Zeke's Journal - Alturiak, 1492

Alturiak 3

We followed the Nimblewright detector to the Gralhund Manor. We heard fierce fighting within and charged forward to help. Running up the path, we were taken by surprise by a group of sentient shadows. We killed them off and went into the house. We took care of some Zhents we ran into downstairs, and went up the stairway. We came upon a battle between more Zhents and a group of liveried guards. We made short work of the Zhent thugs and we asked the guards if their lord and lady were okay. At first the lead guard refused to check and confirm they were okay, but upon Varock's insistence, they allowed us to check on their 'visitor'. Meanwhile, a guard was sent of for the City Watch and another went to search the grounds.
We went into the lord's antechamber and saw a man in black armor trying to kick down the door. He was quite disfigured, seemingly quite burnt - and Yor realized he matched the description of the Zhent who stole something from the gnome and escaped the fireball.
BATTLE Yor and Varock charged in to engage, and I Viciously Mocked him, albeit to little effect. Just then, the guards rushed toward the other door and Trigvi noticed that the Nimblewright was starting to ding a little fainter. Worried the Nim was escaping, he followed after the guards but wasn't able to get into the room.
Trig and Yor did something in the other room while Varock and I continued engaging the ruffian, who I recognized as Urtsal. We finally took him down. At that time, Trig walked by with a guard - who whispered to me, "It's Yor. I'll keep Trig safe". I checked Urtsal for the stone, which I didn't find, while Varock forced his way into the next room. As we stepped in, we found a room with some odd arcane writing in the corner and a birdcage. Also, behind the bed, we saw a dude with a rapier - shivering in terror. We learned he was Lord Orond Gralhund. His wife had gotten mixed up with the 'Black Network', though he didn't know about it until this night when the Zhents had attacked. Though he admitted that she had given her 'mechanical servant' a Necklace of Fireball but his mission had gone wrong. The mission - Secure the Stone of Golor. He seemed to truly know nothing of his wife's affairs, so we told him to come to us at the tavern as soon as he heard of the Automaton's whereabouts and to be safe. I made sure he knew we were the Deepwater Protocol.
As we left, Yor and Trig had sprinted off, searching for the Nimblewright. Unfortunately, they weren't able to keep the trail and lost him.
Varock and I went to speak to Lady Yalah Gralhund, who was being protected by her half-orc body guard and the guard Deacon. I was able to get her to give Varock a healing potion, which helped get him back. I inquired what else her 'mechanical servant' might be armed with, but she played ignorant. Seeing that there was nothing else to be done, Varock and I left the estate.
We met up at the Manor and spoke.
I left that evening and headed down to the Yawning Portal - looking to catch up on local news and say hey to my buddy. While there, the City Watch busted in and rounded up a slew of Zhentarim, including Yagra and her friend, Davil. They were rounded up for the events around Gralhund Manor. I spent the rest of the night drinking and stumbled home.
In the morning, over a particularly potent brew of coffee, we tried to come up with a game plan. We thought about staking out the house, but decided to split up. Yor and I went past the G. Manor (checking the Nimblewright rod but finding nothing) and continued on to the Waterdeep Wazoo. Inside, we saw a team of two - a human woman working the press and a human male writing notes to himself. I went in and introduced ourselves, and met Fayan Brightwater, and his daughter Tura Brightwater. While there, I ordered two copies (mostly daily) to be delivered to Furanto's Rest (5 sp / month). I told him Joby would handle the invoices. Then, we told him the juicy gossip - Lady Yalah was not just involved with the Zhents who attacked her manor, but she was directly responsible for it, as well as the explosion at the market. He assured us he'd keep us noted as anonymous sources. He said the story made sense based on what he'd heard, but he hadn't been able to connect the dots. We chatted a bit more, and made our way out - but not before inviting him to the Rest for a meal of spaghetti and meatballs on the house. Fayan seems like a good man, and I think this will prove a fruitful relationship.
Meanwhile, Trigvi and Varock went to the House of Inspired Hands to talk to Nim and see what he might know.
...[Notes Redacted]...
