Session 05: Battle at the Twilight Grove

The Sunless Citadel, Part 5

General Summary

This week found our adventurer's in the deepest depths of the Sunless Citadel, beginning their fifth straight day in the dungeon, away from the sun and the safety of the civilization. Even as the skills of the party continued to grow, each member of the group was plagued by strange dreams in the night. For some, it was dreams of difficult past events. For others, dreams of moments of comfort. But it was the cleric of Pelor who had the most unique dream of all, a strange vision during which Pelor spoke to him directly, imploring him to save "those lost ahead," if possible, and encouraging him that he was saved from goblin captivity for a reason.
Dreams or no, the party's rest was disturbed by the thunderous splintering of their impromptu rest-chamber's door. Balsag, Belak's bugbear hunter, bounded in with a roar, flanked by his two giant rat "hounds" on either side. Having not finished their rest, the party was low on resources but thrust into the fray nonetheless. To sleep in a dungeon is never a wholly safe proposition…
Despite the disturbance to their rest, Elrohir's cloud of daggers made quick work of the intruders, and the party was able to finish its long rest in relative peace.
In the "morning," the adventurers pushed forward deeper into the dungeon. They eventually stumbled upon a shrine of sorts: a large marble statue of a rearing red dragon and a glowing red tile in front of it. Confused about what purpose the tile might serve or how exactly it might be activated, Medran eventually half stepped, was half pushed onto the tile. As soon as he spoke the draconic script inscribed on the tile aloud, a magical fire covered him, but did not consume him. His tongue felt lightened, and he received a benefit to his Charisma for 24 hours. A magical gift indeed!
However, it was at this moment the party was attacked by a Shadow. It appeared in the center of their midst, but hardly got an attack off before being sent back to the nothingness from whence it came.
Still, the party pushed on, down a dark set of stairs and back up a matching set, following a long hallway, until stumbling (or more accurately breaking and entering) into Belak's study itself. Amidst the shrubs and saplings growing in the druid's retreat were many bookshelves and a large desk holding various notes and tomes. Most interesting amongst the found objects was a tome in draconic titled Treasures of the Fire Lords and a seemingly important, but coded, note. Medran was perplexed as he thumbed through the tome, as it appeared completely blank, until he turned to a page that held a large glyph. The glyph suddenly glowed bright and a shockwave of cold swept across the room, knocking out Frank and killing Medran's undead companion, Benjals. The party ultimately recovered with a short rest in the study, and pushed on into the Grove.
At the heart of the Twilight Grove, our adventurer's found the source of the many different threads that had pulled them forward through the dungeon, the Gulthias Tree, an evil tree, blackened, and withered like a writhing skeletal hand reaching out of the ground. In front of the Gulthias Tree stood its protector, Belak the Outcast, alongside the final two members of the missing adventuring party, Sharwyn Hucrele and Sir Braford, paladin of Pelor. Both had an odd grey pigmentation to their skin textured roughly like that of a tree's bark. They had been enslaved by the Gulthias Tree, claimed Belak, alongside the twig blights, which are the offspring of the Gulthias' fruit seeds. All were under his control.
A battle ensued, with Elrohir giving the first blow. In a moment of brilliant strategy, he cast sleep, knocking Sharwyn and Braford immediately out of the fray for a time. The battle slogged on, with twig blights, goblins, and Belak's pet giant frog, Kulket, joining the chaos. It appeared for a moment -- but only a moment -- that our adventurers might be outmatched…
While it was Elrohir who struck the first blow, it was Medran the dragonborn sorcerer who finished things. Flanking the enemy, two castings of burning hands put an end to Belak and the evil Gulthias Tree. All was saved, or at least almost all.
Sir Braford had been slain in the battle, and although the destruction of the tree freed the mind of Sharwyn, it also began the quick process of draining her life force. She informed the party of all she knew, that Belak was but a piece in a larger scheme, and stated she had but 24 hours left to live.
The party made their way back out of the Sunless Citadel, glad to put the gloomy place behind them, but also with heavy hearts for their inability to save everyone they had come hoping to rescue. They made a brief stop to chat with Yusdrayl, leader of the kobold tribe that was now taking full command of the citadel. She commended the party for their help but urged them to now "get the hell out." Apparently kobolds are not ones for pleasantries.
The party did just that and made their way to the surface. Climbing out of the ravine that housed the citadel's secret entrance, the party gazed out over the valley, the sun in its mid-afternoon descent towards twilight, and stood gazing at the beauty of the outside world. For some, it was their first time seeing the sun in nearly a week. For others, it had been months of captivity underground. But for all, it was a great, albeit brief, moment of respite before what was still likely a long journey left ahead.

Rewards Granted

Shatterspike

Missions/Quests Completed

Sunless Citadel

Character(s) interacted with

Balsag, Belak, Sharwyn Hucrele, Sir Braford, Yusdrayl

Report Date

16 Mar 2018