2022/10/27: Halloween Special Part 1 Report
General Summary
Et-Kehri, Buzz, Ruby, Eldrin, Malakai, Union, Altruenth
Ruby has assembled a party of friends and friends of friends to assault Nightwyrm Fortress, deal with whatever evil is there, and hopefully get Ruby's tattoo removed. Eldrin was ordered to come by his boss, Death, with little explanation. Ruby tried to get in touch with Knight, but he was busy dealing with the Darkhome mining zone, so he suggested she check if anyone in New Hallownest was available. Et-Kehri was honored to be invited.
Union had last been seen working alongside the Paladin of Renedge to deal with a buried throne and a necrotic city. He's been adventuring around mostly aimlessly since, and he happened to be in Alvidar when he happened across the group being assembled.
The group assembled in the castle of Altruenth Dragolth, Ruby's fiancee. They were given some initial information about the fortress they'll be heading to. It's in the Shadowfell, which means it's difficult to divine on and isn't quite on the material plane. The party should be able to access the Shadowfell through a town called Vaester, which is an odd and somewhat creepy place with a temple to an unfamiliar sun god.
Buzz volunteered to provide accurate teleportation in and out. The party should be able to teleport out of the fortress safely, but teleporting in directly is expected to face... interference. It has been determined that there may be minor cults and similar nefarious groups around the town of Vaester, with at least some likely in service to Orcus.
In Vaester, the party should be able to find some static portals that lead where they need to go. Some of the locals should know where these are.
The party teleported into Vaester. The peasants, naturally, were very surprised. Most of them were skittish, and most of the youths were dragged off by parents, but one was able to stick around. Eldrin introduced himself and stated that the party was "there for the good of the local area." The youth responded with "Were you sent by Pelor?" A few of the party members had been lucky enough to visit the Forgotten Realms in the past, and they recognized Pelor.
The youth asked the group if they were here to help with the problems at the church, and the group said "sure". When they arrived, they found an ongoing ritual: A noble was being (unsuccessfully) resurrected, despite lots of flair and exultation of their god. As the group went, Union went through the kid's memory to check if there were any details needed. Apparently adventurers had been coming through and hunting down bands of cultists that had been sprouting in the area. Recently, though, a number of local heroes have gone missing or have left the area. Only a few adventurer-types are left in the city.
The local high priest is named Beldan. Sir Halumoor is the local noble who paid for the resurrection. The man they're trying to resurrect is a local warrior/knight named Jothan Ironspell. Apparently he died fighting off a demon. There's a local woman in the know named Moyshanna. She has money and bought a little house where she mostly hides out.
Moyshanna is apparently a traveling adventurer. She quietly made a deal with Halumoor and some other people to buy her a little place after a falling-out with her party, in exchange for helping to defend the town. She's somewhat shy and mostly keeps to herself. Surprisingly for her attitude, she's a knight/fighter/rogue type. She has a magic sword, which Halumoor finds very impressive; this gives some perspective on how common magic items are around here.
The resurrection appears to be a legitimate casting that should have worked, but the soul has been prevented from returning. The cause is unclear.
Suddenly a woman screams, and the party sees a collection of undead coming from what should be a sanctified area. One is physical, the rest are apparently non-physical, rising through the ground. They're surprisingly powerful undead: slaughterwight and swordwraiths. And they're obviously hostile.
Ruby charged while Malakai and Altruenth formed a wall in front of the civilians. Union hid behind Malakai, Eldrin tried to line up a shot, Et-Kehri tossed a friendly fireball, and Buzz flew up and tossed a wall of force between the civilians and the undead. When Altruenth drew his crystalline holy sword, many of the civilians dropped to the ground in shock. ("God is here!")
The wraiths and wight engaged the frontline fighters in melee, with one chasing Buzz. This did not go well for them. They found themselves as scattered bits before landing a single hit. Eldrin did manage a few hits with his rifle before the fight was over, which should have forced the undead to try to resist being pulled to the afterlife, but that effect seemed to be ignored.
The mayor, Sir Halumoor (or however it's spelled) was amazed by the group's fast reactions and power. The party asked whether any portals have been seen recently, and while the mayor knew little about them, he volunteered to introduce the group to Moyshanna, who should know more.
When we met Moyshanna, she was sharpening a sword with glowing runes on a whetstone. (Eldrin and Altruenth scanned her briefly. She does have an approximately human lifespan ahead of her, and she doesn't detect as evil.) Her skin is very ashen-gray and she's trying to keep her cowl down and eyes covered. About the mayor: "He's a good man. Not a brave man."
Eldrin took his hat and cloak off to show he was weird too. She reciprocated. She has fully raven-black eyes, ashen skin, and red hair. Her sword, inspected by Malakai, is a +4 frost brand longsword, which is very impressive by local standards.
