- You don't need any previous D&D experience. We'll be running 5th edition, which is ideal for beginners and experienced players alike.
- The game will be run on roll20.net, which allows you to control your characters on a map, do dice rolls and talk to each other.
- Games will be about 2 hours, ideally on a weekly basis. I'm fairly flexible on when the game runs, but I'd suggest a weekday evening would be easiest. I'd look to start in early October as I've got stuff going on until then.
- The campaign would be one of my own nefarious design. I have a broad idea for it, but as a starting point I'd suggest we play the first chapter which would take about 4 or 5 sessions and then see what everyone thinks.
- Characters can be created for free at:
www.dndbeyond.com
It's dead simple and works out all the complex stuff for you. Basically you go through several screens and just choose the things you want for your character.
So, anybody up for it? We'd need 3 players as a minimum (4 would be better in case someone can't make a session), going up to maybe 6 as a maximum.
Pre-Session Catch Up
Spoiler
Session 1 Summary
Gather round and hear ye the tale of the Lost Mine of Phandelver and the band of heroes who did everything to demonstrate themselves otherwise in their search for it!
Many centuries ago, a group of dwarves and gnomes came together in an agreement known as the Phandelver Pact. Together they mined the magically rich ores within Wave Echo Cave and created one of the few places where metals of a magical nature could be forged: the Forge of Spells. The mine was lost to the ages after a great battle, but the dwarven Rockseeker brothers came upon a map leading to it and set about organising an expedition.
A ragtag group of adventurers were hired by the eldest of the three brothers, Gundren Rockseeker, to transport a wagon of provisions from Neverwinter to the village of Phandalin. Thus did our intrepid band embark upon their journey: Slythe, the light-fingered rogue; Ellis, the beer-swilling bard; Van'Skar, the brooding paladin with a haunting background that will probably never be revealed; and the wizard who's name escapes me, so for brevity we'll call him DJ. Not far from their destination, the group came across a ruined wagon in the middle of a trail which to their horror was Gundren's! A goblin ambush ensued, and the surviving wretch was forced to lead the party to the goblin hideout - a cave in the woods. After executing their unarmed prisoner, our heroes raided the cave with similar levels of mercy and finesse. Thousands were butchered, or so the tale goes, but sadly Gundren was not to be found. Instead they found Gundren's companion, the human warrior Sildar Hallwinter, alive but badly injured.
The party escorted Sildar and their wagon to Phandalin. The wagon was delivered to Barthen's Provisions and Sildar retired to the inn to rest while the heroes drank themselves into a stupor. The village was under harassment from a group of local ruffians known as the Redbrands, and with no real forethought the drunken heroes took it upon themselves to stumble into the street and put an end to the Redbrands' reign of terror with immediate effect. A street fight erupted to the horror of the sleepy village, and any who were asleep were suddenly awakened by the literal thunderclap that one of the heroes sent at the bandits, extinguishing their lives in a heartbeat. At this point, the wizard DJ stumbled out of sight and was never seen again.
Rather than wasting precious seconds searching for their lost and probably imperilled companion, the three remaining heroes pursued a fleeing bandit up a hill to a destroyed mansion. There they found a basement - the Redbrands' base of operations - and proceeded to slaughter everyone they saw with zero tolerance and much thunder. It is said they also experienced a fell voice in their heads who attempted to treat with them. Whether this was some feral creature or simply their consciences appealing for mercy, none can tell. Neither can it be said what happened to the leader of the Redbrands, Iarno Albrek, who was captured and subsequently interrogated. Was this arcane practitioner allowed to go on his way or, more likely, was his head staved in with a hammer? I certainly cannot recall, nor do I wish to. What is known is that it was the first time that the party heard the name of Iarno's master: the Black Spider.
Searching for answers, the party returned to the inn and told Sildar of what had happened. Sildar knew not of the Black Spider, but was distraught to learn that Iarno, a former colleague of his from the Lords' Alliance, had turned from the path of good. He told of how Gundren had found the mine, and that his stolen map was the key to finding it. Clearly Iarno and the Spider had an interest in this matter. Iarno had provided a possible location for where Gundren had been taken: the ruined castle of Cragmaw, deep in the Neverwinter woods. After some much needed rest, the party left Phandalin in search of the castle.
After a long trek through the woods, the intrepid heroes found and approached the castle with utmost stealth, entering through a breach in the walls. Many goblins and hobgoblins lurked inside, and naturally they were all pitilessly dispatched. It was then that a terrible serpentine creature, a grick, descended from the ceiling to attack. It too was sent to its death. Within the depths of Cragmaw, danger and destiny awaited. For all they knew, two of the heroes could soon perish from a rock unceremoniously dropping on their heads from nowhere. But that story is for another time...
Spoiler
Session 2 Summary
Following the fight with the grick in the depths of Cragmaw castle, Slythe, Van'Skar and Ellis pondered their next move. Ellis, tired from battle, looked for something to drink and found a flask of unknown liquid on top of a nearby barrel. Without a second thought, he popped the cork and drained the contents. Moments later, the dwarven bard was transformed to stone, an immortalised statue of his impulsive nature.
A disturbance deeper in the castle distracted Slythe and Van'Skar from the horror that had befallen their friend. The mighty paladin Van'Skar took the lead, bursting through the door to find a regally-garbed bugbear threatening the very dwarf they had come to rescue: Gundren Rockseeker. Several other prisoners sat tied along the wall with a froth-mouthed wolf growling beside them. The bugbear, King Grol, demanded the intruders leave at once, but before Van'Skar could negotiate this precarious hostage situation, Slythe's bow fired from the shadows and pierced the King's neck. King Grol, affronted by such insolence in his court, made good on his threat and battered Gundren almost to death. Van'Skar sadly did not see the shadowy blue-skinned figure that emerged behind him and thrust a scimitar through his back, fatally wounding him. At the sight of his fallen comrade, Slythe loosed another arrow into King Grol, felling him for good. The prisoners, escaping their bonds through dexterity, magic and pure brute force, leapt at the opportunity to kill their captors, felling the blue-skinned assailant and terrifying the wolf with some choice words. The battle over, Van'Skar as his last act healed Gundren, expelling the remains of his own life in the effort.
Gundren explained that after being captured and dragged to Cragmaw, the Black Spider had personally come to retrieve the map to the mines of Phandelver at Wave Echo Cave. Though he didn't know where the map had gone, he had overheard the bandits talking of operations at the ruined village of Thundertree. The other prisoners - the arcane tieflings Sage and Charr and the human juggernaut of muscle, Truss - explained how they had been hired by the Lord's Alliance in Neverwinter to investigate what had become of Sildar Hallwinter (a Lord's Alliance member) and his journey with Gundren. On their journey they too had been captured by a band of hobgoblins and dragged to Cragmaw. It was agreed that Gundren would return to the village of Phandalin to rest and reunite with Sildar, while Slythe joined the new trio of adventurers to investigate Thundertree.
Opting to take the more direct route through the woods, the party encountered a dishevelled noble by a campfire cooking a lone sausage on a stick. He told how he had been assaulted by bandits in masks with a strange dragon motif, which Charr recalled as being something worn by ancient worshippers of the god of dragons, Tiamat. The man, Relius, had been sent by the council of the Ten Towns in the Icewind Dale to the north to talk to the city of Neverwinter and the dwarves of Gauntlgrym to find out why trade had all but stopped. He explained how the towns relied on trade from both cities to survive, and it seemed clear to him now that bandits were responsible for the disruption. After magically recovering his dropped sausage from the campfire, the party left him in peace.
