Waterdeep: Dragon Heist - Meph's Weekly game

[Meph]

Ed, you make your way North West to the Sea Ward which is upper class. You find an inn to hold up in and change into your fine clothes. You change your appearance the best you can and change your name. You take on your alter id and begin to integrate yourself within the upper class. You see the daily broadsheets and realize they have figured out who you guys are but you are confident in your ability to hide. You have spend years honing 2 separate identities and know you wont be recognized. After a day or two you venture out of the inn and start putting your ear to the street to find out what is going on. You hear that the Guard has been busy and Hung Lo was immediately taken into custody. You hear that Larson was mysteriously handed over to the watch by an unknown source. Even Rhys was caught in a trap when the Watchful Order captured him with a spell as he tried to escape through the Field Ward. You aren't going to make the same mistakes. Fleeing just increases the risk of getting caught. You aren't going anywhere familiar so they can trap you like they did Hung Lo. You are staying away from gates so they can't trap you like they did Rhys. Most importantly you aren't trusting anyone and keeping your mouth shut. You don't really know what happened to Larson but you don't plan to find yourself handed over to the guard. You are smarter than all of that.



For the next few days you keep checking the broadsheets but there is still no word of Tim the Cleric. Good for him, he managed to get away and soon enough you will make your escape from Waterdeep. The next morning you at sitting in your room when in through the open window flies a paper bird! You open it up and much to your surprise it's from Tim. He says he has been hiding out at an Inn in the North ward and has a plan to get them both out tonight. He will send another bird soon with details. Your spirits lift as you realize you still have a friend on the outside with you. You begin to pack up your remaining belongings so you are ready to go when the time comes. About 2 hours later the time comes as a second paper bird flies in your window.



"Meet me in the alley, a coach is waiting"



You strap on your swords, grab your extra armor in your pack and head out the back door. You look into the alley and there is a single coach sitting outside the door. The driver quickly waves you on and says "we must go now". You dash across the alley and jump into the back of the coach, and quickly realize your mistake. As soon as the door you see Cromley and Barnibus. You turn to flee as 2 Griffon Riders land in the alley right behind you and several guards rush out the doors of the building behind the Inn.



“Your trap worked like a charm Barnibus. You were right. No amount of disguise can hide from a magic paper bird”. At that you realize the one mistake you made.

[Meph]

Tim, on the 3rd night in the temple you are visited for the first time in your life with a major vision. The experience is too vivid and real to be a dream. The vision begins with the familiar scene of the village you were raised in. You see your parents, you see the girl again but this time you hear voices. Sister.....she is your sister.



Quickly the vision changes just as you had remembered. Flames and Chaos as you remembered but now you see details. You see your father in that unfamiliar church standing in a summoning circle. He sacrifices a goat and the blood fills the runes surrounding the circle. Those shapes that you once thought were attacking the village are winged creatures that come from the circle that your father has created.



He calls to your mother and tells her to bring the boy. They argue and he strikes her. He orders her to bring the boy and she finally concedes. She rushes across the street to your house and rather than give you to your father, she rushes you out the back. A man is waiting behind the house with his wagon and your mother puts you in the back. She thanks the man and tells him not to stop until he gets your to the priests, only they can keep you safe.



As you are driven away your perspective now changes and you are watching the events unfold over the village. Your father goes first goes into a rage when he realizes what your mother has done, then he goes white with fear. You see a great Demon step forth from the summoning circle. He tells your father that he has failed in his bargain and as a result their lives are forfeit. You see your mother and father fall to the grounds and you see their souls escape from their bodies, shackled and wracked in pain, and then fly into the circle and disappear.



The Demon turns to your sister and says that she is now his reward for the failed bargain. Your sister floats across the ground toward the demon and the two of them enter the circle. The circle closes and in an instant the town is silent. Most of the townspeople are dead to the winged devils that came through the portal.



Now the scene changes and you see your sister dressed in all black with a blank stare on her face. She stands beside this great Demon as he sits on a throne. You see your friends (Larson Rhymes, Rhys Rhovandir, Hung Lo, and Kaldrake) kneeling before the Demon. In one swipe of the hand your friends drop to the floor as their souls rise from their corpses. Your vision flashes and again you see your friends standing before the Demon, this time you stand beside them and you all raise your weapons and prepare for battle!



Your vision flashes one last time and this time you see your friends sitting in cells in Castle Waterdeep awaiting their fates. In a moment of clarity you realize that your destiny is not predetermined. You know you can change it but only if you stand with your friends. You know what you must do. You pack up your items of value and store them in your room at the temple, and you set out on your path to the front gates of Castle Waterdeep.

And with that, the entire party is now in Castle Waterdeep awaiting their fates. That is where we will pickup on Sunday.

[Meph]

SESSION 8: New Beginning



I have been hesitant to keep posting this campaign journal because honestly I am not sure anyone is really reading it.  We'll see.  Anyways, here was the beginning of last Sundays session. This first part is the 6 pages of dialog I had written up that began the session. It tied in all of their actions to date with the murders of Lady Gralhund. I am actually happy with how I tied it all up. The players are now working for the city, know of the main plot, and really have to watch their backs. Should be interesting. Next post will include the actual session.

You have each spent what you believe is a ten day in your cells. The days seem to blend into each other and the only faces you have seen are the guards who have brought your meals. They have been unwilling to have any conversation with you. When you were first brought in you were informed that you were being charged with organizing a raid upon a noble’s home and murder of Lady Gralhund.



Your cell is made of stone walls with a steel door. The door has a simple barred window that provides the only light. Since you were brought in you have heard others brought into the cells that line this hall. You tried to communicate but the guards quickly put a stop to it. It appears that this hall is manned at all hours.

In the days that followed you began to wonder if you would even get a trial or just be quietly executed behind the walls of Castle Waterdeep. Then one morning the door opened to what you assumed was your normal morning meal and 3 City Guards enter your cell. “Get up, it’s time to meet your fate. The Magistrate is waiting so no delay”. You are shackled and walked out of your cell. You look to your left and right, and much to your surprise you see your friends going through the same process. As you are all shacked the guards march you as a group down the hall to a set of stairs leading up. They lead you through several halls and within minutes you are ushered into a small court room.



Outside the room the door if flanked by 2 City Guard and you find the same on the inside of the room. There are uncomfortable benches along the wall to the right where you are told to sit. In the center of the room are 2 desks pushed together. There are assorted papers, inks, and quills on the desk. Two court clerics work here supporting the Magister.



The Magister’s cloth draped desk faces a defendant’s box and 3 wooden pews. The court room is empty of guests today. Hanging on the west wall are tasseled banners depicting the coats of arms of the City of Waterdeep, the Waterdeep City Watch, and the Waterdeep City Guard, as well as the seal of the Lords of Waterdeep and the symbol of Tyr, god of justice.



You sit for about 15 minutes and are able to communicate amongst each other until you hear the doors in the back of the room open and one of the Clerks stands, calling court in session.

From the back of the room you see Sgt Cromley of the Watch, Barnibus of the Watchful Order, and a finely dressed Human man enter and approach. The man approaches you and introduces himself as Kendrick Jeffers III and he will be representing you on behalf of an influential benefactor. He tells you that he will do all the talking and do not say a word unless the Magister specifically orders you to speak. He then approaches the Magister and has a few words. You notice Cromley sneering at you with hatred in his eye.



