Where is home? Report

General Summary

1489 DR - Summer - 4, Eleasis (8) - Sword Coast - Blasingdell

• As they near the bluff, they view the valley and see that the town has erected a rough stone wall somehow, and the two entrances are blockaded by hundreds of Zhentilar, with interspersed wheeled cages like the crew found on the road.
• A patrol comes close to the hill and spots the crew as they overlook the valley, they flee back down the road and are pursued!
• The crew bails out of the carriage (Huden breaks his ankle in the fall) and the patrol speeds by, capturing and murdering the carriage driver after he tells them that the occupants jumped out. The patrol begins searching the bushes by the road.
• Lucyan surprises them by summoning spiders to attack, Xifor fries a guard, Zul charges, but 3 manage to escape and race back toward the army to report them.
• As they escape, Damien leaps from the bushes and cleaves one in two, while an unfamiliar hobgoblin magically snares anothers horse, leaving them vulnerable to Damien's second strike. The last escapes over the hill, but a scream is heard in the distance.
• BACKGROUND: The hobgoblin introduces himself as Oudman, who they met in disguise during there last visit to the village. He is a refugee from the east that was saved by Sabyn and brought for his skill with alchemy and solutions. He regrettably doesn't remember much of himself before his imprisonment, but seems extremely proud of his skill in 'healing' the ills of this township, and seems to speak more than highly of and always in the defense of Sabyn.
• Moments later, the man in rags they freed from the cell in Waterdeep shakes himself off emerging from the woods, and drops the third in a heap on the road with his throat torn out.
• The army seems to have found them somehow through help from a Devil named Jeryth, but the crew knows they killed him. Oudman explains that devils cannot be permanently slain on the prime material, and the man adds that they are also often promoted to other devil forms as a reward for their service.
• The man in rags explains that help arrived and they have constructed some crude defenses, but that they will be starved out in a week if help does not arrive. This means they NEED backup, and that means freeing his friend.
• His friend is the one captured by the mages in Waterdeep, and the man in rags explains that he is likely now trapped in Spellhold. He has heard there may also be others they can recruit from Spellhold in a prison break, so they must travel there now.
• Spellhold is unfortunately weeks away by the fastest methods, yet the man explains he has procured another way at significant cost, and leaves the crew to wait in a cave while he secures the ride.
• The crew the next day is led to a clearing where a Halruaan Skyship Schooner, The Gazer, is sitting in a field, the Gith captain roughly welcomes them and promptly locks the crew in the hold for the travel. It takes off at an amazing speed but not nearly enough to make up the distance. The crew is assured they should relax, and are coerced into their room.
• Over the night, there are strange noises on the ships deck, and Lucyan peaks out to see a strange contraption connected to the Gith, he is caught and pushed back inside the room.
• There is a deafening BOOM, and then stillness, the crew waits out the night. In the morning, somehow, the ship is cruising over the Sea of Swords, with Spellhold on the horizon.
• The ship has some manner of invisibility, not being spotted by guards crossing the myriad rope bridges between the towers, and the crew is instructed to wait for a signal from the tower before making their move.
• BACKGROUND: Inside the tower we hear the history of Llewelyn. The guard who was born as a thrall in Amn and trained as a hunter of other slaves. She was acquired by a Red Wizard, taught powers that aided in tracking and hunting, and given a place of honor among thralls. The Red Wizard was slain due to a mixup with devils, and the devil magic was obvious in the murder of the entire household. None but the pets and test subjects survived and Llewelyn was captured and returned to Amn, where she was given a choice. Work at Spellhold to keep the dangerous under control, or death. The choice was obvious but horrible.
• BACKGROUND: During her time there Llewelyn learns new hatred, for devils and their corruption of others and tyranny, for authority and the terrible bosses that run those at the tower, for the prison itself and the very fact of it's existence to chain those with power, just and unjust alike. A lady comes to her in waking visions and dreams and offers freedom, to hunt, to kill Devils, to range, and to earn her own power. If she pledges to serve (and free the Infernal Pawn, a prisoner), The Lady will help her hunt again. She agrees, and the lady says to wait. Wait years if necessary, but it WILL come. Thereafter she finds the Dark prison of the infernal pawn. It's black inside, but she FEELS someone is there. Someone who understands. Someone, who KNOWS. She begins to talk, regularly and often, and somehow, she knows she is heard. Truly heard, by whatever is within. Eventually the darkness responds. SHE IS COMING, prepare. And Llewelyn knows the time has come.
