(G481 12/03/2022 via Roll20 - - AP, JF(GM), KT) WA94

 (G481 12/03/2022 via Roll20 -  - AP, JF(GM), KT) WA94

[And now back into the Underdark with Fenrir and Reinward, who have entered the Lair of Queen Arachnia.]


DAY 506(21th Flamerule)(july) cont ...

Even when translated using magic, it was difficult to follow what the kobolds said  on many occasions.

Their language has a lot of unspoken nuance in it and a direct magical translation often leads to comical mistranslations. It is a sarcastic language, from what
I understand and whenever (for instance) a tongue is place in a certain way on a fang at the end of the sentence reveals that the speaker means to opposite of what they said.
Humans lack fangs, and the forked tongues needed to convey these subtle meanings so the magic, doing its best I'm sure, was never able to tell Fenrir if what the kobolds said was true or if they were taking the piss.

Still, it was clear by the end of the pow-wow that the kobolds were happy to take Fenrir and Reinward to see the The Descendents of Addar the next day.


DAY 507(21th Flamerule)(july)

Fenrir and Reinward had lost track of the day/night cycle by now, but they were woken in 'the morning' by the kobold ambassadors that would take them to see the dark elves.

The ambassadors spent a good deal of time preparing gifts for the dark elves which gave the men enough time to get their breakfast. Ishi was not going to come with them, but she wished them luck.

'The Descendents of Addar' lived in another ruined part of the city, hidden away from the dangers of the undead, deep in the cellars of fallen keep.

First the were met by a scouting party of five elves, who then lead them further in, deeper into the dungeons of Addar. They were finally introduced to an ancient dark elf who introduced himself as Harxar Geveff.

'I am an elder of my people,' he told them. 'Explain yourselves to me.'

'I'm Bob,' said Reinward. 'And this is my friend Barry Shitknees!'
'Well,' went on Fenrir, slightly pushing Reinward to one side. 'We are hear seeking an artifact. It is linked to a prophecy.'
'If it's prophecies you want,' snarled the elf. 'Then you'd better meet our leader.'

They were then taken to meet an even more ancient dark elf called Gardex Jur'Heer. He told them he was over five hundred years old, and while he certainly looked it, it seems unlikely as elves rarely go beyond four hundred.
'My father's father's father was the great Addar himself. What do you make of that?'
'Yeah,' replied the men. 'That's great.'

As they spoke the smoked a water-pipe that was packed full of Underdark weed. Reinward was feeling the effects, his eyes starting to roll back in their sockets.

'So you come to us seeking aid... Bob?' said the dusty old dark elf.

And so they talked. Fenrir gave the old fellow the basic run down of their quest and the horrible old dark elf seemed glad to help if it meant ill for the Spider Queen.

Drinks were served, a dark looking liquid that smelled of mushrooms and the old fellow droned on, happy for new people to talk to even if they were Overlanders.
'And what news of the surface? What news of Gerrin Wyvernspur's fight against the red dragons in Cormyr?'

Fenrir had no idea, not being a student of history and I must admitted I had to look it up. Gerrin Wyvernspur is over three hundred years dead which gives some indication of how often news came to the Addar!

Jur'Heer was a ghastly old fellow, arrogant and cruel, but he answered their  questions. Reinward asked about interesting places of the city and was told there was;

- a tavern run by a liche, which would serve the living.
- a haunted library, dangerous but full of wisdom.
- a brothel inhabited by lascivious spirits
- an area of wild magic
- an abandoned magic item shop. 1000 years old and guarded by nasty undead
- a portal or earth node, once used to visit the Overworld
- an enclave of secretive people that just arrived recently (50 years ago)

The information that they wanted to get to Queen Arachnia he withheld though. I doubt he even wanted anything they had to offer, he just knew it was of value and his evil instinct was to make them pay for it.

They offered him gold, but he was not interested, then they gave him an Alexandrite gem (worth 400gp) that got the ball rolling. He said;

''
Very well! Help us then, Oh Pale-faced Overworlders, and we will grant you wisdom!  And help you with your quest. Part of our keep has fallen to undead. You should have no great  problem clearing them out, but beware the Giant Undead Jumping Mollies that live in the flooded  sections! If you can bring me the Lamp of Banguul from the Dungeon of Jarrgh, then I will  consider the deed done.
''

The lads decided to do it then and there, and were shown down to the lower areas of the ruined keep that had been overrun. There were many skeletons and zombies there, but they swept them easily aside. The final area they came to was flooded and to get to the other side of a room they had to cross a narrow walkway.

Reinward tentatively threw a stone in the water. Neither of them knew what a Molly was and were nervous of what they might be. Fenrir took to the air and flew west.

