Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Ian Hu (Nathan)

Non-player Character(s):

King Liamund Mannen’krig
Veymar Black
Markuth Hilmaster

Date(s):

Nightal 29, 1358 DR

Location(s):

The City of Iriaebor

• The Grand Palace

Encounter(s)

Encounter 1: Markuth Hilmaster the Wolflord, his retinue of Drow and Arrifax the Spider

Encounter 2: Veymar Black and his Five Dracoliches (Balariax, Ciraxis, Xavael, Victarinox and Hellix)

Reward(s):

• GAIN A FEAT!

• Regain all items taken from you during session 34 (10)
• Markuth’s Skull
• 20 Hand crossbows
• 100 poisoned bolts
• 5000 gp

• Used last Heal potion
• The Horn of Veymar, the Claw of Boareskyr and the Fang of Ukisor are destroyed

Summary

• The drow continue their assault. Volley after volley of poison bolts rain down on you as you cut them down. They are trying to take King Liamund. As the battle rages a drow noble rides a massive spider into the midst of you and behind him is Markuth Hilmaster. He transforms into a massive wolflord as Dorn charges into him. After a bloody battle you are triumphant.

• After the battle you heal Liamund using the last of the water of the Elderfeyne. His enfeebled mind is restored to full strength. He brings you to the winding stair which goes all the way to the top of the utmost tower. You climb the steps.

• In the swirling snow you find Volhym chanting in a ritual circle. The cold stars above are dim compared to Kral-Katali, the King-Killer Star, blazing in the heavens. Circling around the tower in wide arcs are the five dracoliches that serve him. He welcomes you and thanks you for bringing him what he needs to complete the ritual. He holds the Horn of Veymar. He drops his magical guise and Volhym is transformed into his true form, the lich lord Veymar Black, the former Margrave of the North, thought long dead.

• “I am the Sword of Tyr.” he says. “My vengeance is nearly complete. The Vale will be plunged into the fire and forged anew. Give me the Raiment of the Dragonking or perish. Liamund will be sacrificed and the ritual of binding completed.”

• Kaldur answers. Grabbing the Fang and Claw, he leaps at Veymar carrying a massive barrel or gun powder provided by the priests of Gond. The artifacts glow brightly and small fissures form with the eldritch power coursing through them as they are brought close together. Kaldur’s fist bursts into flame as he smashes the barrel. There is a massive explosion. Kaldur has made the ultimate sacrifice and destroyed the artifacts.

• Veymar staggers under the attack. “no…” he says, rising to his feet as the crumbled ruin of the Horn of Veymar turns to ash in his skeletal hand. The dracoliches, no longer bound to Veymar, scatter to the four winds. Dorn and Ian charge. Veymar fights back. In the frozen air on that crumbling tower, the heroes of the Vale put an end to him.

• The Vale is saved.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Reif Dranove (Drew)
Ian Hu (Nathan)

Non-player Character(s):

Shilindria Jattelan
Drox Wellfold (cleric of Gond)

Date(s):

Nightal 27-28, 1358 DR

Location(s):

The City of Iriaebor

• The Mage’s Tower
• The Temple of Gond
• The Grand Palace

Encounter(s)

Encounter 1: Cultists Scrying in the Flooded Halls
Encounter 2: (Ongoing) Drow in the Dungeons

Reward(s):

Two Tomes of Spells
Two Tomes of Arcane History
Melph’s Guide to Planar Journeys
Barrel of Gunpowder
Repeating Hand Crossbow

You recover Ian’s gear
You recover Kaldur’s gear

Summary

• You explore the rubble around the mages tower and find some valuables buried among the rubble but no intact warforged, just the glaive arm of the titan. You make your way to the temple of Gond.

• At the temple of Gond you find that many of the clerics still remain and have taken in a number of refugees. You also find that they have recovered the body of the warforged titan. With the assistance of the Gond priests, Ian works through the night to bring the creature back online. You task it with protecting those inside the temple.

• Shilindria tells you of rumors of a house south of the palace where people think they have seen the king through the balcony window at strange hours often with women. They are not sure how the king was able to get there unseen.

• You make your way to the house at mid day and find a hidden tunnel. It has been recently constructed and exceptionally well made. You follow it to the lowest halls of the Grand Palace. You quickly find a way up to the main level but after glancing at a clerks books strewn on a desk you head for the dungeons and the promise of finding your lost gear.

• You find dragon cultists chanting over some of your personal items in the water logged dungeon store rooms. Why they were doing this you did not wait to find out. You slay them but they fought back with powerful magic.

• Exploring the dungeons further you hear a man singing an old war song over and over again from somewhere in the dark expanse of cells. You locate him and to your surprise it is King Liamund! You attempt to free him and that is when you hear them coming. From out of the darkness, dark elves rain volley after volley of poisonous bolts upon you. You fight back…

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Reif Dranove (Drew)
Alan Droit (Mike)

Non-player Character(s):

Narro the stable boy
Shilindria Jattelan

Date(s):

Nightal 25-27, 1358 DR

Location(s):

Truce Grove

The City of Iriaebor

• The Trader’s Ward
• The Jattelan Estate
• The Mage’s Tower

Encounter(s)

Encounter 1: The Elemental Guardian in Truce Grove (1 Huge Fire Elemental)
Encounter 2: The blacksmith and his sons (3 Blashemes)
Encounter 3: Shilindria and her guardsmen (20 Human Guards) – neutralized, not killed

Reward(s):

• GAIN A FEAT!

• The Raven Sword (Long sword +2, grants Darkvision 60’)
• The Aegis of Dorn

Summary

• Hidden on that distant hill you observe the movements of the undead below. Three Dracoliches soar in the putrefied air above the city. Dorn’s keen eyes recognize one, the red, it is Balariax. In wide arcs behind him are a blue and a black, what names they bore in life, you do not know. From out of the ruins of the city’s north gate an army is on the march. Great columns of black armored troops march through the new fallen snow and ash. A host of thousands is heading west.

• Stealthily you approach the city from the north. Crossing the field of dead you find thousands of carrion birds feasting on those corpses too far destroyed to be raised. You approach a small grove of trees. The Sull bannermen heard legend of a hidden entrance into the city there. Truce grove this place is called. It was here that the four great houses of the Vale ceased being warring tribes and united.

• In the center of this grove, you find a large standing stone. You pool your efforts to undue the arcane and mundane locks and wards that protect it. The guardian of the entrance will not let you pass so easily. A great being of arcane fire erupts from the stone and attacks you. You defeat it.

• You pass through a long, narrow tunnel until you emerge inside the city. You come to a trap door. the air is thick with the smell of manure and horses. You are beneath a stables and a horse is standing on the trapdoor. Alan uses his ability to speak with animals and convinces the horse to move. You are in the noble ward in the stables of house Harrowgate.

• Reif notices that the Claw of Boareskyr has begun to glow faintly. He casts misdirection on it, for the other artifact must be near and the one who possesses the horn knows you must be approaching.

• As you explore you find that you are not alone. A stableboy watches you from the hayloft. You convince him to come down and learn that his name is Narro and that he thinks everyone else has gone. You provision him and give him a sealed message to carry to the Sull bannermen through the secret tunnel.

• You sneak through the city to the Trader’s Ward and find Dorn’s armor. It is still guarded by the blacksmith and his apprentices, but they no longer live. They still want to be paid. When payment is not forthcoming, they attack. You slay them but not before having a good deal of your strength drained away.

• You make your way to the central ward of the city and opt to climb the steep escarpment and scale the walls to avoid detection up the winding switch back streets of the main boulevard. As you top the wall you find yourselves perched above the courtyard of the Jattelan estate. Near a peaceful reflecting pool below, you see Shilindria Jattelan gazing into a peaceful reflecting pool. The courtyard is well guarded. Using magical charm and sleep you manage to neutralize the guards and make your way past them.

• You find your way to the tower of the mage’s guild. It has been completely destroyed. Amongst the rubble you find the arcing remnants of the portal, and you swear you hear an electrical whirring and the grinding of gears.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Reif Dranove (Drew)
Ian Hu (Nathan)

Non-player Character(s):

Lynn Kodhammer
King Volhym Mannen-Krig
Marmy – Cook at the Long House in Tridic
Fenric – Cleric of Torm
Jarl Talen Drachengyld
Jarl Bard

Date(s):

Nightal 15-25, 1358 DR

Location(s):

The Village of Tridic
The Dragon Throne of Drachengyld
The Caravan Outside Asbravn
The Encampment Outside Iriaebor

Encounter(s)

No combat encounters

Reward(s):

• Reif is now Jarl of the Woedland Wilds
• The Drachenblade (Long Sword +3)
• 1 Consecrate scroll – purchased
• 10 Cure light wound potions – purchased
• 3 Cure moderate wound potions – purchased
• 5 hide from undead scrolls – purchased

Summary

• You have spent several days in the long house socked in by a powerful winter storm. You sit in the common room taking your evening meal with Lynn and talking about your defense of Blackhill Motte against the Woeden invaders. The orphans now kept safe and in the service of Elvar the Grain Lord in Triel. Those days seemed so long ago. As the fire starts dying there is a great crash at the door and a hooded figure covered in heaps of ice coated furs falls to the stone floor of the long house.