The Magistrate tells you all to rise and you are all instructed to move next to Kendrick. The cleric begins by reading the charges. “You are brought before the Magistrate on this day, the 20th of Kythorn in the year of 1492, the year of Three Ships Sailing. Presiding today is Magister Umbro Zastro. You have been charged with the following crimes:

• Crime against a Citizen - Charge of Burglary for the unlawful entry into Gralhund Villa.

• Crime against a Citizen - Murdering a Citizen without Justification, for the murders of 11 people that were found throughout Gralhund Villa.

• Crime against a Noble - Murder of a Lord, Noble, or Official for the murder of Lady Yalah Gralhund.



You understand that these crimes carry penalties of varying degrees but the last charge of Murder of a Noble carries the penalty of death. If you are found guilty your sentence will be carried out within a ten day here in Castle Waterdeep. How do you plead to these charges?”

At that Kendrick Jeffers steps forward and says “Your honor these men are innocent of all of the crimes listed above. As I am sure Sgt Saeth Cromley of the Watch as well as Barnibus Blastwind of the Watchful Order are no doubt going to tell you, these men were falsely accused and their investigations have proven these men innocent.”



Cromley steps forward and quickly states “Well now I wouldn’t say they are innocent. You know as well as I do that someone influenced Orond Graldund. They murdered Lady Gralhund and went into hiding and if it weren’t for the hard work of the Watch, these men would still be on the run”.

Kendrick says “You honor, it is true that Orond Gralhund initially implicated these men. That wrongful accusation is why these men were hunted. Through their investigations I am sure that Cromley can confirm that house staff hidden within the house have told stories about Zhentarim spies infiltrating the house, murdering house staff, and attempting to get at Yalah Gralhund.



I am sure they can also tell you that in our roundup of Zhentarim operatives and interrogation of them, we have found that they were operating in league with the Gralhunds and feeling double crossed over some deal gone bad that they were in the house to exact revenge.

I’m sure they are also just about ready to tell you that in the course of investigating the manor over the following days Orond Gralhund refused them access to parts of their house. It took several days to find a magistrate willing to grant the investigators access to search the entire house. During the course of that search they recovered materials of Devil worship tying the Gralhund family to the Cult of Asmodeus that has recently surfaced within some of the wealthy houses in Waterdeep.

As a result of their ties to the Cult of Asmodeus and the Black Network, House Gralhund has been stripped of their noble rank and their assets seized. Orond Gralhund has also recanted his statement about the men before you killing his wife. He now admits he has no idea who did it and just made the story up to hide his affiliations.



Cromley says “This is all a bunch of crap. You know as well as I do that they killed that woman. They were there when the Xanathar assassins tried to kill the Zhentarim Wizard Urlon Vhule at the Yawning Portal, in fact they even tried to save him. They were also present in the Zhentarim Warehouse in Candlestick lane when the Xanathar guild sent his Kenku Assassins to murder the Zhentarim spies. Bytheir own admission they were there for Renaer Neverember who happened to have been kidnapped by the Zhentarim and was being held there. They were conveniently there to kill the Kenku assassins.

Yet again they were there when the Zhentarim killed Dalakar, the Rock Gnome spy that worked for Lord Dagault Neverember just outside their Tavern on Troll Skull Alley. 12 people were killed in that explosion but we believe it was them that set it off fearing that Dalakar was going to get away with something. A black hooded man was seen grabbing something from the Gnome and fleeing the scene.”



Then it brings us to the Gralhund Villa Bloodbath and we know how that turned out.



<clap> <clap> <clap> (Kendrick slow clapping)



“Bravo Sgt Cromley, that is quite the story you paint. It still doesn’t change the fact that your evidence points elsewhere and you are upset that the Watch doesn’t “Always get our man” as you are so fond to say.”, Kendrick says. “As for the fireball on Trollskull Alley, witnesses have placed these men in their shops or at the Manor during the fireball incident. Furthermore, the Gnome Dalakar was spotted actually heading towards Trollskull Manor, not away as your story would paint.”



“You honor in light of the evidence, or lack thereof I ask the court release these men and drop all charges against them. The only charge that they could possibly be guilty of is Trespassing in house Gralhund. My clients stated initially when they were arrested that they heard the screams within the house and came to assist. They believed someone to be in trouble and ultimately ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. So all that said, I ask that the charges be dropped and these men free to go.”



Kendrick approaches the bench and produces a wax sealed envelope from his breast pocket.



[Any player attempting to identify the seal can do so with a 20 Wisdom (Perception) check]



The magistrate breaks the seal and pulls out a single piece of parchment. He reads it for a minute, folds it back up and puts it into his own pocket and says “Yes, yes….I think it’s time to get this charade over with. In light of the evidence presented, all charges are formally dropped and you are free to go, with the express apology from the City for the inconvenience.”



Cromley looks so red he is about to burst and screams, “This is outrageous. I will not take this laying down. I will go all the way to Lady Vasjra if need be. I will not see murderers walking free on my street.” And with that, Cromley and Barnibus storm out of the court room.

The Magistrate rises and says “Good day gentlemen, I trust I won’t see you in here ever again”, and he leaves.



Kendrick leads you down the hall and brings you to sitting room where you find all of your belongings laid out on a table. “Gentlemen, this is where I leave you. Get your things in order and my boss will be in momentarily. She is anxious to speak with you. I trust you realize what she has managed to do for you.”, and with that he leaves.



You gather up your belongings. There is a wash basin in the room and given your ten day in a cell, you are in dire need of some cleaning. About 30 minutes after Kendrick leaves, the door opens again and in walks a beautiful woman, dressed in white flowing robes. She walk with a timeless grace and elegance as she enters the room, but you sense an unimaginable power exuding from her. As she enters two men step from being and flank her. You immediately recognize both Mirt and Jalester Silvermane.



The white robed woman speaks,



“Allow me to introduce myself, I am Laeral Silverhand, the Open Lord of Waterdeep. You have worked with both Mirt and Jalester Silvermane in the past I am told. Mirt has been one of my most trusted advisors for more years than I care to admit. Jalester was introduced to me by my old friend Elminster and after helping to expose a plot by a group of corrupted Masked Lords, Jalester has become one of my best Field Agents. I must admit, I find this situation most interesting but both Mirt and Jalester speak highly of your characters, though I find some of your methods a bit crude. I am more a fan of keeping my enemies close rather than running a sword through them. All of that aside though, you have done good bringing to our attention a dire plot to steal a great sum of money belonging to the people of Waterdeep as well as giving us leads into a sinister cult growing within the city.”



“As you well know there has been a blood gang war going on between the Xanathar’s guild and the Zhentarim. Renaer Neverember’s capture by the Zhentarim began us on this journey of discovery. The Zhentarim and Xanathar learned that the previous Open Lord Dagault Neverember had embezzeled a huge cache of Dragons from the city coffers and hid it in a vault somewhere under the city. Xanathar believed that the Zhentarim knew the location of this vault and was trying to double cross him so the Xanathar began this war. The truth is, to our knowledge nobody knows the location of this vault yet.”



