Hiyas! I'm Steven, or Morgann to those in the Azure Moon guild, or Amethystine by epithet. And just Sunday, I'd had my first DnD session with my three younger brothers and the middle-youngest's fiance as players. So I thought I'd share the session, and future sessions, here in this thread...
Chapter 1: The Ashes of the Fey
The setting is the Forgotten Realms, or Faerun for those who actually live there at this time. To the northeast of Neverwinter, an wood-elven ranger, Edran Ostoroth, is guiding the mule-drawn cart he'd been loaned by the druids and rangers he'd trained and been raised with nearby to track down one of their number, an outlier druid named Belak who had been given charge of the Barrow burial grounds where their kin were laid to rest. At a caravan travelling along the road, he was able to recruit two to his cause for a share of any spoils to be had in the undertaking, a pair of friends looking for work and adventure; Mushu, a dour Tortle Monk with a penchant for pugilism; and Teeraj'Noxx, an erudite, yet amnesiac Dragonborn Warlock whose powers stemmed from some ancient eldritch being. Heading off the beaten path and into the woods where he knew the Barrows to be located, Edran would stop the cart but once, as the troupe found themselves halted by what appeared to be a highwayman of sorts, a Tiefling Rogue espousing need of a 'toll' to pass through the woods unharrassed. Through quick wit and a tenuous accord, the rogue Kallista was hired into the party as well, as they soon found themselves at the small cavern entrance to the Barrows, its top marked with druidic runes that Edran did not understand, but recognized for what they were. Stowing the cart and mule in a stony underpass nearby, they made their way in cautiously.
Seeing the entryway of the Barrows supposedly clear of any danger, the party moved to peer down the branching corridors, darkvision and dim lighting allowing them a modicum of ability to see in the tunnels, but as Kallista, bringing up the rear, quietly stepped into the threshold, the cavern closed itself behind them, thick vines forming a wall to gate off the outside, as from the very roots, vines and wood detritus around them grew and manifested corrupted fey spirits, Vine and Twig Blights moving to attack the party in an ambush. While Kallista and Mushu busied themselves fending off the lumbering, thick mass of muscle-like growth that approached them, the rogue nimbly dodging its attempt to ensnare them in the grasping vines that sprouted from beneath her feet, the monk found himself wrapped and entangled in them, though his hardy shell served to keep the creature's strong, wiry blows harmless. Teeraj'noxx, suffering a strike from the clattering, creaking wood-spirit that charged towards him, would respond in turn with a wave of the dragon's eye that served as his focus, summoning a swarm of termites that readily devoured the Blight attacking him. Edran would swiftly dispatch the Blight that had formed across from him, pinning it to the wall behind it with a quick shot, before moving to begin peppering at the enemy assaulting Kallista and Mushu. Dancing out of its reach, the Rogue would throw a dagger, and find bemusement when Edran's subsequent shot passed right through the hole her weapon had made in its tangled body, before Noxx's next spell, a terrible Toll indeed, put paid to the Blight's efforts as, shaken by the Warlock's magical assault on its withering shape, would fail to see the blade come in a whistling slash across its throat, handily finishing it in a splash of blood-tinged plant sap.
Regrouping some, the party resumed their search of the area, with Kallista, Mushu and Edran discovering the common room the druids had been using for some time. While finding the place largely barren of any belongings of value, having likely been scoured some time ago, the tiefling rogue did notice and pocket a ledger, written in Elvish, while Mushu tested a door across the way, interested in what was behind it. This would be forgotten, as Teeraj'noxx, having explored the opposite way, heard some voices down the stairwell, having gone down a roundabout slope-passage that avoided the stairs entirely. Kallista would stealthily start making her way down the stairs, nimbly avoiding and revealing a cleverly-hidden lashing root trap at the top of the stairway, and within moments, the tiefling had taken a full stock of the dangers within the room at the stairs' bottom, a pack of Blights and what appeared to be one of the druids, unharrassed by the selfsame Blights. With the Warlock's telepathy providing them a means of silent communication, they unleashed a fearsome ambush on the group, utterly devastating the Twig Blights and capturing the Druid in an instant, as the Vine Blight found itself beset and flanked by Mushu, Edran and Kallista, whilst Teeraj'noxx began to probe and question the captive druid mentally, keeping him gagged to prevent the insane-looking elf from performing any vocal spellcasting. Once they'd gathered what information they could, Mushu disposed of the corrupted naturalist efficiently, and after a momentary stand-off regarding the dragonborn's stingy handling of the silver carried by the druid that nearly had Kallista abandon the troupe altogether, the party decided to return to the entrance and take a moment to rest themselves before venturing further into the Barrows.
Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.
Upon waking from their rest, the watches having gone by with little incident, the adventurers within the Druid's Barrow found themselves started awake when a pair of individuals cleaved through the viney 'gate' that had covered the entrance to the underground burial site. Unperturbed, Edran recognized one of the pair as T'rell, a Firbolg Druid from his camp, as the other, a Goliath Barbarian named Traneck, introduced himself to the group. After being given a quick brief of the situation, the group largely returned to the common room, intent on getting through the doors at the far end, while Kallista, more intrigued by what could be found back downstairs, snuck off to do some lone spelunking of her own. Entering a side room, the rogue nearly stumbled into a group of blights and their mad druid handlers searching through a small crypt-barrow, and as she struck the nearest creature before darting back out of sight, she caught a glimpse of another female shape fighting off the druids as well. After taking care of her sole pursuer, Kallista returned to the Barrow to find a battle already in progress within, a fey woman striking down one of the druids in short order with her staff, and charming the other to fight the Blights on her behalf, even as a butterfly-winged dragon materialized into view to confuse and nip at its mistress' attackers.
While this fray occurred, the group still upstairs had discovered a scrying chamber, though the fountain used for such communes and far-sighting had been wrecked, the water slightly filling the room. The small gathering of insane druids and blights within turned to assault the intruders, but between T'rell's Faerie Light illuminating the foes for Mushu and T'rell to attack with ease, Edran marking and peppering the druids with his bow, and Teeraj working his eldritch magicks against them, they handily dispatched the enemy force, recovering a nearly-waterlogged strongbox from within the pool before withdrawing back downstairs, encountering the Dryad that Kallista had all but rescued, as well as her pet Faerie Dragon. Told of the strange madness that had affected these new druids, the gruesome origin of the blights, and of other, less familiar intruders that had delved deeper into the barrows, the party decided to head further in as well, whilst the fey beings remained within the crypt-barrow to dispatch any more blights that rose. A more proper look around the chamber leading into the dryad's hiding place revealed a more ominous connection to the blights' insurgence... a mural depicting the druids' of old, and their war against a terrible vampire lord, Gulthian, who'd found defeat within an ancient citadel, sealed within a tree after being impaled by a living-wood stake.
Heading deeper into the Druid Barrows, the group quietly happened upon a larger camp of the druids and their blight minions, including a new variety of them, capable of firing piercing needles and thorns from afar at the party. Blitzing into the vanguard of the enemy, they dispatched the Vine Blights before they could react, and quickly set out to rid themselves of the Druid and his compatriot, a dark-robed acolyte of some unknown faith, the pair of casters finding themselves unprepared for the sudden, swift lunge of T'rell having taken on the shape of a vicious tiger. This conflict, though, the adventurers found themselves a bit more harried for their efforts, as the Needle Blights harrassed their attackers from the back of the room before Traneck had closed the distance, dispatching them with ferocious strength. Finding another trove of some moderate wealth, the coin and modest treasures of the druids that had already been buried in the past, the group settled for a short hour, mending their injuries and sifting through their numerous spell scrolls, before turning to the great stone doors, as the druidic runes encircling the barrier lit up, the shale beginning to shift and roll aside.
Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.
The group believed themselves ready for whatever was within the last chamber, but found themselves caught off guard when a small spark flitted out from inside the room before the door had even fully opened, landing in the bonfire behind them. At once, the fire sputtered and burst in a thick cloud of black smoke, as Edran found himself drawn towards the door by one of the Mad Druids' thorn whips, forced to close with a waiting pack of Vine Blights. Within the room itself, a shrine to the Raven Queen, the party came under assault, more Blights waiting within the walls, as the apparent leaders of the Barrows' occupation force, a fiercely-fanatical cultist and the Raven Druid responsible for interring his brethren, joined the fray. T'rell pounced into battle, immediately taking on his tigeresque wild shape, mauling through the partly-opened druidgate even as the Raven Druid unleashed a radiant moonbeam to try and force the druid back to normal. The cult fanatic charged in as well, supporting the Vine Blight vanguard with an assault of spells and steel, as the Goliath Traneck struggled to force the door open far enough to allow him passage. Needle Blights at the back raining their missiles into the party's ranks, Mushu and T'rell found themselves pressed to break through, as Edran ducked in and out of the smoke behind him, raining arrows into the room at the enemy, as Kallista stealthily ducked in during the melee, sneaking up on and dispatching the Druid of the Raven even as he was healed by his minion, Traneck making it through the doorway to immediately behead the cultist. With the death of the two leading spellcasters, the rest handily fell to the party's attack, and after looting the bodies for their gold, Edran garnered himself a mithral coat of half-plate, before they returned to the campfire and, the barrows seemingly clear, rested for the night.
During the night, T'rell was visited in his sleep by the sponsor of their expedition, a mysterious and powerful being who'd taken up residence in the darker parts of the Neverwinter Woods, one who was concerned with the fraying borders between the living and the dead. Granted a boon by his and Edran's mutual acquaintance, the druid found himself enlightened with greater knowledge of the magic of nature. With the party returning to strength, they found themselves surprised by a cry of distress from within the barrows. Finding the dryad missing, supposedly dragged off, and the faerie dragon and pixies dispersed back to the feywild in the apparent attack, the group swiftly made their way back outside, the vines that once barred the entrance behind them dissolved, as they beheld a terrible scene. The druid that Edran and T'rell had been sent to find, Belak the Outcast, greeted them from across the clearing, introducing himself properly, as his companion, a paladin of some persuasion, held the bespelled dryad to the singular dead tree in the clearing's hilltop, before impaling her with a terrible sword to the wood, his palm piercing a fang-like spike on the pommel of the weapon.
As the dryad was pierced and pinned to the tree, the spell faded, revealing her surprise and horror at the realization that she wasn't being sent back to the feywild, before, with her unnatural 'death', her blood seeped into the dead tree's boughs and hollow, as with a shudder, the arboretum darkened and bloomed with blood-red leaves, thick thorny roots surrounding and protecting the tree, as a carpet of twisting, rustling vines burst from the grass around it, seeming to pull nutrients and matter from the barrows as Blights formed from the earth. Edran quickly attempted to fire an arrow after the paladin, but found his shot wasted as Belak and his armored partner stepped through a short-lived arcane door, disappearing in a purple flash of energy.
Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.
The battle began in earnest as the tree the dryad had been impaled upon shook, Blights forming from the earth and beginning to needle and harry the approaching company. With spell, arrow and knife, the party took a stand at the edge of the thick, twisting vines forming a protective perimeter around the Corpseblighter, even as thorned protrusions shot up from the ground to strike and jab at the hardier folk that were trudging through the vine carpet. Their attack hindered by the rough terrain, Traneck, Mushu and Kallista found themselves pressed by the assault of the Blights growing around them, though Edran, after a moment of thought, lit one of his arrows alight and fired into the Corpseblighter from afar, forcing its protective roots to shrink away. A heavy branch nearly brought Kallista low as she got close enough to attack the tree directly, though she made use of one of the potions the company had gained to recover herself while Mushu and Traneck began the work of hacking and torching at the tree's heavy roots.
Amidst the battle, the combatants forced to close with the tree to fight it found themselves flung back hard as the Corpseblighter drew its vines in to reform its hardy outer shell, before lurching its carpet in a rough, roiling wave to toss its attackers backwards. In response, as Teeraj'noxx and Edran continued to harry the tree from afar, and T'rell busily dispatched the Blights that rose from the earth to protect their creator, the harried close-quarters combatants began a slower, more strategic approach, using torch to burn away patches of the carpet vine to form a path they could walk relatively unharried to the base of the tree. With the outer shell repeatedly damaged and burnt away as they closed in, Edran finally scored the blow needed to dispatch the undead arbor, a whistling arrow fallen from on high splitting the dead tree in half from above to let Arya, the Dryad, tumble out and onto the ground, her pallor becoming greener as the knife clattered out onto the loam. Healed and in gratitude for her rescue by the company, she accompanied them as they rode off, reclaiming their wagon to make the trip back to Oakhurst, though in the night, two visitations would occur.
The first night, Kallista, taking watch, would find herself approached in utter secrecy and stealth by a masked, cloaked figure, who told her of Waterdeep, of the 'cautiously-legal' folk he served who were taking an interest in her journey and new companions, and after handing her a token of his guild, the figure disappeared as easily as he'd come. By the time the party had awoken fully, sometime during the night, Arya had left their wagon, likely to have returned to some forested region to recuperate and make herself a new home. The second night, though, Teeraj'noxx was visited, this time in his dreams, by a sibilant voice, one of power and mystique, which took his mind to a scene from long before his time, an ancient battlefield between the Shadar'kai and grim creatures of the Shadowfell, and a force of red dragons and their serfs and minions. Drawn to a tome laid in a corner of the war-scorched vision, the warlock drew the book to himself, and inhaled sharply as the knowledge it contained immediately filled his thoughts, pulling him from his sleep in a start at the break of dawn... where, to his company's dismay, a translucent pair of misty, red wings beat against the air behind Teeraj'noxx, as what appeared to be a juvenile red drake snarled with hostility behind them, maw opening with a licking gout of flames...
The Current Roster
Edran Ostoroth: Level 2 Wood Elf Ranger; Teeraj'noxx: Level 3 Dragonborn Warlock (Tome of the Great Old One); Mushu: Level 2 Tortle Monk; Kallisa: Level 3 Tiefling Rogue (Swashbuckler); T'rell Firone: Level 3 Firbolg Druid (Circle of the Moon); and Traneck: Level 2 Goliath Barbarian.
Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.
The ethereal waking-dream of a red dragon youngling scarce gave the group time to fully awaken before it was upon them, unleashing a gout of flame from its maw that enveloped them in a fierce morning firestorm before it flew up out of reach. Undeterred, the group set to attack it in what ways they could, finding themselves stymied somewhat as javelin, arrow and dagger found themselves failing to find full purchase in the flickering form of the drake, when the weapons didn't pass right through its ephemeral body. Teeraj'noxx found a little more success with his spellcraft, though the being born of his troublesome sleep seemed to shake off his mental magicks without much care. As it made swooping attacks to strike and retreat from its prey, the red dragonling soon found itself more harried than before, as with its form becoming more materiel over the course of the skirmish, the more physical combatants pressed the attack, with T'rell scaling into a nearby tree, before pouncing to bring the beast down towards the party for the finishing blow.
