Session 68: Uncut Gem Dragons Report

General Summary

A week passes in Waterdeep and the party uses the downtime to improve Trollskull Manor and Tavern as well as investigate various leads.   The tavern is closed for upgrades to security. The party also takes this time to install a smithy and a laboratory. The party also hires Ryba and her gang of wererats as local informants.   During this week Cameron Overholt receives a letter from his family's majordomo/butler, Resnak Milar. He received the letter Cameron sent when he first arrived in Waterdeep and regrets to inform him that Cameron's father and sister are missing. The Overholt estate in Lantan has been seized as it is in debt for 75,000 gold, and most of the family's staff has been dismissed. Two years ago, after Cameron's disappearance across the planes, his father became obsessed with an artifact that he thought could bring Cameron back. Cameron's mother went to stay with family in Chult to rest and recover during this familial upheaval. Meanwhile, Cameron's father invested the family fortune in expeditions to find this artifact. A few months ago he gained some solid intel on the artifact. He and Cameron's sister, most likely to keep her father from doing something foolish, headed into the jungles to find this artifact. Resnak has not heard from them, even by magical means, for some time. He also tells Cameron that Lantan University has distanced themselves from Cameron and his studies. He mentions that three teaching assistants also went missing at the same time as Cameron. Cameron tells Resnak to head to Chult to begin organizing for a rescue mission. It will take a few weeks for Resnak to get everything organized.   Meanwhile in Waterdeep the trial of Victoro Cassalanter and Ammalia Cassalanter begins. Clerics have put their children in stasis and are trying to figure out how to save them. The trial looks like it will be long and drawn out.   Two familiar-looking horses show up at Trollskull Manor. Varric Silverstone sends word that Holg - DECEASED left them his horses. They held a funeral for Holg several days ago while the party was deeply involved in The Grand Game. The party begins to see signage for the Gilded Compass with their likeness (more or less accurate) and claiming the new "Wardens of Waterdeep" are members of the Gilded Compass (and you can be too!).   Jarlaxle Baenre is also successful in getting his city Luskan to join the Lords' Alliance. There are many op eds in broadsheets claiming that he blackmailed or bought off Lords of Waterdeep to get in the alliance and that pirates are going to descend on the nearby waters now that Luskan has been legitimized.   The Doom Raiders have taken over the remains of the Zhentarim in the city. Clashes between them and the Xanathar's Guild are no longer spilling onto the streets but the Zhentarim have lost a lot of ground to the Xanathar's Guild while Manshoon was in charge.   Andryn Stormpeak visits the Emerald Enclave. Mellannor Fellbranch reminds her of her obligation to destroy the Xanathar.   During the week the party also interrogates Manshoon's body via Speak with Dead. Andryn wants to keep the kids out of it but Cameron makes it a fun game for the four children (well, three. Martem Trec finds it terrifying).   The party asks the following questions:

• Where can we find your living clones? There were hundreds of clones across the world. Many died. Down to dozens now. They are all imposters, this Manshoon claims (they all believe they are the true Manshoon).
• What is the shard the sapphire dragon protecting? Manshoon does not know. He said "she" needed whatever it is to open the gates. Something to do with planar magic.
• "Five to bind. Five to banish. The last will protect the many." What does this mean? There are legends that the last gem dragons sacrificed themselves to fight and banish the great dragon Asharladon.
• Where can I find your most powerful artifacts? They were taken off him when he was defeated by Halaster Blackcloack in Undermountain when he also took Manshoon's right hand.
• Where is Halaster now? He is everpresent in Undermountain but his lair is on the 23rd level.
• What is the purpose of this planar gate? Manshoon doesn't know. "She" didn't say. It could all be a ruse of Halaster's or she could be working against him in Undermountain.

The party gives the body to Vajra Safahr, the Blackstaff of Waterdeep so she can interrogate him in 10 days. They also ask her to investigate the Stone of Golorr. She determines that is millenia-old. It seems to not be an actual aboleth like Lord Cassalanter thought. It instead is an artifact that once belonged to the Abolethic Sovereignty, who worked to enslave all other creatures to their will. Vajra asks to keep the stone saying it may have been formed in a battle between two gods, who were also sisters representing light and dark. The party agrees to hand it over asking to let them know if she finds anything. They ask about Undermountain. She doesn't know much, just that it's a massive underground structure ruled by Halaster. She tells them Mirt or Durnan might know more. She also tells them her people are examining the body of the sapphire dragon and that it's a huge scientific discovery.   The party researches gem dragons. There are five known types: Amethyst, Sapphire, Crystal, Emerald, and Topaz. The party finds an obscure reference to a sixth type that is unnamed. They know gem dragons are psychic-based in their power.   They later find Mirt at The Yawning Portal. As they ask Mirt about his adventures in Undermountain with Durnan they realize both men are hundreds of years old, kept alive by some kind of magic they don't even understand. He tells the party that he and Durnan descended into a multi-level sunken tower in the middle of the city. They only made it to level 15 before they had to return to the surface. People that stay down there too long go mad. He thinks he and Durnan's longevity is somehow related to Undermountain. Durnan built the tavern around the tower entrance and rarely, if ever, leaves.   He tells them that Undermountain is ruled by Halaster who is truly mad. He can corrupt mage's magic and keep anyone from teleporting in or out of Undermountain. The 6th level was lost before he adventured into the dungeon. He doesn't know what they will face there. He gives the party maps so they can quickly traverse the first level of Undermountain. They show him the maps created by Clan Melairkyn they found of the 6th level of Undermountain, which they found in the Vault of Dragons (where they found the missing 500,000 gold). They notice that the map indicates something called the "Heart of the Mountain" and a temple of Dumathoin.   The party descends into the first level of Undermountain and sail through to the second level. The first level is fairly picked over but they find an immovable rod. On the second level they hear a large colony of goblins chattering and hammering something. They move further into the dungeon. In a room with ancient alchemical equipment they encounter some kind of automaton that looks vaguely like Halaster. It barks warnings at them but seems to have limited things it can say and ways it can move.   Deep in they find evidence of a base camp that had been attacked. Corpses of members of the Xanathar's Guild litter the room. Cameron casts Detect Magic and finds a secret room empty except for an archway engraved with coins falling and a slot the size of one gold piece. Cameron summons his turret, they put a gold coin in the slot and see a luminescent sheen go over the doorway. One the other side they can see dark caverns.   When the gate opens a disembodied female voice floats across the room asking if they've come to help. If they're the champions she seeks.

Rewards Granted

• Tavern upgrades
• Immovable rod

Notes

• everyone has one token (3 total) to call back something they did to prepare for their descent into Undermountain