“We do know that there is an Artifact named the Stone of Golorr that when studied will reveal the location of the Vault and the keys needed to open it. It appears that Lord Neverember’s political ouster from Waterdeep disrupted his plans to remove this cache of Dragons so he sent his trusted Gnome Spy Dalakar to try and find assistance. Hearing of how you had rescued his son, and having no more assets on the inside, he hoped to find assistance from you. Dalakar was on his way to your tavern with the Stone of Golorr when he was ambushed. 3 Zhentarim were fast on his heels when the fireball struck killing him. We obtained this information willingly when we spoke with him in the morgue.”



“After the fireball one of the Zhentarim lived and was able to retrieve the Stone of Golorr and make his escape. That spy was none other the Urstul Floxin and infamous Black Network Assassin. He fled to Gralhund Villa. What we now know was that Lady Gralhund had been in league with the Zhentarim for some time now. She heard word about this cache of dragons and was attempting to use knowledge of this vault to further her influence and standing within the Cult of Asmodeus. We had not been able to determine who it is that she works for but we do know it is a very rich and influential family in Waterdeep.” “As powerful as I may appear as Open Lord, I am only one of many ruling lords. While I am the deciding factor in everything pertaining to Waterdeep, if I were to ruffle the feathers too much of the Masked Lords I could find myself out the same as Lord Neverember. While Dagault is truly corrupt, he isn’t an evil man. He was referred to as the Tyrant because he thought himself the law, thus the Masked Lords rose up and ousted him. If I were to start a war with a rich and influential noble family I might find my reign here short. So you can imagine why the utmost discretion is used when I play the game of chess. The only way to make a move against one of these families is with hard, concrete proof and even then, only if I can get backing from the other houses.”



“Urstul Floxin returned to Gralhund Villa and delivered the Stone of Golorr as promised. It wasn’t until hours later that he found out through his network that Lady Gralhund had doubted his ability and sent the Nimbleright as backup. You know how that turned out and Urstul gathered up his forces to assault the Villa. You interrupted his plans to kill Lady Gralhund. The Black Network had decided that Lord Orond Gralhund would be easier to manage in the long run. Orond knew nothing about this plan, only that if he turned on them his children would die.”



“While the whole scenario was unfortunate for you, it brought to light this whole plot and has given us cause for action. That brings us to today. We could have easily let you hang for your crimes”, as she points to Kaldrake, then sweeps across to the rest of you “and you all live the rest of your lives in exile. That of course would be undesirable for you, and of no help to us. You now unofficially work for me. You will find the Stone of Golorr, locate the Vault of Dragons, and secure the gold keeping it from the hands of those that wish to steal it for nefarious purposes. The gold will return to the city coffers where it belongs, to be used for the good of the people as it was originally intended. Now this quest isn’t without great danger. We are aware that the Xanathar guild is actively seeking it, as well as the Zhentarim. Our latest info has told us that this is not the Zhentarim we have come to know as the Doom Raiders, this is a splinter faction supposedly run by a clone of the Arch Mage Manshoon. If that is the case then this is more dire than thought. If they were to get their hands on that gold there is no telling what they would be capable of. We have also heard that Jarlaxle Baenre may be in town. Jarlaxle is an infamous Drow Elf and leader of Bregan D’earthe. Jarlaxle is most devious and if I know him well, he has his hands in this somehow.”



“Your task won’t be easy and we may provide assistance if we are able, but for the most part we will not openly interfere. If you are able to locate and open the vault then get us word and we will provide assistance moving the gold. One last piece of advice, or warning, in that Vault lies 500,000 gold Dragons belonging to the City of Waterdeep. I intend that gold to be returned to its rightful place. If you help us with this you will have allies for life in Waterdeep and around the realms. If you cross us, you will die. I am not without compassion though. I ask you to risk your lives. In return I have given you back your lives but if you complete this task I will also give your group 10,000 Dragons as a reward. I hope you find this agreement to be satisfactory, as it is the only one you will be offered.”



“As for your task, the first thing you must do is recover the Stone of Golorr. We know that Lady Gralhund had given the Nimbleright instructions to hide the Stone when the assault on her Villa began. We have had word that an unknown Nimbleright has been spotted at various locations in the North Ward. It has been seen hiding in various alleys and when discovered it flees. Find it and hopefully you will have the Stone of Golorr. One last bit of advice, steer clear of the Watch. Lady Vasjra and I do not always see eye to eye on the security of the city. She is a good woman but is sometimes quick to act. You have a clean slate but have made some enemies within the Watch. If you find yourself on the wrong side of the law again I am not sure I can protect you. Good luck, we will be in touch.”

[Meph]

SESSION 8: Chapter 4 - Dragon Season



The Cleric and Rogue were both missing this week so we ran the session with only the Fighter, Bard, and Ranger.



After the party was released they took the knowledge that Laeral Silverhand gave them and headed to the North Ward in search of the Nimblewright. They had the Nim Detector in hand and began asking around. The Nim had been spotted several times in recent days and had been hiding out in alleyways. The players closed in on the Nim and tracked him down to an alley. They decided to surround him and approach from both sides of the alley. They cornered him and he was ready to fight. They party ended up killing the Nimblewright but the Stone of Golorr was nowhere to be found. Searching the Nim they did find a hand drawn map from Lady Gralhund with directions to a Mausoleum in the City of the Dead.



The players returned the head of the Nim back to the Temple of Gond as proof that they had destroyed it and claimed their reward from Valetta, then they set off the the City of the Dead to locate this Mausoleum. After a couple hours of wandering the cemetery they were able to find the Mausoleum. The name on the Mausoleum is CASSALANTER which is one of the biggest banking families in Waterdeep. Since the City of the Dead is a park/cemetery it is pretty busy during the daylight hours and the party opted to wait until dark. Once dark the party made their way to the entrance of the Mausoleum to find signs of a lot of foot traffic outside the door. The bard was unable to pick the lock so he resorted to a knock spell to get it open. Once inside they saw more tracks in the dust indicating that there was very recent activity. As they explored down the stairs in the underground crypt the found 3 corpses in the hall below. A quick check revealed that one of them, a female named Vaelle was still alive but severely injured. They gave her a cure wounds to get her up and found out that the three of them were members of the Cult of Asmodeus. The girl had just been forced into the Cult by her boyfriend who lay dead on the ground next to her. She said they came here along with 2 higher ranking Cult Fanatics to meet the Nimblewright and take possession of the Stone of Golorr. Once they made the exchange the 2 Fanatics turned on them and murdered them as a security measure, because they knew too much. She says the plan was to take the Stone of Golorr to a Cult hideout at an abandoned Windmill here in Waterdeep. She gave the party directions and said her short stint with the cult was more than enough for her. They party let her go and she said she was returning to her job as a florist.



The party decided to stay on the trail of the Stone of Golorr and headed to the Windmill. The windmill had been one of the early buildings in Waterdeep and the city sprung up around it. It was converted to a residence a century ago and is now in complete disrepair. As the party made their way in they found the entire downstairs occupied by squatters. A little talk though found that upstairs there was a locked room where some robed figures were using as a hideout recently. The party threw the squatters some coin and told them to clear out. The party made their way up the stairs and overheard voices asking "Make sure you get this Stone to the Lord and Lady. Do not fail". Hearing that the party decides they need to get in the room fast. The bard casts another knock spell and they burst into the room. Inside there are 2 Cult Fanatics standing by the window handing the Stone of Golorr off to 3 Spined Devils! The party immediately attacks that the Cultists move to block them. The 3 Devils take off out the window.