Finishing their rest in earnest, the party found themselves at their destination, the village of Oakhurst within sight, and as T'rell and Traneck took a momentary leave to report to the Neverwinter rangers about their findings. Kallista, Teeraj'noxx and Mushu found themselves guided around town by Edran, whose folk often found lodgings and work therein, visiting the various establishments for information and wares. The Forgehammer's Mark, run by dwarvish smithy Rurik Lutgehr, offered a simple chain to fasten to one of Kallista's daggers, forming a sort of rudimentary rope spear. At the general store, Hucrele's Labours, the matronly owner, Kerowyn, would bemusedly turn down the dragonborn's attempts to haggle her potion prices, citing the town's need for the supplies and her need for the income, before Edran entered after them, the elf getting her support and a small discount after pledging his party's efforts in finding her missing children, Sharwyn and Talgen. The ranger would learn that the two aspiring adventurers had snuck off with a proper adventuring band, including Edran's brother Karakas, and Sir Braford, the paladin they had encountered days ago outside the druid barrows. Gathering some studded leather as well to better defend themselves, the group found that they had a new lead to follow.
Finished their exploring and with new equipment and potions to their stores, the party would take solace at the local inn, the Ol' Boar, where the bartender Garon allowed them the night to celebrate and rest after Mushu enjoyed a bit of an arm-wrestle with a visiting Goliath, a round of drinks put out at the party's expense as they wound down, their next destination already in mind. After their continued talks around town, the party intended to make their way to the main road, where the apparent adventurers' guild, the Yawning Portal, was currently to be found.
The Current Roster
Edran Ostoroth: Level 2 Wood Elf Ranger; Teeraj'noxx: Level 3 Dragonborn Warlock (Tome of the Great Old One); Mushu: Level 3 Tortle Monk (Long Death); Kallisa: Level 3 Tiefling Rogue (Swashbuckler); T'rell Firone: Level 3 Firbolg Druid (Circle of the Moon); and Traneck: Level 3 Goliath Barbarian (Herald of Seastorms).
Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.
Gathering together, the group would linger just long enough for Kallista to receive her makeshift chain-dagger from Rurik, making a stop at the local temple and learning a little more about Sir Braford, a paladin of Pelor who'd become brooding and quiet, a far cry from his friendly, yet serious demeanor before, by the gnome priest presiding over the shrine, Den 'Corkie' Nackle. South of Oakhurst proper, settled nearby the Main Road, the party came across Durnan, the ageless, bemused human seemingly waiting for their arrival outside the main wagon of a small caravan, the door open for them as he walked in. Following him inside, the group found themselves not within a wagon, but a sprawling three-floor tavern, the Yawning Portal Inn, held within a pocket dimension within the wagon itself. Krysnys Milltall, the acting cleric and adjutant of Tymora, welcomed the newcomers to the tavern, granting each of them a blessing of Aid, whilst one of the seated groups pooled coin into a pot, the most outspoken of them, a grinning half-elf named Cruendithas Tarmikos, explaining to the inquiring Teeraj'noxx that it was a wager as to how many of their party would be returning from their destination, gesturing to the well centering the bottom floor of the establishment. Quietly, in one corner of the second floor, a grizzled dwarvish wizard scrawled notes in a thick journal, greeting the party with an idle nod and an inquisitive glance before returning to his musings.
There were a few curios on display over the counter of the bar, where Durnan was cleaning glasses as the party acclimated to their surroundings; a pipe bearing the sigil of Elminster, famed sage of Faerun, as well as a bloodstained map of the Undermountain from Durnan's days as an adventurer. After a moment's greeting, the tavern keeper, giving them the first round of drinks free, explained that the Yawning Portal was moving further south to the Ashen Plains, a barren, sandy waste that had once been a mighty kingdom, before the land had been razed for betraying the local god-king, the ancient red dragon Ashardalon. The blights that had been growing in number and strength throughout the lands surrounding Neverwinter, including the forests outside of Oakhurst, were the proxies of one of these traitors, a former lieutenant of the Emperor of Ash, Gulthian, an Archfey who'd traded his station for some dark, undying cursed power and, once the dragon had been defeated, set himself up as the resident tyrant of the realm for a time, until running afoul of a circle of druids that had sealed him in turn. Now the blights were surging, draining blood from their victims to feed their unholy master's revival, and parties were being sent into his current holdout, the Sunless Citadel beneath the Ashen Plains, to end the threat of the fey vampire before he can regain his full measure.
With their objective in clear mind now, and aided by another visiting adventurer, Mordecai the Daybreak, the Thaneson of a kingdom far to the north, the party stepped into the well, paying their toll to employ the lift system, and lowered themselves through the eponymous yawning portal into the underdark, where the Sunless Citadel lay buried, sunk beneath the ground by the calamity that had wreaked devastation over Faerun. Making their way down the perilous steppes into the courtyard, ambushed at points by giant rats starved for meat, the group made their way into the ruined outer ramparts of the citadel, discovering a hidden archers' redoubt and dispatching the skeletons within as they rose to life before they could provide an unexpected attack. Finding hints of recent activity, from scattered and broken campfires, to scrawling graffiti and messages in goblin and draconic, they slipped deeper into the ruins, Teeraj'noxx cursing as he found a trapdoor foot-first and fended off another pack of rats waiting below, before investigating a strange, keg-like tank mechanism built into one of the rooms. Breaking the tap out of curiosity, expecting some form of drink to be held within, Traneck found himself hit with a blast of frost and steam as a pair of mephits burst from the pipe-system, immediately lashing out at the group with freezing gales and blistering vents of steam-heat as they flitted up towards the ceiling, out of the party's reach. Undeterred, Mushu and Kallista began using the walls to kick off, striking the floating steam mephit together with Edran's arrows and Noxx's spells firing off, as Mordecai, earning his keep with enthusiasm, wreaked dwarvish wrath on the ice mephit, his maul shattering it with all the righteous light of Pelor. Wearied from the unexpected elemental assault, the group fell silent, as the skittering of claws, the rattle of spears and stones, and the faint cacophany of small, manifold voices speaking in frenetic Draconic could be heard deeper down the halls.
The Current Roster
Edran Ostoroth: Level 2 Wood Elf Ranger; Teeraj'noxx: Level 3 Dragonborn Warlock (Tome of the Great Old One); Mushu: Level 3 Tortle Monk (Long Death); Kallisa: Level 3 Tiefling Rogue (Swashbuckler); and Traneck: Level 3 Goliath Barbarian (Herald of Seastorms).
Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.
Following the distant sounds of Draconic speech, the party found themselves amidst the court of the Ashbold, a tribe of kobolds that held home and worship in the Sunless Citadel, and after offering their help to one of their number, the distraught pet-keeper Meepo, they were presented as allies to the shaman chieftain of the tribe, Yusdrayl. With Teeraj'noxx explaining their quest to recover the lost adventurers and proclaiming themselves enemies of 'the fey betrayer', they were offered a favor for a favor: The Ashbold's rivals, the intruding Nightjade goblin clan, had been steadily overtaking much of the lower floors of the Citadel, and had recently grown so emboldened as to steal the Ashbold's pet black dragon whelp, Calcryx. If the party were to return the black dragon, one way or another, they would prove themselves allies of the Ashbold. As further incentive, and a show of good faith, Yusdrayl revealed one of the wayward adventurers, Sharwyn, had returned severely injured to the kobold grounds. Their party had not fared well in the lower levels, and as Mordecai remained behind to administer healing and ready Sharwyn to return to Oakhurst, the group made their way over the trapped hallway that protected the Ashbold's lair and, with the goblins seemingly absent from their new charge's nest and the pet keeper, Meepo, in tow, they prepared to do battle with Calcryx in an attempt to subdue him.