At Thundertree, the party found an old, grumpy hermit living in the least-ruined building of the village. After some cajoling, he told of how a dragon had nested in a tower at the north of the village and how a bunch of bandits had also taken up residence. He wanted them all gone, and in exchange for evicting them he agreed to guide the party to Wave Echo Cave. Charr took the lead in talking to the dragon, due to his draconic ancestry, and found it was a young but prideful green dragon called Venomfang, who explained that the bandits were in fact dragon cultists trying to petition him to their cause. This had become a nuisance to him, but he did not want to simply annihilate them as he suspected it would anger Tiamat. Instead, he asked the party if they would do the job instead. The party agreed on the condition that he would leave the area for a couple of days so the hermit would think him gone for good. Amused by this scheme, the dragon concurred. The party also asked about the giant spider (Jeff) milling around next to the dragon's tower, and Venomfang claimed he had influence over him (and all creatures), and that Jeff would aid them if they sang him a song. Slythe stepped up to the challenge and persuaded Jeff to their cause through the power of beatbox.
The party proceeded to the cultist's house with Jeff in tow, and persuaded the leader that they too were worshippers of Tiamat and that Venomfang had agreed to their wishes and wanted to speak to them. As the cultists proceeded through the village ruins, Charr magically created a terrible odour of rotting flesh targeted on the leader's face, intended to attract the hunger of Jeff. It worked. As Jeff ploughed through the cultists, the party dispatched them with little effort. The last remaining cultist dropped his weapon and pleaded for his life, yet the party stood and watched as Jeff enveloped him in a web and dragged him off into the woods. With that done, the party pilfered the corpses around them and found a strange, unknown potion, some diamonds and a hastily-drawn map which looked like a possible route to Wave Echo Cave and the lost mines.
The party returned to Venomfang who approved of their swift violence and absence of mercy, and as agreed he flew away from the village for a time. Returning to the hermit (Reidoth), the party told of what had happened with some carefully placed mis-truths, much to the hermit's delight. They all rested for the night before continuing on their journey...
Spoiler
Session 3 Summary
The party left Thundertree and headed south through the woods, following the eccentric hermit Reidoth as he led the way to Wave Echo Cave and the lost mine. After a long day's trek, everyone settled down for the night not far from Cragmaw Castle, with Slythe and Sage's new animal companion, Raven, keeping a watchful eye. Numerous lights heading towards the castle were spotted throughout the night, and closer inspection from Raven swooping overhead identified one of the groups as hobgoblins. The party decided to return to Cragmaw to sneakily investigate in the morning, but aside from some disgruntled goblins and the statue form of Ellis apparently missing, little caught their eye and so the journey south continued.
Reidoth reluctantly mentioned how he had once been a druid and part of a group called the Emerald Enclave, and that given time to prepare he could magically try and contact the group to see if they knew anything of the troubles in the area. The party decided to rest at the village of Phandalin so that Reidoth could make the attempt before heading to the mine. Arriving at Phandalin around dusk, Slythe was concerned to find a wanted poster with his face on it, requesting he be brought in for questioning regarding his part in the Redbrand massacre several days prior. Donning a false moustache and glasses and adopting the accent of a Frankish gnome, he sauntered to the inn with Truss and Reidoth, confident in his nonchalant anonymity.
Sage and Charr proceeded to the Townmaster's hall to offer information on Slythe, cunningly telling them to search the roads to the north. They then headed to Barthen's provisions, where a ruckus was narrowly avoided after Sage attempted to magically influence Barthen into giving him four healing potions (the most expensive items in the shop at 100gp apiece) for free, and was caught. Charr, however, found the true gold on offer and procured four potatoes. Were these the vegetables of which the soothsayers foretold, the Potatoes of Destiny, their starchy forms the key to treasures untold and responsible for the fate of the very multiverse? Time, as always, will tell.
Sage and Charr regrouped with the party at the inn, Sildar and Gundren with them at the table. Gundren was thrilled that the way to the mine had been recovered but was also concerned for his two brothers who were missing. Sildar expressed concerns that the Townmaster hadn't accepted the truth regarding the Redbrand incident and that if Slythe and his associates were brought in they would be subjected to more than questioning. He also spoke of his general mistrust of the Townmaster and speculated that he was perhaps involved with the bandit raids and kidnappings in some way, though he emphasised that he could be mistaken and that the Townmaster was simply an arse.
With this suspicion raised, Sage, Charr and Truss went to execute a masterful plan to gather intel. Disguised as a human and using the same tactic that had failed on Barthen, Sage attempted to magically force the Townmaster to spill the beans, but unfortunately this resulted in the Townmaster ordering his guard to arrest Sage. As Sage fled the scene, Charr stepped dramatically into the doorway, potatoes at his side, and used his sorcery to put the Townmaster and the guard to sleep. Having retreated to the inn and explained the situation, Sildar agreed to try and calm the now awakened Townmaster and guards shouting outside. He managed to talk the Townmaster down, but it was made clear that Sildar and his friends from the Lords' Alliance were not entirely welcome in Phandalin.
After a night in the inn, the party went outside to find Reidoth asleep in the muck of the town square. They startled him awake and he set about contacting the Emerald Enclave. He asked about Cragmaw castle, any general trouble in the area, if they knew where any kidnappings had taken place and whether the Black Spider was behind them. They replied that there were goblins and hobgoblins at Cragmaw, there had been raids and kidnappings of three dwarves in the area (one of which was Gundren, the other of which they said took place at Conyberry; the location of the third was unknown to them) and that the Black Spider was responsible. The party concluded that the mine was still their best chance of finding the Black Spider and prepared to leave Phandalin.
Spoiler
Session 4 Summary
The party followed the druid Reidoth through across the hills and through a canyon maze to the entrance of Wave Echo Cave, whereby he left them with little more than a hastily sketched exit route on their map and a terse farewell. Proceeding inside, the party found the apparently murdered body of a dwarf with similar features to Gundren - presumably one of his two brothers. After a second or two of mourning and compassion, Slythe ripped the dwarf's fancy boots off his cold, dead feet and put them on to find they enhanced his ability to jump.
Sage sent Raven ahead to scout the tunnels, but the poor magical rat was attacked by a swarm of bat-like creatures (stirges) and vanished into thin air. The party engaged the stirges, who were also attacking a Redbrand bandit and a goblin, and after much blood-sucking and air-swatting the stirges were all killed, as was the goblin. The Redbrand was taken for interrogation, having been mercifully crippled by an arrow to the knee (which scuppered his future adventuring plans). The Black Spider had recently arrived at the cave, it seemed, and had ordered an exploration. Another Redbrand strolled round the corner and was promptly shot in the head by Slythe, after which their captive was summarily executed after promising his freedom, thereby breaching every wartime convention ever ratified in the Sword Coast.
Having spied some ghouls in a nearby room, Sage and Charr took on the forms of the Redbrand and his goblin friend and proceeded down the tunnel to scout further into the cave. A conversation was overheard between a dragon cultist, a Redbrand, a hobgoblin, a goblin and a drow - a congregation of every group they had pissed off over the past week. Sage lured them back down the tunnel, calling for help with the ghouls, and led them into an ambush where Charr gave them a good charring with all of his fire (or at least a good portion of it). The drow came last and was almost subject to another merciful kneecapping and interrogation until Truss cleft his head from his shoulders in a fit of rage.
Moving onward, the party found an ancient, out-of-action watermill on a dry canal, guarded by a skull wreathed in green flame. After a brief discourse with the skull, it was made clear that it wanted them to leave. Immediately. They tested the skull's patience with some loitering before investigating some humming to the east, which came from a floating betentacled green eye monster guarding the Forge of Spells - a magical brazier of enchanting and an anvil. The monster, pleasantly surprised to see people for the first time in 650 years and apparently oblivious to the fact that the mine was no longer in operation, explained that he had never been given a name, and so the party (inevitably, some would say) named him Jeff. Jeff told them how he had been summoned to guard the equipment produced in the Forge of Spells from being stolen, and seemed quite happy bimbling about waiting to intervene in some thievery. Whether the party would attempt to pilfer the phat loot in the room remained to be seen...
