September 30th, 2019
Players
- Maardaar the Warlock (Matt)
- Morgana the Druid (Liz)
- Ender the Rogue (Steven)
- Kif the Ranger (Irving)
ESCAPING THE LIGHTHOUSE
Our heroes knock unconscious and bind the evil druid in the depths of the ancient drainage system beneath the lighthouse. In the adjacent room, they free the sailors being held prisoner. Morgana gets a fire a going and they pass around rations for the beaten hostages. The Captain of the ship, a young human named Aryn Herst, says a great storm came out of nowhere and then they were under siege by eelfolk who dragged them into the waves. They’ve been held here for at least a week, occasionally one of the eelfolk comes out and slits the throat of another sailor and their body is dragged into the large cavern where they can hear rituals being performed.
Now, how to get out of here? Morgana rides her charmed shark through the watery cave back to the docks, and then uses the shark to ferry the hostages out on the dinghy. Back on the docks, Morgana sends a message via seagull back to Benji Frogwater to tell him they found the ship & to send help. Meanwhile, Maardaar and Ender go upstairs in the lighthouse and begin using it’s signal to flash S-O-S back toward town.
While doing this they interrogate the druid, who is defiant and tells them to just kill him and get it over with. While they debate doing exactly this, the druid wildshapes into a sardine which surprises everyone. They watch helplessly as the sardine flops itself off the dock and swims away.
It works as a ship flying the flag of Lord’s Alliance soon pulls into the dock. An untidy an drunken dwarf named Sergeant Hazz Yorrum. He demands to know why they were out sailing in violation of the Lord Dagult Neverember’s order. They explain they took care of the trouble in the lighthouse and rescue these sailors. He gives them a ride back into town and warns them the Lord may not look kindly on their transgression even if they did do good. He says if they’re so eager for work though, he’s got plenty to go around and to come down to the Caravan Camp.
LEILON
Back in town at mid-day, they see that construction is under way in some parts of Leilon. An older woman with gray hair is seen hammering up a sign on the front of a newly opened shop: Aubrey’s Peculiarities. They stop in and say hi, but remember they have a reward to collect so they head to The Rogue’s Finger to look for Benji Frogwater.
They celebrate their adventure over some glog and are quickly spotted by their half-orc bandit friends: Gaspar & Neeno. Already drunk, they invite the players to dice games and rounds of more glog are bought. Overhearing gossip in the bar, they hear of a missing Alliance patrol in the swamp to the south, which the soldiers can only speculate on what kind of monster might be responsible.
Benji Frogwater shows up and immediately begins yelling again about his lost ship and how lazy everyone is. He is not excited to hear the ship went down but does begrudgingly pay out the parties – not Kif though (“Who the fuck is this guy?”). He also complains about the seagull pooping on him. The party retires upstairs to sleep off the glog.
In the night, Maardaar awakes in a drunken glog stupor to get a glass of water and gazes out the window. A green glow is being emitted from the under construction ruins of the House of Thalivar.
The next morning, they head out with pockets full of gold straight for Aubrey’s Peculiarities. An old woman with a junk shop full of all kinds of weird stuff in complete and total disarray. She moves about the shop, digging through crates and bins and pulling out items for the party’s consideration. Among them is a singing frog, which Morgana buys immediately. Over the register is an aging triptych painting of 3 figures – a dark skinned woman, a red bearded dwarf, and another portrait that’s faded with age. Aubrey explains when she was younger, there was an adventuring part called the “Swords of Leilon”.
HOUSE OF THALIVAR
The party sets out to investigate the tower after Maardaar explains his night time vision. They head up the craggy side of the hill, which is covered in fog. Climbing a steep and narrow twisting foot path through the rocks, they come to meet 2 guards heading down the trail. They advise the party to turn back, they are fleeing a ghostly sighting while they were doing work on the tower. They say that the current wizard in residence in town from Neverwinter – Gallio Elibro – works all day and night in the top room of the tower, they don’t know on what. He seems tired every time they do see him.
As the guards pass, Morgana looks up the hill and sees a shadowy woman figure on the horizon. As they attempt to move closer, she is engulfed by fog and then disappears.
The House of Thalivar is protected by a large wood pike fence with no obvious entrance. The party investigates the perimeter and finds storm drains, with a ladder leading down underneath.
UNDERNEATH THE TOWER
Climbing down a metal ladder into the dark, Maardaar goes first. He sees a room with two pipes raining into a larger 8′ pipe leading out. The smell of rot is overbearing and everything is covered in a slick sludge. Ender looks around and sees some coin trapped in a pipe, and is bitten by a Giant Rat for his trouble. A swarm of rats squirming together rolls lazily down the sewage pipe.
They sneak through the large pipe further into the structure, directly underneath the tower. They proceed carefully, and in the blackness they see with their darkvision a large cathedral dome room, with drainage pipes leading in all 4 cardinal directions. In the room there is a bugbear, a hobgoblin, an owlbear, and another monster all standing perfectly still.
The party begins to plan an ambush attack, but Ender concealed with his stealth, sneaks in the room and realizes the monsters are actually made out of stone. The party realizes the floor, unlike the other disgusting room, is perfectly clean.
As the party lets down their guard, suddenly Maardaar is engulfed by a Gelatinous Cube which had escaped their notice up until now. He takes severe acid damage as everyone else wails in with arrows and fire spells, attempting to dissolve the ooze. Maardaar is able to pry himself free while Morgana narrowly evades being engulfed herself. The party takes heavy damage, but it is Kif who lands the mortal blow. The cube dissolves and drains away into the sewer sluices, as the arrows and other detritus stuck to it clatter to the floor. They notice one of these things is a hand painted sign: “PROPERTY OF THE LORD’S ALLIANCE – DO NOT MOLEST”
With the threat dispatch they evaluate their options. A pipe leads in each direction. To the west, the way is barred by an iron grate, which Maardaar melts with Eldritch Blast. On the other side they find a cavern with a void separating a thin rock ledge from a small cave 20′ away. Morgana wildshapes into a spider and spins a web where a bridge used to cross the way. In the cave they find a chest, which appears ordinary until Ender gets stuck to it, and it attacks. A mimic!
The party defeats it but is also attacked by an unknown backstabber that they can’t see. Maardaar feels the strength drained from him as he is also hit. Morgana uses Faerie Fire to outline their hidden attacker, and they realize the shadow itself is reaching out for them. Once identified, it turns itself into a thin sliver and escapes into a crack in the wall.