(G455 12/06/2021 via Roll20 - AP, KT, JF(GM)) WA87

 
(G455 12/06/2021 via Roll20 - AP, KT, JF(GM)) WA87

[Meanwhile back in Westgate, Fenrir was finding more out about the prophecy of Ilmater.]

DAY 501(16th Flamerule)(july) ...

Fenrir stayed for lunch and talked some more to Jack Sighthill, an expert on the Underdark that he had found through his City Watch connections.

As they ate, Jack went on;
'I'm afraid I don't have a copy here, but the first mention of Queen Arachnia in the Overworld comes from a memoir written by an adventurer that had returned from the Underdark after some pretty hair-raising adventures.  In the book he tells us that she has been known in Underdark folk lore for  hundreds of years. He never went to her lair, but their is a chapter in the book dedicated to all the information he found out about her.'

He then reached into a magazine rack and pulled out a chap book.

'This, however, is more recent. A chap book written by Mr Modrick Templeman. It's three years old and I should imagine a lot of it is simply made up, but it recounts the tale of a group of dwarves that managed to find her lair, enter it, steal some treasure, and returned to tell the tale. I wouldn't put much stock in it, to be honest.'

Fenrir was interested though, as he knew Templeman. He'd paid him, in fact, to publish flatteringly worded chapbooks back when he was trying to recruit members to the DAW.

He thanked Sighthill for the fine lunch and on the off chance went to the tavern where he had last met Templeman. By good luck the fellow was there, drinking and eating with his friends.

Fenrir brought a round of drinks and gave Templeman 20 gold 'to support the arts'. Templeman was already a great admirer of Fenrir and happy to help. He  had a copy of the relevant chap book.
'I will cross out the bits I made up,' said Templeman, taking a pen. 'Here, here and ahh... here, I made all this stuff up. But the rest I heard from a dwarf, who told me he had heard the story at a place called the
"Eight Ways Tavern" in the Underdark. None of it may be true of course, but this fellow said that he and his friends had made their way into the realm of Queen Arachnia and... well, you can read it for yourself, here you are my lord!'

Fenrir thanked the writer and stashed the marked up chap book somewhere safe.

Later that day, Fenrir, Reinward and company began to make preparations for their inevitable new journey into the Underdark. They went to the shops and geared up, engaged Nocknod 'Dinkledonk' Brightman to come with them (as he had been to the Underdark before) and instructed the other three mercenaries to help guard Fenrir's house until their contracts ended.

In addition they hired a female human druid who was an expert tracker called Soledad Marris who would help them find their way through these same countless tunnels that I had lead Fenrir through just a few months before.

Fenrir arranged for one of the six judges of Westgate to hold the fort for him while he was away - Jenner Fields, who was clever and wise, but since she was lowborn she would be assisted by Gneiss the Dancer, a very noble dwarven Duke.

After all that they went home and got an early night.


DAY 502(17th Flamerule)(july)

The adventure party set off first thing in the morning. It consisted of: Fenrir, Reinward, Raz, Veddic, Dinkledonk and Soledad (with her wolf).

Veddic used Windwalk to get them to the cave that had been our entrance to the Underdark last time. It took a good couple of hours to find it though as it is well hidden.

By the afternoon they had made their way down into the Upperdark region and entered the cave of the giant mushrooms.

By around ten in the evening they arrived at the Eight Ways Inn.

As before they all peed on the grave of Cassleray that lay in the corner of the  cave with the eight passageways that gave the Inn its name.

You may remember the inscription on the grave, but just in case here it is again:

Posterity will ne’er survey
a Nobler grave than this:
Here lie the bones of Cassleray:
Stop, traveller, and piss!

It seemed that the magic of the grave had greatly increased just recently as they all were granted potent (but temporary) powers. The tips of Reinward's fingers on his right hand glowed with magic, Raz gained some sort of Ioun Stone and Dinkledonk was granted two extra castings of Teleport.

Soledad had the men turn away while she peed and gained a Daylight effect that could be converted into a Sunburst if she required it.

After this they entered the Inn. It was still in ruin though, destroyed by the rampaging Minotaur from our previous visit, full of bones and debris.

