Echoes of Time Sessions 61 - 73

General Summary

Session 61 The party made haste to the besieged city of River Run, engaging in a forced march through the night in an effort to get their in time. As they went, they sent messages to the Night's Song and the Dragon's Fangs informing them of the situation, though there was little anything either faction could do at the moment. Thanks to Bran shape changing into a Roc for the first hour of the trip, the party was able to make it in incredible time, finding the battle for the city still raging fiercely.
With some reconnaissance by Mr. Buttons and Bran, the party learned that the undead had already secured the bridge leading into the city proper and had it under guard. What's more, the dracolich could be seen swooping in and out of the clouds that hung over the city. Bran, assuming the form of an invisible pterodactyl, flew over the city to see what he could see. Unfortunately for him, despite his invisibility, he was discovered by the dracolich and its rider, a mysterious cloaked elf. Bran opted to draw them away from the city and landed on the far bank of the river to the east. The dragon followed along with two vrocks who quickly landed in front of the druid. Words were exchanged and the elf revealed himself to be none other than Mul Curunir, ostensibly having joined up with Shepherd at some point. Before Mul could take Bran to be dealt with by the rest of Shepherd's Crook, the rest of the party showed up and a fight broke out. Mul was eager for a rematch with the party and vice versa.
It became quickly obvious to Mul that despite his power boost and new dragon ally, he was outnumbered and the party was too powerful to take alone. Then a dastardly idea hatched in his mind. He commanded the dragon to swiftly grab the nearest party member, in this case Mr. Buttons. With the tabaxi unable to evade its grasp, the dragon dove into the icy river with Buttons in tow and began swimming downstream towards the garrisoned bridge. The party gave chase, with Ximon teleporting himself, Bran (now in brontosaurus mode), Evan, and Echoless into the river directly behind the dragon with Venatrix following behind on the carpet of flying. This triggered part 2 of Mul's evil plan: with the party in hot pursuit, Mul cast forcecage, stopping the pursuers in their tracks (save Bran, who was currently too big to fit in the cage) and trapping them underwater. Fortunately for Buttons, Ximon was still able to conjure a gate, allowing the monk to teleport out of the dragon's grasp. Unfortunately, he was now stuck in the cage instead. Exiting proved far more difficult. Echoless was able to escape, thanks to her force of personality being the driving force of her magic, but for the others whose charisma was lacking, it took quite some time for them to escape the cage. Fortunately, they were all able to hold their breath long enough to escape, but they were effectively removed from the fight.
Back on the surface, Echoless and Venatrix were left more or less alone to deal with the dracolich and Mul, who despite their wounds felt more confident that they could take on the remaining party. However, thanks to a well-timed counterspell and a hail of arrows from Venatrix as well as Buttons who was able to escape the forcecage as well, the dragon was felled (again). Mul was very nearly defeated as well when Buttons was able to stun him and Bran trapped him in an encircling wall of thorns. He was able to hang on just long enough to recover from the monk's stunning strike, however, and he was reluctantly able to dimension door his way out of trouble and retreat to his comrades (though he did not relish having to inform them that the dragon he had been entrusted with had been slain).
With that, the party retreated to lick their wounds, not feeling confident in their ability to enter the city after the battle. But while they did not aid the soldiers of River Run directly, they helped a great deal in removing the biggest single threat to any further escape attempts or offenses. Just before they could set up camp however, they were approached by an unlikely ally: Bartimaeus, having arrived on orders from the Night Song to offer assistance to the party. And while he was too late to assist with the dragon fight, he was able to protect the party while they rested throughout the night and turn away any undead who wandered too close to their campsite. With the morning light, the party now had to decide on what their next move should be…
XP earned: 3600 each
Session 62 With the early light of day and the sounds of battle subsiding, the party opted to see what they could see in whatever may have been left of River Run. With Bartimaeus offering to scout out the still present fog cloud, the party made their way towards the city. They didn't get far. As they approached, they watched a man with a shock of white hair wearing mage robes approach them from the other side of the bridge. He came in peace, and the party made it clear they did as well. The man introduced himself as Cato Sabjorn, lieutenant of Shepherd. The party allowed him to explain.
Cato believed that if Shepherd's motives and plan were more eloquently explained, the party may be willing to relent. He explained Shepherd's efforts against Cataclysm and the necessity of conquering all these cities and how that only the city defenders are "pacified" while innocents are allowed to go about their lives under the undead's rule. Ultimately, the party refused to accept the rationale, but they did take up Cato's offer to see the town square. There they indeed found captured but alive civilians huddled in groups around the square. Under the eye of Cato as well as Merric Leagallow, Shepherd's halfling lieutenant from Termina, the party poked around the square. Ximon and Echoless were able to find out that there were still defenders holed up just outside the Hold, including the remaining Lodge of Marksmen and none other than Ferdinand Tempus. With that information, Ximon had an idea: he and Echoless contacted Brynn to have him open a gate at Ferdinand's position and evacuate the defenders and whatever civilians they had with them.