Spoiler
Session 5 Summary
Bidding Jeff farewell, the party immediately set about figuring how to rob him blind. They settled on disguising themselves as dwarves and convincing Jeff that his contract to guard the forge had long since expired, as had all the other people running the mine. Relieved of his post, Jeff went to have a chat with the flaming skull by the water wheel. The moment Jeff floated out the door, Slythe swiped everything of value from the forge. Charr also enchanted the Potato of Destiny in the flaming green brazier, expanding its power beyond that of any other potato in the multiverse.
Proceeding further into the mine, the party discovered two bugbears being directed by two drow to locate something in the mud banks of a stream. Not wanting to overexert themselves, they delegated the job of slaughtering them to Jeff by persuading him that they were thieves who had stolen stuff he was meant to be guarding. Jeff, incensed by this turn of events, gave the intruders a piece of his mind before ravaging their brains into mush with his eye-beams, allowing our intrepid heroes to immolate and carve their bodies to pieces. Jeff helpfully pointed out what the bugbears were looking for - a pair of gauntlets of ogre power, buried in the mud - and then set off to explore the world.
The party took a break by the stream, but the alarm set by Slythe was triggered. Upon investigating, they found the enemy they had been tracking for some time, the Black Spider, with one of Gundren's brothers held hostage at knife-point. Curiously, Slythe noticed through a keyhole to another room that there was another dwarf held prisoner who looked exactly like the hostage.
The Black Spider ordered the party to surrender else he would kill the dwarf, but some cunning insight determined that the hostage was not in fact a real dwarf. The ruse exposed, the Spider questioned where the party's allegiance laid and what their motives were in coming to the mine. Slythe concluded that his allegiance was to coin, before moments later realising that nobody had agreed to pay them to come to the mine and stop the Black Spider. Were our heroes so selfless and noble that they hadn't even considered financial reward before plunging themselves into peril? Or was this plain incompetence on a scale hitherto unheard of within adventuring circles? Whatever the case, they were not given chance to ponder on this as the Black Spider's hostage transformed into its true form of a doppelganger and attacked.
Thirty seconds or so later, flames had been thrown, thunder had erupted, an urgent distress call had been sent to Jeff, Charr was crushed within an inch of his life and the Black Spider lay on the ground, dead or dying.
Will Charr survive to burn people another day? Will the Black Spider make his death saves given that the DMs dice were consistently rolling 2s and 3s all night? And will Jeff return to save the day and show everyone who's boss? We find out next week!
Spoiler
Session 6 Summary
Returning from the previous cliffhanger, the party continued to dispatch the onslaught of enemies while somehow avoiding their own demises. The last remaining bugbear surrendered as his comrades fell, and was forced by our illustrious heroes to strip naked and flee with his last shred of dignity in tatters. As surprising as it may be, this would prove to be their most merciful action of the coming day.
Amidst the sea of corpses, only Truss lay alive, and only barely as his friends came to revive him. The Black Spider was not so fortunate, having had his body and brain devastated by Sage's sonic blast which literally shattered multiple stone pillars. Slythe investigated the room and found papers indicating the Black Spider was receiving orders from someone he disliked, along with a coded message in an unknown script. The party also freed Gundren's brother, Nundro, and then conveyed to him the death of his brother Tharden by parading the fancy boots they had ripped off his cold, dead feet. After some much needed rest, Nundro proceeded to hack the head off the Black Spider's corpse as proof of his death, or perhaps as a trophy.
Upon leaving the mine, the party bumped into Jeff, who had got lost and wasn't sure if he was outside or not because he had no concept of what that meant. The group helped Jeff find the exit (Truss scooping up Tharden's body along the way, like a sack of non-destined potatoes), and Jeff was elated and shocked at the sheer scale of the sky. Charr brought him back to earth by informing him that looking at the sky for too long was dangerous, and so Jeff diligently kept his eyes to the ground as he set off on his journey of exploration to the North. Would he find untold treasures and wonders, make new friends and test the depths of his character? Or would he incinerate the first group of travellers he encountered due to an unfortunate misunderstanding and his total ignorance of the wider world? Only the trail of ashes and blood in his wake would tell.
Arriving back in Phandalin, the party found many new wanted posters and warnings of their various activities and disguises, and they heard a commotion from the town centre. A crowd stood around a hastily-erected gallows as the Townmaster decreed that Sildar and Gundren were to be put to death for the crimes of sedition, multiple counts of accessory to murder and conspiracy to depose the town's rightful authorities. Rather than taking the flimsy, pissant approach of trying to defuse the situation, Sage marched forth into the crowd disguised as the Black Spider, his dark and ominous staff in hand, and demanded that the Townmaster release the prisoners into his custody at once.
It is unclear what part the Townmaster played in the troubling events surrounding Phandalin and the Black Spider, though it seems he had been involved to some extent with a subordinate or associate of the Spider's. What is certain is that the party then rallied the crowd against the Townmaster, placing the blame squarely on him for every ill that had happened in the past weeks and months. With the frenzied, ill-informed rage of a Daily Mail reader (that being the local Neverwinter hate rag, of course), the crowd cut free Sildar and Gundren and summarily hanged the Towmaster without trial or forethought until - with his dying constrictions - he watched as Sage reverted in front of him to his true form and revealed the trickery that had led to his demise. Hours later, the Townmaster's corpse still swinging in the breeze, Charr sent his ethereal, disembodied hand to loot a pouch of gold off his belt.
Knowing they would find no dignity in such company, Gundren and Nundro set about burying their brother alone on the edge of town, and then returned to regroup with Sildar and the party at the inn. The town had agreed for Sildar to administer the town's needs temporarily until proper elections could be held. Sildar accepted the charge and suggested that the party returned to Neverwinter to report back to General Sabine and Sir Carac (Sildar's superior), receive their reward and perhaps find more work in tracking down the Black Spider's masters and their plans. Gundren and Nundro also agreed that as a just reward, the party would be given 16% of any profits from the mine once it was up and running again.
With the rescue of Gundren, Nundro and Sildar, the scuppering of bandit activities in the area, the discovery of the Lost Mine and the demise of the Black Spider, the party had proven their value, and their flexible ethics. As they headed to Neverwinter at the close of the first chapter of their story, whispers began to spread of their deeds and misdeeds to ears of both friend and foe. Their true journey had just begun...
Spoiler
Session 7 Summary
As the 'Heroes' of Phandalin (AKA The Unmentionables; AKA The Bastards) brought a close to the terrible events surrounding the discovery of the Lost Mine, they began a new chapter of their own. Began, that is, by stealing blood for unknown nefarious purposes from the hanging body of the Townmaster whose death they had partially orchestrated. Seeking swift transport to Neverwinter, the party spoke to Linene Graywind, trader and postmaster, and agreed to deliver two letters and a parcel to a tiefling called Tombstone in the city in exchange for borrowing her horse (Biscuit) and cart. With the old, disgruntled nag huffing out every ounce of sweat it could muster by towing Charr, Sage and Slythe in the cart (Truss on foot), they began the journey north.
After a couple of uneventful days on the unusually quiet road, a ship with a black flag bearing a red cutlass was sighted off-coast by Sage's familiar, Raven. Later the next day, the party encountered a distraught woman and her two children at the side of the road, and her husband's dead body nearby. She described how two rough types - a man and a woman - had killed her husband and stolen their cart containing all their belongings, then rushed off west towards the coast. While the others debated the logistics of catching up to the bandits, Charr had no such hesitation and sprinted with thunderbolt alacrity into the fields. The others followed as best they could, Sage buying some time by sending Raven to fly in advance and harass their prey. Eventually, a mere half mile from the coast and the previously-sighted ship not far off-shore, Charr and Truss caught up to the bandits and launched a surprise assault which rendered the man unconscious and forced the woman to surrender. As Sage and Slythe arrived on the scene, Sage made a swift assessment of the situation and concluded that melting her head with Eldritch magic was the only viable solution.
