Session 8 Report- 2022/12/17

General Summary

While The Party Rests (Pre-Session in Discord)

Click To Read The Discord Chat

Farlen spends time praying to Fenmaral Mestarine for guidance on what to do next.

Farlen senses that he is merely a jester is Fenmarel's Court, and is reminded of a poem that he once heard as a young Elf inv the Forests of Tehril:

Words of stories left unsaid,
Upon the mark, the candles tell,
One too many in the bed,
Retrace the footprints here to hell.

- Telthir Children's Poem

As Farlen turns to look over his friends, a breeze kicks up and blows some sticks and leaves near Farlen's Feet. The sticks remind him of those used by Shaman in the Forests of Tethir.

Farlen can't help but feel like the sticks are making some kind of sign, but it is almost impossible to tell. As he leans in closer to inspect the sticks he falls over (gently; more comical than violent) and his pack spills on the floor. The Dust of Disappearance in his pack as well as the vial of Drow Poison fall roll into an almost perfectly fitting space between the two sticks. The sign, if any, is still unclear. Could this be Fenmaral Mestarine trying to tell him something, or just his trickster Deity toying with him?

After some time, Farlen quietly gets up and walks out to the edge of the overhang to see if he can tell if the dead Stirge or the Gricks have been disturbed.

As Farlen looks off into The Glitterhame for the Stirge while his friends sleep, the beauty of the cavern strikes him with awe. During a moment of temporary reprieve from the light wind in the cavern, an eerie silence comes over the space. He can’t even hear the waterfall far off in the distance. In this brief moment of silence, Farlen hears what he can only make out as a short, high pitched whistle, followed by multiple growls. The sound is so faint, he can barely tell if the sound is real or just in his mind. A moment later, the fresh breeze in the cavern is back and there are no sounds to be heard.

Courana rises from her resting place and see Farlen (@Wintersong) looking off into the depths of the Cavern. She walks up slowly next to him and places her hand on his shoulder.

This really is amazing, don't you think? I knew it would be beautiful, but I had no idea how it would make me feel. It's almost... mezmerizing.

- Courana

As Farlen encourages Courana to lay low and be quiet, she opens up a page of her book, and points to a paragraph. It appears to be a tome of Dwarven Culture. The paragraph she is pointing to reads:

"A Dwarven Forge is at the heard of the economic activity of the Clan or Civilazation it belongs to. It is well known that Forges are built deep the hard stone with minimal number of entrances for practical manufacturing and security purposes. Any entrances that do exist are either A- Natural Barriers such as Elevated shafts or B- Dwarven Made doors with markings of the Clan carved into them. These doors are designed and constructed with great care, and are designed to be locked and barricaded. For a Mountain Dwarf, protecting the Forge is of utmost relevance to their Family and Clans honor"

She points over towards the big Iron Door, which is barely visible across the cavern. She smiles almost mischeviously, but with a warmth that is genuine.

The Hunter and The Hunted

Suddently, the walls of the cave began to crumble and crack, and rocks and debris rained down from the ceiling. The players were knocked off their feet, struggling to stay upright as the cave shook violently around them. As the shaking reached its climax, the players were thrown to the ground, their armor and weapons clattering around them. They lay there, stunned and disoriented, as the cave continued to tremble and moan. Finally, as suddenly as it had begun, the shaking stopped.

From the explosion, there were some magical effects:

• Camzel recieved a boon: You can cast the Augury spell as an action 3 times, requiring no components and with no chance of a random reading.


• Farlen recieved a boon: A goblin is magically summoned in an unoccupied space within 20 feet of you. The goblin is rude to everyone except you and it obeys your commands. The goblin vanishes in a puff of smoke if it drops to 0 hit points

Out of the distance, they heard short and fast footsteps coming down from the Dwarven Sulpuchers and into the Glitterhame cavern. At first they could not see what was making them, but as the creature stumbled on some fungi, looked backwards, and continued running, they realized that it was a Hill Dwarf running frantically towards them.

