some sort of sporting event, fighting one another for respect and coin. More pressing, however, is the helm their chieftan wears — the helm of his father. Tristain approaches, challenging whoever their champion may be to a match. He first proves himself against one of the younger kobold, knocking him out with a single strike.   The chieftan, Keerog the Champion, then steps forth, downing some purple potion, causing it to mutate and grow into a behemoth of a kobold, standing some ten feet tall and the width of the corridor. Not to be outmatched, Tristain polymorphs into a Giant Ape. Meeting on even footing, the two fighters trade blows back and forth, though it is Tristain who is victorious after using one kobold as artillery and climbing a column to pile drive into the kobold, besting their champion.   With honor and pride, Keerog offers Tristain the champion's crown, his father's helm. As Tristain places the helm upon his head, he experiences the first vision of his father.   Pressing on through the western chambers of the temple, the travelers pass through another corridor of traps, this one filled with more recent skeletal remains, careful not to disturb the undead. Tristain and Reshal make their way through Ubtao's labyrinth, following murals and frescos of Chult's history through the winding pathways. In the center, Tristain discovers his father's shield, trapped within a gelatinous cube. As Reshal weakens the creature, Tristain manages to reach in and tear the shield from within the ooze's form and the companions make their escape.   Wiping away the lingering ooze from the shield, Tristain experiences the second vision of his father.   Where the grand statue of Ubtao once stood, now a massive pit opens into the darkness below. Sensing the last tether to be somewhere beneath, Reshla and Tristain tie ropes to the massive tree roots extended into the chamber and climb down.   The descent grows warm and then oppressively stifling as Tristain discovers they are in a volcanic chamber beneath the temple, within the Peak of Flames themselves. What appear at first to be stone archways, he realizes, are the massive, weathered bones of an ancient dragon. Perched atop a resplendent hoard of gold and other treasures, Arishnoch the Red seethes smoke and smoldering flame as an intruder disturbs his lair. Throughout the chamber, the kobolds of the fight club skitter through the shadows, anticipating the coming conflict.   In the face of this draconic threat, Tristain stands his ground, explaining in earnest that he seeks a relic of his father's and to free his spirit. The dragon is slow to trust Tristain, yet Arishnoch relents when he recognizes the sigil of Tyr as the knight cautiously approaches. Standing amongst his father's remains, Arishnoch explains how a knight of the balanced scales once fought alongside his father, Arishnaravok, against an ancient dracolich which threatened to take over the temple and the Peaks of Flame, their home.   With humility and empathy, Tristain requests making a trade — offering the weapon and treasure which has brought him this far to the journey in exchange for his father's hammer, which he believes is somewhere within Arishnoch's hoard. Loathe to part with any part of his keepings, Arishnoch only accepts such a bargain if Tristain can prove he is worthy of his father's weapon by summoning it forth to him.   Tristain takes a deep breath, and reaches for his father's presence in this place. He recalls the lessons the Knight taught him, the example he set, how he not only sought out Tyr's justice, but goodness and righteousness in all he did. Tristain reflects on the journey of following his father's footsteps and how all of it has brought him to this place, this moment. He centers himself upon his father's memories, Tyr's strength, and his own desire to find his father and free him. And as he clenches his eyes shut, extending a hand, Tristain finds the Hammer of Tyr fly through the piles of gold and treasure into his open hand.   As he grips the handle of the hammer, Tristain experiences the third vision of his father.   Returning to the draconic lair, Arishnoch makes good on his word, offering the hammer in exchange for Tristain's treasures. Tristain takes a step closer to the dragon, noting the sense of sorrow and grief and legacy the two share. In a moment of camaraderie, Tristain extends a hand to Arishnoch, naming him a brother, united by their father's respect for one another and now how their own stories have intertwined. Moved by Tristain's courage and empathy, Arishnoch names himself ally to the knight, plucking a scale from his own throat and offering it to the Knight, promising "When you call upon me, I shall join you in battle, Tristain, brother of sorrow."   With that assurance, Tristain and Reshla return to the temple courtyard, where she can complete the ritual to return Rulidd's spirit to the afterlife. With the three artifacts gathered, the helm, shield, and hammer of Rulidd, his spirit can be coalesced and appears before Tristain. The two embrace with tears of joy and grief, reunited after some twenty years. Tristain expresses his love for his father, promising to live up the example he set and to follow in his footsteps.   Rulidd beams, but says that the greatest joy a son can bring to a father is not to walk in his footsteps nor stand in his shadow, but to be a light which would shine of its own accord. And Rulidd expresses his great pride in the light Tristain has become and will be for a world, shroud in darkness. And so, in their final moments together, Rulidd blesses his son, offering him his pride, his love, and his faith, such that they might protect him in the days to come. In their final embrace, Rulidd's spirit passes on from the material plane.   As he stands alone in the ritual circle, Tristain experiences a fourth vision.   When Tristain returns to the material plane, he arrives in Durindale, the Hammer of Tyr. As Tyr's Chosen, Tristain's eyes glow with radiant light, the iris now an almost ivory-white, with a shimmering gold pupil, beholding all in the light of justice and righteousness.   EM.Lore Tristain's Visions