Meanwhile, Venatrix found Bartimaeus in bat form hanging around the edges of the square. Ducking down a back alley, the party rendezvoused with the vampire. He reported a similar situation to what the others learned from the civilians. While they discussed, the party discovered an eavesdropper: Merric. Before he could alert Cato though, Bartimaeus "made friends" with him. Shortly thereafter, Echoless was informed by Brynn that the evacuation was successful. With that, the party decided it was time to go. Cato escorted them out, but not before the party noticed Mul Curunir heading out of the square towards the battlefront.
As the party deliberated on where to go next, Evan received a vision from the Moonblade, almost inquiring as to whether they would go to Aeturnum. Seeing as it was relatively close by, the party decided it wouldn't hurt to see if they couldn't get the elves on their side. During this time, Ximon decided to pay a visit to Brynn and the defenders they rescued from River Run, promising to return to the group soon. Their journey was relatively simple, travelling as birds and then later as the wind itself. However, they did encounter one anomaly while travelling back into the mountains: a massive thunderstorm swirling snow and sleet and all but grounding their travel. Investigation revealed it to be the work of an ancient elemental called an Elder Tempest. Despite it throwing some lightning bolts the party's way, it didn't actually seem interested in fighting; in fact, it seemed like it shouldn't have been there at all. The party was able to push through the storm and as quickly as it appeared, the tempest was gone, seemingly without trace.
With that, the party arrived at the prismatic gates of Aeturnum with the light of the setting sun. Upon revealing the moonblade, the sentinels at the gate were quick to let them in. And with a full platoon going with them, the party was escorted into the city of Mir'Heled…
XP earned: 1000 each
Session 63 Escorted by a full guard of sentinels, the party made their way into the magical city of Mir'Heled, taking it its wonders and its splendors. Upon reaching the massive crystal tower that served as its palace, the party was presented before Queen Aeonna who asked to speak with the Moonblade that Evan carried. She revealed that it has once belonged to her great grandmother, but it was lost when the Anteceans took Lar'Nimloth; the city known as Crucible to the party. The blade also "told" her of the evils the party was attempting to thwart. Believing their cause to be just, the queen allowed Evan to keep the blade and attune to it (finally), inscribing a new rune into its blade as it was officially bonded to her. Echoless attempted to persuade the Queen to dedicate troops to their cause as well, but ultimately she was not willing to send elven troops to fight a largely human battle. However, she did propose a counter-agreement: if the party could recover the Staff of Power stolen from their vaults (by none other than Mul Curunir, which the Queen revealed to the party), then she would offer sentinels to help fight against Shepherd. While in the throne room, the party also noticed that among the queen and her attending nobles was a single human male who appeared to be acting as a servant against his will. While this piqued their interest, Venatrix's specifically, they did not do anything or inquire about him at this time.
With the stipulation that they stay with their escort, a young bladesinger named Elavel, the party was given leave to explore Mir'Heled. That night, they sampled the finest food and drink the city had to offer and, to their surprise, gathered a small crowd of curious elves who wanted to hear more of their exploits; even Elavel numbered among them. As they settled into their guest house for the night, Mr. Buttons attempted to "get familiar" with one of the other foreigners at the hostel: a tabaxi merchant named Loose String. This upset a very drunk Evan, who enlisted Echoless to get back at Mr. Buttons by attempting to shave his tail. They were even able to get String in on it, as Echoless convinced her that Buttons had invited all three of them to sleep with him that night. They crept as silently as they could to Button's room, but ultimately he was able to wriggle out of their grasp, awakening the entirety of the guest house. For some reason, Bran decided the best way to voice his displeasure at being woken up was by turning into a lion and roaring loudly, causing even more of a commotion. Venatrix then thought it would be a great idea to channel Amalgam to force Bran back into his normal form. After that kerfuffle, everyone went back to bed a little bit miffed. Fortunately, Ven was able to convince Elavel to not file a report by again channeling Amalgam to speak more persuasively.
In the morning, the party hit the markets to see what kinds of magical nonsense the elves crafted, save for Bran, who had agreed to meet up with a number of druids to discuss arcane and academic goings on. While perusing the streets the group came across inverted water mills, large talking statues, magical art installations, and copious amounts familiars flying about. At the markets, magical items that would have been locked under the highest security of a Lunar Forum shop were just out and about on display. Mr. Buttons ended up purchasing another immovable rod and another pair of sending stones (though they learned that in Mr'Heled these are incredibly outdated devices. Now, Rune Rocks were all the rage: slates that could be infused with a number of runes that connected to other slates). Regardless, this particular stone was gifted to String. Whether she will hold onto it remains to be seen.
Bran and the druids discussed a number of confusing and philosophical topics about the magical Weave and how everything seems to have gotten more chaotic lately. There was speculation that this was causing the appearance of these elemental leviathans. Changing topics, Bran inquired as to whether the druids knew anything about the whereabouts of golden dragons or other druidic artifacts. To the former, the druids had never encountered a golden dragon as they prefer warmer climates, but they had heard stories of a gold dragon roost in the mountains above Ioma. To the latter, they spoke of the Former, or as they called them, the O'iran. They spoke of how every so often one of their esoteric artifacts would crop up and how they left a particularly tangible mark on the Liminean Wilds. After their discussion, Bran decided to show off a bit with his shape change ability and portrayed a number of rare and exotic forms for the mage students in attendance.
