Session 43 - Unknown

Session 43 - Unknown

Date: 8/31/25

DM: Wes

Summary

General Summary Feats & Boons Overnight Shade has a dream of iron and fire in an place with endless walls with glowing seams of molten red. She doesn't know what the dream means but she feels a new power, the ability to rebuke enemies with the power of iron.

At the same time, Athena has blessed Alexios for his accomplishments turning him into her battlefield boss with the power to order friends and enemies around.

Xanphina awakens with the power of Garmok the Chainbearer empowering her as she gets closer to his discovering his resting place.

From the Manor to Waterdeep Ya'll search the manor and find an unsent Letter from Lord Valtharen to Unnamed Masked Lord in Lord Valtheran 's writing desk. While it shows that Lord Valtheran was definitely high up in the Dragon Cult, it seems as if he was a pretty good dude that worked to improve the lives of the common man.

As the party reaches Waterdeep they're met by Leosin Erlanthar . Leosin was sent by the Waterdeep Council to fetch Deez Nuts. On the way to the council chambers Leosin gives a rundown of the important people that will be present:

Non-Lords Ramalia Haventree - a higher up in the Harpers and has been crucial in the guidance to look into everything about the cult. The information the Harpers have is due to the work of Remalia.

Ontharr - the Order of the Gauntlet. Big supporter of the party.

Delon Winterhound - Emerald Enclave

Lords Alliance Lady Dala Silmerhelm - Speaks for Waterdeep directly

Lord Dagult Neverember - Lord Protector of Neverwinter and Leader of the Alliance

Ambassador Conrad Braunable - Dwarves of Mithral Hall. The dwarves don't like working with outsiders much.

Marshal Older Ravenguard - Baldur's Gate military leader. Most tactical and most martial acumen.

King Melendrak - Elves of Misty Forest. They generally do'nt concern themselves with the troubles of the shorter lived races and would prefer to stay in their woods.

Tearn Thunderspells Hornblade - Silverymoon former High Mage. Pretentious but the mages can bring great power to the fight.

The party enters the council chambers to much fanfare and proceed to regale the council on all of the amazing things the party has accomplished over these past years.

There is much back and forth as several distinct voices that are definitely different people discuss what to do about the dragon cult now armed with the information the party has provided. Some members (like King Melendrak) know that the dragon cult gathering chromatic dragons is a bad thing and should be interrupted but fundamentally don't believe that anything could actually return Tiamat to this plane.

The believers (the harpers & order of the gauntlet) propose a couple paths the party can investigate as they will interrupt the dragon cult and help to prevent Tiamat's return (if it is even possible).

Maccath the Crimson Maccath the Crimson is a member of the Arcane Brotherhood that is the premiere expert on dragons. Remalia (the harpers) and Lady Dala Silmerhelm (waterdeep noble) both recommend tracking down Maccath to learn more about the Draakhorn so the council can try to put a stop to the call to arms.

Unfortunately, Maccath has gone missing and no one has heard from her in months. Her last known location was somewhere in the frozen north in the Sea of Moving Ice looking for a white dragon.

Maccath wouldn't have tried to conceal her comings and goings so asking around in the north near Luskan about a friend in the Arcane Brotherhood should be a good place to start.

The Flying Castle At this point Ambassador Conrad interrupted to follow up on the disposition of the flying castle. Conrad expresses great distrust of all Giants and in the party for allying themselves with Giants. He assures the party that his opinions are in no way biased from the generations long hate that Dwarves have towards Giants. (For the record, Giants like dwarves because they look so small and cute and many Giants try to capture wild dwarves to have as pets).

Varram the White The Harpers spy network has picked up some information that the cult has lost one of the dragon masks. One of the Worm Speakers, Varram the White, is apparently searching for it. The harpers don't know how many masks the cult needs for the ritual but expect that collecting another dragon mask would go a long way towards disrupting the summoning ritual.

The best information the harpers have is that Varram was last seen at Boareskr Bridge.

Devils & Summoning & Resurrection In an attempt to prove that the cult might actually succeed, the party tells the story of the badass Devil you witnessed being summoned in the Hills of Lost Souls, an Erinyes that no one was foolish enough to attack.

Along with the information that Rath Modar and Rezmir have both been resurrected starts to concern some of the council members. Thunderspells is especially troubled that the Red Wizards are involved in trying to bring Tiamat back into this world from her place in Avernus.

