(G502 03/12/2022 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) WA103

 

(G502 03/12/2022 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) WA103

[And now back into the Underdark with Fenrir and Reinward, who have entered the Lair of Queen Arachnia and defeated her. Now someone must retrieve the mysterious crown of the Prophecy.]

DAY 509(25th Flamerule)(july) cont ...

In the end it was a quick decision. It was left to Reinward to decide as he had done the most to get everyone here (with the aid of Fenrir of course, but he was not one of Ilmater's chosen) and he quickly made up his mind that he should be the one.

He stepped through the portal...
... and ten minutes later stepped back into the Queen's Chamber wearing the crown on his head.

I have since done a little research on the crown and this is what I know:

The Crown of Baleforte

The crown is a powerful artifact known as a 'Legacy Item' - that gains power the more tasks the wearer performs.

Vincento Baleforte was a Monk of Ilmater. He travelled the Dragoncoast and settled in  Westgate hundreds of years ago. He healed the sick and helped the poor, but wanted to  do more. He created the Crown to seek out and help those in need.

He is the patron saint of many guilds and noble houses within the city and his emblem  is seen carved into many buildings. The crown was thought to have been lost, so the (true)  bearer of the crown will be very well respected within the city and command considerable  influence.

Like all Legacy Items there are rituals that must be performed to unlock its power.
They are:

3 rituals related to Ilmater

1. The Blessing of Ilmater - Travel to shrine. Get cleric to cast Commune on you.

2. The Ritual of Learning - Study at Temple for some time.

3. The End of Pain Ritual - Rid the world of a Temple to Loviatar via non-violent means.


After taking all the other treasure they could find, they returned to the ruined castle of the Descendants of Addar.

DAY 510(26th Flamerule)(july)

Xama Niriwin applied Regeneration spells to Fenrir and Reinward. She did not approve of them throwing off the blessings of Ghaunadaur so quickly, but she  respected their wishes.

Fenrir's arm was restored, as were his good looks. The madness was lifted from both him and Reinward.

They spend the rest of the day recovering from their exertions.  Jane, Sir Loric and Pastry remained in their company and later Ishi Snaggletooth came to meet them.

'Congratulations!' exclaimed the friendly little kobold lady. 'You did well. But I do have to ask, do you feel this place is your responsibility now?'

The both shrugged.

''
Well, I'll be around for a while, but then I need to return to the surface. Now that the Queen has gone, the undead will rot away - so there is no reason for this place to remain evil! The Descendants of Addar want to regain control of the city - and perhaps they will - but remember that they are evil to the bone.
When the dark elves dominated this region of the Underdark they built a lot of cities and carved out a lot of roads, but they subjugated all the other races and spread their terror far and wide - even as far as the surface although it was many years ago. At least the Queen kept herself to herself and was content with sleeping most of the time. The Descendants dream of domination and a return to their former glory. It would be a shame if  they did that. Now is an opportunity for something else - a strong ruler could turn this place into something different, maybe even something good.
''

Fenrir and Reinward shrugged and nodded. They didn't want to disappoint Ishi, but they had no desire to come back down here ever again.

Later that day they left the city and met back with Veddic, Raz and their guide Soledad back at Bargold's shop.

They spent the night here. Bargold did not have an rooms, but he did let valued customers sleep in one of his empty store rooms.

DAY 511(27th Flamerule)(july)

Soledad successfully led them back through the Labyrinth, with nothing more than a few undead and skum to take care of.

They arrived back at the Six Ways Inn, but only stopped for a short rest before heading off again.

Soledad led them all the way back up to the surface. It was dark and the stars were out, they had no idea at all what time it was.

They flew back to Westgate via magic carpet and arrived home just  as the dawn light was breaking.


DAY 512(28th Flamerule)(july)

Random came to visit them in the morning and the first thing they  wanted to do was sell all their loot at his generous rate of 60% of 'book price'.

Fenrir looked at the Doomsday Clock for the first time in a while. It was still showing 12 minutes to midnight.

Most of the day was spent digging out loot from bags and laying them out on the dining room table. It all had the value of about 350 thousand gold.

