Previously on “The Nentir Vale…”
The heroes followed the “rock sausage” and found some ruins, days to the north of Fallcrest. Catacombs below held the crypts of the Riverroar family (a disgraced Nerathi noble family…rumored to be evil cultists). The crypt held an entrance to the Slaughtergarde. A few combats later, a bunch of demons (but not all) were dead, an Abyssal gate destroyed, and some treasure plundered. As an added bonus, our intrepid crew found the body of a halfling with a map of various locations in the Vale marked and a note for each…although I don’t think the group has yet translated the notes.
The group had completed their task and so were heading back to Fallcrest and we’ll pick things up there.
- Uneventful trip back UNTIL the party reached the location of the campsite and standing stone discovered on the trip to the Slaughtergarde. They can hear Orcish. A large group of orcs is camped around the stone AND they have prisoners. A fight ensues. During the fight a few important things come up:
- A female tielfing was with the orcs, possibly leading them. She had no qualms about catching her allies in a fireball or, unfortunately, many of the prisoners.
- The standing stone was pulsing with magics. The tiefling hit it with a lightning bolt and it shattered, releasing some sort of fiend.
- The fight became something of orc vs fiend vs party vs tiefling. Despite this, the tielfling was able to escape.
- Only one prisoner was rescued…a halfling child. One prisoner, a female human, fled into the dark wilderness as soon as she could…panicked. The other prisoners were killed during the fight.
- According to Theobald, orcs attacked Fallcrest three days earlier and took a number of captives before fleeing. These included (in no particular order):
- Theobald (of course), the 8 year old son of Lannar Thistleton, the owner of Fallcrest Stables.
- Jalissa, an acolyte at the Moonsong Temaple. She is the one who ran off into the night.
- Sertian, the elderly steward of Moonstone Keep.
- Mirtala, a cook at Moonstone Keep.
- Zadis, a really old woman…said to be a witch.
- Sergeant Murgeddin, a guard who was usually stationed at the Wizard’s Gate…which is where the orcs entered Fallcrest.
- Kilian, another guard, who the orcs had killed previously and eaten. The tiefling wasn’t happy about this because she said that she needed sacrifices.
- Theo doesn’t know why the orcs took each captive, just that he was snatched off of the street. He heard the tiefling, who was called Rage, telling the orcs that more would follow their leader, Grune, after this attack. Also that she wanted the orcs to give her access to some place below the Riverroars or the like.
- Also, a fast little creature (a quickling) had come and reported to the tiefling that people had come and attacked them and the orcs at Riverroar (presumably the party). The quickling then left.
- Although the party search for Jalissa, they could not find any sign of her.
- Group continued back “home” the next day, taking the bodies of the Fallcrest citizens via a horse from Gandave’s new Robe of Useful Things.
- Returning to Fallcrest, they quickly speak with the Lord Warden. Markelhay shares information about the orc attack and the party shares information about their adventure. Sertian was like a father to the Lord Warden so he is saddened at the loss.
- The LW also knew Mari. She disappeared some five years prior and was quite adventurous herself.
- Lannar, Theo’s father, lets the party stable their new horse for free for life. He owes them for saving his son.
- Getting back to the Nentir Inn, Woody yet again wins a free pitcher of ale in his room for being the nth customer. Erandil also has a letter for Gandave from Nimozaran. It is notes on his research about the Slaughtergarde. (The Lord Warden had instructed the wizard to provide whatever information he could gather, but the party left town before the letter could be delivered.)
- The party spent a few days resting, researching, and visiting NPCs:
- Nimozaran identifies the various items recovered from the Slaughtergarde as the group really didn’t want to attune any of them w/o knowing what they do. (These are the items I described at the end of the prior post.)
- I don’t think we had introduced Tobilar yet. He is Nimozaran’s only apprentice, a halfling, and treated much more like an undervalued servant than an apprentice by Nimozaran. Nimozaran is a bit arrogant and overblown. He is also very interested in Gandave becoming his apprentice…an ongoing thing throughout the campaign.
- Did some investigation about the orc attack and spoke with Lannar about it. Sertian had been at Mirtala’s…the two had been having a not so secret secret relationship…when the attack occured. She lived not too far from his stables. It appears that the orcs did not get too far into Fallcrest, snatching those that they could, and leaving some behind to fight and delay any pursuit. A bit of an odd tactic for orcs.
- Glutton’s Harvest is turned over to the Lord Warden to be stored somewhere secure. The other items are divvied up amongst the party.
- Mari’s notes are translated. One for each of the nineteen sites marked (the players found Mari’s comments amusing):
- 1) Ruins of Ustraternes. Fallen Arkhosian citadel. Haunted. Dragonborn = Dragons = TREASURE! Right?