We tracked the Nimblewright down to an alley in the Dock Ward and snuck up. I began to cast Faerie Fire on him, to make sure he couldn't escape, but Yor got the jump on me and sprinted forward - pulling away the blanket that the creation was hiding under. I got my Faerie Fire off, but it didn't stick to the machine. Unnerved, I pulled around the corner to regroup. Meanwhile, Trigvi ran up and, through arcane means, attempted to communicate with it, but it merely charged him and nearly killed him. Varock, seeing his friend nearly killed, manifested a scorpiocore's tail and charged forward to protect him. Peering back around the corner, I saw him surrounded by my friends and cast Dissonant Whispers on him. He was terrified, and sprinted off down the alley - yet somehow managed to evade every attack my companions attempted.
Encouraged by the retreating machine, Trigvi charged forward and cast a spell. It failed however, and the construct charged Trigvi, landing a series of blade strikes. I could tell the second rapier plunge was about to finish him off, so I used by Cutting Words to reduce the damage. Unfortunately, the Nimblewright used its off-hand dagger to swipe at Trigvi. It was enough, and Trig collapsed unconscious. Varock rushed forward to avenge his fallen friend and critically struck. Yor, sizing up the situation, Enlarged Varock and then got between the Nimblewright and Trig. Thus protected, I cast Healing Word on Trig, and then dissed the robot - but missed the mark.
Having seen several of my friends miss their attacks, I tried to illuminate the target with another Faerie Fire, but missed AGAIN. Trying to do what I could, I encouraged Varock to greater levels. Then Trigvi - surprisingly - landed a successful Ray of Sickness. With several more missed attacked by my friends, I cast another Dissonant Whispers on the creation and, once again, it terrified it and it ran. Between the psychic damage I caused and the devastating crunch of Furanto's Justice (Varock's new hammer), the machine crumpled in on itself - utterly destroyed.
Upon searching its body, I found a map of the Dock Ward with an 'X' clearly marked on one of the docks, along with the name 'Grinda Garlock'. I pocketed the map and we took off, Varock carrying the body of the Nimblewright, toward the House of Inspired Hands.
We arrived and saw Violetta at her supervisor's stand and approach. We turned over the Nimblewright, filled her in on its recent activity, and took our reward (500 gp). Varock asked if he could see his friend Nim and was told that was probably not the best idea. I spoke to her briefly about trying to secure some ammunition for my pistol and then we set off. We decided to get dinner at The Sailor's Own, down near the 'X' on the map I'd found. It was off Tarnished Silver Alley, a very poor part of town. Trigvi was particularly excited, as the Sailor's Own is a well-known purveyor of Skordunfut, Surir Hrutspungar, and other Sommersdalian delicacies.
Trigvi excitedly ran ahead of us into the tavern, and picked a table for us. Once we were settled, he ran off to the bar and spoke to the barkeep. He ordered 1 of everything from the Moonshae Isles fare, and 4 large glasses of mead. I asked about the building at the end of Coin Alley (where the 'X' is). He said yeah, that's where Grinda Garboch had set up his area - he's a local adventurer for hire. We 'enjoyed' the very pungent dinner. It was very salted, and very fermented. Feeling a bit recovered after our battle, we decided to head down and explore Grinda's pier. Trigvi sent Skald Ör ahead of us to scout. While we waited for him to return, we saw in the distance an odd ramshackle of buildings, built around a ship that had crashed into the pier. Shortly, Skald Or returned, telling Trigvi that he had seen a dwarf and 4-5 humans trying to break down the door. We snuck down that way - although Yor made quite the racket tripping down. We saw 6 humans and a brawny dwarf knocking on the door, yelling "We know you have it, just give it to us and we'll go".
Varock and Yor strode out to speak to the men, but with Varock's 'diplomatic' ways, it was only a few moments before a fight had broken out. Hidden from the shadows, I cast Dissonant Whispers at the dwarf, Noska Ur'gray, but wasn't able to scare him much. Our front liners engaged these bandits, and suddenly a Merrow leapt out of the water and attacked Trigvi. Things quickly got out of hand
Varock busted down the door, and I went in. A woman, Grinda was in there who, before we said a word, yelled out, "I don't have it. I gave it to Losser Mirklav." Then she ran off into the back room and slammed the door. She wouldn't respond to our calls, so Varock, again, ripped off the door and we ran in. We didn't see her, but what we did see was a titanic mechanical creation that looked something like a giant scorpion. We were able to step in before she could escape through the Moonpool and began talking to her. We made nice with her, and she revealed that she had been hired by Lady Gralhund to take an artifact to the Xanathar Guild. She also shared that her submersible is named the Apparatus of Kwalish.
We went back home and, exhausted, fell into a deep sleep.

