Session 55: Isabella's Shadow Report
General Summary
Session 55 – Wednesday October 11, 2023 – Isabella’s Shadow
4 Battle and shopping session 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM
The Stone Bearers. Party of 5
It is the 12th day of the month of Nightal (The Drawing Down) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Mid December.)
- Abrash – Wood (Desert) Elf, L9 Druid – Jacob Munson (Remote)
- Ajani– High Elf, L9 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda (Absent)
- Gazlowe – Goblin, L9 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi
- Cassidy – Human, L9 Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
- Isabella – Forest Gnome, L9 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
- Juan Peyote – Gnome L9 Paladin – Will Johnson
Locating Doje
The party searched the cave and found:
- 100 gp
- A Bloodstone (50gp)
- A Small Gold Bracelet (25gp)
- An Embroidered Silk Handkerchief (25gp)
The party called out Grimloock to let him know the spiders were gone. Grimloock came in and complemented the party and told them that his fellow goblins had located Doje. He told them that she’s hold up in the Necrotic pits. He explained to them that the Goblins don’t go there much because the pits are filled with necrotic energy and falling in them is deadly. To prepare for this next adventure, the party took a short rest to heal up a bit.
After everyone healed themselves and cleaned up a bit, Grimloock led the party into a quiet section of the caverns. They came to a fork in the hall and saw a pool of dark yellow energy. It did not glow. Grimloock told them to beware of those necrotic pits. Grimloock then told the party that Doje was in a cavern down the hall. “Good Luck!” Grimloock got out of sight.
Gazlowe examined the necrotic pit. The pit was filled with dark energy that he couldn’t capture a flask. To test exactly how deadly the pit really is, Abrash attached a plant to a string and lowered it slowly into the pit. After about 10 ft in, the string went slack. Abrash brought up a dead plant that looked as if it was hit by a blight spell.
Meanwhile, Gazlowe and Thomas contemplated the possibility of capturing necrotic energy but realized they would need some type of arcane device to do so. They recalled that the green orb that Niptu and Abby had made had the ability to store necrotic energy.
Attempting to negotiate with Doje
They walked into the cavern careful to avoid the necrotic pits. They spotted a humanoid creature wearing dark robes just at the edge of Gazlowes’ light. The creature danced silently with a host of shadows. Gazlowe looked for Isabella’s shadow, but they all looked the same to him. Abrash however spotted it.
Gazlowe called out to Doje and asked for one of the shadows. Doje asked for a trade of one of their shadows in return. The party tried to negotiate differently, but Doje really wasn’t interested in anything else. While the party tried to negotiate, Isabella and then Cassidy downed a potion of flying. Abrash, fearing that his shadow might disown him, started talking to his shadow. But his shadow didn’t respond.
Gazlowe continued negotiation by deceiving Doje that he had a magical device that could create shadows that she could steal. His deception wasn’t very convincing, Abrash had turned from trying to talk to his shadow to help Gazlowe with the deception. Doje didn’t like the spell being cast. Abrash turned back to his shadow to see it moving away towards Doje. Doje had caused Abrash’s shadow to dance toward her. Abrash tried to follow his shadow matching his movements to convince his Shadow from leaving but he stumbled and couldn’t keep up. The shadows of Abrash and Isabella joined to form a larger shadow creature and Abrash gained a level of exhaustion.
Attack!
Isabella drank a potion of speed. The party gasped at her blasé in mixing two potions. Fortunately, both potions worked with no side effects. Isabella flew over the necrotic pits and with her axe, destroyed one of the shades and then, rather than raging, she used her bonus action to destroy the shadow that was hers and Abrash’s. Once destroyed, the shadow energies rushed back to Doje. A large conglomeration of shadows (an overshadow) came out of hiding and smacked Isabella, hurting her and sapping her strength. Doje skittered forth, a blade made of shadow appeared in her hand and she sliced into Isabella.
Gazlowe had Abby engage Haste within his armor and then killed two of the Shade minions. Abrash summoned his “Green” fey and then changed his starry form to cast a starry mote at Doje hitting her with a mote of radiant energy. He then went and hid in the hallway. Bird and Juan ran into the fray. Bird destroyed the last of the minions and then Juan blessed everyone except Abrash. The Evil Wraith landed a critical hit Juan, badly wounding Juan and at the same time lowered Juan’s maximum health by 38. Cassidy flew up to Doje and hit her with her chain whip. Cassidy then cast shield of faith on Isabella. Isabella went into a rage and flew to the other side of Doje. As she left the overshadow it made a critical hit to lower her strength again. Isabella landed one blow on Doje.
