Session 2 Report- 2022/08/27
General Summary
As the party approaches the House of Healing, the scene looks a bit different than when you left the previous day. While still busy, there are more apprentices in black and white garb at the scene. They have organized the big long line into two shorter lines; one is labeled ‘supplies’ and goes into the front door; The One you entered before. The second line is labeled ‘healing services’ and goes to the side door and right into the infirmary area that Unthril showed you last time.
Telchar shows the head apprentice a piece of evidence from his successful endeavor and the party is brought in to see Unthril Zond right away. Unthril is thankful, but also not congratulatory. He promptly pays in both Items and Gold as agreed. Telchar asks Unthril what commitments taking the Wizard hat have regarding the Apothecaries Guild and Unthril explains the following:
List of Supplies needed by the Apothecaries Guild at Current Market Prices:
With core "business" being done, Telchar promptly asks Unthril for his most dire patients to see if he can help. Unthril points to one in the infirmary, but Telchar shakes his head and says "More". Very quickly the apprentices has wheeled out 6 Gurney's with critical patients into the main hall of the guild, with another 6 in the wait. Telchar expertly heals them all. This creates quite the (positive) scene in the guild, as it is saving the apprentices a lot of work and the people who are healthy are obviously thankful. Telchar gets a point of Inspiration
For the trouble, Unthril promptly presents additional gold to Telchar which he promptly rejects and asks that it be used to continue to heal the weak. Telchar communes with HOWARD (Rolls Nat 20 on Religion) and HOWARD grants him a temporary extra spell slot of his choosing.
Telchar takes a Short Rest, and then heals some more people at the Guild, significantly cutting down on the line for the Infirmary. He then takes a Long Rest and gets prepared to meet up with the party at Castle Waterdeep.
Seeing that everything is under control at the Apothecaries guild, Farlen sets out to the Temple of Seldarine to hand in his quest and see if he can learn more about Luminara and Elminster.
En route he encounters Dragon Cultist who is worshipping the Black Dragon and preaching the end of the world. Farlen quickly brushes off the fanatic, who grabs him by the shoulder and says "When you realize how dire this situation is, I will be here waiting for you to see the light, my son"
Upon entering the Pantheon Temple of The Seldarine, Farlen first checks the First Aid station and helps out two commoners who are receiving treatment. He is then waved over by Argus Hawkmoon. They discuss the following:
Farlen shows Argus the Moonstones he collected (including 1 extra!) and Argus is quite pleased. He motions to his parishioner who comes back with a metal necklace. Argus gently holds the extra moonstone and inserts it into the piece of jewellery. In addition to the loot for the Quest, Argus offers Farlen a Moonstone Pendant of the Seldarine which at your command, will light the way up to 60 feet in front of the wearer.
Farlen checks the library again to see if he can find anything on Elminster or Lumalia. He finds a short entry in a Digest on Lumalia with the help of one of the Scribes. (https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Lumalia)
Farlen and Telchar meet up in front of Castle Waterdeep, and have a relatively easy time getting in since they are "on the list". They are assigned an escort, Timmy, to show them around (and make sure they are staying where they are allowed to be). It seems like Timmy is used to taking tourists through the castle vs. adventurers, so he gives the whole spiel. The One new piece of information that he gives you is that the Griffon Calvary is based out of Mount Waterdeep, up above the Castle. This is where the Griffons that fly overhead are housed and raised.
In the Waterdeep Castle Library, Camzel is waiting for the party; feet up and flipping a coin. After jokingly expressing how "late" her comrades are, she shares what she has learned, and suggests that the party go to the Yawning Portal and see what Durnan has to say. The party agrees, but before they leave Farlen checks out the Castle library real quick. While he doesn't find anything in terms of books, he does see a mysterious Iron-barred door that is locked and leads down a short hallway just off the library. It's unclear what is down the hallway, but it sticks out to him. He asks Timmy to request information about the door and access to the hallway from Lady Silverhand. Timmy obliges and shares that he "does not know how the Lady will respond, but if she has a message for you, you will receive it".
