Session 61: Nithrithvinae nith-rith-VIN-æ Tombs part 3 Report

General Summary

Session 61 – Wednesday December 6, 2023 – Nithrithvinae tombs (nith-rith-VIN-æ) part 3.

4-hour exploration / battle session 6;00 PM to 10:00 PM

The Stone Bearers. Party of 6

It is the 16th day of the month of Nightal (The Drawing Down) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Mid December.)

• Abrash – Wood (Desert) Elf, L10 Druid – Jacob Munson (Remote)
• Ajani– High Elf, L10 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda
• Gazlowe – Goblin, L10 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi
• Cassidy – Human, L10 Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Isabella – Forest Gnome, L10 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
• Juan Peyote – Gnome L10 Paladin – Will Johnson

WillEEam of house Moshni and the Orb of Dragonkind

Gregory’ took the party to Will-EE-am. They found that WillEEam had be visited by Niptu and took his Orb of Dragonkind. The orb also contains the essence of a dragon and only one strong in force of personality can resist being charmed by the orb and doing its bidding. In addition to having several features including the ability to compel dragons to come to you, this one also grants the following:

• Resistant to fire
• Can cast fire ball as an action. (Roll a D6, on 1-5, can't do it again until dawn.)
• While attuned to the artifact, you have disadvantage on saving throws against spells.
• While attuned you are Vulnerable to all damage.

WillEEam told Gregory that he believes Niptu is going to give the Orb to Zenith Aastrika. Gergory’ explained that she is the head of the Sunlight Legion of Fire Giants, an elite band of Fire Giants in the Star Mounts. WillEEam told the party that there are several dragons in the Star Mounts but the two most powerful are 1. Imvaernarho: An ancient red dragon that keeps several lairs among the peaks but has hewn a massive complex near the peak of Mt Angaroth. And 2. Onskarrarrd: An old deep dragon that has taken over the abandoned elven city of Othrilaenthor.
WillEEam told the party that it would be best to sneak into the Fire giant lair under the Star Mounts and destroy the Orb. He told the party that a simple disintegrate spell will destroy the orb. The party said they couldn’t do that yet, so he gave them his “Forget-me stick” (a +3 magical club.) He also gave them a rough sketch of the entrance to the Magma tunnels under the star mount and an approximate path that should lead to The Fire Giant Sunlight Legion lair. He told them that these Fire Giants do nothing hastily. Whatever they do with the orb will be well planned.
WillEEam warned the party, “If Niptu is teaching the Giants Magic and Niptu had the ability to charm me and compel me to do something I did not want, he could teach that to the Fire Giants.” How they would use that with the Dragons however he did not know.

A Death Knight

The party took a short rest and then then went to find a few more Baelnorns. As they walked down a hall, a Death Knight on Patrol rounded a corner, spotted them and pulled his sword. Isabella ran up and couldn’t land a blow. Juan rode Bird to the Knight and Bird made a critical hit. Then Juan made 2 back-to-back critical hits and smote both times, leaving the death knight badly bloody. The Death Knight teleported 15 feet away and threw a Hellfire orb at Isabella, Bird and Juan. Bird was instantly destroyed, and Juan and Isabella were hurt. The Death Knight retreated around a corner into the shadows. Gazlowe double dashed up to the Death Knight and stood behind him. The Death Knight used a legendary action to slash at Gazlowe.
Cassidy, Isabella and Juan ran close to the Death Knight. The Death Knight cast destructive wave and wounded them with thunder and radiant damage. The party all had a tough time landing a blow on the Death Knight and Isabella was getting frustrated. In the whole round only Gazlowe landed a single punch. The Death Knight cast Destructive wave again badly hurting Gazlowe and knocking out Cassidy and Juan. Abrash hit him with a guiding bolt and then a Stary Mote directly in the center of his chest blowing a hole through the center of the armor and killing the Death Knight.
Gazlowe healed Juan and Isabella healed Cassidy. Abrash heard the sounds of some sort of spirits heading in their direction. The party had to go in that direction, so they stayed and prepared for a wave of hostile spirits. Abrash cast healing spirit for Juan and Cassidy and gave Cassidy a bit more healing. Gazlowe turned away from Isabella and secretly downed a potion of greater healing. Isabella threw a splash potion at Juan. Juan blessed Gazlowe, Cassidy and Isabella.

