Act I: In Search of the Cure
General Summary
19 Elias, 1492:
After Crash Landing on the beach in the Nautiloid, Thorduin found Shadowheart. Though she was a priestess of Shar, and Thorduin was a follower of Selune, he couldn't help but feel his heart flutter at first sight. Shortly after this, they came across Astarion. Astarion tried to trick him in order to ambush him. He did in fact succeed but Thorduin far exceeded Astarion's strength and reveresed the attack. Since he also had a tadpole Thorduin agreed to allow him to accompany them.
While Exploring the wilderness they saw a strange portal forming in the rock. A hand stuck out of it and Thorduin easily pulled out the Wizard Gale. Gale knew about this network of Ancient Sigils and taught the party how to tune into them. Gale seemed a good fellow and Throduin and Gale hit it off with each other immediately.
The Githyanki Warrior Lae'Zel whom Thorduin first met after being freed from the Nautiloid tank, in the Mindflayer ship was captured by Tieflings and suspended in a cage. Thorduin, persuaded the Tieflings to leave and then shot down Lae'zel's cage which smashed on the ground. Forcing her to lay insults onto Thorduin that he just laughed at.
They explored the crashed nautiloid (#2 on the map) and killed the remaining Intellect Devourers and Mind Flayer.
#4 The Emerald Grove: They went to the Emerald Grove seeking a healer. Before they met with the Druids they met Zevlor , the leader of Tiefling Refugees from Elturel, who was very friendly to them after they defeated the Goblinkind attacking the gate. Another warrior was there the Blade of the Frontier who aided. He did not stick around after the battle and Thorduin had no idea who he was. The Tieflings were exiled from Elturel because of the jaunt to Avernus, the First Layer of Hell. The Refugees were in a bad position. The Druids were going to seal the grove and would not allow the Tiefling Refugees to stay. The Tiefling Refugees could not travel due to threat of the Goblins under the Absolutes control. Thorduin took this into consideration and went to the Druids to talk to Kagha.
Before this they met Dannon the smith who would be vital for their journey, and a kindly woman named Auntie Ethel. Thorduin took a liking to her immediately, as she reminded him of old family members he had from the Moonshae Isles.
At the gates of the grove was an altercation between refugees and druids. The druids would not let the Tieflings in to retrieve their child. Thorduins presence was enough to break up the conflict and Thorduin promised to look in on the child. When they entered they saw her interogating a Tiefling child named Arabella while threatening her with Kagha's companion a venomous snake.. This was apalling to Thorduin and he peruaded Kagha to let the child go. Kagha would not relent on the ritual. Thorduin knew the only way to help the refugees was to stop the Goblins.
They then tended to their original purpose; seeking the healer. Nettie was very friendly and agreed to help. When they entered her room they saw a Dark Elf that was previously infected; its tadpole in a jar. Nettie investigated, and then prepared a concoction. Thorduin recognized it as poison. Rather than get violent he talked Nettie down. She gave him the Wyvern poison, and he took the tadpole from the Dark Elf.
They agreed to find her teacher Halsin the leader of the circle. It seemed he was captured by Goblins. It seems they were goign to have to go find the goblins after all.
Upon leaving the grove, they saw young Arabella reunited with her parents. Her mother insisted upon giving him her Dancing Lights Locket.
#6 The Risen Road Tollhouse; When leaving the Emerald Grove they met a Tiefling on a stream of the Chionthar. Her name was Karlach, and she was no Refugee. She was captured by the Nautiloid when it passed through Avernus. She was infected as well. Thorduin and the others connected with her when they approached. Karlach offered to join them and asked that they hunt down false Paladins of Tyr, that were hunting her becasue they were servants to Zariel. Thorduin agreed, but he did some things to ensure they were not Good aligned. Shadowheart found a corpse of one of their number and they admited they worked for Zariel. When Thorduin confronted the Paladin, he tricked him into revealing it through conversation. That's when he ordered his friends in positions around the balcony to attack, and Karlach came bursting through the doors.
The battle was challenging but when complete, Karlach burned the place down with her fury alone. They continued on thier journey.
#11 The Sunlit Swamp. The companions while exploring decided to move south, to explore before going to the Goblins because that was just the way Thorduin was with his wanderings. They came across 2 folk threatening Auntie Ethel. Thorduin immediately came to her defense and the folk were quite scared. They thought Auntie Ethel kidnapped their sister. She denied it ofcourse. Thorduin chased the men off and agreed to have Auntie Ethel look into healing his tadpole.