Lastly, most of the party got magical tattoos, having found an artist who was able to work them. These tattoos were evidently very popular with the elves and beyond being incredibly stylish, offered a myriad of magical abilities to the wearer. Evan got one that would allow her to become incorporeal for a time, Mr Buttons got one that could act as extended tendrils to attack foes, Bran got one that empowered his unarmed attacks, and Venatrix got one that allowed her to use her finger like a pen. As the day waned, the party returned to the guest house and began discussions on where to go next. Bran suggested either Ioma or the Liminean Wilds to search for dragons/artifacts. Some of the party agreed that Ioma could be a place to search for more allies as well. Others brought up that they needed to seek out Mul again to find the elves staff, and Crucible was mentioned again as well. Regardless, the party will soon be setting off again, and all the while, Shepherd continues to amass his forces for his next target…
XP earned: 500 each
Session 64 The party regrouped in the elven guesthouse and made preparations for the next leg of their journey, ultimately opting to head back to Crucible first and then, time permitting, check out Ioma for more allies and potentially find a golden dragon. In the morning, the party contacted Brynn, who opened a gate for them to return to his island to use as a jumping off point for their next destination.
While on the island, the party used the Reflecting Pool to scope out a number of different individuals in an attempt to get a lead on Mul and the Staff of Power, as well as check in on other important people. They saw Mul, still ostensibly in River Run along with Cato Sabjorn, Merric Leagallow, and an unknown knight wearing tarnished armor of Crucible-Knight make. Though no sign of the Staff was seen, Echoless was able to make out a few words by reading the enemies' lips: "River Run…how long…march." Venatrix asked to find Rolf, whom the Pool located in some snowy region, wounded but alive. The Pool was unable to find Xoddrosdam however, and the party feared the worst for their silver dragon ally. The last important depiction was that of Evan's brother Mainar, the current king of the Laminar Kingdom far to the west. It seemed that even now he pursued his wayward sister and had tracked her to Termina. This clearly shook Evan. Echoless promised to her that one day, they would deal with this and make sure Mainar will never go after Evan again.
With no prominent leads to pursue for the Staff of Power, Buttons contacted the Dragon's Fangs and Bran plane-shifted the party back to Crucible, appearing in an alley way across from the Noble Lion Tavern. Immediately, they found the city in a state of tumult. Protests were sweeping across the city in response to the King's refusal to open the gates for refugees for fear of Dragon's Fangs spies and saboteurs. Dorian and his compatriots confirmed this when they met the party at the tavern to go over their plan, ecstatic that the party had agreed to help him challenge King Snowthorne for the right to rule. After ironing out the details of the plan (the party would use their influence to get the Dragon's Fangs into the inner city and ultimately to the palace during the King's Reception), they returned to Shadehaven Manor.
Reginald, the Butler, was absolutely chuffed to bits to see the party again, though there was one minor problem. The Night's Song had staked guards at the manors entrance. Venatrix opted to simply approach them. After some back and forth, the guards agreed to keep their watch from outside the manor's fence, though Venatrix did have to agree to meet with the Overseer as soon as possible. After some catching up with both Reginald and the ghost Lucian, the party had the rest of the day to carouse about town, Echoless even letting Lucian possess her so that he could experience mortal "pleasures" for awhile. However, as the sun sets, the party reconvened to meet with the Overseer of the Night's Song, as Venatrix had arranged to meet with them back at the Noble Lion Tavern…
XP earned: 500 each
Session 65 The party met with the Night Song, being joined at the tavern by the Overseer and Ezekiel. They talked for some time on the Night's Song's methods and their history with using their enemy's methods against them. While the party still had serious reservations as to the wisdom of letting a powerful demon incubate in Venatrix's head (Bran in particular seemed weirdly convinced that he knew better) they were able to ultimately come to an agreement. While the Overseer did not trust this "bargain" that Venatrix has made with Amalgam, she was willing to trust that the party would do what was necessary if/when the demon turned on them. And thus the demon continued to stay within Venatrix to be used as a weapon when it came time to fight Shepherd.
Returning to Shadehaven Manor, the focus shifted to now dealing with the King. After discussing their options with Dorian and his companions, who had made themselves quite at home, decided their best bet was to "borrow" an invitation to the King's Reception so that they could just walk in the front door. The party decided on the Lord Magistrate of the Jewel District, a belligerent wine connoisseur named Lord Gladius Hamburg. With the help of the gnome wizard Minlin retrieving a look-alike seal back at the Dragon's Fangs encampment, Mr. Buttons was able to create a passible forgery of an "updated" invitation for Hamburg. In the morning, both Buttons and Echoless, disguised as royal couriers (and Bran invisibly following) knocked on the Magistrate's door and made the exchange, securing an official invitation for themselves. Lastly, Buttons again used his calligraphy skills to change to name on their new invitation.