The battle opening with a fierce breath of acid towards the doorway that the group were just beginning to sneak through, as the black whelp immediately woke at the scent of its long-time captor, catching some of the troupe with the sizzling streak of corrosion. Flying up to keep out of reach of its adversaries, the dragonling was largely focused on trying to end the harried kobold, and as Traneck and Kallista harried it with javelin and dagger, and Edran and Teeraj'noxx fired off blasts to keep it pressured, Mushu quickly rushed the dragon, knocking it unconscious with a sharp shot to the skull. Bringing Meepo back up from the verge of death, the group helped bring the draconic pet back to the Ashbold as its keeper reworked the binding magicks on the young wyrm. Suitably impressed with the adventurers, Yusdrayl offered them not only reinforcements with which to cut off goblin ambushes, but a pair of artifacts to take with them: A feather token which would allow the instantaneous growth of a tree, and a pair of strength potions. Taking the opportunity to rest up in relatively-safe grounds, Edran was awakened from his elven trance by a snap of fey connection, as flying into his chamber came his companion, a fiercely-loyal Pseudodragon he'd raised in his youth, Cobalt. Upon waking, the party saw Mordecai off with Sharwyn, before coming to a decision to double back to the threshold of the Citadel and ensure the wing they had passed over was clear of danger.
Making their way into the wing, as they trudged together through the gallery, both Kallista and Traneck were confounded by a trapped musical enchantment, which compelled them to return to the trapdoor they had previously encountered in the entryway. The spell only growing stronger as the party attempted to shatter the orb, eventually the artifact was shattered, breaking the enchantment and allowing them to proceed through the secured dragon-door after a moment of the tiefling's lockpicking trade. Paused in their progress for a time by a sealed room and a magical statue asking them a riddle, eventually the group settled on an answer and moved past, into what appeared to be a guardroom leading into an ancient tomb. With the chambers separated by a pit filled with wooden, spiked poles, and Edran suffering a near-fatal misstep, the group quickly dispatched the lone quasit left behind to ensure the tomb was undisturbed, before, with some effort, breaking the locks and clasps that kept the sole sarcophagus shut. Almost immediately, they found themselves waylaid by the waking creature within; A former dragon-priest of Ashardalon, an elf who'd attempted to take on a draconic form himself, only to have his spell twisted into a curse by the other priests, mutating him into a troll. One who greeted the adventurers who'd released him with rakes of his gangly, clawed limbs even as he attempted to shove and bully them back into the pit they'd jumped over. After a harrowing battle, and the use of torchfire to stifle the monster's regeneration, the party returned with a new arsenal of spell scrolls, a haul of treasure, and making rest for the coming battles, prepared to assault the Jadenight's holdings.
Edran Ostoroth: Level 3 Wood Elf Ranger (Beastmaster); Teeraj'noxx: Level 3 Dragonborn Warlock (Tome of the Great Old One); Mushu: Level 3 Tortle Monk (Long Death); Kallisa: Level 3 Tiefling Rogue (Swashbuckler); and Traneck: Level 3 Goliath Barbarian (Herald of Seastorms).
Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.
With the Ashkin reasonably placated and impressed by their defeat of the ancient, traitorous priest, the adventuresome party found themselves moving deeper into the Jadenight's territory, though they found the goblins prepared and awaiting in ambush for them. Each room that the party ducked into to avail themselves of the hail of crossbow bolts firing in on them from well-covered goblin guards only found more goblins lying in wait. Their spiritual leader, a Booyagh of Gulthias, worked his own unstable magicks, putting the ranger and his companion to sleep and inundating himself with protective energy as, wading through the fire with rage and focused deadliness, Traneck and Mushu put paid to the goblin arbalests, with Kallista and Teeraj'noxx focusing their efforts on subduing the cunning, guilesome warlock battling them. After a pitched battle in the goblins' courtyard, Edran and Cobalt, having been roused into waking by their roguish counterpart with a smart bop from the hilts of her daggers, helped secure the Booyagh in ropes and binds after the pseudodragon's sting had put him to sleep, divesting the spellcaster of their possessions and gagging the goblin in an attempt to stop his spellcasts. As Teeraj'noxx began his mental interrogation of the warlock, though, the cunning goblinoid used their more physical intimidation to his advantage, suddenly flickering out of his bindings and out of sight in a shift of fey magic.
Left in the courtyard of the Jadenight Clan, the group took a quick moment to gather their new equipment and a breath of respite, including a powerful Pact Keeper's rod that Teeraj'noxx quickly identified and employed, before forcing their way through the heavy stone doors leading into the goblins' war room. There, they were confronted by the warchief of the clan, an imposing Hobgoblin wielding a greatsword and flanked by a pair of his kin, as above them, a pair of goblins had bows trained on the group. Listening to the Booyagh's description of the party's attack on their forces, the chieftain simply shrugged his shoulders and pointed towards Mushu, challenging the Tortle to single combat. If he won, the party would surrender themselves, and become thralls to the Jadenight's master below. Should the monk win, however, the goblins would retreat and allow the party to carry on unharrassed below to their master's sanctum. The battle began in earnest, with Mushu and the hobgoblin trading blows fearsomely, neither side giving quarter. As the Tortle began to falter, though, Teeraj'noxx, unwilling to see his partner cut down, unleashed his bolts of eldritch arcanum, signalling the start of a fierce melee in the relatively-small, circular war room.
As Traneck moved in to immediately take up where Mushu left off, covering the wounded Tortle with his bulky, roaring countenance and scything through the hobgoblin guards like a raging reaper of lightning and steel, Kallista, seeing an opportunity, stealthily crept along the perimeter of the room to where the chieftain was being healed by the very Booyagh they'd defeated earlier. Attacking the chieftain harshly with quiet, cold bladework, the tiefling found herself dismayed when the archers above turned their fire immediately to her, one arrow catching her in the shoulder as the Booyagh took his master's arm and flickered him up in a shift of sudden evocation to the grand balcony overlooking the room. Undaunted, Traneck and Mushu leapt up after him, Edran's arrow catching the chieftain in the shoulder as he was surrounded and cut down by the pair of burly bruisers, whilst below, Teeraj'noxx dealt with one last vicious trick his rival warlock had to pull, the vicious goblin fey-caster calling in the services of a vile hag to further waylay the party in his master's name.
Unfortunately for the Jadenight, with their hobgoblin veterans slain, their chieftain in two, and the ranger and Cobalt making quick work of the goblin archers overlooking the fight, the Hag proved an inadequate turn to the battle, as with the Booyagh suffering a rather brutal downward slash from the descending Traneck, she quickly found herself surrounded and, inevitably, defeated in a blitz of magic and martial prowess, dispersing back to the feywild she was pulled from. Leaving the party to take the Jadenight's last secure bastion, barricading the doors leading into the room with debris from the courtyard, before settling into a camp in the war room, Traneck hefting the new, masterfully-crafted greatsword over his back. It wouldn't be until they awoke from their hard-won sleep that the party would behold the bemused, patient and translucent green image of a tall, aloof, armored elven male looking down on them from the tabletop, arms folded behind him and head adorned with a blacksteel helm that was intricately gilded with silver thorns.
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Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.
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Hiyas! I'm Steven, or Morgann to those in the Azure Moon guild, or Amethystine by epithet. And just Sunday, I'd had my first DnD session with my three younger brothers and the middle-youngest's fiance as players. So I thought I'd share the session, and future sessions, here in this thread...
