"K" the Bugbear
K is the bugbear son of an infamous individual called M, a mysterious man with 24 other children scattered throughout Haven City. K grew up in squalor with his mother up until the day she died of disease they were too poor to treat. This was the straw that broke the camel's back in K's mind, setting his resolve to kill M for abandoning them in stone. He has spent the years since then training for that very purpose, and the mysterious call he has felt towards the Underdark since his teenage years seems like a perfect opportunity to hone his skills for that purpose.
He is presently engaged to Sonya Snowborne, a young woman who proposed to K accidentally but nonetheless loves him with all her heart, as he does her. This engagement is what led to K, who formerly hated the gods for not intervening to save his sick mother, to become open to the idea of worship. He began praying to Sehanine Moonbow, Elven Lady of Dreams and the deity worshipped by Sonya, to ensure their souls would one day enter the same afterlife.
Table of Contents
eat the loot heal itself again.
As the elder xorn was about to catch up with Leh’ct, the young druid threw the bag of gems to Sunny. And missed, hitting Elycia on the head instead. Despite this, Sunny was quick to grab the gems and decided to keep them away from the elder xorn by putting them into his mouth to get them into his storage compartment. Unfortunately, he was unaware that one of the jewels was a spell gem and accidentally activated it, the magic within filling the empty space in and around Sunny with dirt (including his mouth). Though he was stuck, he was still able to move his limbs enough to retaliate against the elder xorn as it charged him, determined to tear Sunny open to get its snacks back.
Despite its incredible defenses, slowly but surely the adventurers were able to chip away at the rocky elemental. It was Elycia who dealt the final blow, striking her blade through the creature's eye and prompting the one common xorn still standing to flee. Unlike the lesser xorn, the elder xorn's body did not fade into normal stone when its spirit departed back to the Elemental Plane of Earth. Leh’ct was able to sense some form of magic coming from the corpse and figured out the magic was focused on its hide, which proved leathery underneath its rocky exterior. Sunny assisted Jake with skinning the creature, the adventurers knowing that this hide would surely be a useful crafting material. They also checked the bag of gems they recovered, finding three emeralds, a yellow diamond, a high-value piece of agate, and a Spell Gem (Quartz) recently emptied of its evocation magic.
Tomb Inscription
K helped Ban and Leh'ct to open the great tomb and inside they found the ancient king's remains resting on a bed of coins, his cracked Crown of Auldbearn still on his head and the rest of him covered in damaged armor. Given what the inscription said, the adventurers figured they were meant to take the crown and did so (along with the coins). After resealing the tomb, they left with a quick prayer to wish the king well in his afterlife and thank him for whatever help his crown could provide. As the adventurers pondered what function the damaged crown may may, the moth that had guided them to the catacombs flew down from Leh'ct's head and onto the king's tomb. It stretched its wings wide and transformed into an envelope with Leh'ct's full name on it. Leh'ct opened it to find a letter written in Sylvan, which K read aloud for him. It seemed to be some sort of riddle and Leh'ct started pondering its implications as the adventurers prepared to take their leave. With the treasure in hand, it was time to work on getting Jake restored to life.hide behind help her while K tried to walk up the stairs regardless of the guards. They took exception to this and the lead guard, a sorcerer, tried to blast the adventurers with magic (but only hit Bogo).
The fight that followed was brief, the derro guarding the ruins being no match for seasoned adventurers. However, there were still complications. A derro ran out from a nearby alleyway and began levitating. He floated towards Bogo as one of his arms burst into a trio of tentacles and flew towards the goblin druid. As they brushed against him, the slime that covered them began to leech away Bogo’s vitality on contact. At the same time, the derro sorcerer managed to cast a message spell just before K knocked him unconscious. He apparently told someone to rally the neighborhood, as the sounds of dozens of footsteps began to thunder through the air. They grew louder and the party realized an angry mob was approaching from all directions save one, the Old Palace. With nowhere else to run, they fled in that direction.
Not much remained of the once great palace; some of its outer walls still stood but where there was once a castle was now only a hole in the floor, a massive one more than large enough to accommodate a dragon. The way down was steep and sliding, the party forced down into the dark to escape the approaching mob. Though dark at first, the tunnel was soon lit with the glow of faerzress swirling into spirals of lights, colors, and patterns. These lights allowed the adventurers to avoid the stalagmites that littered the tunnel on the way down to the bottom of this slope.
A wave of Abyssal energy erupted from the Spider Queen's incarnation, demolishing the nearby walls and knocking every adventurer save K off their feet. His resilience captured Lolth's attention; the dark goddess firing a wall of webbing at the bugbear that ensnared him in a cocoon on impact. She advanced upon him, slashing at the rogue with her multi-headed whip and impaling his shoulder with the tip of one of her legs, as sharp as an enchanted spear. Elycia was the first to strike back against the evil deity's fury, leaping forward and striking Lolth with a powerful kick infused with radiant magic, packing enough force to knock the Spider Queen back. Jake was next to deal her damage, using his enchanted arrows. Already the Spider Queen's wounds began to heal, but not at a terribly remarkable rate. The adventurers surmised that this was not a true avatar they were facing but rather a weaker reincarnation. Though Lolth's form paled in power compared to an avatar, it was nonetheless still a manifestation of an enraged goddess. Demonstrating her still great power, Lolth summoned one of her Yochlol handmaidens to her aid. The demonic pair attempted to use their magic to control the minds of Jake and Elycia, but luckily the two adventurers were able to withstand the effects of the enchantment magic. Despite that success, it was clear that as things stood the adventurers would not outlast Lolth in a battle of attrition. To remedy this, Bogo used his magic to summon forth a troupe of pixies from the Feywild that used their own magic to transform the adventurers into a terror of tyrannosauruses. While these hulking beastly forms provided an extra layer of fortitude for the adventurers, it was a double-edged sword as the loss of their magical weapons now made it more difficult to injure the Spider Queen and her servant. For Bogo the situation was even worse; Lolth sneered at the druid and commanded her Yochlol to assist her in slaying him first. The onslaught soon knocked Bogo out of his tyrannosaur form, his concentration on his pixies broken and the fey vanishing back to the Feywild. Though his friends tried to intervene, they could not do so quickly enough and the Spider Queen claimed Bogo’s life as well as his soul, which she threw into her Demonweb Pits as she proclaimed the remaining adventurers souls would soon follow. The situation was desperate as Lolth ordered her handmaiden to focus on K next. The Spider Queen's assault forced K back into his humanoid form. K pulled out his necklace of holy symbols, holding up Lolth's own emblem and claiming he was one of her believers. The Spider Queen chastised him for attempting to lie to the Mistress of Lies, prompting K to throw away his false symbols and declare his true loyalty for Sehanine Moonbow, much to Lolth's ire. Injured as K had quickly become, Rexlycia was forced to pick him up in her mouth and use her own body to shield him from fatal wounds. Jake's tyrannosaur form managed to seize the Yochlol in its jaws to keep her away from the others as K used his magic belt to shoot a gout of fire at the Spider Queen from inside Rexlycia’s mouth. But just then, a bite from Lolth's venomous fangs revered Elycia to her humanoid form as well. Just as K was about to be struck down, Elycia reached into the depths of her magic and conjured a focused beam of moonlight down upon Lolth. The power of the moon, a sign of her hated enemy Sehanine Moonbow, turned Lolth's annoyance into true fury as she turned her rage towards the elven paladin. The injuries Lolth inflicted upon her were devastating, rapidly taking the noble elf within an inch of her life. Lolth's whip cracked, the sharp tips of her leg impaled, the fangs of her spider's maw bit down and injected venom. But before the Spider Queen could strike her a fatal blow, K jumped back into the fray with his enchanted dagger and struck the incarnation of Lolth in the heart. He proudly declared that her threat to them ended here, but Lolth declared that should it take decades, centuries, or even millennia, she would lay claim to their souls as she had Bogo's.
Pre-Campaign
Hailing from Haven City's Lowtown, the bugbear called "K" was raised by his single mother in squalor. Despite their living situation, he grew up knowing that his father was an influential, albeit mysterious, individual with many mistresses across the city, all of whom grew up wealthy. He was only 12 years old when his mother died of an illness she was too poor to cure, a twist of fate that hardened K's heart. K swore off his father for abandoning his mother as well as the gods, who did not use their power to save her. He spent the remainder of his childhood on the streets, learning to survive while seeking answers to his mother's birthland and how she could have fallen in love with a monster like his father, who was known only as M. But whether K acknowledges his heritage or not, his bloodline calls him to the Underdark to be tested. For what reason and by what means remains uncertain, but mysterious forces pull him down into the depths of the earth whether he chooses to go willingly or not. At some point during this time, K was cursed with the Curse of the Ethereal Bound by a fey for unknown reasons. This curse causes him to pop in and out of the Ethereal Realm at seemingly random intervals, which he speculates is for no other reason than the fey's amusement.Welcome to Haven City Arc
Week One
An Offer of Partnership
K came to Hightown for reasons known only to him, seeking application onto an expedition destined for the Underdark. Once in line, he soon learned that people applying for the Underdark expedition were being interviewed in groups due to the sheer number of applicants. Reaching near the front of the line, he was ushered inside along with Vinnie Vice, Elycia Mirais, Leh'ct, and Jake F. Statefarm to meet the man organizing the expedition, Bertrand Thaig. Bertrand asked each of the group members to introduce themselves and highlight whatever skills that they that would contribute to the expedition's success. When his turn came, K's words shortly but brutally made it clear that his skill for taking life was second to none, which would surely be useful in the dangerous Underdark. Once the meeting was done (the group learning the expedition would not leave for another 6 weeks), Bertrand bid the group good day. K decided that a little drinking would be a good way to kill some time with his new acquaintances, taking Jake and Vinnie for a few rounds that Vinnie quickly turned into a bar crawl. Elycia and Leh'ct, who had wandered off on other business, found the trio down the road from their next destination, the GnoName Tavern. They explained they had met Bertrand's brother who wanted to meet them at the tavern an hour after sundown to discuss some sort of deal. Deciding that they were interested, the group was just about to head for the there when they heard a scream. Heading in the direction of the noise down an alley, they saw a young woman being mugged by a group of Crows. Vinnie Vice quickly decided the situation called for violence and the other adventurers moved to back him up, K using his bow to expertly kill one of the thugs and wound another. He pursued the wounded target, made easy after the thug was marked by Leh'ct's faerie fire spell, and executed the wounded criminal. Once the criminals were dealt with and the woman was safe, K accompanied his new companions to the GnoName Tavern while Leh'ct turned the surviving captured thugs over to the guards. Ernest Thaig arrived an hour after sundown, as promised, and approached the assembled adventurers with a startling admission: he and his brother were broke. They had run short of money before they could finish their preparations for the expedition, which Ernest partially blamed on his brother's wide-eyed ideals and subsequent mismanagement. They didn't need more hires for the expedition; they needed partners. Ernest offered to make them equal partners if they could each contribute 500 gold to the expedition. The dwarf suggested they ask around town for work, seemingly confident that they could find gold or useful supplies before the expedition was due to leave. As soon as he was gone, K openly questioned why they even needed the dwarves if they were hurting for coin and suggested going into the Underdark themselves & cutting out the middlemen. There indeed was work to be found as K spoke to a shady looking man in criminal code, learning the man was looking for extra muscle to shake down some local business owners. He returned to the table and informed the other adventurers that the nice man across the bar was looking for help collecting debts from a few local business owners. At the same time, Elycia told them about a kidnapped noble's daughter he'd heard about from the bartender. The group decided to check out the noble first, leaving the tavern to start asking around town about this Mr. Perrywinkle mentioned by the bartender.Off to the Ethereal I
Just as the group was getting ready to set out, K's fey-induced curse randomly triggered and pulled him into the Ethereal Realm. He followed his new companions as they went about their business without him, watching as they met with Mr. Perrywinkle and agreed on a plan to rescue his abducted daughter and ambushed a group of Crows before interrogating them. By the time he popped back into the Material Plane at the GnoName Tavern, he had also watched them discover a Crow safehouse where the criminal organization was stockpiling healing potions, and possibly other valuable supplies. Unfortunately, the facility's security had been raised due to the party's assault against Crows on the street. Vinnie pointed out that this may work in their favor, pulling Crows away from their kidnapping scheme to reinforce the safehouse and thereby making it easier to rescue Miss Perrywinkle. While the others talked, K slipped into the restroom and disguised himself as a woman to speak with someone in the bar in thieves cant incognito. He learned from this person that the information the party had collected was accurate and that Miss Perrywinkle was likely being held near Despair Street.Look at Us, We're a Distraction!
After a brief visit to the adventurer one-stop shop Gnome Depot for supplies, K and his companions came up with a simple plan to burgle the Crow hideout. Step one was sending in Leh'ct as a common spider to scope out the place. The young drow was able to do so without difficulties, informing the rest of the group that the Crows had potions of several varieties, an enticing looking locked chest, and a shipment of stolen wine they'd heard about from the Gnome Depot employees in there. Step two of the plan was to send Leh'ct back in after nightfall while the rest of the group created a distraction. The group took to the rooftops and waited just outside the area where the Crows guards were watching. It wasn't long before there was a hiccup in Leh'ct's infiltration and the party heard the sound of a gong coming from the hideout. Taking this as their signal, they moved forward and attacking Crows for their distraction. K moved swiftly through the darkness, effortlessly running through one of the lookouts with his rapier. His presence was soon noticed when the lookouts lit lanterns that threw back the darkness the party had hid under and he was shot in the thigh by an arrow. Deciding his distraction had done its job, K began to retreat just as the Crow sentries began to organize and started firing more arrows in the party's direction. He split up from the others in case he was pursued and rendezvoused with them at Vinnie's clinic later. Leh'ct pulled out the potions and wine he had stolen to show the rest of the group. He also alchemically examined the potions, learning that some were potions of healing while others were a mix of street drugs and potions tainted by those drugs. Leh'ct promised he could repurpose the drugs and tainted potions into useful poison and the group divided up the healing potions, deciding to lay low for the day until it was time to meet up with Mr. Perrywinkle.To the Rescue!
The group returned to Mr. Perrywinkle's home. They went over the plan one last time; the adventurers would shadow Mr. Perrywinkle in order to rescue his daughter once the Crows brought her out for the exchange. They went to Despair Street, a neighborhood completely controlled by the Crows, and scurried up to the rooftops to follow Mr. Perrywinkle and his Crow guide discreetly. Unfortunately, there were lookouts on the group who each wore a lit lantern; enough lookouts for the lantern light to overlap and brighten all the rooftops. Leh'ct mitigated this situation with his control flames spell, weakening the light of multiple lanterns simultaneously. This created narrow corridors of shadow that, with help from Leh'ct's pass without trace spell, the party was able to slip through unnoticed. Meanwhile, K teamed up with Jake to eliminate guards and lookouts along the way while Vinnie hid the bodies with the help of his echo. After Mr. Perrywinkle's Crow guide turned on him, K knocked the thug out while Elycia killed the thug's dog. Rousing the man with a blade to his throat, Vinnie interrogated him regarding Miss Perrywinkle's whereabouts. The thug agreed to talk in exchange for the promise that he wouldn't be harmed and would live, which Vinnie agreed to. He told them which building she was in and who else was in the building. The thug also admitted they'd been instructed to keep the girl regardless of whether the ransom was paid. Once Vinnie was done with his interrogation, K stabbed the man in the throat fatally. When some of his companions objected to this action, K pointed out that while Vinnie had promised not to harm the man, he had made no such claim. Armed with this new information, the group readjusted their plan. Jake used his disguise magic to masquerade as the dead thug while Leh'ct slipped into his pocket as a spider. While he went into the building disguised, the others would stick to the rooftops and come rushing in once Leh'ct gave the signal. There was another lookout near their ideal entry point, who they couldn't easily eliminate since the lookout was on the edge of the roof talking to someone below. Needing a distraction, Elycia got some distance from the group before attacking a different lookout and blowing a whistle taken off one of the dead ones earlier to draw attention to herself. This got the lookout near the entry point to walk out of line of sight from his friend on the street, allowing K to eliminate him discreetly. Once a spider lily blossomed on the roof (Leh'ct's signal), Vinnie threw the weight of himself and the dead lookout onto the roof to break through it into the room where Miss Perrywinkle was behind held. He had the good sense to tie a rope to a chimney and bring that with him before doing this, giving every non-Crow in the room an easy escape option. K followed him into the room to help deal with the guard inside before climbing up the rope to escape. Fleeing before the Crows had time to rally, K split off from the others with Jake following a ways behind him. once they were sure they had shaken off any potential pursuers, they rendezvoused with the others at the GnoName Tavern.Week Two
Wererats and Weird Books
After spending a few days doing research into his favorite local legend and longtime goal, Captain Xavier's Lost Treasure, K and his comrades returned to the GnoName Tavern to wait for Ernest Thaig's return. True to this word, the dwarf returned a week after their previous meeting as the group was discussing Captain Xavier's Lost Treasure. Setting a tray of drinks on the table, Ernest inquired if the group had come to a decision about his offer. They confirmed that, yes, they intended to come on the Underdark expedition and were well on their way to collecting the necessary funds. Happy to hear that, Ernest suggested they not wear themselves out and do a little prep instead of focusing solely on moneymaking. He told them the wizard he and his brother had hired was doing research on the Underdark at the Tower Library and that their doing the same could be useful. Shortly after Ernest left, a drunk warforged at a nearby table yelled at them to be quiet and to let him drink himself to death in peace. Elycia asked the drunk what was wrong and he revealed he had been bitten by a wererat last month. When the adventurers still looked puzzled, he popped open his chest to reveal a silver "heart" that would guarantee his death as soon as the full moon rose three nights hence. While K and Jake had no interest in helping the man, Vinnie and Elycia sympathized (to varying degrees). They decided maybe that library wizard could help with ways to kill a lycanthrope without silver, the group not wanting to spend their expedition money to help the man. While the others went ahead, K volunteered to keep an eye on the increasingly suicidal warforged while planning to steal his silver heart should the man die. Despite this, some part of him started to feel bad for the warforged as he sat drinking with him. Eventually deciding the warforged had had enough, he decided to get the guy out of the GnoName Tavern and head towards the library to look for his friends instead. He arrived at the Tower Library Elycia speaking with the wizard Villamax and the other library patrons keeping their distance from them. Elycia explained they'd found a possible lead to Captain Xavier's Lost Treasure, but the book was magicked and had pulled Vinnie and Jake into a demiplane. Villamax, having given the book a magical examination, stated he could dispel the demiplane but that such an action could release anyone and anything in there. For all he knew, it could loose a dragon or some other monster on the city. K and Elycia decided to go in after their friends, asking Villamax to wait two hours before dispelling anything as a last resort. Villamax agreed, stating that in the meantime he'd work on an alternate way to get them out.Demiplane of Pompolius the Powerful
They arrived on a beach, being woken up by Vinnie and Jake. Elycia informed Vinnie and Jake that they had two hours to find a way out before Villamax dispelled the demiplane to release them. The beach lay at the base of tall sandstone cliffs with a set of double doors in them. A small stone platform sat in the entryway next to a stand that a parrot sat on top of. The bird greeted them, "Welcome to the estate of Pompolius the Powerful! Are you visiting for an appointment, to request a consultation, or to steal secrets that aren't rightly yours?" The group claimed they were requesting a consultation and the parrot stated his master was out but that they could wait in the sitting room or explore Pompolius' museum. Exploring the museum, they found several valuable items locked behind the display cases. Cases that were protected by some form of magical barrier as well as glass, much to their ire. While Vinnie decided to examine the museum further (believing a way to deactivate the barriers was surely in there somewhere), the rest of the group split up to explore. K explored randomly and made his way into a dining that was set for eight and had enchanted windows that appeared to overlook a city, as if the dining room as in the top of a tall tower. He was still looking around this room when Jake triggered a magical trap that polymorphed him into a frog in the main hall outside. This also activated the animated armors standing throughout the facility, one of which picked up Jake and started marching him towards the entrance. Believing he wasn't in any real danger, K and the others made no immediate move to help him. Real danger soon presented itself when Vinnie touching a book animated several of them, which attacked trying to bludgeon him with their spines. The situation got worse when K tried to open the other double door (next to the one Jake touched) and was also turned into a frog. Just as Elycia was moving to help Vinnie, the parrot in the entry area activated the stone platform and opened a small portal to the Nine Hells. The animated armor carrying Jake raised him above its head to throw him in and Jake the frog began to panic. Another of these suits of armor picked up K and carried him into the hall, where he saw what the armor intended for him. Making the most of his mucus-covered frog body, he wriggled out of its grip and hopped back into the dining room to stick to the underside of a chair and hide. One of the animated armors entered the room searching for him as his friends battled the other constructs outside. K stretched his brain trying to think of something, anything, he'd ever heard about transmutation magic and how to undo it. After roughly 18 seconds of pondering, he suddenly remember that doing enough damage to a transformed creature would dispel the magical energy holding their new form in place and return them to normal. While the animated armor was on the other side of the room, K hopped up onto a table and used his frog legs to jump as high as he could into the air. He hit the ground hard enough to break the transformation, drawing his weapon to fight the animated armor properly. K made quick work of this opponent and rushed out of the room to finish off two more of the animated armors, playing a key role in finishing the fight victoriously for the adventurers. As the group bandaged themselves up while examining the now safe library, they found the code word that would activate the magic circle in the entryway and allow them to leave. Elycia used this information to send Villamax a note, telling him not to dispel the demiplane. As they continued to rest in the library, a tear in the demiplane suddenly appeared above them. The giant hand of Villamax reached through the grabbed Jake (the first person it touched), pulling him out of the demiplane and back to safety. Believing the danger was passed, Elycia and the others moved on without him.Death at Pompolius' Hand
This was not an accurate assessment as another suit of armor as well as the bedsheets attacked them in Pompolius' bedroom. In his study, they discovered a notebook that indicated Pompolius had been conducting research into moving his soul to a new body to attain immortality that didn't require lichdom or clones that would be vulnerable unattended. The next room over contained a puzzle lock that required the adventurers to move items to the correctly associated circle on the floor, each one representing a different school of magic. Vinnie was able to do this rather quickly with Elycia's help, unlocking the way to the final room. He moved forward into the magical laboratory with K while Elycia stayed behind to stand guard. Magic circles drawn in blood and featuring pentagrams were drawn on the floor, one of which contained the corpse of an older human man. In the corner was a bubbling cauldron filled with green liquid next to a prep tables and wall shelves with a few vials. K found a hidden notebook under the table that revealed the liquid was a potion form of the gentle repose spell, capable of protecting a cadaver from undeath and making it easier to revive the dead. It also contained a passcode that could lower the barriers in the museum, but warned that the barriers also acted as the room's support pillars. Removing too many would bring the ceiling down and crush any greedy intruders. Just as they were smiling at their good fortune, Pompolius the Powerful arrived in the previous room, his spirit trapped in the body of a helmed horror and his parrot (who snuck off to fetch him) on his shoulder. They could hear Elycia speaking with him and, thinking fast, K threatened to destroy his old body if he didn't back off. This did not deter Pompolius, who declared he'd rather take one of their younger bodies than go back to his old one. Angered by the party's intrusion and the rather snide attitude some of them had towards him, the wizard turned construct attacked. As the fight began, it quickly became apparent that Pompolius was much more powerful than the animated armors the group had previously defeated. His construct body was resistant to non-magical attacks, so he first focused on the group's main magical member: Elycia. To her surprise, Pompolius seemed to recognize her elven military training from her fighting style and claimed to have some sort of history with the Silver Falcons (elven special forces). But despite her skill and Pompolius' lack thereof in swordsmanship, the wizard's construct body was able to make up the difference in sheer power. He critically injured Elycia, who blacked out but managed to stay alive thanks to her energized Threads of Fate. Not liking their odds in a direct fight, Vinnie and K switched to hit and run tactics with Vinnie using his echo and K relying on his swift feet. They talked as they fought and Pompolius seemed familiar with K's name, or at least his name's convention. Pompolius seemed to be familiar with K's father, M, claiming that M had done this with many generations before K's and would likely do it with many more. This did not deter K as he boldly declared that he would be the one to slay his wicked father and break the cycle. But as the fight continued, K tried for a finishing blow that was anything but, allowing Pompolius to close the distance and strike him with a fatal blow. Darkness surrounded K as his spirit left his body.Resolve and Resurrection
