Ban

Ban the hamster (left) and his Gundam (right)

BAN (Ballistic Assault Nine) is the brother of Sunny and Haz, the three of them having been raised in the same military orphanage together. Ban had less initial success tracking the Light Gundam than Sunny when the rogue machine kidnapped Haz. By the time he caught up to him, his brother had been severely wounded in combat and was forced to return home for medical treatment. Thus, Ban filled in the gap left by Sunny among the members of the Thaig Expedition as he continued the hunt for the Light Gundam where Sunny left off.
Table of Contents

Pre-Campaign

Ban was trained as an assault specialist in the Miniature Giant Space Hamster Empire military. As a result of this, he became a fairly wealthy individual due to hazard pay. One day, his brothers Sunny and Haz approached him with an idea. In the Empire, Gundams are their military's primary defense. The issue there being that these constructs require pilots born with a certain magical talent, which only 1/10,000 miniature giant space hamsters possess. In an effort to remedy this, the brothers Haz and Sunny sought to create a Gundam that could work with any miniature giant space hamster in the cockpit regardless of magical talent. And they required funding to do so.
Happy to help his brothers, Ban bankrolled their project and soon they created the Light Gundam. This machine could be piloted by any miniature giant space hamster rather than just those born with innate magical talent. But something went wrong when Haz climbed in for the first test run. The cockpit closed around him and he found himself locked out of the controls. The Light Gundam stated that with him inside and itself now operational, it would carry out its task of eliminating the Empire's enemies. The now rogue Gundam blasted its way out of the hanger and traveled to the world of Nexus to begin its plans of genocide, Ban and Sunny in hot pursuit to stop the monster they'd created and save their brother.
Ban searched for a long time before their quest to track down the Light Gundam started baring fruit. They knew it was somewhere in the general area of Nexus' central continent, but not exactly where. To cast a wider net, the pair split up with Sunny heading for Haven City while Ban searched in a different city nearby. When his searched turned up nothing, he went to Haven City himself to rendezvous with Sunny. To his surprise, he learned Sunny had left the city headed for the Underdark with a group called the Thaig Expedition.
He tuned his scanners to Sunny's signal, starting to work his way towards his brother but hampered by cave-ins Sunny had caused to throw off enemies pursuing the expedition. By the time he'd nearly caught up with his brother, Sunny's Gundam had become critically damaged and his brother was wounded in the process. Sunny sent Ban a data packet with the information he'd managed to gather about the Light Gundam as well as his current status, assuring his brother he could make it back to the Empire for medical treatment on his own.
At some point during this time, Ban killed an ostrich-like OoPA and managed to harvest parts from it using advanced technology. He later discovered the use for these parts when he met Gobo while searching the Deep Spire for the Thaig Expedition, paying the little goblin to turn them into magical trinkets. After observing this process, Ban added discovering Gobo's magic item production methods to his to-do list.

Journey into the Underdark Arc

Arrival at the Deep Spire

Using the descriptions Sunny had provided, Ban began to wander the Deep Spire looking for a group that matched the description of Sunny's former traveling companions. As he was flipping through his notes, two individuals that matched the descriptions of Jake F. Statefarm and Elycia Mirais walked into view. They were both shocked to see him, initially mistaking him for Sunny, as Ban explained he was Sunny's brother. This led to further confusion as Sunny had only ever mentioned Haz to them and they were completely unaware that Ban existed.
Unlike Sunny, Ban was upfront about his nature as a miniature giant space hamster and that of the Gundam he piloted. Anytime his technical explanations started to go over their heads, he just resorted to saying "magic" or "a wizard did it". In Ban's experience, blaming strange things on wizards was a perfectly acceptable explanation to most people. He also informed the pair that he intended to follow them and the rest of the Thaig Expedition around, both to continue to the search for the Light Gundam (which he clarified was a rogue construct that had abducted Haz rather than Haz himself) and to get a shot at the bounty hunters whose ambush had nearly killed Sunny.
The trio went into a nearby tavern, where Ban once against explained all this to Leh'ct Arlathil, Ernest Thaig, and Bertrand Thaig. Bertrand seemed happy to welcome Ban aboard, stating they'd need the extra manpower with the bounty hunters still at large, and Ban opened his cockpit to shake Bertrand's pinky and seal the deal. With that settled, the adventurers were ready to get moving before Lord Varl started to make war with Brazenthrone. Unfortunately, Ernest informed them they'd have to wait because Mott had taken it upon himself to hire the Grinning Widow's services out to Gobo.
The goblin merchant had talked his way into catering for the Conclave of the Fleet and needed a ship to get all the food there. After the group decided to see if Gobo would hire them on too so that they could keep an eye on the ship, Elycia suggested the rest of the expedition come along so they could try to sail ahead of the Tideborne Tribe's war fleet. Unfortunately, this wasn't an option as Villamax and Itassis had gone off somewhere and would be returning to the Spire after their business was concluded. They had no way to tell the pair to meet them somewhere else. For now, the advance party would have to settle for traveling with Gobo (who hired them as bodyguards from pirates and sea monsters for 200gp each).

Conclave of the Fleet

Arrival at Cairnhollow Isle

The Grinning Widow set sail (Gobo putting on a tricorn hat and taking over the captain's quarters to establish dominance) for the ruins of Skatha's Rest on Cairnhollow Isle, the location of every annual Conclave of the Fleet. Their journey went undisturbed and the ship arrived a quarter mile north of the ruins, Gobo not wanting to get too close to the docks and in the way of Tideborne Tribe ships. While he went ahead with several kuo-toa to set up, he ordered the rest of the crew & the adventurers to start getting everything out of the cargo hold and onto the beach.
They had just carried a load of cargo inside and were heading back to the beach for another load when Elycia heard something to the north. She couldn't make out exactly what it was, but it sounded like a great many somethings trying to be quiet. Jake yelled to the guards on the roof that something might be over there in Undercommon while Ban shone a lantern light towards that area. In the light, he suddenly saw a glimmer next to one of the guards as an Awakened appeared and slashed the guard with a longsword before teleporting away in a flash of silver fire. A battle cry rang out in Undercommon, "Attack!" as more than two dozen Awakened revealed themselves and rushed Skatha's Rest.

