Adventures in the Forgotten Realms [OOC]

[MontCestMoi]

Zero surprise, but Orlando would prioritize the Rescuing of the Innocents over the Chastening of the Wicked.

[Chambers]

Zero surprise, but Orlando would prioritize the Rescuing of the Innocents over the Chastening of the Wicked.

Yes not surprising at all, but it's useful sometimes to get a baseline reading. What's your reaction to the Bane power? Please don't feel like you're stuck with it if you really don't like it.

Here's the results for In the House of Dlardrageth.

Save the mind-enslaved workers and let the daemonfey escape.

You showed mercy to those suffering under the fiendish compulsions and took them alive while the daemonfey escaped. The smiths, their families, and the Lord of Sundabar himself, Helm Dwarf-Friend, congratulate you on making the difficult choice to preserve life when a more bloody glory is tempting. The smiths are able to catalog the materials and plans that the daemonfey escaped with and provide you with a sample of similar ore to help with divinations in tracking the fiends. The Sundabar chapter of the Most Careful Order of Skilled Smiths & Metalforgers buy your group a three year adventuring company charter with Sundabar.

1371 Dale Reckoning Summer in the City of Splendor If there's something Cassandra Thann likes more than having an important role in social events it's for her own House to gain favor through glorious deeds and create more reasons to host parties for her to show off. Her retainer discovering a fiendish plot, thwarting it, and saving the lives of the innocent smiths is a story that she wants to hear in person and so she's invited the recently chartered company to the Thann estate in Waterdeep. Traveling on House Thanns coin means traveling in style and safety and for once you are the pilgrims being guarded on the road. Once in Waterdeep, Cassandra does not have that many demands on your time. Those who enjoy fancy dinner parties enjoy them while the rest suffer through the whims of nobility. She encourages you to pursue your own business while in the city for the summer and offers her villa free of charge with the caveat that you do no evil and keep her abreast of any juicy rumors and gossip. How do you spend your Summer at House Thann?

Choice one or make your own plan. Investigate the elemental lodestones from the Sundabar forge. Understand their properties and theorize what the daemonfey want with them. Research the House of Dlardrageth and where they came from and what their motives might be. Spend time getting to know the social circuit of Waterdeep nobility. Are you trying to make new friends or just digging for rumors? Get lost in the City of Splendors. Pick a craft or profession and live like a local for the month. Look for more work. Now that you’ve a bona fide adventuring company charter you can attract both more lucrative contracts and hire your own sellswords to fill out your numbers.

[rypt]

Having encountered them a number of times in the past, Ordyn believes he has some idea of what the daemonfey are trying to accomplish, but does not know how they're intending to accomplish it. He elects to investigate the elemental lodestones from the Sundabar forge in the hopes of understanding what the daemonfey want with them.

[Xanyo]

Yzara pushes her comfort zone, exploring the noble social circles and trying to establish positive relations. She isn't the most confident in such situations, but she can at least pretend otherwise. The value of connections is hard to overstate, and she thinks Lady Cassandra would agree. She'll save the others the trouble of repeating the story dozens of times to curious nobles.

[Chromascope3D]

I imagine that Arae is gonna do much the same as she was already doing: walking among the people, healing hurts and properly laying to rest the dead of those who could otherwise not afford it, taking what alms she can for the sake of the new cathedral and otherwise proselytizing and spreading the good word using Profession (Mortician).

[Taelas]

Tamsin is going to just explore Mount Waterdeep with his animal companions.

[MontCestMoi]

Yes not surprising at all, but it's useful sometimes to get a baseline reading. What's your reaction to the Bane power? Please don't feel like you're stuck with it if you really don't like it.

The Bane power is fantastic. Orlando has definitely used it, but maybe three times? I haven't decided if its a more 'you-wouldn't-like-me-when-I'm-angry' or an 'this is the only way to preserve life, so I guess I'm doing this' thing. Even though using it isn't evil, it's definitely an Uncomfortable Thing for him to do. I don't anticipate using it frequently in-play, but if there's something better than a paladin sprouting demonic wings and suddenly also being evil, I can't think of it.

