ToM Session 22: Defending Umderlain

With war breaking out in the underdark they recently escaped, Hilbrent enchants equipment for the party. Doane’s pistols he empowers with greatly improved accuracy. Lucy’s backpack he gives an aura of accuracy improvement. Lamila’s trident, Laithe’s Wrath, Hilbrent usurps, raising it to its original power when Lamila had Laithe’s approval and beyond. Alfred’s crossbow receives a complex gaseous medium enchant that allows it to aerosolize whatever poison he tips his crossbow bolts with.

• Doane Six (ByW): Level 9 Nekolyn Monk
• Lamila (BiW): Level 9 Half-Orc, Half-Elf Fighter
  • Benquil: Level 2 Spider Monkey Animal Companion
• Lucifer “Lucy” Underfoot (RiH): Level 9 Halfling Bard
  • Gelda Roughsole: Level 5 Halfling Thief Follower
  • Eymen Hunyadi: Level 3 Drow Padfoot Follower
  • Rav Lugulu: Level 3 Goblin Chemist Follower
  • Hilderek Ferlwinkle: Level 3 Gnome Tinker Follower
  • Ecrin Ravnae: Level 5 Drow Psion Cleric Follower
• Alfred (JaH): Level 9 Human Thief

As intelligence comes in to the Vardor Pantheon war room, three potential objectives for the party become clear:

• Rescuing the overrun Lolithian Cabal forces and outlaw groups in the area surrounding the crystals.
• Joining the fight in the drow city Umderlain, which if it falls will provide a path to the other drow cities.
• Defending the dwarf city of Harvendep, which though well fortified contains a path to the surface for the attacking star beings.

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The Archivist Menagerie

On Monday, December 1st, the Citadel House adventurers decide to answer a several-weeks-old request from the Archivist (Tasglann) gnomish faction for help with troubles in their menagerie. Most of the adventurers are engaged hunting or helping to salvage some extra crops to make up for the lost winter stores, but three, including a new arrival, depart for the North:

• Rovert (TrS): Level 4 Human Magic-user (Death and Mental Harm)
  • Drej, Level 3 Pseudodragon Familiar
• Q (TrS): Level 3 Human Thief
• Chiron (TrS): Level 1 Human Hunter
  • Tulzriryg, Riding Horse

Expecting to spend as much as a week in gnomish lands after reaching the capitol, they take with them 15 days of food each, carried on Chiron’s horse along with some of their other equipment. With unseasonably warm weather and good roads, the first three days of their journey are undisturbed, but on Thursday, as they travel in the Gnomish heartland they come to a village where three Cerada are raiding their food stores.

Biweekly Item-Serpent’s Gauntlets

These scaly gloves allow the wearer to initiate a grapple as a reaction when a character attempts to leave their immediate area. As a bonus action, the wearer can gain advantage on grapple checks until the start of their next turn.

This means they can use a bonus action to gain advantage, then use their action to grapple at advantage and again have advantage while contesting an attempt to escape before their next turn.

Raglan would love to get his hands on something like this to help him lock people down with his huge Athletics bonus (Expertise and high strength).

Raglan’s Journal 12

The tunnel on the other side of the portal did not turn out to be part of the city, as I thought it to be. We emerged from the tunnel ahead into the mountains, finding the wizard I battled impaled there. From the tunnel opening, we could see a city down nearer the coast. Dragons flew around and above it, and so we determined that this tunnel was merely one of access for the cultists to obtain things for their primary project in the valley below. We approached, taking two days to get near enough to see into it and plan our attack.

ToM Session 21: The Spirit of Magic

Having eluded, and angered, the stone ones in the Myta chamber, the party flees, hearing the sounds of pursuit behind them. Believing that these tunnels will lead them to the heart of magic, they seek out lower passages and eventually find their way into caves that are less worn, into which the stone ones fail to follow. They take a moment to recover their strength and continue on with Eymen in the lead.