• BACKGROUND: Yasen once went by a different name, but it has since been lost. History knows him as the Infernal Pawn, among scholars and a joke in the 9 hells. The one who allowed Asmodeus worshipping devils to break into Candlekeep, the greatest library in the realms, for the first time in it's history. The coalition of wizards imprisoned him and took his true name and his magical power and knowledge as part of punishment. He remembers being interrogated by a powerful sage and being confined for eternity.
• BACKGROUND: The dark is long, and he knows he deserves it, his life was wasted, his bright future, his pride in his knowledge and work, all lost for what. Some trick, some DEVIL trick. He awoke in prison. Now in the darkness, your only companion was a voice in the neighboring prison calling himself Tiax. Tiax was funny, tiax was vilely funny. Eventually, he laughed. Tiax gave him the name Yasen, and he felt new. Tiax's sound kept him living when his angelic body suffered in darkness. In Yasen's dreams, a white lady began to appear. At first she said nothing, then she began to comfort, eventually began to offer. Tiax told you she was a good omen, you should trust her, she was the truth and power in Cyrics court, and there was no one wiser. Yasen accepts the bargain, and feels a small spark of new power begin to grow in him, as he feels tied to one called the Dreadlord. Then time passes, she is gone, Tiax is gone, the darkness is everything and nothing. Then a guard begins to talk. She talks about devils, about freedom, about hatred, and she speaks truth to you, hatred and truth. For years she is your only tether, the small openings letting in a voice like crystal life. Then one day, some manner of visitor arrives in Tiaxs old cell, and he frees your chains through a hole in the wall with a rotting hand and the darkness in the cell lessens and becomes Yasens darkness. He says three words: THEY ARE COMING
• He then hands a small tool to the guard as she rounds the corner, and Llewelyn knows it is time and takes the tool to the wall at the end of the tower. The shambling body tears his cell open, and that of Yasens while Llewelyn uses the rod to blast out the wall, signaling the invisible ship floating nearby. Lucyan and Oudman join Llewelyn, Yasen and the rotting zombie inside as the ship with Huden and Damien pulls away to flank the docks, knowing that if the prisoners exit through the side they will trigger a myriad of supernatural defenses.
• They sneak their way to the main dock and loading warehouses in the hold, Llewelyn using the rod on an unsuspecting guard to his shock and disintegration. The zombie snatches it back with a scolding about a waste of such power.
• At the barracks they hear guards patrolling, and the zombie isolates a small group to fight on his own and the other 4 assault through the door. The guards are extremely tough, and the fight is pitched but the crew gets an edge.
• Yasen is a whirl of magic fire and dakrness that burns the enemies, and Llewelyn is death from a distance with her bow and mobility. Oudman bolsters and burns the guards, while Lucyan summons wasps to hary the enemies.
• Then the leader of the docks enters, Llewelyns boss, bringing with him a golem made of the stolen flesh of prisoners punished with amputation. The fight quickly sours for the crew, and they are hard pressed to even harm the creature.
• Lucyan bursts the eyes of Jenuthan the wizard blinding him, and effectively hamstringing him for the fight. He is slain by the others handily thereafter, much to his protest.
• The crew finally discovers that force, fire and acid can harm the golem, and combine their strengths to take it down and the remaining guards, while some of them are barely clinging to consciousness.
• The door then is bashed open as Oudman begins healing the crew, and the zombie emerges, with blood smeared across the other room, but no corpses to be found. Everyone feels uncomfortable, but lets the obvious go unspoken.
• The other team then is seen on the dock, securing it from the last guards present, but exclaiming that more golems and guards are headed here from the other towers.
• Everyone boards and the ship departs, veling itself and traveling back in the same strange nightly manner as before. The crew takes some time to become familiar with each other, and all but the zombie swap stories.
• When asked anything, the zombie only replies with a cold stare, as if he truly wasn't alive.
• The ship lands in the middle of town, and is greeted by a fully armored Sabyn, whose presence is a mix of shock and Awe to the two newcomers who have never seen her in person. The ship then vanishes, with a shout they will return if the crew lives to take them where the Xanathar has paid for.
• Sabyn says to all "It is time we ended this fight." and the short figure in thick robes behind her leans hard on his hooked staff and grumbles "still acting in charge huh?"

Rewards Granted

New frenz!

Missions/Quests Completed

Saved the Spellhold prisoners and the zombie.