The Fighter engages the first Cultist and uses his 2nd attack. He ends up critting one of his attacks and takes down one Cultist in the first round. The bard engages the other Cultist while the Ranger dashes forward. Outside the 2nd story window of this Windmill is the roof tops of the buildings around it. The Ranger jumps out the window to the rooftop and begins to chase the Devils. On the second round the Fighter jumps out the window and begins the chase also while the Bard stays behind to kill the other Cultist.



This was the first time we used the 5th Edition Chase mechanic. There is a lot of potential there for it but I will definitely house rule it in the future. As written in the DMG I find it a bit clunky and a lot of dice rolling skill checks. I think a lot of that can be resolved through some roleplay and the players "telling" me what they want to do rather than just random skill rolls. Anyways, the chase went on with the player's getting close to the Devils before the 2 of them dove into the alley and meet up with a coach that was waiting for them. The one carrying the stone actually ended up hitting a Glyph of Warding that was set on a rooftop to ward off robbers, dropped the stone and one of the others picked it up before dropping to the alley.



The Ranger stayed up top and engaged the fallen Devil while the Fighter jumped off the roof onto the roof of the Coach. The Devil handed the Stone to the occupants of the coach while the fight progressed. The Ranger killed the one up top and began firing arrows below to assist the Fighter. The door to the coach burst open and an Imp flew out the door struggling with the Stone of Golorr in hand and flew out of the Alley into the main street. The Ranger ran across the roof tops following the Imp as it flew into the street. At the same time the coach driver took off, spilling the Fighter and the Spined Devil on the ground as the coach sped off into the opposite street. The Ranger watched as the crowd in the street panicked as they saw this Imp fly into their midst. 3 Street Urchins saw the Imp and one of them pulled out his slingshot. A well placed shot struck the Imp solidly and it dropped the Stone into the crowd. The Urchins grabbed the Stone and ran into an alley across the main street from the group. In a split moment the Ranger cast Hunter's Mark on the Urchin with the Stone as he saw him escape down the alley.



The Bard finished with the Cultist headed to street level and followed the roofline that the group headed off in. He came to the main street to see the commotion and spotted the Ranger on the rooftop of the corner building. The Fighter finished off the last Devil as the party met up in the alley. The Ranger told them about the 3 Street Urchins and they set across the street to find them. The Imp in a panic after dropping the Stone dropped into the crowd only to be attacked by the City Guard. As that commotion was going on the party headed into the alley where they saw the Urchins run. The Ranger began tracking the Hunter's Marked Urchin and they found the gate to a cellar complex of one of the buildings slightly open. Many of the cellars of these old buildings connect to each other as well as connect to the sewer system. The party is able to track them into one section of the sewer when they head a young girl scream. They rush forward and find 3 kids (the Street Urchins). The oldest of them is the girl and she is sobbing while the two younger boys try to console her.







The party asks them what happened and Nat says that there is a monster in the other room. She says she was examining a Stone and some monster entered her mind. She screamed, dropped it, and ran. She says she will show the party where it is. She leads them a couple rooms over and points to the Stone of Golorr sitting on the floor under a rocking chair. The Bard steps forward to pick it up as Nat says "Hey, where did that rocking chair come from". The Mimic disguised as a chair attacks the Bard and a small fight ensues. The Mimic at level 3 wasn't nearly the challenge that the 2 were for the whole party back at level 2. They quickly dispatch of the Mimic and recover the Stone of Golorr.



They talk with Nat, Jenks, and Squiggy and find out that they have been living on the streets. Nat takes care of them. The party decides to offer them a home at Trollskull Manor if they are willing to work around the Tavern. They aren't sure if they can trust the party so they tell them they will think about it. They all leave the cellar with the Stone of Golorr finally in hand.



That is where we ended the session. This week I expect that the first thing they will do is attune the Stone and learn the location of the Vault of Dragons as well as what keys are required to open the vault.

[margaret]

I read them! although this one must have taken a LOT of time to write...

[Meph]

Nov 26, 2018 0:55:35 GMT margaret said:

I read them! although this one must have taken a LOT of time to write...

It did.  I wrote the first post before last week's game session and actually that was the beginning of the session.  It was a 6 page pdf that I just copied and pasted to the post here.  The 2nd one about the game session was the part I wrote up today.  I enjoy posting them but sometimes they take me an hour+ to get all of my notes and details straight to post them.  I just didn't want to keep doing it if nobody was reading them.  Glad to hear ya are.  Hope you are enjoying them.  I am getting a lot of great feedback from my players.  Some of the old timers tell me this is hands down the best campaign they have ever been in.  A lot of roleplaying.

Tomorrow I will try and get tonight's session posted.  We played for 4 1/2 hours and had a single combat the whole night.

[skunkape]

I find the story interesting and a good read. I find that by reading others' adventure posts gives me inspiration for my games!

[factoriatabletop]

here is another one who read them!
never played DnD so is perfect to learn the system and the method!
very well done by the way

[Meph]

SESSION 9: Stone of Golorr & Dragon Vault Keys



I am getting bad at keeping up to date with these. Today is game day and I am posting last week's session. If I go too long I am going to start forgetting details so I will try and keep them up to date.



This session began with the party finally in possession of the Stone of Golorr. They decide to head back to Trollskull Manor with it and Tim the Cleric is going to attune to it and try to learn the keys required and the location of the Vault of Dragons. The Stone is actually an Aboleth imprisoned within the stone. It allows the player to cast the Legend Lore spell 1d3 times per day and ask it a question pertaining to the Vault or the Keys. It tends to be vague and cryptic in its answers which come in the form of visions. So the first day the party isn't able to get much good information about it because they waste their charges asking the wrong types of questions. I gave them 3 charges the first day and they rolled 3 for day 2. They ended up locating the Vault as well as 2 keys this session.



Key 1 The first vision was of an opera house. Bagpipes were playing. Tim walked through the opera house and looked at the crowd but everyone's face was blank, no details at all. He proceeded towards the stage and could see the performers up on stage, but as the audience their faces were blank. They were singing something in Dwarven but he couldn't make out words. The only detail that stuck out was that every performer had a large beard. They decided to contact Mirt since he first met them at an Opera House and said he loved the Opera. They told him they had recovered the stone and were trying to locate the vault. They also told him their vision. Mirt told them it sounded like a classical Dwarven love song called "My Beardy Face" that is performed with Bagpipes. He said the opera has been out of production for years but he did know that his biggest rival (the biggest moneylender in Waterdeep) was Victorio Cassalanter and he collected Jars of Mist, magical vials with swirling mist in them and when uncorked they would play a specific song. He said if anyone were to have a copy of it Victorio would be the guy. They asked if Mirt thought Victorio would hand it over and he said not a chance.



