Paithen Elvenstar met with a shady contact of his in Undumoor, parting ways shortly thereafter with Lyr, Gunder, Bodin, and Elisanada. His connection led him to another contact, a shady fellow who provided him a lead on a missing relative of his, now suspected to be in the Underchasm.

A letter brought him, Nick, Aulder, and a new companion Nalkir to a city on the Thayan coast, where Paithan was surprised to find his cousin Immeral. At one moment, she interrupted and became suspicious, claiming that Paithen’s double had just walked into the tavern, then left just as quickly. She wasn’t able to spot him outside, however, and the party did not pursue him.

Eventually deciding to head down to Eartheart, they hired onto the Parttisa, a ship in a small mercantile fleet. The ship was attacked en route, and Immeral was lost at sea, pulled overboard by tentacled monsters. Nick and Paithen were especially heartbroken, and the skies seemed to open up and weep with their grief.

In the rainstorm, resting in a camouflaged campsite in the woods near Eartheart, the party found a strange eladrin woman standing in the rain, soaked to the bone, staring at them. They broke cover and invited her closer. She appeared to be tall, extremely underfed, and filthy, but dressed in almost absurdly form-fitting red leather armor and extremely impractical laced boots. A heavy steel collar ringed her neck. If not for the rain washing rivulets of dirt off her skin, it would be hard to even see the strange tattoos around her collarbone. She carried a longsword with the Elvenstar crest on it, a weapon lightly tarnished with age and disuse.

After a long, almost painful pause, she looked at Nick and said “Desidero Nicola Cassini.” It was half question, half statement. Nick seemed surprised by her comment, then introduced himself as “Nick.” The woman seemed stunned by his nickname, but the party began to gently interrogate her about her past. When asked, she said the drow called her “Nindel Ushdui’el,” and she seemed not to recognize the name Paithen called her, “Gwendolynsee.”

Indeed, despite the ruin of her body and the distraction of her mind, Paithen recognized her as his cousin, missing now for over 50 years, and presumed captured by the drow several decades ago. Gwendlynsee had been a swordmage herself before her capture.

The party offered to help her with whatever she needed, but Nindel seemed not to understand the offer in the slightest. She also seemed to have no real sense of time, or memory. As she and Aulder talked, however, she indicated a couple of stealthily-moving figures in the shadows, moving in for the attack.

The party fought a group of drow, including a priestess, and a pair of monstrous spiders. During the fight, it became clear that Nindel was no slouch— though she was nowhere near as formidable as Nalkir and Nick. Partway through the fight, one of the drow immolated himself in service to Lolth, and the resulting explosion flayed Nindel. She screamed, a wordless, soundless howl in the minds of allies and enemies alike, falling prone and momentarily dazed by the pain that had coursed through her.

When the fight was over, and the party was attending to their wounds, they noticed tattooed words scrawled over Nindel’s arms, back, and chest. The words, written in drow, addressed Nick by his full name and invited him to attend upon one of the drow matrons in the Underchasm, and to kindly return her “toy” when he came.

Nick’s reply came in the form of an elegantly written note, drawn in ink on one of the captured drow warriors. In brief: it declined the invitation. Nick has no intention of returning a slave to the kind ministrations of the Underdark.

The session stopped with the party preparing to interrogate the drow warriors. It is clear, however, that they do not belong to the same house as the matron who sent Nindel.

Leads: Paithen’s double. Entities moving against the Elvenstar family. The sahuagin attack. The sahuagin crown and the Parttisa’s role in transporting it. The drow attack. Nindel’s tattooed message. Immeral’s disappearance/death.

Rewards: XP and treasure to be posted later by Will.

A week after salvaging the Citadel, the party returned to Glarondel (sp?) for further instructions. This time, they were sent to Undumoor to infiltrate the town, learn what they can, possibly rescue an agent or two, and help as they see need. They decided to use Paithan’s black sash of citizenship and some forged documents and white-collared disguises to bluff their way into town as visiting honored guests.

On the way to meet the smuggler who would take them to Undumoor, however, 6 thunerclaps shook the sky and a host of dwarven angels descended, immediately focusing on Lyr and attacking her. Refusing to fight them, and begging the other Trap Finders not to hurt them, Lyr tried to give them the rod… and ended up destroying one in the process. Battered and bloodied, she put the rod away again and held her hands up in complete surrender. Eventually, the rest of the party yielded as well, though the angels, unable to communicate with them, merely opened a rift back to their home plane and left.