The party woke and interrogated/tortured the man, who reluctantly identified himself as Felwin, a buccaneer from Luskan who had been ordered by his captain to raid the roads with his friend, Polly. There was mention of the five High Captains who rule Luskan, but nothing Felwin said could appease his captors, and they decided his fate by asking Truss to kill him. Truss dutifully accepted by stamping on Felwin's head with little mercy or dignity. It is said that two wrongs do not make a right, but Slythe attempted to subvert this by slipping 20gp into a crate on the stolen cart before it was returned to the widow, thereby demonstrating that two rights still somehow seem wrong. Unfettered by moral arithmetic, the party escorted the woman (Yenna) on the road to Neverwinter, with a stop at a small roadside tavern on the way.
Four days after leaving Phandalin, our heroes entered the gates of Neverwinter and proceeded to collect their reward from General Sabine at the Hall of Justice - a great fortress of white stone and marble serving as both barracks to the city guard (the Mintarn Mercenaries) and as the temple of Tyr, the god of Justice. The General was found in heated discussion with Lord Neverember (Lord Protector of the city) and Sir Carac, a renowned and noble paladin, and Sildar's superior. The party reported the success of their mission and were rewarded as agreed before being introduced to Neverember, who gladly greeted them. It appeared that the party's deeds had not gone unnoticed, such that Neverember seemed to want their help in another task, and he asked for them to meet back at the Hall of Justice later in the evening after he had spoken to the Council.
With their reward in pocket, the party proceeded to find Tombstone and deliver the post as agreed, while also spending some coin. Tombstone, it seemed, was a shopkeeper and detective who ran Cases and Curiosities, a tiny hovel filled to the brim with (as the bards say) 'phat loot'. After some bartering, Tombstone's salesmanship and unplaceable accent sold several items, including a Cloak of Billowing which billowed dramatically on command. Slythe also managed to sell the shield from the mine for a hefty sum, but Tombstone refused to buy the mace on the grounds that it was a holy relic of Lathander, and as a rule he tried not to get on the wrong side of gods. Before departing, the party enquired about any ongoing investigations they could help with, and Tombstone asked if they had ever heard of Iarno Albrek. They had, Slythe and his former friends having defeated him in the manor at Phandalin and allowing him to depart to an unknown (but probably deadly) fate. Tombstone asked if they would return in the morning after he had checked the mail they had delivered, as he may have questions for them.
Spoiler
Session 8 Summary
Departing Tombstone's shop, the group now calling themselves the Unmentionables decided to have a pre-Council drink at Neverwinter's grottiest, most infamous flat-roof pub, The Dolphin, in the hope of overhearing some juicy local gossip. Attempts at cordial conversation with the salty staff and clientele were met with jibes and drunken snarls, with the only interesting rumours being talk of trouble at the dwarven city of Gauntlgrym and potential unsavoury work up in the pirate town of Luskan. The group left less than satisfied, magically freezing all the drinks and slamming the doors on the way out.
They made their way back to the Hall of Justice to meet Lord Neverember at his request and were led to the Council chamber, where the Council had convened. The Council were introduced:
Lord Dagult Neverember, Lord Protector of Neverwinter (human male)
General Sabine, Master of the Guard (human female)
Sir Carac Stonesworn, Master of Justice (human male)
Lady Tanye Mithmireleen, Master of the People (high elf female)
Brior Felhim, Master of the Arcane (gnome male)
Beatrix de Bolbec, Master of Trade (half-elf female)
Xalvador Montagu, Master of Shadows (human male)
Neverember explained that the problems facing the city were numerous and growing beyond the capability of the guard to handle. Trade had almost entirely stopped in all directions due to apparently coordinated raids from pirates, bandits and monsters on the roads, the Ten Towns to the north were in dire straits from dwindling supplies, and the latest word from Gauntlgrym to the East was that King Bruenor - the dwarfiest dwarf who ever dwarfed - had died in suspicious circumstances. Unless these problems were resolved swiftly, Neverwinter faced disaster.
And so it was that Lord Neverember, against the wishes of some of the Council, appointed the Unmentionables as Neverwinter's task force due to their reputation for getting the job done at any cost. They were granted Neverember's full authority to investigate and end any and all threats facing the city, and they were promised exceptional compensation for their noble efforts.
Sir Carac, paladin of Tyr and Master of Justice in Neverwinter, voiced his objection to the apparent free reign from the law that Neverember had granted the Unmentionables in their task. Neverember then emphasised that he expected the group to act within the bounds of the law when possible, but ending the threats took priority. Beatrix de Bolbec, Master of Trade, also voiced her concern that the city's coffers were so far stretched from the trade issues that Neverember was promising payment beyond what they could afford, but Neverember dismissed this with a hand wave.
As the Council departed, Neverember spoke privately with the group and informed them that he suspected someone on the Council was working against Neverwinter's interests, and that any updates on their mission should be first given directly to him.
With the Unmentionables given terrifying levels of authority to override the law and stamp on civil rights to achieve their goals (with an apparently huge budget), they retired with the Council to a chamber of refreshments where they mingled with other members of the city's nobility. The group first went to talk with the spymaster, Xalvador Montagu, asking for advice on where to start their investigations, inquiring about Tombstone (who Xalvador claimed was a capable amateur but working only for himself) and discussing who may have potentially betrayed the Council.
Next they spoke with the Master of Trade, Beatrix de Bolbec, who was very concerned with the trade crisis and placed the likely blame solely on Luskan. She mentioned that she had worked with General Sabine to provide guards to protect outbound caravans, but all had been lost and the city could no longer spare any more guards. The group suggested posing as guards with a caravan to Luskan, and Beatrix agreed that if they decided to go ahead with the plan then a caravan could be dispatched the next day. In the interest of ending the crisis quickly, she gave the group 500 gold pieces and promised 500 more once trade routes had been made safe again.
The group then spoke with the excitable gnomish wizard, Brior Felhim, who made it clear that he enjoyed public displays of arcane prowess. The party, of course, acquiesced to this by causing thunder to rumble the rafters (and the Cloak of Billowing to billow dramatically). Brior expressed his approval of the party's appointment, and when asked about his thoughts on where to start he suggested that the troubles facing the city were most likely wider than just Luskan, and that Gauntlgrym (being the site of an apparent regicide and the guardians of a major entrance to the Underdark and the drow within) was probably of similar importance. He also lamented that his fellow wizards at the secretive Cloak Tower - the seat of arcane learning in Neverwinter with very restricted access - did not share his desire to spread their arcane knowledge for the betterment of the city. Leaning in closer, he suggested that they could gain the Cloak Tower's loyalty by finding a way to enter the mysterious Shard of Night - a tower which had appeared 500ft above the city many decades ago and remained there ever since. He told of how five mages had entered the tower when it first appeared but had never come out, and ever since it had been forbidden to enter. With the legal flexibility now granted to the Unmentionables, they were in a unique position to finally discover what was inside. If successful, Brior suggested he could arrange limited access to the Cloak Tower and their magical knowledge and artefacts.
With more Council members still to talk to, the Unmentionables mingled further into the crowd...
Spoiler
Session 9 Summary
The Unmentionables continued their mingling amongst the Neverwinter nobility by talking to Lady Tanye, the Master of the People - the representative of the citizens of Neverwinter on the Council. She did not take a liking to the motley bunch of misfits, (not unwarranted, given that her coin pouch was then stolen from her) but their exchange of insults was interrupted by a peculiar and disturbing turn of events: Sir Carac, the noble paladin and Master of Justice, rose abruptly from his seat, drew his sword and lunged at Lord Neverember with a glazed expression.
Amidst the panic that erupted in the room, the party quickly realised that Sir Carac was not in control of himself, and was subject to some nefarious exterior influence. Truss and General Sabine rushed to try and restrain the paladin as he hacked at Lord Neverember, whose armour thankfully did its job of (mostly) protecting him. Charr, sensing the stirrings of destiny, grabbed a handful of potato fritters from the table next to him and heroically lobbed them towards Sir Carac as a distraction, though alas they hit Lady Tanye square in the face instead, sending her reeling to the ground in a fit of starch-based distress. The scene of chaos was suddenly enshrouded in impenetrable darkness, as Sage cast a spell at Sir Carac to hinder his assault.
