Solo Episode - Manifest Destiny

General Summary

When the brave were asked to answer the call of a captain of Castle Waterdeep, Razael answered that call. Following the captain's wishes, Razael volunteered to head north, when no one else would, to find the missing Open Lord of Waterdeep. Setting out on the 20th of Alturiak in the Year of the Ageless One, 1479 DR; Razael journeyed with an agent of the Open Lord's, one Seldra of Neverwinter. Together they hoped to ascertain the status of Open Lord Dagult Neverember after his caravan headed north to Neverwinter, was attacked. All they knew was that Neverember's caravan had last been seen somewhere near or after Leilon, attacked by Plaguecharged creatures.
Landing on the muddy beach from the open sea on the 22nd, Razael trudged his way inland north of the Mere of Dead Men. Once he was on the open road and after keeping his eyes firmly away from Leilon per Seldra, a stern elf's, suggestion; Razael made camp and there he met yet another elf. His night's camping companion was far more fair and beautiful then Seldra but she was road weary and smelt of the faintest hints of the sweat of a long journey. After making camp with Razael, she confessed at short length that she was a hunter, searching for the tooth of a dangerous monster for a wizard's spell.
On the 23rd, Razael reached the area of the wrecked caravan and began his investigation. Razael couldn't find Dagult but found bodies mauled by wild beasts and a few camping supplies. Alas, Razael followed tracks heading east away from the caravan; though they were faint they delivered him to a cold night and the shimmer of a light on a cliff nearby.
Razael scaled the cliff, headed toward torch light, and found himself stood shoulder to shoulder with Open Lord Dagult Neverember. Razael and Dagult vowed to fight valiantly until the end as they had, stood before them, a vicious werewolf. The beast charged them and as it came upon Dagult, Razael shoved his spear, engulfed in white flame pulled from the cursed blade at his side, into the beast's chest but it barely pierced its hide. Without skipping a beat, Dagult slapped the beast with his longsword and thrusted it into its hide with a similar result. Enraged, the werewolf latched its jaw around Dagult's arm and scratched him across his lower left abdomen. As Razael's spear reverberated off of the werewolf's fur, Dagult stabbed into the beast and then twisted and forced his sword in further. As it released and snapped for another bite Dagult punched it in the snout as its right paw slashed a deep wound through Dagult's left breast.
As blood tinted the snow, a few breaths were taken, and the fight continued. Razael forced his flamed spear deep into the chest of the werewolf. As Razael pulled upon his spear, blood gushed from the creature's wound just as Dagult reset his fencing stance and lunged with no luck as the creature recoiled. Twisting around, the werewolf snapped down onto Dagult's right thigh and clawed at his left ankle. It was then that Razael drew power from his cursed blade and hexed the werewolf. Stabbing the cursed creature once more as it released Dagult, Razael drove his spear through the creature's left shoulder and out the back of it. As it screamed, Dagult's blade pierced it and Razael's slashed back through.
Roaring in pain as it stepped back, the werewolf charged Dagult and dove head first into him. As its head bounced off of Dagult, its claws slashed into Razael's shield. As a bout of metal pierced the wolf, it latched onto Dagult's left knee; with a heavy strike, the werewolf began to flee. Some thirty feet away, Razael dropped his spear and channeled the wrath of his cursed blade into his hand and blasted the werewolf with eldrich energy. The werewolf rolled across the snow, flipping end over end, and laid there for a moment as Dagult assumed it dead. When Razael charged the beast, it darted off into the darkness of the hills beyond. Dagult took the time to begin cleaning and mending his wounds, as Razael aided him with a touch of magical healing that was enough to stop the majority of the bleeding. In an alcove nearby, guarded by tall banks and a few trees, the pair found a moment's rest.
Looking to Razael, Dagult had remarked, at the start of their conversation, "there's a thin line between being a hero and being a memory and you have skirted that for us," as a mild show of appreciation.
Though they were reluctant to rest fully; Razael gave Dagult his bedroll and tent, found at the scene of the caravan incident, and the two gave in to rest as they discussed the troubles of Waterdeep. Come the morning of the 24th of Alturiak, Neverember spoke of his feelings of blame about the loss of his men before discussing the Spell Scar that the werewolf bore, the one that allowed him to command Plaguecharged wolves. After a day's walk, the pair then made camp once more nearby the road before discussing the future.
