Session 5: Ruins in the forest Report

General Summary

Session 5 – Wednesday Aug 3rd, 2022 – Ruins in the Forest.

  4.5 Hour session 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM Party of 5.5 (The Stone Bearers): It is the 2nd day of the month of Marpenoth (Leaffall) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Early October.)

• Abrash – Wood (Dessert) Elf L2 Druid – Jacob Munson
• Ajani– High Elf L2 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda (Absent)
• Gazlowe – Goblin L2 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi
• Thomas – Human L2 Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Gurthen – Dwarf L2 Paladin – Spencer Armstrong
• Isabella – Forest Gnome L2 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong (only for first ½)
• Jomys Belloq – Elf L2 Ranger – Dan King

Goals:

• Find out why the snakes are reproducing and put an end to it. Bring Proof to Lord Blackmoor and he will pay 175gp + do the deed research for Firestone Keep.

The Treasure Room

The party started putting some bandages on and took a short rest while Gazlowe searched the piles of coins spread throughout the room. In the room they found:

• 1,950 cp
• 1,000 sp
• 20 gp
• Pretty glass beads worth about 25gp total
• 2 obsidian statuettes of medusas worth 25gp each
• 2 potions of healing
• Staff off the adder.

Gazlowe picked up the Staff of the Adder and felt a magical thrumming. He was able to determine its arcane power and realized that the temple is somehow amplifying the power of the staff and is responsible for the growth of the snake population and then he stuffed the gold in Gurthen’s bag to be distributed later (which it was), and placed Polyxeni’s disembodied head in Isabella’s bag. Before they left, however, they remembered the gold covered throne and four of them carried the throne out of the temple. When they got to the narrow pass, they debated for some time on what to do, but in the end they decided to take the time to laboriously chip off the gold and leave the stone throne behind. They spent only four hours doing this and obtained all of 50 gp from doing it.

Abrash took the opportunity to attune to the Staff of the Adder and discovered that it was cursed. After he attuned to it, he could only speak in Parseltongue. Although the rest of the party didn’t understand him anymore, but he had no issues communicating with the snakes. Gurthen suggested that the party go to the temple of the Dwarven goddess Sharindlar, where a priestess might be able to help Abrash.

The temple of Sharindlar

During the journey back to Zelbross, Gazlowe had Gurthen drink a strange potion and told him not to pee until morning. The Next Morning, Gazlowe attached a pillow to Gurthen’s armor and combined with the potion, the Pillow helped protect Gurthen (+1 to his AC). The party eventually made their way back into Zelbross and Abrash indicated he wanted to go to the temple to remove his curse before they met with Lord Blackmoor.

Gurthen lead the party and knocked on the front door of the temple. He was greeted by a good-looking female dwarf (with a tight beard) named Fredricha. Gurthen introduced his elven friend (Abrash bowed) and asked for aid in removing a curse. The dwarven priestess of Sharindlar spotted the cursed staff and her eyes lit up. She put together that the party was the Stone Bearers whom she had heard of from others in Zelbross, so she invited the party in and asked to examine the staff. She explained that there is normally a fee for such services but was very interested in the staff, and she offered the party 400gp and to remove the curse if she could keep the staff. The party quickly agreed. She quickly muttered a phrase and smacked Abrash in the head with the gold, removing the curse from him, and Abrash’s tongue returned to its normal shape, allowing him to speak common once again.

Gazlowe also sold the medusa statues to the temple (50gp total) and was able to convert all the copper they had into 1 50gp ruby, 1 50gp moonstone, 1 pp and 9gp. She also gave them 400gp for the staff. She provided the party with a standard rate table for temple services and left them an open invitation even though they were not all dwarves.

Collecting from Lord Blackmoor

The party went to Lord Blackmoor, and he greeted them excitedly. He asked if they completed the mission and what proof they had. The Stone Bearers produced the medusa head and said they collected a staff that was causing the snakes to reproduce but they had already sold it to the local temple of Sharindlar. Lord Blackmoor was quick to point out that the snake population has not decreased and that’s why he hired them, though the party retorted that the cause of the growth has stopped, and the snakes will die out naturally now. Lord Blackmoor wasn’t totally convinced. He looked over at a tall curly-haired bespectacled man and said “Jomys, what are your thoughts?” Jomys, in his nerdy voice said, “It would be prudent to wait to see if the snake population is reduced.” Lord Blackmoor told him that he would pay them 100 of the promised 175 gp plus he would give them the information he found on Firestone keep and he will pay the rest in 1 tenday after they see a reduction in the snake population. Gazlowe was not happy with Jomys, but the party agreed.

Firestone Keep

Firestone Keep was originally built as a school to teach aspiring wizards about -500 AOE, but within 100 years it was purchased by the Greyborn family who discovered the rich clay Zelbross. The Greyborn family eventually ran out of money after many generations. Apparently, there is not a ton of money in clay.