It was at this point that the party noticed two of the four band members acting suspiciously, un-panicked and staring intently towards the darkness enveloping Sir Carac. With their actions uncovered, the two musicians sprouted wings and horns and shed their human disguises to reveal their true natures: a succubus and an incubus, terrible fiends from the Abyss. Slythe, having given his bow to Brior Felhim for it to be enchanted, reached for the mace Lightbringer and lunged at the incubus in stealthy fury. The glowing radiance that erupted from the strike dazzled all in the vicinity, giving Slythe a moment to hide from view again (*cough*retcon*ahem*). Sage quickly evaluated the scene and determined that a deafening Shatter spell would hit both fiends, along with the acceptable civilian losses of the other two band members. For the greater good... or some kind of good, presumably... or another vaguely justifiable reason, Sage sent forth his magical assault, causing intense pain to the fiends and instant, ear-bleeding death to the innocent minstrels whose corpses then flopped to the ground. Meanwhile, Charr sent a number of minute meteors (of Melf's variety) hurtling towards the succubus.
Being fiends, the succubus and incubus were no strangers to evil and sordid deeds, which apparently included personal assaults of a most ribald nature as the incubus proceeded to kiss Slythe full on the lips, and similarly the succubus advanced on Charr. Far from being romances for the bards to sing about in years to come, the embraces were clearly substandard and unrequited based on the screams of harrowing pain from Slythe and Charr. The party responded with further attacks as Slythe and Charr then retreated to a safe distance from the handsy predators. The succubus sought a new victim, kissing the already unconscious Lady Tanye until her face turned grey. The incubus foolishly attempted to win the heart of the mighty Truss, who was unswayed by such feeble flirtations, and responded by garroting the fiend and then plunging his greatsword through its throat. Sage rounded on the succubus, destroying her with his eldritch powers.
With the fiends dead, Sir Carac's mind returned to him and he ceased his attack. The party and the Council quickly established that Sir Carac was no longer a threat and that the fiends had been controlling him. The paladin rushed to heal Lady Tanye, who awoke in a foul temper, but sadly the two minstrels were too far gone for Sir Carac to restore to life. Sage searched their bodies, finding a flyer for the Winged Wyvern tavern on one of them, and then proceeded to extract some of their blood into vials. Sir Carac questioned this undignified act, but Sage put forth an extraordinarily compelling argument as to why it was necessary. An outsider could be forgiven for thinking he had innocent blood on his hands, but in fact his sanguine extraction was handled with deft cleanliness.
The Unmentionables retired to chambers within the Hall of Justice with many questions unanswered. Who were the fiends? Where did they come from? Were they working alone? Did anyone notice Sage commit culpable manslaughter? Only one thing seemed certain: Lord Neverember's suspicions of a conspiracy were not unfounded.
Spoiler
Session 10 Summary
The Unmentionables awoke to the hammering of General Sabine's fist on the door. She had found that the band - the Ribald Rapscallions - had been hired from a local tavern/playhouse called the Winged Wyvern. They set off to investigate the lead, hoping to uncover some clue as to how the fiends had infiltrated the gathering in the Hall of Justice. The Wyvern was closed, but our intrepid heroes were no strangers to breaking and entering and promptly sneaked in via the kitchen without so much as a knock on the door. In the bar they found the severely hungover bartender, Gilbert Greenhill, soon joined by his equally inebriated employer, the theatrical Saluvian Siltheer. Disguised as General Sabine, Sage interrogated them regarding the band, and Gilbert explained how they had played at the Wyvern for years but that the twin brother and sister, Derren and Sally Dellweather, had been living up to their band's name in recent weeks, seducing strangers from the crowd and taking them back to their room which they rented upstairs.
The party were given access to the room by Gilbert. It was a rank mess, with a lingering rank smell that emanated from a large trunk. With some effort, the trunk was unlocked to reveal the mutilated corpses of the real twins inside. Several other curiosities were found about the dresser: numerous pouches of coin, presumably stolen from the fiends' victims; a magical sending stone which allowed the bearer to communicate with a companion stone; and a metallic blue brooch in the shape of a cloak, quickly identified as those worn by the wizards of the Cloak Tower.
With nary an apology or an explanation, the party vacated the Winged Wyvern before they were dragged into helping with corpse-disposal. With questions about tracing the companion sending stone and how the Cloak Tower brooch had fallen into the hands of fiends, the logical course of action led the party to talk to Brior Felhim at the Cloak Tower. On the way, they were distracted by a burned down orphanage with one survivor - a little girl, only six years of age, lamenting the death of her old guardian, Patricio, along with all the other orphans. Upon hearing this news, Sage dragged his friends out of earshot and confided that he had received a dream from an unknown entity a while ago who asked him to make a choice as to which of an old man or a young girl should live. Far be it from this storyteller to suggest that one of our heroes was responsible for the death of many, many orphans and their master - indeed, I need not make such an allegation, as Sage himself suggested it. But still, what price is the death of unknowns compared to the sweet, sweet magic that comes from unquestioning servitude to an obfuscated and otherworldly entity of unfathomable power and intent? As recompense for her troubles, Sage ensured that a guard escorted the girl to the Hall of Justice, where she would receive lodgings and care by order of the Unmentionables.
Arriving at the Cloak Tower, the Unmentionables were met outside the gates by the eccentric gnomish Council wizard, Brior Felhim. He first presented Slythe with his newly-enchanted bow, now more powerful and with a button on the shaft which would cause an additional effect which even Brior wasn't sure about. He advised only to use it in dire need. With secret matters to discuss, the party departed with Brior to the more private corners of the Fallen Tower - a collapsed tower renovated into an open-air watering hole. There the party asked Brior about the sending stone. He examined it and declared that he would need to spend a few hours scrutinising it to figure out how to trace the location of its companion stone. After some debate in private about whether to simply hand over their main lead and evidence in their investigation to the wild-eyed, cackling gnome from the mysterious and secretive Cloak Tower, they decided to first try speaking through it. There was no response, and so handing over the stone seemed their only recourse. The party also enquired with Brior about the brooch, and after close inspection he determined that it was genuine and therefore gravely concerning that it had fallen into the hands of the fiends. Brior resolved to get to the bottom of the matter and departed for the Cloak Tower with the sending stone.
The Unmentionables remembered that Tombstone, the tiefling shopkeeper and private investigator, had asked if they could stop by to answer some questions about Iarno Albrek. Upon arriving at Cases and Curiosities, he asked them about their business with Albrek, when they had last seen him, what they knew of Sildar Hallwinter and, strangely, what they knew about runestones. He then showed them the runestone which the party had unknowingly delivered to him in the package from Phandalin and explained that it was most likely bad. Very bad. He believed it to be a summoning stone, though what it summoned he couldn't say. He went on to tell how an investigation had uncovered the theft of the runestone from the Cloak Tower which somehow ended up in the possession of Iarno Albrek, who he found out had set up a band of ruffians in Phandalin. When he learned that the Redbrands had been annihilated, he asked his friend and contact in Phandalin, Linene Greywind to recover the runestone. Given the circumstances of the troubles around Neverwinter and the supposed mole in the Council, Tombstone was convinced that the runestone was immensely dangerous and not at all safe in his possession. As such, he convinced the party that they should look after this terrifying instrument of probable catastrophic doom and promptly offloaded the responsibility to them. He declared that he had to find Iarno Albrek, dead or alive, though for what purpose he did not say.
