Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor - PCs

Introduction

Following the party's return from Yeonido, Cornelius has been availing himself of the less "popular" stacks in Candlekeep's expansive holdings. Wandering somewhat aimlessly through the labyrinth of shelves, he occasionally stops to select a random volume and see what he can discover. On this day, however, it seems that something has discovered Cornelius. Recognizing him as a Waterdavian and man of curiosity and virtue, a restless spirit emerges from a nondescript tome, pleading for help. The woman appears to be dressed as a servant, wearing the symbol as appears on the cover of the book: a lemon tree illuminated by the dawn.

The figure weeps aloud, tears running down her cheeks. She opens her mouth as if to speak - which reveals that her tongue is gone. Moaning in anguish, she reaches toward you. Then the mist shreds away to nothing, and the spirit fades.

— Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor, Candlekeep Mysteries

Following this brief visit from the great beyond, Cornelius begins to read the book, finding it to be a combination of workbook, journal, and diary. The book begins with simple repetitions of a name, "Sarah", but as the book's owner masters the art of writing, those scrawls are joined by accounts of daily life, information regarding chores and other work assignments, and poignant notes regarding the kindness of the lady of the manor and, more importantly, of the deranged occult studies of the lord of the manor, Viallis Yellowcrest. The book ends with an account of Lord Viallis engaged in a bloody ritual, replete with a runic circle and a mystical tome. Sarah attempted to depict the creature adorning the cover of the tome and the runes laid out on the floor. Cornelius is able to recognize the rune as part of a ritual casting of the Contact Other Plane spell. With this frightening knowledge, he believes that the creature on the tome is likely a denizen of the Outer Planes.

Cornelius Copper: Citizen of the World, Native of Waterdeep

Having spent his formative years in Waterdeep, Cornelius is familiar with the tale of woe involving the Yellowcrest family. He is able to recall the following details:

• Just over five years ago, Lord Yellowcrest was away from Waterdeep on business, then returned to find his wife, his sons and daughter, and the manor’s four servants brutally murdered. Shocked into a deep depression by the tragedy, Lord Yellowcrest left Waterdeep to be alone with his grief.
• Rumors seemingly spread by members of the City Guard after investigating the murders hinted at some sort of cult activity, but details of the killings were never revealed. No suspects were ever identified or charged.
• The Yellowcrest family had a good reputation, with no hint of personal or public impropriety. No one ever accused the grieving Lord Yellowcrest of having any connection to the murders.
• Yellowcrest Manor is on Delzorin Street in the North Ward. It is currently occupied by another family.
• Cornelius believes that Lord Yellowcrest still owns several tanneries and cobblers' shops in Waterdeep.

Armed with this knowledge and spurred on by the disturbing encounter, Cornelius inquires with the House of the Binder to have the book transcribed. He then seeks out the party at the only reasonable gathering place in Candlekeep, The Hearth.

The remainder of our intrepid heroes begin this tale relaxing in The Hearth at Candlekeep. Boxes is engaged in his usual shenanigans, attempting to hide, only to be discovered by a very friendly, yet slightly odd ogre sitting in the corner of the tavern. After discussing his revelations in the Pillars, the party agrees to investigate. Vanyel and others make some purchases to prepare for the trip, which will be the first chance to try out their incredible new Folding Boat. Cornelius makes sure to stock a barrel full of apples, though the voyage will not take terribly long.

Something Fishy's Going On

Despite their paucity of seafaring experience, our heroes are making their way admirably as they head north up the Sword Coast. Some time into their voyage, though, they have a peculiar encounter. What initially appear as three lumps sliding along the surface of the sea reveal themselves to be Plesiosauruses (plesiosauri?). Fortunately, they turn out to be less fiercesome than one might have expected. Aubrey is the first to attempt to make contact with the beasts, but in a slightly inebriated state from the moss tea she brewed, stumbles and nearly spills out of the boat, along with her tea. One of the dinosaurs uses its head to push Aubrey back into the boat. Inspired by this act of kindness, Creed also attempts to pet one of the Loch Ness Monster-esque creatures, but stumbles and slips as the boat rocks beneath his feet. There are a few moments of panic, as Creed had previously revealed that he cannot swim, but there's no need to worry after all, as he emerges from the water astride one of the magnificent creatures. Creed hangs on for dear life to the plesiosaurus' serpentine neck, managing to hold his breath as it dips beneath the surface occasionally while swimming. Vanyel uses Speak With Animals to verify this unusual group's playful nature while flying above the boat and Aubrey offers the trio a treat using Create Food and Water.