Doje hit Gazlowe and Gazlowe punched her back. He also landed a punch on the Overshadow. Abrash and his Green missed all their attacks. Bird hit Doje with its claws and Juan then hit Doje twice and added a smite leaving Doje badly bloodied. Cassidy finished off Doje with her whip. Shadows fled from Doje’s corpse. Gazlowe tried to capture one but had no vial. Isabella’s and Abrash’s shadows returned to them. Cassidy continued the battle, hitting another creature leaving it bloodied.
Isabella destroyed one of the attacking shadows. She then hit the wraith warrior.
Gazlowe hit the wraith warrior and the Overshadow, then hit the Wraith warrior again destroying it. The Green hit the overshadow but its claws didn’t do much damage. Abrash hit it with a radiant mote that did more damage than he expected. Bird did the same thing and Juan missed. Cassidy was hit by the Evil Wraith. She could absorb the neurotic damage, but her strength was cut in half! Cassidy fell to the floor, unable to move or lift the weight of her gear. Even there, Cassidy was still able to kill the Overshadow.
Isabella struck the last wraith with her great axe badly bloodying it. Gazlowe finished it off with his fists.
Encumbered and resting.
In her weakened state, Cassidy removed her backpack and began to search for loot with the rest of the party. They found 20gp, 11 pp, some gemstones and a crown (listed below in treasure) along with a pair of Goggles of the Night. Gazlowe and Isabella collapsed for a moment after exhaustion from their Haste.
The party called out to Grimloock who came in. Grimloock told them that Ghadzook was quite happy with everything they did and wanted to extend his hospitality. The party took him up on it and went back to the Goblin camp. The party spent the night with the goblins. The goblins offered them all some training. Isabella and Abrash went outside while the others stayed with the goblins in the cave. Everyone leveled up to level 10.
To Nithrithyinae
In the morning the party made its two-day journey to Nithrithyiane. The Goblins led the party safely. They came out of the tunnels in an area of the forest near a river and swampy area. Grimloock bid the party farewell. They made their way east and heard elven voices arguing loudly in the distance.
Abrash heard bits of the yelling as the party got closer. They saw two groups of 4 elven men yelling and in each other’s faces. One group was Sun elves and the other Wood elves. The Wood elves were accusing the Sun elves of being evil and aligned with Niptu, casting foul magic. Abrash approached gracefully and tried to help them settle their dispute.
A Cursed child
Just behind the Wood elves, a young wood elf boy (about 12 years old) laid on the ground. His skin was a translucent pale green, and he was sweeting green sweet profusely. Cassidy went to check on the child and Abrash asked what’s wrong the child.
A muscular Wood elf was grasping the shirt collar of one the Sun elves. He tossed the Sun elf to the ground and said, “Ask him! His foul magic did this to my son Aymer.”
Abrash was very upset that the elves were fighting each other. Abrash told them that “we’re all elves and shouldn’t be fighting.” This concept was very foreign to the other elves. The Sun elves and the Wood elves have seen wars and peace since they first came to Toril. They did not agree with the idea of “we’re all elves.”
Meanwhile, Cassidy attempted to determine what was going on with the boy. As she examined him, he let out a gargle as he turned into a puddle of gelatin-like ooze. Cassidy had never heard of anything that could turn someone into an ooze. She knew of transmutation magic but didn’t know of any that would be this powerful. She knew that some aberrations like Aboleths have the ability to alter creatures, but this was highly unusual.
The Wood elf yelled at Abrsah “Look what this ‘Sun elf’ and his foul magic from his hero Niptu did!” The party asked Cassidy about the condition of the boy, and she showed them. The father freaked out! He swung at the Sun elf and Abrash got
Gazlowe sat back and watched the Elves fight with each other. While the elves were fighting, Juan snuck near the boy and tasted the ooze. His face winced from the potent fishy taste.