Summer in Waterdeep. Orlando is very much about looking for more work. Though, of course, he would call it a 'Searching for a Quest', with the capital Q being entirely audible. Part of that involves poking around taverns and such, but definitely swinging by the Old Xoblob Shop, too. It's like the Wall Drug of Faerûn.

[Athaleon]

Research on the House of Dlardrageth sounds right up Kel's alley.

[Chambers]

Edit: I have setup a Discord server for this game. If people are interested I'll PM you the link.

---

The Summer of Splendor is profitable for each of you as you spend your time wisely. Both Yzara and Orlando find suitable contracts for the year’s remaining adventuring season from their new friends in the High and Low parts of town. Arae and Tamsin settle down for a few weeks and take a breather from the stress of the road while Kelveroth and Odryn team up to find out what their fiendish foes were up to.

Ordyn gains Lore: Magic Item Crafting (2 ranks)
Yzara gains Lore: Waterdeep Nobility (2 ranks)
Arae gains Lore: Waterdeep Clergy (2 ranks)
Tamsin gains Lore: Waterdeep Castle District (2 ranks)
Orlando gains Lore: Waterdeep Dock Ward (2 ranks)
Kelveroth gains Lore: House Dlardrageth (2 ranks)

A thousand years before elves first taught magic to the humanfolk of Netheril, the sun elf House Dlardrageth turned to demon worship and in turn corrupted many other houses of elven nobility. Their deceit was eventually discovered and caused the Seven Citadel’s War which ended with them either destroyed or imprisoned beneath the earth in stasis fields; their leaders in one prison that would become Hellgate Keep, their main armies in another dungeon whose name and location would be lost to time.

Their corruption was so great and widespread that the elves of Myth Adofhar, in their shame at the actions of their cousins, placed the entire city and its mythal in a stasis field outside the time frame of Toril effectively shunting the entire city to some point in the future. It has yet to reappear.

The elemental lodestones taken from the volcano underneath Sundabar are mostly used for infusing living elementals into metal weapons and armor. These particular lodestones are useful for imprisoning the spirits of earth and fire elementals, attracting them and then binding them. Experimenting with the lodestones shows that they could be used in reverse to repel and disband certain kinds of energies. The effect is weak with the limited amount of lodestones available, but in theory a large enough supply could create a constant dispelling effect over a large field.

---

Lady Cassandra Thann wishes you a fond farewell at the end of your summer and tells Yzara to come back with more exciting stories to tell.
Where do you decide to go?

Choose one option for your primary mission and one for your secondary mission.

From One House to Another
Resupply, Recovery, and Reacquisition
Cracking Skulls
House Dlardrageth Investigation

From One House to Another: A caravan carrying luxury goods was attacked and captured while sailing down the River Rauvin near the Evermoors. Trolls are blamed but which trolls care about jade hairpieces and glass figurines? Payment is for recovery of the goods; any personnel rescued is extra.

Resupply and Reacquisition: The Bloodaxe mercenary company out of Sundabar needs help completing their contract to protect Longsaddle from the Blue Sigil, a monstrous group of ogre mercenaries. The Blue Sigil outnumber the Bloodaxes 4 to 1 and almost all of them are ogres.

Cracking Skulls: Someone in Skullport has offended the wrong ship’s captain and must be taught a lesson. The Shipmaster's Hall needs a group of toughs to break up a smuggling ring operating in the docks and they were nonspecific as to how this should be accomplished.

House Dlardrageth Investigation: The Council of the Wood has invited your group to their Stronghold in the High Forest to try and track the movements of the escaped daemonfey. They know the location of a large vein of lodestone but it’s in the weird Star Mounts.

[rypt]

Are we voting for this one, or making independent selections?

[Chambers]

Whoops! Yeah, this is a party vote.

[rypt]

Believing that the daemonfey pose a very real threat to those who dwell within the High Forest, Ordyn wishes to pursue the House Dlardrageth Investigation as their primary mission.

Recognizing the noble cause of the Bloodaxe Company, he suggests that their Resupply and Reacquisition should be their secondary mission.

