Echoes of Time Sessions 51 - 60

General Summary

Session 51 The party was able to successfully make it through the remaining trials of the Gauntlet; taking some hits but by and large avoiding the most deadly of the encounters. Upon reaching the chamber that would have contained the Rod of Neutralization though, they found only an empty pedestal and a gaping hole in the wall that meandered deep into the earth below.
Following the tunnel, which corkscrewed for over a mile deeper into the earth, the party found themselves in an abandoned mine; seemingly left in a hurry. Farther in they found an equally abandoned Duergar town: Min'Muldar. Investigations revealed signs of battle: bloodstains, weapon damage, and most chillingly, a shallow mass grave in the town's center square. The body the party exhumed was a duergar soldier with a large hole in his forehead; almost surgically cut. The party immediately recognized this as the work of Mindflayers.
Armed with this grim knowledge, the party prepared to move deeper into the Underdark, but not before Venatrix and Eladan came across a party of Drow scouts searching the town as well. They claimed they were looking for stragglers and that they intended to "rescue" them. While the party doubted their motives, they decided it was none of their business anyway and continued on. With that, they exited Min'Muldar by its southern gate and began journeying deeper into the untamed Underdark…
XP earned: 3,000 each
Session 52 The party opted to rest in Min'Mulmar before proceeding into the Underdark proper, armed with the knowledge that they needed to seek out the mind flayers that hid somewhere below. They sheltered in an abandoned homestead, seeing no signs of the drow squad that they met earlier. Until they went to sleep. While Ximon and Echoless took watch, the drow soldiers were able to sneak undetected into the house and attack.
The battle was tough, with Echoless taking a brunt of the damage. The situation turned particularly dire when, after felling one of the soldiers, an intellect devourer appeared next to the slain drow. It quickly became clear that each of these poor elves were simply being piloted by a construct of the illithid. Eventually though, the party was victorious, even finding a map of some of the major tunnels of the area on the drow's body.
After they successfully rested, the party made their way into the tunnels. Following the map, they decided to first investigate a section of the map simply labeled "avoid", believing that perhaps this map predated the drow's indoctrination and this area was where the mind flayers resided. They proceeded through what appeared to be a man-made thoroughfare, likely built by the dwarves or duergar, until they found the intersection that lead towards "avoid". Creeping through the now fully natural caverns, the party stumbled across a roaming death kiss, a cousin of the beholders. The creature attempted to abduct Echoless as they passed through an open cavern, but the party was able to make short work of it before it did too much damage.
A little farther along, they came to their destination: a gaping cavern dominated by an ancient tower, seemingly elven in design. Upon investigation, the party found its main entrance sealed, but with a large, almost perfectly circular shaft carved out of the rock above the main door. Also present was a smaller hole, just big enough to fit an arm into next to the door with an inscription in Undercommon reading: "if you come with knowledge, ring the bell". Curious, Eladan reached into the hole to find a mechanism that rang a large bell somewhere within the tower. After a minute or two of waiting, they were greeted by a nothic named Shriek. Upon learning of the group's motives with its ability to gleam knowledge directly from a humanoid's mind, it went to fetch its master.
The master in question was nothing less than a beholder who introduced himself as Xalakar. He was eccentric to say the least, but not hostile to the group and willing to trade in both information and secrets. With some bargaining, the party was able to obtain a necklace of fireballs, goggles of nightvision, and a tome of wisdom. For information, they learned more about the current strife between two illithid colonies as well as their general locations.
Armed with this knowledge, the party again girded themselves to delve even deeper into the Underdark…
XP earned: 4,000 each
Session 53 Setting out from the Beholder's Tower the following "day" (after getting some weird looks from the nothic scouts coming and going from the cave), the party made their way towards Tel'Aithu, the prime colony of the illithids in this portion of the Underdark. In their travels, they came across a ruined Antecean outpost that housed a familiar sight: a Foci. What research notes remained indicated that this was an outpost for the larger research colony Altum located farther to the west. Along with the notes was a map showing the connecting tunnels between this outpost and Altum. Ximon in particular was interested in the notes as they mentioned the Former and speculation that they used the Foci to shape the environment around them.