• Kaldur rushes forward and rolls the man over. It is King Liamund, his face grey, lifeless and bloated by numerous oozing spider bites. There is a terrible roar and the long house shakes as though the very mountain is crashing down. A crack travels up the wall and across the ceiling as massive claws pierce the wall. The roof of the long house is torn open like the lid of a box revealing the largest dracolich you have ever seen. It seems to grow in size as its head plunges toward you. You recognize the face of Drey Guldrhein, twisted and ruined by undeath.

• Iam looks past Drey into the sky above. Through the stormy sky he sees a great comet burning in the heavens, brighter than the moon. Drey roars at you. “Destroy the Horn! Destroy the Fang! Destroy the Claw!” Drey rears his head skyward, drawing a great breath of cold mountain air into his festered lungs. As you prepare to make battle you notice that the Horn of Veymar now sits on the long house table and is glows brighter as you approach with Fang and Claw. When they are nearly together they glow brightest and almost seem to crack under the tremendous of such eldritch power. Undead children, many you recognize as orphans from Blackhill Motte, pour through the door and climb over the walls of the destroyed long house like fiendish spiders as Drey’s dragon fire envelopes you.

• You awake in the common room. It has been several days since the blizzard began. Lynn and Volhym are dozing in great chairs near the fire as you look around trying to make sense of your collective vision. There is a commotion outside. You look out and in the now clearing sky you see there is a comet in the heavens that was not there before the blizzard began. Making various arcane observations, Reif determines that this is Kral-Katali, the King Killer Star, that Drey Guldrhein was researching.

• Volhym joins you in the snowy town square. “The weather will be good tomorrow.” he says " I must travel to Hluthvar and muster my forces. The Vale will unite behind me against this usurper and his dark magic." After much discussion among yourselves you determine that you must convince Volhym to travel by dragon to join forces with Kole Ryttermarg at Hill’s Edge. Your thinking is that the wise council and sobering influence of Kole will temper the King’s ambitions. Or perhaps Kole will just imprison him and take over the realm. All for the good. The rest of you will journey south to Iriaebor. Volhym is convinced by your plan. The idea of his bannermen being awestruck by his arrival on dragon back too much for his ego to resist.

• Reif, Volhym and Lynn fly as far as the power of the Claw will allow. You are nearly under the eves of the Reaching Woods after one hour’s travel. Volhym recognizes this place and says you must press on, for the seat of House Drachengyld is nearby. In the field, Reif is appointed Jarl of the Woedland Wilds by Volhym for his loyalty and wise council.

• Ian, Kaldur and Dorn make their way south through the snow covered mountain passes heading toward Asbravn. After several days travel they encounter a group of deserters from the city watch of Iriaebor fleeing north like they were being chased by the hounds of hell. Severl days later you find a great caravan near the city of Asbravn. Hundreds of Iriaeborians along with whatever possessions and livestock remain to them travelling north. They tell terrible tales. The dead walk in Iriaebor and many thousands of the living remain trapped inside. The Butcher’s Ward is largely intact and many of the noble houses are unburnt and under heavy guard. The great palace of Iriaebor is untouched, dracoliches coiled on its sprawling towers and grounds like serpents in the trees of Chult.

• Reif treats with Yalen Drachengyld the Elder who is repentant and embarrassed by the actions of his young kin. He gives to Reif the Drachenblade, the house sword of Drachengyld, as penance and renounces his name, taking the name of Talen. He begins to muster what forces remain to him in service of the King and prepares the dangerous winter march to Iriaebor.

• Reif, Lynn and Volhym fly to the city of Hill’s Edge, now retaken by Kole Ryttermarg. After a tense meeting Reif manages to ally the northern armies with King Volhym. Reif flies south.

• In the fields a few days north of Iriaebor, Ian, Kaldur and Dorn find an armed camp of Sull bannerman preparing to advance south. You speak with Jarl Bard and learn that Margrace Thymor Sull is dead, the heir to House Sull is his infant son Symon Sull. He died in the dragon fire and the hell that followed in Iriaebor.

• You travel south to the outskirts of Iriaebor and meet up with Reif. You crest the hill and look down upon the City of a Thousand Pyres.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Reif Dranove (Drew)
Ian Hu (Nathan)

Non-player Character(s):

Lynn Kodhammer
King Volhym Mannen-Krig
Yalen Drachengyld

Date(s):

Nightal 13-15, 1358 DR

Location(s):

The Fortress Monastery of Ukisor

Encounter(s)

Encounter 1: Two Ice Drakes coup de grace’d by Ian and Kaldur
Encounter 2: Five Dragon Cultists in the northern halls
Encounter 3: Six Dragon Cultists and two Ice Drakes in the common room
Encounter 4: Ciraxis (Mature Adult White Dracolich) on the icy summit

Reward(s):

• The Claw of Boareskyr (gauntlet granting +4 bonus to intelligence, +2 bonus to charisma, +4 bonus to AC, grants Fly once per day as the spell, can polymorph into a red or gold dragon (depending on user alignment) for one hour as a Ring of Dragonshape from the Draconomicon.

• Ring of Protection +2
• Clerical Vestments of Mask (1000 gp)
• Gold and Jewelry from the cultists (4000 gp)

• Ciraxis’ Hoard:

Coins
9700 gp
37000 sp

Gems
Alexandrite (400 gp)
Aquamarine (600 gp)
Blue Quartz (7 gp)
Bright Green Emerald (5000 gp)
Emerald (800 gp)
Lapis Lazuli (13 gp)
Moonstone (60 gp)
Moss Agate (8 gp)
Obsidian (7 gp)
Rhodochrosite (8 gp)
White Opal (1000 gp)

Art Objects
Bottle of Fine Wine (300 gp)
Dragonscale Talisman (200 gp)
Fox Fur Boots set with Rock Crystal (900 gp)
Leopard Fur Boots (800 gp)
Pewter Brazier (100 gp)
Pewter Circlet (50 gp)
Silk Choker trimmed with Ermine (130 gp)
Tooled Leather Talisman set with Lapis Lazuli (500 gp)

Magic Items
Boots of Striding and Springing (5500 gp)
Bracers of Armor +2 (4000 gp)
Full Plate +3, SR 13 (26650 gp)
Horn of Fog (2000 gp)
Lens of Detection (3500 gp)
Ring of Jumping (2500 gp)
Ring of Mind Shielding (8000 gp)
Ring of Protection +1 (2000 gp)
Ring of the Ram (19 of 50 charges) (3268 gp)
Rope of Climbing (3000 gp)

Summary

• After a night’s rest, you ascend the treacherous rope bridge to the highest heights of the upper halls. The wind and cold whip about you like vengeful spirits, biting and tearing and howling. As you near the top, the aged bridge gives way under the weight of Kaldur. Only through strength and dexterous action does he avoid plummeting to his death in the chasm below.

• You enter a narrow hall. A strange feature in the stone work on the floor catches your eye. It is a narrow groove that spans the entire length of the very long hall. Suspecting some foul mechanism, Reif reshapes the stone to ruin the track, and it is well that he did so. A buzzsaw blade spanning the height of the hall careens into Dorn while a second blade is stopped by the marred track line.

• As you emerge from the narrow hall Ian hears the sound of large animals growling. He stealthily approaches and finds a pair of sleeping ice drakes in the chamber beyond. Noiselessly, Ian and Kaldur approach the fell beasts and dispatch them before they can pose any threat. They skin them and plunder their carrion filled den, noting that many of the drakes’ prey were men clad in purple robes.

• You hear muffled voices conversing behind a door northwest of you. As you approach you hear movement, like they have moved out of the room into adjacent passages. Sensing a trap you don’t give them time to prepare. Dorn kicks down the door, great sword at the ready. He is attacked by a red robed cultist who strikes at him with a terrible bolt of crackling lightning. The smell of ozone and brimstone fills the air as the battle unfolds. You cut down the cult’s mages as they battle you with fireballs and hideous laughter. As the tide turns in your favor, Ian brandishes the Fang of Ukisor, a relic of the god Tiamat, before the last cultist. He yields, convinced that Ian has been chosen by the dragon god. The cultist’s name is Yalen Drachengyld and he is a half crazed lordling from the Vale.

• You learn much from Yalen about the cult’s presence in the monastery and he guides you to the southern halls. You enter a large common room. “Traitor!” calls out a cultist from the far wall. You see half a dozen purple robed figures and with them is one of the deadly ice drakes. Yalen is cut down as you attack. You best these foes and explore the room, gathering the wealth of what are clearly a number of noblemen of the Vale. You find a large, ornate key on one of the bodies.

• As you plan your next move, Ian hears a faint voice calling for help at the eastern edge of compound. You find a massive stone door, coated in basilisk blood and covered in runes of warding. From the keyhole you hear an oddly familiar voice. Using the key, you open the door. Inside is Prince Volhym.