Eventually the IronSong family purchased the keep about 250 years ago. At that point it was already in disrepair. The Last great lord of Firestone keep was actually a woman! Fiera Ironsong. She was a champion of the Great Goblin war in -230 AOE. She died around -199 AOE during the Spellplague. Heirless she was Entombed with her once great magical IronSong Glaive. She is rumored to have befriended the great wizard Niptu during the Spell Plague and he was able to provide a magical enchantment upon her glaive that restored its melodic tones but only within the confines of her home. Since there is no heir to the Ironsong family, a new deed could be procured in Zelbross for as little as 100gp.

Jomys Belloq and Ulfgar Longwood

Lord Blackmoor introduced the party to Jomys Belloq who is an adventure and whose patron is a friend of Lord Blackmoor named Ulfgar Longwood. Lord Blackmoor told the party that Ulfgar is at the T&L Coffee house at this time, and they should go see him and help him if they’re able, so Jomys lead the party back into Zelbross and to the T&L Coffee shop.

They entered and spotted a round, graying man with only one leg. A smile spread across his face as he motioned the party to join him. He purchased coffee for the group and then explained that he was once an adventurer with the Crimson Company. He went on about the wizard of his party, a young lady named Amilya Grayheart. He explained that after he retired from adventuring Amiya moved to Zelbross and joined another adventuring party. He went on talking about how well he had done in the iron trade and then retired, and he and his wife moved to Zelbross. He told them how his wife likes quality clocks and collects pottery, and they chose Zelbross because of the Queen of Clocks and Zelbross’s famous rich clay.

He went on and on and then got to the point. He tried to look up Amilya but found out that she had gone on an adventure to an ancient sorcerer’s tower in the High Forest and never returned. He had Jomys do some research and he found the tower in which she perished. He asked the Stone Bearers if they could go and retrieve her body so she could be properly buried, offering them 200gp. He paid them 100gp up front just for accepting the job and will pay an additional 100gp once they return with the body.

Jomys explained the history of where the party is going. The ruins are what’s left of the Farsilver city in the ancient Elvish Sharrven Empire -> The Sharrven Empire.

Shopping

The party then went to Revalor’s apothecary. Thomas purchased 3 healer’s kits, while Gurthen purchased 2 potions of healing and Gazlowe purchased the last 2 with the hundred gold pieces the party had just received. They couldn’t afford the greater healing potions because they’re poor. As they discussed their recent adventure with the alchemist, Gazlowe showed Revalor the Medusa head, and Revalor offered the greater healing potion and if the party returned in a week he could have some more “Endurance of the Bear” elixir made and depending on his experiments, he may have something else. The party fervently agreed.

Abrash showed Revalor the 5 Serpent’s Tongue seedlings he had (from the berries he found in the snake temple). Revalor recognized the plants as Degathniss Nifothsis and offered to care for them in his greenhouse for 2 of the plants, plus Revalor would refine any berries produced on his plants for no fee (but the party would need to provide the vials.) He expected to be able to have them produce in 3-4 months.

Gazlowe procured some pitons and Thomas visited Zoreene. Zoreene had been progressing well in her religious studies and addressed Thomas as “Brother.” Her trial was scheduled one week out. The concept of suffering was very unfamiliar to her, and Thomas explained the concept of fasting which she wanted to do.

Farsilver

After a 3-day journey they made their way to the ancient ruins of Farsilver. Jomys pointed out the ruins of an ancient tower that he believes is the sorcerer’s tower where Amilya’s adventuring party went. Thomas and Abrash searched for tracks and found a set of very large footprints that went into the front door of the ruined tower, and using these, Jomys calculated the size of the creature to be about 10 feet tall. The party debated on what it could be, and they examined the ruins looking for a way in other than the front door. They found none and debated how to just destroy the tower. Jomys prepared a snare in front of the door.

As the party was debating, the door burst open surprising the party and an ogre screamed: “Who’s disturbing me?” The ogre threw a javelin directly into Jomys and knocked him unconscious immediately. Thomas pulled out the javelin and used his healer’s kit to stabilize Jomys as he ignited his crossbow, and Abrash poured a healing potion into Jomys’s mouth. He then took on a stary form of an archer and shot a bolt of radiant energy into the Ogre. The enraged Ogre stepped forward and the snare did not stop him. Jomys backed up to a tree and shot the Ogre with his hand crossbow. Several Stone Bearers tried to hit the Ogre but were frazzled and unable to make contact. Thomas backed up and the Ogre smashed him with his great club as he backed away but hit the ogre with his flaming crossbow once he was at a distance. Abrash hit him again with his radiant arrow and the Ogre stared to bleed badly. Jomys hit him again with his hand crossbow then Gurthen charged in with his two-handed sword and smote the Ogre before he took the Ogre’s spare javelin.

PATRON ORE POD

The party went into the tower and saw there was no roof. The interior of the room was quite messy. A lumpy rug lay on the floor amidst debris and a large stone statue stood at the back wall. There was a plaque on the front of the statue that had raised letters that spelled “PATRON ORE POD.” Jomys pulled back the carpet and found a small box inviting Gazlowe to open it, and he found 38cp, 15sp, 12gp and a goblin skull dipped in copper (the copper being worth about 5gp). Gazlowe was very excited about the slaughtered and glorified remains of what is possibly an ancient relative.

