Session 18 : The Eye of the Beholder
General Summary
As the group rise from their most recent short rest they hear the cackle of a Beholder as it appears from the doorway they entered from blocking their escape and slowly makes its way into the room. The group stand ready for a fight and in the distance they notice Rourke appear just behind it trying to hide in the doorway. Astraea quickly casts haste on both Rourke and Hanurak just as the beholder fires two rays at Hanurak, he manages to dodge the first but the second catches him as he dodges dropping him to the floor instantly. Another ray flies out just missing Twig as his cat like reflexes kick in and he deftly jumps out of the way.
Still in the the cover of the doorway Rourke rolls two grenades into the room directly under the beholder which a moment later explode causing the beholder to scream in pain and fury. Realising their peril Twig quickly runs over and wakes Hanurak while the beholder in its fury starts draining Astraea's life force, Valanthe quickly casts a spell allowing Twig to become unhindered by any obstacles while Faen casts fly on Hanurak so he can reach the beholder floating in the air above them. Faen sends Triss his familiar to fly towards the many eyes creature as a distraction while the beholder seeing a half Orc flying into the air shoots a necrotic ray at Hanurak. Astraea quickly hides behind a nearby pillar moving herself closer to the beholder and away from the other spell casters so not all of them will be caught in its anti magic field.
Rourke shoots back with his pistols injuring the beholder while Hanurak, taking advantage of its distraction flies towards it and slashes away with his sword carving away parts of the aberration. Twig shoots his crossbow hitting one of the beholder's many eyes. When suddenly the room around them glows and Hanurak has been polymorphed again into an ineffectual mouse floating in front of the beholder. Valanthe quickly heals Faen while the beholder hits Astraea with another of its rays causing her joints to start seizing up. The air elemental moves in to attack Faen pummeling him against a nearby pillar, despite the pain he is crucially able to maintain the fly spell on Hanurak leaving him in fighting range.
Faen quickly dispels Hanurak's mouse form and downs a potion to heal while Triss moves closer to help Astraea.
Another ray flies from the eye of the beholder charming Hanurak while Astraea unleashes seven rays of scorching fire against it, skewering its body with three of them while the others miss Hanurak and strike against the back wall taking huge chunks out of the stonework.
The beholder tries to grab Hanurak and Rourke but both of them manage to shrug off the attack, however Astraea is hit with another ray and sees her hands start to turn to stone. Rourke shoots the beholder again while Hanurak, now free of the charm, slices away at the beholder with his greatsword while Twig continues shooting bolt after bolt from behind a nearby pillar. Valanthe again heals Faen while the runes on the floor glow once more and another air elemental appears with Valanthe and Faen again taking hits. This time it is too much for Faen to take and for a moment his concentration falters dropping Hanurak in a heartbeat to the ground who being the nimble Barbarian he is manages to land on his feet burying his sword in the flagstones besides him. Faen quickly casts a fireball now Hanurak is clear of the beholder and it screeches as the fire engulfs it and a sweet meaty smell fills the room. In its rage it fires a death beam but misses while Astraea fires two meteors hitting it and as she does the beholder turns to face her and its anti magic field activates making her free of the petrification spell but leaving her with no way to defend herself either. Rourke gets hit by another ray and is overcome by a terrible fear but manages to fight through it shooting the beholder again while Hanurak struggles to rise after the fall as a fatigue grips him from the haste spell's after effects. Twig again shoots the beholder and as he ducks back into cover a ray streams past him hitting Valanthe as he watches he sees the life drain from her as she falls to the ground, taking advantage of his distraction the air elemental hits him while its companion hits Faen who has also become trapped by tendrils of black energy that have appeared from the wall, channeling the last of his energy he manages to Misty Step away and out of the reach of the Air Elemental.
Seeing her good friend fall Astraea sprints out of the anti magic field and with a roar of rage she fires immolation from her hand watching as the flames engulf the creature in a bright halo of fire causing it to explode in chunks across the room.
Investigating further they also find a ferret and a monkey that are covered in runes and seem to have been experimented on. Given his hairy features the both animals takes an immediate shine to Hanurak the monkey climbs on his shoulder wrapping its tail around Hanuraks neck and using the papoose from earlier the ferret snuggles in and both look contented with their new master.