Things were not as they seemed. Due to Thorduins knowledge of Nature he saw the Sunlit Swanp was an illusion masking a Putrid Bog. soon they came across the corpses of the men that were threatening Auntie Ethel. seemd due to Redcaps. They found a decrepid old tea house and entered. There they saw Auntie Ehtel overfeeding a girl. Thorduin was no longer surprised. He told the girl about her brothers, which upset Mayrin the girl. Auntie Ethel was furious and turned into her true self a Green Hag. The party fought her but she escaped with Maryan behind a fireplace. They followed the path as far as they could to a room with Tormented souls; there was no saving them. A magic door would not give them egress. Apparently it was an entity that Ethel trapped made of mud and roots. With no way to enter they left the sould to their torment and Maryan too.
#9 Waukeens Rest: The Companions saw smoke in the distance and went to the source. There they saw the Inn Waukeen's Rest burning. They rushed in to rescue and saved the Flaming Fists that were trapped. Florric was an Agent of Baldur's Gate that informed them Duke Ravengard, was captured. She tasked them with finding the Duke.
They continued west to the Mountain Pass. There they were intercepted by Githyanki looking for the very Artifact they had in their possession. Lae Zel spoke to the Guthyanki but did not reveal they had the artifact.
#7 The Blighted Village (Moonhaven) This is where the Companions of High Hall learned they could influence minds with their Tadpoles and were developing psionic abilities. The Goblin Guarding the village tried to convince them to go away. But Thorduin found a way into their mind through the tadpole. This is where he learned the term True Soul and the Absolute.
They rescued Barcus Wroot from the windmill torment where he was tied by goblins, and in a cellar they found a Tome called the Necromancy of Thay. The book would not open initially but after defeating the Spider Matriarch, who was an elf turned spider, they found a large Amethyst that when placed in a setting on the cover opened the book. Despite all warning, Throduin read the book. Though he could tell it could just have easily have sapped him, he had enough will to have the book make him even more Willful (+2 Wisdom permanent).
In addition they would find design plans for a magic weapon requiting Susurr Bark from trees of the Underdark. After recovering the bark (Below) they made a Susurr Greatsword for Lae'zel.
#8 The Goblin Camp. The Goblin Camp was big. It was an old Temple of Selune, and this is the temple that Shadowheart and Thorduin restored after they were cured of the Tadpole and saved Baldur's Gate. They talked past all the guards and even made it into the celebration in the main hall. There they found a captured Volotham Gedarm who they would wind up rescuing just before they attacked the goblins. Thorduin poisoned the wine which made the first battle easy. They then were free to enter the Priestess' Audience hall. They snuck up on the rafters, with Lae Zel, Shadowheart, and Gale taking up positions. Thorduin shot down the chandelier killing most of the guards outright. The battle was a challenge but the first leader Priestess Gut was eliminated.
The next Goblin leader was a Dark Elf serving the Absolute named Minthara. She was eliminated very quickly. The last leader, a hobgoblin named Dror Ragzlin was also rushed and killed quickly.
After rescuing Volo they made sure to clear the complex of any goblin or servant they could find. They explored the extents of the defiled temple of Selune. They found where Halsin was imprisoned and rescued him. he was distraught to hear of Kargha starting the ritual. He also informed them he knew of the Tadpoles and realized he was not capable of curing them. But he gave a lead as to where the True Souls were coming from: Moonrise Tower. At this poiint Shadowheart was amused that the temple was defiled. But in a few 10 days she would be back sanctifying and rebuilding the temple when she became the High Priestess of Selune.
While exploring they came upon a puzzle chamber. It was easily solved, and it exposed an entrance far down to the underdark. To teh Selunite Underdark Outpost. They descended, but ony explored the outpost. They attuned to some Ancieient sigils and returned to The Emerald Grove to meet Halsin.