Seeking information about runestones, the party headed to the House of Knowledge - a temple to Oghma, the god of knowledge, where a library of substantial size and quality was available for public consumption. Little did they realise that the taxes used to fund the Unmentionables on the orders of Lord Neverember meant that important public services such as this library would probably be axed due to budget cuts, leaving the populace an illiterate and ignorant rabble. Nevertheless, they made good use of the library for their own immediate needs and soon found a suitable book describing the nature and usual purposes of runestones similar to the one in their possession. The news seemed bad - such runestones were generally of nefarious intent, and it was rumoured that one was responsible for the eruption of Mount Hotenow many decades ago which destroyed most of the city. Another passage mentioning how the Drow had historically used runestones to summon terrors triggered Slythe's memory and reminded him that he had an untranslated note written in Undercommon, found in the quarters of the Black Spider in the Lost Mine. Sensing a possible connection, the party enquired with the monks if they could translate it, and a master linguist was brought forth to read the note. After a few moments of the translator looking increasingly concerned, he announced that he knew what it said...
Spoiler
Session 11 Summary
With no small amount of trepidation, the monk read out the translated note:
The runestones have been switched as agreed and Bithrie is none the wiser. When the mine is secured and my payment delivered, I will depart far from here. You will find the true rune under a loose stone in the floor of my chambers, in front of the door. The ritual phrase is “Am’zhrak tephlam, zanskriig telmephalem necht”. I trust you know what it will cost, and what it will do. Neverwinter still bears the scars from last time. Do not attempt to contact me again.
I.A.
The monks of Oghma seemed to understand the severity of the situation in question, if not the detail of what it entailed. The Unmentionables admitted that they had the runestone in their possession, much to the horror of the monks, who agreed to examine it in a private antechamber. One of the monks suggested that although he did not recognise the language of the ritual phrase, it could be Abyssal in nature. This piqued Sage's interest, as he was well versed in Abyssal, and he realised the ritual phrase was some ancient, deprecated form of the language. The only word he recognised was "necht", meaning "eight". The monks also stated that Bithrie was a common drow name.
The monks led the party to an antechamber where Sage brought out the stone, but in doing so he found himself wanting to lay his hand on the stone and speak the phrase, with a familiar voice in his head urging him: "DOOO IIIT." Regaining his senses, he quickly put the stone down on the table and backed away. The monks confirmed that the script on the stone appeared to be an ancient, lost form of Abyssal which they could not read, and also that the stone itself was old beyond reckoning. Above all else, they emphasised the importance of keeping the stone secret lest untoward hands should find it. While leaving the temple, the Unmentionables considered ensuring the stone's secrecy by burning the place to the ground, but somehow unexpected and newfound mercy stayed their flames.
The party returned to Brior Felhim at the Cloak Tower. He had successfully traced the paired sending stone to a room in the barracks of the city guard, where the party then headed to investigate. With no warrant and questionable probable cause, they tricked one of the off-duty troops in the room into unlocking the chest at the end of his bunk so it could be ransacked. Meanwhile Slythe attempted to break into another chest, not content with the delays imposed by due process. As Sage discovered the paired sending stone in the chest, Sgt Norris stormed into the room (momentarily distracted by a cloud of smoke from Charr) and demanded to know what was going on. After a shouting contest, accusations of conspiracy and threats of arrest, it was agreed that all concerned should go see General Sabine to clear it up. Off they marched to Sabine's office, where Lord Neverember was also called to be present. After more shouting and pleas of loyalty and innocence, Sabine recalled that Norris was close friends with the guard who had been detained that morning (Sgt Winifred) due to him hiring the band from the Winged Wyvern. Sabine and Neverember then agreed that Sgt Norris and Pvt Belforth "Belly" Bunton must also be detained.
In a possible attempt to redeem their authoritarian approach to investigation (while simultaneously committing an act of extreme invasion of privacy), the Unmentionables called for Sir Carac to cast a zone of truth on the prisoners so that their guilt or innocence could be determined swiftly. Sir Carac arrived, shamed and dishevelled after the previous night, and cast the spell around the soldiers in the cell. All were interrogated with various questions: Had they ever seen the sending stone before? No. Why did Winifred hire the Ribald Rapscallions? He did not recall - the memory of why he chose them was missing. Had anyone seen anyone suspicious in the barracks? No, though Belly recalled hearing a noise behind him in his room a few hours ago, yet nobody was there. Had any of them attempted to assassinate Lord Neverember or otherwise commit acts of treason or terrorism? No. Had any of them done anything for which they should be locked up? Yes - Belly had stolen a cake from the kitchens. It also transpired for no clear reason that Truss had slept with Sir Carac's sister, which was mercifully brushed aside. With their innocence established and with no further reason to hold them, the guards were released back to their duties.
Pvt Belly's earlier suggestion that someone could have framed them by planting the stone in their chest, perhaps by a thief or by magic, stuck in the minds of the Unmentionables, and suspicions were raised over what Brior Felhim had been up to while he had the other sending stone. Regardless, they decided that their next course of action should be to find a way to enter and investigate the Cloak Tower. Given that Brior had suggested he could get them low-level access if they scouted out the floating tower known as the Shard of Night, that is where they headed. Brior provided them with four potions of flying to get up there and four potions of feather fall to get back down. Downing the flying potions, the party shot into the sky, much to the surprise of the townsfolk around them, and headed for the walkway around the top of the tower. There they found a spiral staircase leading down to a door, behind which lay a huge, snoring giant in a large circular room. Pillars with broken chains stood about the room, and broken manacles clung around the beast's wrists, suggesting he had broken free at some point. The only other way out of the room was a sealed door with no obvious means of entry. A large round mirror was placed on the door. The party quietly tried various methods of entry, including speaking commands to open it, showing the word OPEN written backwards to the mirror and displaying different illusive visages to it. Nothing worked. Thus did Truss stride forth, with no concern for stealth or caution, and struck the mirror with the full might of his greatsword.
CLLLAAAAANNNNNNNNNGGGGGGAAAANNGGGGAAAANNGGGGGG.
The sword ricocheted, the mirror unharmed. And then the giant did wake with a roar...
Spoiler
Session 12 Summary
The giant rose to its feet quickly and angrily, having been woken by Truss causing a ruckus. As it gathered its bearings, it averted its gaze from the party stood by the mirrored door and asked: "Password...?" Taken by surprise, the Unmentionables insisted that of course they knew the password, but how did they know the giant knew it? This delaying tactic allowed them time to observe the giant and establish that he was averting his one remaining eye from the mirror. A hefty rumble from the giant's stomach and its increasing rage at not being given the password clued the party in that the giant was seriously hangry. After some magical trickery with an illusion of the mirrored door and some rations being held as bait in front of the real mirror, the giant was deceived into gazing into the mirror and thereby opening the door. The giant did not take kindly to this, and the party quickly fled down the stairs as it charged them. Thankfully for them, it was too big to follow.
The floor below appeared to be a mix of living quarters for two wizards and a treasure room. In between the quarters stood a relatively small, incredibly detailed dragon statue, which Charr - with his draconic ancestry - identified as being a real, petrified white dragon wyrmling. In the north quarters, Sage found numerous magical artefacts and scrolls, along with a library of books regarding planar travel and other related subjects. His pilfering of everything in sight was momentarily interrupted when the chest he opened bit his wrist and revealed itself to be a mimic. The party swiftly battered it into submission, but Slythe, trying out his newly-upgraded shortbow, discovered that the magical force imbued within it was powerful enough to cause a painful magical backblast as the arrow was loosed.
To console himself, Slythe proceeded to the treasure room, where he scoured the place of as many valuables as he could carry. One item of intrigue caught his eye - a hand mirror, which displayed a different face each time someone looked in it. Sage and Charr examined it and determined that someone with the right mind could temporarily change their face to the one in the mirror. Seeking a willing test subject, they handed the mirror to Truss and watched as his hulking brow and chiselled jawline receded into a round, bookish scholarly visage. Despite assurances that it would be fine, Truss could not seem to revert back to his own face and appeared to be stuck with his new mug.
