Veterans of the Devil Dragon War

The Rift of Despayr

2009-11-02T11:41:00.001-08:00

October 13, 2009, 9 am - October 14, 2009, 2 am. Jason's house.
Adrian, Aria, Erundur, Silver.

Once the party found the Mystrans, they were considered for one of two quests: continuing the trek into the Dark Swamp to discover the ultimate source of the false Mystrans, or investigating some disappearances in its outlying vicinity. The group conducted a short bout of diplomacy to make their case. The Mystrans ultimately decided against using the adventurers as their primary attack force, and so Adrian, Aria, Erundur and Silver were sent into the hill country to look into the secondary problem.

A quaint graveyard upon the side of a hill turned out to be a massive grave dirt golem lying in wait for them. The stinking behemoth was not significantly damaged by the weapons and magic of the four, so some of the characters endeavored to crack the loose rock from the nearby mountainside as a trap, and waited for the right moment to drop it on the golem. Their victory was partially due to the golem losing control of its animation and going berserk.

Through the crack in the mountain lay the lair of the source of the dark disturbances. A shadowy dragon of some sort was endeavoring to create a dark rift that went, presumably, to the Plane of Shadow. The four heroes interrupted however, passing through an outer butchery lab and battling the dragon, a greater shadow and a horrific, shadowy canine monster that walked on two legs. The young dragon continued work on the rift, only twice joining the fight with a claw attack and a cloud of dark madness. When his two highest minions were killed, the dragon, overestimating the strength of the four before him (all still alive!), retreated into the rift, which closed behind him.

Back at the Sembian temple of Mystra, the worshipers of the Mother of the Weave paid the heroes handsomely for their assistance. The session ended with the collection of their money in a town in northwestern Sembia.

Into the Mire

2009-10-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

June 20th, 2009, 9 am - midnight. Birch Tree Lane w/o Air Conditioning.
Adrian, Aria, Erundur, Silver

Fezayin led the party toward the Dark Swamp east of Wheloon, in pursuit of the powerful ring stolen from the Fire Knives. The five of you approached an ancient, partially collapsed, marble-columned ruin outdoors in the midst of the bare land, with the flicker of firelight and voices resounding. Fezayin gave orders to engage, but then something happened that he did not appreciate. Lunjan Pinwann, or "Silver," who had been obstinate almost to the point of insubordination to that point, tried to whisper different orders to Aria. Fezayin overheard.

Then the break occurred. Fezayin ordered Adrian to fight for him instead of the gnomish conspirator, then disappeared into the night as only a master assassin could. The attack on Silver came swiftly, and from the advantage of invisibility. Just as the rest of the group engaged the strangers in the ruin, Fezayin tried to murder those he did not care for. After failing to kill Silver quickly, Fezayin moved to Erundur. Aria convinced the tentative strangers not to attack, and the four were able to fight united against Fezayin, if he would appear out of the darkness. Rather than fight all 4 of his former charges, the assassin disappeared once again into the night.

Silver was dismayed to discover some of his best possessions stolen from the cart he had left outside the battle arena. Nevertheless, a bargain was brokered with the two "merchants" (the ones who finished each others' sentences) to clear out a tomb farther along the road to the Swamp. The PCs, in return for some of the merchants' wares, made their way into the Tomb of Chonis, and fought against shadowed denizens that had come to inhabit it. Finally toppling a shadow lord in a fog-filled, magically darkened room, the four took their winnings, and set out back towards Wheloon.

Silver had had enough of the mission; Erundur and the others exhorted him to stay their course, but in the end Silver would not. Thus, the four decided to stick together rather than wander southeastern Cormyr apart, and ventured to seek out the Mystrans.

Opening Session

2009-01-03T09:19:00.000-08:00

December 30, 2008, 2 pm - December 31, 2008, 2:30 am. Birch Tree Lane.
Adrian, Aria, Erundur, Silver

Ye 4 mercenaries became employed by the Fire Knives of Cormyr, a secret society of traitorous nobles. The 3rd Father of Assassins sent you to a secret hideout in Suzail for details of your mission. The Fire Knives, you were informed, were attempting to recapture a magical ring (with a bluish aura and lightning engraving), purported to be in the recent possession of Wheloonian Mystrans. Sir Fezayin Cormaeril was to lead you.

Fezayin disappeared for a few days to gather intelligence, and you spent some time in the town pursuing your interests. Aria danced with some children to the frolicking of magical butterflies. Erundur inspected the local bookstore. Silver coerced the Lantern Inn barkeep to reveal the location of the new Mystran temple and his attitudes toward it. Aria and Adrian disguised themselves as convincing local peasants and tried to gather information from the nearby Chauntean grove.

Aria and Erundur then did some overt scouting of the temple, while Silver and Adrian quietly searched the grounds. The next night, they met with a wild-eyed Mystran cleric named Tunaster who claimed he was assaulted by the Mystrans while visiting their new temple.

The crew moved quickly. Night-time infiltration was successful. The outer guards were taken out with precision and skill. One priest saw them, however, evoked an alarm and tried to open the main gates for the other guards. Erundur's sealed the gates, while the inner temple rushed out, then retreated. A full cleansing of the upper floors commenced - to include shadowed warriors and a cleric. Adrian conjured darkness to hide your silhouettes against the night sky. Stealthy battle ensued, in which two archers were dropped by magic and by knife before they knew they were in danger. The Mystran cleric's spells took a toll, but he was defeated after being surrounded.

Found an altar, and a minor artifact secreted within. Moved to lower levels and discovered temple to be a facade for the abominable Shar. More guards were dispatched, but a dark earth elemental nearly broke you. Only solving a puzzle on a construct (which turned out to be friendly), and beating it down with urns, chairs, tables and heavy, thrown statues defeated it.

Moved into inner sanctum, tripped another alarm, and wearily prepared for another battle. The high priestess, three displacer serpents and 2 final, shadowy guards proved a difficult and varied foe. But between Adrian's eldritch blasts, Aria's magic-hand-wielded rapier, Erundur's footwork and Silver's humorous, diversionary sneak attacks, you won the night. Pillaged treasures of the Sharran temple. Discovered dark, cold portal, tangled with a watery aberration, and sent it and the local boatmaster fleeing.

Aria met with Tunaster on his way out of town. Surrendered the Starry Gnosis to the real temple of Mystra via him.

Session end: You have to wait another three days to contact Sir Cormaeril. Debate concerning full disclosure of captured items. You finally decide to reveal everything save a gnome skull with silver plating.