The Bard hatched a plan to try and woo one of the house staff for information so he planted himself outside Cassalanter Villa and waited until he saw the house staff leaving in the evening. He singled out a young maid and approached her while she was leaving through the side staff door. Tim the Cleric was with him and followed from behind casting his Guidance cantrip on him to assist his skill checks. He tried to sweet talk her and rolled well on his persuasion check. He walked her home and decided to play her a song on his lute, again rolling well on his performance check. Since her house was in the North Ward he convinced her to go to this little tavern he knew of called Trollskull Manor. They enter the Tavern and the Fighter and Ranger are there and they treat him like royalty. They offer him his "usual" table and bring him a bottle of the best wine. He tells her this story about how he has dedicated his life to music of all kinds and would love to listen to some famous works, unfortunately he has never had the opportunity. After a couple glasses of wine she tells him that her employer is a collector of music. One last persuasion check and she agrees to sneak him into the villa on the following night so he can hear some of this music.



They hatch a plan for the next night. The main entrance is guarded on the inside and out. The servant entrance is guarded on the inside. She explains that he needs to climb the wall into the garden area and stay hidden, there are guards that patrol. Off the garden there is a mudroom entrance that she will let him in through when there are no guard patrols. So everything goes as planned and she is able to sneak him in. She gets him to the library but tells him that Victorio Cassalanter is in his reading room directly off the library. He enters the library and its 12 foot shelves around the room with rolling ladders. The rest of the room is empty of furniture as everything is taken from there to the reading room. She leaves him there and says she has to keep to task so she doesn't arouse suspicion. Larson is able to easily locate the Jars of Mist stored on the upper shelves. Unfortunately there are about 80 of them. He gets up the ladder to start investigating when he hears Victorio in the next room headed to the library. He drops from the ladder and barely makes his stealth check as he slides out the door leading back to the garden mud room. Victorio heads out the door to the main entrance and he hears Victorio telling his guards that he is retiring for the night. Larson quickly locates the Jar he is looking for and slips back out and over the wall.



Key 2 The second vision is in the sewers. Tim the cleric sees himself in a room with blinking eyes set into the walls. He walks down a tunnel in the sewer and opens a door to see a rotting Beholder standing in front of him. He sees a quick slash of a blade and a hand holding up a rotten eye stalk. This is where the party goes all off the rails. They assume that they have to kill Xanathar which would be the end of this party. They remembered that in the Old Xoblob shop there was a very old stuffed Beholder that was painted purple. They think maybe the vision means they just need any beholder eye stalk so Tim the Cleric and Kaldrake the Fighter head over there. They try and roleplay their way through this but Xoblob isn't giving up his beholder without a hefty price. They try and distract him to steal and eye stalk but fail every damn check. Eventually Kaldrake comes true to form and just threatens to kill the shop keeper. He tells him he is taking an eye stalk and if he says anything he will be back to kill him. They don't know this but Xoblob is a spy for Xanathar so he isn't talking anyways. Kaldrake rolls a natural 20 on his intimidation check and Xoblob tells them to take what they want. He cuts off a stalk, tosses him a gold and they leave.



So this is the funny part about my party. They have been up on murder charges once and now threaten to kill a shopkeeper. They have the eye stalk in hand but now start second guessing themselves. They decide to go to Mirt and ask him about Xanathar's Lair and their vision. He tells them that there is a tunnel just inside Xanathar's lair that leads to Skullport but it is guarded by a Zombie Beholder. The party decides that this is what they need to do and off they go. Mirt tells them that when they enter there will be a door on the right that leads to Skullport, all other doors lead into the lair and not a wise idea. They head in and go for the tunnel to Skullport. They enter the guard room to find the Zombie Beholder on the opposite side of the room along with 4 Gas Spores. As soon as they enter the spores turn towards the party and the Ranger shoots one with an arrow. The gas spore explodes hitting one next to it, causing it to explode. Both of the explosions are in range to hit both the Bard and the Fighter. 3d6 damage for each explosion really rocks them good. Seeing the location of the other 2 spores Tim the Cleric attacks one from range setting off a chain explosion of the two, both of them hitting the Beholder. The battle ensues and I made a big mistake. I used his eye attack only and the party saved 4 rounds in a row. Tim the Cleric Blessed the party giving them 1d4 bonus to their saving throws. Kaldrake owes Tim the Cleric his life, with the 1d4 bless bonus he saved by 1 point on his Disintegration Ray. 45 points of damage and if reduced to 0 then disintegrated to a pile of dust. I really should have backed off the eye attacks and had him bite for 4d6 points of damage. Oh well, so now the party has 2 eye stalks and the attention of the Xanathar.







Location of the Vault of Dragons The party decided at this point to finally ask about the location of the Vault of Dragons. Tim got a vision of an abandoned Tower within the Sea Ward. The party was able to recall seeing an abandoned tower during their city wide search for the Nimblewright. They headed to the Sea Ward and were able to locate it. As they approached they saw a pair of horses tied up in front as well as a coach and horses. The coach was fine looking as one nobility would use. They entered to be greeted with 5 guards of House Rosznar along with Esvele Rosznar, a young noble. She greets the party and asks their business. She tells them she recently purchased the tower with plans to renovate it. The party decides to try to deceive her when much to their surprise she comes right out and says that she knows they are looking for the Vault of Dragons. The party doesn't realize that Esvele Rosznar is also The Black Viper. She has an alter identity designed after the original Black Viper of many years past. She is a competent thief and assassin and spends her evenings casing out and robing some of the riches in Waterdeep. She knows about the Vault of Dragons and discovered it's location which happens to be below this tower. The party doesn't know any of the details about her or the Black Viper. She tells them that while she "owns" the entrance to the vault, she has been unable to discover how to open it. She is willing to help the party in return for 1/5 of the treasure, equaling 100,000 dragons. The party tells her that it isn't their money to offer but they will think about it. She tells them not too long because she knows of many other parties interested in the Hoard of Dragons.



The party decides to take the information to Laeral Silverhand. She knows nothing about Esvele Rosznar but eventually tells the party that if all else fails, she will give the reward to her for access to the Vault and securing the remaining 400,000 dragons. Esvele has offered to help the party secure the last key. They are doubtful of exactly how she can help but I am sure they will find out.



Key 3 This leads to this weeks session. Before ending for the night Tim the Cleric asked about the final key. The vision he got was about him walking in the Dock Ward at night. The streets were empty but he noticed a cloaked figure following him. There was a flurry of action and he saw a dark skinned elf standing in front of him. Then he saw the elf's hand in his face and the vision went dark. For whatever reason the party now believes that Jarlaxle is the key. Similar to the Beholder, their minds went straight to the head villain. If they try to go for Jarlaxle himself I probably wont have a part left after tonight. I refrained from "Planning" this session because my party is too unpredictable. We will see how this goes this week.