K had never been one to care for the gods. They never helped him, and they had certainly never helped his mother before her illness took her. He denied them his faith and in the moment of his death saw the consequences of his decision: the Wall of the Faithless. Those who deny the gods in life spurn their protection in death. These souls, when not claimed by another entity, are flung towards the Wall of the Faithless upon their death. A damnable existence as part of the great wall that protects the realms of the dead where each imprisoned soul is slowly stripped of its essence until nothing is left but the ability to feel pain. Most people would be afraid when they saw such a fate awaiting them. But K is not most people. The gods seeking to punish him for their mistakes only hardened K's heart further. As a light enveloped him and he was pulled back to the land of the living, moments before his soul could be mortared in with the other faithless, he resolved to become stronger and stave off this fate for as long as he could. Or, failing that, at least long enough to settle things with his bastard father. K revived with a sharp intake of breath, having been restored to life by Villamax thanks to a deal Vinnie and Elycia had made with the wizard. He could barely sit up, his body weak, as Villamax informed him that returning to life was a taxing ordeal and that he should take it easy for a few days. Barely able to stand on his own, K agreed that was a good idea as his friends helped him stand to get him somewhere he could recover. He settled in for his recovery period by renting a room at the GnoName Tavern with Jake volunteering to keep an eye on him while he slept.Week Three
Shadows in the Mine
A week after his previous visit, Ernest stopped in at the GnoName Tavern to see how K and his companions were doing. They told him they were doing well with Leh’ct (poorly) providing summaries of their most recent adventures. Ernest inquired if they had any additional jobs lined up (they did not) and told them there'd been some kind of commotion at the local coal mine that might be worth checking out. With nothing better to do, the group decided to head to North Lowtown to check it out. The commotion was ongoing when the adventurers arrived with many people running about looking worried. They eventually managed to get a word in with the foreman who explained that miners had run out screaming late last evening, claiming small dark creatures had chased them away. They'd sent some local adventurers in to investigate, but that was 12 hours ago and the adventurers had yet to return. After Vinnie negotiated the payment price for their services, the group decided to go see what was going on down there. As they walked down the mine shaft, they suddenly became aware that the world had shifted at some point. They were no longer in a humanoid-made tunnel but a natural cave, and looking back behind them they had been for a while. Coming into an open area, they saw four goblins huddled around each other and watching something on the ground. Oddly, these goblins were a bluish-purplish color rather than the standard goblin green. K, as the only adventurer present who could speak goblin, asked what they were doing. The goblins enthusiastically replied they were betting on racing beetles before realizing there were intruders! These goblins proved little challenge for the adventurers and everyone else had things handled before Elycia even needed to step in. She wandered a bit down a side tunnel before reconvening with the others to inform them these goblins unusual coloring meant they were likely from the Shadowfell.Fauna & Flora of the Shadowfell
Checking out that side tunnel with Elycia, the two adventurers found a pile of dead rats on a ledge overlooking a small pool. A horse-sized snapping turtle came up out of the water and K enthusiastically threw it a rat that it snapped up. He then proceeded to do this with the rest of the rats and made the snapping turtle so happy that it briefly dove underwater & returned with a shiny pearl for him. He also beckoned it close so that he and Elycia could pet it before the turtle swam away to sleep off its big meal. As the group continued to explore, they came across a sleeping satyr who they awoke to question. The satyr refused to talk until he'd had a proper breakfast, prompting Leh’ct to offer him a day old crescent roll. Introducing himself as Blink, the satyr openly questioned how the party had the foresight to bring a stale crescent roll just the way he liked them. They learned that Blink was hiding out in this cave, which he said was the home of a fey called Ehmyr, after pulling a prank in the River King's court that the archfey didn't take kindly to. Ehmyr's little slice of the Shadowfell was controlled by a magical tree and occasionally slipped into other realms when it wasn't pruned correctly. He also said Ehmyr's main concern was growing Unseelie Mushrooms, so Ehmyr might not have even noticed his realm wasn't where it was supposed to be. Continuing on, the group found more shadow goblins sharpening thorns on a large red flower. These goblins attacked them as intruders and when the party attacked back, the enraged lionlilly roared at the mortals who'd harmed its caretakers. It lashed out with thorny vines with Leh’ct as its first target. As he managed to get loose and flee, K found himself to be the next target as the lionlilly seized him, reeled him in, and swallowed him whole. His friends managed to slay the monster plant before it could do K any permanent harm, though he did roll out of its bulb covered in sap as it collapsed to the ground. Carrying on (with K setting off some shrieker mushrooms in the process), the group eventually came to a gargantuan tree. Its thick roots spread across a moss-covered floor below while above its thick canopy blocked out the ceiling completely. At its base sat the corpse of an adventurer. Halfway up the tree was a faun that the party correctly assumed was Ehmyr. He didn't seem to care much for the party's presence and told them to leave him be. When asked about whether he killed the missing adventurers, he said that he most certainly had not. He'd made the goblins do it. They asked if Ehmyr was aware his piece of the Shadowfell had mixed with the Material Plane and was causing people problems. Ehmyr claimed ignorance of this and promised to do no one else any harm and that he'd be done siphoning water off from the Moonflow River for his mushrooms (and to annoy the River King) soon. The party believed this statement and carried on to find the other missing adventurers.Saving an Adventurer
Continuing their exploration to a large chasm, the group found a rope tied to a cliffside that K discovered had been cut 30 feet down. It would appear one of the missing adventurers had fallen to their death here. Knowing the Shadowfell was a reflection of the Material Realm, Vinnie pointed out that if they could get the mine back to normal this might be an entry point to the Underdark that could prove useful later. Continuing on to the last unexplored section of the caves, they found the main mushroom farm being tended to by a half-dozen shadow goblins. K tried to confuse the goblins by yelling "intruder!" in their language, which caused them to spot Leh’ct and focus on him. The goblins attacked, summoning swarms of bats to help them, and began peppering Leh’ct's general area with arrows as the battle began. It ended when K used his assassin-related knowledge of anatomy to kill one of the goblins as brutally as he could, prompting the surviving three to call off their bats and surrender. Vinnie and Leh’ct made sure to use a web spell Leh’ct had cast to tie them up. K contorted his body down a thin tunnel and found a half-starved woman trying weakly to lift a crossbow at him. It appeared she was the only one of the initial adventurers to survive and had been down here for quite some time. She gulped down the water and rations K offered to her and he helped her get out of her hideaway. Worried for the woman's health and safety, the party retreated back to the mine entrance. When they emerged, the foreman claimed they hadn't been gone long at all. The party realized that time may not flow the same between their world and the cave. And also that Ehmyr had likely been lying, so they went back to confront him.(Moth)er of a Boss Fight
Deciding not to waste more time on words, K entered the large tree's chamber drawing his bow and aiming for Ehmyr immediately. Unfortunately, at no point during their two times in this chamber had any of the adventurers detected Ehmyr's invisible pixie guards. They used their magic to befuddle the party's senses; along with the movement hampering effect that befell several of his allies, K began to see a vision of a very large and very angry wolf chasing him. He ran from the illusory wolf as the faun and his pixie guards climbed into the tree's canopy and a monstrous moth descended and flapped its powerful wings. The gust of wind it generated blew the adventurers back, knocking them against the wall hard as its loose scales overloaded their bodies with harmful levels of magical energy. Between this and the debilitating effects of the pixie magic, they were hard pressed. Nevertheless, they did not give up, and K was not pleased when he managed to shake the magic effecting him and realized his mind had been tricked. It was Leh’ct who made the deciding move in this battle, casting a web spell that ensnared the monster moth and allowed K and the others to surround their restrained foe. It was also Leh’ct who dealt the final blow with one of his poisoned daggers sailing clean through the monstrous moth's eyes.Meeting Red
As the moth fell, Vinnie tearing off its wings and Silinrul eating the rest, the party heard clapping. A man who was very clearly a fey complimented them on their battle, saying it was close for a while there but he had enjoyed the fight. When the party questioned who exactly this many was, he introduced himself as K's dear old Uncle Red. Whom K had never heard of before. Red quickly proved to be an eccentric individual, commenting that K's father was a metaphorical bastard (as opposed to a literal bastard like K himself) and complimenting Elycia on her ears before asking what shampoo she uses & recommending one used on show dogs. In the brief moment they were able to get him on track, Red revealed he'd come to shut down Ehmyr's operation before it made waves with the River King. Seeing as the party had done most of the work for him, he offered to compensate them for their services. K piped up, "Oh, like a gift," and a dark look crossed Red's face as he made it very clear that it was proper payment and in no way, shape, or form a gift. Red instructed Vinnie to hold the dead moth's wings up to Elycia's shoulders and transformed them into a Luna Moth Cape with a snap of his fingers. He also asked to party to pool all their silver coins on the ground and turned them to gold with a touch. Their business concluded, he told the adventurers it had been lovely to meet them and that he'd give them time to exit this little pocket realm before he sent it back to rejoin the rest of the Shadowfell. Bowing dramatically to take his exit, a storm of autumn leaves blew from his hair (which itself was made of such leaves) and by the time they cleared and the party could see again, Red was gone. The party left the caves as they started to shake, eventually looking behind them and seeing the mine shafts that were supposed to be there had returned. After collecting their pay from the foreman, they headed back for home to get some well-earned R&R.Week Four
Seeking Answers
Meeting his "uncle" Red had given K an idea. He decided to go do something that most residents of Haven City would consider suicidal: seek an audience with the River King. He knew that the River King's would randomly appear on the Moonflow River at night, so he started hanging around the river. Not just during the evenings either; K spent his days removing trash from the river and feeding its fish as a sign of good faith in his intentions. He was also sure to spend his evenings waiting for the palace in fine clothing, wanting to look the part when he asked for his audience. When the River King's palace, the Pearl Tower, finally appeared, K borrowed a rowboat moored nearby to get there. He made sure to leave a note and few coins where it had been tied up in case its owner missed it. He was not the first mortal to arrive at the palace's gates. People were already lined up, some dressed finely like himself and looking nervous while others in whatever clothes they were wearing when they found themselves taken here unwillingly. A few of the latter individuals seemed on the verge of tears. The nereid guards at the gates kept this line moving as one by one people were ushered inside to meet the River King. K made sure to complement the guards as he went inside, earning a nod of respect from one of them. His turn eventually came to enter the palace. The inside of the palace seemed larger than the outside and looked as if it had been formed natural instead of created by sapient creatures, presumably due to the effects of fey magic. He followed a dirt path past grassy groves of mushrooms, some shorter than him and others stretching higher than the tallest trees. It ended at a massive gate that sat on an island surrounded by a U-shaped stream. In front of it was a massive purplish jewel with blue lights flittering around inside it like fireflies. It's fey beauty nearly bewitched him, but his attention was drawn to the golden gate instead as it swung open.Audience with the River King
The throne room beyond was filled with water, which stayed inside the room's threshold by way of the River King's power. Another guard waited for K, this one in ornate ceremonial armor and carrying an orb of air he put over K's head before guiding the bugbear into the room. Small river fish swam throughout the ornate room above decorative lily pads, as well as bugs which appeared able to breathe and fly despite being underwater. The guard walked directly over a massive pit, above which floated a large pink flower that gave off soft yellow light, with each of his and K's footsteps marked and supported by magic circles of light bearing the River King's crest. The king himself sat on a throne decorated with insect-like wings, a feature the River King himself also possessed, as K approached, bowed, and thanked the archfey for the audience as he introduced himself. K was lucky to catch the River King in a good mood and he welcomed his visitor, curious about the rare mortal who would approach his palace for an audience willingly. K surmised that the River King likely already knew many things about him and told the king he sought Captain Xavier's Lost Treasure as a way to fund an expedition into the Underdark, a critical step in his mission seeking revenge against his bastard father, M. In exchange for this information, K offered to be forever indebted to the River King. Amused and, again, luckily in a good mood, the River King informed K that he could not make that bargain in good faith for K's friends had already discovered where the treasure was located. K inquired whether the River King had any objection to them claiming the treasure. He did not, but warned K that Captain Xavier's angry spirit was unlikely to let it go easily. K also asked if the River King knew of a safe way into the Underdark, but the River King informed him every way he knew of was a waterway that would be unsuitable for K and his companions. The time soon approached for the River King to attend to his next audience. But before K left, he wanted to make sure to repay K's efforts in cleaning the Moonflow River and feeding its fish. K had done two acts of kindness for the River King, and so the River King would do two acts of kindness for him. He first showed K how to carry himself better and make the most of his natural abilities, granting K the ability to strike fear into others with his Unsettling Presence. Unbeknownst to K, this ability was thanks to ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████. The River King also advised K to take a specific route on his way home later, stating that K would encounter someone who'd like to see him if he did. Thanking him for his aid, K bowed to the River King one last time before a guard escorted him back to his borrowed boat. He made his way back to shore, mooring the boat back where he'd borrowed it from and taking the River King's directions as he headed into Midtown.An Accidental Engagement
K walked for several blocks before he saw that an approaching figure was actually a familiar face. It was the woman adventurer he had rescued in the coal mine over a week beforehand. She hadn't seemed to noticed him yet as she stepped into the light of a street lamp and K called out to her. The young woman looked surprised to see him and very flustered, stumbling over her words like she couldn't think of exactly what she wanted to say to him. She did manage to get a 'thank you' out as she spoke and K told her 'you're welcome' before advising her to take care of her health since she looked like she still hadn't fully recovered. She managed to compose herself a little better than, but mumbled as she talked. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small object and shoved it into K's palm while talking about how she was done adventuring and going to work in a shop so she didn't need this ring she'd made for her friend who'd died anyone, all in one breath. Looking at it, K saw it was a metal ring shaped like an arrow that looped around on itself. He was surprised by the gift and suddenly found himself as flustered as the woman had been up to that point. K believed the young woman had just proposed to him and commented to himself that his was just like how his mom had always said it would be. K told the woman, "Before I can accept this ring, please let me learn your name fair maiden. I’m sorry I don’t have a ring to give back but my heart won’t waiver until I find the perfect ring for you!” Her cheeks turned bright red as she introduced herself as Sonya. K grabbed her hand and declared that 'Sonya' was a name befitting an angel like her. He told her he had to go on an expedition to the Underdark soon, but begged that she wait for him and let him know the name of the shop where she'd be working as soon as she knew. The meek woman accepted his request before also accepting his dinner invitation, where the two talked and K got to know a bit more about his new fiancée.Week Five
They Say the Place is Haunted
K met up with his friends at the GnoName Tavern for their weekly meeting with Ernest. While waiting, Elycia, Jake, and Vinnie got him and Leh'ct caught up on what they had missed on the trio's adventure the week before. They also all talked about what they'd been up to in the meantime, which most notably included K revealing he'd met the River King gotten engaged to the adventurer he'd rescued before, Sonya Snowborne. While these discussions were ongoing, a messenger boy came into the tavern and delivered a letter to them. K read the letter out loud; it was from Ernest, explaining he couldn't make it this afternoon but would be by in the evening and apologizing for the inconvenience. Finding themselves with some time to kill, the adventurers decided now was a good time to make use of that map leading to Captain Xavier's Lost Treasure. Stane had said it pointed to the old Sinclair Mansion, so they headed out for the abandoned mansion. On the way there, Vinnie and Leh'ct explained the history of the place to the rest of the group. The Sinclair family had once been a noble line with a seat on the Haven City Government Council. But the head of the family had done something to offend the pirate Captain Xavier, who began targeting their merchant ships in retaliation. Though Captain Xavier eventually met his downfall, he did enough financial damage to ruin the Sinclairs before meeting his end. The family patriarch committed suicide and it was rumored his spirit still haunted the manor to this day.Yep, It's Haunted
The party scouted the mansion first but could not see inside with every window either blackened or blocked by drawn curtains. Vinnie sent his echo inside first and, when nothing bad happened to it, the rest of the group followed and began to explore. The place was fully furnished; the family who'd long ago abandoned it had left everything behind when they left. But it had clearly not been tended to in a very long time. Broken & rotting furniture, dead plants, and other signs of decay were everywhere as the party searched for clues. As they moved cautiously, Elycia heard soft crying coming from an unexplored room. Knowing this place was supposed to be haunted, the rest of the party was debating whether to investigate when Leh'ct decided to go inside. He saw a kneeling woman, her back to him and her hands in her face as she cried. Stealthily coming around her side, he could see her hands were covered in blood. He started back out of the room and was halfway to the door when he noticed the crying stopped. The woman's head had made a 180 and stared at his with wide eyes. Her arms bent backwards as she walked towards him without turning around, saying over and over again how she wanted to feel warm. Leh'ct yelled for help and K ran into the room with Jake and Vinnie to attack the spirit. But to their surprise, none of their weapons worked despite being magical. K's rapier, Vinnie's warhammer, and Jake's arrow all passed through the spirit without doing it harm. It didn't make sense; ghosts were supposed to be vulnerable to magic weapons. With that option apparently off the table, the party took the next most sensible option and ran.And Now We're Stuck
Their flight was short lived as the doors had sealed themselves and the windows proved to be unbreakable. The spirit in pursuit, K fled towards the basement after Elycia and Leh'ct before being cut off as the spirit began moving through walls and floors, yelling, "Not that way!". He ran upstairs to get away from it with Jake behind him, only to bump into another spirit in the third floor chapel. He ran back down towards Jake yelling, "Not that way either!" By the time the two got back to the basement area, the rest of the party had discovered a way to combat the spirits. They had found a Wand of Ghost Busting and Cube of Ghost Trapping in the basement. While they didn't understand the exact nature of these items, they did get them to work well enough to deal with these spirits. With their lives now not in imminent danger, the group had a moment to think and came to the conclusion that the mansion must be desecrated with an unholiness that was empowering the spirits haunting the place. They continued to search slowly, finding two more wands on the first floor before moving up to the second.Bustin' Makes Me Feel Good
The house was just as much of a ruin on the second floor as it had been on the first. K told the group he'd seen a ghost in a chapel on the third floor and wanted to go get it right away, but the party thought it better to search the place room by room and go up slowly. The second floor contained nothing else that looked important, though Leh'ct did note several open spots in the library where it looked like books had been taken. Moving to the third floor, they decided to deal with the spirit K spotted before anything else. This one proved more resilient than the first two, managing to break free of the wands magic once before they restrained it again and trapped it in the cube. They noted that the chapel was dedicated to Waukeen, the Merchant's Friend, and seemed to not give off the unholy energy the rest of the building had. Jake found a small staircase in some sort of alchemy lab and Vinnie went up first, finding himself face-to-face with yet another spirit. This one proved difficult to trap, breaking free of their initial attempts to lash it. They discovered here that multiple wands could be used on a spirit simultaneously, thereby making it easier to trap. All that was left to explore was the attic, which contained a fifth spirit. This one was the trickiest yet, escaping the wands a few times before they managed to bind it with lightning from four wands at once and trap it. Vinnie stayed upstairs to explore a bit while the rest of the group headed back towards the chapel. Before they could get there, another spirit manifested from smoke and shadows in front of them: the wraith of Captain Xavier.Captain Xavier's Wrath
Captain Xavier spoke with a typical pirate accent and seemed quite jolly, not too concerned with the party's capture of his "landlubber crew". He spoke highly of living a life of piracy and how governments were the real criminals, all the while making it clear that he intended to slay the party and have their spirits join his crew whether they wanted to or not. K tried to stab Captain Xavier with his magic rapier after seeing the wraith deflect blasts from the wands the party had been relying on, only for it to be as ineffective against him as it had been against the first spirit he fought. The party quickly figured that he may be unable to enter the holy chapel and started to retreat upstairs while Vinnie held the line. K entered the chapel with Jake and Leh'ct as Vinnie ran up the stairs, the wraith of Captain Xavier hot on his heels. They saw Vinnie struck by Captain Xavier's ghostly blade as their friend's life energy was drained by the blow. Working with Jake and Leh'ct, the three adventurers launched a coordinated attack with their wands. Captain Xavier blocked the first two spells with each of his hands, but this left him open to the third spell launched by Jake. Captain Xavier was ensnared and Jake pulled him into the chapel, his unholy wraith form beginning to smoke as soon as it crossed the threshold. As Captain Xavier struggled to break free, Vinnie hit Captain Xavier with a devastating blow that somewhat weakened the pirate. But this served to enrage him more than anything else. Captain Xavier ceased struggling against his binds and focused his efforts on attacking Vinnie instead. He struck Vinnie for a final time and drained the remainder of Vinnie's life energy. Leh'ct cried out Vinnie's name in anguish as their friend died as the remaining adventurers resolved to stop Captain Xavier here and now. K and his three companions each focused the power of their wands on Captain Xavier, all but completely immobilizing his evil spirit. It took every bit of strength they could muster to hold him long enough to deploy and Cube of Ghost Trapping, trapping him as they had the lesser spirits and finally ending his threat. The moment he was trapped, K heard a click and noticed a panel on the front of Waukeen's altar open itself up to reveal a chest. It was secured with a latch but had no lock. Inside was what they had come for: Captain Xavier's fabled lost treasure. The adventurers had now secured more than enough funds for the Underdark expedition, though it had come at the grave cost of a lost friend. In memory of his fallen comrade, K took Vinnie's Flask of Perpetual Booze to remember him by.Week Five (Part 2)
Expedition Preparations
K did not return to the GnoName Tavern to meet with Ernest, instead choosing to spend as much time as he could with Sonya before having to leave on the expedition. Ernest did manage to catch up with him during this time and introduce him to Sunny, a warforged who would be joining the expedition. As he prepared to leave, K began to worry about Sonya's well being in his absence. She had only just gotten a new job, which she hadn't even started yet, and he wanted to make sure she'd have a place to stay while he was gone. Unsure that his portion of Captain Xavier's Lost Treasure would be enough to support her while he was in the Underdark, K and Sonya went to the Bank of Morgul to see about getting a home loan.At the Bank of Morgul
After filling out some basic paperwork provided by a ghost teller, the pair were taken to an office to meet with a deathlock loan officer. The undead explained how their loans worked; if K (as the primary signee) were to die before the loan was paid, his spirit and body (if recoverable) would work for the bank until such time the remainder of the loan was worked off. Once the loan was settled, his spirit would be free to carry on to whichever afterlife he was destined for while his remains would be returned to his next of kin. The loan officer did request a drop of blood so that K could be checked for curses and the like, anything that would potentially cause issues with the loan. After casting his spell, the undead looked confused and stepped out of the room briefly. He returned 20 minutes later, informing K and Sonya that he could not approve their loan request before stamping 'REJECTED' onto their application. K asked why this was the case, thinking it may be the fey curse upon him. The loan officer replied that particular curse wouldn't disqualify him from a loan (though it would've affected his interested rate). Rather, there seemed to be some sort of necromancy magic upon K that made it impossible to enact one of the bank's contracts. The magic already within K was more powerful than what the bank used and the two could not co-exist; without that magic, there could be no loan. While K took this information in stride, Sonya was alarmed by this revelation and practically dragged him out of the building and towards her church to get him examined by a cleric. They soon arrived at the church of Sehanine Moonbow, Elven Lady of Dreams, and K commented that it was fitting for Sonya to worship a goddess of dreams and love as those were both things he associated with his fiancé.K Goes to Church
