Want to help? Consider becoming a Patreon.
- Adrian Silverstrength (Human Paladin)
- Buppido Diinkarazan (Rock Gnome Cleric/Wizard)
- Sephrenia (High Elf Cleric)
- Ragnaroc (Aasimar Warlock) – Not Present
- Don Kannin (Half-Elf Ranger)
- Korra (Air Genasi Rogue)
- Lilli Sandmeadow (Silverstrength) – (Human/Dryad Hybrid – Druid) – NPC
- As the fight between Adrian and the Drow continues (see last session) the party decides to rush forward to see how it’s going – and at that moment, Ragnaroc’s eyes roll to the back of his head and the all too familar word of “Belaros…” falls from his lips
- Sephrenia seeing Adrian struggle to restrain the drow decides to cast Hold Person spell
- The Drow curses to her, “I will not be held! Especially by a surface elf!”
- Sephrenia kicks him in the head, and knocks him out
- Don uses his rope to tie and restrain the unconscious Drow
- Buppido investigates the unconscious Drow, and searches his body – recovering 250 gold, a spider-poison dagger, as well as a note written in elvish, and the ring with the big stone on it
- Buppido tries to do a Sleight of Hand to keep the ring (rolls a 7) but Korra, recognizing that Buppido is trying a distraction by pointing out the dagger while trying to keep the right – and spots the attempt (Investigation 21)
- Korra asks if she can see the ring that Buppido has and examines the ring – and quickly recognizes it that it’s the Earth Ring that she’s looking for
- She asks Buppido if she can keep the ring – as it has to do with something going on in the Planes. Buppido agrees if she can help him find who stole his original ring.
- Note: Korra joined the party in Session 19 revealing that Drow had raided the Elemental Planes and stolen the rings – but convinced powerful genasi leaders that other factions of genasi were responsible, inciting a war among the planes. The Drow used the Water Elemental Ring to keep the Azer at bay in Session 27, proof they had they ring. In Session 28, they found further evidence in a document that explained that all the rings of Elder Elementals had been taken by the Drow. In Session 35 they learned the rings were being used to shape a large admantine drow statue for the Priestess to possess. Later, after the Drow War, there was no sign of those who had the rings – which means they’d escaped. But the party encountered the Drow with the Water Ring in Session 46, but he managed to escape. At a dark carnival, Korra has a vision of peace restored and being welcomed home again, in Session 48. The bodies of three drow are discovered in Session 55, and Korra is able to recover the Plane of Water Ring. However, Buppido grabs the other ring, which happens to be the Plane of Fire. However, during that night and the resting – Korra managed to successfully Sleight of Hand and take the ring from him. Giving her two of the four rings. And now this was the Earth Elder Ring…
- Korra offers to find another ring – with “cool fire powers” that she will offer to Buppido
- The other four (2 master thiefs and 2 archers), have 300 gold between the four bodies, and the two archers have 60 arrows each, and 4 daggers
- Sephrenia takes the note and sees it’s written in an ancient form of Elvish – the language the Drow were known for using – and after a moment she’s finally able to translate the note:
- We have the Four Elder Rings. We are on our way to Ninesword. We will bring back the Spider-Queen.
- Sephrenia explains to the others that they are trying to bring back the Spider Queen.
- And that they have the “four rings”
- She also explains that they’re looking for someone named Ninesword.
- Adrian looks towards where the Drow was running – and sees about sixty feet ahead, the passage just seems to dead end at cavern wall
- Adrian points to the wall and asks Korra to check the wall
- Korra approaches the wall – and is able to determine there is a hidden passage here – but she quickly sees that there’s magical runes – and that the door is trapped – and requires a command word to open – and recognizes the command as Primordial – and that if anyone pushes the lever (without the command) – the trap would be triggered
- Korra reads the rune in Primidioal and the door slides open after the runes illuminate
- The door opens to a larger cavern – and she sees ten people facing off against a floating sphere (who has several people standing behind it)
- The group opposing the Beholder is none other than Kraun, and some of his miniors
- The people standing behind the Beholder are dressed in attire similar to the ambushers
- Korra sneaks back to the party and explains what she’s seen further down beyond the secret passage
- The party moves forward and sees that Kraun and his men have the Mad Skull in the chest behind them – and that the Beholder must be the one who Kraun had said was interested in purchasing the Mad Skull (more about the skull was mentioned last session)
- The party discusses their options – they realize they’re not ready to fight the Beholder, and certainly not the men behind the thieves; and fighting Kraun, he has less men, but is a known collector of magic, and may have some powerful magic handy (especially knowing he was coming to face the Beholder)
- They discuss making them fight each other; but they suspect the Beholder might win – which would also make the Beholder an enemy of them
- And if they help Kraun – not only is it going to clearly upset the Beholder – but might upset Kraun who mentioned this deal was going to be very lucrative for him
- They come up with an idea of using the Drow as a part of their plan using Suggestion and uses his portent (to ensure he rolls a 9, failing the save). Bupiddo suggests, “Hey – those guys,” (pointing to Kraun), “are going to betray your people.” The Drow runs into the chamber shouting. Chaos errupts. The Beholder quickly grabs the magical chest – and begins fleeing. The party decides getting involved is not the way to go – and the Beholder is going to escape with the chest – and running into the meeting chamber is going to make very noticable.