The Battle of Skatha's Rest

The battle that followed was fierce with Awakened attacking from the north, south, and west. Those of them that could teleport made quick work of the guards on the rooftop while the rest of their forces split up around either side of the building to converge on the eastern entrance. Lord Varl called his captains and priestesses of Luthic to arms, charging for the door to make way into battle. As the orogs began to really, Ban and his fellow adventurers did what they could to hold the line and buy them precious seconds.
Ban took full advantage of his flight to target groups of enemies with both his assault rifle and grenades, burning through ammo and explosives in his efforts to hold the enemy back. No efforts were made to bring him down as the attacking Awakened were more focused on the orogs charging them, as well as on targeting clusters of enemies themselves. As the battle raged on with fatality after fatality on both sides, it soon became apparent that Lord Varl was the enemy's primary target. Ban and his fellow adventurers rushed to the Tideborne leader's aid and with the help of the priestesses of Luthic guarding him managed to keep Varl alive, despite Varl's reckless abandon charging the enemy throughout battle.
In the aftermath of the battle, Ban found three Awakened inside who were stuck dancing courtesy of Gobo's magic. He also spotted three dead kuo-toa on the floor near them, crew members from the Grinning Widow who had clearly been killed by the Awakened's blades. Ban made sure that these three, who already seemed unnerved by him for some reason, were very, very afraid in their final moments on the Material Plane. Following that, he helped the orogs who'd come ashore from the many ships anchored nearby sort through the dead to collect their own and pile up the duergar corpses unceremoniously.
After things had settled into some semblance of order, Lord Varl summoned Ban and his companions to speak with them (one of his priestesses translating his Undercommon to Common, and vice versa). Firstly, he thanked them for their bravery and honorable actions in helping defend his people from the sneak attack. Ban slinked over to Elycia and audibly "whispered" as he asked her what the right way to ask about their getting paid for the deed. Lord Varl cleared his throat loudly as one of his priestesses translated this to him and Ban mollified the orog leader by gifting him a cigar.
Lord Varl continued by explaining some of his surviving men had noted several of the Awakened teleported away during the battle. As the adventurers were (mostly) less injured than his own people, he wished to hire them to scour Cairnhollow Isle, find these last few duergar, and finish them. Elycia questioned whether the Awakened were even still on the isle if they had teleported. Varl's opinion was that if they were capable of teleportation covering that kind of distance, they would have used more destructive magic than they had during the battle. Additionally, Varl had the Tideborne's ships encircling the isle to make sure they couldn't escape by boat. Whether they had a boat or were waiting for a pick-up, not to mention how long they'd even been on the isle, was unknown to Varl. Nonetheless, the adventurers took the job and began preparations for the search.

Battle in the Dark Dome

As the adventurers prepared to leave, Leh'ct spotted the strange, skeletal figure they'd seen several times before watching them. It retreated into the darkness when Ban shined a light on it and the adventurers elected to initially ignore it, seeing as it hadn't actually done anything hostile on any of their encounters. But when they advanced in the direction it had gone in, it was still there. And staring in their direction, as usual. They debated once again about what to do, but in the moment they took their eyes off the figure it suddenly got closer to them. It slowly raised a hand, palm facing upward, until the hand was level with its shoulder. Then it snapped its fingers and the world around the adventurers changed.
They found themselves in a dark circle, contained under some sort of domed barrier that looked like it would be quite painful to touch. They questioned the figure, asking where it had brought them and why. Rather than reply, it bent down and stuck a hand into the ground. When it stood back up to full height, the hand was missing from its wrist but at the same moment tendrils of smoke and shadow enveloped Jake and wrapped themselves around him. With its remaining hand, the figure snapped its fingers again and two pockets of air in the dome seemed to fold in on themselves until a pair of waterkleddes appeared with a pop. Ban's translation device let him realize the demons were confused, not knowing where they were or how they got there, but that hardly prevented the fiends from attacking the adventurers upon spotting them, namely Elycia.
Ban focused on providing covering fire and using specialized ammo to support his allies. He blasted one waterkledde back into the barrier surrounding the area, which was as painful as it looked from the cries of pain the demon made, and shot the wings of the other to drop the flying fiend into range K's waiting blade. He continued to fire as Leh'ct filled the area with water so that the waterkleddes could be killed without spawning more of their kind, Elycia cleaving on in half with her spear after suffering a near-fatal wound while K finished the other with a flurry of dagger blows. Then, just as the second demon's body dissolved into a glob of demonic ichor, the figure reappeared right behind Elycia.
Her brain still in combat mode, Elycia lashed out with her spear. Though her weapon went through the figure, it seemed to suffer no ill effects from the attack. It raised a hand towards her, its pointer finger reaching for her forehead, when a moth appeared between them. The figure's finger bounced off a barrier of some kind and it radiated contempt as it looked towards the moth. As the figure flicked its wrist, freeing Jake and causing its hand to reappear, and raised a hand to snap its fingers once again, the moth gave its wings a mighty flap and glowed with a blinding light. When the light faded, the adventurers found themselves out of wherever they just were and in a grove surrounded by a dark forest.