The party met Jarlaxle once in the guise of Zardoz Zord, the head of the Sea Maiden's Faire. The Sea Maiden's Faire is a well known travelling circus that goes up and down the Sword Coast performing as they go. Jarlaxle is the new leader of Luskan and is in Waterdeep to try and convince Laeral Silverhand to let him into the Lords Alliance. He WILL help the party secure the Dragons for no other reason that getting in good with Laeral. Of course I am sure my party wont TRY to negotiate with him and I expect by the end of the night for them to be enemies with him also. We shall see. I also posted a whole bunch of pictures for them this week pertaining to Waterdeep. One of them specifically was intended to give them an idea of where they might find Drow. They missed it entirely. The picture shows the Street Urchins in the foreground playing which was all they noticed. To the left is a carny securing something with a rope. They are in the dock ward judging by the ships and in the background there appears to be a circus cage and wagon. The whole scene should immediately make them think of the Sea Maiden's Faire. They know about it and have even been on one of the ships once. They didn't get any of that. Even worse they didn't look closer in the background at the 2 armored drow dragging a corpse. I was disappointed that after 6 days I had to give them some not so subtle clues leading them to this discovery. The sad part is that I found this picture when I was looking at pics of the Urchins. It was the first thing I noticed. Oh well.

[Sam]

Meph:

I am getting bad at keeping up to date with these. Today is game day and I am posting last week's session. If I go too long I am going to start forgetting details so I will try and keep them up to date.

Sam:

I am amazed you can keep up with everything. Prepare for the game, run the game, recap the came for us. It is a lot to do. And you seem to find time to craft, too. BZ. That's Bravo Zulu, or well done.

[Tecnar]

Always a good read! Thanks for taking the time to share.

[skunkape]

I used to take notes when I was running my games, but eventually stopped because it interrupted the flow of the game too much!

So I started using a digital recorder, but even with that, I don't have the time to listen to each recording to write up the adventure logs. I'm waiting till after the first of the year to buy Dragon Professional as I supposedly will transcribe the audio files to text!

[Meph]

When I say notes I am referring to my adventure notes that I may have jotted down before the game. I don't actually take any notes during the game. One of my players was our DM for a while years ago. He took all kinds of notes especially when we would meet a new NPC. I don't write any of that stuff down. I am pretty good at retaining it all. It will fail me on some big detail later i'm sure.

[Meph]

Session 10: Jarlaxle & the Vault of Dragons!



This week began with the party trying to decipher the final key to the vault. The visions that they have had included a Drow Elf ambushing Tim the Cleric in an alley. He couldn't make out any details but the last thing he saw was a Drow Hand in his face. They tried asking the Stone of Golorr the next day if there was a specific Drow they needed to find and got a vision of a great cavern in the Underdark filled with an army of Drow, all of their faces blank. They tried several other options and still weren't getting it so finally I had enough and on the next image it repeated the first one, only this time they watched a line of blood form around the wrist of the Drow and his severed hand fell to the floor. In the vision Tim picked up the severed hand. My party manages to read too much into most things and too little into the important things. They were on the right track but were still a bit clueless as to what exactly they needed. They knew they needed to find a Drow. They had heard rumors about Drow being spotted in the Dock Ward and had suspicions that Zardoz Zord of the Sea Maiden's Faire might have some Drow in his traveling circus.



The party headed to the dock ward and headed to the Hellraiser and Heartbreaker, the two of Zardoz's ships that are at the docks. His 3rd ship, the Eyecatcher is anchored about a mile out in the harbor. They decide to go to the Heartbreaker and hail the captain. They tell him that they would like to speak with Zardoz and ask him to get word out to the Eyecatcher. They tell him they will be at a tavern in the dock ward waiting. The party ends up waiting all day and never hears anything so they decide to start doing a little recon. They decide they are going to try and sneak aboard the Hellraiser after dark. They watch the ship and notice that there are 3 sailors and a mate on the main deck at all times so Kaldrake (fighter) decides he is going to create a diversion while Larson (Bard) and Ryse (Ranger) sneak aboard the ship and look around. Kaldrake finds a hay wagon on the dock for the animals of the Sea Maiden's Faire and decides to set it on fire, then ditch into the alley and circle back around to the dock. When that happens the crew on the Hellraiser goes to the side and is looking over at the fire so they take the opportunity.



Larson makes his climb check and begins to try to sneak as he lifts himself over the edge onto the deck. Ryse begins to climb and fails miserably. He slips and falls into the water below with a big splash. The crew hears the noise just as Larson fails his stealth, trips bringing his leg over the ledge and falls face first on the deck. The crew draws their dagger and Larson drops his weapons. He tried to deceive them with a story about how he was trying to escape from Ryse because he thinks he was hitting on his girl. He fails that check also. The crew yells to Ryse and tells him to come aboard and he does. They end up taking them both into custody and bring them down to the brig.



Kaldrake returns and doesn't see his companions assuming they made it safely aboard. He waits and waits before he starts getting nervous. Next he decides he is going to try and get aboard the ship himself. He starts wandering around the dock making all kinds of noise. As he heads towards the ship he walks past a stack of crates when he comes to a dead stop as a dagger presses to his throat from behind. A woman's voice laughs and asks him if he is trying to get himself killed. She tells him there are Drow about and they wont think twice about cutting him down. She tells him if he is smart he will return to the tavern and wait on his friends. With that she releases the dagger from his throat and steps back. He turns around to see a masked woman dressed in black leathers, black hooded cloak and a black mask. He instantly recognizes her from the Waterdeep broadsheets as the Black Viper, a famous cat burglar. She steps back, turns and leaps up on top of the crates, jumps across to a rooftop and is gone. Kaldrake takes her advice and leaves the dock...only after some out of character coaxing from the rest of the party. He is pretty hard headed and is going to get himself killed eventually.







About two hours pass and Larson and Ryse hear footfalls on the ship headed for them. The door opens and in walks the captains of both the Hellraiser, the Hearbreaker, and Zardoz Zord. They first try and stick to their story about Ryse chasing Larson but the captain of the Heartbreaker calls their bluff. Zardoz says he heard that they were on the ship earlier in the day looking for him. He says he was a busy man and didn't have time to come see them earlier. He is very measured when he speak but also very flamboyant. As the conversation goes on they begin to notice that they seem to occasionally slip and let out a distinctly elvish accent. Larson figures they don't have much choice so he decides to come clean. He tells them he heard there might be Drow in his employ and he needs a Drow for a task. Zardoz gives them an over the top shocked look when they mention Drow. He sarcastically asks both Captains if they have seen any Drow to which they give an over the top shocked look. Then Zardoz turns to the party and in an instant drops his illusion (the ship itself disguises any drow aboard) and before them stands Jarlaxle Baenrae. His captains drop theirs and are 2 elite Drow warriors. Somehow the party is surprised by this. They thought there were drow aboard but somehow didn't quite put it together that it was them.



Jarlaxle tells them he knows they have been searching for the Vault of Dragons and asks them why they need a Drow. With no alternative they tell him about their visions. They said they believe they need a severed Drow hand as the final key to get them into the Vault. They think its just a hand and ask Jarlaxle if he will come with them, to which he laughs. He tells them that he himself is after the contents of the Vault but for other reasons than most. He says he will help the party on one condition, all of the gold Dragons in the vault are returned to Laeral Silverhand. He explains that after the fall of Luskan he came in and took over control of the city. He is trying to rebuild Luskan and as the self appointed Lord he wants take Dagault Neverembers place in the Lords Alliance. Laeral has been unwilling to let him in but he figures if he helps her retrieve the dragons that Dagault stole, then maybe he can find his in. He tells them the only thing he is interested in from the vault is a magical staff. He says the staff is powerful and will help him in his rebuilding of Luskan. The party doesn't remember hearing anything about a staff (they did) so they quickly agree. They said they were only charged by Laeral to recover the dragons. He tells them under no circumstances though can they mention the staff to anyone, including Laeral. The party agrees and he tells them one last thing; if they double cross him, he will hunt them. He tells them to return in the morning and he will have their Drow for them.



