Session 2.1, the 2023 recap of the legendary Adventures of Intention Report

General Summary

# Session 66: 2023 Campaign Recap **The ultimate 2023 recounting of the legendary Adventures of Intention** ************************************   ## ******************Modest Beginnings******************   The party began in the grand port city of Neverwinter. An anspiring dwarven merchant by the name of Gundren Rockseeker had heard tails of a mine that would make him and his brothers wealthy and famous. A mine that held the essence needed to create magical items. Such a mine didnt exist in the kingdom of Neverwinter for hundreds of years.      Gundren Rockseeker - one of the three Rockseeker brothers      Neverwinter - Grand port city and capital of the Kingdom of Neverwinter   The problem was, they didn’t exactly know where it was yet. While he and his brothers made way to the suspected location, he needed all of his supplies to follow behind him so they could have a strong beginning. That’s where the party comes in. He gathered a few folks from around the land that he could trust with the simple task. The unsuspecting party included:   Bob, A human bard and esteemed noble   A human ranger by the name of Caelum, who kept to himself   Aur, An aarokacra monk, young and fearless.   ---   After a fair amount of irresponsible shenanigans, they picked up the wagon and headed South along The High Road, then east onto the Triboar trail.   Shortly after turning onto the trail, the party spotted horses falled on the road, riddled with arrows. They defended from an ambush of their own, then investiagted the horses to find they were that of Gundren and Sildar’s. They followed tracks up to a goblin hideout and entered, determined to rescue their employer. They killed Klarg, the hideout leader, and Aur released a water damn that carried the goblins and players outside, where they finished the fight and captured Yemmik, the wannabe leader. They also rescued Sildar, the Lords Alliance guard that was watching Gundren. Gundren was not to be found though, having already been carried away to King Grol, head of the goblin gang.   The party continued to their original destination of Phandalin, a sparse village built on the ruins of an ancient large town. They received the reward for delivering the wagon safely, they helped out a few townsfolk, and locked Yeemik up in a cell at the town hall.      The following morning during their visit of the town, they head toward an old but large manor they see on the hill, but along they way the run into a few members of the Redbrand Ruffiens, another troubling gang that is harassing the village.      Grista: no-nonsense barkeeper at the Sleeping Giant Tap House   Caelum recruits the aid of Sildar as well as Grista, a local dwarf barkeeper, to join them in clearing the Redband Ruffiens from the manor. They use red cloaks from the previous ruffiens to sneak into the hideout, but Bob throws Grista under the bus for not having a cloak, and she perishes in the ensuing fight, saving the party from having to split the loot with her. Caelum found a magical sword with “Talon” inscribed on the blade. Bob managed to decieve the orcs in the hideout to tell him the location of Wave Echo Cave, the mine that Gundren was looking for. The leader of the ruffians heard them coming, and managed to escape the hideout and dissapear into the night. Caelum poops in Bob’s bedroll.   ---   ## *30 sessions and we did what?*      Halia Thornton   Following several leads they have for Gundren the cave, and quests for townfolk, the party needed a better means of travel. They approached Halia Thornton, a shrewd business woman who ran the Miner’s Exchange in town. In return for notifying her the manor basement is cleared, and lying about riches that will be found in the hideout her her and her men, Halia gives them two of her best horses.   They visited a banshee in the nearby ruins of Conyberry to provide some information they needed, killing a roaming owlbear to get to her. They then headed to a local Orc encampment to clear it out for the townmaster, but were sufficiently overwhelmed and barely made it out with their lives, Aur and Bob taking turns reviving eachother while Caelum gave them covering fire with his bow as they reteated.   When they arrived back in Phandalin, they found another adventurer who wanted the Orcs dealt with, Frank the Tank. The Warforged joined them back to the camp and this time they defeated the orcs, albiet with a close catastrophe with Aur skydiving into a bonfire, and bob both getting skewered to the ground by a javalin, and pushed into the outhouse. Returning to Phandalin again, Frank the Tank departed, his quest completed, and Caelum antagonized the head chef of the local in to the point of the chef knocking him out with the flat side of a cooking pan.   The party’s horses were also gone, and upon confronting Halia, they found they were stolen back by her men when they discovered the stark absence of loot in the Redbrand Ruffien hideout. Caelum managed to get his horse back, and took up the quest Halia gave them to get some supplies for the town in the woods nearby.   