It was then that the Mollies attacked. A Molly is a type of fish that often lives in caves and these were giant and undead. There were just two though and they found it very hard to hit Fenrir as he flew about, even though the could leap high enough. Reinward even managed to stab one as it leapt past him, and it was not long before the fish were defeated.

The continued on to the double doors to the north that Fenrir opened with his Ring of Knock. A strong smell of the grave rushed out at them on a fetid wind.

Fenrir, invisible, floated carefully into the chamber beyond. As he moved in he saw rank after rank of skeletal warriors. He pulled back, then they tried to lure them out, to be able to fight them in the bottleneck of the doorway.

They would not come, but instead a spiritual weapon sprung up to hit at them, then several swarms of locusts soon followed. Annoying as the locusts were, Fenrir's Eldritch Cone could destroy them. This time Reinward advanced into the room and as Fenrir followed after him, blasting down the front ranks of the warriors, the wily rogue dodged and tumbled to the back of the chamber where a Mummy Lord was directing the defence of his tomb.

Reinward bravely (very much out of character!) managed to get behind the Mummy and stab it in the back. Normally this would not be all that annoying to undead, but Reinward had magic about him that made his sneak attacks dangerous to them.

The Mummy reeled, but still stood. It then turned to Reinward and touched him. It was a Slay Living spell and it killed Reinward stone dead.

Fenrir had finished off the skeletons though and soon arrived to destroy the already weakened Mummy. He then leaned over Reinward and watched to see what happened next.
He was not disappointed. As one of the red bands around the rogue's wrist faded away, coughing and spluttering he returned to the land of the living.

This was the forth of the ten rings on his wrists that had gone now. The first to a Succubus, the second to the Night Parade, and the third traded for a magical ring.

There was some powerful loot to be found in some chests at the back of the chamber including a Ring of Blinking and the mysterious Lamp of Banguul.

Gardex Jur'Heer seemed happy with their success, and after he'd had a bit of an evil cackle he motioned for them to come closer.
'Listen carefully,' he began. 'And I will tell you how to enter the inner sanctum of
Queen Arachnia...'

(G480 05/03/2022 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR50

 
(G480 05/03/2022 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR50

[Myself and Dak have been hired onto the crew of the 'The Reaper'. I was here to get revenge for the slaying of all my Lizardmen friends in the Vast Swamp.]

DAY 557  (12th  Eleint) (September) cont ...

And so, having eaten a bit of the captain's heart as required by Sharptooth tribal law, we threw the bodies over the side and had a crack at sailing the ship by ourselves.

It was raining and the wind was blowing us south, it was not a great day for sailing. In the end we just brought in all the sails and drifted with the current, then went to the captain's cabin to get dry and search for clues.

There were charts on his table and rolled up in a chest, and many of the symbols on them we did not recognise - but wether that was because they were secret code or navigational notation we did not have the skill to read, I was not sure.

There was a crystal ball here too. I'd pretty much forgotten that Black Cat and Sister also had these things. We tried to get this one to work, but with no success. I should really get someone to cast Identify on them.

After a bit of thinking, I reckoned we'd need three more people to sail the ship in any kind of way, so I teleported back to Yacg'harr Island and picked up Lavinia, Molly and Jiggles.

Lavinia was now five months pregnant so we put her in the captain's role so she didn't have to go up and down in the rigging.

We set sail for Westgate.


DAY 558  (13th  Eleint) (September)

A reasonable day of sailing. Heading west.


DAY 559  (14th  Eleint) (September)

A reasonable day of sailing. Heading west.


DAY 560  (15th  Eleint) (September)

A reasonable day of sailing. Heading west.

Saw a pod of whales. Could not identify them.


DAY 561  (16th  Eleint) (September)

Oh what a very sad day!

We were getting ever closer to Westgate when out of the blue we were attacked by a giant dire shark - a Megaladon. We were all on deck, but we didn't get much of a chance to react.
One moment we had noticed its fin in the water and in the next it leapt up at the deck! Rolanda, brave soul that she was, chose to stand and fight and even hit the thing with a magic missile.

Me, Lavinia, Molly and Rolanda were all together at the rail. We humans managed to leap to one side as the shark smashed through the rail, slithered across the deck and smashed through the rail at the other side if the ship. I could scarce believe that such a thing was possible, but there we were, splinters everywhere and Rolanda nowhere to been seen.

I had seen it though, she had gone straight into the sharks mouth and that was the end of her! I summoned a four whales in the water and after a while fighting them the shark went back down into the depths to lick its wounds.

But poor Rolanda was lost to us. Even Dak seemed very sad to see her go.