The party returns to Trollskull manor to get some rest before leaving for the vault in the morning. In the morning they return to the Hellraiser and they are ushered into the Captains quarters. Jarlaxle is there with the captains and a high intoxicated Drow. The Drow makes a few complaints to Jalraxle who tells him to quit whining, there is a Cleric standing ready and he will be compensated highly. With that an axe slams down on the Drows wrist and it falls to the floor. One of the captains pick it up, drop it into a sack and wish the party good luck. Jarlaxle reminds them of their task and sends them on their way. The party assumed he was going to send a Drow with them so you can imagine their shock and horror when they chopped his hand off. It was kinda fun watching their reaction.



The moment was finally here. They had the vault location, they had the vault keys. They approached the tower to find one horse tied up outside and Esvelle Rosznar inside waiting for them. She asks them what the response from Laeral was about her request and they tell her that she agreed, 1/10 of the dragons to Esvelle in return for access to the tower and the vault. Esvelle says she will be accompanying them. They start to talk down to her telling her how dangerous it will be to which she pulls her rapier, and tells them she can handle her own. They tell her it's her funeral and they head down the stairs. They get to the bottom and enter an empty room. Esvelle walks over to the wall and expertly finds a loose stone that opens the wall revealing a tunnel leading to the vault doors. To one side of the vault door is a natural fissure. Sitting on the floor outside of it is a dead grick. The players decide to each hold a piece of the key and step forward to the door. When they all get within 5 feet the huge doors slide open. Inside is a large room with 12 doors around 3 sides of the room. In the center is huge crumbling pillars that support 3 crumbling bridges 60 feet above. The walls have no holds to climb and the pillars are too dangerous to climb. The party starts checking the first few doors to find them locked. The bard tries to pick them to find out they are false doors and locks. In usual fashion the party spend way too much time discussing these doors. The bard tried 4 doors total and then seemed to not know what to do. Eventually the warrior walked up and started pushing on some doors. 2 of the doors immediately pushed right open leading to a hallway that curves around to a set of stairs. On the wall at the curve is a Fresco depicting Dwarves battling Goblins. The Fresco is enchanted and all 3 of them failed their saving throw. Esvelle saved and watched all 3 of them become enthralled with the fresco, unable to leave. She took out a dagger and started to chip away at the crumbling stone the fresco was painted on, but as she did all 3 of them angered and drew their weapons. She stopped and backed up. For 24 hours she sat there. They made another Save and 2 of them passed this time, leaving only Larson entralled. They remembered everything that happened so they decided to restrain Larson and the 2 of them + Esvelle destroyed the fresco. With the fresco destroyed the enchantment broke.



Next the party headed up the stairs and came to a hall with 3 archways. They moved down the hall to check the arches when a Black Pudding rose out of a pile of rubble and attacked the party. Ryse was hit for some big acid damage and watched his studded leather armor start to burn from the acid, dropping it by one point of AC. Our party was only 3 this week because one player had to work, the other had reserves and was on his way over. Since we only had the 3 and Esvelle I decided to skip the ability for the Pudding to split into 2 when attacked with slashing and instead maxed his hit points. It was a pretty dangerous battle anyways since his damage was significant and could destroy their armor. This is where they learned that Esvelle was more than they though. Lucky for them she was there because she pulled out her rapier and attacked the pudding 3 times per round. Tim the Cleric (the one with reserves) arrived during this fight. Since we have people in and out some weeks because of work I hand wave bringing them in and out. Tim came running up the stairs saying he overslept They decided to search the hall and they found a secret door at the end of the hall. The room was a small treasure room that had been unnoticed over the years. Inside was a decent amount of gold, silver, copper, 10 gold rings, and one magical ring. They cast detect magic on the pile and noticed the magical ring. They took all of the rings and left the coin for now.



With the pudding dead they checked out the arches. Each opened to a crumbling bridge that spanned 100'. It was a 60' drop below to stone. 2 of the bridges had gaps on the sides leaving a small pass, one of them was missing a large 12' gap out of the middle. On the other side of each bridge was Adamantite doors. They devised a plan to try to cross the last bridge first. They tied a rope around Ryse and he tried to cross the bridge. As he reached the first 1/3 of the bridge part of it crumbled beneath him. He failed his acrobatics check, slipped and fell. The rope held and swung him down 30 feet and slammed him into the wall for damage. They pulled him back up and in true form began to overthink everything. It took them an hour to get across these bridges. They discussed their options, the went downstairs and asked me a million times about climbing it, even after I told them it was too crumbly and not safe. I told them they would have an acrobatics check every 10'. Finally Tim the Cleric decided it was time to let the cat out of the bag and share a secret. He took hold of the coiled rope and sprouted his ethereal wings. He had 1 minute so he immediately flew across and begin trying to open doors. The left door opened, the middle was locked, the right door was locked. He used his remaining seconds to return to the left door that was open. Inside was a 10' tall painted statue of a Dwarf wearing a mask and wielding a battle axe. In front of him was an adamantite trap door with a steel pull ring. Tim the cleric did a religion check and recognized the statue as Gorm Gulthyn, the Dwarven god of Vigilance, also known as 'Ol Fire Eyes'. Tim tied the rope off on the battleaxe and dropped it down so the others could climb up. Once they were all up they started looking at the statue. Larson decided to try and open the trap door. As his hand touched the pull ring, the statues eyes turned red and immediately shot fire at Larson. Larson failed his Dex save and was hit for 4d10 fire damage. For some reason Kaldrake decided that Larson must not have pulled hard enough so he pulled the ring, to the same effect. He then went into this tirade out of character about how the ring must do something otherwise they wouldn't have put it in there. He hasn't quite grasped the concept of a trap



So the party decides to try and make their way to the next door. They tie off and Larson goes across since they need to pick the lock. He slips and falls (the theme of the night was failed checks and saves) but since they were parallel with the wall, he took no damage. They pulled him up. Ryse failed, Kaldrake failed, and Tim the Cleric failed! At this point it was up to me to get this moving. It was 8:45 and we have a hard stop time at 9pm since 2 of them members rolled negative reactions with the Wife Monster for ending too late. In all fairness they both have a 45 min to 1 hour drive home. So in the interest of trying to keep it moving Esvelle decides to climb across. I roll a 19 and she shows them all up as she nearly runs across the wall to the other bridge. Larson uses a knock spell on the door from the other bridge and Esvelle opens the door. She tells them that there are 4 suits of Dwarven armor on stands in each corner, draped in cobwebs. Other than that there are some Dwarven runes on the wall with an inscription but nothing else. She gets down and uses her feet to brace on the door while the others try to get themselves across. Tim gives them all guidance and they get a check at advantage since they now have the rope to assist them. Everyone makes it across. Larson can read Dwarven and reads the inscription that says "A secret never before told will part Dumathoin's lips". After the obvious dumb jokes Kaldrake surprised me. I assumed we were going to end here because the party would spend an hour thinking this though, instead Kaldrake says "I have a secret". When we did character creation I told them I wanted some real backstories. They had a lot of time and they did a great job. Kaldrake has the Charlatan background and made up a backstory about having 2 identities. One real, the other he tells everyone else including the party. His real name is Kern but he had never told anyone. So he says "My name isn't really Kaldrake, my real name is Kern." When he says that the back wall slides open revealing a spiral staircase leading down.