[Xanyo]

Send me that discord link, if you will.

Yzara considers the House Dlardrageth Investigation to be most suitable to her talents (and the best press), so that's her vote for the primary mission.

In agreement with Ordyn, Resupply and Reacquisition seems like a good option for a secondary mission. Unlike Ordyn, this is not out of the goodness of her heart, but rather because bailing another group out seems like a good opportunity to make connections and get more good press.

[rypt]

Oh, I missed the edit about the Discord server. I'll take an invite as well.

[Taelas]

I'll take the Discord link too.

Tamsin agrees with the others and votes likewise; House Dlardrageth Investigation for their primary mission and Resupply and Reacquisition for their secondary. He is still annoyed at being forced to let the daemonfey go, and ogres are good, strong prey. Had there been more than rumors of trolls, he would likely have voted for that, though.

[Chromascope3D]

I'll take one link, please :p

Unsurprisingly, Arae will go with the majority here, since she feels some responsibility for the daemonfey being allowed to escape in the first place (though she holds her conviction that it was the correct idea at the time), and agrees that the mercenaries should be aided as well, lest they risk a whole settlement come to ruin.

[Athaleon]

No surprise here: Kel would make the House Dlardrageth Investigation his primary mission, and would be relieved (though unsurprised) that the others would see it the same way.

Likewise, he would support making Resupply and Reacquisition their next priority. A company of mercenary ogres who don't balk at attacking towns? The world is better off without them.

[MontCestMoi]

While he is entirely in accord with the rest of the Party, Orlando will express a wistful regret for their not having had a reason to brave the Foul Recesses of Undermountain, the Greatest Dungeon (and mass grave!) in the Realms.

[Chambers]

House Dlardrageth Investigation + Resupply and Reacquisition

The Council would like to borrow your sample of the lodestone for further tests. They offer to teleport the group from Waterdeep to the Stronghold to drop off the lodestone and then take folks to Longsaddle. The leader of the Council of the Wood, the wood elf Lady Morgwais Nightmeadow, suspects it will take a few weeks to work with the sample and ‘align the sympathetic resonances’ with the vein somewhere in the Star Mounts. They are not familiar with what’s going on with the mercenary companies but are hesitant to fully believe the Bloodaxes claims about Blue Sigil. She advises that though ogres are generally nasty and hostile, they have the right to exist like everyone else and the fact that they have banded together for mutual aid and protection is worth investigating.

Who is staying with the Council and who is going to Longsaddle?

[rypt]

Given his history with the daemonfey, and in the interest of maintaining good relations with the inhabitants of the High Forest, Ordyn volunteers to remain with the Council. He urges the others to heed the Council's warning about the Bloodaxes.

[Chromascope3D]

Arae excuses herself to find a secluded locale to talk aloud.

Spoiler: A Council of the Dead

Show

Moira, an elf and priestess of Mystra, is in favor of staying and helping the Council with their research.
Daincanta concurs with Moira and further posits that, as both a scholar and gnome, he should be allowed to be dominant during the process, since if anyone should study magic rocks, it should be him.
Lugus, the dwarf, also wishes to stay if only to make sure the elves don't try anything out-of-hand.
Brigid, the human warrior, wants to join the expedition to crack some skulls.
Suibhne, the drow con, is generally uninterested either way, but favors staying to avoid needless personal risk.
Vera, the Harper, is interested in studying the relic, but feels that if the Council's warning proves to be accurate, her skills as a diplomat could be more needed in Longsaddle.

Though the majority wishes to stay, Arae feels that it is her duty to help prevent premature death, whether by negotiating a truce between the two parties or, if worse comes to worst, driving off the aggressors. She considers vetoing the majority, but Lugus relents under her reasoning and changes his vote.

Arae returns, announcing her intention to join the Longsaddle team.