Deputized With some plans laid out the council deputizes the party to go forth and disrupt the cult's plans

Bronze Blades Finally being in someone's good graces, Shade brings up the exploits of the party known as the Bronze Blades. Shade, quite reasonably, asks if being deputies gives Deez Nuts free reign to take out the Bronze Blades, are they "kill on sight without any repercussions".

Marshal Ravenguard from Baldur's Gate quickly shuts down the request. The Bronze Blades are one of the adventuring parties that he sent out to disrupt the cult's plans. The work they've been doing has been invaluable in preventing the cult from gaining more power than they already have.

The Marshal instructs Deez Nuts to offer any assistance possible to the Bronze Blades if they come upon them in their adventures.

Post council meetings As the party leaves the council chambers, Rian Nightshade approaches Shade. From the dragon amulet that Rian wears Shade knows that Rian is the current leader of the Zhentarim. Rian is interested in the bagpipes and whether there have been any ill effects. Satisfied (or maybe ready to use the pipes for herself) she bestows upon Shade the next rank in the Zhentarim, Viper. Along with a new iron amulet Shade is given the Zhentarim Guide to Poisoning Friends and Foes.

As Shade and Rian are speaking Ontharr pulls Xanphina off to the side to offer congratulations and promotion. Xanphina is now a Defender in the Order of the Gauntlet and has been taught how to rally her allies when all seems lost.

Declan of the Emerald Enclave takes a moment to talk to Karma. He's surprised at all that Karma has accomplished in such a short time with the Enclave. Declan is pleased to see another join the Scales of Eldath as it is a powerful path that is frequently ignored. In appreciation of Karma's work she is promoted to Rivercaller. With the promotion comes an amulet that bestows it power on Karma. The amulet takes the shape of a creature that matches Karma's mood and grants the ability to protect allies from conditions.

Remalia Haventree of the Harpers had a conversation with Gootcha but no one was around to hear it so the party will need to wait until next time to hear the details.

Heading North The party avails themselves to the resources of the council with their shiny new Deputy badges (made of real metal!) and the party heads north with each person iding their own horse

The party comes to the fortified barricade across the road that was previously manned by friendly orcs that shared a story of Garmok the Chainbearer. This time, however, the orcs lie dead with the bodies of cultists mixed in.

The party searches the area and find that the guard captain's body is tied to a chair and looks to have been tortured before he was put out of his misery.

Deez Nuts don't stop their investigation due to a little death and Shade performs her special ritual to commune with spirits. The guard captain's spirit returns to his body to answer naked Shade's questions (while still tied to the chair).

The captain describes an encounter with dragon cultists and his subsequent torture. The cultists were asking about Xanphina. The captain broke under the torture and shared that Xanphina was looking for the Mine of Garmok and for information on her other ancestors.

The party heads to the Mere of Dead Men to find the Mine of Garmok and hopefully ambush the cultists along the way.

Castle Naeytar The party makes it to Castle Naeytar rather uneventfully (thanks to Key and her expansive knowledge of surviving in the outdoors). The lizardfolk are happy to show the party around and point out the latest additions to the guard party around the portal in the basement.

Bernie got the message and sent some of his best. The lizardfolk (with the geomancer) and the Giant Guardian have already repelled one attempt to regain the castle through the portal.

Shade is completely taken with the Giant Guardian, noticing that he is jack as shit with huge giant titties. The giant is wearing a mask that is intended to look like a magical mask but it's not magical at all. The giant's nipple rings, however, ARE magical but their power is not obvious to Shade.

In an attempt to learn more Shade hangs off the nipple rings like an olympic gymnast. The Giant doesn't say much and Shade lets go as she doesn't want to presume too much.

Info on the Mine The party asks their lizerdfolk friends if they know anything about a mine in the mere. They tell of the stories they know of Dwarves hundreds of years ago opening the mines. And while mining they came upon something evil, something horrible, and the dwarves were never heard from again, they just disappeared.

The dwarves's clan sent more dwarves to investigate but they never returned from the mine either.

Now the area around the mine has grown dark and tangled and it's extremely difficult to move through the area. The lizardfolk avoid it as much as they can because ti's dangerous and there are stories of a giant black lizard of death in the area that moves with outrageous speed. He'll be seen in one area then just a day later be seen on the other side of the Mere.

