Convergence Sessions 11 - 20

General Summary

Session 11 Starting off with Allston in the dungeons, he decided his best course of action was to play the mute to Ralakor's drow inquisitor, who demanded to know who he was, why he was here, and what he (and "the lizard") wanted, punctuating each bout of silence with an "inflict wounds." Their interrogation session was ultimately cut short by the slave revolution happening upstairs courtesy of Leona and so the inquisitor decided to leave Allston's life up to fate; dropping him to 0 HP and leaving it up to death saving throws to determine whether he lived or died. Fortunately, he lived.
Meanwhile, the party crept into the lower reaches of the tower by way of the sewage aqueduct and encountered grimlock guards who, as they quickly learned, were being piloted by intellect devourers. During the skirmish, both Eladan and Zel had their intellect blasted, forcing the party to take an hour hidden in the cellars in order for Leona to attune to her prayer beads in order to heal them. During the rest, Buttons snuck into the dungeons to find them mostly deserted and found an unconscious but alive Allston, freeing an inquisitive, captive lizardfolk in the process. They were also able to find most of his gear, with only his helm of teleportation missing. Buttons disguise as a duergar caused some momentary confusion as he left the dungeon, resulting in Allston getting knocked out again, but ultimately, they were all able to begin actually climbing the tower, opting to travel up a secret staircase revealed when a group of guards utilized it as a number of re-captured slaves were brought to the dungeons.
Creeping through the upper levels, the party was able to avoid the patrols of guards still occupied with quelling the revolt within the walls and duck between the eye emblems on the wall, with only a minor hiccup of Zel (and by proxy, Allston) falling into a pit of gibbering mouthers. Eventually, they were able to find their way to a second hidden staircase which led to Ralakor's collection.
There, they were "greeted" by a host of nothics and an illusory projection of the beholder himself. They spoke for some time, noting his expectation that one day the "wyrmling" Ark would return one day. He offered an alternative: give him Ark and he would let them take any item from his collection except for the soul stone, as that had sentimental value and already contained a soul. The party tried to argue they needed it to save the world, but Ralakor held firm, though he did offer up to 3 items to help them fight Cataclysm. Ultimately, the party agreed that wasn't acceptable and primed themselves for an intense battle…
XP earned: calculate next session
Session 12 The party engaged Ralakor's minions in combat. The nothics fought with magic weapons from the collection but by and large proved little trouble for the party. The first major threat was the neothelid that was released from the glass covered pool of brine. Meanwhile, Ralakor took pot shots with his eye rays through his scrying sensors and slung spells from the safety of his sanctum.
The initial spot where the party started quickly got bogged down with magical webs, alchemist fire, acid spit from the worm, and tendrils conjured by Ralakor. Eladan in particular had a hard time shaking a number of status effects, from confusion from the neothelid to a charm ray from Ralakor. Meanwhile, Buttons found himself attacked by a dominated Zel, who Ralakor was able to puppet to great effect. Both Echoless and Leona even found themselves swallowed by the neothelid. Meanwhile, Ark kept busy obscuring the eye sensors, Mul bounced between attacking the worm and trying to free Zel from mind control (he attempted a dominate spell himself, but ironically, Zel was able to resist it), and Allston attempted to find useful items amongst Ralakor's collection.
Echoless was able to tag the neothelid with the banishing powers of a violet ray from prismatic spray, and in so doing coaxed Ralakor out of his hiding place, as he needed to nullify the effect before it banished his pet. This revealed Ralakor's true position upstairs, and even though he was able to seal himself in again, Allston was able to hammer away at the door with bigby's hand. Ultimately, the neothelid was defeated and Ralakor was forced to deal with the matter personally.
He put up a strong showing, but was ultimately overwhelmed by the party, in no small thanks to Leona utilizing a mass heal spell to bring the entire party back up to full strength. The final nail in the coffin was Ark breaking off from the group into Ralakor's sanctum and smashing his scrying crystal, temporarily blinding him and allowing Buttons to deliver the finishing blow with an arrow through the eye.
