CF - Volo's Adventurers' Guild - PbP Campaign

Serena bids the others good morning as she joins them a bit late, ordering in a hearty breakfast. "Invisibility, what a coincidence, I think I've mastered that old fey trick myself." She says to the gnome with a smile. "Could be really useful if we want to avoid fighting and just get away with these blades. The divination spell also sounds quite useful Banjo, but we don't really know much about what we're looking for right?" 

(So, who takes the potions, Tresvar and Livia?)

(Sure, Livia can keep one. Added to her sheet.)

"Do you remember what the Dwarves said we can expect to encounter in these caves? I remember a dragon and... something undead?" Livia shudders. Though they didn't feel especially dangerous, even the skeletons they met back in the citadel sent shivers down her spine. Just thinking that it is basically a person, but without all the... Livia tries to stop thinking about it, but as these things always are, that makes her think of it even more.

"I think I'm ready to go there again. Or, well, at least I think I can't be more ready than I am. Shall we finish and depart?" In fact, she's already mostly done with her breakfast. Well, the plate isn't empty, but Livia doesn't eat much. Though, she noted that she's been eating more than usual ever since she left home. Well, it makes sense. Her body needs more energy and materials to fuel the extra activity, and heal injuries.

Tresvar puts the other healing potion in her pack, making it clear to the group where it is stashed.  “Grab it if I’m down,  pour it down my throat.  and remind me we’ve got it if someone else needs..”. She smiles.  

"Don't remember much what those grey dwarves said, figured it would be a problem for another day. Perhaps we should pay them another visit before entering another section of the stronghold so that they can remind us what we will be up against?" Serena suggest, finishing up her breakfast, making sur Flappy gets some chunks of apple to gobble down before they are both ready to return to the dwarven citadel.

"So, should we get going?" Serena says after a while, ready to head back to the dwarven citadel. "Let's start by going back to the grey dwarves so that we can have some information on the next section of the citadel that we search for those blades." She suggests.

“Let’s go!  Sounds good to me..” Tresvar says

"Yes.  We have accepted the burden of this archaeological expedition and we must see it through to the end."

The team, rested up, replenished, (and leveled up) sets out once again for the Stone tooth. Arriving back at the cavern, the party is quickly overwhelmed by the stench of rotting orc flesh emanating from within. They cover their faces and press on. Choking back revulsion they make it back through to the stairs leading to the Glitterhame. They carefully navigate just the parts of it that they had before, avoiding any troglodyte patrols or swarms of stirges. They pick their way through the glittering cavern giving a wide berth to the ledge where the grick apparently hunt from.

After this gruesome spelunking, the team is almost relieved to ascend to the foundry level and finds themselves once again in the Great Hall - lined with ten great pillars, carved into the forms of giants and dragons, that support the vaulted ceiling high above. Guttering orange torches set in sconces along the walls illuminate the room, and a mighty throne sits on a dais at the opposite end.

You can see five other exits.

On the western end of the north wall
On the eastern end of the north wall
On the east wall behind the throne
On the western end of the south wall
On the eastern end of the south wall

The sound of hammers ringing on iron comes from beyond the doors to the south.

You are stopped by two gray dwarf guards and made to wait while a third goes east.

After a while, the eastern door reopens and Ghared appears.

She marches forward to stand right before Tresvar. Standing there silently, for a moment she seems to take the party in. She then grunts, "Hrmphf... it has been a while, but you have returned. You seem to have lost a member. Was she eaten or simply flee?"

"No, Araynia did her duty to the town of Blasingdell by assisting us in ridding this area of it's foul orc presence, but she will likely return with a vengeance should any other threats appear from this citadel." Serena says confidently, taking a step forward. "Our intention however is still to search these halls and I assume our earlier agreement is still in effect, so if you could reiterate what you said about what threats these different levels of the fortress holds and we'll be on our way again." She continues with a polite bow.

Persuasion if needed to make Ghared cooperate as before: 23 Another roll if help action is given: 15

Tresvar provides help by  trying to give a friendly grin but probably looking intimidating. 