She was brave. None of us knew that Megaladons could leap like that, otherwise I would have sent her below. I blame myself, she was a good rat.

We arrived in Westgate in the evening.

Spending the night on the ship.

DAY 562  (17th  Eleint) (September)

After some discussion it was decided that Lavinia, Molly and Jiggles would stay with the Reaper, get a good crew together and then bring it to Yacg'harr Island.

Dak, who was bored of the sea already, wanted to get back so we could explore the portals
some more, so we said farewell and teleported home.

As soon as we landed we headed straight to the pub. I needed a drink.

(G478 12/01/2022 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR49

 (G478 12/01/2022 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR49

[Myself and Dak have been hired onto the crew of the 'The Reaper'. I was here to get revenge for the slaying of all my Lizardmen friends in the Vast Swamp.]

DAY 557  (12th  Eleint) (September) cont ...

So there I was, trying to pretend I didn't know what was going on. Trying to act like I just hadn't turned into a mouse, tried to turn one of the crew into a mouse, failed twice, turned into a dolphin, then a parrot, then back into a man and had not just arrived back on deck.

I was a little out of breath and instantly suspicious. As the Captain made to clap me in irons or something, brave Rolanda, who had witnessed my escapade popped her head out of the cargo hatch and squeaked;
'Oh! I've made a dreadful mistake!'

She told me later she was trying to take the rap for me, and had a whole plan worked out about pretending to be a princess that had been turned into a rat by an evil wizard, but in the end it wasn't needed as they didn't beleive her either.

And so the fighting began. I took to the air as an eagle and started casting Flame Strike on the crew when they were grouped together. Dak sighed and got his axe out and started chopping down any of them that dared to take him on.

Some of them fled below, singed and bloody, so I landed and came to blows with the Captain and Omya. Rolanda sniped from some hidden place, casting Magic Missles at them.

The Captain went down, and Omya fled like the others. Myself and Dak followed them down into the ship. Suddenly swarms of centipedes started appearing at our feet. Not too dangerous, but very annoying.
As we could not see anything I wondered if this was some sort of 'Centipede Defence System' that The Reaper had, an extra thing that the Anubus did not.

I turned into a raven to avoid them. We split up and started checking the cabins.
'We like you Dak, dont make us do this!' said one of them, pointing a wand when Dak found them behind one of the doors.

Dak went in to chop them up, I flew in and cast Hypothermia. It was a quick death for them at least. The centipedes were still appearing and I remembered that the runes that controlled the Anubus had been upstairs in the captain's cabin, so up we went. It was then that we saw Omya, it had been them all along, using a wand, so they got chopped down too and that was that.
Shame, I rather like the idea of a 'Centipede Defence System'.

Back on deck the Captain had beld out and died. As I had promised to my fallen lizardmen brothers I ate his heart (a bit of it anyway) while it was still warm, and with that task ticked off went into his cabin to investigate.

The runes were indeed in there, in the exact same place as on the Annubus.

(G479 19/02/2022 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), KT, AD) HOM9

 
(G479 19/02/2022 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), KT, AD) HOM9

[The adventurers Griffolk Ethyn the Dragon-Shaman, Sparkledingle the Gnome Wizard, Fangorino the Barbarian are on a mission to follow Baroness Partick.]


DAY 14 (Day 3 of the Voyage of the Dementor)

Today the weather was decent, overcast with a strong wind, and the Dementor made good progress.

Sparkledingle stole twenty feet of rope from the deck.

Griff tried to engage Bosun Bonefinger in conversation, but she was not interested.

Sparkledingle had more luck with Cookie, who was happy enough to talk to a fellow gnome while she worked in the galley.

After lunch he had worked up enough courage to tell the others about what he had experienced the night before and after some discussion they decided to go an take a wander down to the cabin of Baroness Partick was in.

Once at the door Sparkledingle knocked and ran away, leaving Fangorino there alone when it was opened. The man known as 'Mr Nice' opened it. Up close he was a real sight to behold - his skin had a greenish hue, there were several large scars on his face that had been clumsily stitched and he was nearly seven feet tall and broad with it. He towered over Fangorino, who was far from being a small fellow.

Fangorino said hello, but then Mr Nice shut the door on him. Meanwhile, Sparkledingle had forgotten about all of that and had gone off to talk to the ship's surgeon, a fellow called Minty.

Minty, who was almost always drunk, was looking at a sailor who had a nasty rash all over his hands. He thought that Sparkledingle was a healer too, and the gnome did not correct him.
'I can't decide wether to give him the red ointment or the green ointment, what do you think?' asked the surgeon whoosily.
'Why not put the red on his left hand and the green on his right hand and see which is better in the morning?' thought the gnome.