On the evening of the reception, the party moved out, magically disguised as a group of nobles and their attaché. They were able to walk right into the Palace courtyard where a gathering of lesser nobles (who weren't important enough to get an invite to the real reception) was in full swing. But there was a snag: guards were magically monitoring the entrance to the Palace with wands of detect magic. To combat this, the party decided a diversion was in order. Ven would conjure an illusion of a naked king running about the courtyard while Balor chased it around screeching. Then, Echoless, who would take an hour to attune to the Rod of Neutralization, would negate the wands as they passed. Meanwhile, during the hour they took to prepare, the party witnessed Lord Hamburg arrive and promptly get arrested after he presented a fake invitation. After a good laugh at that and some mild concern that it may actually make the situation more difficult to deal with, the party set their plan in motion.
It was spectacular. Ven's illusion and Balor flying around screaming "Bitch King! Bitch King! Bitch King!" provided a lovely diversion that pulled half of the guards away from the main door. The rest of the party, playing the part of frightened nobles seeking refuge inside, were able to make their way past the guards after presenting their invitation and casually nullifying their wand of magic detection. Once inside, it was a simple matter of finding the throne room.
Inside the opulent hall, all the elite and nobility of Crucible were in attendance, including the Night's Song's Overseer and Palios Pseftis along with a small group of Forum wizards. The party mingled about for a bit to get a read from the room; learning that tensions are high beneath a superficial mask of revelry. Finally, when the King went to make a speech, Dorian made his move, casting aside his disguise and challenging Snowthorne to the right to rule. Upon confirming the validity of Dorian's lineage, Snowthorne "accepted" the challenge. Without further ado, he brought out his Champion: the Phantom Knight, leader of the House of Phantoms. Snowthorne then demanded that the Knight kill the usurper and his accomplices. With that, an all out battle broke out in the throne room.
Assassins disguised as party guests leapt from the crowd to engage the party. Meanwhile, many of the nobles and their entourage sided with either Dorian or Snowthorne and fought amongst each other, leaving the party to deal with the Phantom Knight and keep the king from escaping. The battle was tense: Evan was knocked out, Mr. Buttons was banished for a time, and Bran and Echoless took heavy damage from the Knight, but ultimately, the Knight was defeated, the King was incapacitated and his guards dealt with. Dorian relieved him of his crown, holding it aloft before the silenced crowd. After a brief deliberation, the nobles preliminarily confirmed Dorian's claim. Now all that is left is the clean up and coordination of the now loyal Crucible garrison and the Dragon's Fangs. The party will likely be right in the middle of these conversations as everyone's attention now turns to finally confronting Shepherd…
XP earned: 6,000 each
Session 66 After reallocating the King's feast to celebrate Dorian's victory, the party retired for the evening. On their return, Venatrix discovered a curious package awaiting her: a ghastly, demonic bow, apparently gifted to her by Amalgam himself. She accepted the bow and questioned the demon on what it knew about Cataclysm, to which it offered some insights into the primordial beings' motives and objectives.
In the morning, the party was called to a meeting of the factions at the Palace of Chronicles, where all the leaders of the assembled groups (Crucible, the Dragon's Fangs, the Night's Song, the Lunar Forum, Precipice, and the Lodge of Marksmen) would hash out how exactly they would deal with this undead menace that has quickly engulfed the province. After a back and forth discussion over whether to send out armies to reclaim the lost middling cities or wait for the undead to come to Crucible, it was ultimately decided that the best course of action would be a direct attack on Shepherd's lair with a small, elite group, while a secondary army offers a diversion (and possible retreat route) by attacking Waypointe simultaneously. With that, the now King Havik ordered the plan into motion, citing that approximately a week will be needed to get everyone assembled.
On the way out of the meeting however, the party received tragic news from Brynn: Ximon was dead. He had been killed by Shepherd himself after he tried to meet Mul back in River Run, hoping to join their "group" as a passive observer and preserver of history. Shepherd though, who his Crook had called to make the decision on whether or not Ximon could stay, deemed him to willful and reckless to be trustworthy and that he would be a more useful ally dead as opposed to alive. Ximon put up a hell of a fight, dealing near-fatal damage to the lich, but in the end, it wasn't quite enough. Wracked with grief of this, Echoless spent the rest of the day withdrawn in the manor, while the rest of the group raised a toast in the young mystic's honor. Evan spent the rest of the day acquiring new, magically reinforced armor for herself, while Venatrix, Buttons, Bran, and Sarword (who rejoined the group after the meeting), went to question the now ex-king as to how he had acquired a Death Knight to fight on his behalf. Snowthorne revealed that the crown had deep ties to the House of Phantoms and that death was but a minor inconvenience to the likes of Ser Mikael Creed, aka the Phantom Knight. He also warned the party that it was only a matter of time before he saw his rule restored and Dorian was shown as the lying usurper that he truly is. He offered forgiveness for the party if they helped him expedite the process, but they politely declined, leaving the ex-king to continue to waste away in his nicely furbished cell.
