Session 91: Looking for the Mind Flayer Lair Report

General Summary

Session 91 – Wednesday December 15, 2021 – Search for the Mind Flayer lair.

4 Hour role play session 5:45 PM to 10:00PM

Party of 6 (The order of Heroes, Inc.):

It is the 21st day of the month of Uktar (The Rotting) in the 3rd year of the Age of Enialis

• Annalisa (Anna) – Human L8 Monk – L6 Wizard /L3Fighter – Ryan Armstrong (remote)
• Jaquette Mara – L17 Human Druid – Jackie Armstrong
• Lucky Lightfoot – Leprechaun – L16 Bard/L1 Sorcerer – Jacob Munson
• Luigi Risotto – Wood Elf L15 Monk/L2 Wizard – Dan King (Absent-Church)
• Rolen – Human L17 Warlock – Josh Pozsonyi
• Tyrena Rechs – Human L14 Ranger/L3 Fighter – Nathan Gioconda
• Jeter Kaiser – L18 Human Sorcerer – Spencer Armstrong (Back from hell)

Goals:

• Find the Mind Flayer lair and raise an army to take out the Elder Brain
• Gather the other parts of the god Destroyer (Blade, Hilt and guard)
• Locate the Amber Sarcophagi and destroy them with the god Destroyer
• Take the sword to the Summer Queen and have her destroy it.
• White Dragon at Purple Rocks

Getting away from the Spiders

Lucky handed Anna 8 basic healing potions and Blinked into the Ethereal plane where he saw 4 more Phase spiders. Anna seeing the phase spiders near her began casting a ritual spell. Rolen examined the Elder Brain dragon, confirming it is dead and briefly looking for harvestable parts. Lucky blinked back into the material plane and commanded the spiders to flee. Rolen headed towards the road and the remaining army. Lucky grabbed Anna’s arm and began dragging her towards the road but then blinked away. Anna gave up on the ritual and started whipping the webs to get away. Lucky’s blink ended and he turned into a giant eagle and carried Anna back to the road.

Jaquette the Spider

Jaquette as a giant wolf spider made her way through the woods back to the road and the remaining army. As she approached the road, she saw a Drow Arachnomancer was preventing a host of spiders from attacking the army. The Arachnomancer stopped the Spider Jaquette and told her in Spider language to halt and go no farther. Jaquette (speaking in spider) explained to the Drow that she’s one of the order of heroes and is here to help. The Drow asked her name and confirmed with Tyrena that she was really with them. Tyrena confirmed and the Arachnomancer then explained to Jaquette how to help settle the spiders and she did.

Morale boost

Rolen landed majestically near the fallen army, covered in dragon blood. He held up his black sword and announced “The beast is slain, we do not need to worry, your comrades have been avenged, we shall take their stronghold with ease!” The paladins were immediately emboldened until Anna fell from above and landed face first in the ground in front of Rolen and appeared to be unconscious. Rollen was taken back momentarily until a giant pink Eagle landed and started to disembowel Anna. Rollen saw through the illusion. Rolen pushed them aside and his charismatic presence was overwhelming. The Moral of everyone (except for 5 Harpers) was restored and the Army was willing to follow Rolen.

Rolen explained that the bodies of their fallen comrades must be disposed of or else they will become Mind Flayers. With a little reluctance everyone started to pitch in to help build fires and stack the bodies. Rolen provided flasks of oil and Jaquette cast bonfire repeatedly. Lucky sang a song of lament and helped encourage the troops.

Lucky and Tyrena then went into the woods to try to harvest items but found very little. The shadow dragon didn’t have much and the meat was not good. They were able to harvest 3 of the tentacles, some brain matter and 11 teeth. Rolen had asked Lucky for a knuckle bone from the dragon.

A Friend returns

There was a loud knock and a thud. On the side of a tree a signpost appeared that read “The Teavern.” The door opened and Jeter steeped out. Behind Jeter, the keeper waved to the party before the door closed and disappeared. Jeter immediately helped with the bodies. Lucky and Tyrena returned, and the army left the forest. 5 Harpers went the other way to go home. Outside of the woods, they found their previous campsite and settled down for a long rest. Jaquette prepared a Hero’s feast giving everyone 16 additional hp.

Jeter shared his story: Asmodeus had some sort of deal with Acererak and Acererak had delivered Jeter to Asmodeus. In Hell, Asmodeus questioned Jeter how he was able to steal his soul back and Jeter explained the loophole in the contract. Angry Asmodeus sentenced Jeter to 5 days of continues torture and then annihilation in the river Styx. On the way to the river Styx Jeter was then abducted by demons. The demons brought Jeter to Orcus who questioned him on his power and why Asmodeus had sought him. During the questioning a large portal appeared, and Orcus walked into it disappeared. In the chaos that followed, the Keeper appeared and took Jeter away, provided him an amulet against proof and detection and eventually brought him to rejoin the Order of Heroes.

To the lair

Rejuvenated after a long rest Jeter gave an inspiring speech to the troops giving everyone an additional 16 temporary HP. Rolen lead the troops, Jeter lead the zombies and Anna lead the harpers on a horse and cast Dark Vision. Along the way the Silver Dragon spotted the army and flew down to protect it. They eventually came to cave. Rolen had the Zombies come up front to lead the army and find traps. The dragon trailed the party watching the rear.