Through the Woods, to the Cave

K immediately became angry when he saw this moth, yelling that it needed to die (prompting Ban to raise his weapon). Leh'ct yelled at them to wait and K, somewhat reluctantly, agreed to his request. While Ban and the others caught their breath, Leh'ct used his magic to speak with the moth and informed the party the moth said this was a safe place where they could rest. After they took the opportunity to do so, it led them north through the dark woods until they reached a tree line marked by some sort of shrine. Though Ban was somewhat interested in the pedestal, neither he nor any of the others recognized the symbol on it (though Leh'ct took a rubbing for future reference).
The moth continued north out of the woods (seeming impatient towards the lingering adventurers) and next led them across a rocky landscape until they came to a cave. Ban noticed a trail of bootprints leading inside and the adventurers moved in slowly & stealthily. Further in, Ban then heard voices as his translation program caught snippets of a conversation. He surmised that the duergar they were looking for were ahead and hadn't noticed them, giving the adventurers the chance to get the drop on them.
Their ambush was performed masterfully, K rushing in first as Ban followed providing covering fire to help kill three of the four enemies before they could hardly react. Though the remaining duergar attempted to flee (and injured Leh'ct in the process), he was shot dead by Ban before he could make it out of the cave. As the adventurers congratulated themselves on a job well done and examined the cadavers, they noticed their moth guide fly through a seemingly solid wall. Leh'ct stuck his head through the illusion and informed the others there was a humanoid-made passage on the other side. Curious as the what it was and just where this moth was leading them, the adventurers elected to check it out.
As they followed the narrow tunnel single file, Ban filled the others in on what he'd eavesdropped earlier. The duergar had spoken of someone or something called Astali that seemed to be their boss, or possibly whatever they worshipped as they'd talked about building a statue of it. Ban further speculated that this figure was a woman, as the cultists had seemed concerned about potentially angering someone their words indicated was female. But more importantly, it seemed these duergar were a splinter group operating outside of Deepking Oghren Orzammar III of Brazenthrone's authority. They mentioned having used methods the king would disapprove of and hoped the results of the Battle of Skatha's Rest would sway his opinion.
Ban stated that could very well happen, as the attackers had not fought like professional soldiers yet had battled on par with Lord Varl's best people. However, this whole approach clashed with the Deepking's reputation of diplomacy first and Ban speculated they may be able to spin the situation into this rogue faction making a play against his throne to get Brazenthrone and the Deep Spire working together to put a stop to them.

The Lost Catacombs of Auldbaern

The Five Trials

The narrow tunnel eventually opened into a larger chamber, the doorway between them marked with a symbol Leh’ct and K recognized as that of the god Moradin, Dwarven God of Smithing and head of the dwarven pantheon. The area seemed to be a tomb, filled with holes in the walls that housed stone coffins. As they started to examine this area, K was halted by a magic barrier as they tried to go deeper in. Five of the coffin lids moved themselves and thudded to the floor. Blue mists swirled out of the now opened coffins and formed into the spirits of five dwarves, each dressed in different warrior garb.
They spoke in Dwarven, requiring Ban to use an item to understand & speak their language on the party's behalf. The spirits asked why the adventurers had come here, Ban explaining they'd been led by the moth accompanying them (which was currently sitting on Leh’ct's head). These long-departed dwarves seemed to consider this a noble purpose and told the adventurers they were free to attempt the catacombs challenges if they wished to claim the treasure within. However, the spirits also warned that once the challenge started there was no stopping it. It would end with either the adventurers either besting their five trials or dying trying.
Perked up at the mention of treasure, the group agreed to the challenge. Before the spirits departed, Ban asked if any of them were related to the Thaig family. One spirit raised its hand and Ban immediately went to look through its tomb (which the spirit was displeased about), hoping to find some record of Bertrand and Ernest's lineage to help the dwarves complete their quest. He found nothing in that particular tomb and the spirits returned to their rest, their forms turning back to mist and flowing into their coffins before the lids returned themselves to the coffins. At the same time, the invisible barrier that had blocked K's way forward vanished and allowed the adventurers to proceed.

The First Trial

Exploring multiple paths, the adventurers searched for clues as to what or where these trials were. They noticed several areas with more elaborate coffins than others, large and elaborate pieces set on the floor rather than the simple stone boxes in the wall holes. Ban located an isolated chamber with a locked stone chest inside. Failing to pick the lock himself, he called for K's assistance. As K did his work, Ban noticed a message (written in Dwarven) had appeared on top of the chest, noting it contained a supremely cursed & evil object and should not be opened under any circumstance. Before Ban could say anything, K popped the lock and grabbed a seemingly normal tankard from inside. Ban immediately surmised this was a Tankard of Sobriety, which would match the description the warning gave in dwarven culture.
They contined to explore, Ban soon finding and opening an elaborate tomb to discover a dwarven skeleton clutching a cup shaped like a bronze skull. As respectfully as he could, Ban took the cup and loudly announced to the spirits he meant no dishonor with this action and only took the cup because he believed it was needed to pass the dwarves trials. Then, as Ban left this chamber with Leh’ct trailing him, dwarven spirits appeared and drew mauls that lit with fire as bright as torches. Though there were five spirits, the two adventurers found themselves outnumbered when Jake, Elycia, and K discovered barriers had popped up between their locations and the room Ban and Leh’ct were now trapped in.
Luckily, Jake and Elycia managed to circumvent this quickly, Jake teleporting with his Wraith's Garb and Elycia walking through the walls with her Xorn-Sole Boots. The dwarven spirits fought explosively, slamming their hammers onto the ground with fiery, thunderous force that damaged friend & foe alike. But the spirits appeared envigored when set aflame, become faster and more deadly. As one of them shot a bolt of flame at Leh’ct, he noticed it briefly dissipated the barrier stopping K from entering. Thinking quickly, he used a control flame spell to rip the fire off one of the spirits and hold it over the barrier, depowering an enemy and allowing K to join the fray simultaneously. Meanwhile, Ban provided fire support while thankful his metal frame seemed to be holding up to the explosions better than Leh'ct's fragile flesh.
The explosions rocking the battlefield left Leh’ct badly battered and burned. As K used the hole in the barrier to charge forward, Leh’ct used it to retreat. Ban fought on with a flurry of fire from his rifle, assisting his companions in defeating the spirits before they could inflict major harm on any of the other adventurers. As the last spirit was defeated and faded, dwarven words of respect echoed through the halls and highlighted the usefulness of tactics that could strike multiple enemies. After Leh’ct finished healing up and his companions did the same with thier more minor injuries, they carried on to search the catacombs further.