• He is emaciated and has grown a beard that is at least several months old. He should not be here. He is in Iriaebor, fighting a battle against the Zhent armies, or so you believed. Volhym tells you that he was kidnapped several months ago and knows nothing of the events since before the King’s tournament. As you contemplate this you hear the antagonizing call of the cult leader in draconic. “Come out and die!”, he says, “Ciraxis hungers!”

• Ian reconnoiters and finds the cult leader arrayed in an elaborate helmet sporting the five heads of Tiamat. He is brandishing a scepter and is flanked by his underlings. Behind him is Ciraxis the White, a huge dragon, now undead, it’s piercing blue eyes glowing like coals. Gouts of frost fire erupt from its mouth as it spots Ian. Ian withdraws as Ciraxis slams into the door frame of the narrow corridor, pouring frozen death into the hallway beyond.

• You are trapped. Exploring the halls you find no passage out save one, a window above the precipice looking down on the glacier hundreds of feet below. You climb out and up the steep cliff to the summit. In an icy, snow filled clearing you run for a tower outcropping, the top of the monastery, but Ciraxis is in the air now and descends upon Reif and Dorn. Battle is joined.

• You stand your ground, bringing all you have to bare on the abomination. Celestial bison summoned by Reif gore and trample it’s decaying flesh as he rains fire upon it. Ian nimbly brings the terrible fang to bear as Dorn and Kaldur mercilessly attack with all their might. The battle rages and with one final blow you smote his ruin upon the mountainside.

• The cultists have fled and you explore the remaining halls, recovering the hoard of Ciraxis. In a corner of it’s chamber you find a large statue made in the likeness of the mage Hestan. Hidden inside its dais you find the Claw of Boareskyr.

• Using the Claw, Reif takes the form of a gold dragon and you fly off the mountain and back to the village of Tridic with Lynn and Volhym. It is there that you learn of the terrible fate of Iriaebor. A rider from the south has just arrived. The Zhents broke the main gate of Iriaebor and had begun to sack the city when a flight of dracoliches burst forth from the palace. They rained dragon fire upon the Zhents and Iriaeborians alike. The Zhents army is destroyed utterly, but thousands of Innocents perished and the city is a smoking ruin.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Reif Dranove (Drew)
Ian Hu (Nathan)

Non-player Character(s):

Lynn Kodhammer
Salazzar Gravenor

Date(s):

Nightal 12-13, 1358 DR

Location(s):

The Fortress Monastery of Ukisor

Encounter(s)

Encounter 1: A huge pack of gnolls and a Remorhaz…and a chicken
Encounter 2: Eight Warforged Assassins and Lynn Kodhammer
Encounter 3: Six Vampire Spawn, Salazzar Gravenor and his Bride

Reward(s):

GAIN A FEAT OR AN ATTRIBUTE POINT!

The Fang of Ukisor (Ghost Touch Short Sword +5, +2d6 vs Good, Grants wielder Darkvision 60’, cast Darkness at will, secretes a dose of dragon bile once per day – contact DC 26, Damage: STR 3d6/0)

Summary

• You cautiously pass by the pair of remorhaz, calmed temporarily by the giant’s blood, and pass through a door way at the south end of the chamber. Beyond it you find a room around a great shaft in the ceiling. It was once for an elevator and it extends up some three hundred feet into the sheer rock of the mountain.

• The gnolls are in hot pursuit, not only from the remorhaz chamber but from other corridors in the complex. Seeing that you will soon be overrun, you make a fighting retreat for the shaft but climbing it will not be easy or quick. As you make your way up a remorhaz follows you threatening to swallow you hole. You cram a bead of force down the chicken’s throat and send it hurtling into the mouth of the remorhaz. It chomps down and with a sudden carnage laden explosion, its head rips apart and is splattered and wedged against the four walls of the chamber. You have slain the creature instantly and blocked further pursuit. You set pitons and climb up.

• You emerge from the tunnel into a wide semi-circular room. The western side opens to an opening in the cliff face. Rope bridges extend across the chasm into the upper halls beyond. Ian detects a familiar sent. Dragons. To the east is a single door. You make camp and after resting decide to take the door to the east.

• You open the door. The floor of the room beyond has been eroded away by glacial melt water. You wade through the floating chunks of ice toward the darkness of the other side. “Welcome brother.” says a cold, unfamiliar voice from the darkness. Before you are eight entities clothed in the garb of the Shadowhawks. They speak to Ian and identify themselves as his lost brothers, warforged from the same ship. They were not so lucky as he. They were collected by Markuth long ago when the Woeden invaded and serve him now. They have worked for him all this time as spies, informants and assassins. They defend Salazzar now and have these several months he has spent at the monastery.

• Another figure appears from the darkness. It is Lynn. With all her strength she lashes out at the warforged. Battle is joined and the warforged are defeated. Ian collects what he can of them to see if they can be saved. Lynn tells you all she can about Salazzar and how he is prepared to defeat you. Ian hands her his ghulra to aid in resisting the will of Salazzar. But time grows short. You devise a plan of attack.

• Wading into the freezing water you go through a tunnel in the rocks to Salazzar’s room beyond. You have the element of surprise. You lob the vial of universal solvent at him and with a scream he is destroyed in an instant, but his servants remain. His bride attacks but you are victorious. Lynn joins you after the battle. She has been restored to life!

• You find the Fang of Ukisor, the only thing that remains where Salazzar once stood. The hilt is a carved dragon tooth and the blade of some metal completely unknown to you. Lynn tells you the fang was from one of the many mouths of the goddess Tiamat.

• Lynn goes on to tell you that King Liamund has been kept here these past months under guard by Salazzar and his men. She does not know where he is, but she believes that he was taken to the western halls. In those halls is the lair of the white dragon Ciraxis, who she believes was called there by the Claw of Boareskyr.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Reif Dranove (Drew)

Non-player Character(s):

Jarl Hoarfrost

Date(s):

Nightal 12, 1358 DR

Location(s):

The Fortress Monastery of Ukisor

Encounter(s)

Encounter 1: 3 Chain Demons in the cursed hall
Encounter 2: 6 Gnolls and a Mimic
Encounter 3: Jarl Hoarfrost, 2 Displacer Beasts and 6 Gnolls

Reward(s):

• 2500 gold pieces
• 2500 gp in gems and jewelry
• Vial of Universal Solvent
• Vial of Oil of Slipperiness
• Hoarfrost’s Belt pouch and its contents:
• Iron Bell Engraved with Runes in Deep Gnomish
• Giant Sized Smoking Pipe and Blue Moonweed
• A Live Chicken
• A Sack of Salt
• 4 Beads of Force

Summary

• As you make your way down the long cold hall of the fortress with the bellows of the mountain troll echoing in your ears you come to a barred door. It is scrawled with symbols in a strange script. Reif calls upon his magic to understand their meaning. It is two words written in gnollish; DANGER, DEMONS. Not wishing to return and fight the troll, you unbar the door and press on.

• The narrow hall ahead is filled with chains, many look old and are covered in rust, but some are clean and shiny. You avoid them as best you can but accidentally get too close one of the clean ones. A blue flash and an arc of crackling lightning sends you into terrible spasms. In a room ahead you see three beings appear in pulsing light. Kytons (chain devils) approach and the chains begin to writhe like serpents. A hard fight, but you win it.

• You come to a room covered in riddles and answers written by the Shadowhawks. You answer them and the door opens before you, revealing a room with three treasure chests. You find the remains of one unfortunate thief stuck fast to a pile of treasure in an open chest. You surmise that similar traps await in the other two chests and successfully disarm one and ignore the other, determining that it is a mimic.

• You proceed into a corridor and encounter a pack of gnolls brandishing cruel blades. You fight them off and follow their trail back to a large door where you hear the deep voice of a large creature shouting at yipping gnolls. “Intruders?! Find them! Kill them! Gather the war band!” You do no wait for the war band to muster.

• Bursting into the large room you find a frost giant on a throne of bitter cold iron. He is flanked by displacer beasts that lounge on the dais, snarling as the bolt up when the door flies open. In front of the giant, gnolls howling for blood.

• It is a tough fight and a very narrow but epic victory. You vanquish the frost giant Hoarfrost and his retainers. Then you must run. The warband is hot on your trail. You make your way for the upper halls.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Ian Hu (Nathan)

Non-player Character(s):

The Villagers in Tridic, including Dorn’s girlfriend
The Pereghost
Jarl Bard

Date(s):

Nightal 7-12, 1358 DR

Location(s):

The Northern Vale
The Sunset Mountains
The Town of Hluthvar
The Village of Tridic
The Fortress Monastery of Ukisor

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: The Battle of Hluthvar
Encounter 2: 1 Mountain Troll guarding the entrance to Fortress of Ukisor

Reward(s):

Map of Darkhold

Summary

• In the snow and cold you slog through the steepening foot hills of the Sunset Mountains. You approach a small village, small enough that it is not on your maps, that you learn is named Tridic. Passing through the open gate in the crude palisade and look up to see a set of broad elk antlers mounted on a pole, around which is wrapped a strip of ornate, red cloth. The heraldic symbol of this town, you guess. There are a dozen run down buildings behind the wall, and no one is about. You make your way to the long house in the center of town, sensing that you are being watched.