Alturiak 6

We woke up and made breakfast. I made some extra strong coffee in the Amnish Press and shared with Yor. We decided to go confront Losser. We had learned he is a necromancer and his lair is below the shop Dandymops. Trigvi wanted to go introduce himself and make a necromancer companion, however, Yor and I weren't so sure.
Background from Scott: The Stone of Golorr is a map to the mythical vault of ~500k GP that Renaer Neverember's father had hidden away when he was the Open Lord.
I went upstairs to grab my pistol and review my books. Then, we set off for Dandymops, right next to the Gentle Rest, in the Trades Ward. On our way, Trigvi messaged me that we were being followed by Gazer. It was difficult to coordinate all of us through Trig's whisper, but we made do. We decided to pass Dandymops without staring too much to give it away as our destination. It seemed to be a very high end vendor of wigs, but I couldn't tell if anybody was inside. We continued down to River Street and wound our way into an alley. As we were walking, Trigvi suddenly was pulled straight down into a crate. I suddenly recalled that the Alley we were in, Brindul Alley, is known to be haunted by a spectral hand that steals items - especially magical ones - and, on occasion, attacks unwary prey. I helped Trig up and hustled the group out of the alley. We left and found a new alley, though we luckily lost our tail (the Gazer).
Knowing we had only lost it temporarily, I broke away from the group and went south down the High Road. After a bit, I cut up the Street of Smiths and instantly case Disguise Self on myself. I nailed the transition (Nat 20), and left the Gazer spinning trying to find me.
I wound my way back toward Dandymops and walked in. My companions were already there, along with the human proprietor. After taking a quick survey of the shop, I Suggested to the owner that he go take a very long lunch and we'd lock up the shop. He was immediately into the idea (Nat 1!) and took off, leaving us to head into the back room. There, we found a trapdoor that led down into the sewers. Varock, still invisible, led the way down, followed by Trig, Yor, and finally me. We found ourselves in a small antechamber that connected to a much larger sewer tunnel.
Trigvi took off in his excitement to 'meet' another necromancer. He got 50-60 feet and came to a bridge, where he froze and realized how far he was from his allies (and he was blind). We continued on down the sewer tunnel and noticed a heavily used path heading to a pretty obvious hidden door. Trig led the way in and we stumbled upon a group of Living Skeletons!
Trigvi reluctantly attacked the nearest skeleton, nearly killing it with a word. Yor rushed in soon after to support our bumbling wizard. We were soon in the middle of a melee with over a dozen skeletons. Not long after battle was joined, a terrible Minotaur Skeleton charged in. We fight for what seemed like hours, and finally laid low all of the skeletons. We investigated the stair case that lead upward - the only exit from the room - but wound it bricked off. We assume this is a now-forgotten basement for another shop up above. We caught our breath and left the room to investigate the twin secret tunnel across the sewer.
After a short rest, we felt a bit better and set off down the hallway. We came to a locked door, which Trigvi amazingly popped open with his dagger, and it turned out to be just a small closet. I searched it for a hidden door but found nothing so we continued along the other room.
We came across a little hidey hole and continued on. We found another locked door. We listened up on it and heard what sounded like a small child throwing a frustrated tantrum. I listened at the other door and heard a slight scratching and cawing, like a bird of some sort. We decided to check in on the child first. Trig cracked the door open and tossed in Skald Ör to listen.
He saw through his Raven that it was, in fact, the necromancer Losser Mirklav, accompanied by 2 skeletons. Yor and I hid, as Trig and Varock walked in to announce themselves by means of introduction. The Necromancer, a wizened halfling, was very flustered, talking to himself and sounding like a lunatic. He yelled at Trig to leave several time, that he didn't have time for this, and then finally launched at us in an attack. Just as they rushed Trigvi, a monstrous Zombie crashed through the wall behind me.
BATTLE:
Varock rushed immediately at the monstrous one, manifesting the visage of massive teeth made of red energy. While the skeletons and Losser rushed Trigvi, I tried to support Varock in his battle - though I didn't do much. In retaliation, Losser launched a dark miasma at Yor, who quickly became desiccated and withered into unconscious. Concerned for his life, I used my Healing Words to bring Yor back to consciousness, then cursed the skeleton over him. Yor knelt up and Misty Stepped through the spyhole to my side, looking pretty haggard. We continued battering away, focusing on the Zombie Ogre. The battle swung back and forth, but we gradually hacked away enough of the Ogre that it perished. In an act of desperation, I finally pulled out the Pistol I had found and used it. It had way more kick than I expected, and I missed wildly. But on my second shot, it was much more controlled and I tore a huge chunk from the beast's head.
Feelin empowered by this fantastic piece of weaponry, I took aim at the Necromancer instead and shot at him through the spyhole. It proved a much harder shot than I anticipated and I missed. Meanwhile, Yor landed the finishing blow on the Ogre. Becoming desperate, Losser launched a fireball at us and knocked Varock, Yor, and I all unconscious. While Trigvi bravely stood his ground against the halfling, I amazingly popped back up (Nat 20 on my death save). I quickly brought Varock back with a Potion of Healing, and then fell back to a corner. I came back to revive Yor a few seconds later. With them up, and Trigvi finally knocked out by Losser, I took aim around the corner at Losser with my pistol. I finally was starting to get the feel of it, its balance, and was able to shoot the Necromancer squarely in the chest. Between the poison of the ammunition and the raw power of the impact, it was enough to finally kill him.
We looted the body and found some gold, a spellbook, and, most importantly, the Stone of Golorr.
We quickly made our way back to Trollskull Manor, sticking to the King's Road, and made it home without issue. Surprisingly, Joby had left a note on the tavern door, which was locked, reading: "Sorry gents, had to go back to school. A replacement will be arriving in the next few days."
We spent some time having a few drinks (we were completely wiped out!) and investigating the Stone. Trig and I spent some time in our hidden room researching the Stone. During my readings, I found the following:

• Trend of an imprisoned creature that provides insight and visions of the future and bestows great powers
• It's very vague
• Overall, there's indications that there is a magical creature embedded in an item (the Stone), and the father of Renaer Neverember had used it to amass his power

I asked Trig if he'd let me meditate on the Stone overnight, and he had no issue with it. I was able to attune to it over night and when I awoke I was able to commune with the Stone. It didn't have any preference on how to refer to it, so I just went with 'Sog'.
I began asking it a few questions, and confirmed it would be able to lead us to the famed Treasure.

went down and spoke to Yor

Yor told me he remembered what the Stone of Golorr has reminded him of, an ancient evil his people speak of, an Aboleth.

We decided to go speak to Durnan about it

after further discussion, we decided not to involve Durnan and went right to the treasure, which was "in a theater by the The Great Drunkard".

Found the theater - Lightsinger Theater - and went inside ( I was invisible)

We need three keys

a dozen feathers from a birdman

the stinger of a manticores tail

the third is beardless dwarf

We tried to convince Varock to shave his beard to get us in

We quickly convinced him to shave, which he did with a single tear. We continued down the hall and came across a series of fake doors (they were just concrete walls) and made our way farther down until we found a set of doors and a magical painting. The painting entranced Yor and I, to the point that I even pulled my pistol on Varock to protect it. Trigvi quickly cast Invisible, and snuck off, sending his skeleton Chino to do his dirty work. While we tried to destroy the skeleton, Varock destroyed the fresco and the spell was broken. Yor and I then continued to try to convince Varock that it was in fact him who had been overly obsessed with the fresco. In the fracas, Trig also stole the Stone of Golor from me and attuned to it. Oddly, I didn't feel nearly as upset as I'd expected when I was under the trance of Sog. 
We continued on and came to a chamber with incredibly ornate mithril doors (easily worth 20k Gold Dragons) and massive pillars that were Warhammers on their heads. We came upon 3 bridges that crossed the lower chamber, and found runes that read: 

A secret never before told, will part the lips of Dumathoin

Varock apparently whispered a secret to Yor and the door, and it split open as I caught up. We entered and explored the chamber within. Ultimately, we found ourselves in one of the three chambers and we got Varock to share a secret with us - that he was saved from death by the God Malar. This is the source of his powers. As he told us, a secret passage opened up and we jumped down into a deeper room. There, we were approached by an elderly Dwarf who introduced himself as Barok Clanghammer. He told us he'd made a deal with Lord Neverember to protect the gold treasure, which was immense!! 
We realized shortly that this elder was actually an Adult Gold Dragon. Upon

Type

Journal, Personal