Boxes tries to be helpful by initiating a game of fetch with one of his javelins, but Vanyel is able to tell that the gentle dinosaurs are interpreting the waving of the tiny spear as a hostile act. Creed's relief is momentary, as Boxes swaps the javelin for a bow, but Boxes uses it to expertly take down a solitary gull, which is gobbled up happily by another of the creatures. It becomes obvious after some reflection that the third plesiosaurus is feeling a little left out. Boxes again steps up to help and pulls out his drum. After an inspiring performance that includes an impromptu interpretative dance, all of the party's new seafaring friends are delighted. A brief exchange with Vanyel confirms their appreciation for the party's willingness to entertain them, and their willingness to take a chance on the beasts not being of the man-eating variety. Thus, the dinosaurs depart and the party makes the rest of their voyage undisturbed.

Arriving in Waterdeep

The stalwart companions pass through the southeastern most opening into the bay. Cornelius is recognized by the harbour magister, but is baffled as to how to appropriately bill the party after seeing their fabulous boat fold itself and be lifed easily from the waters. Cornelius shrewdly barters their (half-eaten?) barrel of apples in exchange for no more questions from the magister and his retinue of City Guards. Following their arrival, the party shockingly departs from the script and begins their wanderings through the City of Splendors. First, our heroes make their way to the Sea Ward and are intrigued by the various temples. A visit is made to the House of Wonder, a temple to Mystra and other gods of magic, which they learn was nearly destroyed by a misguided attempt to dispel three hallucinatory devils via a Meteor Swarm. Discovering that this mistake was due to a powerful drug known as haepthum, Creed and, surprisingly, Vanyel start to get a notion to "break bad", although they are still young and in the prime of their lives. They wander off to Mistshore, one of the most dangerous parts of Waterdeep, hoping to obtain some of the drug. Cornelius lets them know that it is located near the westernmost portion of the Dock Ward. Sensing that his companions will soon be scattered by their curiosities, Cornelius picks up something to tide him over and makes his way north to the Heroes' Garden, where he relaxes until the time when the party will get back on track and reunite.

In the meantime, Boxes has wandered off, randomly turning this way and that, the rolls of a die his only compass. He winds up passing by a luxurious seafood restaurant, the Mermaid On A Dolphin. Entering the fine establishment, drawn by the alluring smell of finely prepared fish, Boxes is quickly intercepted by the maitre d', who is appalled by the tabaxi's lack of clothing. The poor man is frustrated by Boxes' limited understanding of the usual system of monetary exchange required to obtain food at a restaurant and dress codes in general, but mercifully (both for Boxes and the patrons), he sends him around back to inquire about obtaining a job. After a puzzling back and forth with the head chef, Boxes manages to secure an provisional appointment as a filet-er of fish and is asked to report back, on time, in two days.

Aubrey, serene as always in the face of her companions' wanderings, makes her way to the House of the Moon, a stunning temple to Selune. Aubrey's piety gains her a true feeling of inspiration from the blessed deity. Reminded of the mission, she sets off down Delzorin Street for Yellowcrest Manor and is fortunate to run into the wayward Boxes. Together, they make it to their destination, where they find Cornelius, waiting patiently. Eventually, somehow, Creed and Vanyel rejoin the party as well.

Oh right, the mission!

Having made their way to Yellowcrest Manor, the party finds that it is now occupied by the Falgarst family. Our heroes are greeted at the door by the family's butler, Arnulf. Arnulf is reluctant to allow the party to investigate the manor proper, given that it was thoroughly gone over and cleaned prior to it being sold. However, he provides some additional, useful information, including the following:

• Rumour has it that Lady Maria, her three children, and four servants were all stabbed to death, then had their tongues removed.
• The sole survivor of the family was Lord Viallis, who was allegedly away from the city that day.
• After the murders, Viallis sold the manor and all his family’s possessions, then moved to a small village in the countryside.
• A few tanneries, leatherworkers’ shops, and cobblers’ shops in the Trades Ward reportedly still belong to Lord Viallis, including the Davis Tannery and That'll Shoe Ya.