Banshees

Cassidy tried to intimidate the five approaching Banshees, but they were not intimidated. The first Banshee (a grey one) cursed Gazlowe. Gazlowe shot a lightning bolt at the remaining 4 but they were resistant. Cassidy bloodied one of the Banshees. A Banshee (with big hands) cursed Cassidy. Abrash shot a guiding bolt at one of the Banshees leaving it very badly bloodied. He then shot a stary mote at it and destroyed it. The light blue Banshee cursed Abrash. Ajani cast gravity sinkhole into the center of the 4 remaining Banshees. 2 of them avoided a bit of the damage and one of them was brought close to death.
Isabella slashed into another and brought it close to death. The Grey one (That cursed Gazlowe) screamed and but didn’t kill Gazlowe, although it hurt Ajani and Abrash. Gazlowe stepped in the middle of all 4 Banshee’s and cast Thunder Wave. As they were blown back, they all tried to curse Gazlowe but only one of them (the light blue one) was able to curse him. Cassidy killed the green one and it let out a horrific Baleful Wail. Abrash suffered some psychic damage from it. Cassidy then walked into a wall to avoid hearing the Banshees. The Big Grey one came out of the wall, and it wailed, psychically hurting Ajani.
Abrash shot a guiding bolt at the light blue one and it wailed. Fortunately, Gazlowe did resisted the pain of the scream, but Abrash did not and he fell unconscious. Ajani walked up to Abrash and sprayed a splash potion on each of them, splitting the healing between them and bringing Abrash back to consciousness. Ajani took some blood antimoniumumumum and cut it and then cast a slashing firebolt at the big handed Banshee. Isabella then killed it with her axe. It wailed as it died and fortunately Cassidy couldn’t hear it in the wall. Ajani did take some psychic damage.
The last Banshee came out of the wall and tried to curse Isabella but failed. Gazlowe walked up to the Banshee that cursed him and punched it twice. Juan hit the Banshee twice and then Abrash finished it off with a Firebolt. Cassidy cursed the creature so it would take full damage. The creature let out a Baleful wail. Cassidy was about to succumb to the wail, but Gazlowe had a flash of genius and helped him out. Ajani however was not as successful, and he fell unconscious.

Will’iam of house Dag – The Nether Scrolls are missing.

The door was cracked open and Will'iam sat on the floor upright against a bookshelf. His eyes and mouth were wide open. His right arm was outstretched and pointing to a bookshelf on the opposite wall where there was an opening. A scroll shaped secret compartment had been emptied. There were plenty of books, many ancient, many looked more like journals dating back about 8 thousand years. The party took a short rest while they searched for the book “The Nether scrolls for Dummies.” Cassidy examined the body and determined that he was truly dead and his soul was removed.

The Nether Scrolls.

They learned that the Nether Scrolls were an ancient set of small scrolls that described fundamental magical theory. Each scroll was made of a precious metal, namely gold or platinum, made flexible like paper with silvery letters floating upon the surface. Each time a page was read, new knowledge appeared, allowing the scroll to contain more information than the small size should have allowed. It would take eight hours of study a day, for three tendays in order to even begin to comprehend the contents of a single scroll. When a reader gained sufficient understanding, re-reading the scrolls provided additional knowledge and information. There did not seem to be any limit to the amount of information one scroll could contain.
An adventurer from Netheril known only as Finder, uncovered the scrolls among the ruins of Aryvandaar, a fallen sun elven empire. These elves, however, had not dared to use the power of the scrolls themselves. After the discovery, the Netherese started to base their magic on the scrolls' theory, instead of the elves' for the elves’ magic followed inferior standards. After the discovery of the Nether Scrolls, the arcane might of Netheril increased immeasurably. They learnt to craft mythallar and utilized that magical technology to create the fantastic flying cities of their empire, exceeding the power of their former magical mentors, the elves of Eaerlann. This newfound power only lasted for the short duration before the empire's fall, due to the catastrophe of Karsus's Folly.