Twig quickly grabs the box and pops it into his bag of holding while Astraea finds a few spell scrolls for Faen to study. Rourke picks up a book on alchemy. Leaving the room Rourke is adamant he wants to blow the office up but they decide to see if they can leave first so going back through they enter the flame room and before anybody can move Rourke tells them all to stand still and do nothing a few moments pass and the flames wash over the force field around them protecting them.
Back in Orryn's original study they find Valanthe and Tarrius waiting for them so Astraea goes back to burn the study. He releases a fire bolt into the room but it is extinguished immediately, when she tells the others, Rourke hands her some grenades, muttering something about kiss. She throws both of them in to the study but they simply blink out of existence.
Studying the room again she senses a suppression spell similar to the one her father used on his library and she knows that none of them have strong enough magic yet to break it.
Going back again she tells everyone this and they all decide to leave Orryn's house by the front door this time. Back on the street they notice that there is no snow in the air and all the Crinklemas decorations have gone.
Grabbing a passerby Rourke asks the date and they discover they have lost 2 weeks while in Orryn's House of Horrors. Rushing back to the tavern they burst in and Saresh runs over relief clearly written all over her face. They all sit down for some food and drink and tell her and Alistair everything that has happened and what they found out about Orryn's plans. They learn from Saresh that Orryn and his army are only a few days away from Eidover. In an effort to help Alistair decides to go to Springfair to get the next orb piece or at least expedite the process. Suddenly a shrill voice rings out and Halin appears clearly happy to see everyone and hugs them all in turn except Rourke who eyes him warily.
While everyone else is busy Astraea contacts her sister Elanil Esalich through the dagger of Draco, they arrange to meet to open the Leodar's tomb together and Elanil goes on to say that they shouldn't have any trouble from the master of the thieves guild following some persuasive diplomacy on her part. Which Astraea thanks her for.
After a good night's rest Astraea wakes as she stretches, two red dragon wings emerge from her back plowing into the nearby table and nearly knocking Valanthe from her own bed. Pleased with this she heads down to breakfast with Valanthe who is amused to see her friends glee. After a hearty breakfast they head to the The Dragon's Hoard to see Samedi and give him some of the more useless artifacts they stole from Orryn's House.
Samedi greets them sat at his traditional table and him and Rourke, who Astraea notices seem to know each other, have a forced greeting while Faen hands over some clothes of mending and a pot of awakening. Samedi seems semi pleased but decides that the gifts will go some way towards settling their debt so reduces the outstanding amount from 50,000 to 5000 gold.
This infuriates both Rourke and Astraea as it is again a change in the deal made. Rourke walks up to Samedi and proposes they both step outside to see who is the fastest draw which prompts Samedi to smile wryly and advise Rourke not to be stupid. Astraea steps up next to Rourke and as she does so she extends both wings and Faen seeing an opportunity for some dramatics makes the light dim around them.
"You have changed the deal for the last time give us the key you promised or there will be another hypothetical burning, my friend." She says and Samedi with a more quizzical smile congratulates the group on a hard bargain and hands the key over which she takes and folding her wings away Rourke gives her a nod of approval as they leave.
Rourke sidles up to the bar and orders some food while handing over the more savoury parts of the beholder to Jourdain for a discount. Faen who is playing with the eyes to see if he can harness their power, sighs in frustration as all he gets is a little crackle of static electricity. As they look around and see no sign of Phineas an old lady approaches and says she overheard them talking about the old sea dog and says he has headed out for a long trip to explore the coast of the island of Oyo and will be away for a few months.
Thanking her for the information they head out and Astraea asks Faen to make a teleportation circle into Leodar's tomb and just as they are about to step through Elanil appears with a nod to Astraea they both head through with the others. Faen had water breathing on everyone as they were all expecting to appear in a water filled tunnel but instead it is completely dry with only the faintest hint of damp in the air. As they walk up they start to hear sounds of hammering and men talking.
"Hey guys isn't that Phineas over there?" He says, for a moment everyone is taken aback by the deception. In frustration Astraea walks over to the altar by the door and takes the soul dagger while reassuring Hanurak she won't use it on him like Faen and Thrisk did.