[MontCestMoi]

Orlando will volunteer to be part of the group going to Longsaddle. The right to exist every creature surely has, though to do evil with that existence is a crime which compounds the evil itself. If it's possible to find a peaceful resolution to the situation, he'll be thrilled, though he considers the ogres organizing just as menacing as it is hopeful; anyone or anything that can convince ogres to follow them is bound to be powerful, after all. Then again, it's certainly possible a group that's calling themselves The Bloodaxes might not be entirely on the up-and-up, too. An open heart and open eyes is what the situation calls for (as well as using Stricture to compel some honesty).

[Athaleon]

Kel would stay with the Council. He is after all one of their most dedicated servants, and truthfully he'd be uninterested in disentangling the moral quandries of quarreling mercenaries.

[Chambers]

Longsaddle (Tamsin, Orlando, Arae, Ordyn)

Longsaddle is a trading post village notable for two things: beef and mad wizards. Farms and ranches surround Longsaddle for miles around and the village of little more than 100 folk will swell to nearly four times that number of people and thousands of cattle during the trading season. The village is the private demesne of a family of powerful wizards named the Harpells who live in a massive mansion protected by a dome of magical force. The Harpells control the wardings that surround the village and blast any hostile force that gets too close.

The doors of Ivy Mansion have been closed for months and no one has seen any of the Harpells for the same time. It’s no mystery why they are gone; the family leader Malchor took his entire family off-plane for a vacation. The Harpells hired the Bloodaxe mercenary company to keep the peace while they were gone but they forgot to mention when they would return. Velkor Minairr is the field commander of the Bloodaxes and he’s done a good job of keeping the village safe from rustlers and other petty criminals, but now the village is in the full swing of cattle trading season and regional scavengers are taking advantage of the wizard's absence. Cattle thefts have become more common and better organized led by the Blue Sigil ogre company. So far there have been two deaths because of the ogre raids, two ranch hands that tried to fight them off instead of fleeing.

Velkor knows the full strength of the Blue Sigil is far above his own companies and is not certain of the outcome were they to take to the field in numbers. He wants to avoid a pitched battle unless he’s convinced they will win and needs help finding a way to get the ogres to stop their raids.

Make a choice.

Warfare.

The Bloodaxe Mercenary Company is chartered out of Sundabar and is actually owned by the current Lord of Sundabar himself, Helm Dwarf-Friend. Due to this connection the field commander Velkor is able to draw on reserves of credit to hire extra swordhands from the ranchers and local toughs, enough to pay for a militia 150 strong. Their strength added to the Bloodaxes current roster of 70 would leave your side outnumbered by only 2 to 1 against the ogres in a stand up fight or even better odds if you’re able to whittle the ogres down through skirmishes and ambushes before committing to pitched battle.

The risks are high as casualties on your side are all but guaranteed; a rancher with sword in hand and a season or two on the road is no match for a hulking ogre. The rewards are commensurate with the risk as you’d effectively demolish the entire Blue Sigil clan, taking whatever loot they’ve stolen for yourselves.

The Bloodaxe company fields 20 mounted knights supported by 40 Infantry and a squad of 10 Archers.

Diplomacy.

The Blue Sigil is an unknown in a land where the strange and unknown are dangers to be feared. They’ve been a successful mercenary company for 15 years now and maintain their home in a half-ruined castle now named Mog’s Keep, named so after the current leader of the Blue Sigil. Mog’s Keep is a half day’s ride away from Longsaddle in the western foothills. Only the truly desperate, depraved, or those with secret motives would hire an orge for anything, let alone a whole company of them to act in force. Blue Sigil is eager for battle and their rudimentary organization has done nothing to blunt their bloodlust and fearsome practices.

Mog is smart enough to know that the mages who live in Longsaddle would destroy his entire company if they bothered them but somehow the ogres have learned the wizards are gone. Negotiating with ogres is actually quite simple; either they agree to your terms or they try to eat you. Some of the local ranchers want to simply give the ogres some cattle as tribute until the Harpells get back. With any other group of ogres it’s an even chance they just eat you instead but Mog is cunning and can recognize a deal when he sees it. Free food for doing nothing is practically the dream of most ogres.

Skullduggery.

