To help everyone with keeping track of the things going on in the campaign, I’ve pulled together the various “plot hooks” or events that have occurred to date…just in case they’ve been forgotten. It is pretty typically for multiple hooks or “story lines” to develop during our campaigns and to continue to develop even if the player characters are not actively involved. So let’s summarize what’s been going on below the break…in no particular chronological or importance order…based on what the player characters already know (even if the players don’t remember).

In their mission to put a stop to an invasion of Winter Fey, the party got themselves caught up in yet another fine mess. Mostly friendly kobolds, hobgoblin slavers, clearly insane Orcus fanatics, lost evil temples, a dig site excavating some undead thing, human bandit slavers, sheep out after dark, pillar of the community shopkeeper secretly an Orcus cultist, and even more cultists tunneling under Winterhaven and into the Padraig family crypt. Sheesh…what’s next? Oh, let’s find out after the break.

Oh my…the party has stepped in some deep…snow. Embroiled in a fey invasion and, more to the point, preventing it. How minor and yet how important can a single letter…u vs o…be? In this case, very. Travel through the Feydark, a visit (conjugal for one) to everyone’s favorite Auntie, transported to the far west of the Vale, and then hobgoblins and a fugitive kobold, and finally a kobold clan to save from said hobgoblins and evil “fleshy” (human). There are multiple plot lines going on at this point and I have a sneaking suspicion that another one might be about to hook the party.

Let’s go find out.

Fire and ice. That kind of sums a bit of the last few sessions. As the party was heading to Nenlast (to both check on the village and to inform the villagers of the loss of their friends previously abducted by gnolls), they came across scorched and charred ground. This got them involved with the activities of the Mages of Saruun and an introduction to the Seven-Pillared Hall, a settlement under Thunderspire where surface and Underdark individuals meet. An encounter with a Shadar-kai and then gnolls followed a couple of days after leaving the Hall. And then the ice. Winter had come preternaturally to the lands around Nenlast. Wintery enemies were fought and an ally was gained, the frost giant Drufi. Finally, the party made it to Nenlast.

We’ll pick things up with the party’s arrival at Nenlast.

In the prior sessions, the party faced way too many gnolls, found a possible remnant of the Necropolis of Andok Sur, magically returned to Fallcrest, and acquired a few magic weapons. Meeting with the Lord Warden and Bejik, they turned over a token from Jheri’s Tomb and learned that the serpentine dragonborn may be a follower of Zehir. After Bejik’s escape, further investigation turned up very little. And so, the party agreed to travel to Nenlast to see what might be going on there AND let the inhabitants know of the deaths of those that Aljuzae’s gnolls and abducted. On the road, they met a minstrel, Brandwick, and found an odd occurrence…the lands south of the Trade Road were burned and scorched. Following a set of tracks in the charred land, they learned of the involvement of the Mages of Saruun and found a charred stone tower. Let’s continue the recaps as the party approaches this stone tower.

Lots of information gathered and learned in the last couple of sessions. Mari’s map, in particular, had a lot of info…almost like it provides almost twenty different sites that an adventuring group might want to check out. If it only wasn’t for the rest of the pesky world interfering, the party could go off and do just that. Said interference in this case is something of a disturbing dragonborn that needs the tomb of the legendary Jheri Tiburcaex found and explored before a bunch of gnolls, led by a woman dressed all in black, plunder it first. And so off went our little group.

We pick up with Woody exploring away from the party…he needs a wall to smash to satisfy the requirements of Crius’ Rampart or lose some of his strength. Damn double-edged swords, er, shields, er, fey items! So let’s pickup with what Woody just discovered…

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.

In our prior sessions, the party came together, got employed by the main authority in the Vale, fought an ogre, a bunch of gnolls and kobolds, and defeated a dragon. They also acquired some treasure and perhaps more importantly, a new plot hook! This hook is a rock, affectionately known as the “rock sausage,” found in the possession of an evil wizard from the Illustrious Order of the Black Pearl. It can act as a lodestone to gates to the Abyss in the demonic fortress Slaughtergarde. Remnants of this fortress lie scattered about the Midrealm and these gates could be used to summon demons. The group also built various contacts around Fallcrest, solidifying their relationship with Lord Warden Markelhay, meeting Nimozaran the Green, and others: Selarund Halfmoon, owner of Halfmoon Trading House; Ressilmae Starlight, priest at the Moonsong Temple; Dirina Mornbrow, priestess at the Temple of Erathis; and, Grundelmar, priest at the House of Pelor.

Oh, and Woody kept winning prizes at the Nentir Vale Inn for being the nth patron. Usually, it was a pitcher of ale delivered to his room. Once it was three free nights at the Silver Unicorn Inn (the posher establishment in town) but Wisara Osterman, the matron at the Silver Unicorn, was not having a Sky Pony in her establishment!

Hooked, the party started more direct investigation/intervention into the Slaughtergarde stuff starting with session 6.