Joined under Circumstance
Exploration
#3 They explored the Overgrown ruins. After fighting thieves and Undead, they discovered Withers in a tomb. Withers as it turns out was Jergal the Scribe of the Dead.Druid Grove Return
Back at the Druid Grove, they arrive to find Kagha disciplined and demoted. Halsin sends for an Archdruid in the High Forest Circle to come take control of the Emerald Grove. The Refugees are ready to leave thanks to the defeat of the goblins. There is a celbration at the adventurers camp, where they say goodbye to the Refugees and figure out how to get to Moonrise Tower. Halsin informed them of the Shadowlands. A curse put in the valley around Moonrise Tower that merged the shadowfell with the land west of the Trieltan Mountain Range. The only way west was to take the mountain passfor the Risen Road through the mountains, or go through the Underdark. Though Laezel wanted to go the Mountain Pass Route, Thorduin decided on the underdark. They attuned to the sigils and returned to the Selunite Outpost.The Underdark
The underdark proved a wondrous journey. After fighting Minotaurs and robbing a Zhentarim supply stop, they found a Myconid Village. THey communed with the leader through Repore Spores. He needed them to fight a group of Duergar. At the same platform as the Myconid leader, Thorduin cyred a poisoned gnome. She then asked them to rescue her enslaved Deep Gnome group from the Duergar. Within the Myconid Village they met a Mindflayer from the Society of Briliance that agreed to look at the Tadpole. After aquiriing the mushroom spores he needed, he discovered the Tadpoles were enhanced with magic, indeed ancient magic from Netheril. They helped Derryth get noblestalk for her shop in Baldurs Gate. When they defeated the Duergar in the Decrepit village they discovered a boat. This boat would lead them to a Duergar Outpost where the Truesoul Nere was. Turns out after this defeat, the Myconid Leader wanted Nere's head. So they travelled to the Grymforge. This sounded familiar to them because they had already found three clues to the Grymforge in their underdark battles. Near the underdark beach, they found a path to ascend a cliff via protruding fungus. Some were illusions, but they made their way to the top. Here is where they found a strange entrance. It lead to Ethels secret caves. They defeated Ethel Quickly with enough time to rescue Maryan. Unfortunately Ethel made a bad bargain with the girl. She promised to bring her husband back. Well, she did but Thorduin discovered it was a greater zombie. Thorduin had to defeat it, traumatizing the young widow further. After failing to keep Maryan happy and safe they returned to the beach and took the Boat to Grymforge. On the way they were intercepted and tried to bluff thier way through. Thorduin eventually got tired of talking, kicked the Duergar boat captain in the dark lake and they killed the duergar from the otehr boat. They reached Grymforge. Here thier efforts were very triumphant. They freed Nere from the rock by using the smokepowder they had. Before they did that they knew that when Nere came forth they would have to contend with all the Duergar if they were to take Nere's head. So they started from the back and attacked the Duergar in small groups in small skirmishes before an alarm could be sounded. Thorduin used his ability to speak with animals to convince Deep Rothe to attack their stable masters. From there they never fought more than 5 duergar at a time. They returned to the cavein and set up smokepowder to blow away the debris. They were successful. Nere emerged and immediately threw a gnome in the Lava. Thorduin began the attack by throwing the Duergar leader into the molten Lava. With that surprise on their side they were able to end the Duergar without any of the Deep Gnomes Being Harmed. While they were exploring the Grymforge they defeated its adamantine guardian by immersing it in Lava which softened it enough that they could harm it. With the Guardian defeated, Thorduin used the automated forge to create Adamantine Armor and an Adamantine Sword. It was across from the boar landing that they found the entrance to the shadowlands. A large elevator that would ascend seceral hundred feet.The Mountain Pass
Laezel wanted to find the Creche still, and though Thorduin was skeptical, he agreed to give it a try. They entered at the Risen Road. There they met a strange woman working for the society of Brilliance that wanted a Githyanki Egg. Thorduin was interested in their nature experiment so he agreed. Laezel was not happy about this. They eventually made it to the Rosymorn ruins, and found the Creche. In the infirmary of the Creche, was the zalth'isk which could rid tadpoles. Laezel subjected herself to this but shortly through the process Thorduin through his tadpole realized this was death for Laezel. He stopped the process by destroying the machinne. They were forced to kill the Githyanki inside. During this journey Shadowheart found the Blood of Lathander and aquired Lathandars Mace of Disruption. Thorduin managed to aquire an Egg from the creche that the master said was going to be destroyed. He gave it to the representative of the Society of Brilliance. They found the path to the Shadowlands and continued their journey.Character(s) interacted with
Zevlor Refugee Leader and Ally
Arabella !0 year old Tiefling, Now apprentice to Elminster
Derryth Proprieter of Bonecloak Apothecary in Baldurs Gate Barcus Wroot
Arabella !0 year old Tiefling, Now apprentice to Elminster
Derryth Proprieter of Bonecloak Apothecary in Baldurs Gate Barcus Wroot
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Mizora Drama
After karlach joined the camp, the Blade of the Frontiers Wyll broke into camp to challenge her. he was comissioned by a cambion named Mizora to Kill the Devil Karlach. When he found out she was a Tielfling he refused. Mizora then sent him through torment of the nine hells and he wound up deformed with Devil Horns.
Report Date
25 Jul 2024
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