"Yes.  I daresay this has been a rather straightforward operation thus far.  The Orcs proved decidedly less fearsome than their reputations would suggest."  He conjures his quill and prepares to jot down some notes.  "As we catalog the history of this place, I am curious how you came to reside here?  Are there tunnels to the Underdark somewhere below?  Did your people arrive long after Durgeddin and his kin were gone?  Or did you play some role in their eviction?"  Banjo asks this with no tone of accusation, merely intellectual curiosity.

Ghared looks a little surprised at the confirmation that the orcs had been removed. "Hmmm, very good. Yes, yes ... we shall continue to respect our agreement. Will you scour the halls to the north, go back to the caverns of the Glitterhame, or descend to peruse the hoard of the dragon in the black lake?"

Listening to Banjo, the gray dwarf is at first attentive, then astonished at the cavalcade of words and finally, insulted. "We had nothing to do with Durgeddin's defeat", she replies tersely. The guards crowd in a little closer. They do not seem to like the suggestion of having 'evicted' Durgeddin.

"Well, we're not here for you, just for some things of interest to the scholars back home in Waterdeep." Serena intervenes to defuse the sudden tension. "What can you tell us about the halls to the north, what dangers will they hold for us?" She asks curiously.

Persusion if needed to keep things peaceful: 14 Another roll if help action is given: 17

Banjo nods and continues writing things down, seemingly oblivious to any offense he has caused.

Ghared huffs, then turning to the more socially attuned Serena, "Bad things happened here. The doors to the north lead to halls infested with undead and cursed magic. Those who adventure there naively are quickly lost to death, madness or worse."

"Well, were not naïve, isn't that right Livia?" Serena says in a sincere tone, then turning to the team. "I'm aware the undead may seem really creepy but with Tresvar on point I'm confident we will not lose ourselves to neither death nor madness, and we would need to go there eventually to make sure it doesn't hold any of the objects we are looking for. What do you say?"

"Perhaps, if that's the case, we should start with the dragon?" Livia suggests to the others. "We have more experience fighting a dragon than we do the things she described." Though, she had no idea if a real dragon will be like that young one even the Kobolds were able to contain in a cage. 

"Has any of you seen either the dragon or the other dangers that lurk, either there or in the north? Do you know what we can expect?" Livia asks the Dwarf. The talk about the Dwarves' history passes above her head. She had studied some history, but that was beyond her.

Ghared looks flatly at Livia, listening to her consider the options. After a pause she offers some more information, "The undead to the north appear to be part of a curse... somehow protective but also somehow corrupted. There are a number of different forms. Some are skeletal warriors raised from the bones of a long ago battle in these halls. Others are more spectral, whether ghosts or wights. All have one thing in common - they are territorial and will not leave what they consider their domain. This can be good and bad. There is some presence behind it and those who have survived expeditions there have sense a foreboding sense of it.

The dragon is something else. None have survived close inspection of her. She is a black dragon, her scales matte with aging. Not even our ability to hide has fully protected us, although we don't think she can 'see' us when invisible... more that she has some other sense to locate us. The end result has been that all who are detected are savagely dissolved or eaten.

We have, through the loss of several of our company, managed to establish a deal for her to leave us alone - provided we continue to contribute to her hoard. It is a drain on our production. The troglodytes are her true minions. They also make our life here, uncomfortable."

"Maybe... we should head north, then." Livia turns back to the others, clearly shaken from imagining herself being dissolved before getting to do anything. Clearly, black dragons were nothing like white dragons. Perhaps age had something to do with the difference too. 

"Perhaps," she offers, "if we hurry through, we'll be able to leave a creature's domain before they can harm us." With skeletal warriors and ghosts involved in the matter, Livia doesn't know whether she can persuade them to leave them alone. Well, maybe. But what she's certain of is that she'd rather not deal with them too much. "And if we can make it straight to this... presence? Then maybe we can make them all go away?"

Serena listens to Ghared and nods as Livia speaks. "Yes, we could possibly avoid some fights but we should try to put them all to rest I think before we leave, even if we might do so by confronting this evil presence. Also it is good to know they will likely not pursue us if we find it necessary to fall back and recuperate at some point." She says, making herself ready to move on, giving Flappy some dried fruit from her rations to keep his spirits up. "So, ready to go then?" She asks the others in the team.