Fenrir negotiated the magical improvement of his mithril shirt - his plan was to make it just about as powerful as it possibly could be.
'Oh, I've got plans for my gear, but it can wait,' declared Reinward with a dismissive wave.
Random nodded and got back to bartering with Fenrir.
'Oh well then,' said Reinward. 'I suppose I could do a few things...'

Many tiring hours later he had negotiated the following:

- a Handy Haversack
- a boost to his Gloves of Dexterity
- a boost to his cloak of resistance
- a vest of resistance
- Belt of Hidden Pouches
- multiple Daggers of Returning of varying power.
- magical Padded Leather Armour
- a boost to his Amulet of Natural Armour
- a Crystal of True Death, Greater
- a Crystal of Demolition

In order to buy this big list of gear he had to sell of some of his other stuff as the recent loot value did not cover it all!

Random told them all their gear would be ready in ten to twelve days. He could lend them some replacements for the time being.

It was evening by the time they were done. Gelly, the rogue in residence had poked her head in the door - drawn by the clink of gold coins.

She told them the latest:

- Sharkchum the pirate had been resurrected and was in Westgate looking for his killer
- several cards had been sent. The most interesting was from Fenrir's girl friend Werren Malavhan who was inviting them to a large festive ball in a few days.
- Merlock Tomes, the Underdark private detective, had worked out that Fenrir was Barry Shit-knees and that he had killed Jorkronas Urdo's daughter Katheera. She was likely to tell Urdo soon.
- City murder rate much higher than usual! Nightmask enemies are turning up dead. Fenrir should go and talk to Portia for more information regarding the Watch.

(G501 26/11/2022 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), KT, AD) HOM14

 
(G501 26/11/2022 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), KT, AD) HOM14

[The adventurers Griffolk Ethyn the Dragon-Shaman, Corhim Sparkledingle the Gnome Wizard and Fangorino the Barbarian are on a mission to follow Baroness Partick and have been onboard the galleon known as the Dementor for several weeks now.
Now they are holed up in the dining room being attacked by Vampires!]

DAY 39 (day 28 of the voyage) ....

As the mists under the table started to form into ancient vampires, Griff started throwing garlic everywhere. Redthorn strummed his lute and started to sing an inspiring ballad to give them strength against the evil attacking them.

A dusty old vampire male dressed in full plate armour was now in the room and the first thing he did was dominate Midshipman Alise who then went on a rampage. Griffolk threw more  garlic, making the old vampire recoil. Another vampire was in the room, an ancient old hag, but as the handfuls of garlic fell everywhere they could do nothing other than turn into bats and fly out of the window.

Mr Nice had been hit by a spell cast by Sparkledingle that had immobilised him, so Griff and Fang stabbed at the flesh golem until it stopped moving.

After that it seemed as if the attack was over. Alise was still dominated, but he was subdued easily enough and tied up. He was dumped next to Mullmaster.

With the excitement all over for now, Sparkledingle returned to his bedroll and gingerly shook out the spiky thing within. It was none other than Kenneth! His faithful ... spiked stick.
How in the name of the Gods had it been returned to him when he had seen it fall into the sea with his own eyes?

While he marvelled at this, Griff and Fan chopped Mr Nice up into manageable chunks and  chucked them out of the window.

At nine in the morning they tried to get the ship moving again. Fang told off the marines, telling them to buck up and help sail the ship. The Captain was already drunk though and of no use to anyone.
Even with the marines helping then they were short for hands and had no one with any real experience. Up on deck they looked at the pinnace. It was just about big enough to hold the 13 remaining crew and passengers, two of which were gnomes and could make do with half rations.

With everyone on deck - no one wanted to go into the shadowy parts of the ship - and enjoying the weak morning sunshine, they had time to plan.

Sparkledingle came up with the idea of chopping up the deck to expose the vampires to sunlight. There was a mist today, as there had been all the way since Candlekeep, but the sun was bright and warm. They decided to start loading the pinnace with provisions, just in case.

Cookie went down to the galley to gather food, but was scared away by vampires lurking in the shadows.

At ten o'clock the chopping began. Fang, infused with magical help from Sparkledingle started hacking away at the deck above the galley.

Sparkledingle tried to persuade the Captain to give up all his possessions - for the greater good he said - but I think everyone now realised how greedy the gnome was and the Captain was having none of it.