• You enter The Long Hall and find several peasants drinking in the tap room. They eye you warily. After a few drinks you learn that this town is fiercely loyal to House Tyrguard. House Tyrguard and House Liddelhauk had just recently won a great battle against House Sull and forced them back to Hluthvar. They did this with the help of the Zhents and lifted the siege of Darkhold.

• A soldier of House Tyrguard approaches the village. He is looking to recruit ten new conscripts. The army has suffered considerable loses lifting the siege of Darkhold. They will march for the town of Hluthvar where the combined forces of the Zhentarim and the north will expel House Sull once and for all.

• Ian confronts the soldier, saying that he and his companions will go instead of the conscripts, for they are worth ten times ten conscripts. The soldier is skeptical, but when Kaldur transforms out of his wolf form and you state that you are the Barons of the Woedland Wilds, he accepts. the villagers are awe struck. Dorn manages to leave with his virtue unchanged.

• Hluthvar is a large walled town and the seat of House Tyrguard. It is currently occupied by House Sull. The Zhents and the forces of the north are bombarding the city with great trebuchets and the Pereghost leads the great battering ram Karrack to break the main gate. You charge the gate as it breaks.

• You fight bravely and break their lines, rushing ahead of the main force and scale the walls of the keep. You fight your way to the throne room where Jarl Bard sits. You convince him to flee before the Zhents get there. He gives you a map of Darkhold and then you flee through a secret tunnel. You emerge through into an abandoned apothecary’s shop and leave town.

• You return to the village of Tridic and supply for your long, cold journey into the mountains. You climb through the mountains and come to the base of a massive glacier as a winter storm approaches. Ahead of you are a large number of strange, unfamiliar banners mounted on spears. You take shelter from the storm and are nearly buried alive. You survive and make your way across the treacherous glacier avoiding the impossibly deep crevasses until you find the entrance of the Fortress of Ukisor.

• The massive wooden gate, banded in brass stands slightly ajar. Next to the door is a wind chime hanging from an iron hook, tinkling in the gentle breeze. You move past it into the dark entrance hall. You are set upon by a massive troll, easily twice the size of any troll you’ve ever seen. It is a terrible foe, but you realize it is chained to the floor. You dodge past it and move into the halls beyond as it bellows after you.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Reif Dranove (Drew)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Ian Hu (Nathan)

Non-player Character(s):

Lynn Kodhammer
Margrave Kole Ryttermarg
The Shepherd
Friar Aramar Blackroot
Taureau Vilguerre
Kreeg Stonegavel
Samus Stonegavel
Thybald Stonegavel
Thymin Stonegavel
Timor Stonegavel
Thyval Stonegavel

Date(s):

Uktar 15 – Nightal 7, 1358 DR

Location(s):

Blackhill Motte
The Reaching Wood
The Village of Redwater
The Barrow of the High King
The Northern Vale
The Sunset Mountains

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: 12 Dretches, 6 Shadows, 6 Vargouilles, 2 Babau, 1 Black Pudding and a Patridge in a Pear Tree

Reward(s):

GAIN A FEAT!

10 gem stones found in a compartment in the high king’s tomb worth 25,000 gp
3 potions of greater restoration
1 potion of healing

Summary

• The black corruption rises from the ichor. It is an entity of immense size. Its incorporeal spawn pour from its body as it calls forth demonic entities that swarm in from the tunnels beyond. You are greatly outnumbered but you manage to defeat the black corruption and its minions.

• The ichor begins to drain and clarify. Beneath the draining pool you find the stone sarcophagus of the High King of the Woeden, Ulvjatten, the Great Wolf. You open it to find the remains have been disturbed. You learn from the carved stone reliefs that the Raiment of the Dragon King was once worn and carried by him and he was buried with it. Thousands of years ago the High Woeden King Ulvjatten “The Great Wolf”, used the raiment to incite a rage of dragons to defeat the giant Direhelm, who ruled the Vale from the fortress of Darkhold. This defeat of the giants ushered in a new era where the Vale was ruled by man.

• Ian discovers a hidden cache containing a small fortune’s worth of gems.

• With the foul pool drained, Dorn heals the wounded Elderfeyne with divine magic and harvests some of its roots.

• You leave the tomb. The shepherd is confused to see you, almost as if it had forgotten that it has let you in. You learn that the shepherd cannot create new memories. The last thing it remembers was being attacked by a lich and you discern that this happened nearly three hundred years ago. The lich entered the tomb.

• You return to Blackhill Motte, brew potions from the elderfeyne and restore Kole Ryttermarg to health.
  Sadly, Lynn’s curse of undeath cannot be restored by the roots of the Elderfeyne. Weeping, she flies into the forest.

• With Kole restored, you help him to liberate the village of Redwater, jail the sheriff and put the Stonegave brothers in charge. Shortly after being jailed, the sheriff dies under mysterious circumstances.

• With the force awakened and the rebellion shored up by a new hope you make the long journey across the Vale to combat the phantom menace in the Sunset Mountains.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig) – and Brother Maynard
Reif Dranove (Drew)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Ian Hu (Nathan)
Forty Four (cohort played by Nate)

Non-player Character(s):

Lynn Kodhammer
Margrave Kole Ryttermarg
The Shepherd

Date(s):

Uktar 14-15, 1358 DR

Location(s):

Blackhill Motte
The Reaching Wood
The Village of Redwater
The Barrow of the High King

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: 1 Bodak in a trapped hallway
Encounter 2: 2 Umberhulks
Encounter 3: 1 Spectre while Kaldur is under the control of the ring of slaughter

Reward(s):

300 gold pieces
50 gp topaz
50 gp topaz
1000 gp diamond
Netherese Palanquin
Bodak Cloak
Ring of Slaughter
Jewel Encrusted Dagger

Summary

• For fourteen days following your trek across the Reaching Wood to Blackhill Motte you have labored to produce magic arms and items to aid you during the trying times to come. It has been a welcome rest, despite the ruined surroundings and the constant hooting of owlbears.

• During this time, Kaldur and Ian reconnoitered the area around the Village of Redwater disguised as a traveler and his wolf-dog. A new Jattelan sheriff has been appointed with a complement of soldiers. One night, Ian and Kaldur broke into the sheriff’s gaol and rooted through his messages.

• The sheriff is requesting more men. Three of his deputies were found murdered and drained of their blood while investigating Hammer Hall. It is said the ghost of Lynn Kodhammer haunts the hall. No one will go near the place. Ian forges a message and replaces it so that no troops will be sent. Kaldur sends a perfumed message to his baby-mama, Shilindria Jattelan in Scornubel.

• More time passes at Blackhill Motte. Margrave Kole Ryttermarg’s condition is getting worse. He sleeps much and is growing weak. When he is awake, he is a rambling lunatic. Brother Maynard approaches you one night and says that despite his considerable skill and Kaldur gathering healing herbs in the forest he will be gone in a matter of days without supernatural aid. He petitions you to bring Selona Caseldown from Hill’s Edge.

• While this meeting is taking place, a familiar yet changed voice chimes in from the darkness. Lynn Kodhammer steps in the firelight and says that Kole is beyond the aid of the gods of Selona and Maynard. Kole needs Woeden magic. Seeking a cure for her own malediction she found the Elderfeyne, the tree of life, deep in the woodland. It sits atop the Barrow of the High King, the first Woeden ruler that united the clans thousands of years ago. The roots of the Elderfeyne are said to possess miraculous healing powers. Lynn cannot enter the barrow as the guardian, a great Ent called the Shepherd, will not allow her kind to pass.

• You decide to follow Lynn. For close to two days you trek through the wilderness. At night you find the barrow. A massive ent, as tall as the tallest trees, approaches you. Kaldur says that he should be allowed past because he is a Woeden, to which the Shepherd agrees, as long as they pay tribute. Kaldur gives the gift of his own blood, Dorn the gift of water, Ian the gift of knowledge of Eberron, and Reif an Unguent of Timelessness.

• You pass through the threshold. All is not right in the darkness. What should be a holy peaceful place is overrun with powerful undead and aberrations from the Underdark. Strange treasures decorate the halls and bones shrouded in rags litter the floors. Kaldur dons a ring carrying a powerful curse and is filled with a murderous rage and attacks the party.

• You make your way through the winding, branching halls until you find a black pool. Suspended above it are the roots of a tree that are blighted and dying in the corrupted water. Dorn lashes out against the necrotic water with a blast of holy energy. The pool recoils like a wounded beast and you hear an ethereal shriek. The shriek is answered by echoing howls from the haunted tunnels. It has called for aid, and it has been answered.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Reif (Drew)
Ahbinav (Jacob)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Logan Gravenor (Charlie)

Non-player Character(s):

Captain Ratargan
Margrave Kole Ryttermarg
Rorin Watershed
Rigalius

Date(s):

Marpenoth 21-30, 1358 DR

Location(s):

The Cornelia – Mask keel boat
The River Reaching
Scornubel
Blackhill Motte

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: Court Wizard of House Jattelan, Wyvern, Shadow Worm, 15 house guards
Encounter 2: Rigalius, Fire Giant Champion of House Jattelan, 15 house guards

Reward(s):

• Sold the Iron Flask for 130,000 GP and bought a bunch of gear (see spreadsheet for details)
• Items taken from the mage and not yet identified (wand, 2 scrolls, scepter, mask, chain shirt, ring)

Summary

• Reif finds Rorin Watershed and discreetly brings him to the docks. Rorin is nervous but you convince him to trade for the Iron Flask. He tells you that it is an amazing prize, one of five from the ancient kingdom of Netheril. You trade throughout the day and into the evening.