Meanwhile Twig sneaks up to Phineas and asks him what is going on. Phineas seems surprised to see the group and asks for their help in getting the door open. He calms their fears by telling them he is just looking for the glory and notoriety and that they can take any item they want from the tomb. Approaching the door Astraea makes Phineas and his men move away to the back of the room and Rourke keeps his fingers on the hammer of his six shooters while Faen studies the door which seems to be giving off a necromantic feel so they use the skeleton key from Lyfalia the sea hag. placing it carefully in the door. They wait a moment but nothing happens. Figuring that the runes above spoke of balance and Leodar's role with Gwyn Sunsword and his fight against the runemen armies at the Battle of Cuivie's Dread Valanthe casts one of her healing spells on the door, a further moment passes and the key disappears in the lock opening one of the locks.
The door shimmers and the runes above change talking of Leodar's life and their battle against Gorlath the Black Dread and the building of the the Dragon Tower in Eidover. The door feels hot to the touch so they try Chloe's key and Astraea casts frost magic on it causing the key to again disappear.
As the group enter they realise that Phineas and his gang are not with them. They turn to see Phineas' men heading down the other corridor and with a smile Phineas says "sorry my friends." And pulls a nearby lever opening the floor beneath the group into the darkness below...
Still in the the cover of the doorway Rourke rolls two grenades into the room directly under the beholder which a moment later explode causing the beholder to scream in pain and fury. Realising their peril Twig quickly runs over and wakes Hanurak while the beholder in its fury starts draining Astraea's life force, Valanthe quickly casts a spell allowing Twig to become unhindered by any obstacles while Faen casts fly on Hanurak so he can reach the beholder floating in the air above them. Faen sends Triss his familiar to fly towards the many eyes creature as a distraction while the beholder seeing a half Orc flying into the air shoots a necrotic ray at Hanurak. Astraea quickly hides behind a nearby pillar moving herself closer to the beholder and away from the other spell casters so not all of them will be caught in its anti magic field.
The beholder attacks
Finding the location of the grenade thrower the beholder strikes at Rourke who manages to fight off the charm ray while Hanurak uses his rage to conquer the fear that sweeps over him from the creature. Suddenly two runes glow on the walls of the room they are in and 2 air elementals appear one close to Valanthe and Twig, the other next to Faen.Rourke shoots back with his pistols injuring the beholder while Hanurak, taking advantage of its distraction flies towards it and slashes away with his sword carving away parts of the aberration. Twig shoots his crossbow hitting one of the beholder's many eyes. When suddenly the room around them glows and Hanurak has been polymorphed again into an ineffectual mouse floating in front of the beholder. Valanthe quickly heals Faen while the beholder hits Astraea with another of its rays causing her joints to start seizing up. The air elemental moves in to attack Faen pummeling him against a nearby pillar, despite the pain he is crucially able to maintain the fly spell on Hanurak leaving him in fighting range.
Faen quickly dispels Hanurak's mouse form and downs a potion to heal while Triss moves closer to help Astraea.
Another ray flies from the eye of the beholder charming Hanurak while Astraea unleashes seven rays of scorching fire against it, skewering its body with three of them while the others miss Hanurak and strike against the back wall taking huge chunks out of the stonework.
The beholder tries to grab Hanurak and Rourke but both of them manage to shrug off the attack, however Astraea is hit with another ray and sees her hands start to turn to stone. Rourke shoots the beholder again while Hanurak, now free of the charm, slices away at the beholder with his greatsword while Twig continues shooting bolt after bolt from behind a nearby pillar. Valanthe again heals Faen while the runes on the floor glow once more and another air elemental appears with Valanthe and Faen again taking hits. This time it is too much for Faen to take and for a moment his concentration falters dropping Hanurak in a heartbeat to the ground who being the nimble Barbarian he is manages to land on his feet burying his sword in the flagstones besides him. Faen quickly casts a fireball now Hanurak is clear of the beholder and it screeches as the fire engulfs it and a sweet meaty smell fills the room. In its rage it fires a death beam but misses while Astraea fires two meteors hitting it and as she does the beholder turns to face her and its anti magic field activates making her free of the petrification spell but leaving her with no way to defend herself either. Rourke gets hit by another ray and is overcome by a terrible fear but manages to fight through it shooting the beholder again while Hanurak struggles to rise after the fall as a fatigue grips him from the haste spell's after effects. Twig again shoots the beholder and as he ducks back into cover a ray streams past him hitting Valanthe as he watches he sees the life drain from her as she falls to the ground, taking advantage of his distraction the air elemental hits him while its companion hits Faen who has also become trapped by tendrils of black energy that have appeared from the wall, channeling the last of his energy he manages to Misty Step away and out of the reach of the Air Elemental.