Gurthen stood staring at the plaque. He said he has 2 ideas. Plaque should be either “DROP A TORNEPO” or “TEAR POOR DENO.” Gazlowe agreed this should be some sort of anagram. They discovered the letters can be pressed into the plaque, and Abrash pushed them in the order “DROP A TORNEPO”. After the last letter was pressed, however, they all popped back out and nothing else happened. Jomys then walked up and pressed the letters in the order of “OPEN TRAP DOOR”, and as he pressed the last letter a loud click was heard, and the statue rotated revealing a spiral staircase descending 50 feet into darkness.

Unstable stairs.

Gurthen held a torch in one hand and a sword in the other as he led the party down the stairs. He was followed by Gazlowe, Jomys, Abrash and then Thomas. After about 20 feet, Jomys stepped on a stair that slipped down a few inches causing him to stumble forward bashing his head a bit into Gazlowe who also hurt himself and fell into Gurthen, who stopped the domino effect. The party continued and Thomas then slipped on a step and fell into Abrash, who was able to stop him. Seeing, however, the dangers of these stairs, the party all followed Jomys’ lead and decided to sit on the steps and scooch down one step at a time. Abrash offered Goodberries to the party and Jomys took 7, as Thomas drank a healing potion to regain his health. Gurthen scootched to the bottom step first and saw a short hallway filled with cobwebs.

Spiders!

Gazlowe (recalling the last time he set fire to creatures) asked if anyone was opposed to him setting the webs on fire. As the party thought for a moment, Gazlowe said, “I take that as no.” He cast firebolt at the cobwebs igniting them and causing a swarm of spiders and a Giant Wolf spider to rush the party. Gurthen dropped the torch and walked into the swarm attempting to hit the Giant Wolf Spider but missed. Gazlowe cast Tasha’s caustic brew on all the spiders and Gurthen. The Wolf spider and Gurthen avoided the splash, but the swarm started biting into Gurthen. The Giant wolf spider ran to Gazlowe who just attempted to splash it with acid, and as it passed Gurthen he swung at it but there were too many spiders in his face, so he missed.

The Giant Wolf Spider sunk its fangs directly into Gazlowe’s jugular nearly knocking him out. Thomas struck the Wolf spider with his flaming whip and badly wounded it. Gazlowe had his new rat homunculus attack the spider, but it missed. He tried to get it off himself but again he missed, as the spider held tightly onto his neck. The swarm of spiders continued to bite into Gurthen, and he was about to pass out. Jomys shot the wolf spider directly in the face with his hand crossbow killing it.

Abrash sprayed poison all over the swarm of spiders reducing them greatly. Thomas jumped down from the stairs and struck the swarm with his flaming whip and killed all of them except for one. Gurthen smashed the last one with his Warhammer, and Abrash suggested they go back to the Ogre’s lair and take a nap. Gurthen walked to the end of the hall, opened the door, and shouted in, “If anyone is in here, don’t come out here, we’re napping.” Gazlowe attempted to lock the door, just in case. Jomys noticed the decomposed body of a rogue sitting in the corner covered in cobwebs and the party took a short rest and healed up a bit in the hallway.

Eyes

After their quick nap, the party went back to the door and found that Gazlowe didn’t actually lock it. They went into the room and found it covered with dust. There were two divans in the room and the walls were grey stucco, in high relief and held hundreds and hundreds of eyeballs. The eyes appeared to follow the party in the room. Gazlowe reached up and grabbed 2 eyes, one with each hand. Both eyes exploded as he touched them, burning Gazlowe. Jomys picked up a cushion from the couch and flung it at the far wall (away from the party.) It hit a bunch of eyes and they all exploded. The party spent the next fifteen minutes hurling cushions and other items at the southern wall. Thomas discovered that the eyes were arcane in nature, not natural.
After 15 minutes the majority of the eyes on the one wall were gone but there was one particular eye near the center that didn’t explode and wasn’t moving. Gurthen went to grab it and as soon as it was touched a secret door was opened. Gazlowe cut out the plaster eyeball and put it into his bronze goblin skull.

Vault

The party went through the secret door and down the hall. At the end of the hall there was a barred door to the right. Behind the barred door was a very small room with a stone chest. Gazlowe found the bars locked and was not able to pick the lock. Gurthen pulled out his hammer and asked if he could try his lock-pick. It took him some time, but after a few minutes he was able to break the door and it burst open. As soon as it opened an ear-piercing alarm sounded. The sound penetrated their minds, but everyone was able to resist the pain except for Abrash. Abrash started banging his head against the wall badly hurting himself. Gurthen attempted to restrain Abrash as Jomys ran to the other room to grab some cushions from the couch.

As soon as Jomys left the hall he noticed the alarm no longer hurt. He called back to the others that it’s safe in the other room. Thomas and Gazlowe went to the chest while Gurthen took Abrash out of the hall for his own safety. In the chest they found:

• 2,200cp
• 700sp
• 50gp
• 3 obsidian stones (10gp each)
• 2 turquoise stones (10gp each)
• 3 spell scrolls:
  • Dancing Lights
  • Mage Armor
  • Misty Step)
• a driftglobe
• a potion of healing.