Fang continued to chop gleefully away and it did not take him long to strip back the top of the galley. He jumped down and started hacking into its floor. The galley was above the forward hold. He made the galley unstable and he had perhaps not realised that the stove brickwork was held upright by the wooden frames and one last massive chop made the whole lot crash down into the hold.

The Supercargo was hiding down here, and once he saw daylight he scampered off up out of the hold via the central access point. Fang, for no sensible reason I can think of, decided to simply keep chopping. Surely he realised that he would soon be through to the sea and effectively sinking the ship?

As he chopped Baroness Partick popped her head out of the door of the aft hold. Less than a minute later the ancient male vampire was in the shadows of the forward hold. He approached Fangornio and dominated him!

'Go up to your friends,' cackled the vampire. 'And apply that useful axe of yours to their necks!'

Fang could do nothing else but obey. He emerged from the hold and charged out onto the deck. Redthorn tried to use a spell to Daze him, but it didn't stick. Griff tried a Fear spell, but it had no effect either.

Sparkledingle cast Glitterdust. Daze and Fear were tried again. Fang just kept coming. Griff breathed fire, and that had some effect, but the barbarian still managed to slice one of the marines into two pieces.

Sparkledingle tried Charm Person. It failed. Redthorn tried Daze again. It failed again. Griff ran around to the other side of the hatch and goaded the powerful barbarian. Fang tried to leap the hatch, but slipped and fell all the way down to the hold - where the vampires were waiting.

What they were going to do with Fang they did not know, but they had  bought themselves a few seconds of reprieve.

(G500 19/11/2022 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) WA102

 (G500 19/11/2022 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) WA102

[And now back into the Underdark with Fenrir and Reinward, who have entered the Lair of Queen Arachnia and have finally gather the three keys required to enter her Citadel.]

DAY 509(25th Flamerule)(july)

Fenrir and Reinward had lost track of what day it was down in the Underdark, but by my reckoning it was the morning of the 25th of Flamerule by the time they returned from Lord Amber's castle.

The Descendents of Addar were jubilant of their success - in there own understated way.  Xama Niriwin was so happy (again, in her own way - she wore a gold mask after all so it was not always easy to tell) that she wanted to take them to meet the Vicar of Ghaunadaur.

The vicar lived in the ruins under the Descendents castle, in a sinister crystal cave full of slimes. The vicar was a sort of blessed Black Pudding that had  gained intelligence and could take a rather blobby sort of human form.

He talked a sort of ancient Undercommon and offered to increase their strength against Queen Arachnia in exchange for completing his trails. Here they are again for the benefit of the reader:

""
In the trial of the Body you must sacrifice a limb, or an eye. The greater the sacrifice the larger the reward.

In the trial of the Mind you must lose yourself to madness.

In the trial of Pride you must suffer some great humiliation or injury to pride.
""

The Vicar went on to explain further:

The first boon will grant you immunity from any damage that Queen Arachnia does to you. The second boon will make you undetectable to her, and the third will give you a death touch ability that can be used only on her.

Fenrir decided to go for all three.

The first thing the Vicar did was shake Fenrir by the hand. Fenrir offered his left hand and the Vicar covered it in slime. It was painful, but Reinward was more horrified than the warlock to watch the limb slowly dissolve into nothing.

Next Fenrir drunk a special potion that drove him insane for a short while.  When he more or less came to his senses he found that he had a strong urge to steal everything around him - in short - he had developed Kleptomania.

He also was clicking and twitching a lot, but had no other detrimental effect down here in the Underdark.

Finally he agreed to have his nose chopped off. The Vicar splashed his face with some slimy acid and off came his nose and a good bit of his cheek flesh as well.

Reinward did not fancy any form of bodily mutilation so he decided to drink only the Potion of Madness. His brain clouded, he felt like he was living in a fog - but apart from that the only negative effect was that he could not always remember where all his things were. He had been afflicted with  Absent Mindedness - and had gotten off lightly!

'Right,' Fenrir said. 'Now that that is done, find me a cleric to cast Regeneration on us!'

'If you do this, then all the blessings will be lost,' explained Xama Niriwin.
'You must wait until the Queen is vanquished.'