Seeing her good friend fall Astraea sprints out of the anti magic field and with a roar of rage she fires immolation from her hand watching as the flames engulf the creature in a bright halo of fire causing it to explode in chunks across the room.
Astraea in Rage mode
Noticing Twig is in trouble Rourke emerges from his hiding spot and empties one of his revolvers into the air elemental but the young Tabaxi is hit hard and falls unconscious to the floor along with Faen. The other elemental hits Astraea who shoots rays of fire it causing it to evaporate like fog on a summers morning. Reloading quickly Rourke and Hanurak manage to finish off the final two.
As the group are catching their breath a figure appears in the doorway of the stairs turning to look they are greeted by the visage of Orryn Timbers eyeing the group. Smiling he strides confidently towards the centre of the room stopping just short of Rourke
"You're new?" He says turning towards the strangely dressed man. As Rourke goes to answer Orryn turns his head and notices Valanthe's fallen body he runs over to her and as he does his face morphs into Tarrius who falls to his knees in tears and cradles the young druid in his arms.
"What happened? why are you all here? Why is she here? she shouldn't be here." He weeps and Hanurak tells him what happened. A few minutes pass and visibly gathering himself he hands a paper over to Faen and Astraea who see it's a clue to the riddle of the room, as they study it Tarrias has Hanurak to move the four statues that are in the room so the light shining on them reflects onto Tarrius who stands at its centre holding a jewel which redirects the light into the nearby wall revealing a second, secret room. He motions everyone to follow him. Hanurak grabs Valanthe and carries her over his shoulder and with an unshed tear Tarrius promises to take her back to her father in the forest.
Orryn's Study
Entering the room they see that this appears to be Orryn's true study, His papers are strewn all over the walls and desk some connected with lines of yarn others seeming to have no connection. Astraea notices that that there are more pictures of Waterdeep, and the Statue in the fountain. Orryn seems to have collected eyewitness accounts from almost everyone who was there during the Night of the Flawed Dawn when Shango attacked the city.
Rourke notices books and books of writing on the Iskelion invasion and Faen hears Cuivie saying that he sees a lot of writings about a ritual that he discovered while travelling in the Sennar Republic on the coast of the Pearl Sea that originally banished Ma'lak the god of the Fire Elementals from the material plane.Investigating further they also find a ferret and a monkey that are covered in runes and seem to have been experimented on. Given his hairy features the both animals takes an immediate shine to Hanurak the monkey climbs on his shoulder wrapping its tail around Hanuraks neck and using the papoose from earlier the ferret snuggles in and both look contented with their new master.
Astraea finds a simple wooden box in the desk drawer that seems to have been carefully hidden, gingerly opening it she finds a deck of cards. Immediately Hanurak draws two, one of which increases his abilities and the other grants him one wish, looking at Tarrius, he smiles and instantly Valanthe takes a huge breath and seeing she is slung over Hanurak's shoulder starts yelling at him to put her down.
As he does she notices Tarrius and with a stunned look he runs over and hugs her, they both excuse themselves and go back through the dungeon to have a catch up while the others decide what to do next.
As he does she notices Tarrius and with a stunned look he runs over and hugs her, they both excuse themselves and go back through the dungeon to have a catch up while the others decide what to do next.
Studying the room again she senses a suppression spell similar to the one her father used on his library and she knows that none of them have strong enough magic yet to break it.
Going back again she tells everyone this and they all decide to leave Orryn's house by the front door this time. Back on the street they notice that there is no snow in the air and all the Crinklemas decorations have gone.