Chapter 1: The Ashes of the Fey
The setting is the Forgotten Realms, or Faerun for those who actually live there at this time. To the northeast of Neverwinter, an wood-elven ranger, Edran Ostoroth, is guiding the mule-drawn cart he'd been loaned by the druids and rangers he'd trained and been raised with nearby to track down one of their number, an outlier druid named Belak who had been given charge of the Barrow burial grounds where their kin were laid to rest. At a caravan travelling along the road, he was able to recruit two to his cause for a share of any spoils to be had in the undertaking, a pair of friends looking for work and adventure; Mushu, a dour Tortle Monk with a penchant for pugilism; and Teeraj'Noxx, an erudite, yet amnesiac Dragonborn Warlock whose powers stemmed from some ancient eldritch being. Heading off the beaten path and into the woods where he knew the Barrows to be located, Edran would stop the cart but once, as the troupe found themselves halted by what appeared to be a highwayman of sorts, a Tiefling Rogue espousing need of a 'toll' to pass through the woods unharrassed. Through quick wit and a tenuous accord, the rogue Kallista was hired into the party as well, as they soon found themselves at the small cavern entrance to the Barrows, its top marked with druidic runes that Edran did not understand, but recognized for what they were. Stowing the cart and mule in a stony underpass nearby, they made their way in cautiously.
Seeing the entryway of the Barrows supposedly clear of any danger, the party moved to peer down the branching corridors, darkvision and dim lighting allowing them a modicum of ability to see in the tunnels, but as Kallista, bringing up the rear, quietly stepped into the threshold, the cavern closed itself behind them, thick vines forming a wall to gate off the outside, as from the very roots, vines and wood detritus around them grew and manifested corrupted fey spirits, Vine and Twig Blights moving to attack the party in an ambush. While Kallista and Mushu busied themselves fending off the lumbering, thick mass of muscle-like growth that approached them, the rogue nimbly dodging its attempt to ensnare them in the grasping vines that sprouted from beneath her feet, the monk found himself wrapped and entangled in them, though his hardy shell served to keep the creature's strong, wiry blows harmless. Teeraj'noxx, suffering a strike from the clattering, creaking wood-spirit that charged towards him, would respond in turn with a wave of the dragon's eye that served as his focus, summoning a swarm of termites that readily devoured the Blight attacking him. Edran would swiftly dispatch the Blight that had formed across from him, pinning it to the wall behind it with a quick shot, before moving to begin peppering at the enemy assaulting Kallista and Mushu. Dancing out of its reach, the Rogue would throw a dagger, and find bemusement when Edran's subsequent shot passed right through the hole her weapon had made in its tangled body, before Noxx's next spell, a terrible Toll indeed, put paid to the Blight's efforts as, shaken by the Warlock's magical assault on its withering shape, would fail to see the blade come in a whistling slash across its throat, handily finishing it in a splash of blood-tinged plant sap.
Regrouping some, the party resumed their search of the area, with Kallista, Mushu and Edran discovering the common room the druids had been using for some time. While finding the place largely barren of any belongings of value, having likely been scoured some time ago, the tiefling rogue did notice and pocket a ledger, written in Elvish, while Mushu tested a door across the way, interested in what was behind it. This would be forgotten, as Teeraj'noxx, having explored the opposite way, heard some voices down the stairwell, having gone down a roundabout slope-passage that avoided the stairs entirely. Kallista would stealthily start making her way down the stairs, nimbly avoiding and revealing a cleverly-hidden lashing root trap at the top of the stairway, and within moments, the tiefling had taken a full stock of the dangers within the room at the stairs' bottom, a pack of Blights and what appeared to be one of the druids, unharrassed by the selfsame Blights. With the Warlock's telepathy providing them a means of silent communication, they unleashed a fearsome ambush on the group, utterly devastating the Twig Blights and capturing the Druid in an instant, as the Vine Blight found itself beset and flanked by Mushu, Edran and Kallista, whilst Teeraj'noxx began to probe and question the captive druid mentally, keeping him gagged to prevent the insane-looking elf from performing any vocal spellcasting. Once they'd gathered what information they could, Mushu disposed of the corrupted naturalist efficiently, and after a momentary stand-off regarding the dragonborn's stingy handling of the silver carried by the druid that nearly had Kallista abandon the troupe altogether, the party decided to return to the entrance and take a moment to rest themselves before venturing further into the Barrows.
The Current Roster
Edran Ostoroth: Level 2 Wood Elf Ranger; Teeraj'noxx: Level 2 Dragonborn Warlock (Great Old One); Mushu: Level 2 Tortle Monk; and Kallista: Level 2 Tiefling Rogue.
Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.
Upon waking from their rest, the watches having gone by with little incident, the adventurers within the Druid's Barrow found themselves started awake when a pair of individuals cleaved through the viney 'gate' that had covered the entrance to the underground burial site. Unperturbed, Edran recognized one of the pair as T'rell, a Firbolg Druid from his camp, as the other, a Goliath Barbarian named Traneck, introduced himself to the group. After being given a quick brief of the situation, the group largely returned to the common room, intent on getting through the doors at the far end, while Kallista, more intrigued by what could be found back downstairs, snuck off to do some lone spelunking of her own. Entering a side room, the rogue nearly stumbled into a group of blights and their mad druid handlers searching through a small crypt-barrow, and as she struck the nearest creature before darting back out of sight, she caught a glimpse of another female shape fighting off the druids as well. After taking care of her sole pursuer, Kallista returned to the Barrow to find a battle already in progress within, a fey woman striking down one of the druids in short order with her staff, and charming the other to fight the Blights on her behalf, even as a butterfly-winged dragon materialized into view to confuse and nip at its mistress' attackers.
While this fray occurred, the group still upstairs had discovered a scrying chamber, though the fountain used for such communes and far-sighting had been wrecked, the water slightly filling the room. The small gathering of insane druids and blights within turned to assault the intruders, but between T'rell's Faerie Light illuminating the foes for Mushu and T'rell to attack with ease, Edran marking and peppering the druids with his bow, and Teeraj working his eldritch magicks against them, they handily dispatched the enemy force, recovering a nearly-waterlogged strongbox from within the pool before withdrawing back downstairs, encountering the Dryad that Kallista had all but rescued, as well as her pet Faerie Dragon. Told of the strange madness that had affected these new druids, the gruesome origin of the blights, and of other, less familiar intruders that had delved deeper into the barrows, the party decided to head further in as well, whilst the fey beings remained within the crypt-barrow to dispatch any more blights that rose. A more proper look around the chamber leading into the dryad's hiding place revealed a more ominous connection to the blights' insurgence... a mural depicting the druids' of old, and their war against a terrible vampire lord, Gulthian, who'd found defeat within an ancient citadel, sealed within a tree after being impaled by a living-wood stake.
Heading deeper into the Druid Barrows, the group quietly happened upon a larger camp of the druids and their blight minions, including a new variety of them, capable of firing piercing needles and thorns from afar at the party. Blitzing into the vanguard of the enemy, they dispatched the Vine Blights before they could react, and quickly set out to rid themselves of the Druid and his compatriot, a dark-robed acolyte of some unknown faith, the pair of casters finding themselves unprepared for the sudden, swift lunge of T'rell having taken on the shape of a vicious tiger. This conflict, though, the adventurers found themselves a bit more harried for their efforts, as the Needle Blights harrassed their attackers from the back of the room before Traneck had closed the distance, dispatching them with ferocious strength. Finding another trove of some moderate wealth, the coin and modest treasures of the druids that had already been buried in the past, the group settled for a short hour, mending their injuries and sifting through their numerous spell scrolls, before turning to the great stone doors, as the druidic runes encircling the barrier lit up, the shale beginning to shift and roll aside.
The Current Roster
Edran Ostoroth: Level 2 Wood Elf Ranger; Teeraj'noxx: Level 2 Dragonborn Warlock (Great Old One); Mushu: Level 2 Tortle Monk; Kallisa: Level 2 Tiefling Rogue; T'rell Firone: Level 2 Firbolg Druid (Circle of the Moon); and Traneck: Level 2 Goliath Barbarian.
Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.