Charr explored the south quarters, finding an alchemical lab and a book detailing common potions. In one corner there was a locked safe, and in another corner was an un-heated cauldron with a green liquid bubbling away. As with all liquids of an uncertain nature, Charr naturally dropped a potato in, which sank unceremoniously to the bottom. Inspection of a journal on a desk suggested that the cauldron was the key to opening the safe. Sage tested the green liquid with a fork, but then decided to throw caution to the wind and plunged his hand in. Luck, for once, was in their favour, as Sage's hand emerged unhurt and with his index finger transformed into a key which unlocked the safe, after which his finger returned to normal. Inside the safe was a jug with many coloured stoppers, a heart-shaped philter and a scroll of stone to flesh.
Proceeding to the bottom level of the tower, the party found a control room of sorts with odd contraptions. A scrying sphere showed the city of Neverwinter below them, and a control panel with many levers and glowing crystals displayed a map of the Sword Coast. A conspicuous red button on the control panel had a note nailed next to it which read "DO NOT PUSH". Nearby, a skeleton in a scorched robe sat against a pillar. On its remains a note was found detailing how some of his companions had perished and he was trying to return to the tower. He also mentioned finding an alternative power source and that he could "still profit" somehow. In an antechamber, a gnomish journal detailed the workings of the control panel and its purpose: it seemed the tower could jump between planes of existence, and the crystals indicated it had enough power remaining for three jumps. Investigating the possible source of power, Sage found a restraining rack with a suspicious extraction funnel above it, which led the party to conclude that the tower was powered by extracted souls. Troubled not by the harrowing implications of such a contraption, Sage casually offered that they could use criminals for fuel. A green energy policy for a crime-free Neverwinter!
The Unmentionables considered the possible dangers of seeing where the tower could take them, and weighed it against having to exit the tower past the giant which they had enraged. Eventually, they decided to boldly go... somewhere... literally anywhere in the multiverse, and so pulled a random lever and hit the DO NOT PUSH button with ill-earned confidence. The tower shook violently, the scrying sphere emitted a blinding flash and the tower emerged in another realm of existence. Charr dutifully examined the horrifying, gloom-ridden hellscape that the sphere depicted beneath them and compared this to the notes in book of the planes he had found, and concluded that they were in the Shadowfell: a terrible realm of undeath; a vicious and twisted mockery of the material plane, swarming with malign creatures and overseen by the bone-chilling Raven Queen. The Tripadvisor reviews were poor at best, and all agreed to return immediately to the material plane.
As the tower whirred into action again and the sense of impending doom subsided, the party breathed a sigh of relief. That relief was short-lived, however, as a bat fluttered down the stairs and transformed before them into a pale, red-eyed humanoid who looked each of them over and then declared: "I claim this tower as my own. Leave now."
Spoiler
Session 13 Summary
The wretched creature of the night which stood before the Unmentionables claimed the tower for himself and demanded their immediate departure. It was pointed out to the vampire, though, that he did not know how to work the controls for the tower, and to that end our heroes attempted to trick the ancient being into being manacled into the restraining rack. Such an obvious deception did not fool it, but the grave warning it issued forth was cut short as Sage blasted a bolt of eldritch energy into its back. It is said that vampires are amongst the most terrible and feared beings in the multiverse, and to that end Slythe decided the best course of action was to hit the mystery button of unknown powers on the side of the bow that had previously scorched his face with magical backblast. Loosing an arrow with the button depressed, Slythe found himself unable to move and fell backwards into the wall. By a stroke of luck, the vampire suffered the same fate, and was swiftly grabbed by Truss and thrust into the restraining rack. Throwing the soul-extraction lever, Sage watched as.... nothing happened. Truss, blissfully unaware of the stakes at hand or what was even going on, peered curiously into the funnel above the frozen vampire. Thus did the nefarious mechanism latch onto his soul and extract it, leaving his living but vegetated body to slump wide-eyed to the ground.
Charr quickly awoke Slythe with a boot to the head, then attempted the same with Truss a few times to no avail, his drooling form staring at the ceiling. Having found a hatch leading out the bottom of the tower, Sage sent Raven to ask Brior for help, but he was not responding to summons from the guards outside the Cloak Tower. Charr then flew across the city to the Hall of Justice where he calmly explained to Sir Carac how - for the best of reasons, probably - they had broken into the tower where entrance was forbidden, enraged a giant, discovered a soul-powered transportation device which they used to go to the plane of undeath and despair, accidentally caught a vampire hitchhiker and then inadvertently removed Truss's soul from his body. Despite all these fantastical deeds, Sir Carac was not impressed. He marched over to Lord Neverember's quarters to inform him of the situation, and all three then went to the Cloak Tower to demand to see Brior, who eventually emerged, having been engaged in important private discussions.
Charr returned to the tower with Brior, who found it remarkable and agreed to try and figure out a way to restore Truss's soul to his body. He also provided a token which would allow the Unmentionables entrance to the Cloak Tower so that they could give their report on the tower to Archmage Jula. The party decided the best way to ensure the still-frozen vampire's demise was to restrain him outside in full view of the dawn, and so they brought him down to the surface where Sir Carac and Lord Neverember awaited. Slythe watched as his two arcane friends soared down gracefully, and he drank the feather fall potion provided by Brior before leaping through the hatch. About 100ft from the ground, however, the ever-reliable Brior's potion failed, and Slythe found himself hurtling towards the city, narrowly, heroically - romantically, even - rescued by Charr leaping through the air at the last second. As Sir Carac cautiously examined the horrifying vampire, Charr found himself unable to halt his heroic streak, and so whisked the vampire into his arms and hurled it into the river like an unwanted sofa. The paladin screeched petty warnings about vampires this and partial damage that, whilst Charr floated majestically above the river and admired his handiwork, right up until the river steamed and bubbled and the infuriated vampire shot into the night air and fluttered off as a bat to slaughter the many innocent victims that awaited in the slums.
Having severely admonished the Unmentionables for unleashing a being of pure terror and immeasurable power upon the city, Sir Carac and Lord Neverember departed immediately to organise a search party to hopefully keep the impending body count in the low hundreds. Meanwhile, the party finally made their way inside the secretive Cloak Tower. They were greeted by Archmage Elia Kross, who was overseeing two apprentices creating an illusion of a huge dragon, while other apprentices practised duelling and other exercises. She explained that the Tower was mobilising - preparing to meet whatever forces dared threaten Neverwinter, though she would or could not say what (if any) forces these were. She led them upstairs to Archmage Jula, who was using a crystal ball to scry on the Hall of Justice. She explained that the Tower had started scrying on important personnel and places in the city to ensure their safety. After providing their report and being gifted several magical items as a reward, the Unmentionables asked if they could use the crystal to scry on various people in aid of their investigations, to which Jula agreed on the basis that she didn't want to be involved or know what exactly they were doing.
Unaware of the term 'invasion of privacy', the party set about snooping to their hearts' desires. They first sought out the Council spymaster, Xalvador Montagu, who was found sipping wine while watching an obviously terrible play in the Winged Wyvern tavern, where the fiends had previously infiltrated. Next they sought out Lady Tanye, who was asleep in bed, and then the Master of Trade Beatrix du Bolbec, who was found at the docks speaking with someone by a ship where crates were being offloaded. The flag on the ship suggested it may have been one of the High Captains of Luskan. Checking in on Sir Carac and General Sabine, they found them hastily organising paladins and the guard for the clean-up force. Sage kept an eye on Brior in the Shard of Night via Raven, watching as he ferreted about the machinery, trying to determine its inner workings. Sage then took one final look in the crystal ball for his long-lost sister. Whether she was hidden, in a far-away realm of existence or simply demised, Sage could not tell, but his sister was not yet to be found.
As the Unmentionables' eyes scrutinised the city and further afield, it did not occur to them that other eyes, perhaps both near and far, may have been watching back.
Spoiler
Session 14 Summary
The Unmentionables decided to go see what was occurring at the docks with the master of trade, Beatrix du Bolbec, receiving a shipment from what appeared to be a pirate ship, but as they were about to leave several things happened at once. Sage, keeping an eye on Brior Felhim in the Shard of Night via Raven, noted that Brior had disappeared and was nowhere to be found in the Shard. Sage and Charr also overheard an argument from the top floor of the Cloak Tower, including mention of a certain runestone. Meanwhile, Slythe received a message in his head from Lorekeeper Amarr of the House of Knowledge to say that two of the monks had been murdered, and while the Unmentionables were not suspects, the Lorekeeper did have some questions regarding their earlier trip to the temple.
