Session Preface
Even in the darkness of this late hour, the Castle Ward bristles with energy. Sailors enjoying an evening's respite from the with sweet wines and rums sloshing in their flasks sway through the streets. City Watch patrol dutifully, their spears knocking against the cobblestone streets in structured rhythm. The Castle itself looms above, observing all from the massive cliffs overlooking all of Waterdeep. The dim glows of continual flames from the large windows flicker like nearby stars in the dark blue of predawn.
The long trek up the winding road towards the Castle provides a magnificent view of the metropolis each of you have called home at one point in time. As you march towards the teleportation circle and the deal struck for its use, the city spread beneath you fills your hearts and minds respectively. An autumn breeze carrying intrigue and rumors from far away lands. Winter's chill and seeking the warmth and hearth found in passionate study and practice. A spring of new opportunities and possibilities. The sensation of summer's warm caress and of love unrequited. Though different memories and different times for each of you, you look out over Waterdeep, saying farewell once more to the City of Splendors, full of memories and questions.
As you approach the entrance gate to the Castle, Xorlone the Libram stands with a magically lit latern, his sharp elven features dripped in shadow and light in equal measure. Without a word, he holds out a piece of parchment in his open palm. A small ornate knife whose hilt seems to unwrap as lines of text in an ancient elvish script. As you study the blade, Emmyth, it is easy to assume the combination of these spells will serve as the binding agent of the contract you are now expected to sign. Your once colleague chuckles to himself, raises the lantern, and speaks softly, "Best be finishing your paperwork, unless you'd like to swim to Neverwinter instead."
Session Summary
When met with the ultimatum of signing Xorlone's binding contracts or not making the trip to Neverwinter in time, the party reluctantly agrees to his terms, but not before Fargrim bids the party farewell, preferring not be beholden to anyone against his will. Mya too does not sign the contract, as Hawk forces the issue, making a compelling case and compromising by signing a second contract only he must fulfill at an undisclosed time in the future. With the documents signed and the signatures burned into each hero's palm, the party soon finds themselves in Neverwinter's Castle Never in the wintry predawn morning.
Following a night's rest in the Sleeping Dragon, the party returns to Castle Never looking for the First Speaker, Second, their construct companion turned political executive. Second himself greets them at the welcome desk. Upon learning the party's story since The Spine of the World, Second jumps at the opportunity to travel to Durindale with Mya, but must find someone to fill in for him while he's gone. He quickly departs, returning with Millie of the Dancing Stallion, who begrudgingly sits at the welcome desk without any further instructions. Hawk and Mya share a brief goodbye before Second and his representatives from the Church of Cond set out to Durindale with Mya.
The party spends the next several days traveling through Neverwinter Woods to the base of Mount Hotenow. During their travels, Hawk explores the nature of the Thorns for Roses bow he purchased from Kelnelis and performs a piece of music given to him by Mya which when played reveals illusory script of flirtatious notes exchanged between Thorsten and Mya's mother. Emmyth has a conversation with Lorelei, learning of Gerard's recent promotion in Yartar, and the party shares stories over the campfire about their experiences in Waterdeep, how Thaust and Hawk know each other, and the importance of family.
The Crown of Gauntlgrym explains to Thaust the oft-used bridge to Gauntlgrym was destroyed, but there is a secret entrance to be used, though he knows not where it is. The party spends the better part of a day, but manages to track it down, winding through cave and crevice back to the grand doorway beneath the mountain. Though magically sealed, the door opens at the recognition of the crown and the party is greeted by Tordek, a massively muscled dwarf who cautiously welcomes them to the city. Upon learning of their travels and discovery, Tordek leads the party to King Bruenor Battlehammer. The king welcomes the visitors and the relic they bring with them. He then leads the party to the Iron Tabernacle, which acts as a cathedral, central hub of activity, and a crypt on its lowest level.
After Bruenor rewards Thaust for returning the crown with a great hammer and magical chain mail referred to in dwarven as "The Forge's Fury," the party witnesses the Crown's return to the ancient statue's brow. In the moments following, Tordek alerts the king to an unaccounted for mine cart heading through the Great Forge, at which point the party follows Bruenor and has followers to the mine carts and begin their descent towards Maegra's pit.
Maegra's Fiery Pit
As the heat grows to a nearly unbearable temperature, you find yourselves and your dwarven companions standing on a stone ledge looking over a pool of magma. A metal crosswalk stretches across to a series of caverns opposite you. Within the lava itself, two humanoid shapes of living flame swirl in the cracking air, bursts of fire flying from their wild flailing appendages towards the caverns across for you. In response, bolts of ice and frost from an unseen source reaches out as if to encompass and quell the pyres of living fire. In the central chamber, a purple-grey skinned drow wearing deep purple robes stands perfectly still, holding a large iron flask pressed against stone alter. Across from this drow, a behemoth of fire and flame incarnate, standing 50 feet tall with a half-dozen limbs and black pits of smoldering hatred for eyes, restrained within the lava against the stone wall. It wrestles against the magical restraints vigorously, chaotically, desperately.
"You thieving, evil-bred blights! You'll be fuel for the forges 'fore we let you take this source back to the giants you've whored yourselves out to! Come, and meet your damned spider queen at the edge of a dwarven axe!"
An extended skirmish breaks out as the party and their dwarven companions work to halt the Drow's progress towards containing the fire primordial in their iron flask. Hawk, Thaust, and the dwarves make their way through a stretch of caverns, facing a menacing house captain and his militia as well as several potent mages. Thanks to the work of Emmyth, they are spared the worst of their arcane firepower. Even so, the forces manage to nearly surround Hawk, knocking him unconscious, though he is saved by the protective death wards Thaust protected him with earlier in their journey.
As these close-quarter fights play out in a flurry of crossbow bolts and the sparks of steel against steel, Emmyth works alongside a pair of Fire Elementals to deter the drow arcanists from completing their task near a massive stone alter which binds the fire primordial to the magma below. Despite Emmyth nearly defeating two of the three mages, the drow are ultimately successful in their ritual, however, and begin to sprint away with their mark in hand.
It is only in this pivotal moment Bruenor, Hawk, and Thaust finally break through the drow's frontlines and give chase to the retreating captain. Emmyth polymorphs Hawk into a Giant Scorpion, which allows him to catch up to the escaping drow, killing the one holding the iron flask with one of his claws, and impaling the last of his companions with his potent stinger. The drow captain manages to escape with the use of a Darkness spell and a secret magical door, but his retreat is secondary to the retrieval of Maegra, who resides in the flask still clutched by a dead drow in Hawk's scorpion claws.
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