The church was empty except for a nun, whom Sonya approached and told they came seeking counsel from the head of the church, Sister Luna. She was a bit nervous and warned K that her church was strongly opposed, sometimes violent, to necromancy and the undead. This point was hammered home when the nun led them back to Sister Luna's office and K briefly saw Red's face in a decorative wreath, hearing the fey's voice in his head warning him that the people here were just as likely to put him to the sword as help him. Luckily for K, Sonya was able to negotiate fairly peacefully as a member of the church. Sister Luna confirmed that there was indeed powerful necromancy magic upon K, but its purpose was far from what anyone expected. K's soul was missing; the necromancy was linking it to his physical body from wherever it was, but it wasn't there. Somehow, he had become a Hollow One. His mind raced as he wondered when and how this could've happened. The River King? No, that didn't sound right. But he had died and been revived by a wizard. By Villamax. If there were answers to be found, they'd be found with him. As he was thinking this over, Sonya began to panic. She worried greatly over the fate of K's immortal soul, both presently and in the future. If his soul was trapped somewhere, that meant they might not stay together once they grow old and pass on. K did his best to reassure her that this would not come to pass with marginal success. His beloved promised she would pray for him every day, multiple times a day, until this was fixed. With his attempt at taking out a loan failed, K gave Sonya his portion of Captain Xavier's Lost Treasure so she could pay for an apartment in his absence. The pair ran into Ernest shortly afterwards, who introduced them to Sunny, only for K to vanish into the Ethereal Plane as his curse triggered once again.Journey Into the Underdark
Off to the Ethereal II
Stuck in the Ethereal Plane, K could only watch as things started to fall apart for his friends in the days before the Underdark expedition. He witnessed the chaos of the Crows chasing his comrades as they fled to the Thaig brothers warehouse and were teleported out of the city by Villamax (who somehow managed to teleport K as well despite him being in the Ethereal). K continued to follow them as they made their way into the Underdark. He witnessed their first battle against a group of grimlocks as well as the large armadillo-like creature the grimlocks had been running from. Following the fight, he was able to observe Gobo the Traveling Merchant's introduction to the party and all the exposition the little goblin provided regarding his wares and services, OoPAs, and nearby areas called the Silken Paths and Black Loch. K continued to follow his friends as they rejoined the expedition's rear guard and popped back into the Material Plane right as they were taking a little time to bandage themselves up.The Silken Paths
A Word with Villamax
The group decided to keep moving in case the Crows were in pursuit and headed in the direction of the Silken Paths Gobo had described. Along the way, they came to a little nook in the tunnel wall and decided it was a good place to stop for a break. K took the opportunity to ask/accuse Villamax about turning him into a Hollow One, which seemed to confuse the wizard at first. After pondering it for a moment, Villamax asked if K knew which afterlife he'd gone to when he died. K replied he'd seen the Wall of the Faithless and Villamax theorized that was the reason for his condition. K's soul was effectively a rope in a game of tug of war with the Wall pulling from one side and Villamax's magic pulling from the other. This kept K's soul connected to his body even if it wasn't necessarily in his body. K asked how he could get his soul back which Villamax admitted he didn't know off-hand, though he did caution K that his soul being so close to the Wall of the Faithless could drastically reduce the time in which revival magic would work on him should he die again.Scouting the Entrance
Moving ahead with the rest of the advance party, K decided to go ahead of his friends when they spotted a bright light ahead in the tunnel. The area had become suffused with faerzress, which made K the best choice to sneak forward since his stealth wasn't reliant on magic like that of his comrades. He saw a half-dozen spiders that looked similar to Silinrul along with an ettercap that seemed to be working on an busted cart. He went back and described what he saw to the others (comparing the spiders he saw to "Cinnamon Roll"), allowing Leh'ct to recognize the ettercap from the description, before returning with the rest of them. They let Leh'ct take the lead, knowing that ettercaps often work for drow, and listened to his half of the conversation while the two talked (Leh'ct seemed oblivious that no one else could understand the ettercap). Leh'ct told the rest of them they could cross peacefully if they pretended to be his prisoners, which is what the ettercap believed to be the case. This didn't sit well with some of the party members, namely Sunny and Villamax, but Leh'ct managed to convince them to stick to the non-violent option and conserve their resources for the challenges ahead.Rescuing a Fishy Friend
The adventurers split up from the rear party again, taking the lead forward while the others made sure nothing snuck up behind them. Some of the webs covering the area were fresh and sticky while others were ancient and crumbling. Large rocks, broken pieces of the walls and ceiling, were suspended in the webs in spots. And there were cocoons, the remains of animals and humanoids who had not made it across the Silken Paths alive. Except for one, which still moved and had muffled cries for help coming from it. K quickly moved over and cut the cocoon opening, freeing a kuo-toa trapped inside who thanked K for the rescue before spotting Leh'ct and trying to jump off the edge of the webs. As the kuo-toa (who surprisingly spoke Common rather than Undercommon) was declaring that a quick death was preferable to life in the drow mines of Vlyn'darastyl, K grabbed the guy to stop his suicide and convinced him that they were peaceful travelers. The desperate kuo-toa seemed to believe this and introduced himself as Mmottukuu, or Mott for short. He thanked K for the rescue by giving him a Potion of Watchful Rest. K thanked him back and was ready to go on his way when Mott clung to his leg and begged to come with them so he could get back home. K claimed they were going to the mines of Vlyn'darastyl, which Mott feared, but he still wanted to come with them partway to get back to his village on the Black Loch. K admitted the Black Loch was where they were actually headed and Mott adamantly stated he could show them the way. He did get a little too excited at the prospect though, and his bouncing around in joy moved the webs enough to attract several giant spiders. The adventurers killed most of them (Leh'ct running the others off with magic) and moved onward.Crossing the Silken Paths
As they walked, K and the other adventurers asked Mott to tell them about himself. He told them of his village of Glogdolp and the growing hostilities between his leader, Archpriest Strelmotarplgbliid of the god Gibbidubbus, and the separatists lead by Nogah who worshipped some new (false, according to Mott) god called Saltora. He mentioned the Archpriest had sent him to recover an idol of Gibbidubbus to help sway those of wavering faith, but he'd gotten horribly lost on the way there. But he was confident he could get there now even though he'd lost his map (which Elycia openly doubted). Before Mott could explain more, he was interrupted when the adventurers were attacked by a group of hungry darkmantles. Though K took one down immediately, the remaining creatures summoned globes of magical darkness around themselves as they descended towards the adventurers, making them harder to target. Each adventurer (save Leh'ct) soon had a darkmantle wrapped around their head, crushing their skull and suffocating them. K's let him go when Leh'ct used a stinking cloud spell to scare most of the monstrosities away and quickly fled the foul smelling spell himself. With all the darkmantles dead or fled, Mott suggested they rest up at a safe place he knew nearby. He took them to a crumbling building guarded by a spectator, warning them not to mess with its treasure or else the beholder-kin would attack them. The group took an hour to rest and patch themselves up, at which point the spectator's 101 years of service happened to end. It floated off talking to itself in Undercommon, waving a tentacle sluggishly when Jake asked if they could claim the treasure it had been guarding. Leh'ct dug through the rubble and found said treasure, dividing the coin among it up between himself and his fellow adventurers. Mott informed the group they were close to an exit, which was just a little ways north. As it came into sight, Elycia stepped onto a large "rock" that stood up and revealed itself to be a spider-like monstrosity that roared at the party. This prompted other spiders to come out of hiding from under nearby rocks (these ones being actual rocks) and the battle commenced. The big spider spat webbing at K from its mouth, though Leh'ct as able to quickly cut him loose. K's situation didn't improve much as the several of the smaller spider, which seemed to be more intelligent than the ones the party previously encountered, began swarming around him. Though hard pressed, he was able to keep them mostly occupied with fire support from Sunny and Elycia. As he downed all but one of the smaller spiders, he heard Leh'ct cry to help and saw that the monstrous spider had grabbed Cinnamon Roll and was seconds from ripping Leh'ct's pet in half. K lunged forward with his rapier, striking some vital and felling the monstrous spider before also finishing off the other little one. As the last spider fell and the battle ended, chains shot forward from Gobo's Dimensional Ripper (which Leh'ct was carrying) and bound the monstrous spider. It would seem the creature was an OoPA and K started bandaging himself as Leh'ct cut several parts off it before the dagger's magic faded and the corpse faded back to the otherworldly realm from whence it came. The group rested long enough for the rear part to catch up to them before heading out together, detouring towards the temple Mott had been looking for.The Oozing Temple
Cave-In
While the rear party stayed behind to look out for any spiders that may be following the expedition, the advance party went ahead with Mott. Just as he spotted the entrance to the lost temple, a small earthquake shook the area and blocked the ways forward and ahead. Mott suggested the group go into the temple and grab the idol while he investigated the rockslide to see if they could dig their way out safely. K initially stayed behind to help Mott but went inside when he heard Leh'ct yelp.Icky Ooze & Non-Icky Ooze
He saw a large grey ooze reaching for Sunny and moved to attack it, his long reach and magic blade allowing him to engage the monster and its acidic body easier than his friends could. He soon had a chance to repeat this tactic when Leh'ct went off to explore by himself and another grey ooze attacked him. While the oozes did make him concerned for Mott's safety, K's new fishy friend assured him he'd be safe by the blocked tunnels so long as the party didn't let anything get past them. Entering the temple proper, the group spotted yet another ooze (though this one was green rather than grey) as they heard a humming inside their head. K had taken the lead and spotted a gelatinous cube ahead, which hadn't seemed to notice the party. He prepared to shoot it while his allies got ready to jump to his aid if necessary. Such action proved to be unnecessary after he fired as the ooze said that arrow really hurt and started yelling telekinetically that those stories about the ooze-eating monsters were true as it ran away at full speed (which was about as fast as K's normal speed). The group caught up to the talking ooze rather quickly and it waved a white flag in surrender, begging not to be eaten by K and the other "horrible ooze-eating monsters". They explained that they were not ooze eating monsters and asked the talking ooze what his story was. He introduced himself as Biggs and told them a drow mage had used magic to make him intelligent. The drow wanted Biggs to retrieve an idol (the one the party came looking for) to lure kuo-toa somewhere as blood sacrifices. Biggs thought that didn't sound very nice and ate the drow & his bodyguard in self-defense when they tried to force him to comply via violence. Biggs stated he had no issue with the party taking the idol since they seemed nice, but warned them other oozes further in may attack them. As they continued forward, K narrowly avoided falling into a pit trap only for a black pudding ooze to rise out of it and attack the party. The single enemy soon became three when Sunny's electrical weapon caused it to multiply. Despite its increased numbers, the group managed to kill two of the puddings and subdue the third (which Sunny and Leh'ct contained and collected after K knocked it out).Treasure of the Temple
At the heart of the temple, the group found a fountain with a pedestal in its center. On top of the pedestal sat the idol they had come for. K grabbed the idol and tossed it to the others before jumping into the fountain to see if there were any more treasures down there. His gut feeling proved correct as he found a collection of coins, two potions, and a magic dagger down there. K scooped them all up and decided to figure out what the potions and dagger did later once the group was back in a safe area (or at least relatively safe, seeing as this was the Underdark). As they went to leave, they saw Biggs trying to conceal himself (poorly) as he peeked around the corner at them. The shy sentient ooze asked if it could come with them and while K wasn't crazy about the idea, he didn't openly object to some of the other party members welcoming him aboard. They returned to the entrance to find Mott had barely made any progress in the short time they'd been gone. After calming him down as he began to freak out about the "killer ooze" with them, they excavated their way out and returned to the campsite with the rear party. Itassis seemed outright displeased with Biggs presence and questioned how sure the party was that he wouldn't eat one of them in their sleep. Villamax had some concerns as well and remedied the situation by magically changing Biggs acidic qualities into soapy ones, transforming the ooze into a Cleaning Cube. With another adventure behind them, the group decided to rest up a bit before continuing towards Mott's home village of Glogdolp.Off to the Ethereal III
As the expedition prepared to set out, K's curse triggered and sent him to the Ethereal Realm once again. He decided to stay at the camp with the rear party while the rest of the advance party scouted an area ahead that Mott said might be more dangerous than usual. This time he remained trapped in the Ethereal Plane for a full two weeks, watching his friends but unable to rejoin them until they were recovering from injuries sustained at Clogwyn Prison.Ollin's Borehole
R&R and Prep Work
The adventurers (who were reunited with K when the bugbear reappeared from the Ethereal Plane) decided to return to the Deep Spire to rest up and make a few preparations before heading for Ollin's Borehole. During this time, K elected to nap onboard the Grinning Widow where he could sleep for free. As the others came back to the boat, K noticed a moth land on top of his head. Once he noticed it, he suddenly got a painful migraine and his vision was clouded by a red tint as if he had blood in his eyes. K grabbed the moth before it could fly away and ate it, receiving a sense of satisfaction as he bit down and killed the insect before swallowing. His comrades found that to be a bit strange, but they'd seen stranger things during their time together and no one wanted to make a big deal out of it. With that strangeness behind them, they hopped back into Sunny's fully repaired boat and headed for Ollin's Borehole.Arrival & Negotiations
After pulling Sunny’s boat up on a beach, the adventurers snuck down a tunnel (courtesy of Jake's pass without trace spell) with Sunny in the lead. He heard something up ahead and went up ahead to investigate alone. 10 minutes later, he returned and said he'd run into some friendly elementals called myrmex. Sunny explained these were earth elementals that require gems to reproduce and they'd been injured by xorn, rival elementals who ate gems. K and the others joined Sunny as he returned, seeing the elder myrmex treat the wounds on the younger ones. The elder myrmex advised the adventurers against going into the mine, stating the xorn would attack the adventurers if they felt it was necessary and that other elementals which were outright hostile were also within. Seeing that this didn't deter them, the elder myrmex inquired if they were adventurers and offered to hire them upon learning they were. It offered to reward them if they could clear the xorn out so that it and its children could use the mine as a new nest. The elder myrmex stated it was normally opposed to using violence in such a manner, but would make an exception since this was the Material Plane and the xorn would merely return to the Elemental Plane of Earth if "killed" here. Sunny (who had been translating the elder myrmex's Terran speech for the others) relayed this information and the group chose to accept. The elder myrmex then showed them where the entrance to the mine was, concealed behind an illusionary wall befitting of the deep gnomes who'd once lived here.Workshop Area
The entrance to Ollin's Borehole was blocked by a wall of bars, though Sunny used his stonemason's tools to loosen them. The top of each bar was connected to a chain that went up into the rock. Leh'ct and Sunny’s bit drone were able to slip through the loose bars and find the winch connected to them, raising the bars and letting the others pass. They entered the mine proper, a massive hole going further down than they could see. A staircase spiraled downward with doorways pocketing the walls, some closed and others with the remains of broken-down doors on the ground nearby. The adventurers began to explore these rooms, finding them long since abandoned. A sound alerted them to potential danger but turned out to be nothing but a harmless rock salamander, an earth elemental resembling a lizard that came to the material plane to eat insects and small rodents. Despite Sunny’s insistence on killing it, the rest of the adventurers said to leave it alone as it was no threat. They moved on entered a large room that once served as a storage & working area, broken furniture and pebbles littering the floor. As Elycia and Sunny stepped on the pebbles, they suddenly drew together into a serpentine form and attacked the adventurers. Fortunately, their reflexes were quicker than the hostile elemental's and they were able to put it down before it could injure anyone. Leh'ct identified this creature as a talus flow, a weakened earth elemental that sustained itself on the Material Plane by feeding on the blood of living creatures in lieu of the natural energy of its home plane. They continued to explore the working area, finding old tools and gem dust that indicated gems were once stored on the shelves here. Oddly, each room had at least one section of wall that seemed to have been damaged by some sort of bludgeoning weapon at one time. There didn't seem to be anything else unusual about these spots, so the adventurers elected to ignore them for now. Moving further down the stairs, Sunny entered another room that contained a scavenging xorn. He tried to intimidate it into leaving the mine, but it began to drool and eyed the tasty living metal that made up his body. K and Elycia ran in to assist Sunny as the xorn rushed towards him, slashing him with its claws and taking a chunk out of his shoulder with its massive maw. Though the adventurers injured the xorn, it fled through a solid wall before they could finish it. As Jake moved further down and into an adjacent room in case it reappeared there, another talus flow sensed his blood and attacked. Most of the adventurers used hit and run tactics, forcing the talus flow to chase them outside. As K and his friends were finishing off this new combatant, the xorn (or rather, it's arms) reappeared from the wall behind Jake and pushed him off the stairs and further down below, where yet another talus flow attacked him. K took the opportunity to finish off the xorn as Jake fled back towards the others, using his wraith magic items to pass through the talus flow and teleporting back up the stairs. The talus flow then went for the nearest target, K, and Elycia rushed to intercede as he dodged its blows. She used her advanced swordplay to mimic the xorn's tactics and push the talus flow off the stairs, sending it crashing down below where Jake quickly finished it with a pair of arrows. Exploring the last of their immediate area, Sunny decided to put his bit drone on stealth mode and send it in to investigate an unexplored room. The drone managed to creep up on another xorn that was searching the room, though it quickly fled by dropping down through the floor when the adventurers ambushed it. Not before taking the time to turn its fangs and claws against Sunny though.Living Quarters
With the danger seemingly over for now, the adventurers continued downwards towards where Jake had fallen before with Sunny in the lead. Nearby, in a fountain, Sunny spotted a quartet of mud mephits that were singing in their native Terran. Badly. He elected to ignore them before going through a doorway that led into a hallway with four more doors lining it. As he pondered which room to look into first, he heard a noise coming from one of them. Sunny kicked the door open and peppered the room with shots from his firearm, only to find it empty. As he started to look around, Elycia heard a noise from a different room and threw open a door to find another xorn running across it. She ran in and drew her weapon, Sunny hot on her heels with his thunder gauntlets armed, and the pair managed to wound the xorn (which slashed Sunny with its claws in return) before it fled through a solid wall. Like the previous xorn, this one did not return to harass the adventurers. They soon explored all the rooms connected to the hallway, seeing that they were bedrooms that had been roughly searched long ago. The searchers were not the most thorough though, as Sunny was able to locate several agates in a chest (armed with a booby trap he helped K disable) while Leh’ct found a hidden compartment in a wardrobe containing several pieces of quartz. Oddly, none of these rooms possessed beds despite clearly being sleeping quarters. As the adventurers moved on, Sunny kept his distance from the mud mephits (knowing they are mischief makers) but they flipped him off. When he flipped them off in return (K flipping them off alongside him), one of them flew up and tried to spit a mud loogie on his bit drone. That was enough for Sunny to decide it was time for violence, drawing his weapon and prompting K to take out one of the mud mephits instantly. This also prompted the mud mephit who'd spit the loogie to whistle for reinforcements as eight more mud mephits came flying out of nearby tunnels, along with another talus flow that made a beeline for Jake when he backed up and got too close to it. The new mephits were quick to spit their loogies, binding Sunny, Sunny's drone, Leh’ct, and Elycia in mud. K rushed towards the fountain and put an end to another mud mephit there, though his usual combat strategy of targeting one enemy at a time could only do so much against so many foes. Most of the mud mephits were destroyed by the combined efforts of Sunny, Leh’ct, and Elycia, though K did deal the final blow against the talus flow and stopped it from grinding Leh’ct into paste.Bottom of the Borehole
The group explored a few remaining rooms once the fighting was over, discovering a hot spring near the sleeping quarters in the process. They decided to relax in the nice hot water while patching themselves up, K stripping instantly and causing Elycia to flee back to the adjacent cave. After taking an hour of well-earned R&R, the group continued deeper into the mine. The path spiraling down the hole soon came to an end, but metal rungs embedded into the wall led down deeper. Sunny went down first, flying down on his thrusters while his comrades used the ladder. He found a pile of mattresses at the bottom of the mine, each having been slit open. When he stepped onto one and heard a crunch, he realized the mattresses had been thrown down the hole after the slaughtered miners. As his friends finished coming down the ladder, Sunny began retrieving the remains and lining them up to properly lay them to rest. His friends began to assist this endeavor as they came down one by one and saw what he was doing. But they were interrupted when the two injured xorn from before came through the walls, accompanied by a much larger elder xorn who stated, in Common, they were the ones who'd been picking on his cousins. Sunny tried to ignore the elder xorn, focused on his task of properly burying the long dead deep gnomes, and it responded by crushing one of the skeletons under its large foot. Drawing the line at desecration of a cadaver, Sunny and his companions drew their weapons and prepared to battle the three xorn. The elder xorn could smell the gold that the party carried, targeting Elycia and telling its two smaller cousins to go after K since the two of them held the most gold. The xorn proved to be tough, literally, as the adventurers fought back, their weapons bouncing off the elementals rocky hides more often than not. K managed to get the xorn away from himself by throwing his gold pouch away (which Sunny grabbed for him), valuing his life more than his coin. When the elder xorn began to become injured, it opened a bag it held and devoured an emerald to being healing its wounds. To stop it from doing this again, Leh’ct used his thorn whip spell to grab the bag from its claw and the enraged elder xorn chased after him. Sunny directed the rest of the group to focus on the elder xorn, determined to take it down before it caught Leh’ct and started toOff to the Ethereal IV
As the party began to recover themselves from the aftermath of the battle, K's curse once again triggered and got him stuck in the Ethereal Plane.Illithid Colony of Gyan'dis
Back to Action
When K reappeared, his companions had gone to investigate a disturbance at the mind flayer colony of Gyan'dis only to find themselves attacked by drones created by Sunny's brother Haz. He appeared mid-battle and threw himself straight into the thick of it, stabbing with his rapier and learning first hand that these constructs self-destructed when dealt enough damage. This did nothing to damper K's spirits and he enjoyed helping to finish the rest of the drones quite thoroughly after having spent so many weeks bored in the Ethereal Plane. He soon proved to be a little overenthusiastic when he charged into the next cave after Sunny peeked around the corner and spotted one more drone. While he was able to attack that one drone efficiently, he quickly found himself surrounded by many more drones as well as a duergar that seemed to be working with them. This second group of drones was just as tough as the first; though fewer in number, they were accompanied by a more dangerous new combat model on top of having the duergar crossbowman assisting them. This new model make K its priority target, focusing its weapons fire on the already injured bugbear. It knocked him within an inch of his life (K having already been attacked by another drone and shot twice by the crossbowman), though Villamax was able to put a domed wall of force spell around K to protect him. While he was drinking health potions to fix the worst of his injuries, his companions destroyed the remaining drones, which in turn prompted the duergar accompanying them to surrender. The adventurers had very mixed opinions on exactly what to do with their prisoner. Villamax filled them in a bit on duergar culture, stating that they would adhere to any agreement made but to the exact letter of that agreement. K was largely uninterested in these proceedings now that the fighting was done, though he was still slightly miffed about their prisoner having shot him twice. Most of his other companions were still debating the issue when Leh’ct offered the POW that they would do him no harm (nor would he harm them) in exchange for answering their questions. The duergar agreed, identifying himself as Mr. Doubtfire when Leh’ct asked his name. While the interrogation was more frustrating to some than others, the party managed to learn several things. Doubtfire was a hired hand from Cinderfolk Foundry and part of a group of duergar (the rest of whom were further inside) investigating a psionic disturbance they'd sensed at Gyan'dis. He and the drones had been left as a rear guard to make sure nothing snuck up on the rest of the group, which he identified as including seven other individuals. Sunny did his best to grill Mr. Doubtfire about his people's involvement with the drones. While he didn't know much, he was able to tell them the drones had been assisting them for months in exchange for iron. Seeing as more conflict against them was likely, Villamax asked Sunny if he knew of any weakness in these drones the party could exploit.Argument Among Adventurers