They take the stairs down and enter the main vault. Although they are now deep underground, this area is brightly lit. There are streams of sunlight that stream down from the ceiling 30' above which is adorned with Dwarves basking in the glory of their gods. There are ornately carved pillars supporting the ceiling. There are several deep alcoves around the vault, one of them filled with a horde of gold.

Out of the dusty gloom steps an aged dwarf clutching a staff carved and painted to resemble a pair of entwined dragons-one red, one gold. Despite the dwarrs age, his eyes are steady and bright. "I wasn't expecting anyone," he says plainly. "As you can see, the place is a mess. Perhaps you should come back later, after I've tidied up a bit.

And that is where we ended the night. I am really curious to see how they handle this tonight. This should be the end of the Dragon Heist adventure but it could be the end of the party if they aren't careful. They somehow need to convince this Dwarf to hand over the gold and the staff...or kill him. They need to give Esvelle 10% of the gold which would be 50k gold. They need to give the staff to Jarlaxle. They need to turn main cache of gold over to Laeral and the city. All the while there is still a main villain out there wanting this gold for nefarious purposes who isn't done with them yet. Should be an interesting night.

[Meph]

SESSION 11: Vault of Dragons completed.

Its been a few weeks since this session and I have forgotten some of the small details but I will give a quick rundown.

The party spent a good half of the night roleplaying in the Vault. The Dwarf protector in the vault was actually Aurinax, an Adult Gold Dragon that was tasked to protect the gold until the previous Open Lord Dagault Neverember returns to retrieve it. As a reward for this task, Dagault gave Aurinax possession of the Dragonstaff of Ahgharion. The party tried to convince the Dwarf to turn over the gold but he told them he would only relinquish it to Dagault or his Emmissary. Eventually the part decides to bring Renaer Neverember in and took the angle of convincing Aurinax that the gold was illegally embezzled from the city by Dagault. Eventually he consent to turning over the gold but will not relinquish the staff. The party decides to leave and let Laurael Silverhand that she can come claim the gold but on their way out they are ambushed by Cultists of Asmodeus who are working for the Cassalanters. The party ends up fleeing back into the vault with the cultists in tow and tell Aurinax that the cultists are trying to steal the gold.

At this point Aurinax tells the party to help him defend the vault but to stay out of his way. The cultist enter, the dwarf hands the Dragonstaff to Tim the Cleric and asks him to hold it for him. He takes the Staff and the Dwarf tranforms into an Adult Gold Dragon! The party ends up battling cultists on one side of the vault while Aurinax melts the cultists on the other side. More roleplay and eventually the gold is returned to the city.



Lastly, the Bard decides he wants to try and sneak into the Cassalanter's villa and return the Vial of Mist that they had stolen. He ends up captured and before Victorio Cassalanter. They had finally figured out that the Cassalanter's were the villain so the bard was kinda crapping himself at this point. Victorio tells him it was purely business and invites the party to his Founder's Day party in a few days. He tells them it's his chance to give back and there will be hundreds there from the richest nobles to the poorest of the field ward. The party is intrigued so they decide to accept his invite. The day of the party they arrive and are ushered into the main garden where massive cooking tents are setup with the commoners seated in the garden and the nobles in the dining hall. The party decides to take part of the food and drink except for Kaldrake the Fighter. He thinks something is up, refuses to eat or drink and ends up leaving.

The party is told that the night will peak with midnight toast by the hosts so they decide to stay. Sometime after 11pm the party begins to notice some odd things going on. Victorio bids his quests farewell and exits the party while Amelia stays as hostess. They notice that the nobles food comes from one tent, the commoners another. Larson the Bard locates the house maid who had helped him before and she told him he must leave. After some questioning she told them that the house staff was left in the dark but ordered not to eat or drink, and not to let anyone leave. She also tells them that she had seen Victorio going over some documents in his reading room and saw him stash them behind a set of books. She shows them the way and they recover a contract between the Cassalanters and Asmodeus! They agreed to give over the souls of their 3 children in return for their great wealth and influence. They knew about their 2 children but had heard that the 3rd was away at school. The more the read they realize that the time has past when the first soul was due and tonight the other 2 were due, but there was an escape clause. They could save the souls of their children if they were to provide 1 shy of 99 souls and 1 shy of 1 million gold dragons! Now they knew why it was so important for them to retrieve the dragons from the vault.

After reading the contract the start to investigate more outside. They check out the cooking tent that has been feeding the commoners and end up spotting a man dumping vials of liquid into the food and drinks before they are sent out. The recover a vial and are able to realize it's a rare poison named Midnight Tears. Midnight Tears is lethal and called such because it kills it's victims at the stroke of midnight. It's now 11:30Pm and the party has been eating and drinking!

They create a quick diversion and extract themselves over the wall. They immediately flag down a coach and proceed to make their way to Tim the Cleric's temple in the City of the Dead. That is where we ended the session. We had a week off for the holidays.

[Meph]

SESSION 12: Resolution and into Undermountain

This session again begins with roleplay. The party arrived at the temple in the nick of time but don't remember much after. They awoke 5 days later after being in a feverish coma. Several priests had tended to them all and they survived. They were told that an Esvele Rosznar (The Black Viper) had arrived just after them and secured payment to ensure they got the best care they could. After a few days searching, Kaldrake finally located his friends. He also found out through Mirt that the city was investigating the mass murder at the Cassalanter Villa. The papers were calling it the Founders Day Massacre. Once back in health and together the party decided to pay a visit to Esvelle. She told them she was at the party as a guest and was planning to scope out the place. As a noble she didn't get any poisoned food. When she realized what had happened it was too late and got herself out, seeing the party flee in the process. They thanked her for everything and asked if they could do anything for her. She told them about her Brother who was trying to curry favor with the Xanathar guild in Skullport. She didn't approve and feared for him since he hadn't been seen in weeks. She asked them to go to skullport and find out where he is and trying and convince him to come back.

At this point the group decided they had enough roleplaying in Waterdeep and thought it might be a good time to lay low so they decided to head into Undermountain and make their way to Skullport. I don't have much to say about Undermountain yet. They made their way through about 15 rooms. I am pretty disappointed so far because those 15 rooms contained 2 combat encounters, BOTH of which I maxed at full HPs but my party of 4 just walked through them. Also a couple traps but nothing was challenging at all. We will see next week how things go. This is only level 1 but it's pretty sparsely populated. I think before next week I am going to start beefing it up a lot.

That's it. The party is level 5 and Dragon Heist is complete. We started Undermountain and will keep going with that unless they decide they want to leave which at that point I will run some homebrew wilderness stuff.

[dragon722]

loved it all...wish I was playing