'Sage wisdom!' declared the surgeon and to celebrate he poured them two glasses of yellow liquid.
Sparkledingle didn't dare drink his though and took it to Fangorino who happily drank the lot.
'What is it?' asked the gnome.
'Nice drop of whiskey!' replied Fangorino, smacking his lips.


DAY 15 (Day 4 of the Voyage of the Dementor)

Today there was a big commotion on board when it was discovered that Surgeon Minty had gone missing. A search was conducted, but in the end the Captain assumed that he had fallen overboard - probably during the night while drunk.

Later on Sparkledingle went into the surgeon's room and took two potions at random from his shelves. He also looked in on the sailor, who was in the little infirmary at the back of  the med bay. His condition was unchanged.

On deck, Griff had a look about and found the Surgeons's cap down a scupper. He took it to the Captain, but he considered this to be evidence that Minty had gone overboard.

Minty's little dog came up from the hold and appeared sad at the loss of his master. Sparkledingle gave the cap for it to sniff and it lead them to the locked door in  the hold.

They went back to talk to the Captain and Sparkledingle gave him a telling off for renting part of his hold to someone and not keeping a key for himself.
'It's not your job to tell me my job!' grumped the Captain as he went to his cabin and slammed the door behind him.

Baroness Partick was not at dinner that night.


DAY 16 (Day 5 of the Voyage of the Dementor)

Minty's dog went crazy today and had to be killed by the crew. It was frothing and bloody at the mouth. A sailor battered it to death then tossed it over the side.

That night Fang was woken by a door opening out in the corridor then slow footsteps to the door at the end. It was Jilley Hidescore, sleep walking, but he decided to ignore it.

When she seemed to be heading for the hold though, he sighed, grabbed his axe and followed her down. He tried to wake her gently, but could not, so he slapped her face. That certainly woke her, but she also screamed.

The whole ship, most of them sleeping very lightly at the moment I should imagine, woke up and in the end Hidescore went back to her cabin.

Fang listened at the locked door in the hold. He heard whispers.
He knocked.
'Let us out...' a voice whispered from behind the door.
'Night night,' replied Fang and went back to bed.

DAY 17 (Day 6 of the Voyage of the Dementor)

Yoram Pelloto came to talk to Griff. He seemed concerned about something.
'Something strange is going on!'
Griff agreed.
'Can you keep a secret? A mate of mine had stowed away in the hold. Just to save a few gold you understand. But now I can't find her!'

Griff went to talk to Bonefinger, who was in no mood for talk about missing stowaways, but eventually did say. 'I'll take it up with the Captain. Thank you.'

Sparkledingle went to talk to Cookie and asked her about the situation.
'Well, all I know, my little lovely, is that Lady P paid the Captain an absolute fortune for exclusive use of the hold and whatever she put in there she did it in the dead of night!'

Later in the day, with it being clear to everyone that something awful was in the hold, Griff went up on deck and rang the bell. Everyone came up to see what was going on.
'There is a situation on this ship!' he began. 'People have been disappearing...'

He was suddenly interrupted by a Sending Spell message arriving in his mind. It was this;

''
Cavu here using sending spell! Please don't say any more! Imperative that whatever happens the Dementor reaches the Shining Sea! More to follow.
''

Griff groaned, but managed to change tack on his speech to the people on deck. 'Err... and I think there should be more Health and Safety! Everyone take care, anyway, thanks and bye.'

He was so convincing that many of the crew were nodding and agreeing, but when he was alone he sent his reply

''
For fuck's sake! You bloody wait until the middle of a speech? Right, safety rails it is. Honestly. i don't  know why I bother.'
''

Later he received another message;
''
Hold stuffed full of vampires. Very dangerous. So sorry! You just need to survive to Shining Sea though. We can deal with them there.
''

Griff replied;
''
Oh dear. Well, that's less than ideal, and info we could have used in advance so we could have properly  prepared defences for ourselves. Bugger.
''

Cavu replied;

''
Didn't know until recently situation was so bad. We can help if need be though, you are skryed  from time to time.
''

Griff asked;
''
Daft question, can we just sink the boat? Doesn't running water (ie the sea) kill vampires? Could you send pick up for humans etc?
''

Cavu replied;
''
No totally sure. Could try if situation desperate I suppose! If possible though, make way to Yacg'harr Island in Shining Sea.
''

Griff said;
''
That island sounds like it was made up by a drunk. Fine, will monitor the situation and act as appropriate. Keep checking in with info
''

That evening at dinner Griff asked the Captain, 'Can we go passed Yacg'harr Island? It's on the way to Sasserine, one of our stops.'