Farther along, the party found themselves in the remains of the sprawling Dwarven Low Ways. Feeling that they had travelled roughly a day (as best as they could tell), they set camp. During the rest, a giant spider attempted to raid their camp for food but was quickly dispatched by Ximon. Likewise, Evan and Mr. Buttons discovered a patrol of intellect devourers watching them and quickly dispatched one of them. Speaking of Mr. Buttons, the eternal darkness and lack of sunlight started getting to him, and he has gone a bit mad. This has presented itself in him desperately trying to model himself after Eladan of all people.
Finally, the party reached the lift entrance to Mel'Undor, an old dwarven trade hub, now occupied by drow forces under the thrall of the illithid. Upon entering the canyon where the ruin was nestled, the party all began to immediately feel as if they were being followed. Calling out for whomever was watching them to show themselves, they were signaled by a drow patrol. Upon learning that they sought an alliance, the drow agreed to parlay, bringing in one of the mind flayer overseers to speak with the party personally. The illithid, who introduced itself as Tullil, agreed that a mutually beneficial agreement could be reached, but they would need to speak to "the Collective". To that end, he agreed to take no more than two of the party members to bargain. The rest would remain. For some reason, Eladan put up quite a fuss that he should be one of the ones to go, despite Echoless' protestations that it should be her and Ximon. Eventually they relented though, and Echoless and Eladan set out with Tullil to meet the Collective at the colony of Tel'Aithu.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party bantered with the drow and tried to figure out what the hell was wrong with Mr. Buttons. They bartered with the drow quartermaster and enchanter to acquire a scroll of protection from good and evil, as this would shunt an intellect devourer from his mind if that is what had happened, but unfortunately, this proved ineffective. However, while they were lounging about, the party (and the two drow soldiers stationed to watch them) were attacked from below by a pack of bulettes with quaggoth warriors astride them. Almost simultaneously, another group of bulettes and quaggoth attacked Eladan, Echoless, and Tullil. They were dispatched after the party was able to recover from the initial surprise, and the mind flayers learned (by devouring the brains of the quaggoth) that they were spies sent by the Ulitharid to test their defenses. However, for now at least, they were safe to return to their various tasks.
Finally, at Tel'Aithu, Echoless and Eladan entered the alien and bizarre lair of the illithid and met with the Collective: the Elder Brain of the colony itself. It offered a simple bargain: kill the Ulitharid and they would no longer have need of the Rod of Neutralization, which as it turned out, they had in their possession. They had taken it to counter the Ulitharid's ability to bind large amounts of monsters to its will, but they had yet to have the opportunity to use it. Agreeing to the terms, Echoless and Eladan returned to their comrades still at Mel'Undor. With their task laid out for them, the party opted to rest once more before again setting out into the wild Underdark to seek out the renegade mind flayer…
XP earned: 2,600 each
Session 54 The party quickly made their way down the Dwarven Low Ways and towards the battlefield, discussing how best to go about their mission. Eventually, they agreed on attempting to parlay with the Ulitharid. Upon reaching the battlefield and duergar encampment, the mind flayers overseeing the camp gave them a brief lay of the land and information about the enemy, specifically the Fomorians that had recently joined up. Making their way after a rest to the front line, a deep trench occupied by a force of duergar, Ximon snuck on to scout out the enemy camp.
With only a minor encounter where a fomorian almost spotted him, Ximon found the main quaggoth camp at the other end of the cavern. There, he also spotted another group of illithid watching over the camp, and watching over them, was the ulitharid himself. With their target so readily available, the whole group went to negotiate. Though they met some resistance, they eventually convinced Dussult that they could get him and his quaggoth into Mel'Undor. And with that, they set off to move nearly 200 quaggoth behind enemy lines. Unfortunately, they were spotted by a contingent of duergar scouts who sounded the alarm.