As the dust settled, Ark revealed his true form to the party and requested that they quickly take what they want and get out, as truly enough, the machinations of the main lift were beginning to turn. The party smashed and grabbed each item from the central display as well as some of the nothics' gear and Ralakor's ring and mysterious eye and then moved to beat a hasty retreat…
XP earned: 4,500 each
Session 13 The party took their loot and made a stealthy exit from Ralakor's Estate the same way they came in. They met up with the illithid and their two drow ambassadors who they would escort back to the Alliance and then exited Kal Eldrumm by knocking down one of the main city gates, allowing themselves and a horde of escaped slaves to flee into the Low Ways.
Eladan utilized wish to cast wind walk, allowing the party to quickly retrace their steps and return to Kal Rhedov where they intended to rest, but found an entirely unwelcome environment. In the time that they had been gone, the city fell to the slaadi horde. Most curiously, their was evidence of a massive creature or siege engine that had been utilized to breach the walls. Some information about the attack was gleaned from speaking with the dead dwarves scattered about the city (that were spoken with between bouts of Zel attempting to cook and eat them). Ultimately, the traveled a little farther into the mountains and rested in a conjured temple from Leona. There, they took stock of magic weapons and distributed them (some of the more powerful items like the dwarven axe and archmagi robes proved to have some unfortunate foibles). Additionally, Allston finally got to draw from the Deck of Many Things, opting to draw two: the Star card, upping his intelligence to an even more ridiculous amount, and the Flame card, inviting the ire of a powerful devil.
As night fell and the party completed their rest and inventory, they attempted to teleport back to the White Tower, accidently ending up at the Lunar Forum Citadel instead. Making the most of the error, they stopped in to find the place in a bit of disarray (the wizards were spread thin trying to deal with the overall chaos of the land, all without proper leadership now that Palios proved traitor), but were able to trade some of their unwanted spoils and acquired a few more toys (cloak of the bat, iron bands of binding, and a staff of healing). Finally, they returned to the White Tower.
There, they learned that they had just missed a New Year's celebration, and found that a coalition had gathered demanding that Christoph reveal the location of his tower for logistical and safety purposes. The party was able to persuade them to disperse so they could discuss the most important matter at hand: the recovery of the soul stone. The council convened and Shepherd proposed expunging the current soul within the stone here and now. Upon doing so, a drow matron appeared; initially confused and hostile, the party was able to talk her down enough to convince her to stay for the evening. In particular, she seemed interested in speaking more with Leona and Echoless (and Eladan, who tagged along). She probed them under a zone of truth, seeking to understand who they were and what motivated them. She seemed to believe them about Cataclysm, but questioned what they thought they could do in the face of such impending doom. Ultimately, she decided she would depart after resting to seek out her old house and take stock of what had happened in the centuries she was trapped, but she would consider their proposal of her joining forces…
XP earned: 1,000 each
Session 14 The party awoke from a bizarre dream (Mel's Battle Royale One Shot) to find that, true to her word, Iraela, the drow matron, had departed for the Underdark. With a moment to breathe, the party went about their day catching up with members of the Alliance: Buttons discovered that Bold Fang and others from Kittsadora had arrived, including Mist of Morning, whom he was very excited to reconnect with. The tabaxi had also brought with them the dragon wyrmling Naarmundus, who was now the size of a large dog. Zel reunited with Ysbetta, though the mood was cut heavily by Zel's continuing bizarre metamorphosis and rank odor. In regards to that, Eladan, Leona, and Echoless came to the conclusion it was likely a curse or side effect of Zel's new dwarven axe, but they were unsure of what to actually do about, especially considering Zel claimed he felt fine. Lastly, Christoph approached Echoless and probed a bit on her mindset in regards to winning the war; was she still the person from history who would do whatever it took to succeed? Given the opportunity, would she unite hers and Shepherd's amulet pieces?