We’re so screwed.

Cassidy was concerned with the powerful magic that could destroy a Baelnorn’s soul. Ajani knew enough about liches and Baelnorns to know they probably store their souls and a secret object and that object can be destroyed. Gazlowe was concerned that Niptu is already a powerful wizard and he’s getting more powerful items that could basically make him a god. The party agreed that the need to make allies and get the elves to unite. The party completed their short rest and then went to visit at least one more Baelnorn.

Timo’thy of house Peshjo (PESH-jo)

The party make their way to the crypts of house Peshjo and the Baelnorn TimO’thy. He greeted them politely and the party told him who they were and what was going on. Timo’thy was bothered by the death of his cousins and told them that Niptu was there and magically compelled him to divulge information. Specifically, that the Nether scrolls held by Will’iam contain the secrets of the Mythallar. The party asked for information about the Mythallar and Timo’thy explained.

The Mythallar

The Mythallar were a Netherese device that looked like a 150' diameter crystal ball that allowed the Netereese to access vast amounts of raw magic. It allowed them to create magical devices without draining life force and allowed them to create floating cities.
History records the first Mythallar was created by Ioulaum, about -4,500 AOE. Within about 50 years the Netheese were able to use it to raise the city of Xinlenal and they called it an Enclave. Within another 150 years they had the ability to reproduce the Mythallars rather quickly and were were raising a new enclave each year.
The Mythallar itself shed very bright light, similar to a disk of the sun but with some shadows and shapes moving across its surface. A very special magical stand is needed to hold the Mythallar in place. Because it distigrates anything object that touches it, creatures that touch it are instantly killed, even undead. In theory it could have been a very powerful weapon, but there is no history of it ever being used as such.
Xolund the Maker, High Arcanist of Sakkor, is said to have improved on mythallar design by infusing his enclave's mythallar with a rudimentary sentience, giving it self-awareness and also increasing the mythallar's powers. This was controversial and caused disagreement amongst the empire's arcanists. The "sentient" Mythallar could direct or withhold its magical power as instructed. Instead of powering all items in its proximity, it could focus all its power on a single item, on none, or on many. Some report that it could even block magic not originating from iteself. But Karsus’s folly and the fall of the empire prevented any further effort of duplicating Xolund's feat, making Sakkors' mythallar one of a kind. Sakkors fell into the sea of stars almost 2,000 years ago, 1,882 years to be exact.
A mythallar could be destroyed by a disintegrate spell as happened to the enclave of Tanathras in −2140 AOE.

Karsus’s folly

They party asked for more details about Karsus’s folly and the fall of the Neterese empire and Timo’thy explained:
After decades of a magical war with powerful aberrations called the Phaerimm, the High mage Ioulaum secretly went away to learn more magical secrets. When Ioulaum suddenly disappeared, panic surged through Netheril. Karsus, feeling the responsibility for Netheril's future on his shoulders, felt that it was his duty to weld the nation back together. Therefore, he tried to wrest the mantle of divinity from the goddess of magic, Mystryl using the spell Karsus's avatar. Immediately after he cast the spell, his body swelled with the sudden influx of godly power, and his mind filled with unimaginable knowledge. He instantly realized the horrible mistake he had made.
The spell caused a disruption to the weave and to Mystryl and this caused all magic to briefly cease functioning. Without the magic, the floating cities of Netheril could not hold their positions in the skies, and most of them crashed to the ground. The archmage Karsus died when the link to Mystryl was cut, and his body was petrified. In the last moments of life, his stony eyes, still shimmering with the last glint of godly omniscience, caught a glimpse of the cities of Netheril smashing to the ground, killing all. His heart broke. Greed for the power of the deities themselves had caused the destruction of his home, his family, his friends, and his people.

How can we defeat a god?

