Session 26: A Hard Dwarf to Swallow

General Summary

The party spent the night at the Steel Hook in Upper Craftenor, planning on continuing their hunt for the stalking beast the next day. Levi was careful not to drink much considering the hangover that had been plaguing him. In the morning, the party started to make their way downstairs, noting that Jorrunde exited from Bolvaic’s room in the morning.
As the party gathered downstairs, Ilbryen cast remove curse on Wren, curing him of his lycanthropy. Though he is still technically wanted in Greyhall’s land, he left the Steel Hook free from the curse and free from the pursuit of the Duke’s guard.
The party finished their breakfast, but decided to make a couple of stops before heading out to the warehouse in Lower Craftenor. They stopped at the library to research more about this creature, since Tiarjead knew that creatures like this were tied to Nyctelios, The Mad God. Ilbryen knew a bit about the Mad God and their research showed that little is known about Nyctelios and what they were before they went mad. However, they are responsible for bringing aberrations into the world and as their power grew, they began to create strange and odd beasts. They then used their power to turn against the other gods, devouring and destroying two of them. For this transgression against their brethren, Nyctelios was punished by the other gods who worked together to imprison Nyctelios far beneath the sea. Even bound, Nyctelios reaches out to touch the weakened minds of the mad, creating followers to worship them, to continue to give them strength and sustenance even despite their imprisonment.
They then stopped at the rooftop forest, finding that the trees were manipulated by druid’s hands to grow on the soil atop the one-story residences, with the roots working their way down between the houses to help create additional support structures for the weight above. The party climbed up onto the forest and walked through it, seeing that it was used as a sort of city park for the residents.
While in the forest, a jackdaw flew down and perched on one of the mushrooms on Illevaere’s shoulder. Then a halfling named Sanner Glendew saw this and remarked about how the jackdaw liked Illevaere. Sanner then told the group a story of how the jackdaws came to live in the forest. He said that they were not native, but there was an old woman who worked in an orphanage who was overwhelmed and called out in desperate annoyance at the children, “Why don’t you all just fly away.” The Fey magic of the isle heard her wish and turned the children into jackdaws, who now live in the Rooftop Forest and caw out loudly whenever they wish.
When Illevaere asked about the forest’s origins, Sanner told them that the forest was created as a compromise to the city’s growth. Druids helped to tend and grow the forest but it was still uncertain if the forest would be a worthwhile venture or counteract the harm of the city’s growth. Sanner showed the group a tree with what looked like a face in its twisted knots and stated that this was a treant that was forming, but hadn’t awakened yet. The fact that this forest could birth a treant was taken as a sign that the forest was worthy.
Illevaere was confused about the lack of death on the forest floor, feeling that it was missing a key part of the cycle. When Sanner realized what they were talking about, he said that the forest was tended by the druids and did not need it, but finally understood their confusion. Sanner also told a story about a Dryad who lived in one of the trees that fell in love with one of the city watch, and she helped bring forth an army of animals when the city was endangered. Her watch member died but the dryad still watches over the city from her tree. The group got the impression that many of Sanner’s stories were likely exaggerations mingled with lies and truth, but they were not malicious.
After leaving the forest, the party went to Lower Craftenor to find the warehouse that Slink had mentioned one of their members disappeared in while investigating. The party arrived at the abandoned warehouse. It smelled of mildew and wood rot like the storefront did and the group searched around the outside of the building while Illevaere sent in their Sprout to scout ahead. Within the warehouse, Illevaere did not see any sign of the creature, but did see a barrel that appeared to be moving and shifting a bit. They warned the party of the barrel and they entered the warehouse. The barrel turned out to be a mimic and the party began to engage against it. While they were in battle with the mimic, the unseen creature was suddenly visible to Ilbryen when it attacked them. It grabbed Ilbryen with its tentacles and pulled them toward its maw, however, Ilbryen hit the creature critically with a powerful inflict wounds spell that caused it to drop them.
The mimic was defeated as the party shifted its focus to the unseen creature. Tiarjead used the bag of flour that she had purchased and threw it in the direction of the creature. As the flour settled onto the creature, it vanished, however, the flour on the floor left footprints alerting the group to where the creature was–they could not see it, but at least knew where it was to focus their attacks.
The creature grabbed Bolvaic and pulled him into its maw and with two bites swallowed him whole. Illevaere summoned two dire wolves to join the battle, which playfully excited Levi’s wolf pups. As the creature’s stomach acid began to try to digest Bolvaic, the damage it caused to him also seemed to heal the creature. Bolvaic attacked the creature from the inside, while the party fought it from the outside. As the creature finally collapsed, it became visible to everyone and Levi climbed inside of it to help pull Bolvaic out. The creature was a large arachnid-ish creature with an upper body and tentacles that it could use to grab and pull creatures toward it. Its appearance, however, was not of anything that the group had ever seen before.
With the battle finished, Ilbryen and Tertius went to fetch Baremin and the guard for them to be able to take credit for killing the creature. The group then healed up and returned to the Feasting Horde in order to clean up. While at the Feasting Horde, one of the royal guards arrived to meet the party, offering a reward for their aid–200 gold and a finely crafted silver sword.

Rewards Granted

200 Gold
A Finely Crafted Silver Longsword

Campaign

The Gentlemen's League of Explorers and Adventurers

Protagonists

Levi Obadiah Kilgore

Chaotic Good Human, Northlander (Marked by the Beast)
Barbarian 11

115 / 115 HP

STR
17

DEX
14

CON
16

INT
14

WIS
12

CHA
9

Ilbryen Dorydark

Neutral Good Half-Elf (Sage)
Cleric 10

63 / 63 HP

STR
10

DEX
10

CON
12

INT
14

WIS
20

CHA
15

Tiarjead Faefyire

Neutral Good Dragonborn (Outlander)
Ranger 10

74 / 74 HP

STR
16

DEX
13

CON
13

INT
9

WIS
15

CHA
14

Illevaere Solandra

Chaotic Good Wood Elf (Outlander)
Druid 10

83 / 83 HP

STR
11

DEX
18

CON
16

INT
14

WIS
20

CHA
12

Bolvaic Boradrak

Chaotic Good Mountain Dwarf (Outlander)
Barbarian 10

115 / 115 HP

STR
18

DEX
12

CON
18

INT
9

WIS
10

CHA
10

Tertius Greyhall

Neutral Good Human, Daoine (Noble)
Fighter 6
Warlock 2

50 / 50 HP

STR
8

DEX
16

CON
11

INT
15

WIS
8

CHA
18

Report Date

11 Apr 2022

Primary Location

Caer Craftenor

Related Plots

• The Fugitives
• The Princess's Boyfriend

Related Characters

• Baremin Barleyhare
• Jorrunde
• Sanner Glendew
• Wren Carwyn