Session 51: Back to the Caverns Report

General Summary

Session 51 – Wednesday September 6, 2023 – Back to the Endless Caverns

4.5 Hour Role Play/battle session 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM

The Stone Bearers. Party of 6

It is the 10th day of the month of Nightal (The Drawing Down) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Early December.)

• brash – Wood (Desert) Elf, L9 Druid – Jacob Munson
• Ajani– High Elf, L9 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda
• 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

Shopping Spree

The party walked out of the large Elm tree named Jehoshaphat in front of the Stronghold of the nine. They were stopped by the guards and Gazlowe remembered the password. Warfus and the Emerald Knight were surprised by the security change and Gazlowe blamed Warfus. They party went in to the keep and found the various jewelers and other traders in the castle. They exchanged most of their treasure for various gems and coin. After various attempts at negotiations by Ajani, the party wound up with 4,000 gp worth of gems each. They didn’t sell the artifacts and treasure they found in the Dwarven tombs worth 17,500. They also had 450gp in the party fund from Juan and 270gp from Gazlowe.

Abrash obtained two polished agates worth 1,000gp for his spells. The rest of the party was able to obtain their share in Gold, platinum, electrum, silver, and copper coins in addition to Yellow and Star Sapphires (1,000gp each), Aquamarine and Black Pearls (500 gp each), Chrysoberyl and Garnet (100gp each) and Carnelian and Chalcedony (50gp each.)

Isabella picked up 4 rations. Gazlowe commissioned some of the parts for the robot body for Abby for 100gp. Juan found the gem worker who could fashion the teeth they’ve collected into a crown of sorts for 100gp. Ajani got the armorer to fashion a helmet with a bullseye lantern for 10gp. He also picked up a length of silken rope for 10gp. Cassidy obtained some hempen rope, a grappling hook and a climber’s kit. Abrash picked up some painter’s supplies. Isabella picked up a set of clothing for a gnomish man.

Tensions are rising in the forest.

Around dinner time the party found the Emerald Knight and Ogian in the planning room having a pint. The party joined them and asked what was going on. The Emerald Knight and Ogian were bothered by recent developments in the Forest between the Red and the White Lady.

Tensions between the White and Red lady have gotten worse. The white Lady has formalized her claim seizing on her family name of “Palp.” Palp was one of the leading families of Aryvandaar prior to House Dlardrageth. The Red lady simply wishes to re-establish Eaerlann which only fell in the past few hundred years. Aryvandaar disappeared over 10,000 years ago.

How to get past Grimnosh

Gazlowe told them that the next stop was to go back to the Endless caverns to find Isabella’s shadow. They discussed the problem with the Green Dragon Grimnosh. The Emerald Knight explained that there have been many seasoned explorers who have gone into the caves and that some made arrangements with Grimnosh prior to going into the caves to assure they’d have safe passage when they exit. He told them of Kiona Duemois, an archeologist from Silverymoon. She had made a deal with Grimnosh and was able to make several trips into the Endless caverns. Unfortunately, she hadn’t returned from her last trip about 150 years ago.

Gazlowe was concerned that Grimnosh may recognize them and as such he didn’t want to negotiate with Grimnosh. Plus, he had no interest in sharing any treasure with a dragon. The party mentioned that Grimnosh said something about getting help. The Emerald Knight told them that Grimnosh is a patron of sorts for a coven of warlocks and colony of Yuan-ti.

They asked if there were any guides who could help them find an alternate exit. The Emerald Knight told them that there have been thieves who have reported that there are passageways to the underdark within the Endless caverns. And from there, there are passages back to other caverns and into the forest. Thomas mentioned the Eclivian Drow could help them but there was concern that since there are only a few left they may not want to be involved.

The party asked if there are any links to Niptu in the Endless caverns. The Emerald Knight told them that Kiona Duemois was a Niptu scholar, but she hasn’t been heard from in 150 years.

The primary leaders in the forest.

Ogian and the Emerald knight went over some of the major leaders in the forest. They first explained that there are wild elves and various elven settlements throughout the forest. For the most part the Red Lady as the leader of the Caerilcarn (The council of the wood) has historically held responsibility for the northern half of the woods and the White Lady has historically had sway of some in the south. They are now of course vying for control of all the forest.