Regardless, the party successfully led the bulk of the horde through Ximon's gates and into the heart of Mel'Undor where they quickly overwhelmed the small contingent of drow that were stationed there. With the path clear to the illithid colony of Tel'Aithu…
XP earned: 3,600 each
Session 55 The party marched on as quick as they could towards Tel'Aithu, but found that the passage into the chasm that housed the colony had been collapsed. As they attempted to find a solution, the Ulitharid appeared before them once more and informed them he never expected the party to actually reach the colony, but their "diversion" had successfully given him unfettered access to this region of the Underdark, as he had the bulk of his forces overwhelm the duergar trenches and encampment when they sent a force to reclaim Mel'Undor; a force which, incidentally, was now on its way to deal with the invading quaggoth and, by proxy, the party. With that, the ulitharid and his two illithid subordinates vanished into thin air and left the quaggoth to their demise.
Fortunately, Eladan was able to rally the quaggoth to press forward and, with Echoless and Ximon using various portal abilities to open a gate on the far side of the cave-in, the party and their quaggoth allies charged in and fought their way past a contingent of duergar that had set up defenses overlooking the chasm. Once they had secured the area, they began shuttling quaggoth down the cliff and into the colony's cave entrance.
Inside, they found the vestibule deserted, though there were signs that guards were once stationed there. As they continued to move up and into the colony, they walked into a trap: intellect devourers had hidden themselves amongst the paraphernalia of the laboratories and quickly enthralled the quaggoth that had been first sent up. They turned on the party and had to be cut down, along with a number of other intellect devourers that very nearly killed and enthralled Evan. However, thanks to Ximon's restorative abilities, which at this point have taken a great toll on his body, her intellect was restored. With that, the party opted to regroup for a short rest, their supply of quaggoth allies slowly dwindling, before making their final push into the lair of the elder brain…
XP earned: 4,000 each
Session 56 After a brief rest to regroup, with the quasit balor attuning to the amulet of nondetection so he could scout ahead and Ximon sharing his enchanted mask with Echoless, the party was ready to make their final push against the Elder Brain and retrieve the Rod of Neutralization. According to balor, who was able to scout ahead unnoticed, there were at least 10 mind flayers present with the Elder Brain, seemingly waiting for something. With that, the party moved in.
Setting themselves up to use the hallway leading to the resting chamber as a chokepoint, Eladan moved in to lob a fireball into the room. Unfortunately, the mind flayers knew they were there and moved to attack before he could get the shot off. The battle was fierce, and for some time did not bode well for the party. Eladan was dominated by the elder brain and unable to shake the compulsion. Mr. Buttons was rooted to the floor, unable to move from his place. Evan was unable to ward off the barrage of mind blasts from the illithid defenders. Their one saving grace was the reinforcements Lonelei/Brynn had promised. A dozen monks and the tiefling wizard Journey rushed through the gate conjured by Lonelei, who waited anxiously on the other side.
The monks were able to take some of the pressure off the main party, though many fell in the process. Journey, using locate object, was able to detect the presence of the rod on one of the mind flayers in the pool chamber. Unfortunately, the Elder Brain had conjured a wall of force to cut off half the party from reaching the chamber proper. Eventually, it was dispelled, but it took up valuable time as more monks fell and certain party members were brought to the brink. Ximon in particular had done severe damage to himself at this point, drawing on his life force to power his mystic abilities.