The following day, the part was ready to move on: Bran desperately wished to visit the island city of Ioma to search for golden dragons, and Dorian had given them a request for aid to see if they couldn't convince the reclusive island nation to assist. Brynn once again teleported the group to the Mystic Isle, where he again lamented Ximon's loss with Echoless. The rest of the group spent a day of peace and meditation with the monks of the monastery, with Sarword, awkward as ever, attempted to console Echoless while Bran and Mr. Buttons meditated with a group of monks. Opting to delay their connecting gate to Ioma by a day, the party agreed to a request of Venatrix's: rescue Rolf from the mountains he was still hiding in. The Night's Song operative stumbled through the gate with a torrent of wind and snow and promptly asked for a drink. After filling him in on all that transpired, he and Venatrix spent some time alone together. The following day, the group was ready to head to Ioma, while Rolf would fulfill his duty and return to Crucible.
In Ioma, the group found themselves in a serene harbor city glittering with golden adornments. On the edge of the city, they encountered a pearl diver named Yu who seemed to be in good standing with the Triton who occasionally trade with the city. He kindly introduced himself and offered a place to stay if they needed it. Curiously, it appeared that he had no need for the protective gear the other pearl divers and fishermen used to protect himself from the frigid waters. When asked about dragons, he regretted to inform the party that he had never seen one, but recommended checking out the Living Museum within the city walls, which the party did. There they met the Curator, a bizarre old man who boasted an eclectic collection of historical artifacts, art pieces, magical artifacts, and an intact copper dragon skeleton as the proud center piece. The party did some trading with him, acquiring boots of speed for Mr. Buttons (god help us), and a folding boat for Venatrix (an emotional reunion). On the topic of dragons, the Curator pointed them towards anecdotal stories of hunters and treasure seekers encountering a gold dragon in the wilds north of the city on the far side of the mountains. With that, the party set back out into the city to continue their search…
XP earned: 500 each
Session 67 Having taken in some of the sights of the bedazzled city of Ioma, the party opted to head for the Gold Keep and deliver Dorian's "Request for Aid" missive. Meanwhile, Bran decided he would go "confer with the trees" about any possible leads on finding dragons in the city. Upon arrival and a brief meeting with the keep's steward, the party was able to persuade him that the matter was of great importance. The steward agreed to arrange a meeting with the party and the king, whose next window of availability was, as it turned out to be, right now. Cheerfully surprised, the party met with King Mairen Titus to discuss an alliance. The gruff, bombastic man was more than amused to see Crucible, a city that had attempted to invade Ioma at least 4 times in the last few hundred years, ask so politely for aid. Eventually, the party was able to convince him to send help; approximately 600 men and ships to carry them were offered in exchange for a formal apology from the new King of Crucible as well as a monetary sum of 10,000 gold pieces, which the party opted to simply pay up front (with the intention of getting reimbursed by Dorian later, perhaps with an additional service fee tacked on).
With the one official task they had in the city wrapped up, the party took a leisurely stroll around just to see what there was to see. They met a very chill Tortle named Jutt who quite slowly spoke of troubles with Sahaugin raiders and a potential "turtle dragon" wreaking havoc off the coast (echoing a similar sentiment told by the King during their meeting). A grizzled war vet spoke of an encounter he experienced during his days as a treasure hunter wherein he witnessed a group of "wildlings" on the northern half of the island rescued from a hippogriff by "a flash of gold and tremendous roar". Finally, towards the evening, Evan encountered a familiar face: Zaeonna, her old lady-in-waiting.
Zaeonna explained that she had been hiding out in Ioma after the now King Mainar framed Evan for their brother's murder. She had believed herself safe for several years but now she has spotted Laminarian bounty hunters stalking the streets. This proved to be true, for during the night, while the party and Zaeonna stayed at an upscale inn, one of these hunters tracked them to their rooms. Fortunately, Venatrix was able to hear their approach and warn the others. A brief skirmish broke out between the party and the hunter and some kind of arachnid-like construct. When it became clear they were outmatched, the construct attempted to teleport themselves away. But the hunter had been marked with Venatrix's brand of tethering, and he was unable to flee. The party revived the hunter for questioning, and after some "unscrupulous" methods, were able to learn that the rest of the hunters were hiding out in a pirate cove off the southwest coast of the island. Ultimately, the party deemed the captive too dangerous to keep alive and dispatched him. Now, they plan their next steps, for surely so long as these hunters remain, they are a threat to Evan and by proxy, the rest of them…
XP earned: 1000 each
Session 68 After some discussion, the party decided that the best bet was to simply whisk Zaeonna away to Brynn's island for the time being, assuming that these bounty hunters could not track her to the demi-plane the island resided on. With that problem seemingly taken care of, the party returned to the truly important matter at hand: finding a gold dragon. They set off about town and asked around, specifically looking for people who had heard of the various hunters and treasure seekers run ins, coupled with what Bran learned about the wildlings. They were able to piece together that their best bet was searching around the northern foot of the mountain.
