Post by Derek Raines on Mar 5, 2019 0:34:29 GMT -5
Our Story So Far...
Part 1: Setting the Stage
Our story began with the gathering of adventurers at the Yawning Portal Inn and Tavern. There they met with their companions, Alanah and Balduar, who were planning to delve into Undermountain. However, a savage Troll attack sent Balduar tumbling down into the dungeon's depths. The entrance to Undermountain was closed to the public.
The group met with Volothamp Geddarm, a renown author, who was concerned for his missing friend, Flynn. He hired the heroes to discover what had happened to the young man and offered to pay them for their service. While investigating, the group soon found themselves thrust in the middle of a gang war between the Zhentarim and the Xanathar Guild.
The heroes rescued Flynn, as well as Renaer Neverember who was also kidnapped in an act of mistaken identity. The villains were after an artifact known as the Stone of Golorr, which was rumored to know the location of a vast fortune trapped within. That fortune was stolen by none other than Renaer's father, Dagult Neverember, and hidden somewhere within the city. Half a million in golden dragons was the prize to be found, and the criminals of Waterdeep were letting their violence spill out into the streets to find it.
Part 2: Somewhere in the Middle
The group was gifted an old tavern by Volo for their assistance, a rundown building known as Trollskull Manor. They spent weeks restoring the place (as well as soothing an angry spirit) and soon had the place up and running! With a new base of operations, the party struck out into the city to serve their various factions and personal interests.
The heroes were drawn back into the conflict when a fireball exploded along Trollskull alley! After investigating the crime scene, and speaking with the dead, the group discovered that an agent of Dagult was bringing the Stone of Golorr to them for safe keeping. The Stone was stolen by a strange clockwork creature, called a Nimblewright, which returned to its masters with its prize.
The party tracked the Nimblewright to Gralhund House, the home of prestigious Waterdavian nobility, to find the manor under attack by agents of the Zhentarim. The group fought their way inside, slaying the members of the Black Network and liberating the surviving staff, as they made their way towards the second floor. However, the Gralhunds had a dark secret. Not only had the noble family been funding the Zhentarim (only to betray them for the Stone), they were also members of an ancient Cult of Asmodeus who had been shaping the destiny of Waterdeep for centuries.
The heroes confronted the commander of the Zhentarim agents, Urstul Floxin, but were unable to defeat him before he escaped. They did manage to arrest the corrupt Gralhunds with the assistance of the Waterdeep Watch. They also secretly acquired the Stone of Golorr and returned with it to Trollskull Manor.
Part 3: Getting to the Good Stuff
The group learned that the Stone of Golorr was in fact a sentient Aboleth that devoured all knowledge it came into contact with. It's three eyes watched everything around it, serving as a magical repository for infinite information, but if its three eyes were covered with powerful seals then the wielder could withdraw that knowledge. This, of course, would include the location of Dagult's infamous vault of gold.
In the meantime, the heroes sought out Emmek Frewn who was rumored to have murdered their ghostly bartender, Leaf. They found Frewn's lair, but the wily wererat had led them into a trap. The Tyrant of Skullport, the Xanathar, had arranged an ambush of sorts within Waterdeep's twisting sewers. The insane beholder wanted the heroes to turn over Renaer Neverember, as well as assist his thugs in eliminating the Zhentarim leader, Manshoon. The beholder clumsily confessed to knowing where two of the three seals were located (one within his pet goldfish's bowl and the other believed to be held by Manshoon). Xanathar was willing to split the fortune with the heroes if they served him, but when they refused, he pitted them against waves of his monstrous champions. In the end the party prevailed, but not before one of their own perished in an act of self sacrifice. Xanathar left them to consider his proposition, but there was a lingering threat in the air.
Part 4: Wrapping Things Up
Days later, the group was invited to the High Tower of the Lords of Waterdeep. Traveling by griffon, they ascended over the city to meet with Lady Laeral Silverhand. Lady Silverhand listened to their strange tale and offered what wisdom she could. If the heroes agreed to help find and return the bulk of the stolen gold, Lady Silverhand vowed to grant them the full backing of her authority as well as a small percentage of the treasure.
The group also met with Renaer, who was finding sanctuary within the Lord's Tower. The young noble looked stressed and exhausted, fearful for his own safety, but he did help the party with a key piece of information. Renaer believed his signet ring must be the final unaccounted for Seal and he offered to assist the heroes in finding it (he had tossed it into the sea). Giving them his mother's amulet that was linked to the ring, the party planned to delve beneath the waters of the port to acquire it.
With the assistance of a strange gnome and his wondrous Apparatus of Kwalish, the group plunged into the dark waves. Below the surface, they encountered a cursed grotto that was corrupted by a shaman. The shaman, Gryndlow, had been given a terrible staff by Xanathar and was using it to summon monsters back into the safe harbor of the city. The city's aquatic guardian, Maha Chukwa, had been blinded by the curse and was no match in its current state against the colossal shark, Bloodtide.
The heroes fought their way through the caverns, slaying savage sharks and Merrow, and encountered Maha Chukwa speaking with a mysterious sailor named Calim. They agreed to help the Great Turtle, and hunted down Gryndlow and his minions. The battle was a close thing, with many being devoured by the massive Bloodtide, but in the end the heroes were triumphant! The curse was lifted, the Merfolk restored and Maha Chukwa gifted them with magical items - and the First Seal of Golorr.
However, there was no sign of Calim or the dark staff that had cursed the grotto to begin with...
Part 5: Epilogue
With no further leads, the heroes spent the remainder of Winter on their own pursuits.
- Irontamer joined an order of master smiths, vowed to defeat his tribal rival and forged an impressive suit of armor.
- Sir Davrim accepted a quest to investigate the Cult of Asmodeus, gained a loyal squire and justly slew Urstul Floxin before the man could escape.
- Lord Alicard gained newfound political allies, learned a dark truth about his family's history and assisted his parents in escaping the law.
- Aranel brought comfort to the suffering, convinced a pragmatic Seer to choose peace over death, and acquired a cloak that gilded his dreams with visions.
- Sparrow found a pet Rustmonster, assisted in navigating a complex love triangle and befriended the legendary thief, the Black Viper.
As the last of the frigid snow and ice melts away, Spring returns to the city. With the crime and chaos in Waterdeep greatly reduced by the hero's noble efforts, the Lords of the city have declared that the entrance to Undermountain be reopened. An expedition, months in the making, is making its final preparations.
The group will enter the deadly dungeons of the Mad Mage. Their friend, Balduar, may still be alive and the party might just have a score to settle with the tyrannical Xanathar (not to mention the beholder may in fact have one of the three seals).
There is no great evil threatening the land, no cataclysm heralding the apocalypse, no...
There is only Undermountain, the monsters who lurk there, and the mysterious treasures left behind from an ancient civilization.
Next Session: The Mad Mage of Undermountain!