Finally, Journey was able to disintegrate the mind flayer wielding the rod after Echoless had immobilized him, as well as blinding and killing outright two other illithid with prismatic spray. However, they were not out of the woods yet. Journey found herself rooted to the spot and unable to move. Ximon was able to teleport her, Echoless, Evan, Mr. Buttons and a few of the monks through Lonelei's gate. However, while the gate still remained opened, some of the surviving mind flayers were able to give chase, knocking out both Evan and Eladan. Though it was close, the mind flayers were driven back, Eladan and Venatrix made it through the gate, and only one surviving monk was regrettably left behind.
With some room to breath and recuperate, most of the party immediately found a bed and fell into it. Ximon on the other hand, set out to the beach in a huff, ignoring the gentle rain falling on the Mystic Isle. Echoless followed and attempted to talk to him to see what was eating him. He remained mostly taciturn, and she didn't press. Brynn also came to him and poked him a bit, ending with a reminder that he was always welcome on the Isle.
In the morning, the party assembled to plot their next move. They had their weapon against Shepherd specifically, but still needed to match his army. Unfortunately, the party has done a good job of alienating several prominent factions, including the Night's Song and the Lunar Forum, at least partially. Eventually, it was decided that they would first go to Precipice and see what favor they could swing there. Lonelei offered to send them with an elixir distilled from the essence of the Isle for the Earl, who sought the island to cure a mysterious disease. Before that though, he would send Eladan and Echoless to the Lunar Forum to wrap up some business there. Little did they know of the current troubles the Citadel was facing…
XP earned: 4,700 each
Session 57 While the majority of the party recuperated on the Mystic Isle, Eladan and Echoless took a side-trip back to the Lunar Forum to pick up Eladan's trident. Upon passing through Brynn's gate into the mountains however, Eladan revealed that he intended to stay at the Citadel and not rejoin the party. Echoless played it off as more-or-less indifferent; she thought he was being incredibly self-centered, but also didn't lament seeing him gone and didn't want to inadvertently convince him to stay. However, the trip did not turn out to be as cut-and-dry as they suspected, as they walked into the Citadel to find it in the middle of a full-scale coup. In the Great Hall, a group of mages with Palios Pseftis in their midst were confronting Archmage Steelbreaker, attempting to forcibly remove him from power. Echoless and Eladan opted not to get involved and quietly snuck away to find Eladan's trident, but not with Palios subtly acknowledging them on the way out.
After retrieving Eladan's trident from the enchantment suite in the bowels of the Citadel, the pair returned to find Palios had taken the old archmage into custody and appeared to be in the process of escorting him and some other mages to the dungeons. Palios politely informed them that the Forum was now in a position to aid with the undead crisis to the south. With that, Echoless decided it was high time she got back to the group, leaving Eladan to do whatever he wanted to get up to at the Forum. Before she could leave though, she was approached by a very polite/giant man: a firbolg named Bran, who had been looking for the party as he had heard that they had dealings previously with the Elder Yew. While not having much to offer on that front, Echoless did allow the firbolg to join her if he wished, which he very much did. Together, they utilized the Forum's teleportation circles to head to Precipice, where they would await the rest of the party.
Meanwhile on the Isle, Mr. Buttons picked Brynn's brain about Shepherd, where revealed a little of his past history with the lich, including how the three of them had gotten kicked out of mage school and encountered Cataclysm, the true threat to the realm that will likely need to be dealt with sooner or later. In the morning, the group was ready to set out to Precipice and hopefully gain the city's support. To that end, Brynn gave Ximon an elixir distilled from the island to present to the Earl who sought the island to cure his son of a mysterious illness. Additionally, he gave a farewell to Echoless and returned her half of the Oculus Infinium. With that the party, after meeting their new druid friend Bran and making a few jokes at the now absent Eladan's expense, traveled into Precipice.