After wind walking their way into the wilderness, they began set about searching for clues and signs. Evan in particular was extremely helpful in locating the tell-tale signs of dragons. They were able to pick up a trail that seemed to belong to wildlings and followed it to a small chasm filled with old dwarven ruins. Within, they found signs of a battle. Once again, Evan was able to find indications of a dragon's presence in the form of snapped tree branches and a crushed canopy. Continuing along the trail, the party spotted discarded dwarven artifacts in the underbrush painting a path back towards the mountain. Finally, they heard the sound of a group of people under attack by griffons. Flying off to see what was going on, the party found a group of wildlings attempting to defend an injured cohort from the oversized birds. They were able to successfully fend them off and stabilize the injured man who nearly died when one of the griffon's attempted to fly off with him. The wildlings were grateful and, upon learning the party sought their draconic patron, offered to help them find a worthy offering.
Most of the wildlings returned to their home to tend to the injured, while one of them, Wheaton, led the group to the ruins of an old Aaracockra village. However, they were not alone. Another treasure seeking group had already arrived and a confrontation nearly broke out when one of the treasure seekers found the group going through their horses saddle bags. Bran in particular was weirdly hostile towards them, demanding that they pack up and leave immediately. Tensions were eased however, when the leader of this group, whom he introduced as the White Falcons, came and cleared the air; offering to split whatever loot was found. Together, they uncovered a small amount of ancient coinage, artifacts and art pieces (primarily statuettes and sculptures) and most interestingly a Silver Raven; one of the illusive statuettes of wondrous power. The two parties spent the evening together just hanging out and swapping tales, and by the end of it, everyone was on good terms; Bran pulling a particularly sharp 180, looking forward to have drinks with the White Falcon leader back in Ioma.
In the morning, the party, along with Wheaton, took their offerings and finally delved into the dragon's lair, located deep beneath the mountains through a gold mine who's ore radiated an immaculate, warm light. The inner sanctum was in an old dwarven fortress, kept up by the wildlings that lived there and overseen by a pair of old elven brothers. The party initially spoke with one of these elves, who they believed was the aforementioned dragon. This was revealed to be a dubious little deception as the true dragon revealed himself; entering the room as the pearl diver from back outside the city. After hearing about the reasons the group was here and the enemy they were seeking aid against, the dragon, Yuhvalok, was willing to offer assistance, though his own goals prevented him from leaving the island. He offered each of them a boon, either a magical augmentation, a weapon or artifact from his horde, or, in Bran's case, the gift of his form. Sarword received a necklace of prayer beads, Mr. Button's received a sword of sharpness, Evan received an animated shield, Echoless received a boost to her persuasive powers, and Venatrix opted to have her performance ability enhanced (for knocking purposes). With that, the party set back out to return to Ioma, ready to face whatever comes next…
XP earned: 600 each
Session 69 (Nice) The party returned to Ioma and hit the Ruby to celebrate their successful excursion into the wilds. During the revelries, Venatrix and Bran noticed a couple of dodgy looking elves hanging out in a secluded corner of the tavern. They claimed to be waiting for a friend, but the party got the distinct impression that these men may be of the same group that was gunning for Evan's ex-handmaiden. The party kept a close eye on them throughout the night; Echoless having Balor spy invisibly on them and report back what they spoke about. Towards the end of the night, a third dodgy elf made an appearance. After a brief discussion with his cohorts, the three of them all got up to leave, but not before "thanking" the remaining party members (several went to bed by this time) for being friendly and bought them drinks. With that, they went on their way.
Bran and Button's decided they wanted to follow them anyway. Outside, they saw the trio heading away in the company of the same wooden spider-like construct that had attacked the night before. They watched as they made their way out of the city and to the docks, where they boarded a small boat and began to sail away. Upon Buttons asking whether or not he could do anything else about them, Bran conjured a massive tidal wave and destroyed their boat, flinging them into the air. The elves were able to avoid the brunt of the wave with some sort of teleportation ability, and the two watched from shore as the spider seemed to teleport away two of the elves while another simply turned to mist and floated away.
In the morning, the party made their way to the dock to catch a ride with the Iomian fleet to sail back to Crucible (Buttons had also received a sending message from Dorian stating that their forces were almost assembled). There, they found King Titus personally in the process of christening the newest galley that was being launched with the rest of the ships. After some time spitballing names, the King decided on "Blazeon" and chucked the fancy bottle of wine he was holding at the hull of the ship. With that, they were off.
Once out on open sea, the fleet came across the edge of a storm cell that they would need to divert course to avoid. However, Bran (who for some reason was masquerading as a triton for some reason), volunteered to use his magic to alleviate the storm, which he did below deck while hiding from the real triton warriors on board. With that, it was smooth sailing. Until the sahuagin attacked. Rumors of the shark-men riling up trouble turned out to be true, as did the rumor that they had somehow fallen into league with a massive dragon turtle. The battle was intense, with the dragon targeting the party's ship and harassing them with hit and run tactics while sahuagin raiders poured onto the vessel.