The party arrives at the famous Yawning Portal Inn, to find it in full swing party mode at 10am in the morning. The inn is 3 stories tall, and everything is centered around a 40ft hold in the floor, the most famous entrance to The Undermountain.
While Camzel and Telchar bellied up to the bar, Farlen walked around the main floor to get a sense of who was there. He observed:
As Farlen approaches Durnan and the rest of the party, he looks at Farlen:
Durnan leans in and changes the tone from jovial to more serious. He brings the party into his private Den in the back of the Inn and begins to outline both the benefits, and potential costs of accepting his adventure:
The party asked about the trustworthiness of Durnan's contact, of which he shared:
Note- Telchar was surprised by this answer as he thought Durnan was a much younger man. Farlen shared some of what he has been reading in the library books, that Durnan and Mirt had adventured and figured out how to magically extend their lives well beyond the natural limits.
Just as the party was thinking about their decision on accepting Durnan's offer, there was a big ruckus happening around the well in the main room. Durnan and the party rushed out to see that a Carrion Crawler and a whack of Stirges had come up from the well and were attacking patrons.
The party swiftly took care of the monsters, with Farlen getting killing blows on multiple monsters, Telchar spiritual weapon doing a bunch of damage, and Camzel expertly ducking and covering using the furniture around the bar. Oddly, the guards were kind of useless (bad DM!).
After the monsters are gone, the YP goes back to normal like nothing happened (this is a common occurrence). The YP healer comes down from the 2nd floor, apologizes for being late, stabilizes those who need it, and heals the staff back to full health. Some commoners were lost in the encounter, which again, is a common occurrence.
Durnan, who did not engage in the fight, is visibly and verbally excited for the party's success.
Durnan says one more thing before the party goes: "Oh yes, I almost forgot. If you get asked for a password, try "Nine Beers for Nine Lords". If that doesn't work, then you have the Gold to fall back on.
The party goes down the street and into the Dock Ward, which has quite a different feel than the Castle Ward. A little less kept, a little less shiny, and the patrons on the street are just a little rougher around the edges. The Knight is a small, single story, building with a shield inlaid with a beer on it's sign. Inside is a relatively small room, with a bar with 10 stools and 5 small tables, all packed in a dimly lit area.
As soon as the party walks in, Camzel is whisked away by a figure in dark clothing and a hood to a corner in the table. This figure quickly reveals himself to be Jean-Luc Brokengulf, Camzel's contact.
He nervously and anxiously shares the following:
In addition to this information, Jean-Luc gives Camzel a Stone of Good Luck and wishes her to come home safe. After this, he quickly departs before he has a nervous breakdown.
The party finally gets a chance to take in the space, and Telchar uses his Helm of Telepathy to scope the room. He finds that no one in the room is paying much attention to the party, but there are two guards at the back of the room who are guarding a door and concerned about lack of traffic (and therefore lack of money).
The party uses the passcode "Nine Beers for Nine Lords", much to the guards surprise. This is not what they were hoping for, so they give the party a discount to let them downstairs into the Shadow.
The Shadow is basically an exact replica layout and design as the Knight except:
Telchar buys the party a beer each; receives an extremely cold welcome from the bartender, and pays for his quite overpriced beers (1GP each). The party then observes their situation and Telchar uses his Helm of Telepathy. The thoughts are a little more illegitimate than upstairs, with most focused on how they are going to complete this illegal deal or that illegal deal. There is one thought that stands out however…"I wonder how Durrel is going to deal with them". Telchar gets the sense that the thought is referring to him and the party.
As this is happening, the party witnesses small groups (1-3 people) come up and down from the lift. Most pass right through the Shadow as if it's just a hallway to something more pressing. Each time, the guard at the lift is given bags of gold. One time, a passerby on the way up the lift and up to the Knight drops a bag of gold on the bar and the bartender grabs it casually and it disappears behind the bar.
Camzel is elected as the groups ambassador, and she asks the guard about the lift. He leans in, almost with a smile, looks her up and down and says
The party nods in understanding, hands over their 25GP each, and begins to descend into @Downshadow.