• The Beastlord: The Beastlord is also known as the Lord of the Hunt. His followers include Druids,Rangers, Barbarians, Lycanthropes and other intelligent predators. Primarily found West of the Star Mounts
• Various dragons and Orcs control most of the areas of the Star Mounts and Lost peaks
• The Mistmaster in the tall trees
• The protectors of the Grandfather Tree in the Northwest
• Centaur tribes in the East
• The Lich Wulgreth in the Direwood along with his death knight Jhingleshod.

Scrying before bed.

Before bed, Juan summoned his bird and let him sleep in his room. Ajani set down his prayer mat and lit some candles and incense and attempted to scry on Grimnosh. Even after using his ability to try to force his way through, Grimnosh was simply too wise to be scryed upon at the moment. Frustrated, Ajani went to bed.

Isabella was feeling very self-conscious about her missing shadow. Gazlowe spotted her with the male clothing and offered to help disguise her. With his background as a Charlton, Gazlowe created very good disguise for her, and she looked just like a little middle aged gnomish man.

Back to the Endless Caverns

In the morning Ogian sent Gart Brooks to the southeast end of the forest along with 2 wolves to escort him to Waterdeep. The party did discuss keeping Gart around but decided that if they really love him, they should set him free.

The Emerald Knight cast travel through plants and brought the party to the same place they were before. The Dryads appeared and the Emerald Knight told them that the party is to be granted permission to move through the area. The dryads awakened a vine skeleton who then escorted the party to the Endless caverns.

They stopped at the edge of the clearing before the caves and saw that Grimnosh was in his perch looking down at the clearing. Abrash noticed that the dragon had spotted them, but it made no move towards them. They again discussed the options to negotiate with the dragon, but Juan got tired of talking and ran into the caves. Everyone followed and Cassidy was the only one who casually walked. Grimnosh didn’t move.

The long dark passage

In the caverns, Cassidy and Gazlowe lit up their weapons. Walking down the passageway, Abrash noticed some runes on the walls. Cassidy examined them and realized the runes were there to keep undead in the caves. The runes were ancient and had been touched up over time. Cassidy noticed that some of the touchups were not done properly and it’s possible that some more powerful undead could leave. Ajani attempted to fix the runes, but he simply cleaned them up, not making them better or worse.

The door with the golden tree

After walking for just under an hour, they came to a closed an ornate Stone door. Upon the door was a tree formed of intricate golden lines with seven beautiful gemstones: a jade, sapphire, ruby, onyx, amber, emerald, and diamond, each melded into the door, forming the leaves of the tree. An iron plaque was imbedded into the stone door just below the tree with the words:

Orders - temporary
Do not Enter, Just wait
Research in progress

Silverymoon archeological survey team
kiona duemois, 2 uktar 1407 d.r.

Gazlowe contemplated using his chime of opening but realized the door is clearly magical. Gazlowe pressed the diamond stone and a small bolt of lightning shot into his hand. Gazlowe stepped back in a bit of pain. Isabella walked up and pressed the Onyx stone and there was a click with no damage. She and Cassidy figured out the puzzle and pressed the gems in the correct order and the door opened.

As the door was opening, Gazlowe grabbed his thieves’ tools and tried to pop out the diamond. A lightning bolt shot out, but Gazlowe was quickly able to move away.

Click… click…

After the door opened, they saw that they were now in a great dwarven hall. The mason work was clearly dwarven and very old. The place smelled of death. They moved slowly, looking for traps and undead creatures. They moved down the hall and noticed that some of the walls were crumbled and rough passageways hewn into the walls, and floor and ceiling.

Abrash heard a clicking noise in the distance and warned the others. They came to an area where most of the stonework had been destroyed. The stone floor stopped and below was a 10 foot deep crevasse with ledges all around. They had walked into a nest of Kruthiks. All of them were starting to surround the party with slow steady clicking sounds. Abrash recognized that they’re speaking some sort of language and told the others. Isabella raged and ran through the party and slashed twice into one of the Adult Kruthiks with her greataxe leaving it badly bloodied. The clicking sound of all the creatures changed to a rapid clicking sound. Gazlowe said, “Good to know we could have communicated with them.”