The Elves subdued for the moment and Abrash asked Cassidy to determine if there is any life left in the boy. Cassidy confirmed the Ooze is alive and sentient, but it can’t communicate. Abrash tried to comfort the father by telling him his son in the form of gelatin is still alive. “He just needs some help.” Juan tried to teach the Ooze to communicate, “One shiver for yes, two for no: are you Aymer?” Cassidy said she couldn’t get the level of absurdity. Juan replied, “I can’t get over how fishy he tastes.” Gazlowe tried to stifle his laughter. Isabella led Juan away by telling him, “Let’s go find some rocks to rinse your mouth out.”
Ruins of Wrathrock
Abrash took the Sun elf to the side and spoke with him trying to detect his thoughts. The Sun elf said, “I did not do this.” Abrash didn’t detect any deception. Cassidy told Abrash that this would be very powerful magic, and he’s accused of associating with Niptu. Cassidy’s eyes turned red as she intimidated the Sun Elf. The Sun elf broke down a bit and told them, “It’s the water. The water around the ancient Castle Wrathrock is tainted. Something lies in the ruins of Wrathrock.” Cassidy asked if the Sun Elf works with Niptu. The Sun Elf said “no” Abrash knew he was hiding something.
Escalation
Abrash grabbed him and told him, “You’re going to die by the hands of the other elves.” The Sun elf said, “Niptu had nothing to do with this.” They sensed no indication of deception. Abrash looked away from the Sun elf and the Sun Elf took his opportunity to push Abrash back and pull his sword. Isabella and Juan were quick to react, and they tackled the Sun elf. Juan stuffed a mushroom of incapacitation into his mouth and the Elf stopped moving. Abrash tried to calm the escalation. “Stop!”
The remaining 3 Sun elves turned to run. Juan grabbed his lance and tripped one of the fleeing elves. The Wood elf father pulled out his long bow and (with a firebolt from Gazlowe) fell the running Elf. Isabella dashed after the last one, tackled him, knocked him out and dragged him back.
Abrash again pleaded with the father to lower his bow and not kill his fellow elves. The father again didn’t understand this “we’re all Elves” stuff. The Wood elf said, “These Sun elves are not my kin.” Abrash saw the rage in the father’s eyes and for the first time felt completely helpless. He slumped and turned things over to Gazlowe.
Events that lead to this.
Gazlowe asked the Wood elves about Niptu. The Wood elves explained mostly what Gazlowe already knew. He told them that some fools had released Niptu and now the elves in the woods are forming alliances for and against Niptu, leading to a war. He was convinced that Sun elves have history of working with demons and Niptu. Therefore, they must be to blame for his son’s condition.
He went on to say that his son and his friends swim together in the lake and they may have been near the ruins of the ancient castle Wrathrock. The party asked about his son’s frineds and the father did not know where they were. Only his son had returned today and when he did, he was unable to speak and barely able to walk.
Gazlowe asked if the father knew anything about Nithrithyiane. The elf did know that something strange is going on there. That village isn’t far in the other direction from Wrathrock. Gazlowe asked the Wood elf where his village is and the elf pointed south saying “Eroce is a short walk that way.”
Wrathrock
Cassidy had read about Wrahrock in one of Ajani’s books on Elven history. In the wars between the elves, the Sharven elves had a stronghold called Wrathrock. Orcs had destroyed the stronghold. There was some legend about a group of elves who had gone into a bunker under the castle to make a final stand when the castle was completely razed.
She mentioned to the party that there may be underground passageways beneath the ruins. The party decided to go and investigate.
The Sun elves.
Before they left, Gazlowe searched the body of the dead Sun elf hit by the father and Gazlowe. Gazlowe found a medium pouch on the elf. Inside of it was 240 silver pieces and 180 gold pieces in the pouch. He thought that was a LOT of gold to be carrying. He looked at the other elves who were now bound and found similar pouches. In total, 950sp and 720gp. He showed the others who all thought this was very curious.
Cassidy said, “Wake one of them up.”
Rewards Granted
Treasure found
In the spider cave:
- 100 gp
- A Bloodstone (50gp)
- A Small Gold Bracelet (25gp)
- An Embroidered Silk Handkerchief (25gp)
From Doje and the shadows:
- 20 gp
- 11 pp
- Jade Gemstone (100gp)
- A violet Garnet (100gp)
- A small Golden Circlet (25 gp)
- A Bronze Crown (250gp)
- Goggles of Night
From the Sun elves