• As Rorin leaves, Captain Ratargan is nowhere to be found. It is then that you hear a great commotion on the dock. The Jattelan house guard is approaching! They are led by a mage riding on a massive wyvern. He lands on the deck of the Cornelia and summons a massive shadow worm. It is a pitched battle but you win the day.

• Then the second wave of Jattelan troops attack. They are led by Rigalius, the fire giant. He lobs great boulders at the ship. Reif casts water breathing on everyone and Kaldur jumps into the water with Kole Ryttermarg. Reif stays behind to fight off the Jattelans and kills many with fire. The fire giant advances onto the deck of the ship and Logan faces off against him. With the help of Kaldur he manages to fight him and escape, sinking the Cornelia in the process.

• You make your way across the river and into the woods. From there you trek through the trackless Reaching Wood until you reach Blackhill Motte after eight days in the wilderness.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Ian Hu (Nathan)
Reif (Drew)

Non-player Character(s):

Captain Ratargan
Chyval Jattelan
Lynn Kodhammer
Margrave Kole Ryttermarg

Date(s):

Marpenoth 16-21, 1358 DR

Location(s):

The Cornelia – Mask keel boat on the River Reaching
The River Reaching
Red Giant Inn – in Scornubel
Scornubel

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: Two Ghasts (formerly Heywood and one of the Mask acolytes) in the hold of the Cornelia
Encounter 2: Goblin Raiders on the River Reaching

Reward(s):

GAIN A FEAT!

Basic weapons and armor – from the Mask acolytes

Summary

• After three days travel up river, you find yourselves staring down a furious Captain Ratargan and his acolytes. Heywood Leafwind and a Mask acolyte are dead. Their bodies were found together in the hold. They must have killed each other over night and Ratargan is demanding an explanation.

• You investigate the scene. Heywood carried a knife, but she did not stab the acolyte. Both have defensive wounds on their hands and forearms. It looks like they were both killed by claws and teeth, not blades. Finally, you find faint remnants of bloody hand prints on the ceiling of the hold. Something attacked them both.

• You put the bodies of Heywood and the acolyte next to body of Lynn in the hold. You place arcane locks and traps and set watches for the night. You will be in Scornubel in the morning. Dorn can’t shake a uneasy feeling. There is an ominous presence on the ship.

• As the night wears on, Ian, having no need of sleep, stands guard over the locked hold. He hears the sound of someone crying down there. He investigates. It is Lynn and she is weeping. Her tears running over her pale skin and gaunt, stretched features. Blood stains her lips. “Ian!” she says. “What has become of me?” As Ian processes this he is attacked from behind by the undead bodies of Heywood and the acolyte. Lynn screams in horror at the sight of them.

• Hearing the screams the rest of the party and their followers rush to Ian’s aid. They quickly dispatch the ghasts and question Lynn about what happened. Salazzar did this to her!

• Dorn will not suffer this abomination. He lashes out with holy fury. Ian and Reif step in to shield her. She suffers a devastating attack but manages to change to mist and flee into the moonlit woodland on the far bank. Your argument about what took place is cut short by the sound of alarm from the deck. The ship is under attack! Goblin raiders!

• You find the deck embroiled in a pitched battle against a far more numerous force of goblins. The Masks will soon be overwhelmed. Reif unleashed terrible arcane power and reduces a great host of goblins to ash. Ian, Dorn and your companions fight them back, but more reinforcements are on the way. A comically oversized, sparking bomb is being piloted by two goblins in a war canoe toward the ship. Reif sets off the bomb before it can reach them, making certain that the goblins were witnessed riding into Valhalla, despite their mediocre performance. Shrapnel flies across the deck.

• Most of the crew is dead and more war canoes are coming. Stepping in to crew the ship you manage to pilot it through the treacherous waters and outpace the goblins. You arrive in Scornubel with the Cornelia still smoldering.

• In the predawn light, the dock is bustling. Jattelan soldiers fill the city as they prepare to march. Where, you do not know. You go ashore to rest and gather intelligence. The captain goes to hire a new crew. Ian, in disguise, makes his way toward a large encampment of Jattelan soldiers in the center of town. He manages to uncover their troop movements, forge fake dispatches to sow confusion, reroute a battalion away from Taendarval and poison one of Margrave Jattelan’s cousins, all before breakfast. An infiltrator warforged fulfilling its purpose.

• You meet back at the Red Giant Inn to plan your next move.

Player Characters:

Brother Maynard (Craig)
Heywood Leafwind (Jon)
Reif (Drew)

Non-player Character(s):

Heinrik – City Guardsman of Berdusk
Brother Marvay – Cleric of Ilmater
Brovnick the Boor – Dwarf freed from the dungeons
Moppee – Kobold freed from the dungeons
Several Clerics of Mask

Date(s):

Marpenoth 16, 1358 DR

Location(s):

Tjhe City of Berdusk
The Brazen Manticore Inn and Tavern
The South End Apothecary’s Shop
The Dungeon’s Beneath Hevavolta (The Griffon Throne)

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: 2 Guardsmen
Encounter 2: 10 Cultists

Reward(s):

-8000 gp to be smuggled by boat out of Berdusk

Summary

• It has been one month since Kole, Lynn and the Barons have been imprisoned. In the chaos that followed Volhym seizing power Reif sent urgent messages to Taenderval telling them to head for the hills. An army sent by House Jattelan was dispatched to take over the keep. Taenderval has been taken ovee by some privileged cousin of Hyval Jattelan, Margrave of the West, and all your assets (including your magical firepower) have been seized.

• There has been much turmoil in the realm. The Zhent’s have sent an army south across the Sea of Fallen Stars that has landed in Teziir. They are marching on Iriaebor. House Sull has laid siege to the Zhent fortress of Darkhold. The lords of the north that remain in power are mustering there forces to make war on the south. They will free the Margrave of the North or make the usurper pay for his treachery.

• Reif has spent much time organizing the resistance in the north by sending them critical intelligence. He has also been trying to find Kole, Lynn and the Barons. He learns that they have been spirited away to Berdusk and are being held in the dungeons under the Griffin Throne, the seat of power and ancestral home of House Mannen’krig.

• Brother Maynard has made his way from Tantras with word for Dorn Marsk. There has been a great cataclysm in Tantras. Maynard has seen a vision of Torm defending the city against Bane. In his attempt to find Dorn he has been contacted by Reif.

• Heywood, Harper Agent and ranger of the north has been in search of Lynn since she disappeared after the coup and has found Reif.

• All three are in the Brazen Manticore, a tavern frequented by the town guard, to try and gain information about the Mannen’krig dungeons. They learn of a hidden passagel, barricaded some time ago that was an escape tunnel under the old foundations of House Mannen’krig. Perhaps it could be used.

• You find the entrance to the hidden tunnel beneath an old apothecary’s shop and travel a long way under ground before you find it has been collapsed. A massive solid rock bars your path. Reif uses stone shape to cut a tunnel through the rock and you make your way beneath the castle.

• You find the old entrance guarded by two soldiers playing cards. You quickly and silently dispatch them. Making your way into the dungeons you find row upon row of cells. From the last door on the left you hear chanting and an eerie green light. You do not recognize the language spoken.

• Further down you find a dwarf and kobold chained to the walls of separate cells. You free them and the kobold tells you that the chanting is in draconic and that they are calling the dread lord Balariax back from the land of the dead.

• You silently make your way toward the chanting. You find a cavernous room. In the center of this room is the decomposed body of a red dragon. Around it are ten cloaked figures. Eerie green mist flows from them toward the dragon as they chant. You swear you see one of the great beast’s limbs move. This must be stopped. You spring to action. You attack the cultists from on high as you charge into the room. Many flee but some stay and fight. You manage to kill three of them and stop the ritual. One of the cultists had a signet ring of House Drachengyld.

• Time is running out and the garrison on its way. You quickly search the remaining cells. You find Kole Ryttermarg, in a state of feeblemind in a hidden cell and the barons in a similar state. Then you find Lynn.

• Jarl Lynn Kodhammer, first of her name, is dead. You find her body collapsed on the floor in a hidden cell. You shroud her body and carry her out as you make your way through the tunnels away from the castle.

• You make your way to the docks and negotiated smuggled passage on the river from the servants of Mask.