Also, Arnulf recognizes Cornelius as a member of the illustrious Copper family and lets him know that there may be some folks selling knock-off Copper merchandise. Arnulf produces a broken toy belonging to the young daughter, Viola. Cornelius proceeds to Mend the item and promises to look into it.

Big brother got the keys and I got Davis Tannery (apologies to Ben Folds Five)

It's getting on toward quitting time, but the stalwart companions hustle down to the Trades Ward, where they're able to track down the Davis Tannery. They find the foreman there attempting to close up shop for the day, but he is willing to entertain the party for a few moments. Creed makes an attempt to persuade him that they want to buy a large quantity of leather, but the foreman is clearly unimpressed. Creed and Boxes are both apparently irritating this tired fellow, so Aubrey attempts to interject with a rather paltry bribe. Exasperated, tired, and filthy, the man relents and lets our heroes know that a rather strange elf, Faerl, is the apparent intermediary for Lord Yellowcrest. Faerl travels with a large retinue (unusual for Waterdeep) and makes the rounds on a regular basis, stopping at all of Lord Yellowcrest's businesses to collect profits, pay wages, etc. He should be around in the next day or so if the party is interested. As for Lord Yellowcrest himself, the foreman's never seen him, but he hears that he lives in or near a town called Greenfast, which is a day's ride to the southeast of the city.

Authentic Waterdavian Hospitality

Given the increasingly late hour, the party elects to retire to the Copper Estate for the evening. The esteemed family's compound is located at the northernmost end of Copper Street. For a magnificent description, refer to the following: Cornelius' Description of the Copper Estate. Boxes makes his way to the roof, where he startles some of the City Watch patrolling the wall to the north, but is able to rest comfortably. The next morning, Cornelius dispatches an authentic Copper family creation to little Viola and Tortuga to deal with the counterfeiters. Creed and Vanyel set off to make more mischief, with Creed hopeful of securing a griffon to ride on. Vanyel manages to dissuade him of the wisdom of such an attempt, but the two of them lack the wisdom to not head off to the Golden Horn Gambling House in the Trades Ward, where they hope to get into the drug game. Boxes reports for duty at the Mermaid On A Dolphin and has a reasonably good time of it, until he comes claw to shell against some oysters that need to be shucked.

Party Checkpoint: 2022-09-04

Where the Party Goeth Off Ye Olde Rails

Let us resume our tale with a quick update on two of our more rationale party members. First, Aubrey elects to remain at the Copper Estate, where she patiently works on crafting a driftglobe and cultivates the magic of divination. The Waterdavian native, Cornelius, simply relaxes at home. In response to his kind gift of a geniune Copper brand toy, Arnulf the butler returns a note of thanks - with some additional information enclosed. Arnulf mentions one Sir Vecken of the Broken Horn, a well-liked and reputable knight, recently returned to Waterdeep following his retirement from adventuring. Arnulf mentions that Sir Vecken was romantically linked to Sarah prior to her grisly demise.

Next, let's proceed to our feline friend, who is actually behaving rather responsibly while working in exchange for some food. Boxes puts in an admirable shift and recovers nicely from the gaffe with the oysters. He has certainly won the respect of the head chef and even of the fellow sous chefs who had mocked him earlier. In exchange for his excellent assistance, Boxes is awarded the piscine earnings he craved in the form of a bowl of the finest (remaining) fishy bits in the kitchen. A delicious paycheck, indeed! Following his departure, Boxes recalls the mission, produces one of Vanyel's feathers, and proceeds to start tracking him. With a remarkable display of his survival prowess, Boxes is able to follow Vanyel's trail as far south as the intersection of the High Road and Waterdeep Way. From there, he's able to recall Creed and Vanyel speaking about a gambling house and a simple reconnaissance of the area reveals their likely destination: the Golden Horn Gambling House.