It was not unoccupied though, as three mindflayers sat at one of the undamaged tables and a Tanarukk (an orcish version of a teifling) at another. No one made any violent moves though - apparently the Inn was still considered a place of peace even while there was no innkeeper - and Fenrir, Reinward et al entered unmolested.

Fenrir offered food from the magical provision box which everyone accepted, fresh  food being hard to find so far underground.

The Tanarukk, whose name was Lugg Dwarfslicer, got a good look at Dinkledonk and said, 'Oi! You smelly little gnome! I know you, Dinkledonk. You still owe me money!'

(G454 29/05/2021 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR40

 (G454 29/05/2021 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR40

[Meanwhile back on Yacg'harr Island.]

DAY 536 (21st Eleasis) (August) ...

As we had as much excitement exploring the portals as we could about handle today we decided to refocus our efforts on defending them.

The first priority, it seemed to me, was to identify and eliminate any threats that existed on the island.

We were all assigned tasks and set about them for the rest of the day. Lavinia returned to Sasserine to hunt out a decent mason, Jiggles and Dak went to the pub (separately) to see what the word around town was and I went back to visit Egnol Galeborn the local historian. Sylvia would remain at the barrow with Molly and keep custody of the key.

In the pub Jiggles learned that 'Pirate Town' as we referred to it, was a repair port,  their was no permanent pirate presence on the island and the people that lived here were mainly either boatwrights or farmers who grew food and sold it to the ships that came to the docks.

As it happened there were no ships in the port currently, pirate or otherwise. She also learned that there was no official ruler on the island, not even a council or any form of government at all. If their was a dispute it was resolved by the Innkeeper of the tavern she was now in who seemed to have a certain amount of diplomatic skill.

In addition there was a retired pirate captain in town, a man who came across as a jolly old guy on the surface, but who had been of the rough ones back in the day.  He also commanded the loyalty of six of his former crew that had settled on the island and it was them that had come to investigate the lightning at the barrow when we had first opened the portals.

Jiggles tried to gauge if the Innkeeper was a good man, a bad man or just someone who went with the flow. After talking to him for a while she suspected it was the last option - he served his customers - whoever they were, pirates or otherwise. This, indeed, made him no different from any innkeeper in Waterdeep or Westgate!

While that was happening I went to tea with Egnol Galeborn in my guise as  'Salty Sam the Naval Historian'. I even went as far as bringing some nice tea leaves I had gathered on the island. He seemed very happy with this.

Like Jiggles I wanted to find out if he was a good or bad elf, and I tested his patience by asking if I could stay with him for a few days. He didn't welcome me with open arms, but he didn't kick me out on my ear either. He suggested I try the Inn.
I asked about the locals and he told me much the same as Jiggles had learned. 'Mainly they are farmers, fishermen, carpenters,' he told me. 'There are not many interesting people here, it is a very small island after all.'

I took his advice and went to the Inn. I changed my disguise to be that of a ravishingly attractive young lady, to see what I could get out of the Innkeeper that way.

He was very informative, when I started asking questions, and my disguise seemed to be working a treat. I hadn't counted on Dak though as he was sat nearby and got quite cross with the Innkeeper who had not answered any of the same questions earlier when he had asked them.

The Innkeeper was not impressed with Dak's gnashing of teeth though and told him to go away.
'What about trading slaves, eh mate?' asked Dak. 'Can I buy slaves here?'
'No!' cried the Innkeeper. 'I'll have none of that sort of thing in my inn!'
'Ah, don't worry, I was just testing you,' smiled Dak, which was true enough I'm sure, but it didn't wash with the Innkeepers or any of the locals so in the end Dak had to leave.

Wittingly or not though Dak had laid the ground work for me to ask the same questions as a sort of concerned citizen.
'What does happen with slaves the pirates bring?'
'I don't know,' he said evasively. 'If it happens, it happens from ship to ship, we never see it here.'
After that he was not be drawn any further on the subject.

Anyway, once we were all back at the barrow, we came up with a plan to see what else we could find out about the island.

I'd better get some sleep now as it's an early start tomorrow!


DAY 537 (22nd Eleasis) (August)

At three in the morning I went to Egnol Galeborn's house, turned into a rat and sneaked into his house.