Shaken, the party continued on its mission. They arrived in Undumoor and swiftly bluffed the “welcoming committee.” They then located their contact and the safe house. The contact gave them information about the situation, and explained that they were planning a raid on a storage house and the vampire lord Constantine’s castle, including his own coffin location, as soon as possible. The party went out looking for some more information, volunteered for the vampire slaying task, and determined to head out to fight the next day.

In the morning, they did exactly that, sneaking into the castle through a secret passageway. Just as they were congratulating themselves on such fine stealth, they arrived at the throne room, slipped through the secret door, and found themselves in only part of the throne room, the rest obscured by darkness. The door behind them slammed shut with a definite clang, and they heard a cold, vicious voice say “Oh, good. Food’s here.” Then snap his fingers and summon his hounds to attack.

After the epic battle, the party escaped the castle and headed back towards the safe house, but Paithan went off on a personal errand of his own. During the course of the trip back to the safe house, Gunder and Lyr began to discuss recent evnts, and an argument as fierce as the battle they’d just finished broke out among the remaining four. They were still arguing when they entered the safe house. Still arguing as they saw the corpses of the other party in the room. Still arguing when the lich hands dropped on them and the bodaks attacked, dropping Bodin to a dying state immediately.

When the bodaks were defeated, the party put to rest the other corpses, waited for Paithan to rejoin them, and got out of town as fast as they could.

Rewards: 3200 XP and a magic item of your choice of 15th level or lower.

After the next extended rest Lyr recalls something from her “history.”

The marks that Elisanada and Gunder bear link them to power.
In times of need they can call upon the power of their Mark.
I’m assuming Lyr will share this knowledge since it appears to be beneficial.

Each Mark is limited to 3 uses and then are gone.
The trigger is mark bearer or a party member/ally becomes bloodied.
The action in response is a free action for the first two, an immediate reaction for the third.
All are range 10 (choose one)

1. Self or ally may recover hit points as if they had spent a healing surge, add +5 to the amount healed.
2. Self or ally may immediately remove any single status effect or ongoing damage.
3. Summon a creature (as an immediate reaction, see table below).

Roll 1d6 Summon
1-3 Giant Toad Per Druid Level 1 Daily.
4-5 Stalking Panther Per Druid Level 5 Daily.
6 Crocodile Per Druid Level 9 Daily.

No one is aware of any side effects (does this sound too good to be true?)
Additional info requires active insight checks on part of Gunder, Elisanada or research.

The Trap Finders continued their assault on the Citadel’s tower, silently taking out several guards before breaching the topmost floor and facing the commanders. The vicious vampiress, her wraiths, and her spawn caused the party a tremendous amount of trouble, even dominating Bodin long enough for him to strike and bloody Lyr.

Loyalties shifted wildly when a Herald of Hadar appeared, disrupting the fight and apparently seeking the mysterious item Lyr now carries in her bag of holding. Gunder’s suspicions about Lyr’s moral compass were only heightened when, instead of attacking the herald, she tried to reason and negotiate with it— even as it was lashing out at both her and her companions.

Towards the end of the fight, Paithan finally rescued a non-combatant maid who attempted to kiss him in her zealous thanks. But when her kiss of domination didn’t land, she fled for the window, making a cryptic remark to Lyr seconds before she flew out the window.

Bodin finally lost all his marbles, joining Lyr in the “we’re driving each other crazy” train.

The adventure was played on Sunday, March 27th. Paithan, Gunder, Bodin, Lyr, and Elisanada participated. Party rewards included 1600 XP, 900 gp, and magical treasure items to be disclosed as soon as you create wishlists for your characters!

The party, sent through a portal toward Dantalien encountered a group of refugees and were attacked by undead, tentacled aberrations from the woods. The refugees were fleeing the citadel at Dantalien, and the party decided to rest, feeling like they had nearly exhausted their healing reserves. Thoughts of the slaughter going on at the Citadel overnight only partially disturbed their rest.

In the morning, under an uncharacteristically overcast sky, they went on to the citadel, where they saw it had been completely overrun. The party united the rod and stone, fusing them together (it seemed like the right thing to do at the time….) Armed with information from the refugee Gunder had saved, they sneaked in through the postern gate and made their way to the dungeons, where they quickly freed the prisoners. They decided to sneak into the tower and dispatch or rescue the commander, depending on which side he was on.

They successfully made it to the tower, but were waylaid in one of the lower levels by a group of wights and vampire spawn. After defeating these, they were ready now to continue onward into battle.