The party, unsure of who this was, or what to do, sat and waited silently. The dwarf was clearly looking for escape, and was struggling to find a path. Camzel chirped down to the Dwarf, asking what he was doing here. The Dwarf was startled, but immediately once he saw Camzel and Farlen, he attempted to jump up the rock face. He did a valiant job, but was not able to make it up on his own.

"Help me up; we haven't time for this!". Camzel extended a hand and pull him up. As soon as he was on the same level as the party, he grabbed them and he pulled them to the ground and motioned for them to be quiet.

Within seconds, a Trodlodyte riding a lizard mount galloped into the cavern barking orders.

Find me that Gray Dwarf who has been eating all of our fish and killed my men, or I will have all of your heads!

He was a grotesque creature, its skin a sickly green hue and its eyes glowing with a malevolent fire. It was dressed in ragged, bloodstained armor and wielded a wicked-looking sword that dripped with poison.

At its side were a group of Guard Drakes, vicious reptilian beasts with sharp teeth and claws, each one chained by a vicious-looking Trodlodyte warrior. The Drakes snarled and snapped at the handlers while they sought out the scent trail of anything they could.

After seeing the Troglodyte Leader, known as Kaarghaz slaughter one of his own kin, the party decided to wait out the hunting party. Baklor used one of his Potion of Hill Giant Strength just in case, but it proved a waste. Through patience (and some great stealth rolls!) the hunting party moved on... for now.

A New Face

The Dwarf is clearly battle worn, and carry's a gorgeous greatsword obtained from a Blue Half-Dragon named Langdedrosa Cyanwrath . He was... pretty proud of it. He introduced himself as Baklor Darkspear, and pretty much spilled the beans on everything he knew:

• He has been looking for the Forge within Khundrukar so he can get access to the "Gold, Treasure, and Magic Items"
• He has been using the Tunnel that the party discovered to the outside to scout the Glitterhame for the past few weeks
• He tried to explore a level up from The Glitterhame, but was blocked on the stairs by a Guard Drake so he has to retreat.
• He explored The Sinkhole a little bit, but stopped because he saw "A Bat grabbed out of the sky from a big tentacle and heard a crunching sound". He also believes there could be a key to the Iron Door to the Forge down there, but he won't go alone.
• He doesn't know who the Troglodytes are, but when the cavern shook he fell and they heard him, so he started running to keep away from them. He's not sure who the "Gray Dwarf" is that they are looking for, but he doesn't believe it's him.

When Baklor realized that Byjorn was laying there (passed out), he asked if he was the Grey Dwarf in question. The party assured him that he wasn't, but Baklor did find it quite odd that this guy was sleeping through all of this.

After some discussion, the party decided that they did not want to deal with the "Tentacle Situation" if they didn't have to. They thought it prudent to at least check on the Door to the Forge to see it's current status.

The Dwarven Door

Farlen and Baklor kept watch as Camzel approaches the Iron Door. Camzel sees the following:

Cut into the cavern wall is a small but strong-looking door of iron plates, about five feet tall and four feet wide. Heavy rivets stud its surface, and a tarnished silver rune— Durgeddin’s smith-mark—gleams on the door’s rusted face. The door in front of you was a true testament to the skill and craftsmanship of its creators. The metal, aged and weathered with the passing of time, had been intricately carved with elaborate designs and ancient runes signifying the battles and achievements of it's creators.

Despite its age, the door was still sturdy and strong, its iron hinges firmly anchored to the stone wall. It was clear that this door had stood guard over the secrets of the forge for many centuries, and would continue to do so for many more. As she looked upon it, she couldn't help but feel a sense of awe and reverence for the ancient magic and power it represented.

Camzel uses here thieves tools to try and open the door.

Her first attempt proved that the Dwarven engineering was of the utmost quality, but with some time and dedication, the door opened with a "click". To her amazement, the heavy metal door moved on it's axis as light as feather and silent. Camzel quickly went back to the party and shared her results. The party decided this was a far better strategy then trying to deal with the creatures in this cavern.