Inside the city, the party went straight for Undercroft Fortress to see the Earl, stopping only briefly in an open-air market to grab some fish for Bran, who was quite hungry. Opting to simply follow the lines of bureaucracy to see the Earl; waiting in line to see the steward and being presented, which took some time but was ultimately quite easy. While Echoless, Ximon, and Bran (in bird form) waited to see the Earl, Venatrix, Evan, and Buttons went about town shopping for some clothing upgrades and fresh enchanted arrows, which they found with little difficulty, though the Lunar Forum shop keep required some persuading to "open" his store, as it, like the others, had been shut down. While there, they also purchased a few other magical trinkets that will surely cause all kinds of wacky shenanigans later.
While the steward of the keep was skeptical about the party's elixir (there had been dozens of attempts to fraudulently claim the reward for finding the Isle in recent days) the Earl did see them and had his court wizard examine the vial. When he determined it was genuine, they departed at once and left the party to wait even more. Upon his return however, the Earl expressed his deepest thanks to the party: the elixir had successfully removed the affliction from his son. When the party asked the Earl to assist in the war effort against Shepherd, he was honored to oblige, though the number of soldiers he could offer was physically small.
Upon reuniting, the party set about securing lodgings for the night and settled with Kal Berumm, a "trendy" "dwarven" establishment with a terrible drink of the day, a rose petal mead that did not work at all. Nevertheless, they settled in for the rest of the day. Bran ordered an entire small barrel of mead and proceeded to get sloshed. Ximon went out to check in on the poor and beleaguered of the city and spent a good deal of energy healing the wounded and sick. Meanwhile, Ven went out for a stroll and stumbled across a production of Wilhelm Quiverblade's "King Snow," a seven-act play. It was ok.
During that time though, the rest of the party was greeted by a most unwelcome guest, Horkles and Ezekiel of the Night's Song, who had followed Echoless from the Lunar Forum. Ezekiel claimed they came in peace and just wished to talk, and talk they did. Echoless was able to warn Venatrix through a sending stone that they had company. With little other options available though, she came to see what they wanted. Essentially, Ezekiel came to broker a meeting between the party and the Overseer at a time and place of their choosing. With the undead threat ever growing, the Night's Song believed it was in everyone's best interest to make nice, despite their concerns over Venatrix's handling of Amalgam.
Unfortunately, there were two big hiccups: Venatrix's trust in the organization has been irreparably shattered, and Ximon refuses to work with a group that attacked his old guild and more than likely is holding his old mentor captive. Many words exchanged and threats made, but eventually, the party agreed to meet again somewhere in River Run after they take care of some business. Ezekiel agreed and went on his way. Now the party makes plans to travel through the mountains for their next stop in their search for allies: Kittsadora, the hidden home of a clan of Tabaxi and Mr. Button's old training grounds…
XP earned: 500 each
Session 58 After a quick trip to the locally famous Obsidian Forge where Echoless acquired a fancy new set of mithral half-plate and Evan purchased an adamantine short sword and the whole gang shelled out for winter gear suitable for hiking through the mountains, the party set out to Mr. Button's old stomping grounds: the tabaxi monastery of Kittsadora. Making their way into the Oran Mountains on the backs of mules they purchased in the city (or as a giant eagle in Bran's case and on the carpet of flying with Venatrix and Ximon), the party made decent headway towards their destination.
Unfortunately, being the only one who knew where Kittsadora actually was, Mr. Buttons had to navigate, and navigation is not inherently one of his strong suites. Despite Venatrix assisting him, the party did ultimately veer slightly off-course. During the night, between bouts of snowfall, Mr. Buttons also happened to notice the silhouette of a dragon gliding overhead. He thought he saw a glint of silver, but it could have been white as well. Given the severe distinction between these two types of dragons, he opted to keep silent. In the morning, the party set out again to ever increasing amounts of snowfall. They ended up cutting a hard line west to avoid a particularly jagged set of peaks and ended up walking headlong into a blizzard. As they trudged through the squall doing their darnedest to fend off the chill that struck at any exposed skin, they noticed a faint glow in the distance. Closer inspection revealed the glow to be a town: Dynloc, a small, tight-knit hunter-gatherer village nestled between mountain ridges.