'Sure why not?' said the Captain, no seeming to care.


DAY 18 (Day 7 of the Voyage of the Dementor)

Today the weather closed in, with thick sea mists.

The Dementor made good progress.


DAY 19 (Day 8 of the Voyage of the Dementor)

The weather remained closed in, with thick sea mists.

The Dementor made good progress.


DAY 20 (Day 9 of the Voyage of the Dementor)

The weather remained closed in, with thick sea mists.

The Dementor made good progress.


DAY 21 (Day 10 of the Voyage of the Dementor)

The weather remained closed in, with thick sea mists.

The Dementor made good progress.


DAY 22 (Day 11 of the Voyage of the Dementor)

The Dementor arrived at Candlekeep today.

Sparkledingle got his stolen potions identified. One of them was a potion of Baleful Polymorph mixed with whisky.
'Not sure of the results of that one,' admitted the wizard doing the identifying.
'Perhaps turn someone into a drunken duck?'

Bosun Bonefinger packed her bag and left the ship.

The Captain hired someone at random from the dockside tavern.

The supercargo set up his stall and traded all day.


DAY 23 (12)

The Dementor set sail again. The weather was still very murky.

Today Mull-Master went crazy and started attacking the crew. Our heroes took him on and Griff tried to push him over board but did not quite manage it.

In the end they beat him down and he very nearly died, but when he did not succumb to his wounds they dragged him down to the infirmary.

(G477 05/01/2022 via Roll20 - - AP, JF(GM), KT) WA92

 (G477 05/01/2022 via Roll20 -  - AP, JF(GM), KT) WA92

[And now back into the Underdark with Fenrir and Reinward who have entered the Lair of Queen Arachnia.]


DAY 506(21th Flamerule)(july)

Having just seen Lord Bloodwurst angrily flap off into the gloom, Fenrir returned to where Reinward was hiding and together they decided what to do next.

They knew that they had to take a look around at least. They were here to fulfill a prophecy, how exactly they were not sure, their only clue being this line:

''
The ten-eyed crown found in a cavern lair,
Follow the flame to a light-shunned lake,
''

Doubting they would find any 'light-shunned lake' straight away they took to the air anyway, Fenrir carrying Reinward on his back. Fenrir could be invisible if he wished, but Reinward could not, although he was undetectable to eyes that saw in the dark.

They flew slowly over the underground city. It was dark, but not totally. Here and there small fires were burning or lanterns were lit, no more than specks of light in the pitch-black dark.

Large dark things seemed to flap above some parts of the city. Although it was difficult to tell exactly, some appeared to be bigger than others.

Fenrir paused for a moment, landing on the steep side of a stone pillar. One of the dark shapes flew towards them. It looked like and undead wyvern.
 
Another, much bigger shape, flew north, and Reinward was shaken by its looming size. Not liking the look of any of this, Fenrir landed on the closest roof.
From the darkness above, a line of acid burned its way through the tiles next to them.
Fenrir shot back blindly and another line of acid blasted more tiles from the roof. They jumped through the hole the monster above had made into the house below. There were zombies here, but they were no great threat.

They cleared the ground floor and sheltered in one of the ruined rooms. Zombies started to gather at the front door of the house though, so they flew to another house and hid there. The zombies soon gathered again, they were just not quick enough to throw them off the scent.

Reinward caught a glimpse of a small figure flitting from building to building ahead of them, seemingly doing a better job of them avoiding the horde. They could not take to the air, the monster was still up there, sending up dust clouds with its wings.

Fenrir remember he had a statue that could be turned into a quazit, so he dug it out his pack and summoned it.
'Hello boss!' it squeaked with a snappy salute.
'Cause a distraction down the street, please,' said Fenrir.
The quazit gulped, but did as it was told, flapping off and yelling at the zombies to follow it.
Meanwhile Fenrir and Reinward flew to the next house, mostly invisible and surrounded by a dark aura.

As they entered the building, the small figure they had seen before went up the stairs to the first floor. Dead zombies littered the hallway.

Fenrir dragged some ancient stone furniture in front of the door to block the  horde behind them, and then began to barricade the windows.