- Kraun and his men make quick work of the Beholder’s minions – as it’s revealed very quickly that all of Kraun’s men are equipped with magical items and armor
- Kraun then grabs the Drow who ran into the room – and begins pummeling the Drow
- Bupiddo turns to Don, “Can you one shot that Drow before he talks?”
- Don shakes his head, “The energy signature on my bow is pretty unique.”
- The party decides they’re going to go in and “bend” the truth a little, since they know Kraun
- They enter, waving to Kraun and explain that they were looking for a “secret magic shop” when they were ambushed by some assassins and archers, and that Drow. The Drow set up the ambush and then fled and got away before they could stop him
- Kraun is furious at the party, saying they messed up a very lucrative offer
- Kraun tells Squeven (the halfling cleric who worships and evil god and employed by Kraun) to tend to his men and get someone to tie up the Drow
- Kraun explains that the party has to come with him – and that they need to fix this
- The party goes back to Kraun’s room – leading the party through a secret passage way, never surfacing on the streets – and enters through a hidden passage into the bathroom of the hotel room – and go to the suite of the hotel, where it’s populated with exotic items and dancers, and as he sits he asks what the party was really doing there
- Kraun explains that now Ninesword has the skull – and he is searching for some kind of sphere that’s supposed to hold some form of ancient magic
- Kraun also explains that Ninesword is the Beholder they saw – that one of his stalks was damaged in the Broken Lands – and he created a mechanical stalk to replace the magical one that an “Artificer” made for him
- Kraun explains that Ninesword is after this sphere – and learned that there was a book that spoke of it – but by the time he sent his agents from the Forgotten Sands to recover it – they learned that the entire town was diseased and that some being on a flaming horse rode away with it (Note: The party discovered this news as well and had gone to the diseased town in Session 54)
- Kraun explains that now that Ninesword has the Mad Skull, now their last resort there’s some tiefling named Elon Dusk – who supposedly has information that may be helpful
- And Lilli pipes up and explains that that’s who her father had come to Drastor looking for
- Kraun explains that – according to what he’s heard – that some of the temples that are seen rising during the day, then sinking back in the sand – were once flying vessels – and that this Elon Dusk individual came to Drastor, interested in “returning to the stars” – and was wealthy – but invested all his money in hiring adventurers to go find pieces of these “flying temple vessels” and supposedly acquired enough knowledge to meld science and magic together, calling himself an “Artificer.” He was even employed by Ninesword to create the mechanical eye stalk for the beholder, channeling that metal and magic together
- Korra asks about Ninesword’s bases
- And Kraun explains that Ninesword is extremely paranoid and has several “bases” – but any of them he’s not at – he lays down numerous lethal traps
- Kraun explains that before the Drow came running in that “Kraun is going to betray you!” – he could have previously worked it out with Ninesword to find out more – but regaining his trust with Ninesword’s paranoia is never going to happen
- He explains the best bet may be finding this Elon Dusk and trying to beat Ninesword to this magical sphere
- The party asks about the Drow – and he explains he won’t be a problem soon
- Adrian tries to ask Kraun about embuing his armor, but Kraun declines
- The party decides to head for the address of Elon Dusk – where his home is just outside of Drastor – and as they approach it stands out – having a number of mechanical gadgets on the outside flashing lights, a mechanical guard that lights up as the party approaches and tells them to go away (but does nothing else), and inside they can hear small explosions and slamming of steel to metal
- Lilli knocks on the door and a tiefling answers – asking what she wants and she explains that her father had come seeking him out and she’s not heard from him
- The Tiefling has no memory of what she’s talking about until she shares more information, about how it’d been about sixteen years ago – and then the tiefling named Elon Dusk recalls, “The Paladin?”
- She nods her head in agreement – and he quickly welcomes everyone inside
- They enter the establishment and see metal and it appears to be a workshop
- He holds out a string and says, “Most people view time, like this…”
- He then loops a portion of the string and says, “What if time can be bent? What if we can go back?”
- “That’s what your father wanted,” he explains. “Someone he loved died, and he wanted to go back in time and fix it – prevent it from happening. In theory, that should have only taken seconds, but,” Elon looks at a shimmering portal, “he’s not come back yet. And it’s been sixteen years.”
- Buppido asks if there’s a chance that this created an alternate timeline
- Elon Dusk shrugs and says that’s entirely possible – the time travel aspect of his knowledge is just in its beginning stage
- Bupiddo begins pressing random buttons – and a sphere begins to spin – and Elon yells at them to stop – and explains that’s the power core
- Adrian asks how his father would return – and Elon explains, showing him a crystal – and explains that breaking that allows him to travel back – and the party realizes this is the same type of crystal the Azer used (See Session 40)
- Elon then explains how he’s looking for a magical sphere that should help his research – but there’s an aspect to what he’s discovered that he’s not able to replicate, which is a magical, golden hammer
- Note: When the party found themselves trapped and in the middle of a war within a civil war, back during Session 15, they met Rex Flamehammer. In Session 16, he explains that during the chaos, his golden hammer which allows him to make enchanted weapons was stolen. The party recovered the golden hammer in Session 23 and eventually returned it in Session 41 and used to forge weapons in the Drow War.