The Second Trial

Moving on to a new collection of chambers, Ban located a small column of stone with drawers carved into it. They were too heavy to move on his own, but with Elycia's help he was able to get them open and find several stone tablets inside. The etchings seemed to be family trees detailing the history of the Thaig family. Ban made sure to carefully wrap these tablets for protection before stowing them away, wondering if these would be sufficient evidence for Bertrand and Ernest to complete the quest to prove their lineage was a noble one.
It wasn't long until the adventurers next challenge appeared. Just as Ban was examining another tomb, Jake (who was bringing up the rear) entered the chamber and the only doorway in was blocked by a wall of thorns as another group of five dwarven spirits appeared. These warriors were different from the last, wielding hatchets and wearing shields marked with a wolf's head symbol as well as wearing wolf pelts like scarves. Jake quickly put down one of the spirits before they could act, though this led to the rest of them converging on him with their axes. Had he not been blessed with energized Threads of Fate, Jake would have died for certain there. But as it was, he was able to just barely hang on until Leh’ct managed to cast a healing spell that allowed the ranger to retreat. Ban and his companions were able to put down the spirits still standing before they had time to converge onto a second target.
As the last spirit faded, once again dwarven voices echoed through the tunnels. These spoke of how converging on a single powerful enemy and bringing them down was often a sound combat tactic, both to remove a strong opponent from the field of battle and to demoralize any remaining foes. Their words spoke of how they had targeted "strongest warrior" among the adventurers, though Ban was confused as they hadn't attacked him at all. Once he realized they were implying Jake was the strongest, he elected not to translate these words for the others. After the adventurers used what healing they could muster to get Jake much further away from death's door, their exploration continued.

The Third Trial

It was not long before the adventurers faced their next trial, the room this time being sealed off by walls of light. Dwarven spirits appeared, dressed in plate mail armor and wielding deadly looking battleaxes that seemed to be made from the same light as the walls. The spirits charged, proving to be fearsome opponents that could attack up close with their battleaxes or from afar with thrown handaxes materialized at will, the latter of which they used to target the flying Ban. These opponents did not focus on a single target like those from the last battle but proved to be much more powerful. Even as the first spirit fell, Jake was injured by a spirit focused on attacking him and Leh'ct.
Jake fled down an adjacent tunnel and Ban flew after him in pursuit of the two spirits giving chase. Deciding Jake was competent enough to avoid being on the receiving end of this, Ban threw a grenade in after the spirits. Though it damaged the long-dead paladins, it was not enough to destroy them. Moments later, Ban heard a cry of anguish from K, who had disappeared before the fight due to his curse and reappeared half a second too late to stop the spirits from ending Jake's life. Ban and his remaining companions flew into a rage at the loss of their comrade, releasing their full fury against the remaining dwarven spirits and finishing them in short order. This time, there was no message from the spirits after their defeat as they gave the surviving adventurers a moment of silence for their fallen friend.
Ban took care to carefully wrap Jake's body in the aftermath of the battle, setting it in a safe place. They would take their friend back with them and try to get him revived, but first they had to make it out of this place. After healing themselves as much as they could, the adventurers somberly carried on in search of the next challenge.

The Fourth Trial

Circling around to a large chamber that connected to the catacombs entrance, the adventurers encountered their next adversaries. These dwarven spirits were shirtless, bulging muscles cover their bodies from the waist up as they used their strength to heft massive mauls. This time, the adventurers were much more focused and serious as they fought. The death of Jake still stung deeply, and they would ensure their group suffered no more fatal casualties on this day. Ban spent this battle in the air, providing fire support with his rifle as the barbarian spirits ineffectively threw rocks at him. One did surprise him by revealing the head of its maul contained a net gun, though he deftly dodged this. While his companions took some damage (namely K), this fight ultimately proved easier than the previous one. Only one challenge remained to claim the treasure within the catacombs.

The Fifth and Final Trial

As the adventurers healed their wounds with the few resources they had remaining, Ban insisted they make a plan for the final trial. It proved to be a simple one; he would provide fire support while K and Elycia maintained the frontline. Meanwhile, Leh'ct would stay outside the chamber where he couldn't be targeted and send in summoned animals to fight in his stead. They entered the chamber using this formation, the room lined with giant dwarven statues ancient enough to have started crumbling. On the far end of the chamber sat a large and elaborate stone tomb. Two of the large snakes Leh'ct summoned moved to open it and dwarven spirits appeared, one of each kind from the previous four trials, to engage the adventurers.
K began the fight be delivering a devastating stab to the barbarian spirit that manifested near him before retreating near a fallen pillar. The spirit pursued him, as did a dwarf ranger spirit, while Ban flew over to provide him support. Ban quickly took down the barbarian spirit, allowing the two of them to focus on the ranger spirit while Elycia and Leh'ct's snakes held off the artificer and paladin spirits across the room. Already familiar with the tactics of their enemies, this battle proved easier than the ones before. Ban and K swiftly finished off their opponent before K moved across the room, dealing the finishing blows to both the artificer and paladin spirits Elycia had softened up.
The room fell silent as the last spirit was defeated. The adventurers approached the tomb, which was engraved with a Dwarven inscription. Ban read it out loud for the rest of them:
Tomb Inscription

Here lies Aron II, king of Auldbearn, defender of his people, and last of his line. Though this resting place is not what a king of his valor deserves, it is all we can offer in this trying time.
May he find the peace he delivered unto others through his sacrifice, and may his crown one day bring the murderers who struck him down to justice.