Their discussion brought Dagult toward giving new orders. Not wanting to blow the cover of his undercover agent Seldra, Dagult asked Razael to take him to Leilon where he could eventually be teleported to safety. He asked Razael to take him to Leilon, then return to Seldra, head to Neverwinter with her, protect her mysterious package, and then have the local mercenaries teleport him away using scrolls he'd left there from Waterdeep. Razael agreed as he used his magic to stop, in its entirety, Dagult's bleeding.
On the 25th, outside of Leilon, the pair encountered six petrified riders whom Dagult knew to be headed by the new lord of the house of Deepwinter and joined by his dear friend Varis. It was then that Dagult developed a plan to save his friend and companion using more teleportation scrolls. At rest inside the town, Dagult confessed that he was honored to be saved by Razael and they rested well for upon the next day they worried only for the potential that Dagult could be infected with the curse of Lycanthropy. Never the less, Razael set out and was only accosted by two strige, which he impaled, on his journey. After lighting a driftwood bonfire in the marshlands to Leilon's coast, Razael was welcomed back on board the ship with Seldra's helping hand. On the following day they discussed Razael's success for come the next day after that, upon the morning, they came once more upon land.
On the early morning of the 28th of Alturiak, they were greeted by a warmth as the lookout cried, "Neverwinter, ho!" and their destination drew gradually into view.
First, Razael saw only the tall towers of Castle Never, half-covered with ash and half-gleaming in the morning light. Towers and keeps swept down the bluff toward a crescent-shaped dock that moved from well-built in the south to ramshackle in the north. Even at that distance, he could make out the forest of scaffolding that encompassed many of the buildings in the southwest quarter of the city. Neverwinter was a city being repaired even as he watched.
In a just a few more minutes the crew had the ship lashed to the docks and a gangplank in place as Seldra seemed visibly relieved that the journey was over. Walking over to Razael she declared, "I am grateful that you accompanied me and also that your services were not put to the test. Let us disembark so that we can settle up your payment and send you to aid Neverember."
Then, before anyone could take a step, the ship began to lurch. The murky water roiled beneath them and green, bloated corpses climbed out of the bay, and scaled the sides of the ship. Skeletons stripped bare of flesh clattered up around them, wielding rusty blades, and set in for an attack. Crew members and other bystanders dove into the water to get away; others backed away from the edge of the docks, prepared to take off running if the undead creatures came ashore. However, the monsters appeared to have no interest in anyone other then those stood strong on the deck of the ship.
Seldra prepared for a fight as a horn-helmed skeleton charged forth and slammed his sword into Razael's shield. An arrow then whisked by the skeleton and slammed into Seldra but didn't pierce her flesh as it vanished. Abruptly, Seldra cried out and reeled in agony. She fell to one knee, then collapsed completely.
A moment later, a blurry shape whisked up to Seldra and just as quickly fled back to the dock. There, the shape resolved into a red-robed wizard with gleaming tattoos covering his bald head. In his hands, he held the pouch that used to be on Seldra's belt. He turned then and ran away, disappearing into the crowd.
Two skeletons promptly jump overboard as Razael stood alone against the group of undead. With courage Razael stabbed his spear into the horn-helmed skeleton and its bones dashed onto the deck. A zombie from the prow charged him then and slammed against his shield as the archer far afield fled the scene. Razael and the zombie fought a great exchange in which Razael severed its left arm, pierced its jaw from its face, and then deflected its right arm right off of its body. Razael then stabbed the zombie in the left eye leaving a massive hole in its head but it then used its head to bite at him but gained only shield. With a strong stab it hit the ground and bit at his ankles but Razael promptly drove his spear, lit with white flame, through its head.