Eventually, the sahuagin were defeated and the dragon turtle was killed, thanks in large part to Bran's new gold dragon form. With that, the fleet made good time to Crucible, where they docked into the harbor amongst the Blue Armada ships of Azure. To the north, a massive snowstorm had cropped up and was quickly heading south, symbolizing the turmoil that was about to befall the province as the allied forces begin preparations for their final, desperate attack…
XP earned: 4,200 each
Session 70 The party docked in Crucible Harbor and made their way quickly to the palace to meet with King Dorian and discuss "compensation" for their deal to acquire Ioma's support, what with Echoless having paid the King's request for financial recompense upfront as a show of faith. Unfortunately for the party, who were hoping to charge interest, Dorian had received a message from Ioma already stating the exact amount agreed upon. Regardless, Dorian did add a little extra on top as a show of thanks. As it was still early in the day, some preparations still needed to be made for the final war council, so the party opted to spend the day doing what they do best: Shopping.
Two sets of boots of elvenkind were acquired for Bran, Sarword and Echoless, a multitude of diamonds were acquired in the event revival was needed, and Venatrix got herself a swarthy little cape of the mounteback. As the sun began to set, it was time to rendezvous back at the palace to make final preparations.
With all the faction leaders assembled, the strategy was laid out: a small strike force would utilize Brynn's island to teleport directly to Shepherd's lair while a separate force marched on Waypointe as a diversion. Meanwhile, the rest of the garrisoned forces would fortify Crucible. It was also noted that before the snowstorm eliminated visuals, the army's scouts had spotted the undead amassing at River Run and then marching towards Precipice. While it was deemed unfortunate that Precipice would likely fall, it was the perfect opportunity to strike. To that end, the party suggested sending a message to Precipice to simply accept occupation to avoid needless death.
Just as the meeting was wrapping up, a messenger burst into the room, informing everyone that two men had just been apprehended trying to enter the palace. One was an anemic looking elf, the other was a man wearing a plague mask. The party recognized exactly who these two men were and rushed to see what was going on. They found Mul Curunir and Ximon waiting for them in the atrium surrounded by guards. Mul introduced himself as a herald of "the Dread Lord Shepherd" and demanded that the city lay down its arms and open its gates. Naturally, Dorian refused. With that, Ximon opened a gate, and swarms of undead began pouring into the palace.
The fight was intense. Joining Mul and Ximon were two others of Shepherd's lieutenants: the barbarian Stain and the fallen paladin Solomon Frey. While Mul was able to waylay the party with debilitating effects like forcecage and psychic scream, they were eventually able to turn the tide; stunning Ximon and closing the portal allowing the undead in. From their, Bran was able to do crowd control in gold dragon form while Sarword (now free of the forcecage) routed the undead. During the commotion, the Tree of Life in the center of the atrium was struck with fire. However, rather than catching fire, it seemed to absorb the energy and reflect it away from itself. In a later instance, in conjured a cloud of fog, which a heavily injured Mul used as cover to grab Ximon's body and flee (again). As the remaining undead streamed into the courtyard, Solomon was felled, but Stain made it out into the open. Buttons attempted to pursue but quickly found himself on the backfoot when he was nearly felled in one blow by the raging barbarian. Fortunately, Buttons wised up and ran back inside the palace while the wizard Cato Sabjorn teleported onto the scene to retrieve Stain, informing him that he was "needed elsewhere".
Fortunately, the party was able to prevent the swarms of undead from getting much farther than the palace courtyard. Unfortunately, the vast bulk of the horde was now pouring in through the harbor, where a large plume of smoke could be seen rising into the air even from the Palace. Despite this, Dorian insisted that the strike team carry on with the plan. The secondary force though, would be unable to march now. The party and their allies would be on their own. With the weight of the situation weighing heavily on them, they made their way through Brynn's gate once more onto the Mystic Isle to begin their final assault on Shepherd's Lair in the morning…
XP earned: 5,300 each
Session 71 The party spent the night on Brynn's island before setting out for their (hopefully) final confrontation with Shepherd in the morning. They met with Brynn and the other faction leaders for one last war meeting to go over the plan once more: the strike force would cut a path into the horde and allow the party to push ahead and attempt to defeat Shepherd within his sanctum. Bran and Echoless attempted to gleam any kind of ulterior motive from Palios, who was present to coordinate the Forum war mages and act as liaison with the Mir'Heled elves. Unfortunately, he was, as usual, impossible to read. Before they went to bed, Sarword prepared a heroes' feat to bolster the party's fighting ability come the morrow.
They arose slightly before dawn, where Sarword also delivered a brief yet motivating speech to his comrades. He was then upstaged by Brynn addressing the strike force as a whole with a speech of his own, timed perfectly with the rising of the sun. He then opened his gate to the mountains outside Shepherd's lair, and the party was off.