Brushing off Villamax, Sunny continued to grill Doubtfire and learned how many duergar and drones were up ahead (last Doubtfire had seen them, as they might've run into trouble that reduced their numbers). While that was happening, Leh'ct stepped out of the room for a minute and K took opportunity of his absence to stab and kill Doubtfire. Leh'ct returned and was immediately distraught to see the prisoner dead, Sunny claiming he'd taken his own life as they started questioning the man about his family. While that happened, K lifted the Cube of Ghost Trapping off him and passed it to Sunny's drone to ensure Leh'ct didn't use some of its charges revivifying the prisoner. True to form, Leh'ct attempted to do just that and started to panic when he couldn't find the cube. Sunny suggested he might've dropped it in the boat and offered to have his drone look for it, at which point Leh'ct caught onto the ruse and called out Sunny and K on their deception. Sunny admitted the truth and stated he hadn't wanted Leh'ct wasting resources that could potentially save one of them later. Leh'ct had reservations about continuing the mission due to the apparent lack of trust and was very emotional in expressing this. It soon became a full blown argument between him and Sunny. Leh'ct stated their conversation had closed the window on casting a revivify spell and was very angry about being considered a "stupid little kid", comparing it to himself stealing Sunny’s tools if Sunny did something he didn't like. Sunny stood by his decision, stating everyone sans Leh'ct seemed to agree with his point of view due to either aiding it or looking the other way. This still didn't sit well with Leh'ct, who viewed the killing of Doubtfire as needless and accused Sunny of being no better than Haz. K stepped in at this point, telling Leh'ct the Cube of Ghost Trapping is a valuable resource that shouldn't be squandered in a place as dangerous as the Underdark as he admitted to taking it. He also wasn't crazy about the fact Leh'ct had both made a promise to the prisoner and tried to use the cube without properly weighing the pros & cons or consulting the rest of the party before making those decisions. He went back to how dangerous the Underdark was and stated some killing would be necessary if they were to survive down here, insinuating Leh'ct needed to act like an adult if he wanted to be treated like one. Leh'ct showed surprise that it was K who'd taken the cube and stated he did not believe Doubtfire had taken his own life as K claimed. K picked the cube from his pocket beforehand, so clearly he'd known Leh'ct would attempt to use it and had therefore pre-planned the killing. Leh'ct seemed to hit his emotional breaking point then, accusing Sunny and K of recklessly killing everything they came across with nary a second thought. He was particularly upset about being lied to and compared their behavior to that of the Crows and Lolth-worshiping drow. He argued that killing everyone means no one will ever surrender and that they had enough lifelong enemies as is. Leh'ct also questioned if this has happened before, now openly suspecting enemies previously "spared" may have been killed behind his back. Even Villamax, who had spent the conversation very much looking like he did not know how to deal with this, tried to step in and calm Leh'ct down at this point, to no avail. Sunny, meanwhile, decided to take a firmer approach. He outright told Leh'ct trying to use the Cube of Ghost Trapping to save an enemy was a mistake, comparing taking it from Leh'ct to keeping sharp knives away from small children. Sunny reiterated that this was a hostile enemy, as he had been with the drones that attacked them. He stated Leh'ct clearly was a child if he was trying to befriend people who'd moments ago attempted to kill him and that good & bad must sometimes be set aside for the sake of necessity. Lastly, he angrily warned Leh'ct that if the young druid ever compared him to Haz ("that genocidal 'thing'") again, Sunny would not let it go a second time. And he was only giving Leh'ct a pass this first time due to Leh'ct's ignorance on the matter. With no accord to be found between them, Leh'ct stormed off the way the party had come from by himself. Before he could comment further on this situation, K's curse triggered and he was once again stuck in the Ethereal Plane.Exploration & Awakened
Fortunately, K didn't stay stuck for all that long this time. He popped back into the Material Plane on the lower level of Gyan'dis, just as his friends had finished combating more drones. As the sole uninjured member of the group, K elected to start looking around and make sure nothing else hostile was lurking nearby. He was still in the middle of this when he heard Sunny calling for him. Sunny had located a large device called an incepting tank, once used by the ancient mind flayers to enhance the psionic abilities of their mind-controlled minions, which ultimately backfired as it gave rise to the Gith that later destroyed their empire. Wishing to experiment with the tank, Sunny fiddled with the settings before convincing K to hop inside. The initial results disappointed Sunny when they gave Ka seizure rather than psionic powers. Luckily, he was able to tinker with the device before it killed K, giving the bugbear the ability to partially protect himself with a Psychic Shield. This did seem to damage the machine beyond repair, forcing them to move on. As the group moved on, Sunny opened a door and suddenly found himself face to face with a trio of confused duergar. Sunny immediately set a landmine between himself and the duergar, who backed away. While the adventurers stood and debated how to proceed, the duergar circled around and came up behind the party via another passage. They seemed willing to talk, Jake acting as translator, and informed the party they were there to make sure the mind flayers were all dead. When Sunny asked about Haz's whereabouts, the duergar told him to try the Brazenthrone market. Things took a turn south when the duergar mentioned collecting their man upstairs, seeming to suddenly know he'd been killed. Two of the duergar followed Leh'ct's gaze to K as this was mentioned, and the duergar attacked with silver fire in their eyes as one revealed they spoke Common and understood the information the party thought they had kept hidden behind a language barrier. Jake struck first, firing an arrow that was intercepted by the duergar with the spellbook. A hand made of silver fire appeared in the air, grabbing the arrow and turning it around before releasing it with none of its velocity lost. Though injured by his own arrow, Jake got off two more shots that injured the spellbook wielding duergar enough that K was able to quickly slay him immediately thereafter. As K backed away from the remaining duergar, each of them struck him with swords that cut his flesh and assailed his psyche with psychic power. Heavily injured, he made a beeline for his friends, a decision that soon proved to be a grave error. The situation rapidly worsened when one of the duergar duergar put all of the adventurers (except Jake) under an enchantment that allowed him to control their bodies like puppets. He forced Sunny to strike K twice before marching Leh'ct forward to put a dagger in K's heart and murder him. Fortunately, he stayed dead for mere moments as Leh'ct (now free from the enchantment) used a revivify spell powered by the Cube of Ghost Trapping to revive him before he moved too much closer to the Wall of the Faithless. Though alive again, K was still heavily injured and forced to take cover while his comrades handled the fighted until lead duergar made the decision to retreat. The lead duergar teleported himself, his surviving comrade, and the corpse of their fallen ally away in a pillar of silver fire.The End of Gyan'dis
With the duergar having fled, the danger was past for now. K treated his wounds as well as he could before continuing his exploration to make sure the danger was truly behind them. He eventually bumped into Jake, who'd also found nothing, before the pair reconvened with Sunny who'd found a second, smaller incepting tank as well as three empty alcoves that looked like they recently held additional units. Sunny had jury rigged this machine with parts from first and hopped inside, stumbling back out moments later and explaining the elder brain had killed itself and every other living thing here with a massive psychic shockwave when an experiment with the tanks went wrong, producing psionic individuals too powerful for it to control and fearing a second coming of the Gith. Sunny openly chastised the dead elder brain for its foolishness before they moved on, soon finding Villamax had come back and was standing around with Elycia. Villamax informed them he'd seen one of Haz's small flying drones burst out of a mushroom patch and flee towards the Black Loch while he fought the neothelid but was unable to stop it. As such, he suggested the leave before new enemies came looking for them. Sunny had K help him carry the jury-rigged incepting tank out of the colony as Villamax used his magic to destroy the place with an earthquake. Their business here concluded, the adventurers headed back towards the Deep Spire.Let's Do Surgery!
Needing a break after his revival, K immediately sought out Mott and the other kuo-toa crew members of the Grinning Widow and offered to take them out drinking. They immediately took him up on his offer, and a short time later Jake spotted the kuo-toa marching by carrying K on their shoulders while chanting, "King of Ale! King of Ale!" Sunny later found K while he was finishing his fifth drink and ordering a sixth, wanting K's help experimenting with the incepting tank they'd recovered. Despite Sunny's attempts to persuade him, K could not be convinced to cut his drinking short and he remained in the tavern with the kuo-toa until they were all ready to crash for the night. The next morning, the now sober K learned from Sunny that the Thaig brothers intended to move on and head towards Brazenthrone within the next week or two. With little time left to do anything around the Black Loch, the group decided to head towards Charwell Fortress in search of the behir Sunny wished to hunt. But before that they decided to pay a visit to Lord Varl and warn him about the duergar they'd run into at the Ruins of Gyan'dis, knowing these enhanced duergar could cause issues with his plans for war. They were allowed in to see him with no fuss and brought to Varl's chambers. The adventurers told the orog leader what they had encountered at the Ruins of Gyan'dis and how much more powerful the psionics of these duergar were than normal. Varl questioned when and where this happened as the adventurers thought that perhaps this new information would caution him away from his warplans. The information had the opposite effect, Varl declaring he must accelerate his plans to attack Brazenthrone before they had time to use the incepting tanks to strengthen their entire army. In gratitude, Varl gave each adventurer bar of gold before dismissing them. Seeing that they still wouldn't be able to sway Varl's opinion, the group decided to get back to focusing on the behir hunt. While most of the adventurers were on board with this, Leh'ct stated that he'd be staying behind. He believed the rest of the group was planning to kill their way through the kobold vipers to get to the behir and stated he wouldn't be part of invading people's home ready to kill them when they'd done nothing wrong. As the rest of the party made their preparations, Sunny approached K to see if he would be up for a round of experimental surgery using the elder brain materials. K instantly agreed. The surgery was successful, giving K the brain power of an Idiot Savant, but did require him to stay at the Deep Spire to recover from the operation while his friends went to check out Charwell Fortress.Farewell from a Friend
As K was recovering from his surgery, he received a visitor when something that looked similar to Sunny's bit drone flew into the room. K was pondering whether this was a painkiller-induced hallucination when the drone spoke with Sunny's voice and he noticed a hamster inside it. The hamster revealed that he was Sunny and the "warforged" they'd all been traveling with was really a construct he'd been piloting. Sunny informed K the party's latest adventure had not gone well. They'd been ambushed by bounty hunters led by "Black Hand" Kelly (K expressing surprise Sunny survived running into him) and Sunny's construct had been destroyed, the hamster losing a leg and suffering faerzress radiation poisoning in the process. Sunny did not know whether any of the others had survived and now had to leave and return to his home, the Miniature Giant Space Hamster Empire, to receive medical treatment. But before he left, he wished to say goodbye to K as he considered K to be his best friend (and test subject) among the adventurers. He also asked that K help stop the Light Gundam, a rogue intelligent constuct that had abducted Sunny's brother Haz. He told K that his other brother, Ban, should be along soon to help the party and continue pursuit of the Light Gundam. With their goodbyes said, K telling Sunny to come back and visit after healing up, the hamster took his leave and headed for home.Cairnhollow Isle
Battle in the Dark Dome
Though he witnessed the Battle of Skatha's Rest from his vantage point in the Ethereal Realm, it was not until the battle was over that K reappeared on the Material Plane. But now that he had, he could help his allies hunt down the handful of enemies that had escaped the battle. As the adventurers prepared to leave, Leh'ct spotted the strange, skeletal figure they'd seen several times before watching them. It retreated into the darkness when Ban shined a light on it and the adventurers elected to initially ignore it, seeing as it hadn't actually done anything hostile on any of their encounters. But when they advanced in the direction it had gone in, it was still there. And staring in their direction, as usual. They debated once again about what to do, but in the moment they took their eyes off the figure it suddenly got closer to them. It slowly raised a hand, palm facing upward, until the hand was level with its shoulder. Then it snapped its fingers and the world around the adventurers changed. They found themselves in a dark circle, contained under some sort of domed barrier that looked like it would be quite painful to touch. They questioned the figure, asking where it had brought them and why. Rather than reply, it bent down and stuck a hand into the ground. When it stood back up to full height, the hand was missing from its wrist but at the same moment tendrils of smoke and shadow enveloped Jake and wrapped themselves around him. With its remaining hand, the figure snapped its fingers again and two pockets of air in the dome seemed to fold in on themselves until a pair of waterkleddes appeared with a pop. The demons seemed confused but wasted no time in attacking the adventurers upon spotting them, namely Elycia. K focused on the waterkledde closest to him while Elycia engaged the other closest to her in melee combat and the other provided support fire. The demons took flight, their otherworldly shrieks ripping through the minds of the adventurers and heavily injuring Elycia. Ban managed to injure one of the waterkleddes by shooting its wings, sending it crashing down to the ground and K's waiting blades. Just after Elycia finished off the first demon, K defeated the second with a flurry of blows from his dagger (Leh'ct having used his magic to fill the area with water to ensure the demons wouldn't spawn more of their brood upon death). Just as the second demon's body dissolved into a glob of demonic ichor, the figure reappeared right behind Elycia. Her brain still in combat mode, Elycia lashed out with her spear. Though her weapon went through the figure, it seemed to suffer no ill effects from the attack. It raised a hand towards her, its pointer finger reaching for her forehead, when a moth appeared between them. The figure's finger bounced off a barrier of some kind and it radiated contempt as it looked towards the moth. As the figure flicked its wrist, freeing Jake and causing its hand to reappear, and raised a hand to snap its fingers once again, the moth gave its wings a mighty flap and glowed with a blinding light. When the light faded, the adventurers found themselves out of wherever they just were and in a grove surrounded by a dark forest.Through the Woods, to the Cave
K immediately became angry when he saw this moth, yelling that it needed to die (prompting Ban to raise his weapon). Leh'ct yelled at them to wait and K, somewhat reluctantly, agreed to his request as the rage turning his vision red continued to plague him. While he and the others caught their breath, Leh'ct used his magic to speak with the moth and informed the party the moth said this was a safe place where they could rest. After they took the opportunity to do so, it led them north through the dark woods until they reached a tree line marked by some sort of shrine. Though K was somewhat interested in the pedestal, neither he nor any of the others recognized the symbol on it (though Leh'ct took a rubbing for future reference). The moth continued north out of the woods (seeming impatient towards the lingering adventurers) and next led them across a rocky landscape until they came to a cave. Ban noticed a trail of bootprints leading inside and the adventurers moved in slowly & stealthily. Further in, Ban then heard voices as his translation program caught snippets of a conversation. He surmised that the duergar they were looking for were ahead and hadn't noticed them, giving the adventurers the chance to get the drop on them. Their ambush was performed masterfully, K rushing in first and helping to kill three of the four enemies before they could hardly react. Though the remaining duergar attempted to flee (and injured Leh'ct in the process), he was shot dead by Ban before he could make it out of the cave. As the adventurers congratulated themselves on a job well done and examined the cadavers, they noticed their moth guide fly through a seemingly solid wall. Leh'ct stuck his head through the illusion and informed the others there was a humanoid-made passage on the other side. Curious as the what it was and just where this moth was leading them, the adventurers elected to check it out. As they followed the narrow tunnel single file, Ban filled the others in on what he'd eavesdropped earlier. The duergar had spoken of someone or something called Astali that seemed to be their boss, or possibly whatever they worshipped as they'd talked about building a statue of it. Ban further speculated that this figure was a woman, as the cultists had seemed concerned about potentially angering someone their words indicated was female. But more importantly, it seemed these duergar were a splinter group operating outside of Deepking Oghren Orzammar III of Brazenthrone's authority. They mentioned having used methods the king would disapprove of and hoped the results of the Battle of Skatha's Rest would sway his opinion. Ban stated that could very well happen, as the attackers had not fought like professional soldiers yet had battled on par with Lord Varl's best people. However, this whole approach clashed with the Deepking's reputation of diplomacy first and Ban speculated they may be able to spin the situation into this rogue faction making a play against his throne to get Brazenthrone and the Deep Spire working together to put a stop to them.The Lost Catacombs of Auldbaern
The Five Trials
The narrow tunnel eventually opened into a larger chamber, the doorway between them marked with a symbol K and Leh’ct recognized as that of the god Moradin, Dwarven God of Smithing and head of the dwarven pantheon. The area seemed to be a tomb, filled with holes in the walls that housed stone coffins. As they started to examine this area, K was halted by a magic barrier as they tried to go deeper in. Five of the coffin lids moved themselves and thudded to the floor. Blue mists swirled out of the now opened coffins and formed into the spirits of five dwarves, each dressed in different warrior garb. They spoke in Dwarven, requiring Ban to use an item to understand & speak their language on the party's behalf. The spirits asked why the adventurers had come here, Ban explaining they'd been led by the moth accompanying them (which was currently sitting on Leh’ct’s head). These long-departed dwarves seemed to consider this a noble purpose and told the adventurers they were free to attempt the catacombs challenges if they wished to claim the treasure within. However, the spirits also warned that once the challenge started there was no stopping it. It would end with either the adventurers either besting their five trials or dying trying. Perked up at the mention of treasure, the group agreed to the challenge. Before the spirits departed, Ban asked if any of them were related to the Thaig family. One spirit raised its hand and Ban immediately went to look through its tomb (which the spirit was displeased about), hoping to find some record of Bertrand and Ernest's lineage to help the dwarves complete their quest. He found nothing in that particular tomb and the spirits returned to their rest, their forms turning back to mist and flowing into their coffins before the lids returned themselves to the coffins. At the same time, the invisible barrier that had blocked K's way forward vanished and allowed the adventurers to proceed.The First Trial
Exploring multiple paths, the adventurers searched for clues as to what or where these trials were. They noticed several areas with more elaborate coffins than others, large and elaborate pieces set on the floor rather than the simple stone boxes in the wall holes. While K was looking around, Ban came and asked for his help picking a lock on a stone chest. As K did his work, Ban noticed a message (written in Dwarven that hadn't been there before) on top of the chest, noting it contained a supremely cursed & evil object and should not be opened under any circumstance. Before Ban could say anything, K popped the lock and grabbed a seemingly normal tankard from inside. Ban immediately surmised this was a Tankard of Sobriety, which would match the description the warning gave in dwarven culture. They contined to explore together (Leh'ct also joining them) and Ban soon found and opened an elaborate tomb to discover a dwarven skeleton clutching a cup shaped like a bronze skull. As respectfully as he could, Ban took the cup and loudly announced to the spirits he meant no dishonor with this action and only took the cup because he believed it was needed to pass the dwarves trials. Then, as Ban left this chamber with Leh’ct trailing him, K having remained behind to ensure they didn't miss anything, dwarven spirits appeared and drew mauls that lit with fire as bright as torches. Though there were five spirits, the duo found themselves outnumbered when K, Jake, and Elycia discovered barriers had popped up between their locations and the room Leh’ct and Ban were now trapped in. Luckily, Jake and Elycia managed to circumvent this quickly, Jake teleporting with his Wraith's Garb and Elycia walking through the walls with her Xorn-Sole Boots. The dwarven spirits fought explosively, slamming their hammers onto the ground with fiery, thunderous force that damaged friend & foe alike. But the spirits appeared envigored when set aflame, become faster and more deadly. As one of them shot a bolt of flame at Leh’ct, he noticed it briefly dissipated the barrier stopping K from entering. Thinking quickly, he used a control flame spell to rip the fire off one of the spirits and hold it over the barrier, depowering an enemy and allowing K to join the fray simultaneously. Unfortunately, the explosions rocking the battlefield had left Leh’ct badly battered and burned. As K used the hole in the barrier to charge forward, Leh’ct used it to retreat. K unleashed a flurry of blows against the spirits with his rapier, playing a key part in defeating them before they could badly wound anyone else. As the last spirit was defeated and faded, dwarven words of respect echoed through the halls and highlighted the usefulness of tactics that could strike multiple enemies. After Leh’ct finished healing up and his companions did the same with thier more minor injuries, they carried on to search the catacombs further.The Second Trial
Moving on to a new collection of chambers, it wasn't long until the adventurers next challenge appeared. Just as Jake (who was bringing up the rear) entered the chamber, the only doorway in was blocked by a wall of thorns and another group of five dwarven spirits appeared. These warriors were different from the last, wielding hatchets and wearing shields marked with a wolf's head symbol as well as wearing wolf pelts like scarves. Jake quickly put down one of the spirits before they could act, though this led to the rest of them converging on him with their axes. Had he not been blessed with energized Threads of Fate, Jake would have died for certain there. But as it was, he was able to just barely hang on until Leh’ct managed to cast a healing spell that allowed the ranger to retreat. K and his companions were able to put down the spirits still standing before they had time to converge onto a second target. As the last spirit faded, once again dwarven voices echoed through the tunnels. These spoke of how converging on a single powerful enemy and bringing them down was often a sound combat tactic, both to remove a strong opponent from the field of battle and to demoralize any remaining foes. After the adventurers used what healing they could muster to get Jake much further away from death's door, their exploration continued.The Third Trial
As the group moved on, K's curse triggered and sent him into the Ethereal Plane. His friends seemed to not notice them, assuming the sneaky bugbear was just hiding somewhere nearby to ambush the next group of enemies they were sure to fight. Though not able to help his friends directly, K watched as the next group of dwarven spirits appeared, dressed in plate mail armor and wielding deadly looking battleaxes that seemed to be made from the same light as the barriers blocking the ways out and illuminating the room. The spirits charged, proving to be fearsome opponents that could attack up close with their battleaxes or from afar with thrown handaxes materialized at will. They proved much tougher than the previous spirits and it wasn't long before Jake was badly injured. Jake fled away from the others down a dark corrider, hoping the invisibility the darkness would provide him could protect him. It did not, and K was was helpless to watch as a pair of spirits that chased after Jake struck him down, ending the ranger's life half a second before K's curse brought him back to the Material Plane. K screamed bloody murder, swearing vengeance against the spirits and attacked viciously. Ban flew in to reinforce him, helping K to bring the spirits down, and Leh'ct joined them soon after. More spirits remained back in the main room and the adventurers turned their rage back there, finishing the fight in short order. This time, there was no message from the spirits after their defeat as they gave the surviving adventurers a moment of silence for their fallen friend. Ban took care to carefully wrap Jake's body in the aftermath of the battle, setting it in a safe place. They would take their friend back with them and try to get him revived, but first they had to make it out of this place. After healing themselves as much as they could, the adventurers somberly carried on in search of the next challenge.The Fourth Trial
Circling around to a large chamber that connected to the catacombs entrance, the adventurers encountered their next adversaries. These dwarven spirits were shirtless, bulging muscles cover their bodies from the waist up as they used their strength to heft massive mauls. This time, the adventurers were much more focused and serious as they fought. The death of Jake still stung deeply, and they would ensure their group suffered no more fatal casualties on this day. K fought this battle back to back with Elycia, but struggled to dodge the weapons of the spirits he engaged with. The ends of their mauls were built like graters and each new blow damaged his armor further, eventually shredding it badly enough that it fell to pieces around him. But despite this, and the injuries he sustained, K fought on as fiercely as his friends. With their resolve set by Jake's demise, this fight ultimately proved easier than the previous one. Only one challenge remained to claim the treasure within the catacombs.The Fifth and Final Trial
As the adventurers healed their wounds with the few resources they had remaining, Ban insisted they make a plan for the final trial. It proved to be a simple one; he would provide fire support while K and Elycia maintained the frontline. Meanwhile, Leh'ct would stay outside the chamber where he couldn't be targeted and send in summoned animals to fight in his stead. They entered the chamber using this formation, the room lined with giant dwarven statues ancient enough to have started crumbling. On the far end of the chamber sat a large and elaborate stone tomb. Two of the large snakes Leh'ct summoned moved to open it and dwarven spirits appeared, one of each kind from the previous four trials, to engage the adventurers. K began the fight be delivering a devastating stab to the barbarian spirit that manifested near him before retreating near a fallen pillar. The spirit pursued him, as did a dwarf ranger spirit, while Ban flew over to provide him support. Ban quickly took down the barbarian spirit, allowing the two of them to focus on the ranger spirit while Elycia and Leh'ct's snakes held off the artificer and paladin spirits across the room. Already familiar with the tactics of their enemies, this battle proved easier than the ones before. K and Ban swiftly finished off their opponent before K moved across the room, dealing the finishing blows to both the artificer and paladin spirits Elycia had softened up. The room fell silent as the last spirit was defeated. The adventurers approached the tomb, which was engraved with a Dwarven inscription. Ban read it out loud for the rest of them:Tomb Inscription
Here lies Aron II, king of Auldbearn, defender of his people, and last of his line. Though this resting place is not what a king of his valor deserves, it is all we can offer in this trying time.