The group believed themselves ready for whatever was within the last chamber, but found themselves caught off guard when a small spark flitted out from inside the room before the door had even fully opened, landing in the bonfire behind them. At once, the fire sputtered and burst in a thick cloud of black smoke, as Edran found himself drawn towards the door by one of the Mad Druids' thorn whips, forced to close with a waiting pack of Vine Blights. Within the room itself, a shrine to the Raven Queen, the party came under assault, more Blights waiting within the walls, as the apparent leaders of the Barrows' occupation force, a fiercely-fanatical cultist and the Raven Druid responsible for interring his brethren, joined the fray. T'rell pounced into battle, immediately taking on his tigeresque wild shape, mauling through the partly-opened druidgate even as the Raven Druid unleashed a radiant moonbeam to try and force the druid back to normal. The cult fanatic charged in as well, supporting the Vine Blight vanguard with an assault of spells and steel, as the Goliath Traneck struggled to force the door open far enough to allow him passage. Needle Blights at the back raining their missiles into the party's ranks, Mushu and T'rell found themselves pressed to break through, as Edran ducked in and out of the smoke behind him, raining arrows into the room at the enemy, as Kallista stealthily ducked in during the melee, sneaking up on and dispatching the Druid of the Raven even as he was healed by his minion, Traneck making it through the doorway to immediately behead the cultist. With the death of the two leading spellcasters, the rest handily fell to the party's attack, and after looting the bodies for their gold, Edran garnered himself a mithral coat of half-plate, before they returned to the campfire and, the barrows seemingly clear, rested for the night.
During the night, T'rell was visited in his sleep by the sponsor of their expedition, a mysterious and powerful being who'd taken up residence in the darker parts of the Neverwinter Woods, one who was concerned with the fraying borders between the living and the dead. Granted a boon by his and Edran's mutual acquaintance, the druid found himself enlightened with greater knowledge of the magic of nature. With the party returning to strength, they found themselves surprised by a cry of distress from within the barrows. Finding the dryad missing, supposedly dragged off, and the faerie dragon and pixies dispersed back to the feywild in the apparent attack, the group swiftly made their way back outside, the vines that once barred the entrance behind them dissolved, as they beheld a terrible scene. The druid that Edran and T'rell had been sent to find, Belak the Outcast, greeted them from across the clearing, introducing himself properly, as his companion, a paladin of some persuasion, held the bespelled dryad to the singular dead tree in the clearing's hilltop, before impaling her with a terrible sword to the wood, his palm piercing a fang-like spike on the pommel of the weapon.
As the dryad was pierced and pinned to the tree, the spell faded, revealing her surprise and horror at the realization that she wasn't being sent back to the feywild, before, with her unnatural 'death', her blood seeped into the dead tree's boughs and hollow, as with a shudder, the arboretum darkened and bloomed with blood-red leaves, thick thorny roots surrounding and protecting the tree, as a carpet of twisting, rustling vines burst from the grass around it, seeming to pull nutrients and matter from the barrows as Blights formed from the earth. Edran quickly attempted to fire an arrow after the paladin, but found his shot wasted as Belak and his armored partner stepped through a short-lived arcane door, disappearing in a purple flash of energy.
The Current Roster
Edran Ostoroth: Level 2 Wood Elf Ranger; Teeraj'noxx: Level 2 Dragonborn Warlock (Great Old One); Mushu: Level 2 Tortle Monk; Kallisa: Level 2 Tiefling Rogue; T'rell Firone: Level 3 Firbolg Druid (Circle of the Moon); and Traneck: Level 2 Goliath Barbarian.
Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.
The battle began in earnest as the tree the dryad had been impaled upon shook, Blights forming from the earth and beginning to needle and harry the approaching company. With spell, arrow and knife, the party took a stand at the edge of the thick, twisting vines forming a protective perimeter around the Corpseblighter, even as thorned protrusions shot up from the ground to strike and jab at the hardier folk that were trudging through the vine carpet. Their attack hindered by the rough terrain, Traneck, Mushu and Kallista found themselves pressed by the assault of the Blights growing around them, though Edran, after a moment of thought, lit one of his arrows alight and fired into the Corpseblighter from afar, forcing its protective roots to shrink away. A heavy branch nearly brought Kallista low as she got close enough to attack the tree directly, though she made use of one of the potions the company had gained to recover herself while Mushu and Traneck began the work of hacking and torching at the tree's heavy roots.
Amidst the battle, the combatants forced to close with the tree to fight it found themselves flung back hard as the Corpseblighter drew its vines in to reform its hardy outer shell, before lurching its carpet in a rough, roiling wave to toss its attackers backwards. In response, as Teeraj'noxx and Edran continued to harry the tree from afar, and T'rell busily dispatched the Blights that rose from the earth to protect their creator, the harried close-quarters combatants began a slower, more strategic approach, using torch to burn away patches of the carpet vine to form a path they could walk relatively unharried to the base of the tree. With the outer shell repeatedly damaged and burnt away as they closed in, Edran finally scored the blow needed to dispatch the undead arbor, a whistling arrow fallen from on high splitting the dead tree in half from above to let Arya, the Dryad, tumble out and onto the ground, her pallor becoming greener as the knife clattered out onto the loam. Healed and in gratitude for her rescue by the company, she accompanied them as they rode off, reclaiming their wagon to make the trip back to Oakhurst, though in the night, two visitations would occur.
The first night, Kallista, taking watch, would find herself approached in utter secrecy and stealth by a masked, cloaked figure, who told her of Waterdeep, of the 'cautiously-legal' folk he served who were taking an interest in her journey and new companions, and after handing her a token of his guild, the figure disappeared as easily as he'd come. By the time the party had awoken fully, sometime during the night, Arya had left their wagon, likely to have returned to some forested region to recuperate and make herself a new home. The second night, though, Teeraj'noxx was visited, this time in his dreams, by a sibilant voice, one of power and mystique, which took his mind to a scene from long before his time, an ancient battlefield between the Shadar'kai and grim creatures of the Shadowfell, and a force of red dragons and their serfs and minions. Drawn to a tome laid in a corner of the war-scorched vision, the warlock drew the book to himself, and inhaled sharply as the knowledge it contained immediately filled his thoughts, pulling him from his sleep in a start at the break of dawn... where, to his company's dismay, a translucent pair of misty, red wings beat against the air behind Teeraj'noxx, as what appeared to be a juvenile red drake snarled with hostility behind them, maw opening with a licking gout of flames...
The Current Roster
Edran Ostoroth: Level 2 Wood Elf Ranger; Teeraj'noxx: Level 3 Dragonborn Warlock (Tome of the Great Old One); Mushu: Level 2 Tortle Monk; Kallisa: Level 3 Tiefling Rogue (Swashbuckler); T'rell Firone: Level 3 Firbolg Druid (Circle of the Moon); and Traneck: Level 2 Goliath Barbarian.
Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.
The ethereal waking-dream of a red dragon youngling scarce gave the group time to fully awaken before it was upon them, unleashing a gout of flame from its maw that enveloped them in a fierce morning firestorm before it flew up out of reach. Undeterred, the group set to attack it in what ways they could, finding themselves stymied somewhat as javelin, arrow and dagger found themselves failing to find full purchase in the flickering form of the drake, when the weapons didn't pass right through its ephemeral body. Teeraj'noxx found a little more success with his spellcraft, though the being born of his troublesome sleep seemed to shake off his mental magicks without much care. As it made swooping attacks to strike and retreat from its prey, the red dragonling soon found itself more harried than before, as with its form becoming more materiel over the course of the skirmish, the more physical combatants pressed the attack, with T'rell scaling into a nearby tree, before pouncing to bring the beast down towards the party for the finishing blow.