At the Council Meeting, some big decisions were made: It was decided that the location of the Tower would remain secret, that Emperor Aurum would be granted his emissary on the council (quickly revealed to be the Emperor himself) in exchange for the aid of his armies, and the newly acquired Haedian army would seize the city of Nessbrim of Anhangia and strong-arm them into joining the Alliance, as the diplomat team had failed and the party opted against installing a puppet regime. Princess Tria was also instated to the council in exchange for Aurum's position; something that is sure to result in some interesting discussions later on. In terms of next steps, it was revealed that the dome over Eodur is expanding at a slow but steady clip and that the best bet in stopping it is to disable the 11 Spires on the primary planes of existence. The Alliance has nearly come up with a strategy for this, but in the meantime, there were two situations the party could aid with: the vorpal sword and the Heralds of Aevilok who stole it had been cornered in a ruin, but the abjuration team pursuing are unable to reach them. Alternatively, a group of storm giants had recently destroyed a village near the city of Mudan. Such a gathering had not been seen since the Reckoning was active in Requiem and the council believed this merited investigation. Ultimately, the party opted to pursue the weapon.
Coordinating with the wizards to teleport to their location, the party found themselves outside of an old ruin etched into the side of a cliff. The wizards reported that the Heralds were trapped inside, but their use of the vorpal sword had prevented their capture. Interestingly, one of the Heralds, a man in a porcelain mask had offered the wizards healing and returned one of their dead compatriots. The description sparked recognition in most of the group, and investigation within the cave confirmed the man was in fact Ezra Donneur, the Way of Mercy monk that saved Leona as a girl. He explained his connection with the Heralds and his belief in the inevitability of the end. The party was able to persuade him that what his less "compassionate" cohorts were doing was antithetical to his philosophy, and he agreed to take them to the leader of his group to try to solve things diplomatically. What resulted from the ensuing talks was a duel between Zel and the champion fighter wielding the Vorpal Sword; the winner would claim the other's weapon. The party and remaining Heralds assembled to watch. The fight was tense, but Zel was eventually able to fell the fighter before he could land a lucky blow and lop off Zel's head (avoiding the nat 20 required by one round of combat). Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that the Heralds had no intention of honoring the agreement and drew their arms as their compatriot hit the floor…
XP earned: calculate next session
Session 15 The party engaged the Heralds swiftly and decisively. The Herald's cleric attempted to get the champion back up with a healing word, but a counterspell from Echoless shut that down. A coup-de-grace from Zel ended any hope they had of the vorpal sword wielder from returning to battle. From there, Zel put the blade in his bag of holding and the remaining Heralds desperately tried to get it back. Ultimately, they were unsuccessful. The blackguard was the last one standing, and he opted to blow up the powder kegs at the mouth of the cave and entrap everyone. Unfortunately for him, this only slowed them down for a time, as Buttons (who had pursued him down the corridor) was able to avoid the blast and Eladan was able to open a passwall through the rubble. Once through, the party was able to be teleported back to the tower, along with Ezra, who agreed to join them and act as a healer, even though he still believed their efforts to be ultimately fruitless.
Meanwhile, Allston continued to work on his tinkering, developing a potion of diminution that worked on contact. While in the lab, he attracted the attention of Minlin Ironhide, King Dorian's arcane advisor. She wished to gauge for herself if Allston was a liability or an asset to the Alliance. She received her answer in the form of Allston trying to fire his new potion-flinging contraption at her. Upon the rest of the party returning, Zel got his new toy checked out and learned from Christoph that the dwarven axe had cursed him to become a dwarf, but Ysbetta was able to cast remove curse on him, reverting his metamorphosis. Leona showed Ezra around, who appeared taken aback by how many people had gathered. Christoph insisted on speaking with Ezra alone to see for himself if the monk could be trusted; after all, he was a member of the Heralds. Meanwhile, Eladan converted the main halls hearth to a source of Allfire and popped over to Sigil to have words with his brother Erakos about what exactly Emperor Aurum wanted with the Beltaine. There he learned that they had been working out preliminary details of a "mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge." While Eladan was upset about being kept in the dark on this, he did not protest further, and Erakos promised to keep him up to date.