May he find the peace he delivered unto others through his sacrifice, and may his crown one day bring the murderers who struck him down to justice.
May he find the peace he delivered unto others through his sacrifice, and may his crown one day bring the murderers who struck him down to justice.
K helped Ban and Leh'ct to open the great tomb and inside they found the ancient king's remains resting on a bed of coins, his cracked Crown of Auldbearn still on his head and the rest of him covered in damaged armor. Given what the inscription said, the adventurers figured they were meant to take the crown and did so (along with the coins). After resealing the tomb, they left with a quick prayer to wish the king well in his afterlife and thank him for whatever help his crown could provide. As the adventurers pondered what function the damaged crown may may, the moth that had guided them to the catacombs flew down from Leh'ct's head and onto the king's tomb. It stretched its wings wide and transformed into an envelope with Leh'ct's full name on it. Leh'ct opened it to find a letter written in Sylvan, which K read aloud for him. It seemed to be some sort of riddle and Leh'ct started pondering its implications as the adventurers prepared to take their leave. With the treasure in hand, it was time to work on getting Jake restored to life.
Aftermath of Battles
Trouble at the Spire
As they exited the caves, the adventurers found the forest they had crossed to get here was gone. Unsure of exactly where their trip though it had led them, Ban flew up with his telescope to get his bearings. He saw a light in the distance that looked to be about 4 miles away and recommended the group head towards it. Elycia protested, arguing the group should rest first, though Ban managed to convince her that could be more easily done somewhere civilized than in a cave or out in the open where hungry predators could find them. The lights turned out to be Skatha's Rest, which was now surrounded by many more guards than before and bonfires that would allow them to spot any approaching enemies. The adventurers were allowed past after identifying themselves and presented themselves to Lord Varl, who'd just wrapped up interrogation on the prisoners Ban had taken previously. The Tideborne had learned that the attack here had been one part of the two-pronged offensive, with the other attack targeting the Deep Spire. He informed the adventurers everyone must head back there as soon as possible and they offered to take him aboard the Grinning Widow to fill him in on what they'd learned. Lord Varl accepted the offer, stating it'd free up a little more room for the wounded on his flagship.Gobo's Gift of Exposition
The adventurers elected to return to the Widow and wait for Varl there while he organized his people's departure. They arrived to find Gobo playing Go Fish with Mott on the deck, Mott quickly abandoning the game when he saw "Captain" Jake dead in K's arms. Ban asked Gobo if he had some way of preventing Jake's body from decaying and smelling. Gobo offered to sell him a scented candle for 1 copper. When Ban declined, Gobo suggested putting the cadaver in the Bag of Colding he'd previously given to them. Ban informed him that bag had been destroyed along with Sunny; Gobo lamented the destruction of an item he'd worked hard on, saying he didn't have the means to make another one & talking about how summoning an ice paraelemental without ticking off Cryonax was a tricky and dangerous thing. Ban questioned who or what Cryonax was and Gobo explained he was an elemental prince of evil who rules the Plane of Ice with a cold, iron fist. Not to be confused with cold iron, that blue ore from the Shadowfell that fey hate. While Ban wondered if they could find a different cold-aspected monster, Gobo wished him luck and said he was getting out of the area before more battle broke out (but not before selling some relief supplies) and going to check in on his grandma. Ban asked if Gobo could help work out what sort of magic that crown from the catacombs possessed, but its magic was beyond Gobo's skills. Nor was Gobo able to fix it, though he did tell them that doing so would require the skills of a master dwarven smith like those in Brazenthrone. Gobo's earlier mention of cold iron caught Leh'ct's attention, as it seemed to line up with something referenced in his letter from Mother Moth. Gobo confirmed that cold iron ore was blue and that forests could be found down here if you went to the Underdark portions of the Feywild or Shadowfell. While Ban encouraged Leh'ct to ignore the riddle, viewing riddles as a poor method of communication, Leh'ct surmised the riddle may mean Mother Moth is hiding in an area rich with cold iron that fey such as M may avoid.Reviving Jake
Thanks to a conversation Ban and Leh'ct had with Villamax (who'd come to the ship with Itassis via the teleportation circle in the hold), the adventurers learned they could use a diamond from the crown to revive Jake without permanently damaging the item. But there was another snag. The magic would consume the diamond completely and the lowest value one they had was worth double what the raise dead spell required. As they were discussing this, Elycia noticed Gobo standing close enough to overhear the conversation and trying not to look guilty. She loudly stated how surely Gobo wouldn't allow Jake, one of his best customers, to stay dead and lose out on potential future sales if he had a way to fix that problem. The guilt-tripped Gobo admitted he did have some diamonds on hand, but they'd already been promised to another customer, a deep gnome named Thaalthug Geomender. Knowing that deep gnomes value gems, Elycia suggested offering the diamond buyer the black pearls they still had in place of the diamonds. Seeing as diamonds could be mined and pearls could not, they may be much more valuable to a deep gnome. Gobo stated it didn't matter because he didn't have a way to contact Thaalthug, a counterpoint that was quickly shut down when Villamax offered to use a sending spell for him. After Gobo told the wizard exactly what to say, Thaalthug agreed to the trade and Gobo gave two 500gp diamonds to the party (one to Elycia and one to Leh'ct, each of whom gave Gobo a black pearl). The next step was getting one of the priestesses of Luthic on-board to help them. Leh'ct assisted one of them with treating the wounded to free up her time and give her the hour needed to perform a raise dead spell with the diamond he'd just acquired. Just as this spell was about to be completed, K's curse triggered and he was pulled into the Ethereal Realm while still wearing the Wraith's Garb armor he'd borrowed from Jake's cadaver after his own armor had been destroyed.The Light Gundam's Lair
Walking into the Trap
When K next reappeared, his companions had just fought off an attack that involved the Light Gundam which Ban had flown off to pursue. Just the others were hopping off a boat (that had been carried by Elycia polymorphed into a giant swan) and preparing to enter what seemed to be the Light Gundam's lair, K popped back into the Material Plane to join them. While this was most definitely a trap, forward was the only way to go if Ban wished to stop the monster he'd helped create. Leh’ct conjured a crab to do some scouting, though it didn't make it far before the adventures heard the whine of a sonic disruptor a split second before the crab vanished. Ban headed down the same tunnel, the very one the Light Gundam had gone down an hour earlier, and activated his scanners as he crossed the threshold. Unfortunately, this proved to be a bit too late as he noticed he (and the crab) has already walked through an infrared alarm and in front of a concealed security camera. Ban shot and disabled both devices before walking onto a concealed trap that released a puff of poison gas at him, though thankfully his systems filters were able to render most of it harmless. He continued forward until he heard the charge of sonic disruptors on either side of him, multiple drones revealing themselves and attacking. K charged in first, using his previous experiences against drones like these to pierce a weak spot in ones armor and let the swarm of rats summoned by his Rat King Ring to get inside and chew through the wires. While he and his companions dealt with these initial attackers easily, several others approached them from the rear and targeted Jake (who was further back than anyone else). These enemies were also defeated without much difficulty, but once they were destroyed the Light Gundam's voice echoed throughout the tunnels from a loudspeaker somewhere further in. It welcomed the adventurers and bade them to come in further and continue its "test". Ban noticed some sort of glyph concealed near the end of the tunnel, though poking and prodding didn't seem to make it do anything. Flying over it, Ban spotted more drones and attempted to lure them back towards his comrades as they opened fire. Instead, the drones began to open fire on the ceiling where the tunnel opened into a wider cavern. It began to collapse, blocking the way forward with a rock slide. Though the drones did manage to block off the tunnel, Ban quickly cleared their makeshift barricade with two well placed sticks of dynamite while Elycia distracted the drones on the other side. Once the way was clear, K ran forward to reengage and tripped whatever the trap was that Ban had noticed earlier, though his body seemed able to resist its effects and its intended function was left a mystery. The adventurers soon defeated this group of drones as they had the first, though how many more were still between them and the Light Gundam remained unknown. But that was not an immediate concern for K, whose curse triggered sending him into the Ethereal Plane.The Light Gundam's Last Stand
K did not rejoin his companions until they and the Light Gundam had found each other, drawing his sword and summoning a swarm of rats to engage the mechanical monstrosity. Though the Light Gundam initially ignored K in favor of targetting Ban and Jake, he soon proved himself to be a threat to it. The Light Gundam admitted its data on K was limited due to his frequent disappearences into the Ethereal Plane, but he fought skillfully enough that the difference he made was beyond the Light Gundam's highest estimations. He deftly dodged blows while inflicting strikes of his own upon the Light Gundam, whittling it down with support from his comrades. It became so focused on him it left itself open, allowing Elycia to get the jump on it and impale the metal monster. As the cockpit ejected and Ban recovered it to rescue Haz, K noticed a small, purple metal ball also fall from the wreckage. It sprouted legs and began to skamper away; Ban yelled at K that that was the Gundam Core, the real villain that had controlled the Light Gundam as a shell. K was able to swiftly impale it with his rapier, ending its threat once and for all.Quick Scare & Escape
Due to the Light Gundam's destruction, ownership of its lead drone (the bird-like Squawk) shifted to Ban. It seemed that in the event of its destruction, the Light Gundam still wanted its weapon designs to make their way to the Miniature Giant Space Hamster Empire. Squawk gathered valuable materials for the adventurers while they caught their breath before confirming Ban's theory that the facility was rigged to self-destruct if necessary. While bringing the valuables, Squawk stated it was unable to retrieve the faerzress crystals because "another visitor" was already collecting them. Equal parts curious and cautious, Ban instructed Squawk to lead the adventurers to where this was happening. As the group rounded a corner, they saw the drones they'd defeated in the production room having been split open and crystals removed. They saw a tall woman elbow deep in machinery to removing the last crystal that Leh'ct and Jake quickly identified as the murderous woman who slaughtered her way through the Deep Spire infirmary. She oozed confidence as much as maliciousness, but made no immediate moves to attack the adventurers. Though she did comment she still wished to add Leh’ct's head to her collection and expressed a new interest in taking Elycia's as well, for her unique rabbit ears. The woman also took the opportunity to properly introduce herself as "Santaura; a collector, a hobbyist, butcher, baker, nightmare maker." Despite seeming as unhinged as a door no longer attached to the frame, Santaura appeared willing to let the party pass without attacking them. Though as they continued back towards their rowboat, K and the others could hear her heels clicking on the stone floor behind them and the scraping of her axe against the walls. Wanting to definitely not get into a scuffle with this woman right now, if ever, Leh’ct used his magic to seal up the tunnel behind them with a wall of dirt. The party hopped back into the boat to get away from the island as quick as they could, rendezvousing back with the Grinning Widow (which had caught up due to some form of magic Villamax had cast on the ship to make it faster in short bursts). Once the ship was far enough from the island, Ban instructed Squawk to detonate the nuclear self-destruct system. For a brief moment, the whole of the Black Loch was illuminated by the blast as the Grinning Widow rode the wave it created back towards Cinderfolk Foundry. All the while, Leh’ct and the others doubtfully wondered whether Santaura had been killed off by that blast.Attacking Charwell Fortress
Meeting Bogo
While the ship swung by Cinderfolk Foundry to pick up the adamantine armor Elycia had ordered, Jake received a sending spell from Villamax on behalf of Ysri asking them to stay put and wait for the return letter from Deepking Oghren Orzammar III. At the same time, the duergar of Cinderfolk Foundry offered to pay the adventurers if the Grinning Widow would remain on guard against additional kobold viper attacks until their reinforcements arrived from Brazenthrone. The adventurers thought it better to deal with the problem directly and decided to head to Charwell Fortress to investigate the kobold vipers themselves. K took the this time to mention he'd purchased a bag of holding from Gobo but was surprised to see a straw sticking out of it when he showed it to the others. He pulled on the straw and out came the goblin Bogo, half asleep with his teeth still clenched around the other end of his breathing tube. There was a note pinned to his collar from Gobo, asking the party to take care of his nephew Bogo and stating he could summon monsters more useful than his lazy self. Bogo's sprite familiar, Owen, outlined the rather ridiculous details of Bogo's work contract. Still, the adventurers were a man down following Ban's departure and accepted Bogo into the group to fill the gap.Initial Attack
The other adventurers explained to Bogo that a trio of kobold vipers had attacked Cinderfolk Foundry before Bogo made his appearance. They intended to sneak into Charwell Fortress, knowing the kobold vipers had made a home there, to eliminate them before their actions caused issues with the adventurers attempts to assist the Deep Spire's leaders with working out a peace treaty with Brazenthrone. They took the Grinning Widow towards the fortress while making their plan of attack. Jake and Leh'ct turned into giant bats (Jake via a polymorph spell from Elycia and Leh'ct via his druid magic) to fly in over the light-emitting buoys that surrounded the fortress. Jake went in first with K, as they were the stealthiest of the adventurers. The other stayed on Leh'ct, who was ready to swoop in should their comrades need back-up. They sneakily climbed along the ancient fortress' crumbling walls, making their way to a chapel where they assassinated two priests and a guard. Soon after, they found another kobold viper and tried the same with him, though this one was skilled enough to survive their initial assault and blew a horn to sound the alarm. Over two dozen kobold viper guards emerged from hiding, many of them peppering the adventurers in the sky with arrows while their horn-blowing leader attacked the ground-level intruders. The more powerful kobold viper, who seemed to be the leader, stabbed K with a poisoned spear tip that quickly spread a paralytic toxin through his body. Elycia moved quickly to grab him (as well as Leh'ct, who'd been knocked out of the sky and landed on a landmine) and flee from the fortress. Meanwhile, Bogo used his flying cloud to get down to Jake and got the pair of them out of there with a teleportation spell. The adventurers made their way back to the boat shortly thereafter to recover from their injuries and plan their next move. But Bogo had been savvy enough to leave his servant Owen behind, where the invisible sprite could spy on what the kobold vipers were doing in the party's absence.Bogo's Recon
Shortly afterwards, Bogo informed the others that the kobold vipers had quickly moved underground and fled Charwell Fortress via a teleportation circle. He also mentioned that their priests had revived the handful of kobold vipers killed by K and Jake, and that some of the evacuees had been children. K disappeared back into the Ethereal shortly after this and didn't reappaer until the party had returned to the Deep Spire and accepted a job to spy on Brazenthrone on behalf of Ysri Vaerixas and Lord Varl. They opted to take the land route to get there, to avoid coming into port around the same time as the Spire's official emissaries. Their goal was to get a feel of the current goings ons within the city and report that information to the emissaries discreetly.Sparring Match
The adventurers soon set sail aboard the Grinning Widow, spending weeks sailing the entirety of the Black Loch from east to west. Mott and the rest of the crew got them as close to Brazenthrone as they could by water, dropping them off at a tunnel that (probably) connected to the land route the adventurers had decided to take. He also made sure that they officially declared him to be the new captain in their absence, though was unsuccessful in talking Jake into giving him his captain's hat (and grumbling about how Sunny had promised him a hat and never delivered on it). As the adventurers moved forward, they came to a large open chamber with stairs and stone signposts that pointed the way towards Brazenthrone. They almost failed to notice when Villamax and Itassis stopped walking to talk in hushed tones. Elycia’s keen hearing picked up on this and the other stopped when she turned around to ask them what was up. Villamax stated that since the party had encountered numerous powerful foes recently (to say nothing of those still out there like "Black Hand" Kelly and Santaura) and struggled in many of the fights, he thought a bit of training might be in order. Particularly because of the recent addition of Bogo to the group; better the adventurers get used to working with him in a controlled environment vs. a life or death situation. The adventurers agreed that it couldn't hurt and Villamax allowed them to position themselves before summoning a smoke elemental for them to battle, backed up by Itassis to ensure the adventurers couldn't just gang up on it and defeat it too easily. Though they won, their performance and teamwork had enough holes in it that they declined Villamax's offer to keep going for a round two. This prompted the adventurers to begin discussing tactics amongst themselves so they could iron out a few issues before their next true battle. The training match also gave them the opportunity to analyze a few of the magic items in Itassis' possession, though K was unable to recognize any of them.Leh'ct's Departure
After a brief stop for rest following the sparring match, the advance party separated from the rear group. They planned to do their initial spying alone so that they could report back about the customs of the locals, which would hopefully be enough for Bertrand and Ernest to blend in under their illusionary duergar disguises. The tunnels forked along the way and the adventurers heard footsteps approaching. The steps were light, seeming to indicate it was a single person. Leh'ct was unable to hide himself before the source of the sound turned the corner, revealing itself as Karai, the cloaked individual who'd previously signaled for help when Elycia and Jake had been injured by "Black Hand" Kelly's ambush. She greeted them and introduced herself to those of the adventurers she had not met before. When they did the same, she paused upon hearing "Leh'ct". She asked the young druid to repeat himself before asking, "Leh'ct Arlathil of Haven City"? Leh'ct had no idea how this woman knew so much about him; he asked about that, but she ignored his question momentarily and asked Gobo if the adventurers could be trusted. Gobo gave her an affirmative and she lowered her hood to reveal herself as a blindfolded medusa. Leh'ct's mind focused on old memories he'd glimpsed once before, those showing a medusa delivering his infant self to the orphanarium where he grew up. Karai confirmed she was indeed the person who'd left him there as a favor to his parents. Leh'ct had many questions, but before he could settle on which to ask first she had one for him. Would he like to see his parents? Leh'ct delivered an enthusiastic yes, but his spirits were soon dampened upon learning the journey would take him in a different direction then Brazenthrone. But still, this was an opportunity he could not let pass him by. Leh'ct bid farewell to his friends of these past months, leaving the Dark Mantle he wore in their care, and set off with Karai to find the definitive answers to both his own past and that of his parents.Elycia 's Past Comes Calling
The group marched on until, less than a day from Brazenthrone, they heard the sound of metal striking stone from up ahead. K and Elycia decided to investigate while the others stayed behind as back-up, with K disguising himself as a blind stonemason and Elycia playing the role of his guide/guard. As they approached, the pair could tell there were a number of humanoids up ahead. Two of these figures stood guard in the direction the adventurers were coming from, fully visible in the light of magic torches illuminating the area. The rest with digging holes to plant dynamite and unblock the tunnel ahead for the cart with them. It was not until the adventurers got close that they recognized the symbol of the elven military Elycia was once part of on the armor of these soldiers, specifically the crest of the elite Silver Falcons Squad Sixteen that Elycia once led. Hearing the commotion of the adventurer’s arrival, the group's second-in-command Corporal Fenbren came over and immediately Elycia from their time together in the bard college. She was surprised to see Elycia alive, having long assumed Elycia’s MIA status meant her old bard buddy was dead. When Elycia moved to leave, Fenbren made it clear that despite her cheerful attitude she wasn't going to allow that. The situation escalated when Fenbren called over her CO, Sergeant Keebler, who was significantly less enthused to see Elycia. As far as he was concerned, her going from MIA to AWOL made her a traitor to their military oaths. "Good soldiers follow orders," he told her. He also questioned where she acquired the Peregrine Spear she carried. Elycia stated she'd recovered it from a shipwreck in the Black Loch and claimed to know nothing else beyond that. Sergeant Keebler opened his mouth to berate her further, but before he could the cavern was filled with howls as a pack of wolf-like OoPAs appeared and attacked. In the battle that followed, the Silver Falcon elves showed great teamwork and coordination with each other, as well as a willingness to fight alongside K's companions against a common enemy. K, meanwhile, continued his charade and pretended to be a helpless civilian in need of protection. While the elves were distracted fighting, he pickpocketed a Candle of Anti-Light from Sergeant Keebler and a wallet from another of the elves. The battle ended as the largest of the wolf OoPAs, the alpha, went down. Silence filled the cavern, but only for a moment as clapping filled the chamber. Everyone's eyes turned to the source; Santaura, having apparently survived the destruction of the Light Gundam's base, perched on a rock. She didn't remain for long, quickly teleporting away in a blot of inky black smoke and taking the surviving wolves with her. Sergeant Keebler asked who that was and Elycia commented she was responsible for sinking the elven ship that had been on the Black Loch. This was a poor decision on her part, as a suddenly enraged Keebler demanded to know why she'd not mentioned that earlier when she'd claimed to know nothing more about the sunken ship. It was the last straw for Keebler. His team was in no position to take Elycia prisoner and haul her in front of a military court, but he still has measures he could take to punish her. Using a strange crystal orb, he formally discharged Elycia from their military and ripped the arcane magic from her body before tearing off his insignia, which Elycia herself once worn, and throwing it at her feet. He had no desire to wear something that once belonged to someone he now considered a traitor. He left in a huff with the rest of his squad, who seemed uneasy with the situation given Elycia’s status as a war hero in their eyes.Gobo's "Rival"
Despite how the situation with the Silver Falcons had degraded, the duergar woman traveling with them came over and introduced herself as Jenlin Keenpast. Her appearance seemed to trigger Gobo's berserk button, who declared she was his enemy and eternal rival. Jenlin had no idea who Gobo, which Elycia found hilarious, but claimed she was the #1 merchant in Brazenthrone and all the Underdark for that matter. Gobo seethed harder and turned redder with every word. Jenlin explained she'd hired the Silver Falcons as temporary guards when her usual men had taken ill. She also didn't hold any animosity towards the adventurers the way they did; to the contrary, she wanted to make sure to give them a proper thank you for their assistance against the OoPAs. Several of the adventurers began inquiring about purchasing magic items from her, K being interested in a Cloak of Elvenkind, and she had to assure them she'd come over to thank them, not to conduct business on the spot. Jenlin gave them a metal card that would allow them access to the part of the city where she set up shop (albeit under guard), normally inaccessible to non-citizens. She was quick to take her leave after that, needing to keep her reputation of never losing a shipment and always arriving on time.Arrival in Brazenthrone
Corrupt Gatemaster
Several hours later, the adventurers arrived at their destination and approached the gates of Brazenthrone. The gates sat at the end of a long hallway in a carved tunnel, the last 175 feet before the gate filled with murderholes that pockmarked the walls and ceiling. K and Elycia, both unable able to speak the local languages, hung back to let Bogo and Jake take the lead on getting them inside. From Bogo's translation, it seemed like the gatemaster Darmond Stouthead was attempting to fleece them before allowing them into the city. Luckily, Gobo seemed to have some compromising information on the man and got then into the city toll free by implying he'd reveal it otherwise. Darmond ordered one of his men to escort them to the Common Quarter. As they went, K rifled through his assortment of holy symbols and made sure the one for Tiamat hung out of his shirt, knowing there were Dragon Queen worshipers in the city.A Giant Problem
While the walk from the gates to the Common Quarter is normally a short one, the guard was forced to take the adventurers around the long way through the Anvil Quarter due to an accident blocking the quicker route. The smog filling the city became thicker and the clanging of metal in the air louder as they approached the city's forges. Though their guide tried to usher them through quickly, the group was forced to stop when a stone giant speaking to a blacksmith produced a crystal made from corrupted faerzress. When the smith tried to examine it with a magical monocle, the stone's energy released and flowed into the stone giant's body. His eyes glowed purple as he began to violently lash out at all those around him. K and his comrades found themselves standing next to the stone giant by the Freehammer Forge as this happened, forcing them to defend themselves. Though their humanoid-sized weapons could only do so much damage to a giant's body, the pain of the wounds seemed to cut through the fog that clouded the stone giant's mind and soon allowed him to regain his senses. He apologized profusely to the nearby citizens for frightening them and thanked the adventurers for their intervention, grateful that they were able to prevent him from causing any fatalities. The giant also told their guard guide that he would pay for any healing services the adventurers required from the local temples due to this incident.Witnessing the Forge Wyrm
With that excitement over, they continued on towards the Common Quarter. But the group was interrupted yet again when a group of robed men appeared around a corner and commanded everyone in the street make way for Yolheimsu'um, the Forge Wyrm. While his companions tried their hardest to not capture the dragon's attention, K did the opposite and flaunted his Tiamat amulet while following after the dragon. He watched as the Forge Wyrm refreshed the fires of the Freehammer Forge to the cheers of Brazenthrone's citizens. From the dragon's body language, it did appear to take notice of K's actions, which fit in with his plans to rob its horde. Particularly, he wanted the pair of magical stones orbiting one of Yolheimsu'um's horns. After K rejoined the group, they finally found themselves in the Common Quarter. Their guard pointed out the main market as well as several other amenities in the area as he escorted them to some empty guest apartments. The guard left them there and warned them not to attempt to leave the Common Quarter without permission & an escort, else they would be jailed.First Day in Brazenthrone