Grabbing a passerby Rourke asks the date and they discover they have lost 2 weeks while in Orryn's House of Horrors. Rushing back to the tavern they burst in and Saresh runs over relief clearly written all over her face. They all sit down for some food and drink and tell her and Alistair everything that has happened and what they found out about Orryn's plans. They learn from Saresh that Orryn and his army are only a few days away from Eidover. In an effort to help Alistair decides to go to Springfair to get the next orb piece or at least expedite the process. Suddenly a shrill voice rings out and Halin appears clearly happy to see everyone and hugs them all in turn except Rourke who eyes him warily.
Halin seeing Rourke's gun grabs one and takes a seat studying it intently. Rourke makes a grab for it but hearing the Gnome muttering about improvements he takes a seat next to him and they spend the next hour or so talking about things they can do to make it better. After tinkering with the bullets a little, Halin suggests they take it for some tests. Saresh shows them their shooting range and Rourke is pleased by the work Hallin has done, the gnome informs him that the ammunition should have no problems against magical creatures and should pack an extra punch but he'll need time to make more.
Halin hard at work
"You have changed the deal for the last time give us the key you promised or there will be another hypothetical burning, my friend." She says and Samedi with a more quizzical smile congratulates the group on a hard bargain and hands the key over which she takes and folding her wings away Rourke gives her a nod of approval as they leave.
Nine Hells Pantry
Deciding to head to the Nine Hells Pantry to see if they can find Sir Phineas Cursed for a ride to the tomb they see the usual hustle and bustle of the harbour. In the restaurant the brothers are still arguing over how best to prepare Owlbear. Rourke sidles up to the bar and orders some food while handing over the more savoury parts of the beholder to Jourdain for a discount. Faen who is playing with the eyes to see if he can harness their power, sighs in frustration as all he gets is a little crackle of static electricity. As they look around and see no sign of Phineas an old lady approaches and says she overheard them talking about the old sea dog and says he has headed out for a long trip to explore the coast of the island of Oyo and will be away for a few months.
Thanking her for the information they head out and Astraea asks Faen to make a teleportation circle into Leodar's tomb and just as they are about to step through Elanil appears with a nod to Astraea they both head through with the others. Faen had water breathing on everyone as they were all expecting to appear in a water filled tunnel but instead it is completely dry with only the faintest hint of damp in the air. As they walk up they start to hear sounds of hammering and men talking.
Leodar's Tomb
Entering the tomb everything is as they left it and seeing the group of men hammering away at the tomb door they can see its not budging no matter how hard they try. Hanurak points to a very flamboyantly dressed man who seems to be directing the group"Hey guys isn't that Phineas over there?" He says, for a moment everyone is taken aback by the deception. In frustration Astraea walks over to the altar by the door and takes the soul dagger while reassuring Hanurak she won't use it on him like Faen and Thrisk did.
Meanwhile Twig sneaks up to Phineas and asks him what is going on. Phineas seems surprised to see the group and asks for their help in getting the door open. He calms their fears by telling them he is just looking for the glory and notoriety and that they can take any item they want from the tomb. Approaching the door Astraea makes Phineas and his men move away to the back of the room and Rourke keeps his fingers on the hammer of his six shooters while Faen studies the door which seems to be giving off a necromantic feel so they use the skeleton key from Lyfalia the sea hag. placing it carefully in the door. They wait a moment but nothing happens. Figuring that the runes above spoke of balance and Leodar's role with Gwyn Sunsword and his fight against the runemen armies at the Battle of Cuivie's Dread Valanthe casts one of her healing spells on the door, a further moment passes and the key disappears in the lock opening one of the locks.
The door shimmers and the runes above change talking of Leodar's life and their battle against Gorlath the Black Dread and the building of the the Dragon Tower in Eidover. The door feels hot to the touch so they try Chloe's key and Astraea casts frost magic on it causing the key to again disappear.
Death of Gorlath
The runes on the door shimmer one last time telling the story of Leodar's final battle on the ice of the Morinnan Basin so using the same logic and the last key Astraea casts fire magic and the door opens onto a small room lit by candles with a corridor leading off. As the group enter they realise that Phineas and his gang are not with them. They turn to see Phineas' men heading down the other corridor and with a smile Phineas says "sorry my friends." And pulls a nearby lever opening the floor beneath the group into the darkness below...
Session 18 Audio
Report Date
27 Jan 2019
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