A friend of Moyshanna (Jothan) died fighting demons (which are unusual for the area) and they haven't been able to resurrect him. That's one of the big recent problems. In addition, some of the cultists they've been hunting have turned up mysteriously dead. An adventuring group, which didn't want Moyshanna to join them, went to investigate a cave with a portal to the Shadowfell, and they haven't returned.
There's a tomb of a priestess named Sartine which leads to the Shadowfell. Sartine was a arch-priestess of the Raven Queen.
Moyshanna volunteers to guide us there, if we're willing to work alongside a "shadar-kai". None of the party members know what that is, so they aren't bothered. Eldrin: "All I see is someone who's willing to do some good in this world." Moyshanna put on leather armor and some nice bracers and prepared to go. Seeing that she was almost completely bereft of magic items, Eldrin gave her some magic boots, and Et-Kehri let her borrow a spare magic ring.
To speed up travel, the group flew, with three using Star Wars-inspired jetpacks made by Buzz. Buzz just carried Et-Kehri. Naturally, they got quite a bit of attention as they left the town, but once they were outside the town limits, the attention abated; there was no one left within miles to notice them.
As they neared the caves, they were surprised to see the area swarming with carrion crawlers. Et-Kehri used his staff to blow apart smaller groups, while Ruby dove in to draw them together so Eldrin could incinerate them all at once. In short order, there were significantly fewer carrion crawlers around. Moyshanna was suitably impressed. The usual power level around here is far below that of Meridan.
The group ventured into the caves. Moyshanna told them that the tunnels there are weird. There's evidently a more direct path to the portal, but it goes through the home of the "Crawling God", a ~250 ft. long carrion crawler. The party volunteered to go and kill it as a service to the community.
The Crawling God was found in a vast cavern with glowing stalagmites and a horde of smaller carrion crawlers. The Crawling God itself was on the ceiling, extending off into the distance.
A cloud of poison washed over the party, held off only by Malakai's sword. Even the adventurers who were immune to poison began taking damage. The monster followed it up with a rush at the party.
Eldrin responded with a fire-attuned omnibeam, blowing multiple craters in the creature's flesh, and Ruby charged in behind the blasts. Ignoring the monster's attempts to paralyze her, she tore her way through the tentacles with a blazing staff. Buzz hasted the party. Malakai, seeing that his Good Sword was keeping several members of the party alive, readied to defend just in time to fend off some of the attacks of the incoming monster. Union was paralyzed by the flurry of tentacles, but the rest of the party just managed to resist. Altruenth responded with a flurry of attacks and Et-Kehri buried an ebon strike into the surrounding tentacles. Ruby, Malakai, and Buzz finally tore the monster apart in a flurry of battering blows, slashes, and gunfire. The tentacles just managed to paralyze Et-Kehri in the creature's death throes.
The giant creature began to dissipate into ash, apparently being purified. It left behind a pair of large jelly orbs. Buzz pressed his arm through the surface of one of these bubbles, collapsing it, and it revealed an inanimate human skeleton armed with a purple, single-edged sword. Malakai identifies the sword as The Magic Devourer, a +6 longsword that has a special ability that can only be activated by attunement to the sword, which requires permanently sacrificing a random spell. In the other bubble is another skeleton, this one bearing a silvery broadsword. It is a holy defender.
Buzz, now covered in goo, is starting to feel sick. Trying to wipe the goo off doesn't work. Eldrin blasts him with a doubled-up clean spell, which clears the goo but reveals that he's still covered in ethereal wriggling things that are trying to crawl into his soul. He responded with his panic button, flying into the air and repeatedly blasting himself with phoenix blasts, eventually managing to blow himself clean.
While Union, Et-Kehri, and Moyshanna waited to be able to move again, other party members did a quick check around the cavern. There seems to be a tunnel studded with magical shadow crystals. They identify as shadow crystals, naturally occurring crystal formations generated by connection to the Shadowfell. They warp space around them and can be used for short-range teleportation (though doing so deals 5 damage).
Union, experimenting, tried to absorb some of the dimensional energy from one of the crystals rather than taking the 5 damage from activating it. He still lost the 5 hit points, somewhat permanently, apparently having sent part of his life force into a realm of death. Supposedly now, if he dies, he'll stick around as a 5hp undead because those hit points are still out there somewhere...
Rewards Granted
3xp, holy defender, The Magic Devourer
Character(s) interacted with
Sir Halumoor
Union
Ruby
Et-Kehri
Buzz Gizmo
Eldrin Stormseeker
Malakai
Report Date
27 Oct 2022
Primary Location
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Related Characters
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