- Adrian describes the dwarven magical hammer and Elon Dusk draws the image and is exactly the same hammer
- Korra explains she knows where the magical hammer is located
- Sephrenia asks about the location of the sphere
- Elon Dusk explains he’s made a gauntlet that will channel energies – but he needs the magical hammer. The power of the hammer – will seek out the magic – and essentially act like a compass when harnessed through his gauntlet
- Sephrenia explains that the hammer is with the dwarves – and it’s a long ways away
- Elon Dusk explains that he’s been working on a portal that “shunts” people to the proper location – they just need to envision it in their mind – and use the crystal to shunt back
- Sephrenia mentions sending Bupiddo to send back
- Elon Dusk says that would be great
- But then the party recalls that Bupiddo wasn’t with them – it’d been Morsus
- Korra, having held the hammer the longest offers to go – Adrian offers to go back – and soon enough, everyone decides to go – and Korra envisions it in her mind – and the party is shunted – thankfully, successfully to the dwarven kingdom, Thoridun
- However – as they shunt – they seemingly fall through stars – and see worlds destroyed and born – galaxies expire, and others give life – it’s an experience none of them will soon forget…
- The party realizes they’re near the market – they speak to one of the vendors and asks about Pren Flintrock and they learn that Pren has been promoted to one of the King’s Guards, serving on the royal guard
- As he walks them through the kingdom, he goes on to explain how things have propsered since their help – and hugs each of them – including Buppido – who he then realizes he doesn’t recognize
- Adrian tells Pren that they need to borrow the magical hammer that Flamebeard has
- Korra explains that there’s several others going after it – including a Beholder, a Fallen Angel and a Blue Dragon…
- He leads them to Rex Flamebeard, who is hammering away on an anvil and the party sees the magical hammer mounted on the wall
- There is conversation about dropping Morsus and acquiring Buppido
- Korra explains to Rex Flamebeard about needing the hammer before a Beholder gets to it
- She also explains that the Drow are not done trying to raise their Spider Queen
- Rex says he understands and reaches up and gets the hammer and hands it to Adrian
- Adrian asks if he can enhance their armor or weapons, and Rex explains he can do it – but it would take a few weeks
- Korra asks if there’s a dwarven jeweler around and Rex explains that they should check with Lady Gemstar
- Pren blushes, and says he’d be happy to escort the party to Lady Gemstar, and that she’s really, really pretty
- Flamebeard hands them a backpack to deliver to her
- Pren escorts everyone but Adrian, and he takes them to a great hall where he points to a massive set of statues that represents Adrian, Korra, Don, Sephrenia, Morsus, and Ragnaroc – and they went all out – the statues are acurate and decorated with expensive gems
- Bupiddo attunes to the Earth Elder Ring and sees a large mountain coming to life
- Lady Gemstar shows him a Ring of Feather Falling, a Ring of Water Walking, a Ring of Regeneration, and the final ring is a Ring of Fire Resistance.
- This one finally interests Bupiddo
- Korra asks how much it is – and Lady Gemstar explains that because she recognizes Korra from the statue and offers it to Korra at a discount – 200 gold. (It would have been 2,000 if Buppido had wanted to buy it). Sephrenia purchases the Ring of Regeneration for 200 gold.
- Bupiddo is given the Ring of Fire Resistance and he hands over the Ring of Elder Earth
- This leaves only the Ring of Air Elder to be found, which is the one needed for her family
- The party makes their way back to Flamebeard, and they hear Adrian talking about the Sand Sharks of the Broken Land
- Sephrenia tells Adrian that he needs to see the garden
- They make their way back and the party sees the statues of themselves (well, everyone except Buppido) as they make their way to see King Thariak Froststorm
- As they pass Lady Gemstar, Pren confesses to the party his attraction to her
- Buppido tries to convince Pren to buy the “Earth Ring” but Korra explains she is actually returning it to the proper owner; which he understands, since there was the whole hammer thing
- And they decided to explain they will explain Pren’s involvement in recovering the hammer (with slightly exaggerated) – and it’s Korra who sells the story the best (with a Natural 20 Persusasion)
- Lady Gemstar talks to Pren – and the two begin exchanging conversation – and suddenly loses interest in being the party’s tour guide – and points to the general direction of the king
- The party bows, and speaks with the king when they arrive – explaining the situation at hand
- The party shunts back to the outside of Elon Dusk’s home
- They come inside – and show the hammer
- And Elon grabs the gauntlet and slides it on – and locks onto his arm and he explains, “This is it. This is really happening. But you will have to keep me alive. This is attuned to me – and as an Artificer I am the only one who knows how to channel this powerful gauntlet.”
- He asks for the hammer – and the party hands it over – and all the gems immediately ignite – and suddenly his arm jerks to the left and he whispers, “It works…”
And that’s where we stopped for the night!