• You make your way north, cursing the usurper Volhym Mannen’krig.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Reif (Drew)

Non-player Character(s):

Animated corpse head of Prespos, son of Prespos
Animated corpse head of Valkor, the King’s Guard

Date(s):

Eleint 16, 1358 DR

Location(s):

The Shadowhawk Lair
The King’s Palace

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: 1 Mohrg in a room flooding with blood
Encounter 2: 5 Werewolves
Encounter 3: 1 Boneclaw and 2 Bhaal Rogues (reskinned Xill)
Encounter 4: 8 Vampire Spawn, 2 Ambush Drakes and the Queen of the Shadowhawks (she fled)

Reward(s):

44000 cp
25000 sp
13000 gp
50 pp

Azurite (6 gp)
Blue Quartz (14 gp)
Golden Yellow Topaz (500 gp)
Rich Purple Corundum (1000 gp)
White Pearl (90 gp)
White Pearl (100 gp)
Citrine (40 gp)
Rhodochrosite (10 gp)
Rhodochrosite (10 gp)
Rhodochrosite (10 gp)
Rose Quartz (50 gp)
Jasper (80 gp)

Gilded Wooden Miniature (of a Tower) inlaid with Silver (600 gp)
Platinum Cloth Choker (700 gp)
Small Bag of Spices (80 gp)
Ceramic Miniature (of a Ship) (90 gp)
Sable Sash set with Violet Garnet (1000 gp)

Arcane Scroll – Continual Flame (200 gp), Knock (150 gp)
Arcane Scroll – Jump (25 gp), Obscuring Mist (25 gp)
Divine Scroll – Virtue (12 gp 5 sp), Magic Fang (25 gp), Hold Person (150 gp)
Divine Scroll – Cure Moderate Wounds (200 gp)
Potion of Pass without Trace (50 gp)
Potion of Cat’s Grace (300 gp)
Potion of Levitate (300 gp)
Wand of Color Spray (37 of 50 charges) (555 gp)
Breastplate+1 (1350 gp)
Buckler+2 (4165 gp)
Nunchaku+1 (2302 gp)

Message in a broken black wax seal

Summary

• You decide to rest, barricading yourselves in the tomb of lord Ellard. You emerge from the stone door and brave the dark depths further.

• You encounter a Mohrg, a vile murderous undead servant of Bhaal, in a long hallway that begins to rapidly fill with blood. Reif works to disable the trap while Kaldur and Dorn fight the undead creature.

• You enter a room filled with a large statue of a wolf-like beast. Lying in wait are five werewolves that spring to attack. unfortunately for them, Reif had the drop on them. They are immolated in an instant by a massive fireball. You interrogate the lone survivor and learn that the horn of Veymar is no longer here. It has been taken west to the city of Berdusk.

• You explore store rooms and a large well appointed bed chamber and gather many valuable goods.

• You enter a dining hall. Weapons are laid out on a side table and many of the plates still contain unrotted food. The assassins were here very recently and they left in a hurry. They left their undead servants behind to fight you. You are attacked by a boneclaw and two undead assassins twisted and corrupted by Bhaal.

• Beyond the dining hall, you find a secluded entrance to the crypts below. In the crypt you find eight coffins arranged in a circle. You open one and find a vampire spawn in a deep slumber. You find more in other coffins. You kill as many as you can before they can wake but you are still attacked by many. You are winning the battle when a beautiful vampire woman emerges from the dark passage beyond. She is accompanied by two drakes and join the battle. Using her will to control and dominate you you make strange decisions and fight each other briefly before Dorn uses the power of Torm to dispel her powers. She flees when her servants are slain.

• You find her sarcophagus and that of her mate, Lord Salazzar. In Lord Sallazar’s you find a large sum of gold and contract with a broken black wax seal that bears this mysterious symbol:

• The contract orders the Shadowhawk Assassins to unleash the demon in the Iron Flask in the mage’s guild. When the mages are dead or gone, they are to find and retrieve the relic of the mage Hestan and deliver it to … Markuth Hilmaster.

• You find one last room in the dungeon, the torture chamber. There are five recently dead corpses inside. Using your magic to speak with dead you learn that one of them was a mage from the guild named Prespos, son of Prespos. He tells you of the Shadowhawk assassin attack and how they wanted to know the location of the relic of Hestan. From him you also learn that Salazzar is currently headed for the monastery of Ukisor to retrieve the Fang, the second artifact in the Raiment of the Dragon King.

• You question Valkor, one of the king’s guards. He was taken here when the king was, two days ago. He says he saw them take the king into the passage beyond the torture chamber. You explore it and find a tunnel winding down to a subterranean river deep beneath the city. He believes that the king is still alive.

• With this information Kaldur and Dorn proceed at all haste to the palace to find Lynn. Reif goes to find Prespos to relay his son’s dying words.

• Reif learns much from a group of tavern goers. Prince Volhym has declared himself king and has arrested Kole Ryttermarg and Jarl Lynn Kodhammer for treason. Warrants have been issued for the arrest of her barons. The Zhents have fled the city, though many are dead, and the Pereghost slayed scores of city guardsmen in the fighting. Many lords loyal to Kole Rytermarg have also fled. Many in the city are confused and outrage at the arrest of Kole.

• Kaldur and Dorn, unwittingly walked into a trapped set by the city watch. Thinking they were being taken to see Lynn, they were led into the dungeons and locked away, under arrest for conspiracy.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Ian Hu (Nathan)
Alan Droit (Hantsch)
Ahbinav (Jacob)

Non-player Character(s):

None

Date(s):

Eleint 15, 1358 DR

Location(s):

The Shadowhawk Lair

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: The Mist Servant bestowing boons
Encounter 2: Two of Ellard’s Vampire Spawn
Encounter 3: Ellard Tarvel (Vampire Fighter/Wizard) and his three vampire spawn

Reward(s):

GAIN A FEAT!

• Clockwork Behir (3000 gp) made for the Noble House of Sull
• 5000 sp and 3000 gp in crates (newly minted coins of the realm)
• 6000 gps worth of old coins, gems and jewelry from the vampires tomb
• Ring of Improved Jumping
• Shifter’s Sorrow
• Rod of Metamagic – Silent Spell
• Iron Flask
• Wand of Fireballs

Summary

• You work with the puzzle of the magic boxes and learn that the school of magic of the last box will cause the creature made of mist to grant you a different magical boon from that school that works in that room.
  Divination: it answers a question
  Evocation: Leomund’s Tiny Hut
  Enchantment: Restful Sleep
  Transmutation: Darkvision
  Abjuration: Nondetection
  Illusion: Invisibility Sphere
  Conjuration: Cure Serious Wounds
  Necromancy: The servant dissipates

• There are signs in the room that this is the lair of some great wolf-like creature.

• In one corner of the room you find a chest that contains a clockwork behir with a maker’s mark saying it was the property of house Sull. Ian examines it and determines that the creatures forked tongue is a key, but to what door?

• You make your way through the tunnels and uncover a passage guarded by vampire spawn which attack you. You dispatch them with holy might, magic power, brute strength and cunning.

• At the end of this tunnel you find a great stone door, the tomb of Ellard Tarvel, dead these 200 years. On the door is a winding , intricate carving of a many-legged behir. Using the key, the stone door rolls open. The stench of age and rot permeates the room when it does.

• Inside a stone sarcophagus rests on a dais surrounded by offerings and treasures. You remove the lid. Inside rests Lord Ellard Tarvel, but he doesn’t rest for long.

• Lord Tarvel and his servants attack with terrible ferocity. It is a pitched battle, with devastating damage done to both sides. The lord unleashes a fireball which sets the room on fire and damages much of his treasures.

• Then Ahbinav, summons the power of Torm and his sword bursts into flames. It grows in brightness until it is a blinding, blistering ray of divine sunlight. Ellard shrieks in agony. He flees the sunlight and nearly escapes, if it were not for the great efforts of the party. Finally Ahbinav swings his sword, cutting into the smoldering, desiccated flesh of lord Ellard reducing him to smoking ash and boiling blood in a fiery instant. The day is won.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Ian Hu (Nathan)
Anocumo (Aaron)
Reif (Drew)

Non-player Character(s):

None

Date(s):

Eleint 15, 1358 DR

Location(s):

The Abandoned Temple of the Faceless
The Graveyard of the Southern Ward
The Shadowhawk Lair

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: Escaping from the Zhents
Encounter 2: Sewer Rats (6 giant rats and one rat that turned into a man)
Encounter 3: The Tunnel Gauntlet (4 Shadowhawk assassins, one of which had fangs and tried to glamour you)

Reward(s):

None

Summary

• You escape from the Zhent compound via a hole in the dome of the roof. The Zhent guards discover that Semmemon is dead and raise the alarm.

• You make your way to the south end of town and find the graveyard. On your way there you hear every bell in the city of a thousand spires ringing out in alarm.

• You find the graveyard and there are two mausoleums. One belonging to House Bandraddon (Black Destrier), another to House Tarvel (Dead Tree).

• You open the mausoleum of House Bandraddon. It has been trapped with a powerful explosive which injures you and attracts a number of the townspeople.

• You learn from the townspeople that the king is missing since last night. This is the cause for the bells.

• You enter the mausoleum of House Tarvel and find a hidden entrance to the Shadowhawk clan’s underground lair.