'Fair enough,' replied Fenrir cheerfully, fingering his now ruined face.

After returning to the Descendents castle they received further aid, mainly  Healing Potions, from the Dark Elves, virtually everything they had they offered to them, so desperate were they to see the back of Queen Arachnia.

Fenrir and Reinward ate and rested for a while, then Niriwin took them to the entrance of Queen Arachnia's Citadel. The three keys fitted into the three locks at the main gates and the ancient stone portals swung open to admit them.

The Citadel was deathly quiet, seemingly unguarded, and choked full of dust and cobwebs. Eventually they reached the Inner Sanctum.

The door to the Sanctum could only be opened by magic, so they had to resort to Fenrir using a knock spell.

The large chamber's floor had a big green glowing circle in the middle of it. On the far wall was a large purple portal. The Queen knew that something or someone had entered her Sanctum but she could not see them until Reinward stepped forward and said,

"Hand over the crown! Or we... or face the... um..."

Whatever big speech Reinward had planned died on his lips as she threw a spell at him. Whatever it was did not harm him though as he was protected by the blessing of Ghaunadaur.

As Fenrir floated into the chamber Reinward acted as a human lure. She cast spell after spell at him. He crouched, ran, ducked for cover. The spells had no effect though, as the blessing held strong.

As Reinward ducked and dived, Fenrir got closer, until, with his one good hand he was able to sneak up on the Queen and give her a poke.
The Death Touch of Ghaunadaur worked instantly, and the Queen was destroyed.

'Felt too easy,' observed Fenrir as he began to seek out treasure. He had spoke a little too soon though as a large contingent of Vampires entered the chamber from the southern doors.

'Well done, my friends,' called out Lord Bloodworm as he entered. 'I...'

Bloodworm was the second person to have his speech cut short that day though as Fenrir started landing Walls of Fire all around them. This fight was more of a challenge for them, but not by much. The Vampires turned into bats and started flying up and over the firewalls, but were then picked off by Eldritch Blasts. Reinward was even able to stab a couple of them. One by one they 'poofed' into Gaseous Forms and drifted down into the cracks in the floor.

'Hopefully they are all miles away from their coffins and will actually die,' mused Fenrir. He wasn't accounting for how cautious immortal undead can be though.
I should imagine they had a contingency plan considering that Fenrir had defeated them twice already.

As they continued the looting of the chamber their last and final visitors arrived. It was Sir Lorric, Jane and 'Pastry' the man that had been a prisoner of the vampires.

After greeting them, Sir Loric explained:

'Reinward, Jane, Pastry. All three of you bear the Stigmata of Ilmater. Any one of you  can enter that portal and claim the crown. Now I don't know what's though there, but I do know that it is not a decision to make lightly. The crown is very powerful, but it will not rest lightly on the wearers head.'

Reinward gulped.

'So who will it be?' asked Sir Lorric.

(G499 12/11/2022 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR57

 

(G499 12/11/2022 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR57

[Myself and Dak have captured the pirate ship 'The Black Mirror' and are getting a crew for it in Daggerford.]

DAY 573 (27th  Eleint) (September) cont ...

I will hear relate the crew that we have put together from Waterdeep and Daggerford:

From Waterdeep:

1. Jhaartael - Tajuru Nation Elf(Male), Sailor/ Merc    > - Age 375 (charming??) (captain)
2. Earth Genasi(Male), Sailor/ Merc - Age 65
3. Branson - Human(female), Sailor/ Merc - Age 35

From Daggerford:

1. Wedgwood - Rock Gnome(Female), Sailor/ Merc - Age 127
2. Stansfield - Half-Orc(Male), Sailor/ Merc - Age 246 (first mate)
3. Kelsey - Moon/Sun Half-Elf(Male), Sailor/ Merc - Age 45
4. Daratrine - Mul Daya Nation Elf(Female), Sailor/ Merc - Age 277
5. Abram - Dragonborn(Male), Sailor/ Merc - Age 103
6. Richmond - Fallen Aasimar(Male), Sailor/ Merc - Age 21 (steward)

As you can see, quite a varied collection! Jhaartael seems an ancient and noble fellow. He has sailed the seas of Faerune for hundreds of years. Or so he says.