Back in the goblin hideout the party had discovered the location of the castle Gundren was likely being held in. Sildar wanted to head straight over for the rescue mission, but the party decided to head up to Neverwinter first to stock back up. Bob grabbed his instrument and headed to a dockside tavern to play for the evening, and had the performance of a lifetime. Creative inspiration took hold as soon as he began, and people put their drinks down and listened. An hour later, the tavern was packed. an hour after that, the courtyard around the tavern was packed, yet Bob kept playing. As the sun set in Neverwinter, Neverwinter’s docks were barren of men, and most every business around the tavern was closed, including other taverns, so that all could at least strain to listen to Bob from a distance.   Bob decided to stay in Neverwinter, content with the tales he gained so far. Caelum and Aur didn’t like that much and after a royally botched event to trade Bob’s ogre toe with a potato, Caelum, Aur, and a newly aqcuired companion by the name of Fang, fled Neverwinter wanted men, leaving scores of unconsious and awake guards alike to watch them flee.      Fang shared that he was in search of his father, and believed the Black Spider to have him, he follow whatever path gave him the family reunion he sought.   On the way back to Neverwinter, they cut into the Neverwinter woods to pickup the supplies Halia requested. The camp was found but they quickly discovered that it was a trap and Halia’s real goal was to to get the party out of the way so she could follow through on her own schemes. The party dispatched of the sabatoge and returned to Phandalin to see the village was yet again overrun by a gang, this time lead by Halia. An epic fight ensues in multiple locations around the town as the party takes on Halia’s croonies.   Does Elmar Nathen of Bathans provisions get saved or does he die? lives and flees to neverwinter   Eventually It’s just Halia and the party in the field just behind Stonehil Inn. Caelum goes down and Aur falls himself in the act of saving Caelum, an act that nobody saw amongst the fog. While Caelum crawled back out unto the battlefield, Fang was trading blows with Halia. The pair was alone on the field and both on their last legs but Fang eventually prevailed and struck her down.      Fang and Halia trading strikes, both desperate for the win   As Phandalin picks up the pieces, the party heads Southwest to the coastal village of Leilon, to return Aur’s body to the monastery he had grown up and trained in. They   Party goes south to Leilon to return Aur’s body to the monestary and preforms the ritual to allow him back into the Elemental Plane of Air. Another tense afternoon ensued when Fang and Caelum had to protect the monks on the material plane from enemies, while Aur was reawakened in between planes, and had to make it back to his ancestral home. They succeeded with only minor flooding to the village below.      Adult Green Dragon attacking the village of Leilon   They took rest at the monastary for the night but got no more respite than that, as a massive green dragon roar was heard in the morning, followed immedietely with the beast flying past the monastery and causing carnage in Leilon. The battle was brutal but some important discoveries were made during the fight. The party discovered a pair of smugglers in the village that had come from the south side of the Era Peaks, from which they had stolen this dragon’s egg. Caelum also learn upon striking the dragon with his magical weapon Talon, that he wielded no ordinary sword. It reacted violently to the dragon, rippling with green energy.   The dragon did eventually get their egg and departed, sorely beaten but still able to fly. As Caelum walked the plank between a ship and the dock, he was stricken with a vison and fell into the water. There, he witnessed an expansive battle, death and decay reeking the fields. he witnessed a general of an army approching from afar to give reinforcements but as he witnessed the dragon his allies fought, big enough to eclipse the sun, and heard the dragons massive roar, he deserted. He was disgraced and dishonerably discharged. He would never fight again and his self loathing would consume him and his sword alike. He died in Tresendor manor but the bitterness he held toward himself was so strong, it remained with the sword, ever determined to never leave a dragon alive in it’s wake again. The general was from an ancient order, the famed Dragonslayers.   The party pulled a half-drowned Caelum out of the water, and they set to help the town rebuild. It was there that several of them heard for the first time, of the presence of The Everstorm, a massive storm deep in the ocean Southwest of the coast they stood on.   Daughter of a fisherman gave Caelum a ship, of which Caelum regifted like a dick   That evening they spent time at The Hook and Cook, a tavern out on the water at the end of one of the docks. You had to catch your meal and then pay a smaller sum for the staff to cook it for you. A fishing competition ensued, and Caelum won, having caught a massive bull fish. One of the party members also chiseled a very poor rendition of the owner and placed it in front of the tavern. They unfortunately found it deep in the sore waters when they returned in the morning.      The legendary Bullfish   As they prepared to leave Leilon, a young elven monk requested to join the party, to take up the mantle and finish what Aur had begun. The party accepted.   ---   ## Right, what were we doing again?   