• You fight assassins in the shadows. Many appear twisted. Some can change form, others possess fangs and an ability to glamour. Carved into the skin of some are the swirling blood droplets around a central skull that is the symbol of Bhaal, the Lord of Murder.

• You make your way further and further into the maze-like tunnels of the complex and come upon a room that contains a pile of rags in the center of it. Around it in a sequence are seven small boxes. Each emanate magic auras. Reif begins to investigate the magical nature of the room and the sequence of boxes.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Ian Hu (Nathan)
Ahbinav (Jacob)
Anocumo (Aaron)

Non-player Character(s):

Sememmon
Shadowhawk Assassin

Date(s):

Eleint 14, 1358 DR

Location(s):

The Abandoned Temple of the Faceless

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: Shadowhawk Assassins

Reward(s):

• A wizards scroll case, inks and papers
• 400 gp taken from the bodies of dead Zhents and Shadowhawks

Summary

Ian watches the abandoned temple and sees the telltale signs of a struggle from the window of one of the upper floors. He swings across the street and stealthily dives through one of the windows.

He finds a Zhent soldier bleeding out on the floor. Exploring the rooms upstairs he finds several more corpses, all Zhents, all with their throats slit. From down the hall he hears the sound of muffled footsteps. A figure in black moves with supernatural quickness to attack.

As Ian fights the assassin in the upper floors, Dorn, Kaldur and Anocumo burst through the front door. Ahbinav, on horse back, bursts through the wall. They find many dead Zhents on the main floor. Assassins emerge from every door and rush to attack.

You fight them, killing several, beating them back and they cast darkness to escape. All but one, which is held by Dorn. Anocumo puts him to the question. These were Shadowhawk assassins led by Salazzar himself. They were tasked to kill all the Zhents.

Lastly, he gives up the location of the Shadowhawk hideout in a cemetery on the southern end of town. They entrance is an unmarked mausoleum next to the largest oak tree.

As you prepare to set out you hear the clanking of a heavy chain from the dome of the cathedral. Semmemon has been killed, hung by a chain from the dome of the temple.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Ian Hu (Nathan)
Logan Gravenor (Charlie)

Non-player Character(s):

King Liamund Mannen’krig
Baroness Shilindria Jattelan
Margrave Thymor Sull
Jarl Lynn Kodhammer
Semmemon, Lord of Darkhold
Pereghost, Captain of the Guard of Darkhold
Petturi Oldharp
Jarl Greymane
Jarl Bard
Forty Four

Date(s):

Eleint 13, 1358 DR

Location(s):

The Mage’s Guild Tower
Castle Iriaebor

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: No Combat Encounters

Reward(s):

GAIN A FEAT!

Summary

Lots of roleplaying that is hard to summarize. By all means, please send me inputs, or add your own inputs in the comments/forum.

You attended the king’s feast.

Logan kills Petturi Oldharp. He makes his lute strings rusty with a rust monster tentacle. Petturi cuts his hand on the rusty strings. The strings were also coated by an injectable poison taken from the mages guild.

Dorn learns much about the intrigues in the court. Many are upset that a Woeden has been named to the Griffon guard. They are also upset that foreigners have been made barons.

Ian rescues 44 from the mages tower.

Kaldur dances with/impregnates Shilindria Jattelan

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Reif (Drew)

Non-player Character(s):

King Liamund Mannen’krig
Queen Leetha Sull
Queen Dowager Ellana Jattelan
Baroness Shilindria Jattelan
Margrave Kole Ryttermarg
Margrave Thymor Sull
Prince Margrave Volhym Mannen’Krig
Cardinal Riche Aplae
Jarl Lynn Kodhammer
Ser Dudley
Semmemon, Lord of Darkhold
Pereghost, Captain of the Guard of Darkhold
Petturi Oldharp
The Visage of Hestan

Date(s):

Eleint 12-13, 1358 DR

Location(s):

The Mage’s Guild Tower
The Tourney Ground
The Abandoned Temple of the Faceless

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: The Grand Melee

Reward(s):

• Griffon Egg – gift from the king to Kaldur for winning the Grand Melee
• The Spectral Noose – taken from the tower of the mage’s guild by Reif
• 30? platinum pieces Reif won betting on Kaldur in the melee

Summary

You try to figure out how to get the warforged titan out of the tower. You table that until later because you have more pressing matters to attend to, the Grand Melee.

As you are making your way through the tower you encounter the visage of Hestan. He has emerged from the broken crystal. He gives you one important clue regarding the Claw of Boareskyr and the Fang of Ukisor. They are both likely hidden in the Monastery of Ukisor in the Sunset Mountains. Not just he Fang as you suspected. The Zhents are digging in the wrong spot.

You make your way to the Grand Melee while Reif attempts to conceal the Horn of Veymar via alchemical means.

At the Grand Melee you greet the king and his court without offending anyone.

Dorn approaches Cardinal Riche Aplea and is absolved of his actions against Bishop Bandraddon. He is warned to look out for the vengeance of the Bandraddons however.

Reif attends the melee with Dorn and they are approached by Petturi Oldharp. Petturi (unknown to you at the time) poisons Dorn and steals the horn of veymar.

Kaldur fights and wins the Grand Melee and knocks out the Pereghost. He is a awarded a griffon’s egg. When it hatches he will be a member of the Griffon Guard. The king’s elite personal soldiers. Kaldur gives his favor to Shilindria Jattelan.

Reif follows Petturi after he left the tourney ground to an abandoned temple. Petturi is meeting with Semmemon. Reif kills himself with the spectral noose to get closer and overhear what they are saying.

Player Characters:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Ian Hu (Nathan)
Logan Gravenor (Charlie)

Non-player Character(s):

44

Date(s):

Eleint 12, 1358 DR (very early morning)

Location(s):

The Mage’s Guild Tower

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: Gargoyles in the shifting room (4 gargoyles, room with shifting gravity)
Encounter 2: Demons in the Alcoves (4 Babau)
Encounter 3: The Great Demon (1 Retriever, 4 Large Spiders)

Reward(s):

• A mirror covered in a black shroud
• A crystal flask filled with swirling black smoke
• Black leather boots studded with cold iron spikes
• A square box made of ancient oaks and covered in runes
• 3000 gp worth of spell components
• Spellbook from the research lab
• Logbook from the Eberron portal
• Gemstone from the Great Demon

Summary

You begin exploring the southwest tower with your stone golem ally, Drey. He enters the hallway ahead of your vanguard and promptly falls through a pit trap, smashing to bits on the hard stones one hundred feet below.

After Drey fell, Ian cautiously explores the hall and opens the door to the storage room. It holds a vast array of spell components and equipment for use in the labs. Much of the room is burned and destroyed. In one corner of the room there is a solitary skeletal leg hopping up and down that Kaldur smashes to dust. In the center of the room there is a scorch mark on the floor and in the scorch mark, a solitary pair of footprints.

You gather several strange magic items: 1) a mirror covered in a black shroud, 2) an ancient oak box, 3) a crystal flask filled with swirling black smoke, and 4) (fabulous) black leather boots. You leave behind a black silk noose that rested in a glass coffin.

You enter the golem forge and see a stone golem holding a large double door shut. The golem is in the likeness of Prespos I, Prespos VI’s ancestor and the founder of the tower. The golem warns you not to enter but does not move to stop you. There are piles of smashed golem-like arms, legs torsos and other parts on the floor. As Ian enters the gravity suddenly shifts 90 degrees and he is thrown against the far wall. The room’s guardians attack, gargoyles, unphased by the shifting gravity. You dispatch them, but the stone golem is thrown out of the room in the shifting gravity and falls down another pit trap.

Next, you enter a defiled temple to Mystra. A powerful demon has been through here. The room is littered with the bodies of dead mages and pools of black ichor. The altar has been smashed and the relic torn out. The altar states in runes that it contains the remains of Hestan, the mage that was the patron of the rogues of Hestan, a name familiar to you.

You enter the laboratories. This room contains four massive pits that are filled with hardened cement. From one you hear the faint sound of rumbling and roaring as if some massive creature is entombed within. Another is shattered revealing something reflective buried beneath.

You enter a hall filled with alcoves that leads to the scrying room. It contains a defaced statue to Azuth. Defaced by a group of babau, demons from the abyss that are now lurking in the alcoves. They attack as soon as you enter. After you defeat them using some of your strongest attacks and Dorn’s holy powers you find the corpses of several dead mages. One carries a scroll telling you how to defeat the great demon in the scrying room beyond. The beast was able to get into the tower by means of a cursed mirror, the same one that is buried in the laboratory. This mirror could be used to banish it.

You return to the golem forge and enter the large stone door. You find a great portal open to the mountainous lands of Eberron. The mages had been following Ian’s research and used it to attune a portal to that realm. Ian takes the logbook used to operate it and commands the portal closed. The floor is littered with the bodies of destroyed warforged. Only one remains alive and he has been cut in half. He is called forty four and talks of how they were sent through the portal to scout the new lands beyond. When they encountered the stone golem guardians they sent a warforged titan through, which the mages managed to trap in a cement sarcophagus. If you manage it free it and control it, it will be a powerful ally.