With their forces arrayed, Echoless unleashed a blast from her amulet and knocked the great doors open. An undead horde spilled out to meet them and the battle began. The strike force surged forward, spearing into the undead and pushing them back inward while the party unleashed destructive forces upon them; Bran once again taking the form of a mighty gold dragon while Venatrix and Echoless rained down arrows and spells from the carpet of flying. When Sarword was (eventually) able to make it to the front line, he unleashed a destructive wave that obliterated many undead.
In relatively short order, the strike force was able to spearhead through the hordes of zombies, wights, juggernauts, undead yetis, and deathlocks and force their way into the cavern containing the old dwarven city with Shepherd's fortress in the center. While the army made their way around the outer rings, the party took a shortcut straight down to the bridge over the underground lake with the fortress at its center. As they made their way across the seemingly unmanned bridge (save the zombie sharks in the waters below them), they were suddenly cut off by the appearance of Shepherd's Crook: Cato, Mul, Stain, Merric, and an undead Ximon, determined to keep them from entering the lair…
XP earned: 5,000 each
Session 72 Cato made one last bid to resolve the standoff between Shepherd's Crook and the party peacefully, but none of them were having it. Echoless started off the battle with a subtly cast storm sphere and from there all hell broke loose. It quickly became clear that the Crook would loose in open combat, so they began to retreat into the fortress. During the battle, Stain was stunned by Mr. Buttons (not before dealing a great deal of damage in his own right) and was felled while Merric, Ximon, and Cato retreated to safety. Mul, once again, escaped after taking some serious damage.
With that, the party took a moment to regroup and then entered the fortress themselves; half of them opting to just stroll through the still open doors while the others found a concealed trapdoor on the terrace battlements. Inside, they found the place heavily fortified with magical traps and glyphs, but otherwise mostly empty, save for the flameskulls that patrolled the fog-filled corridors.
Eventually though, they were able to locate a hidden door that led into some kind of office space where Ximon and Cato had regrouped with a trio of deathlocks. Unfortunately, one of the flameskull sentries spotted them as they attempted to break open the door, resulting in a close-quarters battle that ultimately saw both Ximon and Cato fall, but not before quite a few fireballs were thrown and Bran was knocked out of planetar/dragon form by a well-placed dispel magic. Now the party girds themselves to press forward into the lair in their desperate bid to find Shepherd and put a stop to whatever project he is supposedly close to finishing…
XP earned: 8,300 each
Session 73 After some moral deliberation, the party opted to stabilize and ultimately revive Cato in an attempt to get his assistance in the very least finding Shepherd. Surprised at the party's act of mercy, Cato had a bit of a revelation and decided he would help put a stop to Shepherd's machinations, believing now that he first must be "redeemed" before he can play his roll in stopping Cataclysm.
With Cato now on their side, the party was able to take a quick breather to regain some of their fighting potential and easily navigate through Shepherd's lair, only being briefly confounded by an illusory dragon and a glyph of warding that triggered a stone wall that closed off the stairwell. Finally, they were able to reach the massive doors of Shepherd's laboratory. The door required 3 rune keys, of which the party had 2, but Bran was able to bypass the remaining lock with passwall, and the party came face to face with the lich himself.
A few words were exchanged. Shepherd revealed that he intended to "complete" the Oculus on his own using the stolen staff of power and orb of dragonkind. Having heard quite enough, Echoless began combat with a subtly cast sunburst.
The battle was intense. Lizunvaar, the dracolich, made a surprise appearance; his soul being recalled into the body of Xodrossdam. By the end of it, over half the party was down, but despite Shepherd's prepared glyphs of aid and Lizunvaar transferring to the blue dragon Drogdoqo, the party was ultimately able to defeat him, recovering the orb of dragonkind but not Shepherd's amulet, which once again vanished upon his death.
Now the party must regroup and scour the tower for Shepherd's phylactery, assumed to be his amulet, as Venatrix's blood mark is still able to detect his presence somewhere within the lair…
Epilogue: the party ultimately found Shepherd's amulet and phylactery in a hidden chamber beneath his throne. During their search, they also found his grimoire in his private study, as well as got a glimpse into his inner machinations with the tomes he was studying. The party was also able to facilitate a successful defense from the undead's reprisal, where the force holding Waypointe marched back to the lair. Between the PCs throwing massive spells and the strike force fighting from a fortified position, they were able to clear a sufficient space on the bridge for Sarword to "construct" a magical temple.
Back on Brynn's island, the party gave him Shepherd's nullified amulet for safekeeping and agreed to let Brynn allow Shepherd to reform after Cato finished "translating" his grimoire in order to question him. In addition, Buttons destroyed the Orb of Dragonkind and Bran returned the (broken) Staff of Power to the Aeturnum Elves.
There was still much work to do with mopping up the remaining undead and rebuilding what was destroyed, but now, the party is able to look to the future and begin moving on with their lives. However, a dark shadow falls over all of them as an unseen power continues to grow in strength…
XP earned: level up to 18

Report Date

13 Dec 2022