- 2) Cairn of the Winter King. Cursed dwarf king. Cold. Dwarf = TREASURE! Right?
- 3) Riverroar Ruins. Slaughtergarde ruins underneath. Demon worshippers? Rich nobles? Undead? Treasure?
- 4) Chaos Scar. Lots of monsters. Bandits? Temple of Yellow Skulls = Gold Plated Skulls = TREASURE! Right?
- 5) Ruined Hunting Lodge? Nobles…sheesh. Near Hunting Spiders territory? Drow? Slaughtergarde ruins beneath? “Square the circle?” What’s that mean?
- 6) Crystal Cave. Fey?
- 7) Seven-Pillared Hall. Cool stuff. So strict. Bronze Warders…scary!
- 8) Mistborn Tower in the ruins of Frosthold. Silver mist + wizard = treasure. Wait…a hag!!!
- 9) Hill giants…treasure is probably too big to carry. PASS!
- 10) Gardmore Abbey…Deck of Many Mother Effin’ Things! YES!
- 11) Raven Roost bandits led by Shadowfell people = not much treasure and lots of pain.
- 12) Keep on the Shadowfell. Ruined castle where the mad commander killed his wife and troops. No thanks! Rift to the Shadowfell beneath. NO THANKS!
- 13) Kobold Hall. For beginners. Looted all the time = little treasure. Passage to the Underdark.
- 14) Sword Barrow. Who wants to dig for a sword when you can just get one in town?
- 15) Daggerburg. Goblins = NOT much treasure. Stinky!
- 16) Kalton Manor. Hidden noble fortune = TREASURE! Hidden chamber + Mari = will be FOUND! Fens = Stinky plus Shadowmire. Icky!
- 17) Fiveleague House. Barton has a secret. Does blackmail = treasure?
- 18) Miser’s Pit. Down into the icky Underdark. Goldrun hid some treasure off the stairs down.
- 19) Vanamere’s Storm Tower. Retired (now dead) adventurers must mean TREASURE like a YELLOWSKULL!!!
- With the info from these notes, the party decides to head to the ruined hunting lodge as Mari indicates that there is more of the Slaughtergarde beneath. However, in the morning before they leave, Captain Harrick shows up. In his most “polite” way, he lets them know that the LW wants to talk with him.
- The LW is having breakfast with a dragonborn introduced as Bejik. Bejik has an odd crest, more tendrilly than a typical dragonborn, and a more serpentine face. Harrick lets out a low growl upon seeing Bejik and Sulrinn also is a bit uneasy about this new dragonborn at a very visceral level. The LW and Bejik explain the following:
- Bejik has located the site of a tomb of one of his ancestors, Jheri Tiburcaex. Jheri is a famous dragonborn from the time of Arkhosia. She led a small force of dragonborn that faced off against a much, much larger number of tieflings from Bael Turath. It was an impossible battle given the numbers, but the dragonborn fought as if they were triple or quadruple their numbers. The tiefling leaders were so impressed that they spent time to construct a tomb for Jheri and her officers.
- Jheri had a magical glaive, Jheri’s Wing, and was presumbably interred with it. (Sulrinn uses a glaive and so glaives have become a traditional weapon of the dragonborn in our world.) Bejik is not looking for this weapon, just some small token that can be passed down through the family going forward.
- The problem is that someone else has reached the site of the tomb already. A woman, all in black, with a force of gnolls is currently excavating in the area, trying to find the tomb itself and so Bejik needs some “adventurers” to deal with them and find the tomb. There is some speculation that this woman in black might be another member of the Illustrious Order of the Black Pearl, just like the wizard at Kobold Hall, given the dress and the gnolls.
- Despite Sulrinn’s unease and Harrick’s obvious issue with Bejik, the group agrees to head out to find Jheri’s Tomb.
- Bejik explains where the tomb lies (quite a few days to the north of Fallcrest) and describes how to identify it (a large wooden dragon figurehead on the shore of a lake).
- The first couple of days are uneventful. As the party gets closer to the Riverroar area (which is pretty much on the way), they do encounter and fight some fey. At the ruins of Riverroar, Woody takes an opportunity to smash a wall and also encounters a quickling. Further travel leaves our currently fey-touched barbarian getting pretty desperate for a wall or door to smash. So he starts wandering away from the party to find some old ruin or another. Who am I to deny him? So as he crests a hill one evening…
Okay, this only covers two sessions but is getting a bit long. Lots of info learned. We’ll pick up with what Woody found in the next post.