Meanwhile, Reinward headed upstairs and saw the short figure, hooded and pointing a crossbow at him from a doorway.
He had magic on him that made him harder to see in the dark (to those that can see in the dark) and as the figure stepped back into the room he followed and crept into a corner.
'Put the crossbow down, friend,' he said.
The figure pointed the weapon in his direction and demanded,
'Who the bloody hell are you?'
'Ben is my name!' he improvised. 'You currently can't see me, by design, we are hiding from the zombies, same as you.'
'Fenrir!' he then called downstairs, having remember to give himself a false name, but forgetting to do the same for his companion.
'If your pal comes up stairs I'll put a bolt in you,' said the figure.
'Oh all right!' groaned Reinward. 'I'm the silent partner though. Fenrir does the talking.'
'Don't talk then, just show yourself to me!'
Reinward could not bring himself to do so though.
The figure began to ease themselves out of the window.
Fenrir was making his way upstairs, invisible, and Reinward moved forward to try and attack the figure, but then thought twice;
'If I reveal myself you'd better not shoot me!'
'OK,' came the reply.
'One second,' he bluffed. 'I can't seem to find the off switch on this magic item...'
The figure saw through this ruse though, and realising Reinward was just trying to stall them, they jumped out of the window and fled to another house nearby.

They followed the figure from house to house until.
'I can pay you gold!' hissed Fenrir, as they struggled to keep up.
'Stop running away because it will just end badly for you!' said Reinward rather unnecessarily.
Eventually though the figure stopped at the top of another set of stairs and said;
'If you want to talk, then show yourselves!'
Fenrir became visible.
The figure looked him up and down, then after some consideration said;
'Is that... Fenrir Thunderstaff?'
Fenrir didn't know quite what to say.
'I think I recognise you from the chap books. I'm from Waterdeep too.'
'You heard the ballad?' asked Fenrir, suddenly rather pleased with himself.
'Oh sure,' came the reply. 'What are you doing down here?'
'I'm hear to .. ah .. advocate for the advantage of everybody...'
'Spare me!' they interrupted.
'Well, anyway, can we co-operate?'

The figure pulled back their hood to reveal a masked face. She was a female kobold called Ishi Snaggletooth.
'Well, I'll enquire no further as to what you are up to,' she said. 'But I'm trying to contact a local tribe of kobolds. Follow me if you want. I've learned some of the secret ways of this place, that avoid the undead.'

She led them to a small gave where some sort of magical device was cleaning the air for a few dozen feet around it. It was as tall of a man, made of copper and cylindrical  in shape.
Every so often some fresh air would puff out of vents in its upper portions, which was breathable. They all thankfully took their masks off for a while.

After a short while a some kobolds approached them. They were scouts from the Hider Tribe, a small tribe of kobolds that had made their home, against all odds, in the Lair of Queen Arachnia.

Fenrir offered them food from his magical provision box, and this pleased them greatly. They were taken to another cave where some more senior members of the tribe met them and over more shared food, a parley was had.

They talked to Ishi, but Fenrir could understand them too, and translated for Reinward.

They learned the following interesting facts;

- The Hider Tribe numbered 5000. They mainly kept to the magical air vents and tried to stay out of they way of the undead as much as possible.
- There were also 200 living dark elves hiding in the city, known as 'The Descendents of Addar'. They occasionally traded with the kobolds. They lived in their own part of the city near  another area of functioning vents.
- There were 40 or so functioning vents around the city, that the kobolds knew of.

Later, Fenrir explained his mission to Ishi, giving her the broad strokes of what was going on in Westgate, with the vampires, the prophecy et al.

When this was passed on to the other kobolds they said that for that sort of thing the best people to talk to would be the 'The Descendents of Addar'. The Hider could set them up with a meeting in return for more of that delicious food.

(G476 29/01/2022 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR48

 

(G476 29/01/2022 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, KT) LR48

[Myself and Dak have been hired onto the crew of the 'The Reaper'. I was here to get revenge for the slaying of all my Lizardmen friends in the Vast Swamp.]

DAY 555  (10th  Eleint) (September)

We spend the day onboard the Reaper, although the ship was still in port. Acting as guards while the other members of the crew went about their business.

They are:
Captain Bertram Cuttleberry - who has a big red beard and seems pretty tough.
Derek Chiles - the bosun
Omya Hemp - a human sailor
Jack Proudfoot - a hafling sailor
Thokk - a Half-orc sailor
George - the quartermaster

I talked to the crew whenever I got a chance. From Thokk I learned that they were not really a pirate ship as such, although they would snap up any easy meat on the seas if given half a chance, but rather mercenaries for hire, specialising in speed and stealth.

Thokk said he had only been on board for six months. I learned later on though that all the others had been part of the raid on the lost refuge.

We settled our bill at the Pickle Inn tonight as we are sailing tomorrow!


DAY 556  (11th  Eleint) (September) (1st day at sea)

I love the sea and I love sailing ships. If it wasn't for the fact that I planned to kill all the crew at some point, sailing on the Reaper today would have been a lovely experience.

I managed to talk to Jack Proudfoot, who was chatty, but sharp-edged. I learned that we were headed north-east, not that it really mattered. Anything more detail than that, he told me was 'privileged info'.