In the evening, the party was able to take in a moment of rest and merriment with the rest of the gathered Alliance. Eladan and Buttons spoke with Dauntless, the tiefling lieutenant of King Dorian while Zel spent "quality time" with Ysbetta. All was well until at night, right as she was beginning to drift to sleep, Leona was visited by an apparition. It appeared as a blindingly bright specter with Echoless' voice and questioned whether or not Leona truly knew her and claimed that she needed to find her and be steadfast as her guiding light. When the vision subsided, she ran directly for Echoless, who had no idea what was going on. Leona was clearly affected by the vision, but wasn't able to open up about it. In the morning, she awoke to find a small pennant had been added to her prayer beads, indicating the vision was at least partially based in reality.
As the rest of the group began their day, they noticed a strange mist drifting down from their ceiling. Investigation revealed Christoph was conducting some sort of communal ritual in his chambers above. Inside, they were met by Christoph, Aefaren, Agatha, and Ferdinand in a mystical forest clearing communing with Hyrsam, an archfey prince. They were in the middle of arranging for the party to pass through Hyrsam's realm in order to investigate the Feywild's version of the Mithral Spire, which had befallen an ill fate as well. Hyrsam claimed the Gloaming Court was to blame and were likely in league with Cataclysm. With that, the party saw no reason to delay, and along with Ferdinand, entered Hyrsam's realm to begin their trek to the tower…
XP earned: 6,000 each
Session 16 The party ventured into the Feywild and found themselves in the domain of Hyrsam, Prince of Fools. The treetop settlement was rife with fey creatures as well as enthralled mortals, all of whom gave Ferdinand bad vibes as he rushed to get the party out into the Wilds proper. Despite his pushing, they still did encounter a few curious fey, including an eladrin that took a shining to Buttons, a sprite selling pastries, and a dryad offering to trade for a magic acorn.
Once outside the bounds of the settlement, Ferdinand revealed more about his tragic backstory; about his wife and expected child and his fateful tumble into the Feywild. As they traversed the enchanted landscape, they encountered a troll guarding a bridge that turned out to be a mimic and eventually ended up in a deep ravine. As the ravine split in two and Ferdinand guided the group to one side, Leona was stopped by a sudden glowing in her new pendant. The glow led her to the other path; using true seeing even revealed a silvery thread marking the way. Ferdinand was highly resistant to the idea of deviating, but eventually gave in. The path led to a small cave spilling out silvery mist. Once inside, the mist coalesced into a wall, trapping them all inside, with Echoless and Eladan mysteriously vanishing.
The cave quickly gave way to a maze-like ruin where time and again Ferdinand and Leona's perceived paths conflicted with each other. Ultimately, they followed Leona's and encountered several bizarre traps and puzzles, but eventually were able to find their way to the end of the maze where Leona once again heard the voice of the apparition that gave her the pendant, informing her that "faith would find her in the most unexpected places." It was then revealed that the ruin was something akin to a hallucination and the cave was merely a shallow excursion below ground containing a statue of Fos and Dorcha.
Back outside, the party set camp to rest after the ordeal. This was interrupted by a fiendish assassin that attempted to steal Allston away, shockingly managing to sneak up on the group even with Ferdinand on watch. Fortunately, Allston was quick on the react and was able to squirm out of his attackers grasp, who then fled now that he had been found out. An eldritch blast from Ferdinand disrupted his invisibility field, revealing an Orthon, a bounty hunter from the Lower Planes. As it fled, it dawned on some of the party that this may very well have been the result of the Flame card Allston drew days prior…
XP earned: 1,000 each
Session 17 The party progressed further into the Feywild, encountering a flock of pixies that attempted to abscond with their weapons and equipment; something quickly thwarted with some well placed cantrips. Soon, they found themselves entering a swampy mire where a camp was set up by finally utilizing Mr. Buttons scroll of Leomund's Tiny Hut (which Ferdinand could cast). During the rest, Zel attempted to cut down a tree to use as firewood, only to find the tree was alive and non too pleased about being attacked. They exchanged blows, but ultimately the tree decided it had had enough and simply walked away.
