Session 0: Road to the Mt. Of Gold
General Summary
This is the 0th session of the Heart of Gold campaign in which our characters come together in the city of Lenzbourg and then embark upon an expedition to the Mountain of Gold - Mt. Surzell. This session took place on Saturday 12/30/2023. In game, the session began on the 4th of Blossomwing 4495-3A and ended on the morning of the 11th of Blossomwing 4495-3A.
The Mage who is a prominent Wearer of Red is in Tiragon among the monks of the floating isles, investigating a newly awakened power within himself which allows him to manipulate things with his mind, and to communicate telepathically. Master Silverfleece, a Harengon Psion meets with him and questions him on the nature of morality before permitting him into the order barring a provisional mission. Master Silverfleece believes that there is an awakened mind related to their order with the mountain. He directs The Mage to investigate it on behalf of the order.
Flint we discover in a dusty little town of Devil's Point in the desert of Kaldemar where she is performing music for customers. The barkeep, an Earth Genasi named Rocky took a liking to her, and not having a child of his own in his aging years, treats her like his daughter. They discuss work opportunities before a Taxman arrives to start to clean up the town. Realizing her days of grazing off the money illicitly gained by the towns numerous criminals, Flint takes the work opportunity that the expedition to Surzell offers.
The Dread Declan we discover in mid vigilance as he stands as the Vigilante and protector of the city of Swamproot in Rainiavar. Declan stops a drug deal which would have brought in 2,000 gp worth of illicit Devilweed into the city. He turns this in to the local guards, wherein they talk of a link between the one that got away during the scuffle, the Drugs, and the mission to Surzell. It was in the form of a paper that documented a hit request on Arnost the Inquisitive. After getting permission to attend to it from his order, the Wearer of Blue, he prepares to depart to Ravenhiem
Xcddyza or X, we discover having taken up some level of brief shelter at an inn and tavern in Kirinzdok. His life to this point being one of being on the road either running from the Feywild and its agents, or investigating the curse that stole his father away from him all too soon. An agent of the Spring court manifests to him and offers him continued protection for his taking on the mission to Surzell. Further more the agent reveals that Nadar would be a character who would have answers for him.
Upon arriving in Lenzbourg our heroes were directed to the location where sign ups were happening. Almost immediately upon Xcddyza meeting The Dread Declan and Nadar he tries to read Nadar's mind, after all thats a core part of why he traveled to Lenzbourg.
The Mage and Flint signed up for academic roles while Xcddyza, The Dread Declan and Nadar signed up for roles that were along the lines of security. The part met both Arnost the Inquisitive and Solvar who are the caravan leader and man at arms respectively. The party received their 1,000 gold advanced payment and went to the local bar. All except for The Dread Declan who wanted to persue Arnost the Inquisitive to inform him of the hit placed on him.
The party found the bar very busy and soon were directed to wait. However when the server mistook The Mage for Arnost the Inquisitive it lead to them being pushed up and offered a private room. To the party's surprise the private room was occupied by L30-D3@rZ3n and company who thought Arnost would be joining them. Leo was entertained by the mixup and discusses the mission with the party before departing to leave the party to their frivolity.
The Dread Declan sneaks up, meanwhile, on Solvar and Arnost the Inquisitive who are discussing the expedition. This startles Solvar who throat punchest The Dread Declan. The pair take The Dread Declan's words but don't seem to be swayed much by them. Soon Declan goes to join the others drinking in the tavern.
Xcddyza investigates the room that was left for him wherein he discovers the Fey from earlier. He questions the Fey who gives him a few "non answers" before departing.
The following morning, the party begins to prepare to depart.
It rains on the way through the High Road toward Surzell. Soon Lenzbourg fades beyond site. It is otherwise and uneventful day. The night however, is different. The party discusses how to form watches and breaks out into them. During the first watch Falcore smells something foul, and Nadar wakes the party to investigate.