Finishing their rest in earnest, the party found themselves at their destination, the village of Oakhurst within sight, and as T'rell and Traneck took a momentary leave to report to the Neverwinter rangers about their findings. Kallista, Teeraj'noxx and Mushu found themselves guided around town by Edran, whose folk often found lodgings and work therein, visiting the various establishments for information and wares. The Forgehammer's Mark, run by dwarvish smithy Rurik Lutgehr, offered a simple chain to fasten to one of Kallista's daggers, forming a sort of rudimentary rope spear. At the general store, Hucrele's Labours, the matronly owner, Kerowyn, would bemusedly turn down the dragonborn's attempts to haggle her potion prices, citing the town's need for the supplies and her need for the income, before Edran entered after them, the elf getting her support and a small discount after pledging his party's efforts in finding her missing children, Sharwyn and Talgen. The ranger would learn that the two aspiring adventurers had snuck off with a proper adventuring band, including Edran's brother Karakas, and Sir Braford, the paladin they had encountered days ago outside the druid barrows. Gathering some studded leather as well to better defend themselves, the group found that they had a new lead to follow.
Finished their exploring and with new equipment and potions to their stores, the party would take solace at the local inn, the Ol' Boar, where the bartender Garon allowed them the night to celebrate and rest after Mushu enjoyed a bit of an arm-wrestle with a visiting Goliath, a round of drinks put out at the party's expense as they wound down, their next destination already in mind. After their continued talks around town, the party intended to make their way to the main road, where the apparent adventurers' guild, the Yawning Portal, was currently to be found.
The Current Roster
Edran Ostoroth: Level 2 Wood Elf Ranger; Teeraj'noxx: Level 3 Dragonborn Warlock (Tome of the Great Old One); Mushu: Level 3 Tortle Monk (Long Death); Kallisa: Level 3 Tiefling Rogue (Swashbuckler); T'rell Firone: Level 3 Firbolg Druid (Circle of the Moon); and Traneck: Level 3 Goliath Barbarian (Herald of Seastorms).
Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.
Gathering together, the group would linger just long enough for Kallista to receive her makeshift chain-dagger from Rurik, making a stop at the local temple and learning a little more about Sir Braford, a paladin of Pelor who'd become brooding and quiet, a far cry from his friendly, yet serious demeanor before, by the gnome priest presiding over the shrine, Den 'Corkie' Nackle. South of Oakhurst proper, settled nearby the Main Road, the party came across Durnan, the ageless, bemused human seemingly waiting for their arrival outside the main wagon of a small caravan, the door open for them as he walked in. Following him inside, the group found themselves not within a wagon, but a sprawling three-floor tavern, the Yawning Portal Inn, held within a pocket dimension within the wagon itself. Krysnys Milltall, the acting cleric and adjutant of Tymora, welcomed the newcomers to the tavern, granting each of them a blessing of Aid, whilst one of the seated groups pooled coin into a pot, the most outspoken of them, a grinning half-elf named Cruendithas Tarmikos, explaining to the inquiring Teeraj'noxx that it was a wager as to how many of their party would be returning from their destination, gesturing to the well centering the bottom floor of the establishment. Quietly, in one corner of the second floor, a grizzled dwarvish wizard scrawled notes in a thick journal, greeting the party with an idle nod and an inquisitive glance before returning to his musings.
There were a few curios on display over the counter of the bar, where Durnan was cleaning glasses as the party acclimated to their surroundings; a pipe bearing the sigil of Elminster, famed sage of Faerun, as well as a bloodstained map of the Undermountain from Durnan's days as an adventurer. After a moment's greeting, the tavern keeper, giving them the first round of drinks free, explained that the Yawning Portal was moving further south to the Ashen Plains, a barren, sandy waste that had once been a mighty kingdom, before the land had been razed for betraying the local god-king, the ancient red dragon Ashardalon. The blights that had been growing in number and strength throughout the lands surrounding Neverwinter, including the forests outside of Oakhurst, were the proxies of one of these traitors, a former lieutenant of the Emperor of Ash, Gulthian, an Archfey who'd traded his station for some dark, undying cursed power and, once the dragon had been defeated, set himself up as the resident tyrant of the realm for a time, until running afoul of a circle of druids that had sealed him in turn. Now the blights were surging, draining blood from their victims to feed their unholy master's revival, and parties were being sent into his current holdout, the Sunless Citadel beneath the Ashen Plains, to end the threat of the fey vampire before he can regain his full measure.
With their objective in clear mind now, and aided by another visiting adventurer, Mordecai the Daybreak, the Thaneson of a kingdom far to the north, the party stepped into the well, paying their toll to employ the lift system, and lowered themselves through the eponymous yawning portal into the underdark, where the Sunless Citadel lay buried, sunk beneath the ground by the calamity that had wreaked devastation over Faerun. Making their way down the perilous steppes into the courtyard, ambushed at points by giant rats starved for meat, the group made their way into the ruined outer ramparts of the citadel, discovering a hidden archers' redoubt and dispatching the skeletons within as they rose to life before they could provide an unexpected attack. Finding hints of recent activity, from scattered and broken campfires, to scrawling graffiti and messages in goblin and draconic, they slipped deeper into the ruins, Teeraj'noxx cursing as he found a trapdoor foot-first and fended off another pack of rats waiting below, before investigating a strange, keg-like tank mechanism built into one of the rooms. Breaking the tap out of curiosity, expecting some form of drink to be held within, Traneck found himself hit with a blast of frost and steam as a pair of mephits burst from the pipe-system, immediately lashing out at the group with freezing gales and blistering vents of steam-heat as they flitted up towards the ceiling, out of the party's reach. Undeterred, Mushu and Kallista began using the walls to kick off, striking the floating steam mephit together with Edran's arrows and Noxx's spells firing off, as Mordecai, earning his keep with enthusiasm, wreaked dwarvish wrath on the ice mephit, his maul shattering it with all the righteous light of Pelor. Wearied from the unexpected elemental assault, the group fell silent, as the skittering of claws, the rattle of spears and stones, and the faint cacophany of small, manifold voices speaking in frenetic Draconic could be heard deeper down the halls.
The Current Roster
Edran Ostoroth: Level 2 Wood Elf Ranger; Teeraj'noxx: Level 3 Dragonborn Warlock (Tome of the Great Old One); Mushu: Level 3 Tortle Monk (Long Death); Kallisa: Level 3 Tiefling Rogue (Swashbuckler); and Traneck: Level 3 Goliath Barbarian (Herald of Seastorms).
Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.
Following the distant sounds of Draconic speech, the party found themselves amidst the court of the Ashbold, a tribe of kobolds that held home and worship in the Sunless Citadel, and after offering their help to one of their number, the distraught pet-keeper Meepo, they were presented as allies to the shaman chieftain of the tribe, Yusdrayl. With Teeraj'noxx explaining their quest to recover the lost adventurers and proclaiming themselves enemies of 'the fey betrayer', they were offered a favor for a favor: The Ashbold's rivals, the intruding Nightjade goblin clan, had been steadily overtaking much of the lower floors of the Citadel, and had recently grown so emboldened as to steal the Ashbold's pet black dragon whelp, Calcryx. If the party were to return the black dragon, one way or another, they would prove themselves allies of the Ashbold. As further incentive, and a show of good faith, Yusdrayl revealed one of the wayward adventurers, Sharwyn, had returned severely injured to the kobold grounds. Their party had not fared well in the lower levels, and as Mordecai remained behind to administer healing and ready Sharwyn to return to Oakhurst, the group made their way over the trapped hallway that protected the Ashbold's lair and, with the goblins seemingly absent from their new charge's nest and the pet keeper, Meepo, in tow, they prepared to do battle with Calcryx in an attempt to subdue him.