I will take on the jobs of cook, surgeon and carpenter.

We've paid them all up front for a month.

The ship was already well provisioned - by the pirates when they were in Waterdeep. Because the ship had been burnt I renamed her The Ember. No one else had any other better (or sensible) suggestions.


DAY 574 (28th  Eleint) (September)

With the refitting of 'The Ember' arranged (500gp for it to be done as quickly as possible) and the crew found we had nothing else to do but wait.

We found a decent inn not far away called 'The Hidden Mimic Tavern' which was run by a retired adventurer. There was a sign behind the bar that read 'Ask  me about Bill'.
Dak asked about Bill.

The landlord explained that there was a 'tame' mimic hiding somewhere in the tavern and if you could find it you would get a free order of spicy potatoes.

I searched the latrines and poked at the sign, but it was Dak that found it when he sat down on the stool by the piano. So it was him that got the  tatties in the end!

We also learned there was a Gauntlet organised for tomorrow.

All the wenches in the tavern were dreadful slappers so I stayed clear of them. Dak took one of them to his room though.

(Note added later: He got a dose of the clap off her.)


DAY 575 (29th  Eleint) (September)

Myself and Dak entered the Daggerford Gauntlet today. There was a cash prize and a trophy to be won. It was 5 gold to enter.

It was a large wooden obstacle course that had been constructed in a field outside of town. It looked tricky and that strength and agility would both be needed.

We were put in with a group of 10 competitors. I was first! I entered under my alias of "Captain Haddock Fishfingers".

I was rubbish and fell at the first obstacle - a series of jumps from alternating angled wooden panels - and fell into the piles of pig manure and straw below.
I cleaned myself off and went to get a hot dog.

The local hero - who had been training all year - made it to the end of the course, the only one out of the next eight to do so.

Dak was last and he made it quite far - past the wobble panels, the rope swings and finally to the nobly cylinder. He slipped and fell, then held onto the cylinder for a full minute before his strength gave out and he also landed in the poop.
The local hero claimed the prize.

There were other festivities around the place so we entered a 'guess the weight of the vegetables competition' (we won some carrots and a pumpkin) and also a test your strength machine.

I did ok, but Dak went into a full barbarian rage. Combined with a charge and a leap attack he hit it so hard he cracked the shaft of the hammer and dented the bell!
'Aye very good sunshine,' said the man at the stall as he handed over Dak's prize - a dolly stuffed with straw.

I managed to win 4 gold at Find the Lady and gave it to a beggar a little later. Dak tried the coconut shy and got 2 out of 3 hairy nuts.

There were Highharvestide decorations up when we got back to the tavern. We handed over the carrots and pumpkin for the innkeeper to make soup out of.

There was a bard in tonight and I got reasonably drunk. Some of our new crew were in and I bought them a few rounds of drinks.


DAY 576 (30th  Eleint) (September)

I'm writing this first thing in the morning before I forget:

I had a nasty dream about a battle, or at least I was being attacked at all sides. It was a harrowing experience and I woke up in a cold sweat with my heart pumping. I don't usually set much store in nightmares
- the God's know I get enough of them - but this one was unusually vivid.

~

Anyway. Today we entered a pie eating contest and much to my surprise I  won! I even beat Dak! Still - this apparent ability I have may explain  why I did so poorly at the Gauntlet yesterday.

There was a spicy food challenge in the pub in the evening. Where you had to eat the hot pigs feat and balance the bones. I can't even remember who won in the end as the most interesting bit of it was when Dak challenged me to an arm wrestle. The innkeeper sent us outside to do it, suspecting we might damage the furniture.

A barrel was set up and Dak flew into a barbarian rage. I stood no chance against him like that so I turned into a Dire Ape. Quickly a crowd formed as people came out from the tavern to watch the spectacle.

Dak was stronger, but my long ape arms gave me better leverage and I  eventually won the contest. I did an ape dance to celebrate.

The rest of the evening is a bit of a blur as I drank a lot of ale and strong spirits after that.

DAY 577 (Highharvestide)

The ship was ready to go, but we decided to spend another day in Daggerford to enjoy the feasting. I let the crew have fun too.

DAY 578 (1st Marpenoth) (October)

Today we set sail. South for the Shining Sea.