Nadar, The Dread Declan and Flint flee into the woods to investigate while The Mage and Xcddyza remain behind. In the woods they discover the remnants of a camp fire. Falcore is disturbed by the odor. Then Falcore smells something else and runs further into the woods. Nadar follows them. Meanwhile using her instrument of the bards Flint becomes invisible to mirror the tactic The Dread Declan takes and the two take to the trees to observe what is happening. Along the way they see Solvar running toward the caravan. He transforms into a Panther.
Nadar discovers a trebuche in a clearing and sees it has very recently been launched. Flint and The Dread Declan see a bag of holding fly overhead, toward one that The Mage and Xcddyza see on a flagpole. Xcddyza attempts to run, but as The Mage catches the flying one with his psionic powers he calls out to Xcddyza to come back and help. Ultimately Xcddyza climbs the flag pole to try to pull down the bag of holding.
Meanwhile Nadar returns to the clearing. Slightly before she does, the party discovers a broken claw with the symbol of Garnax on it. The Dread Declan discovers the hard way that there is poison on it. After having been brought back up by Flint the three return to the Caravan to help. At this point, The Mage has been fighting for control of the bag with another force and ultimately pulls it down unto the party.
The group breaths for a moment, believing that the imminent threat has been handled when there is a scream from the front of the caravan. People are starting to fall dead. The Mage determines it is caused by trauma to the brain. It is like an illness and spreads through touch. He advises people don't touch the bodies and ultimately they are burned. The caravan and expedition team goes from 140 members to 25. Solvar is nowhere to be found. Celinna is also dead. The Mage communes with the dead through a dream in which he channels the psion powers of his order. He speaks with Celinna and sees her on the other side of veil. The party rests and regroups and in the morning it is only the party and Arnost the Inquisitive who continue to travel forward to the Mt.
The party investigates the town at the base of the mountain. They learn that it is empty and that there is little evidence that anyone got out. The Mage discovers a banner with a piece of the Garnax country crest upon it. They discover a library in tact, untouched. Xcddyza steals a bunch of wine, and Flint helps him escape from a cellar with broken stairs. The Dread Declan endeavors to keep an eye on Arnost the Inquisitive. Then, Nadar discovers a link between dead bodies and the multicolored fireflies. Upon the realization that the town is all most likely dead a spell called Land Kill activates and begins to try to draw the party into the soil beneath.
The party gathers at the cart and retreats beyond the spell's range. Here they regroup and with some shennanigans begin to discover and solve some of the links and connections they share. The party discovers that evening of the connection between Nadar and Xcddyza, in which Nadar's "Uncle" who raised her, an elder in her village is the long lost father of Xcddyza and someone who they believed long dead but perhaps isn't. Further, Toxin, the trainer of The Dread Declan may be the same figure? There is much to iron out still and we will on our next episode!
Act 1: Come Together
Our story opened with our party coming together from their various places: Nadar came from Swamproot in Rainiavar along with her drake companion Falcore. In her opening she is called to the Ranger's Citadel in the capital to decide to either embrace her proving, a ceremony in which she would be challenged to demonstrate she has earned the rank of Dragon Knight, or to choose to wait another year and continue her trianing. She chooses to proceed with her proving. She is brought before Klykiarzix in a surprise appearance by the Dragon King. He tests her with questions about the nature of being a dragon knight and a representative of Rainiavar in the world before issuing her the mission to aid the allied country of Ravenhiem with their expedition to Mt. Surzell. Nadar departs shortly after this interaction.Act 2: Lenzbourg
Act 3: A Caravan Attacked
Act 4: At the Base of Mt. Surzell
Rewards Granted
- 750 XP
- 1,000 gp
- 2 Recovered Bags of Holding
Missions/Quests Completed
- Come Together (50 XP)
- Defend the Caravan (100 XP)
- Discover the Mystery of Surzell Town (100 XP)
- Bonus XP from Working Together (500 XP)
Character(s) interacted with
Players Present:
Nadar
The Mage
Flint
The Dread Declan
Xcddyza
First Appearance of:
Report Date
30 Dec 2023
Primary Location
Related Characters
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