Audience with the Forge Wyrm
Bogo had concerns that visiting the giants before the dragon, or vice versa, may anger the other party since giants and dragons traditionally don't get along. However, he and the others (sans Elycia) agreed that asking forgiveness of a giant would be easier than asking it of a chromatic dragon, so they decided to pop in on Yolheimsu'um first. The leader of the Bellows, Galmin Firechains, came to collect them the next day at noon. He led the adventurers through the streets of Brazenthrone to the southern edge of the city where worked stone gave way to the natural cave Yolheimsu'um had made his lair. Galmin took the adventurers past many guards, all Bellows like himself, and around pools of water that were soon replaced by pools of magma. As they approached the central pool, Galmin motioned for them to halt while he approached the edge and banged his warhammer on the ground several times. A wake approached from beneath the magma and Yolheimsu'um partially pulled himself from it, lounging as he told the adventurers to introduce themselves and introducing himself in turn. With the pleasantries out of the way, K (who was making of show of faking faith for Tiamat, Queen of Evil Dragons) asked for what reason Yolheimsu'um had called them here. The dragon told them that while he was making his rounds lighting forges, someone had slipped past the Bellows and stolen a valuable tome from his horde. Though the had a number of suspects (nobles who were political rivals, greedy merchants, and the renowned thief Diir among them), he'd no idea who he could trust outside his Bellows and they had so far failed to retrieve the item. Since the adventurers had only just arrived to Brazenthrone, they were not suspects and therefore made good candidates for finding the burglar. His wording made it clear that as far as Yolheimsu'um was concerned, they would do this for him or there would be consequences. K asked what sort of reward they could expect in exchange for this service. Yolheimsu'um stated that they would do it because he told them to and that that was good reason enough. Not taking the hint, K insisted that some additional reward would serve as proper motivation. An angry looking Yolheimsu'um pulled himself fully out of the magma and was on top of K in an instant, telling the bugbear that he was playing with fire that could very easily burn, consume, and destroy him. But, Yolheimsu'um noted, fire could also temper when applied to material strong enough to withstand it. The dragon respected K's boldness and stated he would prepare a suitable reward should the adventurers succeed. Yolheimsu'um instructed Galmin to give the adventurers badges showing the symbol of the Bellows, Galmin telling them the badges would let them move through Brazenthrone a bit more freely but that the notoriously stubborn guards may still need some persuading. As Yolheimsu'um instructed Galmin to see the adventurers out, he paused to tell Galmin that should the adventurers succeed in retrieving the missing tome first, he would be fired from his position as leader of the Bellows. When the adventurers inquired whether that statement was literal or figurative, Galmin seemed to think it was both. On the way back to the Common Quarter, Bogo told the others about how his bat had seen this Diir guy that Yolheimsu'um had mentioned. The dragon had mentioned Diir had long been a thorn in the Blade Guard's side, so talking to them could be a good place to start gathering leads. While the Blade Guard would not normally accept outside help in doing their jobs, the bounty on Diir's head seemed to indicate they wished to be rid of the infamous derro by any means necessary.Invitation to the Enclave
After parting ways with Galmin (and speculating they'd likely come into conflict with him in the future, since his life was riding on their failure), Bogo loudly announced they needed an escort to the stone giant enclave. One of the city's many invisible guards soon appeared and skimmed over the invitation before leading the group to the western side of the city. The guard would not go past the markers indicating the start of the stone giant's land, which was a natural cave rather than the worked stone of the dwarven living areas. One of two giants sitting by a roaring bonfire noticed them as they entered and pointed them in the direction of their leader, Sradzar. The stone giant stood in front of a work table, so focused on his carvings that he didn't notice the adventurers until Bogo floated up to eye level on his magic cloud. Turning around, Sradzar welcomed the adventurers and expressed his personal thanks for their assistance the day before in making sure no one was killed. The adventurers shared what they knew of dark faerzress with him, which seemed to confirm a theory of Sradzar's that this phenomenon was unnatural. He spoke of an evil stirring within the Underdark, something so wicked it made the rock itself cry out in pain and horror as madness began to seep into the deepest depths of the earth. Sradzar confirmed the dark faerzress had been present for at least a few decades, having seen it himself when helping the Deepking liberate the derro from Gyan'dis, but it seemed to be only recently that its effects became so profound. The adventurers expressed interest in learning more if they could, which reminded Sradzar to give them a reward for their deed yesterday. He approached Elycia (who seemed nervous and ready to bolt like a rabbit at something so large approaching her, but held her ground) and handed her a Stonespeaker Crystal. The adventurers thanked Sradzar and told him to contact them if he needed help with anything else. Nothing came to the cleric's mind at the moment, but he informed them he'd keep their offer in mind.Aim to Impress
The adventurers returned to the apartments to find Gobo walking out of a smoky room in a lab coat. He told them he was on the cusp of figuring out how to attach multiple trinkets to a single piece of equipment and expected his research to be done soon. The group had learned that OoPAs were attacking the city's entrances and people on the roads outside on a semi-regular basis from Sradzar, so Gobo's announcement gave them the idea to go OoPA hunting. Not only would that give them additional parts to improve their equipment, helping to kill the creatures could earn them the goodwill of the locals. Gobo heavily endorsed this idea that would have them spending more money at his shop and told them to stay away from that "evil witch" Jenlin Keenpast while they were out and about. This reminded the adventurers they still needed to visit Jenlin, much to Gobo's ire.Shopping & Hunting
Before heading out to begin the hunt, Elycia suggested the group take Jenlin up on her offer to visit and see if she had any items that could help them. Bogo teased Elycia on the way there when the surface dwelling elf kept looking at the ceiling to try and navigate by the sky out of habit. A guardsman escorted the adventurers to Trader's Ward in the Great Hall and they quickly found the largest building was the one belonging to Jenlin. The desk in the reception area was unmanned but atop it sat a bell that Bogo rang repeatedly until an orc appeared from the door to the warehouse. Bogo rang the bell one more time for good measure before addressing the man. The adventurers explained why they were here and the orc called for his boss, prompting a slightly dust covered Jenlin to appear from the back. Jenlin welcomed them and commented on their recent audience with Yolheimsu'um, informing them it was the talking of the normally uneventful town. Bogo asked that she keep her ears open about anyone trying to fleece a particularly rare book and Jenlin immediately put two and two together, though refrained from commenting on the adventurers’ quest directly. With that bit of business out of the way, the adventurers began to inquire about items useful to them. K appeared pleased to learn that enchanted weapons were available for sale here, but lost that enthusiasm upon realizing the items in question were no better than the ones he already carried. While shopping, the adventurers asked Jenlin if she'd heard anything about OoPA attacks nearby. She told them there'd been several attacks against the city's entrances, which were crushed instantly and showcased the monsters complete lack of self-preservation instinct. Attacks against travelers out in the tunnels were the real problem and she marked two spots on Bogo’s map where caravans were reported to have been wrecked recently, one to the north and another to the east. While the northern site was technically closer, the eastern spot could be reached faster due to closer proximity to the roads. The group opted to take the road more traveled and headed east after popping by the apartments so Bogo could pick up a Piwafwi (Cloak of Elvenkind) from his uncle. Or rather, so K could pick it up for him to avoid Bogo being overcharged by an uncle with low opinions of him. The purchase resulted in the group completing another set of Gobo Medals and K was lucky enough to draw two prizes that the group decided were best suited for Elycia, a Contingency Band and Prism Lantern. It didn't take long to find the OoPA they were looking for, a monstrous snake of gargantuan proportions. It's slithery form quickly surged forward, coiling around K and Bogo while firing thunderous blasts down the tunnel at Jake and Elycia. The snake repeatedly squeezed K in its constricting grasp, threatening to crack ribs and pull the breath from his body. On the flipside, K's close proximity made it easier for him to see weak soft spots between the snake's iron-hard scales that he stabbed his recently acquired Vagrant's Wrist Stiletto into repeatedly. Meanwhile, Bogo used his magic to summon a huge (but not quite as big) snake of his own to attack the hostile one. The two serpents quickly wrapped themselves in a coiled mess of writhing, raging reptile, the adventurers maneuvering to stop themselves from being crushed while peppering the hostile snake with wounds brought on by spells, arrows, and blades. The snake reeled as its injuries grew deeper and more numerous, firing off additional thunderous blasts. One such blast caught Bogo, injuring him severely enough that he lost his hold on the magic that bound his summoned snake to this plane. But his magic was far from spent and he summoned another fresh for the fight, this one holding the monster snake until it too was destroyed by a blast of thunder. The monstrous snake fought bitterly despite its grave injuries, which turned lethal as Elycia was able to strike a wound between its scale and used her new divine power to to incapacitate the unnatural creature. Jake quickly ran forward, binding the unconscious beast with the magic from Gobo's Dimensional Ripper and began to harvest pieces of it with Bogo’s assistance. Strangely, the OoPA faded from the Material Plane back to its home realm once the harvesting was complete (unlike a normal otherworldly creature, which would only undergo this process after being killed on the Material Plane).Showing Off for the Blade Guard
The party returned to Brazenthrone and made for a guardhouse they'd noticed on their way out earlier. However, Bogo was unable to convince the guards that the monster parts had come from an OoPA. The guard called him a fraud, stating everyone knew those strange beasts dissolved upon death and slamming the door in Bogo's face. It seemed their plan would need a bit more refinement if it was to work. To figure out how best to do this, the adventurers decided to hit up one of the city's many bars and talk to the locals. While the rest of the group decided to try the busiest bar they could find (at Elycia's suggestion), K decided to stick to his element and look for a seedier establishment. He found it in a place called The Stout Fountain, a near-empty tavern where three quaggoths were drinking. K was surprised to see quaggoths in a civilized area and noted they wore metal collars despite their culture normally going without ornamentation. Though no one in the bar understood the languages K spoke, he mimed his intentions well enough to buy a few rounds of drinks for the quaggoths and they slowly started to warm up to him. He was in the middle of playing cards with his new friends when the front door burst open, kicked in by a drow man. The quaggoth shrunk back, appearing afraid of this individual who began barking orders at them. As they followed the drow out, K figured they must be prisoners to be taking orders from a male who'd be considered a second-class citizen in drow society. K followed and stopped the drow, offering to pay for the quaggoths release. Though he offered 30 platinum pieces, the drow would only release one of the three quaggoth for that price. K was unable to broker any further deal and the drown went on his way with the prisoners. He followed them for a ways, the drow stopping off at another bar to collect three more drow men. The drow then split up, two taking the quaggoths north while the other pair went south. K followed the northern group. As they passed by the apartments he'd been staying in, a large creature he recognized as a draegloth rounded the corner. K could not understand the langauge they spoke and though he wished to follow them, it appeared they had permission to leave the Common Quarter freely while he did not. K entered the apartments to talk to Gobo and see if the little goblin knew anything. According to him, that draegloth was the bodyguard of the lead ambassador from the local drow embassy. K then went off until his fellow adventurers found him and filled them in on what he'd seen.Hunting Monsters & Madmen
Captain of the Guard
The next day, the party decided to head for the city gates and wait for a hunting party to leave so they could follow. This didn't sit well with gatemaster Darmond Stouthead, who seemed sour to see the party had returned. As he opened his mouth to have them shooed away for lollygagging, the gatemaster suddenly stiffened up as a group of Blade Guards approached. At the head of this formation was the captain of the guard, Brannas Blackaxe. She inquired to the party's business and stated her group was going to hunt the same OoPA they appeared to be after, which had attacked several travelers and inflicted a few fatalities recently. Though she remained skeptical of their claims about harvesting monster parts from the beasts, they convinced her to let them to tag along for the extra manpower if nothing else. Once the group was in the general area of the attacks, Jake was easily able to pick up on a trail of blood spots. Presumably from victims that the monster had dragged away for consumption. This trail led to a tunnel just big enough for a large-sized creature to squeeze through. The group went through single file before coming into a large cavern filled with unusual plant life. At the far end stood the OoPA, which resembled an enlarged kangaroo (though none of the adventurers were familiar with such an animal). It snacked on fruit and most of its body was behind a large rock, preventing the adventurers from getting a clear long-distance shot at it. Brannas Blackaxe seemed content to sit back and watch with her men as the adventurers moved forward, wishing to see if their boasts about their abilities from earlier proved true. Skilled as they were, the battle that followed proved difficult for two reasons. Firstly, the kangaroo could produce different fruits from its pouch to throw at them, each of which produced a different magical impairment upon impact. And secondly, the kangaroo was not alone. A number of creatures that resembled eyeballs as large as Bogo with bat-like wings and scorpion-like tails attacked alongside the kangaroo, dripping toxic tears and stinging with their tails. When Jake attempted to retreat away from the others, the bats swarmed the isolated bugbear and quickly stung him to death while the others were dealing a death blow to the kangaroo. Despite Jake's death, Gobo's Dimensional Ripper on his person was still able to work its magic on the kangaroo corpse. Bogo produced a few diamonds to revive Jake before anything else, seeing as he was the most skilled at skinning game and such. However, though Jake had been revived before, this revival brought with it unforeseen consequences.The Herald Arrives
As Jake once again drew breath, something pushed him from beneath and caused him to roll several feet away. But though Jake himself moved, his shadow remained where it was. A skinless arm emerged from the shadow, grabbing the ground next to it as its owner pulled itself from the shadow and skin appeared on the exposed muscles. A humanoid figure the adventurers recognized as the mysterious skeleton man they'd seen before emerged from Jake's, his body now made wholly flesh as the shadows twisted around him into a suit of armor. The mystery man reveled in manifesting fully, informing the adventurers that it was all thanks to them. He had gotten caught in some sort of magical trap while plane shifting, trapping him between worlds. Only a trickle of his power could manifest on Nexus, but it was through that power that he observed Jake's original foray into the Underdark. He gave Jake the magic the bugbear would need to survive, and in doing so linked their spirits. Whenever Jake died and had his soul pulled back to the Material Plane by revival magic, he pulled another piece of the mystery man back with him. It took several of these revivals to free the mystery man from the trap completely. The mystery man, having no further use for the adventurers, decided to "thank" them by blasting the ceiling with a beam of powerful magic and send it crashing down on them. He teleported away laughing as the chamber began to crumble around them, the adventurers narrowly managing to grab the kangaroo corpse and escape alongside the Blade Guard.Bad Neighborhood
As the adventurers began to harvest bits of the kangaroo so Gobo could make more trinkets, Brannas demanded to know who or what that crazy man was. The adventurers told her what they knew, which Brannas quickly resolved to report to the Deepking ASAP. She also acknowledged that their claims about harvesting OoPA parts was true and that more of those magic knives could potentially persuade others to devote their manpower of clearing the Underdark of these things. On their way back to town, the party discussed their immediate plans with Brannas by mentioning their hunt for Diir. Though calm up to this point, Brannas quickly became enraged at the sound of the derro's name. She informed the party their idea to look for intel around the derro slums in the Old City was sound, and admitted her own men couldn't do this themselves. The derro policed themselves with a neighborhood watch that wouldn't let any other guards, not even the Blade Guard, through the Old City's still-functional iron gate. Nonetheless, Brannas offered to have her men escort the party through the Noble Quarter and to the Old City as thanks for their assistance with the kangaroo. But from there, they would be on their own. After resting up back in Brazenthrone, the party headed for the slums. Several derro stood outside the gate, one approaching and demanding to know the party's business. They claimed they were tourists here to look at the Old City's architecture. Satisfied with that reply, the guard replied they could go in if they paid the gate fee of two muffins and a live badger. And also a spoon if they wanted visitors passes they could wear. Bogo easily magicked up a badger which bit the derro when the derro picked it up. The derro considered this a positive thing and named the badger Quickbite. Elycia tried to pass off crammed together crumbs from her pack as muffins, but the derro wasn't buying it. Bogo’s insistence that they were mini-mini-mini-muffins did the trick though, and the adventurers were allowed through the iron gates that soon slammed shut behind them. From the look of this place, nothing had ever been repaired after the earthquake that caused the duergar to abandon it. Yet the derro went about their daily lives without any apparent issue with the state of their buildings. Each of these denizens displayed various signs of madness; muttering to people who weren't there, twitching involuntarily, walking rather sillily, and so forth. They were apparently unused to visitors, as several babies in wooden cages started to cry when K got too close to them. Some of these derro were better armed then others (presumably the neighborhood watch) and Bogo tried to take routes to avoid them. This lead him to a near run-in with Santaura, who was in the company of three derro. All it took was one look at her slasher smile to send Bogo packing back the way he came. Bogo bee lined back towards the others to warn them he'd just seen that crazy woman they'd told him about. K and Elycia peeked around a corner to see her walking up the steps to the Old Palace (where the party was headed). She loudly said to one of the watchmen standing on the stairs she was headed inside to meet Diir, looking back and flashing her wicked smile in the party's direction as she did so. Though the trap was obvious, the party had no choice but to proceed if they wanted to find Diir and get Yolheimsu'um's book back. Bogo hung back and hid by some cover while Elycia and K approached the guards at the stairs. Elycia spoke to them with Bogo playing translator via his Psi Crystal. The guards said no one was allowed in because the palace was old, crumbling, and dangerous. Elycia pointed out Santaura had just walked in but the guards feigned ignorance. One of them then demonstrated how crumbly the place was by pushing over a ruined pillar...right onto Elycia. Bogo ran toTunnels Beneath Brazenthrone
Forks in the Road
The air in the tunnels had a smell and taste to it, slightly metallic. Something down here, perhaps an effect of the faerzress, seemed to mute noise; water from stalactites dripped nearby, yet made no sound. The party walked ahead a few hundred feet before the path split into three branches. The elected to take the left path, which led to a small cave where pygmywort and bigwig mushrooms grew, with an even smaller tunnel at the far wall. After taking a few moments to collect the mushrooms, they made their way through the small tunnel (Elycia with her Xorn-Sole Boots, Jake and K squeezing through with their bugbear physiology, and Bogo by being small enough to fit without help). The path soon branched again, this time to the left and right. They took the left path only to immediately find another three-way branch, where they again decided to stick to the left path. This tunnel also split after a ways, the left path curving around somewhere and the right leading into a cave. Getting tired to tunnels, the party decided to check out the cave. Ahead of them inside, the stealthy adventurers saw a pair of derro and a very large dogmole, a type of star-nosed mole the size of a horse. Elycia elected to make use of her Xorn-Sole Boots to go through the wall and check out what the unseen part of the cave contained. She stuck her head out to see an ogre with a large horn on its forehead standing behind their quarry, Diir. Diir himself stood in front of a large magic circle with another derro inside. After a flash of light, the derro demonstrated his arms turning into tentacles like the one that had attacked Bogo earlier. She returned to the party and reported what she saw so they could plan out their next move.Battles in the Caves
The plan they devised was straightforward; K, Bogo, and Jake would launch an attack from afar as a distraction so Elycia could sneak back in to grab the books and papers from a table she'd seen. Hopefully one of those books would be the one stolen from Yolheimsu'um. K kept his usual blades sheathed and stuck to his shortbow to fire a barrage alongside Bogo and Jake, only entering the cave proper after Elycia returned with papers and books in hand. While the dogmole and derro that were attacked directly fought, Diir and his companions chose to flee rather than face an ambush. They fled towards a side tunnel, Diir and the newly mutated derro fleeing down it while a one-horned ogre blocked the way. The two derro broke the wooden straights on their way through, collapsing the tunnel behind them to prevent pursuit. The rest of the enemies fought on with the exception of the one-horned ogre. It stood still and made no move to defend itself, allowing itself to rack up injuries before using its greatsword to take its own life. The creature's body faded into a shadowy substance as it fell, seeming to indicate it was a creature of another plane that returned home instead of truly dying. They did manage to take one of the regular derro sorcerers managed, but for the time the man remained unconscious. While Elycia investigated the collapsed tunnel, walking through the rubble with her Xorn-Sole Boots, K and Bogo took a look at the magic circle. As he stared at the circle, Bogo felt as if he was started to...not understand it, but to feel more of it. It was linked to something, something powerful, that sought to plant a seed within him and forcefully dig its roots inside. Bogo quickly pulled away and K marred the circle with the tip of his blade to disrupt it. Elycia soon returned and informed everyone else it went too far to dig through within a reasonable amount of time. They would have to go back around instead, and quickly if they wished to catch the fleeing derro. Heading back the way they came before taking a previously unexplored tunnel, K and Bogo noticed a pair of tight side passages. They followed one that seemed to go in the direction of the cave they'd just fought in, finding the other side of the tunnel collapse after a short time. There was another path and footprints that seemed to indicate the derro had gone that way, but unfortunately, they had collapsed that route behind them as well. Heading back through the main tunnel, the adventurers soon discovered that this time an ambush was waiting for them when one of Bogo’s summoned frogs hopped into someone invisible. The derro mutated in the previous cave was present, though there was no sign of Diir. The trouble was, he was not alone. Nor were his companions more derro, but rather psionic duergar cultists like those the party had encountered before. Though the party was a good measure stronger than they were during their previous encounters, it still proved to be a difficult battle. The duergar's psionics could duplicate the effects of many spells, but their non-magical nature made them difficult to counter. K made good use of his blades this time, which caused the enemy combatants to quickly consider him the main threat. The mages focused their attacks on him, leaving K with near-fatal injuries. Bogo quickly pulled him out of the enemy's line of sight and to safety until Elycia's healing magic put him back in the fight. Though the battle was taxing on them all, the adventurers again emerged victorious. However, one of the duergar managed to flee and they were in no shape to pursue him into unknown territory. To say nothing of the fact there was still no sign of Diir, a closer examination of the books Elycia revealed the one stolen from Yolheimsu'um was not among them. As Bogo looked at them, he felt a sensation of wrongness that threatened to slip into madness. He quickly put away the books and papers, suggesting that the party should burn them immediately.To Catch a Thief (or At Least a Book)
After resting for a bit to patch themselves up, the adventurers continued to explore the tunnels. As they did, Bogo spotted a door concealed behind a patch of large mushrooms. It was blocked from the other side, and despite the best efforts of all the adventurers they were unable to force it open with brute strength. That having failed, Elycia simply used her magic boots to go around the door and lift the door bar on the other side free so the others could come through. The path beyond led to a stretch of tunnel that was unlit with faerzress, unlike the rest of the area. They crept through the darkness to peer into the cave beyond where they saw an unsettling sight. Santaura was there with Diir at her side, the book they were seeking hanging from a chain on her waist. A red crystal sat on a rock near her on a platform; across a bridge on a second platform was wreckage from the Light Gundam's base, arranged into a humanoid shape. The adventurers were preparing a sneak attack when Santaura called out a greeting to them. She was glad they were here, relishing the opportunity to take Elycia's head for her collection. The deranged woman also questioned Leh'ct's absence, still desiring a child's head for her collection and having saved the spot for him. The adventurers claimed Leh'ct was dead to keep this psychopath away from him. She told them to wait there and that she'd be with them in a minute, taking a step towards the ominous red crystal. To the adventurers, that seemed like a good que to attack. Pockets of shadows around the chamber writhed, as did the shadows in the tunnel behind them. Husks emerged; nightmarish, misshapen beings with everchanging forms that leaked darkness from their bodies. Too far away to get into stabbing distance quickly, K decided to start the fight with his shortbow while he closed the distance. Santaura replied with a ranged attack of her own, a transparent purple skull composed of raw necrotic energy. K barely managed to duck under it in time. But their combined efforts weren't enough to stop Santaura from reaching the crystal. She laid her open hand upon it and a red beam shot between the platforms, striking the broken machinery with magic that twisted and transformed it into a Void Knight. She also launched heads from her belts at the adventurers, Bogo being the first one struck as the undead head latched to his arm. The Void Knight quickly proved itself a deadly foe, using telekinetic force to seize weapons from the adventurers. Bogo was the first to learn this as his staff was pulled from his hands, the Void Knight using it to fire blasts of necrotic magic at the adventurers. Meanwhile, Elycia had got ahead of K and managed to wound Santaura severely. K caught up and entered the melee to distract the enemies and keep them off Elycia once she was injured just as badly by a retaliating Santaura. The wicked woman's injuries steadily grew, but her determination held fast. She mocked K and his fellow adventurers, stating that even if they "killed" her she'd merely return to her home plane. They could kill her again and again and again and it wouldn't matter. But she only had to kill them once. When the fatal blow was struck, her shadow lurched upward and pulled her away to parts unknown. At nearly the same moment, the situation worsened as Darkonda appeared. He complimented the adventurers (whom he referred to as "Coffin Dodgers") for managing to survive one of Santaura's games as he took the red crystal in hand. As a "reward", he let them be and teleported away (taking the Void Knight and Diir with him). Though their foes were still out there somewhere, Elycia had managed to break the chain holding Yolheimsu'um's book during the battle. Elycia herself was gravely injured and Bogo rushed over to heal her before anything else.Reporting to the Blade Guard