The Harpells were the sword hanging over the heads of the ogres that prevented them from raiding the town. One bartender suggests that the simplest solution is to convince the ogres that the Harpells are back. There are a few other mages in town that could help with a Harpell impersonation, though they all lack the earthshaking Art of that family. The locals know the habits and peculiarities of the family well enough to attempt the trick but the problem with deceiving an ogre is that you’ve got to get close enough to talk to them and that’s within grabbing and eating range. If you can figure out a way to keep the impersonators out of harm's way then the local talent will agree to the con.

Another bartender disagrees and says that the real simplest solution is to hire the Blue Sigil to go somewhere else. They’re a mercenary company, give them a job that sends them away. Unfortunately this bartender doesn’t also have the coin on hand to pay the ogres wages but says they charge about 500gp a week.

[Chromascope3D]

Arae has two questions:
1. Is it possible that the Blue Sigil are currently under contract themselves? She favors the second option but if their opponents are currently being paid to specifically harass the town then the truce offering may fall upon deaf ears.
2. Has anyone attempted to contact Malchor Harpell during all of this? Does the town or do the mercenaries have any means of doing so?

[Chambers]

As far as anyone can tell the ogres are not under contract to steal from the town. Just a target of opportunity for easy food now that the wizards are gone.

As for contacting the wizards, they left no forwarding address. What's the point of hiring mercenaries to look after your village for half a year if they're gonna call all the time and ask for help? It's possible there's some way to reach them inside the mansion but there's not a person in the village that is willing to try and break through the wards to get inside.

[Chambers]

Stronghold of the Nine (Yzara, Kelveroth)

The High Forest is the largest and greatest forest on Toril. When folk speak of the Savage Frontier, the High Forest makes up about 20% of it. While even greater thousands of years ago, its size today is due to the seemingly divine protection the forest enjoys along with the guardianship of the sylvan elves. The gods Eldath and Mielikki are known to personally intervene when loggers start setting fires and falling trees and the elves drive back orcs, drow, humans, and all others who would bring harm to the forest. Remnants and secrets of ancient elven civilizations lay hidden within the forest and the guardians seek to keep them that way.

5,000 years ago the Stronghold of the Nine was a fortress redoubt of the dwarven realm Besilmer. That realm is now all but forgotten with only the Stone Bridge to serve as a memorial. It was made a home again by Laeral Silverhand and her companions who restored the underground Stronghold and rebuilt the aboveground outbuildings. They lived there in peace for years until Laeral returned with an artifact that drove everyone there mad with jealousy. The companions fought tooth and nail against each other until the Blackstaff solved the problem.

The hold lay empty again for some time before being claimed again, this time by a group of sylvan elves that call themselves the Council of the Wood. While some may think it odd that sylvan elves would live underground in an old dwarfhold, experts in the history of North know that the ancient kingdoms of dwarves, elves, and even humans lived together in peace more than once in both recorded and oral history. Since its humble beginnings 4 years ago the Council has gathered together the wisest elven minds in the region and they are a lamplight to the glories of the elven past and hopefully their future.

Lady Morgwais welcomes Yzara and Kelveroth to the Stronghold and give each a room in one of the underground guesthouses. The caverns are unlike any either has seen before as they were cleary formed by dwarven architecture but show the living touch of the elves. Bioluminescent moss crawls along the cavern walls to light the evenings and during the waking hours soft daylight filters through spellforged mist on the ceilings. As both of you are experts in the Art the Council invites you to help with the research.

At the end of the first week Lady Morgwais thinks that significant progress has been made. Being from Sundabar, the elemental lodestones were aligned with the Sundabar volcano and its energies but you’ve managed to break that connection and realign them with the local elemental spirits. They now lean strongly towards a series of deep caverns at the foot of the Star Mounts. Known as the Endless Caverns there are tunnels that the elve believe travel under the whole of the High Forest and down into the underdark. The Council has not explored these tunnels because the cavern is home to an old green dragon named Grimnoshtasdrano or the Riddling Dragon as the elves call him.