You can't drink all day if you don't start early!

Upon entering the Golden Horn, Boxes finds his recently made acquaintance, Bunk, sitting at the bar, bloody mary in hand. Bunk is apparently awaiting the return of Creed and a strange character named "Rick" from their trip upstairs. But before I can tell you that story, I have to tell you this story ...

As it happened with Boxes, so it happened with Creed and Vanyel, who I'm sure you guessed was the aforementioned "Rick", sporting an unassuming form assumed using Disguise Self. The two ran into their good friend Bunk, who was in the City of Splendors checking in with his last client to provide a status update and exchange information. After dispensing with that bit of business, Bunk had made his way to an old haunt, the Golden Horn, to unwind with a bloody mary and some light gambling prior to getting back to business. The three joined in for a few spirited hands of Baldur's Bones Waterdeep Wagers, the highlight of which was Creed reeling off a ridiculous run of 1's and 2's to eke out the dealer and win the final hand played. Creed, in typical Creed fashion, also tried to "fix" the game up a bit, although the dealer would have argued it wasn't broken, and let out an invisible quasit guest to keep an eye on things.

Drugs are bad, m'kay.

With that bit of business taken care of, Creed and Rick-yel intimated to the dealer that they were looking for a little different type of action and managed to persuade their way upstairs for a rendezvous with some haepthum en route to immoral riches, or so they hoped. Reaching the desired location, they faced an unexpected challenge to "try before you buy", to make sure they could handle their business, so to speak, before having any chance of leaving the premises with the controlled substance. Unsurprisingly, things did not go well. Both erstwhile entrepreneurs suffered serious hallucinations, with Creed seeing his hands seemingly absorb the red colour of the couch upon which they sat, changing their odd green shade to a deep purple, which then spread to the rest of his body. Rick-yel saw this as well, but also witnessed a pair of oversized, iridiscent fairy wings sprout from Creed's back. Obviously, as a tiefling, this gave Creed a very unsettling appearance. Finally, Creed had quite a shock as Rick-yel transformed into a giant owl. Unfortunately, this was a vivid indication that the spell disguising Vanyel's avian form had ended. With the commotion caused by our neophyte users, they were denied any opportunity to further their get rich quick scheme and escorted back downstairs, where they were greeted by Bunk and Boxes. The unruly pair were lucky to have some steadier friends to usher them back to the Copper Estate.

Getting On With It, Redux

Cornelius relates to the party the tip he got from Arnulf and they head to visit Sir Vecken of the Broken Horn, residing near Yellowcrest Manor on Immar Street. Upon hearing of their interest in the murders, Vecken invites the party in for tea. He is still quite distraught over what happened to his beloved Sarah and conveys the following information:

• After the murders, the remains of Sarah and the other three servants were interred in the public cemetery, Waterdeep’s City of the Dead. The remains of Lady Maria and her children were not.
• Vecken remembers talk of Lord Viallis wanting his wife and children to be interred near his new home, so that he need never return to Waterdeep to visit them.

The party invites him to join them, as his prowess as an adventure is evident and he would certainly love to right the wrongs that were done to his beloved. However, Vecken is now devoted to the care of his aged father, Yacken, and seems reluctant to leave him. Vecken indicates that they should stop by the following morning, as he will have made up his mind by then.

Well, that escalated quickly!

Following their visit with Vecken, the party makes their way back to Davis Tannery, where they lie in wait for the arrival of Lord Viallis' intermediary, the overseer of his business affairs in Waterdeep. They don't have to wait for long for Faerl and his excessive entourage to show up. Faerl travels by coach, accompanied by no less than eight individuals. A heated discussion regarding the party's investigation and intentions devolves into a violence. Although the prospect of fighting seven experienced, fanatical combatants might have seemed daunting, the fight quickly swings in our heroes' favour with Aubrey and Vanyel incapacitating two and Creed's Shatter spell hammering the rest. Faerl's coach is obliterated with him inside and he is only saved through Aubrey's benevolence (and Spare the Dying). Unsure of what exactly to do next, the stalwart companions decide to abscond with Faerl's unconscious body and make their way to the City of the Dead, eventually settling in the House of the Homeless to hide and await an opportunity to question Faerl further. With Creed's knowledge of urban maneuvering and Vanyel's use of Pass Without Trace, they are able to easily avoid the City Guard.