He was awake and at his desk and as he noticed my scuttling he then chased me around the whole house with a broom! I did at least get a good look in all the rooms as we rampaged around the place and I saw no pentagrams or bowls of blood or whatever else you might expect a baddie to have in their house.

I escaped up the chimney and then tried the Inn. I managed to get into the Innkeeper's bedroom and found a journal on his desk!
This is more like it, I thought to myself, as I turned into a baboon and slid under the bed to read it by hooded light.

The left side of the book was accounting, for the inn I assumed, and the right side was in code. I gave up, put the book back and left as I had arrived, by squeezing under the door.

If the Innkeeper was a wrong 'un it would have to be put aside for now as codebreaking would require more time.

And so I scuttled over to my final visit of the night, the house of the old Pirate Captain. Given my lack of findings in the first two places I assumed that he too would be living a simple and unremarkable life.

On that regard I was wrong though! I found a room with a magical circle in it and a big chest in the corner. I turned into my normal human form to open the chest, but triggered a trap that shot out poisoned whirling blades.
These left some nasty cuts, but I could now open the chest unimpeded.

In the gloom my eyes focused for a second and I did not quite understand  what they were looking at, at first, but as they readjusted I suddenly
realised that the chest was jammed full of skulls!

(G453 15/05/2021 via Roll20 - AP, KT, JF(GM)) WA86

 (G453 15/05/2021 via Roll20 - AP, KT, JF(GM)) WA86

[Meanwhile Reinward was recovering from his recent encounter with the Night Parade in Fenrir's townhouse - 19 Wizard's Cut, Westgate.]

DAY 500(15th Flamerule)(july) cont ...

Reinward was woken up from his morning nap by his empty stomach demanding something was done to fill it up, so he went down to the kitchen to get something to eat.

He found that the cook, Cathy Barwin, had let in 'Jane', the girl that had helped rescue him from the Court of the Night King and was feeding her leftovers at the kitchen table.

As she sipped at a cup of tea, he saw that she only had two rings left on her wrists. After they had eaten, she indicated to Ren that she wished him to follow her.

He agreed, but first went back upstairs to retrieve her armour and weapon that he had saved for her in his bag of holding. She was happy to get her gear back and took the sword out of the scabbard to check it.

'Woah!' cried the cook. 'No swords in the kitchen now children! Off you go outside to play now!'

As they got ready to leave, Ren showed Jane the red pill he had not taken back at the Court. She rolled he eyes at him.

They left the house and Reinward followed her through the streets of Westgate to the ruined temple of Ilmater. She then led him through a secret door to a gloomy cellar. Here waited Sir Liroc Dragonscale, the Knight he had last met in his dreams.

'So lad,' said Sir Liroc, 'Progress?'

Reinward did not know what to say initially, but they then went over the prophecy together for a while. Liroc told the young rogue that he had been sent on a divine  quest to help and protect him. The old man was tired though, or so it seemed to
Reinward, and was keen to get things wrapped up as quickly as possible. Reinward also learned that Jane's actual name was Keyko, that she was like Reinward, and that their was a third 'Bearer of the Stigmata of Ilmater' out in the world somewhere but that no one had been able to locate them.

As they talked, the huge feline bulk of Behemoth, one of the Demons of Westgate suddenly stepped down into the cellar to join them!

'Will you not introduce me to your friends, young Reinward?' asked the cat, twirling his cane.

Sir Liroc was having none of it though, he knew a foul beast of the Abyss when he saw one and for a paladin the only course of action was clear.

'Out!' he cried as he smited the cat. 'Out dread fiend!'

'Charming I must say!' yelped the cat as he dodged the knight's sword.

The cat hissed, clawed and scratched, terribly wounding Sir Liroc who fell to his knees.

'Run!' he gasped at Jane and Reinward. 'I will hold it off!'

Liroc called up the last of his divine magic and met the demon's claws with his blade. Reinward didn't need to be told to run twice, and he didn't stop until he got back to Fenrir's town house.

He and Keyko fell back into the kitchen and once they had got their breath back the cook made them a nice cup of tea.

Later that evening Fenrir returned from work.


DAY 501(16th Flamerule)(july)

This was the day of Fenrir's duel with Kargerth Cormariel. They met in the Gardens of Termadar, the traditional spot for young men to defend their honour in.

