Session 34 - Messages from Beyond

Date: 1/11/25

DM: Lauren

Summary

Escarlotta Speaks Through the use of the "Alarm" and "All Clear" alerts of the castle in the sky, Escarlotta summons the characters to her chambers (which are only reachable through High Blue Tower by speaking her name).

After Shade's communing, Escarlotta has been more in tune with the living and the dead. As such, she was able to appear directly to the party as a transluscent form, an ability she had not had in the past. She had been hearing other spirits as well and was able to make out two messages for the party before that ability began to fade.

The first message was for Xanphina as it came from the spirit of an Orcish woman. The only thing Escarlotta could make out was "Seek the Tower of Madness".

The second message was for Gootcha (though Escarlotta couldn't tell how she knew it was for Gootcha). The message came from a frightening female and was simply "Go to the Temple of Lost Souls".

Elturel Meeting with the Faction Leaders The castle lands outside the walls of Elturel and as the party crosses the drawbridge they're greeted by 200 of Eltergard's famous Hellrider paladins lead by a large human woman introduced as Captain Liltish. (Liltish captains a legion of 2,000 soldiers but only brought a single company to meet the party).

After convincing Captain Liltish that they were there to meet with the leaders of the city she guided them to a lord's manor near the market district.

There the party met with Leosin Erlanthar , Ontharr Frume of the Order of the Gauntlet, Govenor Thavius Kreeg, and the Zhentarim representative, Jamna Gleamsilver.

The leaders of the factions are quite impressed by the actions of the party. Bringing the castle to Elturel and out of the grasp of the cult has struck a great blow that has likely set the cult's goal back months if not a year or more. The party and the factions now have time to gather their resources.

Jamna Gleamsilver promotes Shade from the rank of Fang to the Rank of Wolf. She now has an iron wolfhead amulet that should alert other members of the Zhentarim to her status. Jamna also mentioned that iron viper or dragon amulets would likely represent her superiors. Shade was also gifted a book from Strixhaven University that imbued her with the Strixhaven Initiate power. Jamna also mentioned that Halia Thornton would like to speak with Shade though the trip to Phandalin would be quite the trek if the party decides to travel by land.

Ontharr invited Xanphina to become a Chevall in the Order of the Gauntlet as their ideals seem to be aligned: Stay armed and vigilant against evil and Enact retribution against evil actions.

Leosin Erlanthar informed the party that the cult has put a price on their heads and to stay vigilant against cultists pretending to be members of their respective organizations. In an attempt to help the party the factions have developed call & responses to ensure they're working with real members.

The Harpers: "their eyes must be sharp" / "there is much to see"

The Order of the Gauntlet: "stay vigilant" / "keep faith in god, and friends, and self"

The Zhentarim: Rule #34 "War is good for business" / Rule #125, "you can't make a deal if you're dead".

Research The party wanted to know more about the Temple of Lost Souls and the Tower of Madness.

Tower of Madness Bernie and the faction leaders knew about the Tower of Madness (everyone knows of the tower). It's in the Fields of the Dead south of the Troll Claws. There's one hill in the entire area and a tower was built upon it ages ago. It was an outpost for the Eltergard that one day went silent. No more messages came from the outpost and anyone that ventured within 50 miles was never to be heard from again.

The party spent 2 days combing through journals and field reports to find even a hint of what they might face at the Tower of Madness. The found a single travelogue from some traders that were traveling from Soubar to Baldur's Gate. The traders were suddenly attacked at camp one evening when they were halfway through their trip. The attackers were a group of Kobolds that fought ferociously with no thought of tactics. The traders mentioned that the Kobolds seemed almost rabid and seemed to be driven by some sickness.

The traders fought off the kobolds (though two of their number perished in the fight) and continued to Baldur's Gate with reckless abandon with the sounds of more Kobolds following their steps. The rest of the traders made it to Baldur's Gate and vowed never to take the shortcut from Soubar to Baldur's Gate in the future.

Temple of Lost Souls Finding information on the temple was only a few hours of searching through the religious section of the library.

A book describing worship of the goddess of Death has a chapter on temples. The author makes a particular note that there is a Temple of Death called the Temple of Lost Souls. He mentions it because this temple has the most interesting name. Most of the temples to the goddess of death are named for her, but this one is actually named for the location in which it resides, that being the Hill of Lost Souls.

By chance, the party actually passed over the Hill of Lost Souls on their journey through the sky from Parnast to Elturel.

Additional research into the Temples of Death suggest that unused temples are frequently protected by undead and other necromantic magic while active temples will be inhabited by worshippers and cultists. There's no information as to whether a specific temple is used or not at any given time.

Shopping Gootcha spots a trader in the market district that deals in goods of dubious orgins (a past thief had marked the wood trim around the door with a mark only known to other members of the thieves guild).

There the party was able to spend some of their hard fought gold items to aid in their journey.

Corpse Slayer Mace Sending Stones Dust of Disappearance Bangs of holding Cloak of Protection Bracers of Archery Hat of Disguise Armor of Necrotic Resistance Greater Potions of Healing Potions of Vitality Tower of Madness The party decides to head to the Tower of Madness as it's the quest the DM is most ready for. They decide to forgo traveling by foot which has two benefits. They avoid the area around the tower and throw a huge wrench in their DM's plans for the trip to the tower.

Instead, the party uses the flying castle and skydives directly into the center of the Tower of Madness with the help of a Scroll of Feather Fall. (Bernie has heard of the Tower and refuses to land the castle in the area).

As they're falling they can see movement in the grasses and hear the sounds of kobolds from all around the tower. The inside of the tower is filled with a huge pile of kobold skeletons with a single larger skeleton of an Orcish woman was at the top of the pile with a shiny and obviously magical weapon still grasped in her hand.

Xan climbs the hill of bones to grasp the weapon which is a Returning Trident. The magic of her ancestors instantly attunes her to the magical properties of the weapon and battle commences as the Kobold hoard descends upon the party.

The Infected Kobolds are so focused on getting to the party that they are easily knocked off the cliffs surrounding the tower where one kobold falling turns into a pile of kobolds dead at the base of the cliffs.

The party was prepared to heal any infections but the kobolds only made it to the top of the tower walls in one place and Xan used the classic tactic of "cannonball" to remove the kobolds from the tower's walls and killed those that remained with the bulk of a half-orc barbarian

With the area clear as far as the eye could see the party asked Bernie to land Skyreach Castle so they could be off to their next adventure.

Closing The party is on Skyreach Castle in the center of the Fields of the Dead. They have successfully followed the message from Xanphina's ancestor spirit to claim a weapon of power. Next the party will decide whether to seek the Temple of Lost Souls or whether they will head to Phandalin to meet with Halia Thornton

Related Plots Chapter: Xanphina must commune with her Ancestors - Returning Trident Training Montage Related Characters Halia Thornton Leosin Erlanthar

XP Awards

To be added by DM

Notable Characters

Locations

Factions Involved

Items Found

Session 34 - Messages from Beyond

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