Party Checkpoint: 2022-09-18

Down South to Greenfast

(Let's be honest here folks, it's been a couple weeks since the following events transpired and the party didn't do a tremendous amount to advance the plot. This portion of the summary will be more to the point than my usual meanderings.)

TL;DR: Our heroes took a very long time determining how to extricate themselves from the House of the Homeless without committing an atrocity. They borrowed a cart from the Coppers and they made their way to Greenfast. Upon arriving, they visit the mayor, then head to Faerl's modest home. Cornelius decamps to the local tavern, wisely avoiding the party's typical chicanery. After rummaging through Faerl's home for a bit and finding a few baubles, they are approached by a small contingent of actual Faerl's employees in town. Vanyel assumes the injured form of Faerl, Aubrey pushes some tea, the Faerl-folk dispatch a messenger to Lord Viallis, and the tension reaches unsustainable levels. Eventually, Vanyel's disguise fails when a cultist attempts to minister to him and, predictably, a fight breaks out. Boxes loses his little kitty mind, but ultimately, the heroes emerge triumphant.

The Details

My word, did it take a long time to decide what to do about the situation in the City of the Dead. All manner of schemes are hatched and heartily debated, including sprinkling them with drugs a la the Baltimore City PD (Creed suggested demon blood paint from The Price of Beauty - PCs), Bunk's idea of packing them in a box and shipping them off to sea, and Aubrey's Alice in Wonderland inspired "Eat Me, Drink Me" signs for her hallucinogenic mushrooms and tea. Finally, they decide to bind and gag Faerl and the slumbering cultist, carry them a bit deeper into the caverns below the mausoleum, and leave them with slightly loosened bindings such that they might free themselves eventually (before they die from dehydration).

That plan being settled, the party scampers off through the night time streets of Waterdeep, returning to the Copper Estate. They manage to negotiate the loan of a cart and set off for Greenfast with the plan of acting as Faerl and his new retinue. Faerl (Vanyel using Disguise Self if necessary) remained in the cart with Aubrey treating his illusory wounds, while the remaining party members, save Boxes, rode on the cart. Boxes, as one might expect, hid amongst the luggage on the back of the cart with his tiger tail poking out, swishing back and forth, as is the style of cats. Gizmo travelled alongside the cart, invisible. Speaking of Gizmo, we are still owed an elaborate, comedic, and heart-warming tale of the little critter's exploits after being left at the Golden Horn. I, for one, cannot wait to hear it!

After arriving in Greenfast, the party realizes they have absolutely no information about the town, including important details such as where Faerl and Lord Viallis live. Deducing that the largest house might belong to Lord Viallis, they head there first. Instead of the despicable nobleman, they instead find a hard-working, middle-aged woman tending her garden. Turns out, she's the mayor. She seems slightly puzzled by the party's line of inquiry, but they manage to navigate their way out of the situation and find their way to Faerl's surprisingly modest cottage. After entering, I believe through the use of one of the keys found on Faerl's person, they find a few modest items of jewelry and a lot of very legitimate looking paperwork.

In the meantime, Cornelius made his way to the local watering hole, The Bulging Cauldron. He makes the acquaintance of the proprietor, Old Fargo, a fellow reminiscent of a cowboy of the American old west. Cornelius portrays himself as a vacationer just making his way through town, which delights Old Fargo. Eventually, their conversation culminates in the revelation that Old Fargo's son, the aptly named Young Fargo, has been taken in by Lord Viallis' cult. Old Fargo would deeply appreciate it if Cornelius could set him on the path back to his dear old dad if he happens to cross paths with the young whippersnapper.