The party awoke to find that the depth of water in the swamp had risen significantly during the night. Fortunately, Eladan had claimed Ven's original folding boat a while back and they were seamlessly able to transition to nautical adventuring. Out on the open sea, they encountered a lone eladrin fisherman who cheerfully informed them that this "lake" was quite new. Despite its sudden appearance, the lake was vast, taking several days to traverse. Towards the middle, large waves began hampering the ship, culminating in a massive tidal wave that reached hundreds of feet in the sky. Eladan was able to divert the worst of the impact by utilizing a control water spell, but Zel was still cast off the ship. They had little time to recover from the waves, however, as a massive sea serpent attacked them from the depths. It damaged the boat and flung a number of the PCs into the water, but ultimately, it proved no match for the party.
Finally, they reached the far end of the ever-expanding lake to find themselves in a gloomy, frigid, and foreboding forest. Quickly they found their path blocked by a looming cliff face that stretched for miles in either direction, broken up only by a massive keep imbedded in the cliff; the home of a tribe of Fomorians. According to Ferdinand, their path led directly into the keep. Not being one for stealth, Zel walked right on up and attempted to knock, succeeding only in probably breaking a finger or two. Allston was able to slip in by casting gaseous form and opening the main gate with bigby's hand. Unfortunately, this alerted the giants within the great hall, who quickly moved to dispatch the ethereal hand. The party attempted to sneak through while the giant was distracted, but a few of them were spotted as they crossed the threshold. The alarm was sounded and the entryway was locked down, though the remaining Fomorian and a trio of yeth hounds were slain.
While the giants within undoubtedly made plans to deal with the intruders, the party was given a moment to scout out their surroundings. Most of the doorways out of the room were shuttered with imposing stone slabs, the main door further into the keep had a keyhole, which miraculously was able to be opened by Mr. Button's magic key. Now, the party had to figure out how to progress through the Fomorian Keep which was now on high alert…
XP earned: 2,000 each
Session 18 The party opted to bludgeon their way into the keep, charging in before they had the time to fully realize a counterattack. Despite a rocky start with Leona being knocked out and Zel being cursed, the party was able to bounce back and slaughter many of the fomorians, who ultimately retreated further into the keep and sealing the doors of the next chamber behind them.
In the main chamber, they discovered the iron keystone door blocking their way forward and were able to deduce they'd need three keys to open it. Using speak with dead on one of the giants (whose diary revealed a propensity for poetry and that one of the giants was locked in the dungeon for treason) revealed the location of said dungeon and claimed there were significantly more giants. Using an earth elemental, they were able to bludgeon their way through one of the shield doors to scope out more of their surroundings. Ultimately, they decided to attempt a long rest on the balcony overlooking the main room.
They did their best to set up as they could, but it wasn't long into the rest until the baying of yeth hounds picked up again and giants could be detected moving about the keep. Shortly after, demonic whispering began, heralding the summoning of some vile creature. Indeed, a Nabassu appeared before the party while a fresh wave of formorians began creeping their way towards the camping party who were still worn out from their initial push…
XP earned: 6,800 each
Session 19 The party prepared to fight the newly summoned demon and formorian reinforcements, but to their surprise, the demon opened a dialog, speaking on behalf of the formorian king. The negotiations were tense, but the party was able to present their case well enough that the giants offered an alternate route to their destination that didn't go through their territory: through the Succulent Path nearby.
The party agreed and left the keep, camping in one of Leona's temples on the shore of the expanding lake. They took some time to check in on Ferdinand, who has been continuously acting weird this entire trip. He tried to explain his arrangement with Hyrsam but he himself has very little information on it. In the morning, they were able to locate the Succulent Path but soon realized the demon may have led them astray, as the path of treats led them deep into a twisted wood that did not appear to be leading anywhere in particular. When they attempted to rest, they found themselves approached by a mysterious old woman who called herself Pehtra. Fortunately, she took an interest in their quest and offered to help in exchange for a toll: each PC would need to offer something of value in order for her to transport them to Kin'Leidl. Ultimately, everyone agreed, and some even offered a bit more for lost knowledge. Eladan exchanged his old trident to learn more about his lineage and where he came from, and Zel gave up his cherished copy of the Lusty Lizardfolk Maid Volume 2 to learn where the child he sought resided.