Injured and exhausted as they were, the group was unsure they would last back out in the tunnels (to say nothing of the angry mob back in the derro slums). Bogo surmised that if this was Diir's base of operations, he must have a way to easily access Brazenthrone from here. The adventurers searched the chamber, Jake managing to find a tiny opening in the wall. Though too large for any humanoid under normal circumstances, it could be traversed using the pygmywort the adventurers had found earlier. But rather than the whole group marching into the unknown, Bogo wild shaped into a snake and slithered through to see what was on the other side. He returned 10 minutes later and let the others know the route was safe and led to a crevice that opened up in one of Brazenthrone's residential areas. They quickly used it to get back to civilization, heading back towards the Common Quarter (to the staring eyes of several citizens) to find a guard post. The path back to the area led them directly to one, the very guard post where Bogo had previously had the door slammed in his face when they didn't believe his explanation about his uncle's magic dagger. Rather than waste words on the guards here, Bogo immediately dumped the corpse of a mutated derro out of his bag of holding and said he needed to speak with Brannas Blackaxe. One of the guards ran to fetch the captain of the Blade Guard and she arrived quickly. Bogo and Jake explained everything that had happened to her, putting extra emphasis on Diir's escape and the tunnels beneath the city. While Brannas did state the crevices had been examined for city security before, she trusted the adventurers at their word and immediately ordered guards to be posted around the area. She then thanked them for the information and said she would mention they were the source of this information in her direct report to the Deepking. With Brannas heading off to deal with that, the next order of business for the adventurers was delivering the book they'd recovered to Yolheimsu'um. Elycia protested doing this immediately for two reasons. One, she still did not believe the dragon could be trusted. Two, they were weary and wounded from their trek through the tunnels. Galmin Firechains had been threatened with death for failing to find the book and had yet to make an appearance. Despite her protests, K and the others were unconvinced the cleric would try to pull anything in either the city or the dragon's lair. So, they headed off to deliver the book.Rewards from a Dragon
Several of the Bellows were standing guard as the adventurers walked in, their way forward soon blocked by Galmin. They stated they'd found some leads in their investigation and wished to consult Yolheimsu'um on them before proceeding further. But Galmin had no intention of letting them pass, drawing his mace as his followers did the same and stating his magic could extract any useful information from their corpses so that he could find the book. Realizing Elycia had been right, Gobo quickly zipped passed Jake on his flying cloud and grabbed the book from him. They were in no condition for a fight; they had to get the book to Yolheimsu'um and hope that the dragon would protect them. While the two of them focused on that, K attacked the cultists to try and get their attention on him instead. The cultists tried to stop them, blasting Bogo and Jake with pillars of holy fire as the two dashed ahead, tossing the book between themselves in a deadly game of keep away. Bogo managed to reach the dragon while holding the book, dropping it into Yolheimsu'um's extended claw. The dragon thanked him before bellowing for Galmin, which put an immediate end to the fighting. Jake followed as Galmin approached his draconic master, shooting a knowing grin at the doomed cleric. Yolheimsu'um informed the Bellows former leader that he would continue to serve Tiamat, just not in his former capacity. A glimmer of hope sparkled in the cleric's eyes until Yolheimsu'um threw him into the nearby lava with a flick of his tail. As Galmin screamed and burned, Yolheimsu'um informed him that Tiamat's armies would use him as cannon fodder in their war against General Marshall. With that bit of business out of the way, Yolheimsu'um ordered a pair of his Bellows to retrieve the adventurers rewards. He chatted with the adventurers for a bit while they did so, soon returning with a chest carried between the two of them. Each of them received a magic item crafted here in Brazenthrone and personally picked out by Yolheimsu'um based on his observations of them. The dragon had prepared for K a Belt of the Flame Dragon, shaped in his own image to empower K's blades with fiery magic. Once all their rewards were received, the dragon dismissed them as he was eager to use the book they'd recovered to complete his near-finished iron golem.Audience with a King
A Royal Invitation
Heading back towards their lodgings, the party spotted Gobo in the market selling his OoPA-killing magic daggers. Surprisingly, Itassis was with him and helping the goblin run his makeshift market stall. Elycia asked the tabaxi why she was helping Gobo and received a vague answer that led the elf to believe Gobo had bribed her into assisting him. Just as the adventurers were preparing to collapse into their beds, there was a knock at the door. A member of the Blade Guard delivered a letter stamped with the seal of Deepking Oghren Orzammar III. The document outlined an invitation for the adventurers to join a feast at his castle the following evening as the guests of honor. They asked the guard what type of attire would be appropriate for the event and he responded it depended on how they wanted to represent themselves. K decided to go in his usual attire (minus any open weapons) to represent himself as an adventurer, but that was an issue for tomorrow after a good night's sleep.The Deepking's Feast
After spending a day resting and recovering, the Blade Guard returned to escort the adventurers through the city to the palace. Upon arriving, they noticed it was heavily fortified with defenses similar to those at the city gates and a great many guards. Said guards pointed the expected adventurers towards the throne room, where the Deepking waited for them atop his throne. One of the throne rooms many guards bade them forward and announced them as the Delvers of Secrets (a name the group has pre-selected for themselves for just such an occasion). The adventurers were ushered inside and announced by one of the guards, who asked them how they wished to identify their group. Thinking this may happen, they had picked a name beforehand and told the guard they were called the Delvers of Secrets. The Deepking and spoke of their deeds throughout Brazenthrone; stopping a rampaging giant, providing the proof and means to hunt OoPAs properly, recovering Yolheimsu'um's stolen property, and discovering the hidden tunnels below the city while chasing the infamous thief Diir out of town. And all in roughly a week's time, no less. Bogo openly commented that they really had done a lot when someone just lays it all out like that. While they had the opportunity, the adventurers directly informed the Deepking about the psionic cult they'd encountered on several occasions. They'd heard a name mentioned by the cultists, Astali, and believed it to be someone or something the cultists were worshiping. The Deepking recognized this name and informed them that Astali was a disgraced scientist. She was rumored to have conducted unethical experiments, but mysteriously disappeared while the Blade Guard was investigating those allegations. She was believed to have gone off searching for the realm of Ioun, the Knowing Mistress, the Endless Athenaeum, only to never return. The Deepking was deeply thankful for all they had done and hopped off his throne to led them to the feast hall, where they would sit at his table with him. As the adventurers began to eat their fill and enjoy the merriment, Brannas Blackaxe presented them each with a medal baring the city's seal on the Deepking's behalf. The king informed them that they were now honorary citizens of Brazenthrone and that wearing those medals would allow them to traverse the city freely without an escort. They thanked the king for this boon and continued drinking late into the night, taking a well-deserved moment to enjoy themselves before figuring out their next adventure.Repairing the Crown
We Should Probably Go Get the Others
The next morning, Itassis was waiting for the (mostly hungover) adventurers and wanted to know why she and the rest of the expedition had been camped out waiting for them to return for over a week. They explained everything that had happened during that time, which seemed to (sort of) mollify the ticked off tabaxi. As Itassis turned away, Elycia noticed her sneaking a swig from an odd looking bottle before hiding the concoction back under her cloak but decided not to ask about it. With the Delvers of Secrets schedule now free, Itassis did demand they go grab Villamax and the Thaig brothers. Several hours of walking later, the Delvers reunited with the rest of the Thaig Expedition. On the walk back to the city, they filled them in on everything that they'd been through in the last week. Though the Thaig brothers used illusionary hats of disguise to look like duergar, they opted to stay inside the apartments the Delvers had been staying at to avoid attention. Itassis said she would keep an eye on them, as Villamax quickly disappeared to check out the city's local libraries and book shops. With that matter settled, the party set their sights on their next goal: repairing the damaged Crown of Auldbearn. Given that the crown was made by surface dwarves, the group was unsure how the local duergar would react to it. So, they decided to visit the stone giants and see what Sradzar thought before taking further action.Vision from a Stone Giant Seer
Using their shiny medals to walk through Brazenthrone freely, the Delvers of Secrets made their way to the stone giant enclave. They found Sradzar at his workbench and said they had something they wanted to show him discreetly. Sradzar immediately recognized the Crown of Auldbearn, familiar with the history surrounding it, and understood the adventurers' desire for secrecy. He informed them that while the city's dragonfire forges could repair the crown, they would need some form of magical iron as well. The only such iron in this part of the Underdark that he was aware of was cold iron, a type of mineral deadly to fey when forged, located in the Shadowfell. Sradzar began to meditate and commune with the stone around him, seeking out any nearby portals leading to the Shadowfell. He spoke of seeing a petrified forest with the cold iron ore nearby and claimed that K would guide the rest of the adventurers to it. He told the bugbear to lead the Delvers out of Brazenthrone through the north gate and follow the tunnel. There he would find a sign that would lead him to what they sought. The adventurers thanked Sradzar for his assistance (and confirmed he would keep the crown's existence between them) and set off towards the north gate after restocking on supplies.Elycia Gets Cursed
The tunnel Sradzar told the adventurers to follow eventually split, but K noticed movement going down one passageway. He followed a spotted a moth, causing the murderous force within him to well up. But this time he refrained from killing the insect when he noticed its coloration. This moth had different colors on each wing; one was the color of his mother's eyes and the other of her hair. The memories of his loving mother allowed K to suppress the murderous rage for the first time. This was surely the sign that Sradzar had spoken of and seemed to hint at some connection between his mother and Mother Moth. He followed the moth, the rest of the Delvers of Secrets still behind him. As the group approached a series of tunnels, the moth began to flutter erratically. Bogo heard the sound of a hoof on stone ahead, an odd noise to hear in the Underdark. The party readied themselves for battles as a group of demons approached them. The clopping came from armanites, demons that resembled corrupted centaurs with sword-like tails. They were accompanied by echo demons, which resembled man-sized bipedal bats. The battle quickly turned fierce, the armanties firing bolts of lightning and the echo demons letting out tunnel shaking shrieks. That tunnel shaking quickly turned into tunnel collapsing and the adventurers began to retreat. As they did, K killed a demon that was standing next to Elycia and its corpse exploded into demonic ichor. Elycia's body was unable to resist the ichor's mutating effects, causing her arms & legs to switch places. With her unable to flee under her own power, Bogo summoned a parliament of giant owls to carry the party forward ahead of the collapsing ceiling. The owls kept going until the group found a place to rest and plan out their next move.Back to the Shadowfell
With Elycia unable to walk and the party unable to undo the curse afflicting her, Bogo loaned her his magic cloud and wild shaped into a bat so he could hang from K's backpack. After healing their wounds from the last battle, they continued to follow the moth. It led them to a chamber with a large, shadowy pit. Bogo flew down to scout and passed through a thick fog, emerging through clouds in the sky of the Shadowfell. Elycia used the cloud to ferry Jake and K down to the forest below one at a time. Upon arriving, the adventurers (sans Bogo) recognized this forest. It was the one they had passed through shortly before discovering the Crown of Auldbearn's resting place. But whereas they had traveled north their first time here, this time the moth led them east. They walked for a short time along a road before Bogo noticed some of the shadows in the nearby bushes and trees seemed to be moving. The party was quickly assailed by a group of shadow mastiffs, the growling and howling dogs drooling with hunger. Though the dogs fought viciously, they were quick to flee once the pack lord (which was greatly weakened by Elycia's divine magic) was slain. Fortunately, the party came through this conflict with minimal injuries. They did not have to travel much further before spotting a light in the distance. Squinting through the darkness as they approached, Elycia recognized the tents set up as elven military equipment. As the adventurers approached, the camp was empty and silent with not a soul in sight. Wards had been placed around the area to allow for light and keep the worst of the shadows corruption at bay. Elycia stated that the elves would not simply abandon so much equipment here. They must be somewhere nearby and must have expected battle to leave their non-combat gear here so it wouldn't slow them down. As if on cue, Elycia heard a twig snap nearby. While the others hid in case it was something hostile, Elycia approached and called out to whatever made the noise. It turned out to be Private Hym, the scout of Elycia's old Silver Falcons squad.Marching East
Hym was injured, his flesh torn and burnt in various places. He seemed hesitant to associate with Elycia, what with her being dishonorably discharged (not to mention her limbs currently being switched), but also very aware he needed help. Elycia convinced Hym to let her tend to his wounds before asking him what happened. Hym told her his squad had been ambushed by something that resembled a dragon, seeming to think their mission was a failure because of it. He managed to escape thanks to his speed but didn't know where the rest of his squad was or if they were even still alive. Unfortunately, it seemed this encounter had happened in the direction the moth had been leading the adventurers. They left the injured elf to rest while starting to steel themselves for a battle against a dragon. As they traveled towards their next battlefield, Elycia and Bogo noticed as shadows began to thicken around Jake. Surged towards him, flowing up and around his body as they encased the helmeted bugbear and obscured him entirely. Elycia called out to Jake and asked if he was alright. He replied, "Yes," but his answer didn't seem directed at her. His voice was distant and unfocused, as if addressing another. A mote of darkness, flickering like black fire, appeared in front of him. Jake seized it and the darkness surged. It flared around him before collapsing inward, seeming to find a home in Jake's physical form. As the shadows faded, Elycia and the others noted a symbol that had appeared on Jake's helmet, a black circle rimmed by a purple ring. Seeing as what just happened in no way seemed like a good thing, Bogo cautiously asked if Jake was ok. The bugbear stated he was and still sounded the same, but Bogo remained cautious. Neither he nor any of the others recognized the symbol now adorning Jake's helmet, so that didn't help. With nothing else to be done about this matter at this exact moment, the group pressed on with their march east. It wasn't long before the spotted an odd sight up ahead. Grass, a whole field of it in the Shadowfell of all places. While the place looked comforting & inviting, to the adventurers it screamed "trap" given where they were. They decided to skirt around the field's perimeter until they reached the other side and keep heading east from there.Shadows in the Mine
After a few more hours of walking, they saw a cliffside with a hole in it flanked by two enormous dwarven statues. The opening was clearly an entrance, but it was blocked by a wall of writhing shadows. Bogo attempted to send one of his summoned creatures through, but the shadows appeared solid to it. Elycia had no better luck traversing the barrier, nor the rock that K threw at it. But when Jake (reluctantly, at the others pressuring) reached out to touch it, the new symbol on his helm glowed faintly and the shadows parted. Ahead was a mine tunnel, the tracks going down the main way while also branching off into many side passages. The group entered the tunnels but didn't get far before the shadows inside the mine moved to attack them. Not individually, as undead shadows often do, but having merged into a monstrous overshadow. The adventurers’ attacks proved ineffective against the creature, with the exception of Elycia's divine magic, but they powered through and continued striking the creature until it dissipated. Out of imminent danger, they began to explore their surroundings. The mine was clearly ancient and seemed to have been abandoned for centuries, if not millennia. But it was not uninhabited; a trio of shadow panthers crept up behind Jake and struck him when he lingered too far behind the others, only to flee when the adventurers retaliated. It was not long after that they determined they may not have been what the panthers fled from. As they continued to progress, Jake cried out and claimed that Elycia was about to walk into a large web. The others looked where he pointed and saw nothing, though Jake continued to insist a web was there. The adventurers quickly learned what spun them when a mated pair of darkweavers attacked, one grabbing Bogo and the other Elycia with their thread. Jake moved to help Bogo while K ran to assist Elycia. These creatures, like the overshadow at the entrance, seemed to be protected by a veil of shadows that resisted anything that wasn't holy magic. Though already somewhat fatigued, the adventurers fought back fiercely. One of the darkweavers fought until the death while the other attempted to flee, only to be brought down by Jake before it could make its escape. Investigating nearby, K discovered the creatures’ nest and a large cluster of eggs. He wasted no time in destroying the eggs while noting several dead creatures laying nearby, presumably as food for the infant monsters that would now never hatch. There was one of those shadow panthers, a deep gnome, and some manner of grey-skinned elf that K did not recognize. He claimed the slain elf's weapon, some sort of spiked chain, but otherwise left the remains undisturbed.Library Heist
The adventurers remained undisturbed after their encounter with the darkweavers, finding that rest of the complex appeared empty. The passed through many old workrooms, finding nothing of note other than a spell scroll uncovered by Elycia and thick layers of dust. While passing through what appeared to be a holding area (which Bogo speculated might've been built to give the miners a safe place to sleep in case monsters snuck into the mine), they began to hear a voice. It sounded elderly and grumpy, its musings interrupted by the occasional sound of something hitting the floor with a loud thump. Jake, as the currently least injured member of the group, was strongarmed into scouting ahead. He followed the noise to a closed door and reported back to the others. The group decided they would throw the door open and attack whatever was inside if it proved hostile. They did so, the first creature they spied being a large, armored golem. The only other creature was the source of the grumpy musings. None of the Delvers recognized it, but it resembled a hunchbacked individual that was a cross between a human and a vulture. The room these individuals stood in appeared to be a library. The vulture-man was going through its books and tossing aside those he deemed uninteresting. He took at look at the adventurers who had just thrown the door open, weapons drawn and at the ready, and promptly ignored them to keep perusing the books. Elycia tried to talk to the vulture-man, asking who he was and what he was doing here, and he promptly told her to buzz off and stop bothering him. She kept trying to communicate but swiftly annoyed the vulture-man enough that he commanded his golem to slam the doors shut in the adventurers faces. Bogo suggested going in there by force, killing the guy, and taking anything valuable in retaliation. Elycia and Jake weren't sure about that and K outright objected to the idea, seeming to be against wearing themselves out when they didn't know what was waiting for them in the unexplored sections of the mine. However, K remembered the group's promise to Villamax to collect any books for him they could during this adventure. He suggested trying to find another way in and taking what books them could before the vulture-man noticed them. While some of the others had reservations about K’s idea too, he made it clear he was going to keep his word to Villamax with or without the rest of them. They crept through the nearby tunnels, eventually finding a back way into the library. Jake cast a silence spell in the area to keep their movements quiet and stop the creaky door hinges from giving them away, careful not to get the vulture-man or golem in the spells range either to avoid tipping them off that way either. While he and Elycia kept lookout, Bogo and K snuck in and filled their bag of holding with as many books from the rear shelves as they could. They had to work quickly, the vulture-man's shadow growing closer as he began to move towards the back of the library. At K’s signal, they made a swift exit and retreated far from the library before the vulture-man could notice anything wrong.Ambush at the Gates
After taking a bit of time to rest up in a secure-looking room, the adventurers decided to trace their steps back towards the passage the moth guiding them had seemed excited about before. It led them down a rough tunnel that began to flood after a ways. The water was shallow at first, scarcely up to their ankles, but quickly grew deep enough that they had to swim, climb, or float their way through the rest of the tunnel. It opened up into a large chamber illuminated by orange crystals that were surrounded by moths made of light. These crystals sat on the remains of an ancient structure, on the far side of which was a gate made of gold. Just as the adventurers stepped up to examine it, they heard splashes nearby as a pair of waterkleddes burst from the water to attack. Accompanying them was the bounty hunter Vex and Crow Eldingar Toreros, who swiftly joined in on the ambush. The waterkleddes quickly found themselves unable to approach the area the adventurers were in, the ruin being protected by magic that repelled otherworldly creatures. K made the most of his maneuverability during the battle, striking at the waterkleddes initially to try and eliminate the familiar foes quickly. But the bounty hunters weren't lax either and the two of them hit hard. Individually, they were more skilled than any single member of the Delvers of Secrets. As the fight dragged on, it began to become apparent that the wounded and weary adventurers couldn't match the bounty hunters. But K had discovered a way out; text appeared on the golden door as he approached it, spelling out a riddle. He quickly solved it only for another to appear. Bogo and a heavily injured Jake rushed over, their added presence spawning the riddles faster, while Elycia held the line against the bounty hunters. To assist her in doing so, Bogo used his magic to transform her into powerful beasts. First a tyrannosaurus rex, then (after the rex form was heavily injured) a huge giant crab. While she kept the bounty hunters at bay, Bogo and the rest solved riddle after riddle. Once they had solved the last, a new line of text appeared telling them they had all they needed to open the door. Wracking their brains, Jake realized the first letter of each answer spelled out "snap twice". Bogo did so and the door swung open. But as he did, he felt his magic breaking and looked back to see Elycia struck down by Eldingar's enchanted electrified sword. Thinking fast, Bogo used a thorn whip spell to grab Elycia's body away from the villains and jumped through the golden gate alongside his comrades, its door slamming shut behind them.Meeting Mother Moth