Slowly, Cometh the Storm

In Faerl's house, we have Aubrey, Vanyel, and Creed. Bunk stands watch outside, while Boxes remains concealed in the cart. Cornelius is dining at the Bulging Cauldron. From a barn to the west, a group of menacing men approach. Vanyel assumes his Faerl disguise, with Aubrey tending to his wounds yet again. The "farmers" are angrily curious as to what has become of Faerl's cart, his original retinue, and how he came to be in the condition that he's in. They apparently find the tale woven by our heroes difficult to believe and dispatch a messenger to Lord Viallis to see if he's had any word of what has happened. Eventually, after over an hour of tension so thick you could cut it with a knife, the ruse fails and combat breaks out. It's a knock down, drag out affair with six combatants on either side after Gizmo is able to retrieve Cornelius. The cult fanatics are able to get off a few Hold Person spells, but the success is short-lived. Aubrey manages to put one of the veterans to Sleep, while Cornelius deals some significant damage upon arrival. Vanyel and Bunk do some nice damage and Creed is able to charm two of the veterans, who become deeply devoted to the tiefling prior to their demise. I believe the anachronistic term "simping" was used to comedic effect.

Amidst this chaos, Boxes springs from his hiding place and overpowers two of the veterans. He grapples and manages to drag them to the river, where the thrashing about draws the attention of the townspeople, including the mayor. Several come to the defense of their fellow farmers and start to futilely launch arrows at Boxes. In his enraged state, he is unable to act rationally. The mayor demands an explanation and Bunk is able to intervene to some extent, using his investigative background. Cornelius joins in using his custom laser pointer, and along with Creed and, finally, two majestic brook trout, they distract Boxes enough to convince him to release his quarry. The two unfortunate veterans are dragged to the safety of the river banks where they are passed out. A third veteran still remains under the thrall of Aubrey's Sleep spell. Quite the mess to clean up!

Party Checkpoint: 2022-10-16

Unravelling the Mystery (and the Adventure)

Time for some real talk, folks. It's been a few months since our beloved Agents of Candlekeep have been in action and, while triumphant, their victory was more of an inevitable, fade to black than a cacophonous fireworks show. Old Lord Viallis and his otherworldly goons were clearly no match for our crew of wily veterans. As such, this recap will be short and we'll focus on two things: the hard-earned rewards of your hard work, and getting some well-deserved rest and relaxation prior to your next adventure.

Okay, so what went down?

After the chaotic encounter described previously, explanations are owed to the mayor and other townsfolk that bore witness to what appeared to be a senseless assault. With the nature of their investigation and suspicions regarding Lord Viallis revealed, the party is permitted to continue their work. After a few quick investigations, they make their way south to the ruin that Viallis is reportedly restoring as a new residence. Upon arriving, it quickly becomes apparent that, despite the outward appearance of a typical construction site, very little actual work is being done aboveground to restore the ruins. Rather, the action seems to be taking place underground, beneath the crumbling tower looming above the site. Descending carefully, our stalwart companions find themselves in some form of occult temple. The first, large chamber greets them with an assault by a motley crew of grells and cultists, who are summarily dispatched by a carefully orchestrated array of spells and melee attacks.

After this promising start, Creed discovers that the fountain contains enchanted waters, granting Guidance to those who drink it, and fills his waterskin. The locked western door is picked, then opened to reveal an arcane study. Creed carelessly removed a cracked driftglobe from the shelf, triggering a trap door trap. Cornelius graciously lowers a rope to retrieve the dinged up tiefling. Aubrey retrieves the other driftglobe to make repairs. She also obtains a spellbook, Retribution of the Ancients, containing a variety of useful spells and descriptions of dark rituals conducted by the malevolent Lord Viallis. Finally, inside the desk, two golden medallions and an apparently magical chime are found.

Bunk does his Bunk thing and uncovers a secret door on the southern wall, which takes the party into a workshop area. It is here that cultists craft the symbols of their organization, a distended tongue with a torn root. What exactly the hell that is supposed to symbolize remains a mystery, but there are 50 of the damn things laid out, so that can't be good. Making their way across to the eastern side of the area, the party finds an extremely banal office. Documents belonging to Faerl and various trinkets are spread out on the desk, but don't seem to have any particular importance.