The people of Dynloc were incredibly suspicious of the party at first, as their recent troubles had made them increasingly weary of outsiders. However, the party was able to convince them to at least let them pass through, and from their they wormed their way into Dynloc's good graces. Upon learning that they had been plagued by harsh blizzards like this for some time (many believed it to be some kind of curse. Indeed, some of the party speculated the weather was magical in nature) and that children had gone missing, the party agreed to check on it. This was cemented when Venatrix and Bran discovered a lost little girl named Mae had been communicating with her "granny" through a mysterious iron token. In the night, when Mae's parents confronted her about the token, she fled into the night.
The party gave chase, but lost her in a sudden, dense field of fog. As they attempted to follow, they were set upon by a pair of frost trolls, which they promptly defeated. However, the skirmish proved long enough for Mae to disappear entirely, her foot prints in the snow seeming to vanish without a trace. However, the troll tracks clearly led down from the nearby mountain peak, and so the party opted to follow them, fighting against the cold wind and snow in the now dead of night. Also Bran was a dinosaur for some reason.
The party found their path waylaid by heavy snow and gale-like winds. What's more, as the path up the mountain became more narrow and treacherous, Bran, in dino-form, found the rock beneath his feet suddenly giving way, causing him to tumble down the path. With a clever usage of the party's immovable rod, Bran was able to continue as a brontosaur, but not without causing a huge deal of ruckus. Thus it was no surprise when another group of trolls attempted to drop boulders on the party's heads while they climbed, causing a mini avalanche. Despite all this, they were finally able to reach the summit where they found a small cottage ringed by a small forest of snow-covered pine trees. From the hut emerged three wizened old women who greeted the party but accused them of being rather impertinent for arriving at such a late hour uninvited.
Unimpressed by the women's clear façade, the party demanded to know where Mae was, though the ladies denied having seen her. Any potential further attempts at diplomacy though were dashed when Bran decided to walk threateningly towards the women (again, as a dinosaur), who wasted no time in paralyzing the brute with a hold person spell. With that, the party prepared to do battle with this hag coven that had made itself at home atop the mountain peak…
XP earned: (will be lumped with next session's XP)
Session 59 The party confronted the hag coven and, after a dire battle, forced them to retreat into their cabin where they used the girl Mae as a human shield and bartering chip. Words were exchanged, but the party was adamant that the hags let the girl go before they would be allowed to leave. Eventually, they acquiesced, and the bheur hag attempted to fly off, leaving her sisters behind. However, Venatrix. Mr. Buttons, and Bran were feeling particularly vengeful and shot her down and then targeted the remaining annis hags. They put up a fight however, with one nearly crushing the life out of Evan and the other ultimately escaping obscured by fog. Regardless, the hags were defeated and the little girl rescued. The party also recovered the bheur hag's staff and the coven's eye, though both are now inert with the coven's destruction.
Back in Dynloc, Mae was reunited with her family and the party took a day to recuperate, during which Bran repaired more damaged equipment and everyone had a go at arm-wrestling Nala, one of the resident goliath. After a peaceful night's rest, the party set out again for Kittsadora. They made decent headway through the mountains, encountering a blizzard that Bran was able to dispel before it got too bad. Towards the end of their trip, they also encountered a curious sight: two frost giants and a cloud giant making their way down and out of the mountains, talking, begrudgingly, about heading south as "the ordning had been called" as the cloud giant put it. The party was able to skirt around and avoid a direct confrontation, but an overcurious Bran went to go snoop a bit more and was discovered by the perceptive cloud giant. The discussion remained civil, but the giant gave an ominous warning that if they were to meet again, it would likely end in violence.