At the mid-day meal I listened to them talk, and encouraged them to tell tales of their 'adventures.' They were fairly standard stories, and I felt they were keeping a lot of the details from me and Dak, perhaps waiting until they felt they trusted us more.

Anyway, I'd better get my head down for now. They just anchor in the evening, their is not enough crew to sail at night, so we only get a few hours sleep in the darkest part of the night.


DAY 557  (12th  Eleint) (September) (2nd day at sea)

Well, as they say - 'That escalated quickly!'

I had wanted to do all of this more slowly, to get more of an idea of the lay of the land (as it were) before striking.

At the mid-day meal I told (a true) story about my time in Sasserine when we had defended a farm against a tribe of lizardmen, hoping that this would stir their own memories of recent encounters of their own.

This worked, and Jack told me;

''We had to clear out this settlement of lizardmen once. It paid a pretty penny as I recall! They were really vicious, we had to kill them all. They killed one our guys too. That's when Thokk joined - as a replacement.''

This was enough for me. I perhaps hadn't thought I'd be so lucky to get a full confession so early on. Still, my luck was going to change soon enough.

I had a plan to 'take them out' one by one, and at nightfall, shortly after Jack went to the forward bunks I turned into a mouse and followed him down.
As he took his socks off I cast Baleful Polymorph. It failed, which sometimes happens, unlucky, but not unrecoverable.

He was startled and threw his knife at me, which hit and hurt. I cast again, and it failed again! Drat the randomness of magic and the strong wills of halflings.

I only had two of those spells, so I scampered off, jumped out of a porthole and turned  into a dolphin. Then I jumped out of the water on the other side of the ship and turned into a parrot, flew through another porthole and went back up onto deck.

It was all kicking off of course, with Jack telling them all about what had just happened to him. The Captain instantly suspected me and cried out to the crew,
'Secure that man! Take him below until we figure out what's going on!'

This was not going to plan at all.

(G475 08/01/2022 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), KT, AD) HOM8

 (G475 08/01/2022 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), KT, AD) HOM8



[The adventurers Griffolk Ethyn the Dragon-Shaman, Sparkledingle the Gnome Wizard, Fangorino the Barbarian are on a mission to follow Lady Partick.]

DAY 13

And so, after the lads had a good time under the OJB, and Sparkledingle had a good time at the Temple of Oghma, today was the day to board the Dementor.

Corum gathered them together and handed them their tickets, then sent them on their way, saying,
'Well, good luck fellows, but once you are on that ship, you are no longer my problem!'

They had two spare hours and driven either by the evil aura they picked up from Lady Partick or by some wild premonitions of things to come, they went to a grocers and purchased a good amount of garlic. Then in the market though bought mirrors.

Griffolk also bought 10 vials of cinnamon, for some reason.

After that they made their way to the docks and got their first sight of the Dementor. It was a large galleon, fitted out for passenger travel. From what I gather it mainly sailed up and down the Sword Coast, but had, on occasion gone into other seas.
It also traded in each port that it entered, and must have made a fair amount of coin. The passengers, I assume, preferred not to use Wizards and others who could cast the Teleport spells to get about.
I know myself that Teleport is not always reliable, and it was expensive if you could not do it yourself.

The captain was a handsome middle-aged half-halfling called Captain Pickles.
He welcomed them onboard and showed them to their well appointed cabins.

By the time the evening meal was served, the Dementor had set sail and was headed south towards Candlekeep. Bosun Bonefinger, a female human, seemed somewhat grumpy with the Captain and ever the diplomat Fang called it out.
The room went silent, the Bosun gave him an evil look and went back to her meal. Pickles tried to smooth it over.

Meanwhile, Griff was sat next to a man called Gingols, and he soon made friends with him. Sparkledingle talked to Supercargo Flinty 'Dog-gobble' Koople, the ships gnomish supercargo.

Fang made friends with no one.

Gingols was keen to inform Sparkledingle that he was perfectly sane, in fact he was known as Gingols the Sane. Sparkledingle could not help himself and began to tease the fellow.
'If you are sane, my good sir,' he piped up. 'Then what is the craziest thing you have ever done?'
'I'd rather not say,' replied Gingols mysteriously.
'Oh!', giggled the gnome. 'If you see the colour red, then you are wrong in the head!'
He then cast Prestidigitation and changed the man's robe red.
'You'll have to do better than that my little friend!' cried Gingols, leaping from his chair.
Gingols knew what had happened, but he was still upset.
'Why look!' taunted Sparkledingle. 'Now your face is red too!'
Gingols stepped back and cast a spell, but whatever it was, the gnome resisted it.
Sparkledingle cast Charm Person, but it didn't land either.
'That's it!' yelped Gingols and cast again.
This time the spell hit - it was Hideous Laughter - and the gnome began to writhe on the floor in shrieks of hilarity.