Until next time…
Telchar shows the head apprentice a piece of evidence from his successful endeavor and the party is brought in to see Unthril Zond right away. Unthril is thankful, but also not congratulatory. He promptly pays in both Items and Gold as agreed. Telchar asks Unthril what commitments taking the Wizard hat have regarding the Apothecaries Guild and Unthril explains the following:
- In normal times, they take on apprentices who are formally part of the Guild and are therefore allowed to do healing inside of Waterdeep. These apprentices may also get sent out on missions both within and outside of the City.
- In normal times, they also have vendors and contactors that provide supplies and goods that the guild needs. These folks have no direct connection to the Guild, but are often members of other guilds within the city.
- However, these are not normal times, and the Apothecaries Guild will take any help that they can get. Unthril asks an apprentice to provide a list of herbs/supplies that the Guild will pay for if the adventurers find any in their travels.
List of Supplies needed by the Apothecaries Guild at Current Market Prices:
With core "business" being done, Telchar promptly asks Unthril for his most dire patients to see if he can help. Unthril points to one in the infirmary, but Telchar shakes his head and says "More". Very quickly the apprentices has wheeled out 6 Gurney's with critical patients into the main hall of the guild, with another 6 in the wait. Telchar expertly heals them all. This creates quite the (positive) scene in the guild, as it is saving the apprentices a lot of work and the people who are healthy are obviously thankful. Telchar gets a point of Inspiration
For the trouble, Unthril promptly presents additional gold to Telchar which he promptly rejects and asks that it be used to continue to heal the weak. Telchar communes with HOWARD (Rolls Nat 20 on Religion) and HOWARD grants him a temporary extra spell slot of his choosing.
Telchar takes a Short Rest, and then heals some more people at the Guild, significantly cutting down on the line for the Infirmary. He then takes a Long Rest and gets prepared to meet up with the party at Castle Waterdeep.
Seeing that everything is under control at the Apothecaries guild, Farlen sets out to the Temple of Seldarine to hand in his quest and see if he can learn more about Luminara and Elminster.
En route he encounters Dragon Cultist who is worshipping the Black Dragon and preaching the end of the world. Farlen quickly brushes off the fanatic, who grabs him by the shoulder and says "When you realize how dire this situation is, I will be here waiting for you to see the light, my son"
Upon entering the Pantheon Temple of The Seldarine, Farlen first checks the First Aid station and helps out two commoners who are receiving treatment. He is then waved over by Argus Hawkmoon. They discuss the following:
- Acquisitions Inc is getting ready to move out to the Giants Lair, and Durnan is forming a force to go into Undermountain. The best way that you can help at this time is to align yourself with one of these factions for the cause; he recommends Durnan.
- He has never seen magic like that used in the Siege a few nights before, and he is quite adept at different schools of magic. Argus and the Temple Scribes are scouring the library and other sources to see if they can figure out what the Red Wizards are doing to enable movement of this many people at once.
Farlen shows Argus the Moonstones he collected (including 1 extra!) and Argus is quite pleased. He motions to his parishioner who comes back with a metal necklace. Argus gently holds the extra moonstone and inserts it into the piece of jewellery. In addition to the loot for the Quest, Argus offers Farlen a Moonstone Pendant of the Seldarine which at your command, will light the way up to 60 feet in front of the wearer.
Farlen checks the library again to see if he can find anything on Elminster or Lumalia. He finds a short entry in a Digest on Lumalia with the help of one of the Scribes. (https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Lumalia)
Farlen and Telchar meet up in front of Castle Waterdeep, and have a relatively easy time getting in since they are "on the list". They are assigned an escort, Timmy, to show them around (and make sure they are staying where they are allowed to be). It seems like Timmy is used to taking tourists through the castle vs. adventurers, so he gives the whole spiel. The One new piece of information that he gives you is that the Griffon Calvary is based out of Mount Waterdeep, up above the Castle. This is where the Griffons that fly overhead are housed and raised.