As well as the two combatants, Reinward, Veddic, Raz and all the mercenaries were there for  Fenrir, and Kargerth had his own set of followers. This included a druid called Jackie, who  was in the company of her animal companion, a great ape, who fairly steamed in the hot  morning sun.

Hallis Krytel, cleric of Tyr was also their as the referee.

At first they were both loaded up with magical effects, items and weapons. Kargerth probably even more so than Fenrir. In addition to all his magical armours and effects he had a magical sword that seemed to always hit when he said the word 'Eranu'!

Fenrir was in trouble, so Veddic cast Silence on the ground where the fight was happening.  He wasn't noticed, but of course the effect was. Krytel called a halt to the combat and insisted all magical effects should be curtailed before it could continue.

This was all done, except for the magical aura that surrounded Fenrir that reduced the damage of all blows to his body. He told Krytel he could not suppress this effect, but that cold iron would negate it.
So in the interests of fair play, two cold iron spears were fetched and finally the duel was resumed.

Now that no magic was involved it was all down to the duelists skill with a spear and in  this Fenrir had the advantage. He certainly took hits, but he dished out more telling blows.

When Kargerth fell, blood pouring out of his side, Jackie cried out and the ape went into a rage and attacked Fenrir. Since this was a clear breech of the rules Fenrir had no qualms about using magic on it and sent it to sleep with a Painful Slumber invocation.

With one more poke of the spear Kargerth was finished, terribly wounded but not dead. Fenrir decided to not go in for the kill and stepped back to let the healers bring him back from the brink of death.
Reinward went to 'help' and managed to steal a magical Periapt of Wisdom from Dame  Ednar Cormariel as they all crowded round.

Once it was all over, a cart was summoned to haul the ape away and everyone went home. It was not even eight in the morning.

Fenrir had a light breakfast and sauntered in to work. He found a dwarf watchman who had some knowledge of the Underdark who told him to go talk to a halfling called Jack Sighthill who was apparently an expert in the place.

He met him in his small house in town.
'Ah yes, do come in!' smiled the halfling. 'Welcome to my humble abode!'
As they sat and drank tea he informed Fenrir;
'Indeed, my lord, the Underdark around Westgate is stuffed full of dark elves, drow and  driders. Bursting at the seams with them really! Oh, and vampires! Now - if you are talking about "ancient queens" and "spiders" then this surely must be Queen Arachnia. Even in the
Underdark they speak of her in hushed whispers and it has been so long since she has been seen that she has slipped into legend. She's real though, I assure you, and her lair lies below the Labyrinth that lies below the City of Pools.'
'I've been there,' noted Fenrir.
'Of that I am aware,' nodded Sighthill. 'I have read about your exploits in the chapbooks!'
'And a "ten-eyed crown"?' asked Fenrir.
'On that I can only guess. I know no story of Queen Arachnia possessing anything like it.'
'Could it be a Beholder's Crown?' ventured Fenrir who knew of this item from previous research.
'Perhaps my lord, perhaps,' murmured Sighthill. 'If anyone can get their hands on it, it would be you though. Just be sure to bring that druid with you like last time as according to the chapbooks he was invaluable to your survival!'

Roztov's Everquest Lore Library Update 17-06-2021

 

 New stuff added!

17/06/2021 - Added pictures to: Icewell Keep
17/06/2021 - Added links to Progression Primer: Scars of Velious
16/06/2021 - added the following pages:
Torment of Velious
Frostfell 2019
Claws of Veeshan
Overseer and you
Stomples Day 2020
Mischief
11/06/2021 - added page: The Troll Crate
11/06/2021 - added page: Summer 2019
11/06/2021 - added page: Death Death Death!
11/06/2021 - added page: Progression Primer: Legacy of Ykesha
11/06/2021 - added page: Progression Primer: Planes of Power
10/06/2021 - added page: Progression Primer: Shadows of Luclin
09/06/2021 - added page: Progression Primer: Lost Dungeons of Norrath
08/06/2021 - added page: Progression Primer: Scars of Velious
07/06/2021 - added page: Progression Primer: Ruins of Kunark

 

 Go here to check it out:

 http://www.roztov.epizy.com/lore/new.htm

NPC Generator Update - 2 new races!