The Statue Room

The stairs end at the entrance to an octagonal chamber. The floor is inlaid with cracked, dusty blue tiles, and the walls are dressed with polished marble. Three cast bronze statues, almost ten feet tall, stand by the west, north, and east walls.

After some exploration, Farlen used one Baklors mace and Camzel used a hammer to trigger the traps to understand how they worked. In checking a different statue, Baklor had a close call and almost got caught by a pendulum blade. Courana was actually useful for once, by using Camzels crowbar to jam the trap mechanism. This allowed Camzel to locate the secret button to open up the door.

Camzel was elected to scout the area, and about halfway up the stairs triggered the Magic Mouth Ward, causing a voice to yell (In Dwarvish):

Alert! Alert! Intruders approach!

- Dwarven Alarm

The party decided that since Baklor was the only (conscious) Dwarf in the party, he would represent the group. Baklor moved up to the next door and pushed it open. This movement slammed the door behind them shut. Whatever they were doing, they were committed to it now.

The New Owners of The Great Hall

This enormous hall is lined with ten great pillars, carved into the forms of giants and dragons, that support the vaulted ceiling high above. Guttering orange torches set in sconces along the walls illuminate the room, and a mighty throne sits on a dais at the opposite end. The walls were once covered with tile mosaics, but they have been smashed and defiled by graffiti. Tiny fragments of tile litter the floor. You can see five other exits. A small fire smolders on the floor before the dais, where six sleeping pallets lie empty, surrounded by packs and supplies. The sound of hammers ringing on iron comes from beyond the doors to the south.

From the distance, a voice booms out "Who goes there!?" The voice is of a female Duergar, who you come to know as Nimira.

She is flanked by two Duergar Guardsman:

Through some convincing discussion from Farlen (via Baklor Darkspear in Dwarvish), the party convinces Nimira that they are only in her realm to make their way to slay the Black Dragon known as Nightscale. Nimira shares:

• The doors to the north lead to halls infested with undead and cursed magic.
• The door to the southwest leads into the old kitchens, guarded by more cursed magic.
• A Black Dragon lives in a large lake cavern deep below, along with it's Kobold worshippers.
• The Troglodytes also worshipped the Dragon as a god, and the Dragon believes itself to be a god.
• The subterranean river flows from the lake through other parts of the complex below The Glitterhame. It’s fed from a lake on the surface.
• Nimira and her tribe did not favor the dragon, but they had a truce where the Dragon would leave her to her economic activites and she would feed the Dragon fresh meat every now and again.

The party considered her information, and then Farlen made a proposal (via Baklor Darkspear), to which Nimira agreed:

• The party would help Nimira's Clan clear out thepath to the Dragon within The Foundry. They would also help her clear our the Haunted Kitchen.
• In return, Nimira would provide her best fighter, Ghared as a guide for the party. IF they survived and helped clear out the path to the Dragon as well as the Kitchen from the cursed magic, she would let them pass safely and not feed them to the Dragon




On The Haunt

The party met Nimira's champion, Ghared:

Ghared led the party into the depths of the Foundry where they encountered a spirit, who appeared mad, constantly mumbling and yelling about his fallen kin:


In the ONE AND ONLY COMBAT OF THE NIGHT (Sad DM!), the party dispatched with the ghost, despite how difficult it was to hit him with their weapons. When the ghost dissapated, Ghared simply replied:


"That's not the last of him... he always comes back for more".


- Ghared



Until next time...

Rewards Granted

None granted.

Character(s) interacted with

Nimira
Ghared
Arundil (but you don't know his name)

Notes

The party put Byjorn in Farlen's Bag of Holding since he did not seem to want to wake up.

Campaign

Clarksville D&D

Protagonists

Baklor Darkspear

Report Date

17 Dec 2022

Primary Location

The Foundry

Secondary Location

The Glitterhame