The party realized that Niptu is gaining knowledge of even more magic to make him even more powerful. They asked Timo’thy what they should do. He suggested to stop him before he becomes more powerful, disrupt his plans, make allies. He suggested the Elves outside the forest, the Storm Giants and even the Humans. He mentioned that the Lord’s Alliance has built up a solid coalition with the Cities of the Sword coast.
The party mentioned the Green Knight and the Baelnorns agreed he’s a powerful ally and he should be followed up with. They also suggested Ogian. They told them to seek out the Druids of the Grandfather Tree and perhaps the Treants protecting Hellgate Keep. The party asked where all the villagers of Nithrithyinae could have gone. Having heard there were Fey’ri and Tanarukk involved, the Baelnorns suggested the region of the forest just northwest of the Star Mounts (only a few days walk from here) known as Dire Wood.
He also suggested that they tell Morgwais Nightmeadow. The party explained their current situation with her is rather tenuous. TimO’thy took out a piece of parchment and wrote something on it and then placed it in an envelope and sealed it. He told the party to give this to her and tell her it’s from the Sharrven Baelnorn TimO’thy.

Dire Wood

Long ago the area of Direwood was part of the Netheril empire. In -339 DR when the mage Karsus cast his terrible spell (Karsus’s Folly) his giant stone form landed in Direwood and the City of Karse was later built around him. Beware of The Lich Wulgreth. He is the ultimate power of this area. His minions keep a close eye on anyone foolish enough to intrude. Wulgreth will only personally engage the most powerful of adventurers but has a vast host of powerful undead minions at his command to deal with all others.
The Sharrven empire had 3 major cities there long ago in the north of the area where the Herartblood River flows east from the Star Mounts. Those three cities were all destroyed: Evaliir by dragons; Baerel was destroyed during a battle between the Fey’ri of house Dlardageth and Siluvanede warrior mages. (Legend has it that demons are summoned in rage if an elf passes through the ruins. and Lhuve was abandoned in -4263 AOE after the legendary battle of “The Slaughter of Sharrven”. 20,000 demons were slain there over a period of days. The evil chaos that seeped from them still infects the area.
And Karse itself was an Elven city but was abandoned after the fall of Ascalhorn and the Lich Wulgreth has made it his lair. Undead of all types hunt this region and Wulgreth has organized them into legions led by Deathknights protecting individual sectors of the Dire Wood.

Leaving the Tombs

TimO’thy provided the party with a selection of random treasure (See Treasure Found below) and then showed them the portal of emergency exit. The party thanked TimO’thy and walked through the portal and found themselves still inside the tombs but near the exit. They opened the door and exited into the cold night. It was 1AM. A couple inches of snow was on the ground. The area was clear of any enemies. Cassidy focused on the Fey’ri that he had branded earlier and sensed it was northwest in the direction of Dire Wood.
Gazlowe pulled out the sending stone to contact the Green Knight. Cassidy said, “Do you have any idea what time it is?” Gazlowe continued and said, “Stone Bearers here, Niptu kidnapped elder and stole from all the Baelnorns. Headed to Tanarukk camp. Also want meeting with red lady. Niptu very very bad.” The response was, “Meet me in Nithrithyinae.” Gazlowe noted that the voice of the response sounded off.
Ajani pulled out his prayer mat in the middle of the snow and lit his prayer candle and began to scry on the Green Knight. He saw the Green Knight with his arms spread out and his blood dripping from his neck. He could see that something was written above his head but couldn’t make out the words.

Rewards Granted

Treasure found:

From WillEEam of house Moji

• The “Forget-me stick” a +3 club. That can be used to destroy the Orb of Dragonkind.

From TimO’thy of house Pesjo

• A scroll of disintigartion.
• 5 superior healing potions
• 4 greater healing potions
• 9 splash potions of regular healing.
• Gazlowe – a potion of speed
• Ajani – a potion of invisibility
• Isabella – A Trident of Fish Command with 9 charges total.
• Cassidy - A Bottle of Universal solvant.
• Juan - Pearl of power with 5 uses.

Campaign

The Forest

Protagonists

Thomas Elliot

Abrash Asim

Chaotic Good Moon Wood Elf (Folk Hero)
Druid 1

9 / 9 HP

STR
7

DEX
10

CON
13

INT
8

WIS
19

CHA
14

Report Date

11 Dec 2023