 

 

I've added 2 new races - Hobgoblins and Slyth to my NPC Generator (for D+D 3.5).

http://www.roztov.epizy.com/dd/NPCDD.html

(G452 08/05/2021 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR39

 (G452 08/05/2021 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR39

[And now to return to my own adventures on Yacg'harr Island.]

DAY 536 (21th Eleasis) (August) cont...

In the morning I sent Jiggles back into town as our spy and instructed Jonathan to resume his flights around the island looking out for ships.

Sylvia finished her Hallow spell and after a bite to eat went to have a long nap.

With things more or less squared away for a while myself and Dak went off to spend some of our treasure in Sasserine.

The half-orc spent a good deal of his share on new armour, weapons and magic items.

My main purchases were to arrange with the city's most expensive magical tailor some items made from the hide of Despayr, the dragon we slew in the Plane of Shadows.

It will take a few days but I'll end up with:
- a powerful set of magical dragon hide armour (25600gp)
- a fetching dragonhide dress for the wife (4600gp)
- a similar doublet and hose outfit for myself (4600gp)

Also a Magical Map of Faerune for 10,000 gold, similar to the one Fenrir had that would always mark where you were on it down to about the nearest half mile (if you squinted).

Along with a Field Provisions Box, some Everfull Mugs and a magical longbow my purchases were complete!

We teleported back to the Barrow, then used the Map to pinpoint where some of the locations we were being transported to via the gate.

We found that the:
- Mansion House was to the west near Mezro
- The treasure chamber was just to the east, possibly under water?
- The 'tree' rune did indeed lead to the Black Jungle
- The 'cave' rune lead to a place just up from Lushpool
- The 'snowflake' lead to Icewind Dale
- The 'rock' lead to another plane as it did not show up on the map

We also tried new places:

Branch Yellow 1 - ?
Branch Yellow 2 - the small teeth mountains
Branch Yellow 3 - room, portal, and a sealed door. Near Dalelost. - stone slab, burial chamber style
Branch Yellow 4 - satyr returned, fell through portal, badly injured, slash marks and arrows in him

While were trying to get clues from the arrow, three black clad figures came through the portal. The attacked us without provocation and despite my efforts to parley.

I could see they were dark skinned, but their clothing gave nothing away as to where they had come from. The one that was trying to hit me looked like a young fellow of about my age.
I tried to speak with him, but he snarled and shot his crossbow at Lavinia!
Well, attacking my pregnant wife was not a wise move, as in my anger I turned him into a monkey with a Baleful Polymorph spell.
The small creature scampered away and crossed Sylvia's path, who then booted it up the arse and sent it flying through the portal, screeching and holding its wounded backside as it went!

Of the others, one was dead and one was being grappled by Dak. Molly wisely turned off the portal to prevent more intruders arriving.
I tried to reason with the attacker that we had captured, but when I asked Dak to let him go, he tumbled past everyone and fled out of the barrow.
We all piled out after him, but he was nowhere to be seen!

Dak ran off to the west, but it was not too hard to deduce that he had gone in via the other entrance, especially when we heard Silas screaming.

The attacker had him with a knife to the throat, down by the altar. By this time no one was in the mood for any more nonsense though and Irritator blasted the attacker with a powerful volley of Magic Missiles. The attacker fire a shot with this crossbow that injured Irritator, but the next volley was enough to blast him into chunks.

Silas was grateful to be rescued, but definitely needed a bath afterwards!

After things had settled down, we agreed that exploring the portals could wait for a while. We would try and make the place defensible as our first priority.

(G451 01/05/2021 via Roll20 - AP, KT, JF(GM)) WA85

 (G451 01/05/2021 via Roll20 - AP, KT, JF(GM)) WA85

[Fenrir, Raz and Veddic had just rescued Reinward from the evil clutches of the Night King.]

DAY 499(14th Flamerule)(July) cont ...

At the mercenary hiring office, the heroes said goodbye for now to their hirelings (and giving  them the password 'Haddock' for next time they met) and headed to the sewers and other tunnels under Westgate - this time in an attempt to throw off any scryes or other magic that may have been following them.