• Doane Six (ByW): Level 8 Nekolyn Monk
• Lamila (BiW): Level 8 Half-Orc, Half-Elf Fighter
  • Benquil: Level 2 Spider Monkey Animal Companion
• Lucifer “Lucy” Underfoot (RiH): Level 8 Halfling Bard
  • Gelda Roughsole: Level 5 Halfling Thief Follower
  • Eymen Hunyadi: Level 3 Drow Padfoot Follower
  • Rav Lugulu: Level 3 Goblin Chemist Follower
  • Hilderek Ferlwinkle: Level 3 Gnome Tinker Follower
  • Ecrin Ravnae: Level 5 Drow Psion Cleric Follower
• Alfred (JaH): Level 8 Human Thief

After another couple hours of walking, Eymen informs them of humanoids off in a side tunnel. They approach and find them to be mostly drow and a few elves worshipping at a shrine that consists of candles around the dead and broken body of an female elf with green skin and green hair. They learn that the elf has been dead for hundreds of years and that these drow (who work for an organization that they best not know more about) discovered this body and recognized it as Fardaya Del’Armgo, the Faded One. Legends among the drow and the accounts of Benquil Barrison Del’Armgo and Galileo “Leo” Swiftpaw say that she had learned the language of the stone ones and earned their trust. These worshippers believe that this and other knowledge might be available if they can awaken the Faded One to godhood.

Biweekly Monster-Shadow Reaper

Shadow Reapers are malicious fey with great ambitions to grow their influence and control. They must operate very carefully within the fey, to avoid angering their betters there. However, they often creep out beyond the fey to find creatures whose shadows they can add to their army. They frequently travel with a number of their shadows which protect them both directly and through confusion, as a DC 18 Perception or DC 12 Investigation is required to distinguish a Shadow Reaper from a Shadow.

Biweekly Item-Generous Cornucopia

A bulky, woven, horn-shaped basket that when a coin is placed within once per day consumes the coin, replacing it with a feast of food fit to feed 2 people very well, 3 people as a modest meal, and 4 people as trail rations. The food spoils in 2 hours. The charge regenerates at 6pm and if a coin is present is immediately executed.

The Citadel House Adventurers obtained one of these from the Satyrs. Happy Thanksgiving, folks and thanks for frequenting the blog.

Research Trip

On November 17th, while the Vale buzzed with planning and discussion to get them through the winter after the burning of some of the lesser silos, Rovert escaped to the ruined castle near Satyr lands, looking for a place to study and work in peace.

• Rovert (TrS): Level 3 Human Magic-user (Death and Mental Harm)
  • Drej, Level 3 Pseudodragon Familiar

The castle is about half a day walk from Citadel and Rovert reaches it without incident. This is his first visit to the castle, which he has only heard a little about, and he makes a quick pass of the first floor before scrambling up to the second, finding all of the rooms there unsuited to his needs. Everywhere he goes, he hears a scratching and skittering of some animal.

Raglan’s Journal 11

Invern put us in an unconnected part of the city, at least physically. We were able to liberate several dwarves, slaying many cultists, demonic dogs, and a copper dragon worshipping Tiamat in the process. To my shame, the dragon was able to frighten me and as a result, some of the cultists were able to escape through a portal with two of the dwarves.

Sabotage in the Vale

On November 10th, with the blizzard having dampened adventuring enthusiasm, Rovert and Osiris decide to go take another look at the old windmill, Rovert believing that he has new experiences that will help him unravel the mystery more easily:

• Osiris (CoB): Level 4 Elf Magic-user (Healing and Death)
• Rovert (TrS): Level 3 Human Magic-user (Death and Mental Harm)
  • Drej, Level 3 Pseudodragon Familiar

With three days of food, they return to the old windmill. They find the charred sticks and bones from the teenagers’ fire scattered outside the windmill door, apparently thrown out before the blizzard. A swift search of the old building turns up no special aura of death there and no immediate sign of the ghost. They decide not to spend any more of the week there, instead returning to Citadel to try to get more information.