Ban helped K and Leh'ct to open the great tomb and inside they found the ancient king's remains resting on a bed of coins, his cracked Crown of Auldbearn still on his head and the rest of him covered in damaged armor. Given what the inscription said, the adventurers figured they were meant to take the crown and did so (along with the coins). After resealing the tomb, they left with a quick prayer to wish the king well in his afterlife and thank him for whatever help his crown could provide.
As the adventurers pondered what function the damaged crown may may, the moth that had guided them to the catacombs flew down from Leh'ct's head and onto the king's tomb. It stretched its wings wide and transformed into an envelope with Leh'ct's full name on it. Leh'ct opened it to find a letter written in Sylvan, which K read aloud for him. It seemed to be some sort of riddle and Leh'ct started pondering its implications as the adventurers prepared to take their leave. With the treasure in hand, it was time to work on getting Jake restored to life.

Aftermath of Battles

Trouble at the Spire

As they exited the caves, the adventurers found the forest they had crossed to get here was gone. Unsure of exactly where their trip though it had led them, Ban flew up with his telescope to get his bearings. He saw a light in the distance that looked to be about 4 miles away and recommended the group head towards it. Elycia protested, arguing the group should rest first, though Ban managed to convince her that could be more easily done somewhere civilized than in a cave or out in the open where hungry predators could find them.
The lights turned out to be Skatha's Rest, which was now surrounded by many more guards than before and bonfires that would allow them to spot any approaching enemies. The adventurers were allowed past after identifying themselves and presented themselves to Lord Varl, who'd just wrapped up interrogation on the prisoners Ban had taken previously. The Tideborne had learned that the attack here had been one part of the two-pronged offensive, with the other attack targeting the Deep Spire. He informed the adventurers everyone must head back there as soon as possible and they offered to take him aboard the Grinning Widow to fill him in on what they'd learned. Lord Varl accepted the offer, stating it'd free up a little more room for the wounded on his flagship.

Gobo's Gift of Exposition

The adventurers elected to return to the Widow and wait for Varl there while he organized his people's departure. They arrived to find Gobo playing Go Fish with Mott on the deck, Mott quickly abandoning the game when he saw "Captain" Jake dead in K’s arms. Ban asked Gobo if he had some way of preventing Jake's body from decaying and smelling. Gobo offered to sell him a scented candle for 1 copper. When Ban declined, Gobo suggested putting the cadaver in the Bag of Colding he'd previously given to them. Ban informed him that bag had been destroyed along with Sunny; Gobo lamented the destruction of an item he'd worked hard on, saying he didn't have the means to make another one & talking about how summoning an ice paraelemental without ticking off Cryonax was a tricky and dangerous thing.
Ban questioned who or what Cryonax was and Gobo explained he was an elemental prince of evil who rules the Plane of Ice with a cold, iron fist. Not to be confused with cold iron, that blue ore from the Shadowfell that fey hate. While Ban wondered if they could find a different cold-aspected monster, Gobo wished him luck and said he was getting out of the area before more battle broke out (but not before selling some relief supplies) and going to check in on his grandma. Ban asked if Gobo could help work out what sort of magic that crown from the catacombs possessed, but its magic was beyond Gobo's skills. Nor was Gobo able to fix it, though he did tell them that doing so would require the skills of a master dwarven smith like those in Brazenthrone.
Gobo's earlier mention of cold iron caught Leh'ct's attention, as it seemed to line up with something referenced in his letter from Mother Moth. Gobo confirmed that cold iron ore was blue and that forests could be found down here if you went to the Underdark portions of the Feywild or Shadowfell. While Ban encouraged Leh'ct to ignore the riddle, viewing riddles as a poor method of communication, Leh'ct surmised the riddle may mean Mother Moth is hiding in an area rich with cold iron that fey such as M may avoid.

Discussion with Lord Varl

A day after Lord Varl arrived and the ship set sail, Ban had a conversation with him to give him greater details on what they'd learned about the Awakened. Ban inquired what details Varl had been able to interrogate out of the prisoners; the orog leader hadn't had enough time (yet) to learn more than there was an attack directed at the Deep Spire. However, given the Spire was much more fortified than the ruins of Skatha's Rest, he speculated the force that attacked it was superior to the one they'd battled. Ban suggested combining the zone of truth and speak with dead spells on the heads he'd collected may be more useful than continuing to interrogate the living prisoners.
Furthermore, Ban stated this incident may be able to lead to an alliance with Deepking Oghren Orzammar III. Given that the attack seemed unsanctioned by the king and his reputation for politics over brute force, not to mention fending off the attack as a show of strength, there could be room to talk and make an ally against these cultists. Cultists that, for all anyone knew, could be making a power play for Brazenthrone's throne. He even suggested altering the memories of the prisoners magically and planting evidence to assist with making this the 'true' story, even if its not what the cultists were actually planning. Lord Varl questioned if Ban had any evidence this was actually the case and Ban assured him it was all about how you framed things. Not to mention the cultists were using mind flayer technology, which would surely raise a red flag with the duerger due to their history.