Finally, with Leilon set to straights again and Aur safely back where he belonged, the group headed back to Phandalin to pursue the search of Gundren. On arrival they discovered Sildar had decided to push ahead without them, to the Cragmaw castle. They immediately headed after him but when they got to the castle, they found Sildars head on a spike out front, a few days old already. The party stormed the castle and were quickly overwhelmed. Caelum fell, unknown to the others, and both Fang and Chulain barely made it out alive. While unconscious, Caelum had another vision, this one of a large castle up in the heavens somewhere, with 7 golden dragons lining the hall. Behind him, a set of golden doors sat closed, sitting 100 feet tall. In front of him down the long hall, a towering black set of iron doors, also closed. the vision flickered, then shattered, and then he stood in the same hallway but it was tattered and in ruins. The black doors were ajar, one laying flate on the cracked floor. the golden doors behind him, completely missing along with much of the wall near the frame. Heard heard a massive roar, the same that he had heard in the first vision.      Bahamut, ruler of justice and wisom      *Borkadd the Claw, Bahamut’s Hand of Justice*   Caelum devoted himself to Bahumet, knowing his to be the owner of the grand hallway, and the master of the 7 golden dragons he saw. With the help of the party’s attempts to revive him, Caelum awoke a changed man, a Paladin for the great dragon god Bahumet.      King Grol, head of the Cragmaw gang   They returned to the castle and cleared it out, finding Gundren half dead in the goblin gang’s throne room. Gundren had the map with him, and though distraught to hear of Sildar’s death, was undetered in finding Wave Echo Cave.   Caelum and Fang catch up to Cullen who was chasing the goblin king. They take him down and capture the doppleganger, who helps them find Wave Echo Cave   ---   ## Finally…   Everybody headed back to work out the terms of their new agreement, since the the rescue and the assistance with Wave Echo Cave certainly wasn’t included in the original payment of 10 gold pieces all those weeks ago. They work out a deal, do a bit of shopping, and head over.   They eventually discover the mines and get inside, working their way through, they find one of the Rockseeker brothers, Tharden. As they wrap around the cave, they find a holding cell with several other interesting members. They find the third Rockseeker brother, Nundro, thankfully alive, if a bit beaten up. They also find a beat of Aasimar with only one wing on his back. The Aasimar, named Blyth, explained he to was searching for the black spider when they captured him. His other wing had been turned into a greatsword, a greatsword that the black spider had in his possession.   During the search, the party ends up also finding a very peculiar gem, identified as the Gem of Dumathoin, a beautiful orange gem, with Dumathoin known as “The Keeper of Secrets Under the Mountain”      Gem of Dumathoin   Finally, it was time to confront The Black Spider. He was powerful, but still one against four and he was getting hit hard. Fang went down and Blyth almost did to. The black spider eventually changed into a literal half spider, towering over the party. Chulain rode the spider like a mount for a couple rounds but eventually swopped down and took the massive feather greatsword from the Black Spider and Got it to Blyth.   Finally, Chulain dealt a devastating blow to the chest with his hand axe. As he went down he managed to whisper to Fang that coincidence that he falls here, while Fang ignores his own dad drowning in the waters down the stairs.   The party ran to the cave’s cliff edge to the midnight waters below them. Fang dived in without paused and a few followed. They managed to unhook Fang’s father from the chains that kept him below, but they could also feel a monster coming near. All party members barely made it out as a huge black tenticle reached out toward them in the water before slowly pulling back. Although alive, they could not get Fang’s father to come out of the coma-like state he was in.      Nezznar, the black spider - Human form   They explored the cave after defeating Nezznar and found the magical forge that Gundren sought. Testing it with items on their possesion. They also found a letter to the black spider.   *On a worn, bloody piece of parchment, you see a short letter written in chicken scratch.*   ---   *High Mistress*   *My task is complete, and I have found everything you've asked of me. I understand Zarra wishes to spend more time with her head in the clouds, but I feel I have better use for the smith now than her, I request he be transferred immediately. If Zarrah's project goes awry, I'm testing another method in our underground lake.*   *What is the status of The Eternal Council? I must know if they are ready to recieve the gifts I would bestow upon them. If Vrarduk would honor me with her presence personally, I've already begun work on a greatsword I think she'll favor. We are one step closer to the end.*   *See you soon, mother.*   The party gets gifted Tresendor manor in the village of Phandalin, gundren moves into the mines to begin work on that, and the party decided to head to the underground city of Jotuun to further their investigation of this High Mistress and the Eternal council.   Caelum looted an iron crown from the Wraith, Mormesk   Taking the Rockseeker brothers to Jotuun to get help with the mine, Fang stays with them because Jotuun is on the way to his dad’s village. They also have the stone