The city of the spire itself seemed to be weirdly ok, as its denizens milled about and engaged in festivities as if the tower above them wasn't emitting a giant blue light. It wasn't until Leona activated her true seeing ability that the truth was revealed. Much of the city had been killed and the replaced with illusions. The rest were being beguiled by mysterious berries and overseen by disguised Slaadi. The party tried to keep it casual until they picked up a substantial tail, at which point they decided to make a break for it with Eladan using wind walk to get them to the tower and through its imposing doors before the Slaadi could react.
Inside, they found a lively casino, though despite everyone within being tangible it appeared they were also imbibing of the beguiling berries. Their way up was blocked by a sentient door who requested star tokens in order to pass, which were revealed to be highly expensive casino tokens that required something sentimental to acquire. At least, that's what they needed to be obtained legally, as Buttons and Allston went about doing their best to swipe them from the casino's patrons. They were able to acquire a few, but the last swipe alerted the victim, and the casino's security was put on alert…
XP earned: 2000 each
Session 20 The party progressed further into the tower. They opted to use the 4 star tokens they already acquired and smuggled the rest in via bags of holding and wind walk in order to bypass the door and avoid alerting the now active sentinels on the casino floor. Beyond the door they found a warm and inviting sauna, where they decided to take a brief break to enjoy the rejuvenating waters. Unfortunately, they found the waters difficult to leave, and the sauna attendants were very insistent they remain. Ultimately though, they were able to force their way through the hags disguised as eladrin and find their way through the hidden stairs. Beyond that was a veritable obstacle course of whirling daggers and incendiary clouds impeding progress upwards. Zel was the first to charge in but was waylaid by a rune of mental imprisonment. With their scout MIA, the rest of the party opted for the bag of holding trick again and let Mr. Buttons sprint up the stairs. Fortunately, he did not fall for the mental imprisonment and was able to drag Zel out of it.
Beyond the obstacle course is where the PCs became separated. Rather than a staircase leading to the next level, the landing above the obstacle course had only a teleporation circle which sent each PC to their own chamber where they experienced an illusion depicting a tempting reality: Leona was offered greater understanding from Fos, Echoless was offered a simpler time in which Cataclysm never corrupted her friends, Eladan was offered his father's godly position, Allston was offered the role of guild master for the Ethereal Eagle, Zel was offered great power by Yolgorah, and Ferdinand was offered his family back. For the PCs that rejected their illusions, they next found themselves in a fog filled room in which shadowy wraiths formed out of the gloom and "attacked" them. They quickly realized however that the wraiths were illusions disguising their comrades. They ceased fighting and found the apparatus controlling the fog and shut it down, finding that two of their number, Zel and Ferdinand. Buttons was able to find Zel and eventually beat him out of his stupor. Echoless found Ferdinand and was able to coax him back. No words were exchanged, but the party could tell from the haunted look on his face that he had been offered his family.
Finally, their way up was a trap door sealed by an obsidian frame and lock. Where a keyhole would normally be however, was an oddly card-shaped indentation. Putting two and two together, the party drew a card from the Deck of Many Things and placed it in the relief, unlocking the door. In the process, Allston was granted a "knight," a level 4 fighter sworn to due his bidding until death.
At the top of the tower, they found none other than Priscilla the hag waiting for them with a blink dog. She looked gaunt even in her disguised form; coupled with her ominous words it was clear that she was no longer here on her own free will, though she did clarify that given the chance to do it over, she wouldn't change anything. Ultimately, the party realized that there would be no talking their way through this and prepared for battle…
XP earned: 2,500 each

Report Date

13 Dec 2022