While you are deciding how to deal with the dragon a messenger and prisoner arrives from Turlang the Deeproot. Treants captured a daemonfey that was attempting to cross the Old Road into an old dungeon complex that’s under the guard of elves from both Evermeet and Everska. The guardians of the Nameless Dungeon wanted to execute the fey’ri but Turlang convinced them to transport the prisoner to the Council, as he knew of your company’s work and action against the daemonfey in Sundabar. The daemonfey has resisted the interrogation attempts so far but Lady Morgwais knows old rituals that will slowly strip the fey’ri of his magical protections and make him move vulnerable to divinations. The only problem with the rituals is that they are slow and take months to work making any information gained thereafter likely months old and too late to act on.


Make a choice.

Diplomacy.

Though a terror on the wing Grimnoshtasdrano loves riddles and clever creatures. The moss-covered dragon bones of the previous occupant of his lair are the first things visitors see. It’s a joke in poor taste but Grimnosh appreciates his prey’s reactions. The dragon has been known to make deals with lesser mortals if he finds their proposal entertaining. Yzara recalls a story she heard this summer of Grimnosh being allowed to bypass the dragonwards of Waterdeep 6 years ago to exact revenge on a former Harper who had wronged him. Given that the Dragon Mage of Waterdeep has allowed Grimnosh to enter once and parted on good terms, he might be persuaded to allow the green dragon to enter in disguise again to attend a social season as a guest of Lady Cassandra Thann. In return Grimnosh would allow the Council to take the lodestones they need, so long as they don’t disturb his hoard.


Warfare.

The daemonfey of House Dlardrageth have been a stain on the honor of the elves for thousands of years. Some among the Council have no compunction with accelerating the unbinding rituals. What would be a slow filtering of the fiendish essence would instead be a rapid banishment of the demonic soul. The ritual normally heals as it untangles the corruption, purging the fiendish and leaving only the elf, but when accelerated it simply rips out any forgeign influence like a spiritual amputation. The trauma to body and spirit is intense and leaves the elf broken and vulnerable once again without any supernatural resistances.


Arcana

The wisdom of the elves is to find a path forward where none existed before. When one conflict seems intractable, retreat and reexamine the situation. Approach from a different axis of understanding and see what was hiding in plain sight. Lady Morgwais suggests a trip through the recent past to jump back to the daemonfay's present.

At one point the daemonfey held your elemental lodestone in his hands, back in Sundabar. Follow the lodestone back in time to your fight against him. Transfer your reference point from yourself to him, then rewind in reverse to spy upon what he did after leaving Sundabar. The mages of the Council are surprisingly well-versed in Time travel magic and feel confident they can manage the ritual for you with a low, acceptable chance of temporal deportation.

[Xanyo]

Yzara volunteers to negotiate with Grimnoshtasdrano (although she has to manually boost her self-esteem to hype herself up for it). She plays into his ego with the invitation, arranging (if possible) a game of sorts to minimize the risk. She challenges the dragon to demonstrate his social aptitude by not betraying his identity (and incidentally not causing any undue concern about inviting such a dangerous creature amongst the nobility).

What does Kelveroth suggest?

[MontCestMoi]

Orlando will favor diplomacy with the Blue Sigil. In the first place, they seem to have restricted themselves to theft with regards to Longsaddle, and as dishonorable as that is, it isn't a crime worthy of death. In the second place, he doesn't trust the Bloodaxes (both in the sense that their honor is questionable, and in the sense that he doesn't know how well they'd do in battle). It's also the option that is the least closed off; it leaves other options open, in the event that it isn't 100%.

And if the ogres don't agree to the terms of the deal, well then; an entire castle, filled with ogres? That's worth at least two or three verses.

[Athaleon]

Inviting the dragon to mingle with the nobility is a tremendous risk, and not one that they'll readily agree to. The scheme depends on the dragon not getting bored of high society and its vapid socialites, and we're responsible for any harm he does.

Meanwhile, if we pass up the information to be gained from "enhanced interrogation" of the prisoner it could lead to the deaths of a lot more than one person. The fate of the prisoner is harsh, but he would otherwise have simply been executed. The sooner the daemonfey are brought to heel, the better for everyone.