Key suggests it could be two giant black lizards but the lizardfolk don't know how that could be. Giant lizards like this don't live near each other and will fight to protect their territory.

To the Mine Full on information, the party leaves their horses at the castle and sets off across the Mere toward the mine. The party comes to a clearing where a group of kobolds and drakes are also on the move.

Battle ensues and Shade gets things started by erupting the earth beneath half of the enemy group. Karma follows Shade's lead and lets loose with the Staff of Iskralathrax, the Frost-Tongue 's Horn with a Cone of Cold. The party of kobolds and drakes did not realize that they should not march in a large triangle and it proved to be their downfall.

Key, Alexios, and Xan clean up the stragglers before the party continues on their way, hardly breaking stride as they moved through the clearing.

After a pleasant stroll through the thick underbrush the party comes to the entrance of a mine with thick shrubbery surrounding the entrance in a way that makes the mine looks smaller than it really is.

The party takes a moment to ready themselves for what lies ahead and Shade feels Infernal energies coming from within the Mine. Before the party can move into the mine they see a couple familiar faces emerge from the dark, Boomer and Sir Cedric of the Amazing Bronze Blades. (the party recognizes them from their previous meetings and from the stories they've heard of their amazing deeds)

Doing more saving Boomer and Cedric are being pursued by a couple cultists and a Dragonclaw and the two adventurers appear to have significant injuries. Deez Nuts make quick work of the enemies as they once again come to the aid of the bronze blades (if this story gets out, the Bronze Blades's reputation will be quite tarnished).

Quite thankful for the assist, Cedric tells of how they were sent by Marshal Ravenguard to investigate dragon activity in this area. They found the mine and were ambushed by cultists when they entered. Cedric begs the party to enter the mine with him and Boomer to help the rest of their party. Whisper is already down and Sister Alira and Thistle are fighting for their lives.

The party says "lead the way" and Cedric and Boomer take off into the mine with Deez Nuts close behind.

The combined group comes into a large open space that has been mined out that is now the site of a pitched battle between Sister Alira and Thistle vs several cultists and Dragon Claws.

Thistle, Boomer, Sister Alira, and Cedric all work to distract the enemies and keep them off balance while Deez Nuts dish out the damage.

Spells, arrows and javelins fill the air as the wrecking machine churns through more cultists and dragon worshippers.

In the chaos, Thistle goes down but Sister Alira uses Mass Healing Word to help Thistle, Big Karma, Alexios, and herself.

As the last enemy is downed Sister Alira directs the party further into the mine where Whisper went down. Alira can revive Whisper if they get there in time.

With everyone back on their feet (for the time being) the Bronze Blades and Deez Nuts share information, quickly becoming friends.

The Blades were careful coming through the swamp and avoided the "large black lizard" the lizardfolk warned them about which is really a large black dragon. The Blades used a spell to confirm that there is a dragon within a few miles but they still haven't found the dragon.

While everyone is catching their breath, Alexios suggests searching the room they're in. The room is apparently a former barracks as it's filled with stone beds that can only be comfortable to dwarves.

Treasure Room Shade uses Detect Magic and sees that part of the wall doesn't match the rest of the wall. Key gets closer to the wall to investigate and sees a stone that can be removed that has a lever behind it.

The party considers waiting until after the rest to open the door but throw caution to the wind as they hear a voice tell them "you can go through this door".

On the other side they see a small room with a cest, some crates, and a suit of armor. The chest has 6400 gold that has a weird red tint to it.

The armor is definitely magical and is a well crafted set of full plate armor.

The chest also has a wand of Protection from Good and an eye that looks like it's made out of bronze, brass, and pearl. Shade can tell that the eye holds immense magical power and from her history into her infernal background recognizes this as the Eye of Gilbraxis (or at least one of them).

The eye grants it's "wearer" access to powerful spells but to use it one needs to replace one of their own eyes with the Eye of Gilbraxius.

Shade, ever cautious, immediately asks if anyone wants to remove her eye (which a bit more glee than is called for). Alexios obliges her impulse and Shade has a new eye.

Summary The party was deputized, harassed a giant, obliterated some kobolds, found a mine, saved their friends the Bronze Blades, and scooped some good loot.

Next time the party continues in Garmok's mine!

XP Awards

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Notable Characters

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Locations

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Factions Involved

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Items Found

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