II.2.2 Fiends & Flora

Session Preface

The roar of the waterfall crashes through the expansive cavern, deafening and dominating your other senses. You are only passively aware of the strong scent of wet earth and decaying organic matter, the scent you might find beneath an old oak tree near along a riverbed. You do not taste the hint of ash and of distant flames that hangs in the air from the encampment above you. You see before you, a stone bridge stretching across the expanse between the natural caves and the grand entrance of the dwarven complex, but it is difficult to fully take in the artistry of the carvings and iconography depicted along the gateway.
On the other side, more skeletal figures, domineered and driven by the demonic will of sentiment flora, focus their attention towards you. They raise their borrowed weapons in bony hands, roots and vines twisting around them like muscle and sinnew. Of a singular mind, they turn towards you and begin to charge.

Session Summary

Making short work of the assailants on the bridge, the party explored the stables and then used a discovered stone key to unlock the gate outside the burial tombs. Within the burial site the party face another small hoard of demonic flora before learning the fate of this dwarven settlement.
According to an inscription left in stone tablets, dwarven scouts had returned to find the complex had been attacked by duergar, but that dwarves and duergar both were fallen where they were midbattle. The scouts came to realize the dwarven nobility had used the staff to stop the assault, but in the process, the collateral damage cascaded throughout the underground system. Realizing the noble's tomb had already been opened and emptied by Zugtmoy's minions, the party pushes onward to the unexplored fortress to search for the artifact.
Within the mines, the party silently neutralizes the demonic flora and continue exploring. Within a blacksmith's work space, Aethuriel finds a runesmithing kit as well as some supplies and an unfinished piece.
Traversing the southern tunnels, the party discover a dormant magical artifact that appears to be missing a component. Pax introduces the carved stone found earlier and a portal to the hills north of Daggerford flickers into existence.
Fighting their way through the dwarven stronghold, the companions uncover the dwarven throne room covered blanketed in hundreds of mushrooms growing amidst Zugtmoy's presence. The party is assailed by a network of sentient mushrooms, but they are able to push back against the onslaught with the aid of Kaledus and a summoned water elemental. After defeating the myconid sovereign, Aethuriel claims the shaft of the staff of power, quickly storing it away in the bag of holding. With the demonic connection severed, the party escape through the portal and find themselves safely in the hills north of Daggerford.
Waiting for the end of curfew to reenter the city, Kaledus and the companions agree that they should use the secrecy of their success to their advantage. Going their separate ways, they set out to learn more about the duke and duchess in search of a way to expose their deeds and remove them from power.

Session Overview

Date Played:
July 30, 2023
Party:

• Aethuriel
• Pax

Time Passed:
Marpenoth 22 AM - Marpenoth 22 AM, 1493
NPCs:

• Kaledus

Loot:

• Runesmithing Kit & Unfinished Rune
• Shattered Staff of Power