Searching for a means to free the titan, you return from whence you came and find the third stone golem guardian, this one in the likeness of Doander the Sage of Candlekeep. He is reaching up a chimney. You find that Petturi Oldharp has followed you into the tower and has become trapped by the golem. You convince the golem that you are its friend and Petturi your ally. Petturi aids you in finding a spellbook that can transmute the rock to mud. You free the titan and Ian controls it with his horn of the warforged.

You return the center of the tower and open the sealed door, revealing a massive demon. A spider like creature with four eyes that shoot withering gouts of flame, ice and lightning. It is surrounded by lesser demons in its likeness. There is a terrible battle, but after much fighting you triumph, slaying the demon and retrieving the crystal that it took from the altar. The gem contains the glowing image of a mage trapped within.

PC:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Ian Hu (Nathan)
Reif (Drew)
Logan Gravenor (Charlie)

NPC:

Shilindria Jattelan

Date(s):

Eleint 11, 1358 DR.

Location(s):

Iriaebor
The Griffin’s Roost Inn
The Mage’s Guild Tower

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: The Forge Guardian (4 Large Fire Elementals) in the wizard’s forge
Encounter 2: The Possessing Spirit (1 Spectre)
Encounter 3: The One Legged Skeleton and the Statue of Drey Guldrhein

Reward(s):

GAIN A FEAT!

Red Steel Rapier (Logan takes this from the mage’s forge)

Summary

• Arrive at Iriaebor

• Greeted by Shilindria

• Go to the Griffin’s Roost

• Kaldur signs up for the tournament at dawn

• Dorn seeks out authority to clear his name at the temple of the Triad

• Gravenor finds a hot dog and news about Sallazar and the assassin’s guilds

• Ian goes to the Mage’s Guild and find that it has suffered a recent catastrophe

• Reif seeks out magical knowledge. He buys scrolls from a shady merchant and levitates everyone past the guards outside mage’s guild to infiltrate the upper floors.

• Sneak into the mage’s tower to find the secrets of the mages of Iriaebor

• While in the tower fight fire elementals that lived in the mage’s forge, .fight the possessing spirit of one of the dead mages, fight a one legged skeleton and encounter a stone golem that is in the form of Drey Guldrhein’s human form.

PC:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Ian Hu (Nathan)
Reif (Drew)

NPC:

Petturi Oldharp – Bard and underling to Inquisitor Voltari
Maxis Solarin – Magistrate of Ent Root
Vockur of Blackslab – Apprentice to the recently deceased wizard Falthon Faz’jimet
Lynn Kodhammer – Jarl of Vaggarguard

Date(s):

Eleint 8-10, 1358 DR.

Location(s):

The Old Talking Ox Inn

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: Night at the Inn (1 Night Hag, 1 Nightmare, 1 Rast, 5 Shadow Mastiffs, 4 Mephits)

Reward(s):

• Ring of Mind Shielding, worn by the night hag.

• 500gp of coinage and small gems, formerly the magistrate’s.

Summary

You travel along the road and make camp for the night. Everyone in the camp has nightmares filled with the cackles of the hag. The next morning you find that one of the men has died in his sleep. He looks drained of his life, artificial aged and desiccated.

You travel another day but because of fatigue, poor weather and a strange sensation that you are getting lost you make far less progress than you should have. Ill at ease, you make camp for the night.

Kaldur pushes himself to remain awake and becomes exhausted. During the night, you hear the baying of great black hounds that have surrounded the camp. One of the men is screaming as he sleeps and can’t be woken. He requires your skills of healing. You manage to wake him before he shares the same fate as the man from the night before.

He says he dreamt that the night hag was riding him like a horse and draining the life from him. Consulting lore about witchcraft, you learn that a night hag can do this only if she is in possession of her heart stone. Ian checks. The heart stone is missing.

You let Lynn know and attempt to root out the source of the evil but despite your best efforts the hag eludes detection.

The next day you reach the old talking ox inn. You are all very tired, so after a quick meal many go to bed. Kaldur attempts to remain awake and guard Lynn’s door which was wise. The magistrate approaches Lynn’s door and transforms. The magistrate was the night hag in disguise and has been since the cave!

She has brought her demon servants with her and they all assault the inn at once. A terrible battle ensues. Kaldur drives off the night hag riding her nightmare steed from Lynn’s room. It teleports to the common room and Ian rallies the bard to help flank it and through several terrible backstabs managed to vanquish the hag and her mount. The black hounds move through the inn, killing many and shadow travel to the upper floors. They are assisted by mephits, imps of the elemental planes, and a deadly Rast, a horrific spider demon. You all fight valiantly and well and destroy your enemies.

You tend to the wounded and bury the dead the next morning. The innkeeper and his wife did not make it but they are survived by their daughter. This victory is bittersweet. You leave for Iriaebor which is now only a day’s ride away.

PC:

Dorn Marsk (Craig)
Kaldur Crannblack (Jon)
Ian Hu (Nathan)

NPC:

Petturi Oldharp – Bard and underling to Inquisitor Voltari
Maxis Solarin – Magistrate of Ent Root
Inquisitor Voltari – Inquisitor of the Black Sons
Vockur of Blackslab – Apprentice to the recently deceased wizard Falthon Faz’jimet

Date(s):

Eleint 7 – 8, 1358 DR.

Location(s):

The Village of Ent Root and surrounding countryside
The Tower of Falthon Faz’jimet
The Night Hag’s Lair

Encounter(s):

Encounter 1: The Angry Tower (falling rocks and chandeliers)
Encounter 2: If She Weighs as Much as a Duck (5 yeth hounds, the hag, and 6 zombies in the hag’s lair).

Reward(s):

• Extraplanar knowledge of Eberron from Falthon’s library
• 500 gp of spell components from the hag’s lair

Summary

You arrive at The Village of Ent Root to find an undertaker burying a large family in the church’s graveyard. A plague has infected the village and many have died.

Off in the distant you hear the shouts of an angry mob. You find a young man being drowned in the mill pond while what remains of the village looks on. You put a stop to it and demand to know what has happened.

A man in a black robe and a wide brimmed hat steps forward and introduces himself as Inquisitor Voltari of the Black Sons. He has recently arrived from Iraiebor with his apprentice, Petturi Oldharp, investigating rumors of witchcraft. The town’s magistrate and several guardsmen have been missing for days. They traveled into the foothils trying to track down the witch and stop the plague. The man they were trying, Vockur of Blackslab, was in possession of a fetish used by powerful hags called a Heartstone. The inquisitor shows you a stone that looks remarkably like a human heart.

You take the stone and Ian activates it, healing one of the villagers. Vockur says he found it in a Hart Tree in the wooded foothills to the east and needed it to heal his master Falthon Faz’jimet who unfortunately died before he returned with it.

Kaldur knows something of hart trees and their mystical powers. It is possible Vockur is not a witch. At Lynn’s request you travel into the foothills with the inquisitor, the bard and the apprentice in search of the missing magistrate.

Kaldur leads the party through the dense woodland. He encounters an odd trail and before long you arrive in a clearing that contains the tower of Falthon Faz-jimet. Vockur is perplexed. You should not have been able to find it unless the tower wished it and the tower has been very angry since its master’s passing.

You approach the door of the tower. The knocker transforms into the face of a man and tells you to go away. Ian, who has been looking to speak with Falthon regarding his origins, having done months of research in the libraries of the capital of Iriaebor, manages to convince the tower to let him and Vockur enter. As they enter, Kaldur transforms into wolf form and runs in behind them.

The tower, angered by the intruder, begins to shake and roar, dropping stones from the ceiling. Ian runs upstairs to the library and searches for the ancient tome he needs while Vockur tries to calm the tower’s fury. Kaldur pushes Vockur out of the way of a falling chandelier and is wounded.

Outside, Dorn, the inquisitor, and the bard hear a cackling echo through the wood and all of the sudden the inquisitor is on the ground convulsing and foaming at the mouth. He is dying.

Ian manages to transcribe the needed passage and you all escape before the tower grows so angry that it would collapse to stop you. Ian recognized the rune on his forehead in a passage about the extraplanar realm of Eberron. This must be his place of origin!

Despite all of your best efforts, the inquisitor dies within minutes. The witch’s power must be terrible. You press on into the woods and before long find the magistrate’s trail. You follow it to a cave carved into the side of an ominous hill. The faint glow of fire light and a thin stream of acrid smoke emanate from the entrance.

You enter the cave and find the magistrate in a small cage. In the room beyond you see the hag surrounded by her giant yeth hounds. They face her as she sits crouched, rocking back and forth, muttering softly to herself. You set up an ambush.

A bear, conjured from the Beastlands of the outer planes, bursts from the pool of water at one end of the hag’s room and viciously attacks a yeth hound. Dorn, Ian and Kaldur, all ten feet tall, rush into the chamber and make quick work of the hag and her hounds. While mid-fight, the undead remains of the magistrate’s guards shamble in from some far off corner of the cave to attack you. Vockur and the bard free the magistrate and escape during the melee.

Darkness is falling as you navigate the treacherous foot hills back to Ent Root. You settle in for a night’s rest, the hag’s cackling still haunting your dreams.