Ajani cast hypnotic pattern and incapacitated ½ of the 15 creatures. Gazlowe ran up to one of the 2 biggest creatures and swung 2 punches but missed. The creature tried to stab Gazlowe twice, but he too missed. Abrash cast blight on the same creature and hurt it. The unrestrained creatures missed all their attacks, until some minions scratched Cassidy a little. Cassidy killed 3 of the minions. Juan and his bird killed 2 more of the minions and his shield stuck its tongue out.

Isabella killed 3 of the minions with one strike. She then ran to the big one next to Gazlowe and struck it with her axe hurting it badly. Ajani hit the other hive lord who was incapacitated with a chromatic orb. Gazlowe swung and missed the first Hive lord again and then disengaged. The Hive lord struck Isabella. The adult Kruthik pierced Juan with his front claws. Abrash cast blight at 5th level and badly hurt one of the Kruthiks. The adult Kruthik punctured Abrash and hurt him a little.

Cassidy critically hit one of the lords and impaired it. Juan also made a critical hit against the same Kruthik and killed the creature. Isabella swung missed, and Ajani shot a chromatic orb that pinged down the hall missing its target. Gazlowe punched the adult Kruthik next to him. The remaining Hive Lord moved to Abrash, Gazlowe, and Ajani who were clumped together. Isabella hit it hard as it moved away from her. The Hive Lord lifted its tail over its head and shot a spray of acid over Abrash, Gazlowe and Ajani. None of them were able to avoid the spray and took a scorching 35 points of acid damage. They all screamed in pain, “It burns!”

Abrash reacted and hit it with a stary mote, shooting it through the head and the creature fell. Juan and bird attacked one of the adults and they hurt and frightened it. Isabella struck the creature and killed it with her axe. She then hit another adult and killed it. She ran up to the minions and killed two of them.

The last remaining Kruthik started clicking slowly, Ajani cast comprehend language to understand what the creature was saying, and he heard, “Holy crap! I’m gonna die, I just wanted some food and now these meat bags are gonna kill me!” Gazlowe punched at the creature but missed, Abrash missed his first attack but hit it with a stary mote. The creature started burrowing into the ground to escape. Gazlowe reached down and grabbed its tail and with the furry of the small he punched the creature in its stomach and killed it.

Harvesting an acid sack.

Thomas was able to extract the poison sac that could be used once as a weapon. A creature holding the sac can use their action to spray acid in up to a 15-foot cone DC15 STR attack to achieve 15' cone. otherwise cone range = the STR check result (5 minimum) Nat 1 = explodes on self and everyone within 5'. Each creature in that area must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) acid damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Once this ability has been used, the sac is dried up and can act as a waterskin.

Preserving the meat

The party cut off 21 lbs. of meat from the creatures. Gazlowe then was able to remove the stomach lining of one of the creatures and use it to line a spare sack he had. They put the meat in the lined sack and poured 4 bottles of wine into the sack to preserve the meat. It should preserve the meat for 5 days. The party took a short rest and bandaged their wounds.

What’s next?

Gazlowe wanted to find some treasure. Cassidy remined him that the goal is to find Isabella’s shadow. But they thought about finding Kiona also as she might have some information about Niptu. Ajani set out his prayer mat and lit some candles and then scryed on Isabella’s shadow. He saw darkness and heard a female voice talking to the shadow and they sounded like they were playing card games. He was able to perceive that they were in the dwarven caverns and not in a “cave” as the walls around them were cut stone. He heard the sounds of undead around them but didn’t sense much else.

Unusual undead approach.

The party continued into the dwarven tunnels. They heard something running from them to the east, as if it feared them. Then they heard undead creatures approaching from the east. The sound was odd. Additional creatures were approaching from the north, the sound of bones. The creatures approaching from the east were husks of skin and the creatures from the north were bone golems. Cassidy realized that these creatures were not typical undead. They were created by a powerful necromancer.

Rewards Granted

Treasure found:

• 1 Kruthik hive Lord Acid Sack (in dndBeyond)
• 21 lbs of preserved meat (preserved in 4 bottles of wine.  Will last 5 days.)

Existing Treasure converted

• Everyone has 4,000 gp worth of Gems or coins.  The gems can be any of the following (all in DnDB):
  • Yellow or Star Sapphires (1,000gp each)
  • Aquamarine or Black Pearls (500 gp each)
  • Chrysoberyl or Garnet (100gp each) 
  • Carnelian or Chalcedony (50gp each.)
• Abrash converted 2,000 of his gp into 2 Polished Agates (in DnDB).