Wizard's Back

Just as the conversation was starting to wrap up, Leh'ct came into the room with Villamax and Itassis in tow (the two of them having come to the ship via the teleportation circle in the hold). Lord Varl took his leave, Ban giving him a cigar as he got up and Leh'ct offering to use an animal messenger spell to get a message to the Deep Spire. He thanked both of them and returned below deck to help with rowing the ship forward.
Ban inquired whether Villamax could use his magic to get them some additional details on that crown they'd found in the Lost Catacombs of Auldbaern, which the wizard replied he could. They needed to know what it did and if they could remove one of the diamonds in it to revive Jake without permanently breaking the crown (despite the fact it already had a giant crack in it). 20 minutes and two spellcastings later, Villamax informed them they could remove a jewel but it would have to be replaced with an identical one later if they wanted the crown to function. He also revealed the function of the Crown of Auldbearn; controlling an army of golems within the ancient city that was now Vlyn'darastyl.
Not seeing a personal use for the crown, Ban suggested popping out the gems and selling the base crown to either Brazenthrone or the Deep Spire. Leh'ct objected, stating that would betray the trust of the spirits who'd entrusted the crown to them. Ban counterargued that they had no reason to wage war against Vlyn'darastyl but stated they should shelve the discussion until Jake was alive again and could give his opinion as well.

Reviving Jake

The adventurers now knew they could use a diamond from the crown to revive Jake, but there was another snag. The magic would consume the diamond completely and the lowest value one they had was worth double what the raise dead spell required. As they were discussing this, Elycia noticed Gobo standing close enough to overhear the conversation and trying not to look guilty. She loudly stated how surely Gobo wouldn't allow Jake, one of his best customers, to stay dead and lose out on potential future sales if he had a way to fix that problem. The guilt-tripped Gobo admitted he did have some diamonds on hand, but they'd already been promised to another customer, a deep gnome named Thaalthug Geomender.
Knowing that deep gnomes value gems, Elycia suggested offering the diamond buyer the black pearls they still had in place of the diamonds. Seeing as diamonds could be mined and pearls could not, they may be much more valuable to a deep gnome. Gobo stated it didn't matter because he didn't have a way to contact Thaalthug, a counterpoint that was quickly shut down when Villamax offered to use a sending spell for him. After Gobo told the wizard exactly what to say, Thaalthug agreed to the trade and Gobo gave two 500gp diamonds to the party (one to Elycia and one to Leh'ct, each of whom gave Gobo a black pearl).
The next step was getting one of the priestesses of Luthic on-board to help them. Leh'ct assisted one of them with treating the wounded to free up her time and give her the hour needed to perform a raise dead spell with the diamond he'd just acquired. Jake instinctively took a deep breath as his soul returned to his body and he lashed out, punching Leh'ct in the face when the young druid jumped in for a hug. Itassis quickly pinned him before he could take another swing at anyone else and Jake calmed down as he realized he was alive again.
Jake explained that wherever his soul had gone, the skeletal figure had followed him. It had looked more complete than before, closer to a whole corpse with a more complete skull and patches of skin, and revealed frayed threads coming off his body and did something to repair them, before trying to seize him and nearly doing so just before he returned to life. Villamax speculated the threads he saw were Threads of Fate, a metaphysical force that guided destiny controlled and maintained by The Raven Queen, Goddess of Fate & Death. He went on to explain Threads of Fate can be energized by a sufficient powerful entity (such as a deity, archfey, demon lord, and so forth) to make it harder to alter a creature's fate, though who or what would've done this to Jake and why remained a mystery. Leh'ct asked if any of the rest of them had the same condition. Villamax didn't know for sure, saying he'd have to conduct a complex ritual he didn't have the ingredients for to see Threads of Fate temporarily, but that it wasn't unheard of for groups of adventurers to be chosen by deities for greater things.

The Spire Ravaged

Two days later, the Grinning Widow and orog ships came within sight of the Deep Spire. The settlement was on high alert, lights in the water and air surrounding the place. In the lights, they could see that the western side of the Spire was heavily damaged. Lord Varl looked through his telescope and stated he believed the damage was done by cannons, though he wasn't sure how ship-mounted cannons could have been angled to land so many successful shots up on the upper levels. He took the first boat in alongside the adventurers, parting ways with them at the docks to find Matron Mother Ysri and learn just what had happened here.
As the adventurers walked the docks, a Sword Dancer called out to them and stated the Matron Mother wanted to see 'you' right away. Leh'ct responded an affirmative, but the Sword Dancer shook her head and stated, "Not you. You." She pointed at Ban. The group made their way up and got a first-hand look at the devastation. The entire western side of the spire was heavily damaged; Kardik and Berea's forge destroyed, Ladia Ashpyre's mushroom farm damaged, and countless homes destroyed.
Ban moved ahead quickly, not realizing at first his comrades had stopped to help people in need behind them. He waited for them to catch up and made their way to the top level of the Spire, where Ysri was treating the wounded in a makeshift clinic. Lord Varl was already there, and Ysri didn't address them at first as she finished casting a spell to regrow the arm of an injured orog. When she turned to the adventurers, she very angrily asked why someone who looked near-identical to Ban had been on the airship that had attacked the Deep Spire. Ban immediately figured out that she was referring to the Light Gundam, though why it had been involved remained unknown. He also found it curious that the airship had been armed with cannons rather than energy weapons like the drones.
Ysri's anger was lessened (somewhat) when Lord Varl mentioned they'd only known to return to the Spire quickly because Ban had taken prisoners. Ban and Lord Varl filled the Matron Mother in on what they'd learned and she ordered two Sword Dancers to take the heads Ban had collected to the priestesses of Eilistraee for immediate interrogation. Though still seething, Ysri agreed that attempting to parley with the Deepking was an idea that held merit. She and Lord Varl would draft a missive the adventurers would deliver to Cinderfolk Foundry to open negotiations while they remained at the Deep Spire to reorganize their people. For the sake of stopping the monstrous Light Gundam, Ban stated he would assist in resolving this matter and start by showing them how to better implement anti-air defenses. He asked Leh'ct to come assist him and left to get what work he could accomplished before they set sail.