They followed the wide cave deep into the cavern. Lucky cast telepathic bond on himself, Tyrena, Jaquette and Anna. The wide path had no branches but eventually turned north and then a sharp turn to the east. The Zombies, 30 feet ahead of the party, encountered a Mind Flayer. The Mind flayer killed 9 of the Zombies with its mind blast but only after the Zombies had badly wounded the Mind Flayer. As Rolen turned the corner and saw what was going on, he called on everyone to “Attack!” The Mind Flayer killed another Zombie, and the Order of the Gauntlet came in and killed the Mind Flayer.

The Control Panel and the door.

The OoH had the Gauntlet and Harpers stand back as they examined the room. There was a very large metal door, fifteen foot high and wide. There was a large control panel with 3 rows of 6 buttons, 2 rows of 5 switches and 4 dials along with a large lever currently in the down position. There were also 2 large metal spheres with an electrical arc between the two of them. Behind the panel was a large black panel of glass. Jeter started flipping switches and a Mind Flayer appeared on the screen. Quickly flipping the switch back down, the screen again turned black. Anna tried to get in to look at the control panel but was pushed away.

Tyrena took a crowbar and went to the door and with a show of strength was able to separate the 2 doors with a loud crack. With several of the Gauntlet members, they worked together to separate the 2 doors. Anna still focused on the control panel as the rest of the OoH and the army passed through the open door to go deeper into the caverns. Anna stayed behind and started flipping switches. She watched the light grow brighter and changed color slightly as she switched a few more switches. Jeter came back and said, “We’re leaving.” Frustrated, Anna punched the control panel twice, shattering a portion of it and the lights went dim.

Into the caves

Tyrena lead the party in the cave. She didn’t see many tracks and the ones she did see looked to be months old. She saw no signs of dragons. She and Anna did see a few small creature carcasses. Continuing onward, Jeter and Tyrena, along with 7 paladins and 3 harpers, began to feel as if they were going to die in this place and there was no escaping it. They began giving away their belongings, when Jaquette saw they had succumbed to the Shadowfell despair and she healed them. The harpers and paladins got no such healing, and Lucky only gave schizophrenic encouragement to the order of the gauntlet.

In time Anna saw the passage looked very similar to the passages in the Gauntlgrym mines. She made the rest of the party aware of this, and they all continued down the cave, and in time came across the place they remember the Alhoon passed through a wall in Gauntlgrym. They found small life native to the Shadowfell. Unfortunately, the spider on the wall was no help to find the Mind Flayers, and so the party decided to continue to move on, when they began to hear strange noises.

The other side of the mountain

Jeter wondered what the noise was and asked Jaquette, who asked a spider, who shrugged. Jaquette and Anna listened and heard strange cafeteria noises. Deciding it probably wasn’t mind flayers, the core party moved forward stealthily into the darkness, Anna begrudgingly dismounting the horse to do so. They were mostly quiet in their conga-line following Anna and Jaquette down the hall. Anna spotted a small room with many zombies and ghouls eating a dark elk around a fire. Knowing this was the way out, they all struck at them at once with a mighty fireball from Jeter, a powerful fire bolt from lucky, a confused stance from Jaquette, and a strong shot from Tyrena, finishing the last ghoul. They made the rest of the party aware of what had happened, and they all continued to the end of the tunnel together.

Looking through the mouth of the cave, they saw the Shadowfell landscape as on the other side of the mountain. A grave realization came across the party. Firstly, Jaquette finally understood how the Shadowfell reflects the material plane. Secondly, they realized that control panel they didn’t care about at first is likely the only place in this whole cave the Mind Flayers have been.

Seeking help.

Anna cast sending to Zyark and asked if he’d seen any mind flayers, to which he replied, “I haven’t seen any of those guys”. Lucky stepped onto the ceiling and began to commune with the Summer Queen, who said, “Be specific with your questions.” She told him there are many mind flayer strongholds throughout the multiverse. She told him the mind flayers have extracted material from their ship to create a portal device and the portal device provided them protection. She also told him the Mind Flayers are not yet working with anyone else, and it is not known whether there is a working portal to the material plane nearby.

The party sat down and decided the best plan of action is to drop off the army in Neverwinter after making a quick stop at the control panel to do some repairs. Unbeknownst to them, Ana began a journey back to the control panel on a phantom steed to fix what she had broken. Jeter found a tree large enough for Jaquette to cast transport via plants. Jaquette cast the spell focusing on a tree she saw on the other side of the mountain. All 30-ish men ran through, ½ carrying another man on his back. The Silver dragon could not fit through the tree.

They made their way back through the tunnels to the control panel. Attempts to fix the control panel weren’t successful. While mending the panel itself was simple, attaching wires was dangerous and unknown, and one zombie was somewhat intentionally hurt in the process. After a bit, Ana slid into the room as her horse disappeared and began to cast a ritual spell…

Campaign

Rebuilding in the Age of Enialis

Protagonists

Lucky Lightfoot

Annalisa Selemchant

Jaquette Mara

Fredrik Fredson

Douglan Halfdopple

Rolen Blackstone

Tyrus Rechs

()

8 / 8 HP

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

Report Date

22 Dec 2021