The gate closed behind them; the adventurers found themselves in a new, strange place. They stood in the ankle deep water of a shallow stream, grass and trees alit with the light of luminescent insects. Bogo wasted no time in using some of his stashed diamonds to restore Elycia to life. Jake passed out what goodberries he had remaining, allowing the adventurers to receive some modicum of healing. The moth that had guided them fluttered ahead excitedly. K advised they all ready their weapons and prepare to fight best they could with their injuries. He suspected that Mother Moth was ahead and expected her to be hostile. The group moved slowly forward. They did not have to follow the stream far, merely a few dozen feet, before they turned a bend and found themselves on the edge of a pond. It appeared just as shallow as the stream and featured an island at its center. Atop the island sat a golden gazebo that housed an equally ornate table and accompanying chairs. A woman sat in one of these chairs, dressed in a plain gray dress with long silver hair and moth-like wings protruding from her back. Mother Moth sipped on a teacup while the adventurers pondered what to do next. K still seemed to be struggling mentally, his dark urges to inflict harm upon Mother Moth barely staved off thanks to Elycia's holy aura. K took the lead in approaching her with choice words prepared for the godly archfey. K accused Mother Moth of being at fault for his tyrant father's increase in power, letting M deceive her to steal her power. Mother Moth rebuffed his claims, informing the bugbear that he did not have a full story. Before the conversation continued, she suddenly appeared between K and Elycia. None of the adventurers had even seen her move, nor any signs of teleportation magic. With a flick of her wrist, Mother Moth released a moth-shaped mote of light that multiplied into a swarm which cocooned Elycia and cured her of the demonic curse that had switched her limbs. By the time the others looked away from Elycia and back at Mother Moth, the deity was back in her chair sipping her tea once again. The other chairs around her table scooted themselves out and she invited the adventurers to sit. The Delvers of Secrets sat, K sitting closest to Mother Moth and still somewhat seething. His comments to her were filled with animus and she commented that his every step betrayed his detestation. K again belittled her, this time indirectly, by stating everyone who'd ever allowed themselves to be tricked by his father was a fool. Mother Moth asked if that included his mother and struck a nerve with K. She interrupted him as he sprung to defend his mother's honor, revealing that it had been K’s mother who was used to siphon Mother Moth's power. As both a deity and archfey, Mother Moth possessed the ability to grant mortals magic both divine and arcane in nature. K’s mother was given the latter, and Mother Moth claimed his late mother had been one of her greatest warlocks. K was silent for a moment, before commenting that his mother had never gone into much detail about her life before his birth. Mother Moth stated it was not her fault, the blame lay with his father, and accepted that part of the responsibility was also her own. She had been M's target and K’s mother had been caught in the crossfire. The aid she would give him now was a way of repaying that due, at least in part. She told K that his anger was a curse, one placed beneath his Curse of the Ethereal Bound to conceal it from magical detection. It was not within her power to remove this curse as she had the one on Elycia, for it had been placed by M and his power currently exceeded Mother Moth's own. But that did not mean she had no way to help K. Mother Moth disappeared faster than the blink of an eye, reappearing on the grass beside the gazebo. She beckoned K forward, he coming to her side while his friends got up to follow. Mother Moth educated K about the nature of fey; they were creatures of emotion, which bound them to certain behaviors in addition to certain rules. M was a member of the Unseelie Court, those fey who rallied behind emotions mortals considered negative. Fear, anger, hatred...vengeance. So long as K sought revenge against his father while holding bloodlust in his heart, he would fail. As he openly pondered what to do next, Mother Moth conjured a life-size, transparent illusion of Sonya Snowborne. Though M was ignorant of Sonya and her relationship to K for the time being, Mother Moth warned it was only a matter of time before he discovered her and attempted to use their relationship to his advantage. This worried K somewhat, though Mother Moth assured him that Red was keeping an eye on his fiancée at her behest. Though Red was not as powerful as M, he could still make enough of a scene that it would draw attention M did not want on himself just yet. Despite M being likely to view Sonya as a weakness, Mother Moth insisted that she would be K’s trump card. Filling his heart with the fear of losing her and turning that into a new strength, one fueled by love, would give him an edge over his father. But that would not be the only edge he would take into battle against M. Mother Moth bade K to lay the spiked chain he'd found in the abandoned mine onto the ground. She ran her hand along its length in the air above it, transforming it into a Cold Iron Weapon, a rapier more suited to K’s talents. That was all the aid Mother Moth could provide him for now, though she commented she would keep her eyes open for any additional opportunities to do so. She then informed the adventurers that their bounty hunter adversaries had left the area and that they were free to rest here before returning to the mine in search of the rest of the magic iron needed to repair the Crown of Auldbearn (she herself was unable to repair it, the crown having originally been made with the blessings of dwarven deities).Incursion Against Squad Sixteen
Leaving Mother Moth's demiplane, the adventurers returned to search the unexplored sections of the mine in hopes of finding the cold iron ore they needed. Though they did not locate the ore, they did discover several signs of recent passage. Someone else had been here not long before them and seemed to have made off with the goods. They exited to find fresh tracks outside the mine, heading back west in the direction the adventurers had first come from. The Delvers traced their steps, noting that the grassy field they had seen on the way here was now gone. The path soon led them back to the elven camp where it seemed the Silver Falcons Squad Sixteen had reunited. Elycia approached the camp alone while her companions hid in the nearby brush. Reflecting on what she'd learned during her time in Arvandor, she decided to try and get through to them. To say Sergeant Keebler was less than enthusiastic to see her again was something of an understatement; he outright stated she was not welcome in their camp and ordered her to leave. Elycia refused, pleading with the elves and trying to get through to them to save their souls. She was asked twice more to vacate the premises and each time refused. The sergeant was apparently not in the mood to ask a fourth time and stated that if she wasn't going to leave, then she was being arrested and taken back to the empire for military tribunal. One of his men approached with manacles. Elycia took a step back, prompting Keebler to draw his spear at her apparent attempt to flee the arrest. K took that as a sign to open fire, prompting Jake and Bogo to do the same immediately after. Though the elves coordinated together decently, they were not as skilled as the seasoned adventurers and began to fall one by one. Though Elycia wished to take them down non-lethally, her friends lacked the skillset to do so and brought the soldiers down fatally. But before her death, the arcane caster of the group used a sending spell to inform the elven empire that Elycia lived, and that she and her allies were responsible for Squad Sixteen's deaths. Furthermore, the scout Hym managed to flee the battle when it became clear it was a lost cause, tearfully apologizing to her fallen comrades as she retreated alone. Elycia stepped away as the battle ended, needing a moment to herself. She reflected on how she wished this situation had been different, how the other elves could've just listened to the truth instead of it all coming to terrible violence. She returned sometime later, having collected herself somewhat, to find her comrades had recovered a small chest of cold iron ore as well as a small horde's worth of dragon treasure. While they sorted through the goods, Elycia prepared a pyre and cremated the elves bodies to prevent the Shadowfell's magic from twisting their cadavers into undead. With that grim task behind her, the group carried on back to the area where they had entered the Shadowfell so they could take the portal back to the Underdark.A Walk Through the Shadow Roads
Jake led the way back, having memorized their previous route. Upon arriving, Bogo took his flying cloud up into the sky to see if the route back up was safe. While there was no imminent danger present, he soon found that the portal had disappeared without a trace. He relayed this news to the others after coming back down and, with no other options they could think of, the group resolved to return to Mother Moth and ask for her assistance. Traveling back the way they came yet again, they arrived at the spot where they'd previously been ambushed by the pack of shadow mastiffs. On alert for potential ambushes in the dangerous terrain this time, Bogo heard something rather odd coming from the path ahead. It sounded like a person humming a tune. The rest of the group elected Elycia to make contact while they hid nearby to observe the situation. Around the bend came a man in a tattered suit. He wore an equally tattered top hat and carried a beat-up old cane, the shadows around his feet swirling and seeming to dance with his tune. The man quickly noticed Elycia and greeted her, openly wondering what a lone elven maiden like herself was doing in a place like the Shadowfell. Elycia told him she'd been traveling with a group before being separated from them and now sought a way out of the plane. The man asked where she was from but Elycia, suspecting she was dealing with a fey, answered where she was from was not where she was going. After a bit of polite back-and-forthness, the man in a tattered suit claimed he could get her where she needed to go if she had anything worthwhile the trade. Thinking on what she knew of the Rules of Fey Etiquette, Elycia produced a dark cloak that had been given to her by Leh'ct. The man in a tattered suit asked to examine it noted it was of a good make, a good color, and carried a strong sentiment with it. He seemed willing to accept the article as payment for taking Elycia back in the direction of Brazenthrone and she followed after him as he led her down a beaten path nearby. They did not travel far before he advised her of a few rules, his voice suddenly taking a much more serious tone. Lock arms with him and do not let go, do not stray from the path, and should she stray from the path somehow regardless, do not fall. He tapped his cane on the ground twice and a doorway of darkness opened in front of them, the pair stepping through with the door closing right behind them. With no way to follow them, Bogo and the others opted to keep heading back towards Mother Moth for help. They made it as far as the elven camp before Elycia popped back up in the company of Villamax, whom she'd retrieved to fetch the rest of them after making it back to the Material Plane with the help of the man in a tattered suit. K took a moment to give Villamax the books he and Bogo had recovered in the ancient mine before the wizard moved them all back to Brazenthrone. The group walked back to the apartments (where Villamax was quick to shut himself inside so he could start going over all those books) and started to puzzle out how to get the Crown of Auldbearn repaired. K suggested taking it to the stone giants, but Elycia reminded him Sradzar had said the giants didn't have the means to repair the crown themselves. Not knowing any local smiths, the group decided to ask for help from a friend who likely did and went to find Jenlin Keenpast at her shop. Jenlin was carrying a box of goods from her warehouse to her office as the adventurers entered, briefly explaining they had something they needed a smith who wouldn't ask questions to repair something. She inquired whether the hush-hush nature was because the item was valuable or volatile. The adventurers confirming it was the former seemed to relax her and she said she'd make the introduction if they bought her a few drinks, noting that she wouldn't feel right asking for more than that now that they were something of local celebrities.The Crown Restored
Jenlin told the adventurers to come back the next day around noon and she would take them to see a friend of hers in the Anvil Quarter. The following afternoon, she led them through the city streets to a ramshackle shop on the edge of the river with a waterwheel on its side and loud clanging coming from within. She had to bang on the door several times before the building's inhabitant heard her over all the clanging. A soot covered duergar in an apron opened up, took one look at Jenlin, and shut the door in her face saying something about "never again, not after last time". Jenlin told the man she'd already apologized about the thing with the giant spiders (emphasizing he still owed her for saving him from the arachnids). He reluctantly opened the door back up and Jenlin motioned for the adventurers to explain why they were here. The smith believed he could fix the crown but said it would take a few days, telling the adventurers to come back then. The Delvers spent those next few days preparing for the journey to come, purchasing supplies for the weeks of travel ahead and getting a little R&R while they had the opportunity. They also took the time to talk to the other members of the expedition and work out their game plan once they reached Vlyn'darastyl. The others had been doing research on the drow city and unsurprisingly, given drow culture, found the settlement to be nearly impregnable. It was built like a fortress with wards against teleportation, elementals, and anything else the drow's many enemies could try to use against them. Villamax figured the Delvers getting caught or spotted was likely, so he gave them one of two Sending Stones to signal himself and Itassis. They would sneak into the city through another entrance and make a diversion to distract the drow once the Delvers gave the word. Three days later the adventurers returned to the smith and as promised, the Crown of Auldbearn had been restored.Vlyn'darastyl: The City of Lolth
Dangers on the Road
As before, the Delvers took point from the rest of the expedition as the group began their weeks long walk to Vlyn'darastyl. While most of the threats along the way were no match for a group of seasoned adventurers, there were still those that posed a challenge. The first of these was a large crevice that stretched clear across a chamber containing the road. Bogo flew down to see what was down there only to be thrown out and left coughing by an eruption of sulfuric fumes. After recovering, the goblin used his magic to make a temporary landbridge that proved just stable enough to last until the adventurers had crossed. Their next challenge came in the form of another cavern, this one containing natural bridges wet with slick clay that crisscrossed above pools of acid. Bogo attempted to use his magic to move the slippery clay out of the way, only to find his spell had no effect on a particular patch of clay. He attacked the patch and it rose up in the form of a clay golem. Though the party was able to damage the now-aggressive construct, the golem used the pools within the room to soak up acid and heal itself faster than the adventurers were able to damage it. With no easy way to destroy the construct, the adventurers elected to simply cross the room and continue on their way rather than risk continuing a fight that would gain them little if any reward. The last true danger before reaching Vlyn'darastyl came from a chamber covered in red moss with red crystals jutting up from the ground, bones scattered among the floor. A suspicious Elycia used her holy powers the determine one of the bone piles was an undead, prompting the adventurers to attack it before it tried doing the same to them. The bones rose up and formed a large troll skeleton covered in thorned vine. This skeleton appeared to possess the same regeneration powers as a troll, prompting the adventurers to use fire against it. However, the crystal in the room drew in and absorbed any fire before it could reach the troll skeleton. It became a battle of attrition as the Delvers were forced to hold off the skeleton while smashing the crystals, a task further impeded by toxic spores the red moss would spray upwards if stepped on. This was not an easy task, for the piercing weapons carried by the adventurers proved ill-suited for smashing crystals. Noting this, Bogo reached out to the primal source of his druidic magic and prayed for something, anything, that would ease their task. His prayer was answered in the form of a herd of hadrosaurs that were quickly able to destroy the remaining crystals with their thick tails. With the crystals’ protection gone, the adventurers fire magic lit up the troll skeleton like dry wood and cleared the way forward.Entering Vlyn'darastyl
Approaching the outskirts of Vlyn'darastyl, two paths laid before the Delvers. One led to the city's main gates, where it was said no non-drow ever passed lest they were clamped in iron. The other led to a market outside the city's walls where the drow conducted trade with foreigners. The adventurers opted to check out the market first and see what they could find there. The market could only be accessed by waterway from outside the city, so the Delvers threw together a makeshift raft to make the journey dry. While his comrades were doing that, Bogo turned himself into a fish to scout the waters ahead. While they appeared safe for boat travel, the sand at the bottom was littered with traps that would make sneaking through difficult. Entering the market proper, a guard stopped the group and questioned their reason for entry. They simply stated they were adventurers looking to purchase supplies and provisions, which seemed a good enough answer for the guardsman. The group split up to explore the area, Bogo wandering for a just a bit before making his way into the local tavern where K was drinking. While there was no obvious unguarded way into the city from here, Elycia observed that the stream seemed to run directly into a solid wall. Gobo surmised there must be an underwater tunnel leading into the city and went to an unobtrusive spot to change back into a fish & investigate. Rather than locating an underwater tunnel, he found that the wall was an illusion. Gobo reported his findings to his fellow adventurers and they decided that this would be their easiest entry point into the city. The Delvers left the market and headed back downstream where they could act unobserved. Once there, Bogo used his magic to turn the whole group into tiny fish that could nimbly avoid the waters traps. They swam up the stream, through the illusion, and into Vlyn'darastyl.Stealth Approach
The stream soon widened into a river that ran clear through Vlyn'darastyl, though the adventurers could only follow it so far. Still a ways from their destination, they came to a waterfall their fishy forms had no hope of traversing. Flopping out of the water and changing back to their usual selves, Bogo used his magic once again but this time to turn the adventurers into bats. They managed to fly across the city away from prying eyes and made their way to the building that was once the ancestral home of the Thaig brothers family. The building was well defended; thick, warded stone walls and a pair of elite guards on the only doorway in. The attic was lined with murderholes manned by more guards with crossbows, holes just large enough for a group of bats to squeeze through while the guards were busy talking amongst themselves. Knowing from the information the Thaig brothers provided that they needed to reach the basement, they quickly flew down a series of staircases. The house was eerily quiet and practically empty, the Delvers spying only one other guard inside who looked even more impressive than the others. Deciding not to mess with that guy, they flew into the basement and turned back into their humanoid forms. Though the basement seemed chiefly used for storage, it also housed a number of statues that seemed dedicated to the Spider Queen. Most depicted giant spiders with one noteworthy exception. The most immaculate of the statues resembled a drow woman but stood 12 feet tall and bore six arms to bring its number of appendages up to eight. As the group moved to explore, webbing appeared over the staircase and the doors of the room to block both the way forward and way back. The tall statue moved forward and revealed itself to be a spiderstone golem as a scimitar appeared in each of its six hands. Several decorative suits of armor also began moving of their own volition, revealing themselves to be helmed horrors. At the same time, down near the spiderstone golem, faint glows appeared around the corners of the t-shaped hallways.Basement Battle
The constructs lunged forward, focusing their fury on the intruding adventurers. As the two sides began to trade blows a pair of Abyssal portals around the corners opened, one spewing out a shadow demon and the other a barlgura. As the first helmed horror fell, the portals flashed again and a second pair of demons appeared. It was clear to the adventurers that the portals would continue to expel demons from the Abyss' seemingly endless hordes if left unchecked. But the spiderstone golem was the most immediate threat, its six scimitars a weaving display of slashing blades. Though the golem could withstand much punishment, it soon fell to the onslaught of the adventurers’ magic weapons. With that threat eliminated, Elycia was the first to rush towards one of the portals. She used her radiant magic to push an emerging barlgura back to its demonic home, the holy power she emitted seeming to have an adverse effect on the portal. Bogo used his own magic to summon a troupe of pixies, which in turn focused their magic on the portals to dispel their Abyssal energies. As the first portal began to close, it began to forcibly pull the barlguras it had summoned back into the Abyss. Within seconds the ape-like demons were banished from the Material Plane, their shadow demon cousins soon following as second half of the pixie troupe turned their magic on the second portal. With the demons gone, the remaining helmed horror fell in short order.Icky Spiders
The battle was over, but it had been a noisy affair and the party was leery of who would come investigating. But while the monsters defeated coincided with the disappearance of the webs blocking the doors, the ones covering the stairs remained. The group split up to expedite their search, Elycia finding a collapsed wall leading to a downward sloping tunnel. With no way to go but forward, the adventurers stepped through the dark opening. They walked for hours before noting an opening up ahead, Bogo taking the time to summon a smoke para-elemental that could aid them before the Delvers stepped forward. The natural looking tunnel gave way to worked stone as they stepped into a small area that seemed to contain a quartet of simple sleeping chambers and locked doors. Bogo was able to pop one of the locks rather easily and swung the door open, revealed a larger chamber with a massive hole in its center. This hole was not empty; a stone platform was suspended in its center by the countless strands of spider webs that covered the rest of the area. Bogo gave that a hard "nope" and opted to hang back while Elycia investigated the way forward, hoping across narrow ridges on the side of the chamber to make her way across the hole. As she moved to investigate the tunnel on the far side of the tunnel, the way forward was blocked when webs magically appeared in her way. The other adventurers, glancing behind themselves, noticed webs also appeared to block the tunnel they came from just as they heard the skittering of many legs coming from the large tunnels littering the side of the giant hole. Thinking it likely this was a breeding ground for giant spiders, Bogo turned into a giant spider himself to see if he could talk down the approaching creatures. Unfortunately, the monsters that emerged were no normal giant spiders but demonfeed spiders, animals turned fiends from being fed a steady diet of demon flesh. Sensing the demonic nature of these creatures, Elycia unleashed the fury of her paladin powers to put a fear of her holiness into these unholiest of arachnids, sending them scurrying away from her in fear. With the demonfeed spiders panicked, the adventurers had little trouble eliminating them one by one, but the demise of the demonfeed spiders did not mark the end of their troubles. The corpse of one spider twitched, some invisible force throwing it onto the stone platform in the center of the chamber. The adventurers quickly stepped back, unsure of what was coming but positive that it would spell more danger for them. As the last corpse piled on top of the rest, the bodies began to ripple like fluid and fuse together into a writhing black blob. The blob began to take form, resembling the shape of a drider but much, much larger. But this form was no simple drider, not as its coalescence of darkness began to move with fluid arachnid grace. This was Lolth, the Spider Queen herself, who stood before the adventurers.In the Spider Queen's Web
Lolth AppearsIn the shadowed sanctum of the Spider Queen's domain, where the ancient, stone architecture intertwines like the complex patterns of a spider's web, a palpable tension fills the air, as dense and foreboding as the underbelly of the Underdark itself. From the remnants of fallen demonfeed spiders, a new entity begins to coalesce, the pile of remains merging into a singular manifestation of flesh and dark divinity. Rising before the intruders is an incarnation of Lolth, the Sovereign of the Demonweb Pits, the deity revered and feared for her dominion over deceit and spiders. Her voice, a chilling harmony laced with the anguish of countless tormented souls, permeates the unholy expanse of her sanctum.
The very foundations seem to resonate with her indignation, "You dare to encroach upon my consecrated domain, to sully this revered sanctuary with your presence? You, mere strands in the vast tapestry of my divine designs, possess the temerity to defy my will, to interrupt the hallowed ceremonies that weave together chaos and order under my reign?"
There's a solemn pause, heavy with the promise of eternity, as her form undulates with a blend of darkness and arachnid elegance.
"Be certain, mortals: each step you've ventured within my realm has been under my eye, every decision you've made caught within my web. You have been led here, not by chance, but by my will, drawn into this place of power as inevitably as a moth is to flame. Yet, do not despair, for I embody both cruelty and magnanimity. The end of your mortal coils shall be swift, a mere prelude to the true ordeal awaiting your souls within the confines of my Demonweb Pits.
This is the extent of my benevolence within these sacred walls."
With these words, the incarnation of Lolth, her gaze alight with a menacing glow, prepares for the impending conflict, the air around her electrified with the very essence of the Abyss. The souls of you trespassing adventurers, mere mortals ensnared in the web of a goddess's fury, teeter on the brink, a tribute to your bravery—or possibly your naivety—in the face of divine vengeance.
A wave of Abyssal energy erupted from the Spider Queen's incarnation, demolishing the nearby walls and knocking every adventurer save K off their feet. His resilience captured Lolth's attention; the dark goddess firing a wall of webbing at the bugbear that ensnared him in a cocoon on impact. She advanced upon him, slashing at the rogue with her multi-headed whip and impaling his shoulder with the tip of one of her legs, as sharp as an enchanted spear. Elycia was the first to strike back against the evil deity's fury, leaping forward and striking Lolth with a powerful kick infused with radiant magic, packing enough force to knock the Spider Queen back. Jake was next to deal her damage, using his enchanted arrows. Already the Spider Queen's wounds began to heal, but not at a terribly remarkable rate. The adventurers surmised that this was not a true avatar they were facing but rather a weaker reincarnation. Though Lolth's form paled in power compared to an avatar, it was nonetheless still a manifestation of an enraged goddess. Demonstrating her still great power, Lolth summoned one of her Yochlol handmaidens to her aid. The demonic pair attempted to use their magic to control the minds of Jake and Elycia, but luckily the two adventurers were able to withstand the effects of the enchantment magic. Despite that success, it was clear that as things stood the adventurers would not outlast Lolth in a battle of attrition. To remedy this, Bogo used his magic to summon forth a troupe of pixies from the Feywild that used their own magic to transform the adventurers into a terror of tyrannosauruses. While these hulking beastly forms provided an extra layer of fortitude for the adventurers, it was a double-edged sword as the loss of their magical weapons now made it more difficult to injure the Spider Queen and her servant. For Bogo the situation was even worse; Lolth sneered at the druid and commanded her Yochlol to assist her in slaying him first. The onslaught soon knocked Bogo out of his tyrannosaur form, his concentration on his pixies broken and the fey vanishing back to the Feywild. Though his friends tried to intervene, they could not do so quickly enough and the Spider Queen claimed Bogo’s life as well as his soul, which she threw into her Demonweb Pits as she proclaimed the remaining adventurers souls would soon follow. The situation was desperate as Lolth ordered her handmaiden to focus on K next. The Spider Queen's assault forced K back into his humanoid form. K pulled out his necklace of holy symbols, holding up Lolth's own emblem and claiming he was one of her believers. The Spider Queen chastised him for attempting to lie to the Mistress of Lies, prompting K to throw away his false symbols and declare his true loyalty for Sehanine Moonbow, much to Lolth's ire. Injured as K had quickly become, Rexlycia was forced to pick him up in her mouth and use her own body to shield him from fatal wounds. Jake's tyrannosaur form managed to seize the Yochlol in its jaws to keep her away from the others as K used his magic belt to shoot a gout of fire at the Spider Queen from inside Rexlycia’s mouth. But just then, a bite from Lolth's venomous fangs revered Elycia to her humanoid form as well. Just as K was about to be struck down, Elycia reached into the depths of her magic and conjured a focused beam of moonlight down upon Lolth. The power of the moon, a sign of her hated enemy Sehanine Moonbow, turned Lolth's annoyance into true fury as she turned her rage towards the elven paladin. The injuries Lolth inflicted upon her were devastating, rapidly taking the noble elf within an inch of her life. Lolth's whip cracked, the sharp tips of her leg impaled, the fangs of her spider's maw bit down and injected venom. But before the Spider Queen could strike her a fatal blow, K jumped back into the fray with his enchanted dagger and struck the incarnation of Lolth in the heart. He proudly declared that her threat to them ended here, but Lolth declared that should it take decades, centuries, or even millennia, she would lay claim to their souls as she had Bogo's.
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