In the Waterdeep Castle Library, Camzel is waiting for the party; feet up and flipping a coin. After jokingly expressing how "late" her comrades are, she shares what she has learned, and suggests that the party go to the Yawning Portal and see what Durnan has to say. The party agrees, but before they leave Farlen checks out the Castle library real quick. While he doesn't find anything in terms of books, he does see a mysterious Iron-barred door that is locked and leads down a short hallway just off the library. It's unclear what is down the hallway, but it sticks out to him. He asks Timmy to request information about the door and access to the hallway from Lady Silverhand. Timmy obliges and shares that he "does not know how the Lady will respond, but if she has a message for you, you will receive it".
The party arrives at the famous Yawning Portal Inn, to find it in full swing party mode at 10am in the morning. The inn is 3 stories tall, and everything is centered around a 40ft hold in the floor, the most famous entrance to The Undermountain.
While Camzel and Telchar bellied up to the bar, Farlen walked around the main floor to get a sense of who was there. He observed:
- Old man staring at a skull and writing in a book. The old man looks at Farlen and casually states: "If you are greater than 6ft tall, the coffins in the city cannot accommodate you without some… modifications"
- A beautiful (and drunk) woman is operating the lift into the Well; lowering adventurers down and trying to entice others to "take the plunge". She seductive reaches out to Farlen and offers the "services" of her lift. Farlen declines and she responds "A pity… you look like fun. Come back when you are ready for a good time!"
- A Male Halfing sitting at a table near the lift writing in what appears to be an accounting ledger. As Farlen walks by he says over the top of his glasses, barely acknowledging Farlen, but clearly talk about him: "50:1 You are Dead in A Week".
As Farlen approaches Durnan and the rest of the party, he looks at Farlen:
"Don't mind Old Stannoc, I'd put you at 10:1!"and then winks at Farlen.
- Durnan
Durnan leans in and changes the tone from jovial to more serious. He brings the party into his private Den in the back of the Inn and begins to outline both the benefits, and potential costs of accepting his adventure:
- Each party member will receive specific Items from Durnan's adventuring stash (see lewtz channel)
- Each party member will receive any basic adventuring items (see list of items available in loot channel) they will need for the coming days. Durnan wants you to succeed so he will offer these for free… don't be greedy. Just put what you want in the loot channel.
- The party will receive 200GP to enable bribes into Downshadow, and 200GP for Durnan's contact.
- You are not strong enough to go into Level 1 of the Undermountain… yet
- There is a "Level 0.5" called Downshadow, located underneath of a Tavern called the "Knight and Shadow"
- The Undermountain has a system of magical travel devices called "Gates". They are typically used to travel within the Undermountain, but we believe they have been modified to travel both Farther as well as enable more people at a time to walk through them.
- We have found the location of the Black Dragon, located about 20 days travel from Waterdeep. She is located in Khundrukar, also known as Forge of Fury, an ancient Dwarven Fortress that has more recently been overtaken by Orcs.
- Gave the party a glyph key that is believed to activate the Gate to the Forge of Fury, which is believed to be in Downshadow.
- The party is to meet up with Durnan's contact from the City of Skullport in Downshadow. "You will not find him, but he will find you"
The party asked about the trustworthiness of Durnan's contact, of which he shared:
- He had worked with this contact for at least a few hundred years and has generally been reliable, however, those from Skullport as never 100% trustworthy.
- "The man values gold over all else, so I trust that if he is paid then he will hold up his end of the bargain"
Note- Telchar was surprised by this answer as he thought Durnan was a much younger man. Farlen shared some of what he has been reading in the library books, that Durnan and Mirt had adventured and figured out how to magically extend their lives well beyond the natural limits.
Just as the party was thinking about their decision on accepting Durnan's offer, there was a big ruckus happening around the well in the main room. Durnan and the party rushed out to see that a Carrion Crawler and a whack of Stirges had come up from the well and were attacking patrons.
The party swiftly took care of the monsters, with Farlen getting killing blows on multiple monsters, Telchar spiritual weapon doing a bunch of damage, and Camzel expertly ducking and covering using the furniture around the bar. Oddly, the guards were kind of useless (bad DM!).