Finally Captain Pickles stepped in. 'Now now gentlemen,' he said. 'We don't approve of magical duels as after dinner entertainment.'
'Did your bosun approve?' swiped back Sparkledingle between fits of laughter.
It was all over though, Gingols dispelled his magic and took his dessert to his cabin.

Later Sparkledingle played cards with a roguish fellow in his cabin called Yoram Pelloto.
The gnome reckoned that Yoram was counting cards and tried to distract him by talking about numbers and royalty, but in the end he was down ten gold anyway.

As far as I can tell, none of them did anything useful at all in aid of their mission on the first day of their journey!

DAY 13 (Day 2 of the Voyage of the Dementor)

Breakfast, as with all meals, was served in the dining room.
Griff talked to the Bosun about the events of last night.
'Drama at the dinner table we could do without,' she said. 'Least of our worries right now though.'
She would not be drawn on what her big worry was, and Griff pushed her no further.

Sparkledingle, far from having learned his lesson, was still as giddy as a child with a new toy, and was out on deck causing chaos.

He used Silent Image to put a big skull and crossbones on the mainsail.
'Pirates! Look! Pirates!' he squeaked. 'Oh? Are we the pirates?'

The Captain came down to the main deck and dragged the naughty wizard down to the galley.
'It was a joke!' pleaded Sparkledingle. 'Everyone is so serious!'

Cookie Cook, in the galley, was a gnome too, but having lived with humans for longer was more sensible.
'Now just you sit down there and help me cut these carrots,' she told him sternly and he did as he was told.

Once he had finished his breakfast, Griff went around and talked to any of the crew that were willing to chat, gathering information and making contacts, a wiser course of action than being banished to the kitchen.

At dinner, Fang talked to First mate Mull-Master, who might have been  mistaken for a half-orc but who was of mixed gnomish-human-ogre parentage. He smelled of  cheese. Baroness Partick was at the table and Fang tried to bring her into the conversation.
'Where are you travelling to?' he asked.
'None of your business,' was the reply.

Later in the evening they all played cards again with Yoram. It was a good-natured game, but they all lost a few gold to him. Fang noticed that the cards were marked.

Griff, wanting to change the game, said;
'Has anyone heard of the cinnamon challenge?'

The challenge, in case you don't know is to put a spoon of cinnamon powder in your mouth and if possible, swallow it.

Fang and Griff managed to do so, with a struggle, while Sparkledingle and Yoramcoughed and sputtered it all over the place. Luckily they were on deck and not in one of the cabins.

Later still, when Fang was asleep in his cabin, he was awoken by knocking at his porthole window. He went to look, but saw nothing but the darkness of night and the white tips of the waves.

He was not long asleep when the whole ship was woken by a very loud bang from the hold. Everyone went to their cabin doors, but after nothing else happened the Captain managed to shepherd everyone back to their rooms.

Not Sparkledingle, as you might imagine, who snuck all the way down to the hold and to the back where a large aft section was behind a locked door.

Feeling no fear (yet!) he knocked on the door. He thought he heard a voice from the other side of it. Lacking paper and pen he ripped off a shipping label from a nearby crate and using grease from between the timbers he wrote;

'I'm deaf. Who are you? How can I help you?'

I'm still not sure why Sparkledingle was pretending to be deaf, something to do with the bang perhaps, as after he had passed the note under the door he put his fingers in his ears.

Not long after this, a piece of paper was passed back and written in blood was;

'Open the door my friend'

Other notes followed:

'Who are you? Remember I'm deaf.'

'I am a poor prisoner. Please free me.'

'I'll be back.'

Sparkledingle tried to get back to the stairs he had come down, but the door was locked! He was trapped in the hold. A sudden, potent, feeling of dread and fear washed over him, emanating from the locked door in the stern.

In a panic he passed another note;

'Please set fire to this and pass back.'

I don't know what Sparkledingle was trying to do, but the reply - written urgently in fresh blood - was passed back,

'RELEASE US!'

Sparkledingle then went to the aft door and knocked on it as loudly as he could. He then cast Invisibility and hid behind some crates.

Once more the whole ship was roused, and as sailors bearing lanterns searched the hold, Sparkledingle tried to make his way back up to his cabin.

This he did, but he had to scare a guard out of the way first.

Trembling, he entered his cabin, locked the door and without undressing crawled under the blankets and shut his eyes as tightly as he could. And here he remained for the rest of the night.