The battle opening with a fierce breath of acid towards the doorway that the group were just beginning to sneak through, as the black whelp immediately woke at the scent of its long-time captor, catching some of the troupe with the sizzling streak of corrosion. Flying up to keep out of reach of its adversaries, the dragonling was largely focused on trying to end the harried kobold, and as Traneck and Kallista harried it with javelin and dagger, and Edran and Teeraj'noxx fired off blasts to keep it pressured, Mushu quickly rushed the dragon, knocking it unconscious with a sharp shot to the skull. Bringing Meepo back up from the verge of death, the group helped bring the draconic pet back to the Ashbold as its keeper reworked the binding magicks on the young wyrm. Suitably impressed with the adventurers, Yusdrayl offered them not only reinforcements with which to cut off goblin ambushes, but a pair of artifacts to take with them: A feather token which would allow the instantaneous growth of a tree, and a pair of strength potions. Taking the opportunity to rest up in relatively-safe grounds, Edran was awakened from his elven trance by a snap of fey connection, as flying into his chamber came his companion, a fiercely-loyal Pseudodragon he'd raised in his youth, Cobalt. Upon waking, the party saw Mordecai off with Sharwyn, before coming to a decision to double back to the threshold of the Citadel and ensure the wing they had passed over was clear of danger.
Making their way into the wing, as they trudged together through the gallery, both Kallista and Traneck were confounded by a trapped musical enchantment, which compelled them to return to the trapdoor they had previously encountered in the entryway. The spell only growing stronger as the party attempted to shatter the orb, eventually the artifact was shattered, breaking the enchantment and allowing them to proceed through the secured dragon-door after a moment of the tiefling's lockpicking trade. Paused in their progress for a time by a sealed room and a magical statue asking them a riddle, eventually the group settled on an answer and moved past, into what appeared to be a guardroom leading into an ancient tomb. With the chambers separated by a pit filled with wooden, spiked poles, and Edran suffering a near-fatal misstep, the group quickly dispatched the lone quasit left behind to ensure the tomb was undisturbed, before, with some effort, breaking the locks and clasps that kept the sole sarcophagus shut. Almost immediately, they found themselves waylaid by the waking creature within; A former dragon-priest of Ashardalon, an elf who'd attempted to take on a draconic form himself, only to have his spell twisted into a curse by the other priests, mutating him into a troll. One who greeted the adventurers who'd released him with rakes of his gangly, clawed limbs even as he attempted to shove and bully them back into the pit they'd jumped over. After a harrowing battle, and the use of torchfire to stifle the monster's regeneration, the party returned with a new arsenal of spell scrolls, a haul of treasure, and making rest for the coming battles, prepared to assault the Jadenight's holdings.
Edran Ostoroth: Level 3 Wood Elf Ranger (Beastmaster); Teeraj'noxx: Level 3 Dragonborn Warlock (Tome of the Great Old One); Mushu: Level 3 Tortle Monk (Long Death); Kallisa: Level 3 Tiefling Rogue (Swashbuckler); and Traneck: Level 3 Goliath Barbarian (Herald of Seastorms).
Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.
(Sorry for the hiatus, but here's an update!)
With the Ashkin reasonably placated and impressed by their defeat of the ancient, traitorous priest, the adventuresome party found themselves moving deeper into the Jadenight's territory, though they found the goblins prepared and awaiting in ambush for them. Each room that the party ducked into to avail themselves of the hail of crossbow bolts firing in on them from well-covered goblin guards only found more goblins lying in wait. Their spiritual leader, a Booyagh of Gulthias, worked his own unstable magicks, putting the ranger and his companion to sleep and inundating himself with protective energy as, wading through the fire with rage and focused deadliness, Traneck and Mushu put paid to the goblin arbalests, with Kallista and Teeraj'noxx focusing their efforts on subduing the cunning, guilesome warlock battling them. After a pitched battle in the goblins' courtyard, Edran and Cobalt, having been roused into waking by their roguish counterpart with a smart bop from the hilts of her daggers, helped secure the Booyagh in ropes and binds after the pseudodragon's sting had put him to sleep, divesting the spellcaster of their possessions and gagging the goblin in an attempt to stop his spellcasts. As Teeraj'noxx began his mental interrogation of the warlock, though, the cunning goblinoid used their more physical intimidation to his advantage, suddenly flickering out of his bindings and out of sight in a shift of fey magic.
Left in the courtyard of the Jadenight Clan, the group took a quick moment to gather their new equipment and a breath of respite, including a powerful Pact Keeper's rod that Teeraj'noxx quickly identified and employed, before forcing their way through the heavy stone doors leading into the goblins' war room. There, they were confronted by the warchief of the clan, an imposing Hobgoblin wielding a greatsword and flanked by a pair of his kin, as above them, a pair of goblins had bows trained on the group. Listening to the Booyagh's description of the party's attack on their forces, the chieftain simply shrugged his shoulders and pointed towards Mushu, challenging the Tortle to single combat. If he won, the party would surrender themselves, and become thralls to the Jadenight's master below. Should the monk win, however, the goblins would retreat and allow the party to carry on unharrassed below to their master's sanctum. The battle began in earnest, with Mushu and the hobgoblin trading blows fearsomely, neither side giving quarter. As the Tortle began to falter, though, Teeraj'noxx, unwilling to see his partner cut down, unleashed his bolts of eldritch arcanum, signalling the start of a fierce melee in the relatively-small, circular war room.
As Traneck moved in to immediately take up where Mushu left off, covering the wounded Tortle with his bulky, roaring countenance and scything through the hobgoblin guards like a raging reaper of lightning and steel, Kallista, seeing an opportunity, stealthily crept along the perimeter of the room to where the chieftain was being healed by the very Booyagh they'd defeated earlier. Attacking the chieftain harshly with quiet, cold bladework, the tiefling found herself dismayed when the archers above turned their fire immediately to her, one arrow catching her in the shoulder as the Booyagh took his master's arm and flickered him up in a shift of sudden evocation to the grand balcony overlooking the room. Undaunted, Traneck and Mushu leapt up after him, Edran's arrow catching the chieftain in the shoulder as he was surrounded and cut down by the pair of burly bruisers, whilst below, Teeraj'noxx dealt with one last vicious trick his rival warlock had to pull, the vicious goblin fey-caster calling in the services of a vile hag to further waylay the party in his master's name.
Unfortunately for the Jadenight, with their hobgoblin veterans slain, their chieftain in two, and the ranger and Cobalt making quick work of the goblin archers overlooking the fight, the Hag proved an inadequate turn to the battle, as with the Booyagh suffering a rather brutal downward slash from the descending Traneck, she quickly found herself surrounded and, inevitably, defeated in a blitz of magic and martial prowess, dispersing back to the feywild she was pulled from. Leaving the party to take the Jadenight's last secure bastion, barricading the doors leading into the room with debris from the courtyard, before settling into a camp in the war room, Traneck hefting the new, masterfully-crafted greatsword over his back. It wouldn't be until they awoke from their hard-won sleep that the party would behold the bemused, patient and translucent green image of a tall, aloof, armored elven male looking down on them from the tabletop, arms folded behind him and head adorned with a blacksteel helm that was intricately gilded with silver thorns.
Working on a supplement for the adventure-minded. A project including (and crediting) homebrew subclasses from the community, a world of my own design, premade characters, magic items, and even a prologue adventure to start things off!
Past and Current Characters: Morgann 'Duskspear' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Paladin/Fighter/Warlock; Ephemeral 'Skye' Solbeard, Hill Dwarf Artificer; Zaldrick Lawscrip of Orzhov, Hobgoblin Wizard; Eremys Spydrun, Shadar'kai Monk; Cuchulainn, Wood Elf Blood Hunter.