After the monsters are gone, the YP goes back to normal like nothing happened (this is a common occurrence). The YP healer comes down from the 2nd floor, apologizes for being late, stabilizes those who need it, and heals the staff back to full health. Some commoners were lost in the encounter, which again, is a common occurrence.
Durnan, who did not engage in the fight, is visibly and verbally excited for the party's success.
Now that is the spirit! Now go get underground!
-Durnan
Durnan says one more thing before the party goes: "Oh yes, I almost forgot. If you get asked for a password, try "Nine Beers for Nine Lords". If that doesn't work, then you have the Gold to fall back on.
The party goes down the street and into the Dock Ward, which has quite a different feel than the Castle Ward. A little less kept, a little less shiny, and the patrons on the street are just a little rougher around the edges. The Knight is a small, single story, building with a shield inlaid with a beer on it's sign. Inside is a relatively small room, with a bar with 10 stools and 5 small tables, all packed in a dimly lit area.
As soon as the party walks in, Camzel is whisked away by a figure in dark clothing and a hood to a corner in the table. This figure quickly reveals himself to be Jean-Luc Brokengulf, Camzel's contact.
He nervously and anxiously shares the following:
- Acquisitions Incorporated has been using foreign funding to support their cause and undercut the City Watch prices. It is not 100% clear exactly who is funding it.
- Lady Silverhand would prefer to fund the City Watch and make them the main protectors of the city, but she is having trouble funding the situation given the Cheaper prices and inflated wages offered by Acquisitions Inc.
- The City's mages are studying hard, but they are unclear how the Red Wizards were able to open up gates big enough to bring in whole armies. They are familiar with the Magic Gates in the Undermountain, but this is different.
In addition to this information, Jean-Luc gives Camzel a Stone of Good Luck and wishes her to come home safe. After this, he quickly departs before he has a nervous breakdown.
The party finally gets a chance to take in the space, and Telchar uses his Helm of Telepathy to scope the room. He finds that no one in the room is paying much attention to the party, but there are two guards at the back of the room who are guarding a door and concerned about lack of traffic (and therefore lack of money).
The party uses the passcode "Nine Beers for Nine Lords", much to the guards surprise. This is not what they were hoping for, so they give the party a discount to let them downstairs into the Shadow.
The Shadow is basically an exact replica layout and design as the Knight except:
- Is is much darker, dingier, and the clientele looks much rougher
- The Shadow overlooks a large cavern (Downshadow)
- There is a single guard at the back, who oversees the operation of a Lift up and down.
Telchar buys the party a beer each; receives an extremely cold welcome from the bartender, and pays for his quite overpriced beers (1GP each). The party then observes their situation and Telchar uses his Helm of Telepathy. The thoughts are a little more illegitimate than upstairs, with most focused on how they are going to complete this illegal deal or that illegal deal. There is one thought that stands out however…"I wonder how Durrel is going to deal with them". Telchar gets the sense that the thought is referring to him and the party.
As this is happening, the party witnesses small groups (1-3 people) come up and down from the lift. Most pass right through the Shadow as if it's just a hallway to something more pressing. Each time, the guard at the lift is given bags of gold. One time, a passerby on the way up the lift and up to the Knight drops a bag of gold on the bar and the bartender grabs it casually and it disappears behind the bar.
Camzel is elected as the groups ambassador, and she asks the guard about the lift. He leans in, almost with a smile, looks her up and down and says
"I can tell you are new here, so let me make it easy. 25GP/person up, 25GP/person down. I make sure this place (the Shadow) stays reasonably safe, but down there (Downshadow) you are on your own. What'll it be?"
- Liftmaster
The party nods in understanding, hands over their 25GP each, and begins to descend into @Downshadow.
Until next time…
Baklor Darkspear
Telchar
Lawful Neutral Hill Dwarf (Acolyte)
Cleric 4
Cleric 4
39 / 39 HP
STR
13
13
DEX
8
8
CON
17
17
INT
12
12
WIS
15
15
CHA
10
10
Report Date
04 Dec 2022
Primary Location