With the creature finally stopped Seldra, almost as abruptly as she dropped, tried to regain her footing. She panicked as she realized she no longer had the coffer she'd been carrying. "I've been robbed! What happened?"
As Razael recounted the situation, the crowd on the docks parted and several soldiers pushed through. Their leader exhorted the people to move out as he lead his squad toward their ship.
"Oh, no," she worried. "Now we have the guard to deal with. Don't give them any trouble and try to find out if they saw anyone making off with my coffer."
Razael questioned the guard then and learned what Seldra recounted. The red robe thief could mean only one thing, a Red Wizard of Thay.
"They knew of my arrival and of what I carried." She affirmed, "you need to go after the scoundrel and reclaim my parcel. I will follow as soon as l regain my bearings. Please do not delay."
Razael gave chase through the city and questioned onlookers as he went but eventually he was upon the feeling of the looming presence of the graveyard even before he saw it. Despite onlookers it was as though the city itself gave Neverdeath a wide berth: the closest buildings were no closer than fifty paces away, on the other side of a wide expanse of dusty cobblestones that surrounded the thick black wall around the graveyard. Dozens of corpses were heaped on either side of the gates that he saw before him, making apparent that no one was even willing to venture inside to bury them. The gates stood open, to the fear of the onlookers, offering an ominous welcome to the brave soldier of Waterdeep.
Inside the gates of Neverdeath Razael saw a veritable city of cracked tombstones, chipped statues, and withered trees. The graveyard was over grown with gray, weedy grasses and looked as though it had not been maintained in decades. In the distance ahead of him, stood a thin human in a red robe, a bone hilted dagger at his belt. He stared down at his hands, in which he held Seldra's parcel. As Razael entered his view, he gave a start.
The Thayan wizard raised one of his hands to the sky, and strangled howls filled the air as two lanky gray hounds bound out from behind the gravestones. Behind him, three of the blackened corpses rose from where they had fallen into the graveyard, ash swirling about them as they moved. The black gates of Neverdeath then grinded to a close behind him and he found himself trapped among the dead. Then, like a gift from the gods and likely so, a bright light rose behind Razael and slaughtered the corpses given rise. Turning, Razael saw the shining face of his grandmother, Myllandra, with her angel wings spread wide.
Spinning forward, Myllandra slaughtered Razael's foes swiftly and as he thanked her, she disappeared just as quickly. With Seldra's box in hand, the ground then trembled beneath his feet as enemies anew, fresh undead horrors, rose up. The stark black gates of the graveyard marked his only obvious escape from the growing horde and Razael took flight. Unfortunately, the gates were still closed but as Razael slammed into them, they flew open. On the other side he and Seldra, newly arrived, closed the gates and sealed away the undead.
"Oh, thank goodness," she sighed. "I got here as quickly as I could. My coffer, is it safe?"
As Razael handed it to her she added, "you have done a fine job today, now I must bid you farewell, at least for the nonce."
She dropped a bag of coin in his hands and bid him off to save Neverember as she stated, "l must be off before we draw any more unwanted attention."
Without a further word, she tuned and melted back into the crowd of onlookers outside the graveyard gate. As Razael made his way through the crowd, he set his eyes solely upon Castle Never and reached its gates by midday. Razael worked with the Mintarn Mercenaries there at the castle, supported by the local militia, to secure Neverember's rescue. Making camp outside of the castle, Razael learned of the city's state of affairs before he was brought before Neverember himself.
Dagult, as Open Lord of Waterdeep, took it upon himself to promote Razael from infantry to commander, beholden to none but him and Razael's betters. Honored further, come the night, Razael's armor was taken and exchanged for that of the Griffon Calvary armor being made there in Neverwinter. In his rest, Razael would find some peace before the morning of the 29th of Alturiak

Rewards Granted

900xp

Missions/Quests Completed

Sidequest Dagult's Champions Completed

Character(s) interacted with

A captain of Castle Waterdeep (Stirgan Cragwatcher), and saved Dagult Neverember

Notes

Notable Party Damage:

• Razael has scratches across the upper portion of his Waterdeep City Guard's Shield from a werewolf.
  Noted Effects: None

Report Date

25 Oct 2020

Primary Location

Faerûn