Played on March 13, 2011. Mike DM’ed and authored. Paithan, Elisanada, Gunder, Bodin, and Lyr reporting.

Recent news:
====
Sister Alluesyn of Oghma is currently heading an archeological dig in the far north of Aglarond, across the Sea of Fallen Stars near Undumor.

Both Elisanada and Gundar seem to be none the worse for wear after the events in the sleepy village of Kallosyr. Well except for some bad dreams…

Several messages have been left for the party at most major cities expressing an interest in acquiring Bodin’s crystal as well as the setting it fits in. They all read as follows:
_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To The Trapfinders:

It has come to our attention through mutual acquaintances that your auspicious group have come across a pair of rather unique objects. Namely a dark crystal and it’s setting. We represent an order dedicated to the study and research of obscure relics. We are affiliated with both Oghma and Amauntor if you are in need of references.

We are willing to provide a remittance for the opportunity to study said objects. If they prove of interest we would also be willing to compensate your handsomely if you should decide to part with them. We have representatives in most major cities. Simply inquire at any of the main temples listed above or any major Arcane Guild.

Signed,

Members of the Society.
_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trilogy of Terror, Part 1

Nik, Paithan, and Aulder had taken Bodin’s crystal gem for arcane research, with plans for everyone to meet up at the temple of Amauntor shortly. The rest of party met a pack of evil hounds on the road, which animated the corpse of a fellow traveler (who also, sadly, had to be slain… again). They found a curious letter with Lyr’s family seal on it, addressed to the temple of Oghma. Entering town around midnight, they retired to the local inn.

In the middle of the night, the party awoke from terrible nightmares about scary little girls looking for a “dolly” and bathtubs of blood to screaming and an eerie mist filtering through the front door, and a note on a knife stabbed into each of their doors. The priest of Oghma burst in, calling for help at the orphanage, and the party took a round to prepare themselves, then charged forward. After fighting the tentacled thing and the undead swarms, they raced over the rooftops towards the temple. The Temple of Amauntor was, unfortunately, destroyed by throngs of undead.

In the temple, they learned about the ancient relics the temple had found in the basement (the letter was from a “Sister Allusyn” and pertained to the same), and which they were activating to “protect” the temple. The party checked the orphanage first, finding it empty, all the dolls destroyed except one, which Lyr put in her bag of holding.

Then they headed to the basement, where the relic had been found. There, they found a room where the walls reached out to their minds, driving both Gunder and Elisanada into a momentary lapse of reason— both snapped out of it, but bear a blood-red, writhing rune on their torsos, some arcane sigil that Lyr is unable to decipher or heal. Worse, her friends now regard her with deep suspicion, Elisanada claiming that the tormentor in her visions “had your eyes.” Gunder has begun to insist that Lyr has “changed,” though of course this is ridiculous… just because she used to be a cultist…. oh, dear.

Further on, they came upon a ritual of blood and madness, a legion of creepy little girls, the orphans themselves shivering in a cage…. They fought valiantly against these unseely beasts, finally slaying each foe and sending away the creepy children by giving them the “dolly.”

Gunder, Elisanada, Bodin, and Lyr participated. The party received 1600 in XP, 200 gp and either a magic item of the character’s level or lower, or an additional 500 gp (per LFR module treasures).

A dungeon delve adventure. The party meets Sir Manfred on the road and follows him to a defiled temple of Bahamut. Paithan, Aulder Graystone, Lyr, and Elisanada participated. Party XP was gained, and the party received 460 gp each and an enchanted suit of drowmesh (leather) armor, which is currently held in the Party Treasure.

Written and DMed by Will. An adventure set in East Rift. Rewards included 3760 xp and treasure similar to a MYRE adventure.

Edit: Moved to after Dragon Coast mini-arc to reflect party timeline.

The Night of Fallen Petals is nigh, a festival to celebrate the dead and pay honor to those who have long since passed. But not all secrets stay dead, and the prophecy of a returning God-King may be a means for dark forces to upset the power balance in Nathlek city. A Living Forgotten Realms adventure set in Nathlekh City on the Dragon Coast, for characters levels 7-10. Final part of the White Petal Demise major quest. The first parts of this quest are DRAG1-4 Falling Snow, White Petal and DRAG1-5 White Flower Falling.

Played Part I on Sunday, January 2. Part II was played on Sunday, January 16.

HOUSE RULE:
Character XP was “leveled out” after this adventure. All characters now have 18,500 XP. All characters will receive equal XP, whether the players attend the game or not (penalty for missing game day is that you missed game day!)