Showdown at the Temple of the Burnt Tongue

You knew it would come down to a serious donnybrook against Viallis and his lackeys, and you weren't disappointed. Unfortunately, the party is too late to stop another ritual sacrifice, but they still proceed to put a serious hurt on a bundle of grells, cultists, and cult fanatics. Braziers are thrown, arrows do some walloping, and everything goes along swimmingly. Viallis is on the verge of defeat, but produces a magical scroll and disappears. The hour grows late and it becomes apparent that victory is inevitable, but then everything grows murky. The party must have entered some sort of flow state, becoming a swirl of martial and magical might, sweeping through the remainder of the dungeon in a state below full consiousness, finally emerging fully victorious some time later, flush with treasure and freed prisoners. An abbreviated accounting of this preternatural achievement follows.

After defeating Viallis and his followers, the party descends to the lower level of the temple and discovers a few more scattered cultists, who are summarily dispatched. In one of the holding cells, several prisoners, including the mayor's sister, Yaeda Firenni, and Sir Vecken are discovered and released. Young Fargo is found amongst the other acolytes, but is convinced of the error of his ways. Finally, an urn containing the ashes of Lady Maria and her children is discovered alongside a collection of books and scrolls further detailing Lord Viallis' dark dealings with Gaernoo.

Conclusion

After collecting the various treasures and leading the prisoners back to their grateful families in Greenfast, the party celebrates and recovers with Old Fargo in the Bulging Cauldron. The good people of Greenfast are dismayed to hear of the nature and extent of the malevolence of Lord Viallis' Burnt Tongue Cult. After expressing their profound thanks, villagers from Greenfast and neighbouring towns work together to clear out and destroy the remnants of the foul temple. In the meantime, the Trade Way has become a much safer place to travel, with the frequent abductions ceasing in the cults' absence.

The following day, they make their way back to Waterdeep. With the ashes and Sir Vecken in tow, they head to the city's mausoleums to see if Faerl managed to escape (he did) and to properly inter the good Lady Maria and her children. Sir Vecken does the honours and as the ashes are spread, the ghosts of Lady Maria, the children, and Sarah all appear. They embrace warmly and look meaningfully at our heroes, gratitude in their still mournful eyes. All of the ghosts then dissipate, leaving Sir Vecken stricken with a mixture of grief and relief that his beloved Sarah can finally rest.

An adventure for 7th-Level characters. Written by Derek Ruiz. Developed and edited by Scott Fitzgerald Gray.

Completion Date
2022-11-06

Plot type

Adventure

Parent Plot

Candlekeep Mysteries - PCs

References

• Volo's Waterdeep Enchiridion (W:DH)
• Interactive Map of Waterdeep (AideDD)
• Waterdeep (FR Wiki)
• Cornelius' Description of the Copper Estate

Treasure

• Faerl's Cart and House: coin and jewelry amounting to 700 gp and a Potion of Healing (Superior)
• Waterskin full of enchanted water offering Guidance
• Lord Viallis' spellbook, Retribution of the Ancients (see below)
• 2x Cracked Driftglobes
• 2x gold medallions (125 gp each)
• Chime of Opening
• Collection of "debased literature, dark mythology, studies of aberrant magic, and mad treatises on elder gods" (worth roughly 300 gp to a similarly debased collector, or of value to Candlekeep)
• 5x gold bracelets (150 gp each)
• Magic Longsword of unknown properties
• Dagger of Warning
• 2x pair of jeweled earrings (150 gp each)
• Collection of "books and scrolls containing arcane formulas, alchemical recipes, ritual instructions, and lore about the Outer Planes, half of which is written in Deep Speech" (value unknown, but dangerous)
• Spell scroll of Counterspell
• The eternal gratitude of Old Fargo and free room and board in perepuity at The Bulging Cauldron in Greenfast

Retribution of the Ancients

This vile tome is the primary source of Viallis' knowledge of Gaernoo and the dark rituals the mysterious being requires. Its cover bears the depiction of Gaernoo described by Sarah's ghost. The book also serves as Lord Viallis' spellbook and contains the following spells:

• cone of cold
• contact other plane
• counterspell
• darkness
• detect magic
• fear
• fireball
• greater invisibility
• fly
• ice storm
• mage armor
• magic missile
• misty step
• polymorph
• ray of sickness
• shield
• suggestion