Once home the had a 'de-brief' and had Reinward draw them a map of what he had seen at the court of the Night King. Fenrir was interested to hear about Bwabazwards and thought it might be an idea to go and see the Night Parade (of whom Bwabazwards was a somewhat easy to misplace member).

So off they went, all 'as themselves' except for Reinward who borrowed a Hat of Disguise to the house on Snip Street where the Night Parade of Westgate lurked.

After being attacked by an enormous nightmare rat, killing 'Spike' for the second time and Reinward  fleeing in terror due to the various magical effects that were present at the house they eventually  were accepted in.

Besebelle, the leader of the Night Parade appeared to be pregnant, and Fenrir was the father!
'What will become of the baby?' he asked.
'We will turn it into a creature of nightmares,' she replied plainly.

On everything else she was fairly cagey and gave nothing away. She admitted that they were not friends with the Night Masks, but on how Bwabazwards came to be their prisoner she gave no answer other than that they currently had an 'understanding'.

While Reinward played with 'Spiderdog' (an eight legged canine horror or some sort), Fenrir got the wrong end of the stick as to how the Night Parade operated. He was trying to get them to join his 'side' when it came to the forthcoming coup, by offering them first dibs on any captured Carlos Company mercenaries they happened to get hold of.

Besebelle had no use for them though! The Night Parade do not feast on people the same way vampires do.

(One story I have heard is that the Night Parade are the descendants of ancient wizards that emigrated to the Plane of Nightmares long ago. It is only recently that they have  returned.)

Once he understood this Fenrir got annoyed and started making threats.
'You bore me now,' she said with a wave of the hand.

A heavy sleep effect hit them and Reinward fell to the floor. Fenrir remained standing  though and with a change of tack tried to smooth things over.
'What is it you actually want then?' he asked.
Besebelle thought for a moment then said;
'Two things. First, see what you can do to keep the Harpers from their constant hounding of us, and second, let Veyna here have a night alone with your young friend here.'

Veyna was a tall, black skinned lady, with four arms and sharp looking teeth. Fenrir's
"young friend" was of course Reinward.

Reinward was awoken and the question was put to him. He reluctantly agreed and stayed behind when all the others left and went home.

Fenrir, went to work for a few hours beforehand.


DAY 500(15th Flamerule)(july)

The next morning Reinward came to his senses wandering around in Dockward. The streets where still empty. He felt stiff and ill-used. Looking at his wrists he checked and saw that he had one less red ring there than before.
He was down to eight.

He considered getting a tattoo, to replace it as he had done last time, but it was a bit early for that sort of things so he went home instead. He then had  a bath and went to bed.

A little later in the morning Fenrir went to a Westgate Council meeting at the Market Tower. Here the great and the good met once in a while to go over the running of the city.
It was headed by the Croamarkh, Dreydal Trant, and there were 16 seats at the table, Fenrir being one of them. Other notable personages included Ibana Trant , his daughter and Minister of the Treasury, Thistle Thavalar (Minister of Supplies), Palla the Light of the Mercenaries' Guild and Kargerth Cormariel who represented House Cormariel.

Kargerth Cormariel confronted Fenrir at the meeting, demanding that he explain his link to the villain known as 'Barry Shit-knees'. Fenrir stuck to the story that he was over in Teziir to the west.
'And do you still work for him?' asked Cormariel.
Fenrir was baffled, but after some more harsh words between the two he gradually remembered the time when he had been captured in Castle Cormariel and questioned by Tagreth Cormariel.

Now, you may remember that back when Fenrir first arrived in Westgate, about six months ago, in the winter time, he and his friends had more or less rescued Bwabazwards from the Fire Knives in Castle Cormariel. Fenrir had been captured though, and while being questioned and  sort of tortured (it is quite hard to torture a warlock) he had summoned his 'guardian demon' Bnurgstickslackskin to get him out of his jam.

Just an average week for young Fenrir, but it had left a deep impression on everyone in Castle Cormariel!

What Kargerth was saying was all true of course, Fenrir had used this made up name as something to say, but it was well remembered by those that heard it.

However, Fenrir has a smooth tongue and soon turned everything around to make Kargerth sound like a liar. In the end the nobleman was so incensed with rage at being made a fool of before the rest of the council he challenged
Fenrir to a duel and the warlock cheerfully accepted.