Finally though, after following along the edge of a frozen lake, Mr. Buttons spotted a familiar waterfall glistening in the distance: the entrance to Kittsadora. The group scaled the cliff-face to the hidden entrance behind the falls and ascended the spiral stairs beyond the secret door. The stairs led to a yawning cavern lit by an artificial sun where an entire miniature ecosystem thrived. At its center on an island on a crystal clear lake, was the monastery and settlement of Kittsadora. Tabaxi watched them approach on the far docks, but as the party approached they noticed a peculiar sight: what seemed to be an encampment of soldiers comprised of humans, dwarves, elves, and others. The tabaxi at the dock indicated that these were the Dragon's Fangs and that they assumed the party was here for them. Unsure of what to make of their unexpected presence, Mr. Buttons opted first to check in with his old mentor, Silent Plume…
XP earned: 4,400 each
Session 60 A member of the Dragon's Fangs recognized Mr. Buttons as the group made their way past the encampment, exclaiming that Dorian would be thrilled to see him. Acquiescing to the man, the group made their way to the center of the camp where Dorian Havik's camp stood. Inside was the Dragon of the North himself along with the dragonborn Nesroth, the human monster hunter Samuel Deacon, and Dorian's twin siblings, Jemma and Cameron. After pleasantries were exchanged and the party mentioned they could use the Fangs as allies to combat the undead, Dorian offered an "interesting" proposition.
As it stood, he could not guarantee that his followers would be willing to abandon their cause to fight the undead, though he could likely rally at least a few volunteers. However, if the party were to help him take Crucible for himself, he could offer them not only the Dragon's Fangs, but Crucible's army as well. Explaining that he was in fact the long lost descendant of the original king of Crucible, he has a legitimate claim to the throne. All he needs is to be able to get face to face with King Snowthorne and challenge him for the right to wear the crown. If this is done in front of an audience, Snowthorne will have little choice but to accept the challenge. Then it is only a simple manor of Dorian defeating whatever champion Snowthorne throws at him. Because he has a legitimate claim, and because the army (at least in theory) is loyal to the crown, not the head it sits on, Dorian would then be free to offer up both armies.
Unfortunately, the party didn't really buy into this idea and politely declined, though they did offer to keep in touch. For the rest of the day, they explored Kittsadora, Bran acquiring a jade circlet to power his new Shapechange ability. Ven got roped into a quick game of tag with some tabaxi children. Echoless and Ximon utilized the monastery's library to learn a bit about the history of Kittsadora (as well as learned some rumors about an old conflict between two tabaxi clans here that Mr. Buttons may or may not be an omen for the conflicts return), and Mr. Buttons caught up with some old pals from the monastery. All of them met with Silent Plume, the elder of Kittsadora, who promised he could send at least some monks to help fight the undead when the time came. The party spent the night in a guest room of the monastery. Ximon, however, opted to sleep outside, as the monastery's spartan layout reminded him a little too much of his time with the Immortals.
In the morning, the party set out, bidding a final farewell to the Fangs. Dorian was disappointed they would not help him, but he was understanding and wished them luck on their journeys; hopeful they would find more allies elsewhere. Back in the mountains, the party charted a course to River Run, Bran taking the first leg of the journey in the form of a silver dragon, because why not. Passing through a narrow mountain pass, the party encountered a most curious sight: an utterly massive ruin that spanned the breadth of the pass. Upon investigation, it seemed to be the work of giants, but far too big for the size giants are today. While whoever created this place was clearly long gone, the party encountered a few inhabitants living beneath it; namely frost salamanders. The beasts attacked but quickly found they were no match for the surly band of adventurers. Ven managed to catch one in the iron flask, while the other fled when it became clear its "meal" was far more trouble than it was worth.
With that, the party exited the mountains and began crossing the Auran Plains towards River Run. However, still a couple days away from the city, Venatrix received a troubling message from the Night's Song: River Run was under attack by the undead. With this grim news, the party pondered their options: Make haste to River Run and try to salvage what they can or look elsewhere towards a quickly dwindling list of potential allies…
XP earned: 1000 each

Report Date

13 Dec 2022