Cinderfolk Foundry

Opening Negotiations

The Grinning Widow set sail the next day, beginning its five day journey to Cinderfolk Foundry. Along the way, Jake took the rest of the adventurers down into the cargo hold and revealed he'd stashed a chest half filled with gold bars down there, given to him by Lord Varl for the group's actions during the Conclave of the Fleet. They divvied up the loot and enjoyed the R&R of the peaceful trip to their destination, thankfully free of sea monsters, pirates, and other such interruptions.
They arrived to see the dock was not large enough to accommodate their ship and opted to take the rowboat in instead. The doors to the foundry were shut, though a voice from one of several murder holes asked them what their business was. They explained about the letter they were sent to deliver, after convincing the disbelieving door guard and his sergeant that their wild story was true. Upon learning it would take roughly three weeks for the letter to get to Brazenthrone and a response to return here, they debated going to the duergar city themselves. But seeing as that wouldn't expedite the process, they instead opted to have Leh'ct send an animal messenger back to the Deep Spire and await a reply from that.
In the meantime, Elycia asked about the goods available for purchase at the outpost in hopes of finding some adamantine armor, or bars or ore that could be used to make some later. She alluded to needing to discuss a "private" question with the smith who would be adjusting a pre-made set of armor to her size in order to speak to him alone about repairing the Crown of Auldbearn. She spoke in hypotheticals to avoid admitting they already had the crown, though the smith didn't fall for the act. Nonetheless, he didn't seem to harbor any ill intentions regarding it and informed her they didn't have the facilities to fix such a magic item here. For that, the adventurers would need to go to Brazenthrone where dragonfire forges could be used for such a task.
She thanked him and left payment with the sergeant for an adamantine breastplate, returning to tell the party it'd be about a day's wait for her purchase and what she'd learned regarding the crown. They returned to the Grinning Widow to await a reply from the Deep Spire and for Elycia's armor to be finished. That evening, as they were killing time on the ship's deck, Jake noticed figures moving around in the glow of the magma flow by the upper level of the foundry. They appeared smaller than dwarves and a quick look through Ban's spyglass revealed them to be kobold vipers. This raised a flag with the adventurers and they started making their way over to the foundry to investigate.

Surprise Attack

Elycia yelled at the slightly drunk gate guard that people were sneaking into the foundry and he sounded an alarm. While the others dealt with the situation there, Ban flew around and found a small boat that seemed to belong to the kobold vipers. It contained provisions, rope, and a crude map of this part of the Black Loch with a big X marking Cinderfolk Foundry's location. Taking the map as evidence, he threw a grenade in the boat and started flying back to the foundry to assist his comrades when he heard an explosion.
It seemed the kobolds has planted explosives near the carefully moderated lava flow the duergar used for forging, causing lava to surge forward. The increased lava flow has agitated blistercoil weirds, elementals made of water-cooled magma, which attacked the party. Ban flew in throwing grenades and burst firing his rifle as a large group of them swarmed over Jake and Elycia. As he moved forward, he noticed a shimmer in the air that was quickly replaced by a beam of light as the Light Gundam revealed itself and shot him with its energy rifle. It greeted him coldly and flew off, hinting that Ban would have to follow it if he wanted to engage. Ban took the bait and pursued, leaving his friends to deal with the lava creatures as he chased the Light Gundam across the Black Loch.
Using his tech to create an energy construct that replicated an owl, Ban managed to track the faster Light Gundam. It fled to the Nail, an isle to the southwest of the larger one where he and his comrades had fought in the Battle of Skatha's Rest. 100 feet up a cliff, the rock face opened up into multiple tunnels leading into the island's interior. Ban took note of which tunnel the Light Gundam picked and sent his owl construct back to inform his traveling companions that he intended to go in with or without them, though he would wait for them while making preparations for his assault. They arrived an hour later (Elycia having polymorphed into a giant swam carrying a rowboat containing the others) and they flew up to the cliffside, knowing the Light Gundam was inside and expecting them.

The Light Gundam's Lair

Walking into the Trap

While this was most definitely a trap, forward was the only way to go if Ban wished to stop the monster he'd helped create. Leh'ct conjured a crab to do some scouting, though it didn't make it far before the adventures heard the whine of a sonic disruptor a split second before the crab vanished. Ban headed down the same tunnel, the very one the Light Gundam had gone down an hour earlier, and activated his scanners as he crossed the threshold. Unfortunately, this proved to be a bit too late as he noticed he (and the crab) has already walked through an infrared alarm and in front of a concealed security camera. Ban shot and disabled both devices before walking onto a concealed trap that released a puff of poison gas at him, though thankfully his systems filters were able to render most of it harmless.
He continued forward until he heard the charge of sonic disruptors on either side of him, multiple drones revealing themselves and attacking. While he and his companions dealt with these initial attackers easily, several others approached them from the rear and targeted Jake (who was further back than anyone else). These enemies were also defeated without much difficulty, but once they were destroyed the Light Gundam's voice echoed throughout the tunnels from a loudspeaker somewhere further in. It welcomed the adventurers and bade them to come in further and continue its "test". Ban noticed some sort of glyph concealed near the end of the tunnel, though poking and prodding didn't seem to make it do anything. Flying over it, Ban spotted more drones and attempted to lure them back towards his comrades as they opened fire.
Instead, the drones began to open fire on the ceiling where the tunnel opened into a wider cavern. It began to collapse, blocking the way forward with a rock slide. Though the drones did manage to block off the tunnel, Ban quickly cleared their makeshift barricade with two well placed sticks of dynamite while Elycia distracted the drones on the other side. The adventurers soon defeated this group of drones as they had the first, though how many more were still between them and the Light Gundam remained unknown.