The party headed upstairs to eavesdrop on the argument between Archmage Gorvenal and Grandmagister Tharellium. Gorvenal had apparently been searching for the stolen runestone and believed it would not be safe in the Tower once recovered, whereas Tharellium insisted that it must be kept under the Tower's protection. As Gorvenal stormed out, he spoke with the party regarding his concerns and suggested that the theft of the runestone may have been an inside job.
It was at this point that the entirely trustworthy, reliable, level-headed gnome, Brior Felhim, appeared on the stairs and announced solemnly that he knew the party had the runestone and that it must be returned to the Tower immediately. Brior explained that the runestone was a device that could summon one of the eight demon lords - vastly powerful demons, each ruling over a different brand of chaos in the Abyss. After much debate about whether the runestone would be safe in the Tower given that it was previously stolen from there, and musings about how Brior had tricked the party into entering the Tower so he could ensure the runestone's retrieval, not to mention borderline threats of reprisal from the Grandmagister and pleas from Gorvenal for the party not to hand over the runestone for the sake and safety of all Faerun, the Unmentionables concluded it was probably fine. Sage handed over the runestone of impending doom and desolation to Brior, who visibly shook with delight and scuttled off with Gorvenal to hide it away in the vault.
Hindsight, dear reader, is a terrible burden.
The Unmentionables proceeded to the docks, calm and composed having discarded the harrowing responsibility of preventing the End Times to their deranged but charming prime suspect. A cordial conversation arose between Slythe and Beatrix, establishing that while she had paid for a shipment of food from the pirates of Luskan, she had done so to prevent starvation in the city. The party agreed to aid this underhanded but noble cause by taking a barrel of grain to the Dolphin pub, where they found the beleaguered druid, Reidoth, in an enraged, drunken rant. It seemed he had not taken kindly to the party tricking him into thinking the dragon in his village had left, nor was he best pleased about the dragon razing his house to the ground upon its return. He swore certain death to the Unmentionables, who further riled him by faking the sound of a roaring dragon and magically putting him to sleep for his own good. Mercifully, they paid for a room for him, but not before watching the snoring, drooling druid empty his bladder and then - as the killing blow of dignity - water-shaping his urine into a dragon head. Pleased with their work as representatives of the Council, they left and departed for bed.
The next morning, the party woke to a bit of a disaster: the Shard of Night was gone. Rushing over to the Cloak Tower, they discovered that Brior Felhim and Grandmagister Tharellium had also gone, along with the runestone, and Archmage Gorvenal was dead. It seemed that after the party had left, Brior and Gorvenal went down to the vault, Brior then returned to the top floor to speak to the Grandmagister, and from there they disappeared (possibly using a teleportation circle). Gorvenal was then found dead in the vault. Archmage Eria Kross admitted that she felt as though she and the other mages had been under Brior's control or influence for some time, and only now could she tell the difference.
It could be said that the warning signs were there from the start; that perhaps freely handing over the means of summoning a demon lord to the crazed gnome who had seemingly tried to kill them on several occasions and was under suspicion for framing the city guard with the sending stones, was not in the best interests of Neverwinter, or life itself. Providing him access to the soul-powered planar transportation tower, thereby giving him the potential to wreak havoc on a multiversal scale, was also arguably material for the Neverwinter bloopers puppet show. Where Brior had gone, whether he had used the runestone, what had happened to the catatonic Truss and his soul and precisely how incandescent with rage Lord Neverember would be at their report were all yet to be determined...
Spoiler
The Unmentionables decided it was time to inform the Council of recent events. Upon arriving at the Hall of Justice they found General Sabine, dejected and distant, who informed the party that the vampire had been slain but Sir Carac had perished in the attempt. Attempts by the clerics to revive him had failed, suggesting his soul was unwilling to return. Sabine summoned the Council, along with Archmage Jura who arrived to represent the Cloak Tower.
The party relayed the developments of the previous day in the spirit of full disclosure... except for the parts which directly implicated them in the looming catastrophes facing Neverwinter. Somehow, in a manner that surely did not warrant further scrutiny or accusations, Brior Felhim had proven himself a traitor and obtained the apocalyptic runestone so recently entrusted to the Unmentionables for safekeeping, then fled the city in the transplanar tower which Brior had curiously gained access to. How Brior achieved such feats is a matter best left to a tribunal; suffice it to say that Lord Neverember was duly concerned. His concerns were not eased by the Council concluding that given Brior's interest in the demonic runestone, his connection to infernal beings, the involvement of the drow in the mine near Phandalin and the reports of troubles in Gauntlgrym at the entrance to the Underdark, it likely meant that a invasion of demons, or drow - or both - was imminent. It was suggested that Brior may be raising an army of demons under the banner of the demon lord he could now summon with the runestone, and that this could coincide with a surface invasion by the demon-worshipping drow.
The Council agreed that warnings and requests for aid must be sent to all allies in the Lords' Alliance, though Neverwinter's strongest allies were perhaps its weakest hope. Waterdeep to the south commanded a grand army, but Lord Neverember's chequered past there had soured relations to the point where a call for aid could well be ignored. The dwarves of Gauntlgrym to the northeast were a prickly bunch at the best of times, and diplomatic contact had ceased in recent months with rumours that the greatly-respected King Bruenor had died. It was decided that the Unmentionables, apparently renowned for their deft negotiating skills, calm demeanour and delicate touch, should represent the city at one or both of these allies, though time was clearly of the essence.
First, however, Sage retired to a private room in an attempt to locate Brior in the only way that seemed possible. Meditating and focusing on the source of his eldritch power, Sage called out to his esoteric patron. The familiar and unsettling voice responded. Sage asked as to the whereabouts of Brior, and the being responded that Brior's intentions were not entirely unaligned with his own. The patron explained that he was that which ended all things, and the demon lord would further that cause. The patron suggested that he could tell Sage which plane Brior currently resided on, but in exchange he expected Sage to convince him over time that the material plane was worthy of survival and was not yet ready to end. If Sage failed to do this, the patronage would be withdrawn. With the terms of the pact agreed, the patron told Sage that Brior was currently in the Abyss - the demonic plane of pure chaos and evil.
Sage returned to his friends and informed them of Brior's location. A brief and plucky idea was formed to invade the Abyss and steal back the Shard of Night, but the idea was quickly shelved on the basis that the heavens themselves had deemed similar plans too risky. Sage and Charr did speculate with their infernal heritage, however, that the devils of the Nine Hells could theoretically be persuaded to intervene given their eternal Blood War with the demons. Again, this was put on the back-burner, to be explored further in the event that other more brilliant and infallible schemes didn't go entirely as planned, to the extent that a literal deal with the devils seemed the best course of action. Eventually the Unmentionables decided to go to Gauntlgrym, but first they needed some muscle, and since it seemed a right royal bother to consider ways of rescuing and restoring their dear and beloved friend Truss, they instead went to the nearest roughhouse pub and paid the victor of a brawl 20gp to kill things for them. Thus it was that the bare-chested, booze-swilling, ill-mannered halfling named Hamfist joined the Unmentionables, with nary an inconvenient question as to life-expectancy or future remuneration. With a full roster, Sage sent Raven south to Waterdeep to attempt to treat with them, and then the party procured some noble and probably ill-fated steeds and departed north for Gauntlgrym. It had taken less than two days in Neverwinter to plant and water the seeds of an interplanar war; what fate awaited the dwarves was almost certainly no better.
As sunset fell, the party stopped at the fishing village of Port Llast and settled in an inn called the Barnacled Boson. As they shared tales with the landlord, Sage noticed a halfling pirate eyeing them suspiciously from the corner of the room...