Getting Worn Down

The answer to that question turned out to be "many" as each new room brought with it traps and drones that gradually wore down the adventurer’s vitality and resources. They noticed a room ahead contained a giant machine of some sort, which was evidently important as several drones self-destructed to collapse the tunnel leading to it. The adventurers were forced to return to the entrance and try another tunnel, this one leading back into the machine room. It seemed to be a production facility as the machine whirred, gears spinning, as it spat out new drones that fought to defend it. Once that threat dealt with, the adventurers continued to explore and found several duergar all dead from self-inflicted cyanide poisoning. Taking time to examine the bodies, Leh’ct found additional cyanide tablets in their pockets and took them for his poison research.
Deeper inside, the group noticed a trap in a doorway just before Leh’ct stepped on it. Ban used his tech to replicate a mouse and threw it onto the trap to trigger it. Unfortunately, they were not far enough away to avoid its effects and both Ban and Leh’ct were affected by faerie fire. With the trap now clear, Leh’ct moved to enter to the room to see the Light Gundam waiting and raising its weapon. Despite being unable to speak his spellcasting in animal form, he nonetheless tried to teleport to safety in his moment of panic. His efforts somehow resonated with the local faerzress and he exploded into a cloud of moths, though this was no mere teleportation. The wild magic caused him to swap places with K, temporarily sending Leh’ct into the Ethereal Plane while K appeared in the Material Plane to help fight the Light Gundam.

The Light Gundam's Last Stand

The Light Gundam wasted no time in targetting Ban, knocking him down with a rod made of adamantine and damaging his systems near-critically. Elycia used her Xorn-Sole Boots to move through the walls, keeping herself out of harms way as she popped out on occasion to keep her allies up with her healing magic and strike at the Light Gundam with her spear. With her healing magic empowering his self-repair functions, Ban worked to provide fire support for his allies. However, the Light Gundam was often quick to knock him back down as quickly as he could get back up, seemingly not finishing him only to avoid being caught in Ban's self-destruct system.
After the Light Gundam killed Jake with a fatal blow to the head, K managed to keep it distracted and skillfully dodged one attack after another give give Ban and Elycia the opening they needed. It was Elycia who took that opening, jumping in with her spear forward when the time was right to impale the metal monster and take it down.
As the cockpit ejected and Ban recovered it to rescue Haz, K noticed a small, purple metal ball also fall from the wreckage. It sprouted legs and began to skamper away; Ban yelled at K that that was the Gundam Core, the real villain that had controlled the Light Gundam as a shell. K was able to swiftly to impale it with his rapier, ending its threat once and for all.

Quick Scare & Escape

Due to the Light Gundam's destruction, ownership of its lead drone (the bird-like Squawk) shifted to Ban. It seemed that in the event of its destruction, the Light Gundam still wanted its weapon designs to make their way to the Miniature Giant Space Hamster Empire. Squawk gathered valuable materials for the adventurers while they caught their breath before confirming Ban's theory that the facility was rigged to self-destruct if necessary. While bringing the valuables, Squawk stated it was unable to retrieve the faerzress crystals because "another visitor" was already collecting them.
Equal parts curious and cautious, Ban instructed Squawk to lead the adventurers to where this was happening. As the group rounded a corner, they saw the drones they'd defeated in the production room having been split open and crystals removed. Though Ban didn't recognize the person, Leh’ct and Jake seemed to as the blood drained from their faces at the sight of her, the murderous woman from the Deep Spire infirmary. She oozed confidence as much as maliciousness, just as in their previous encounter, but made no immediate moves to attack the adventurers. Though she did comment she still wished to add Leh’ct’s head to her collection and expressed a new interest in taking Elycia's as well, for her unique rabbit ears.
The woman also took the opportunity to properly introduce herself as "Santaura; a collector, a hobbyist, butcher, baker, nightmare maker." Despite seeming as unhinged as a door no longer attached to the frame, Santaura appeared willing to let the party pass without attacking them. Though as they continued back towards their rowboat, Elycia and the others could hear her heels clicking on the stone floor behind them and the scraping of her axe against the walls. Wanting to definitely not get into a scuffle with this woman right now, if ever, Leh’ct used his magic to seal up the tunnel behind them with a wall of dirt.
The party hopped back into the boat to get away from the island as quick as they could, rendezvousing back with the Grinning Widow (which had caught up due to some form of magic Villamax had cast on the ship to make it faster in short bursts). Once the ship was far enough from the island, Ban instructed Squawk to detonate the nuclear self-destruct system. For a brief moment, the whole of the Black Loch was illuminated by the blast as the Grinning Widow rode the wave it created back towards Cinderfolk Foundry. All the while, Ban and the others doubtfully wondered whether Santaura had been killed off by that blast.
Once a heartfelt reunion with Haz was complete, Ban was quickly able to tell his brother was suffering from malnourishment and dehydration as a result of his imprisonment. Their mission now complete and Haz needing a full medical evaluation, he bid his fellow adventurers goodbye and turned for home. After making them swear to take everything they knew about him and the Miniature Giant Space Hamster Empire to the grave to avoid getting Nexus obliterated by orbital bombardment. And thus the brothers returned home with hopes that the successful resolution of this situation and new tech blueprints they were bringing back would be enough to save them from punishment for causing this incident in the first place.

Related Plots

• Campaign 05: Uncovering the Underdark

Magic Items
Beak Trinket (Ostrich OoPA)
Cuff of Captions
Ear Trinket (Ostrich OoPA)
Earring of Message
Goggles of Night
Religion
Myzi, the Mouse King
Unique Equipment
Fragmentation Grenade (4/day manufacture; storage space for 4 on self)
Unique Feats
Against All Odds
Tempered Explosive Failsafe