The Crown of Balance – Session Information – Sessions 24 – 31
Posted by Steve | Filed under D&D
Session 24
After getting back together, the group exchanged information, then headed over to the church. They came across lots of clerics working, setting up tables for some festivity going on the next day. There was to be a celebration thanking the citizens of Baldur’s Gate in welcoming the church. They went into the church, but only found a few worshippers at that time of night. Finally, the party decided to rest up until morning. Kaiya was visited by Pandora, who hoped her brother was now safe. Opal was praised by the Raven Queen regarding the Lolth boon. Chance dreamed of Easton.
In the morning, they ate and headed over to the church. The group came upon the morning service, complete with food and drink for the visitors. Opal called in Gabrius, and asked for him to disguise himself and find out if anything fishy was in the church. Once the service began, the head priest spoke, followed by the prior Bahamut high priest, and then the mayor.
Head Priest, Galen Thrynn: Citizens of Baldur’s Gate, it is an honor and blessing that you have opened your arms and hearts to us. We, the humble few who follow her most holy, Callisto, the Warrior Goddess, thank you for attending our small offering to the great people of this city. We hope this will be one of many gatherings where we can break bread together, and heal what wounds need mending. Goddess Callisto has an important mission that requires us all – the protection of our own world. Together, we can lend aid and faith for her to be the shield we need. The fall of the gods, two of which we know full well of, is the harbinger of foul things to come. My heart feels the pain of those followers of the Great Serpent, Bahamut. May his soul rest in peace. I, Galen Thrynn, as chosen city priest of her most holy, beseech those in need, to be healed within our fold. Kedrin Damos, former high priest of Bahamut, will now honor us with his words of guidance.
Former High Priest of the Bahamut Temple, Kedrin Damos: …Well, thank you, High Priest Thrynn. I’d like to thank you for the hospitality you’ve shown me and my brethren, and to our citizenry. The pain and grief we all feel is hard to fathom. Some have gone mad and either taken their lives, or left the clergy. The loss of his majestic presence is great indeed. Even so, you and your goddess have been kind to us. You’ve given us a place to rest when our own home was taken from us. You’ve been quick to rise and fill the city’s needs of faith. Baldur’s Gate cannot thank you enough. My thanks also, for taking in my brothers and sisters into your faith so they may continue to lend aid to our great city. …Lord Mayor, do you wish to speak?
The Lord Mayor, Everin Masterson: Welcome, and thank you for this generous kindness offered our city. As your elected representative, I hope our people will accept the kindness and give in return. I value the happiness and security of all our people. That now, includes you. Be safe within our city. The guards outside will assist you in keeping order during this most amazing display of affection to the city. I look forward to a return to normality within the city. I remind you all, in order to run smoothly and without problems, we must all accept our differences, those cultural or religious, and look past them. Here! Together! We are all citizens of this great city and this magnificent world! Enjoy this meeting of faith.
Once the service ended, the party created a diversion within the temple to clear it out and get into the back room, which they had determined the head cleric was in. Gabrius was able to determine that the head cleric was disguised. They eventually damage the door enough to get in and confront the cleric, who immediately attacks once seeing Opal. During the battle, Opal calls out to Callisto regarding those that work for her. Callisto, in an angelic form, descends from the sky outside, and makes her way into the building. Kaiya, Maryn, Gabrius, and Ember try to stop Callisto from proceeding further, but she flies over them unscathed and tears the door from the frame. Inside, she sees the battle with the cleric, rushes forward, and grabs him by the face. Slamming him down onto the floor, she looks over at Opal, who called her out, and tells her to “Finish It!”
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Session Session 25
At the onset, Opal begins to question the rakshasa impersonating the head cleric, but he tells them they will all die once his father learns of this, and he eggs on Opal to kill him. Opal attempts to shock him into talking, but it does not work, so she starts to cast eldritch blast into his head, but Callisto stops it. She tells her that it is a mistake she has made in the past, outright killing them only to have them return days later to continue their attacks. She tells the group that the only real way to kill these demons is to kill them in their own realm.
Seeing that the rakshasa is not cooperating, she pulls out a golden sword and slams it into the rakshasa. She says this will not kill him, but force him to speak truth. Opal begins to question him.
She learns:
– He is one of Loroq’s sons named Kadal. He is currently within a plane in the Abyss called the Bloodpits.
– He is part of a group called the Deathstalkers. This group is sent out as advance scouts to destabilize a realm and prepare it for invasion.
– Laroq is working with Bhaal, who was the leader of the demon swarm who desecrated Callisto’s world.
– Opal’s troupe was targeted for death due to revenge against Opal in the past.
– He will say the minions of Bhaal are “everywhere”.
– The head cleric who he impersonated is dead and burned to ash.
– Laroq has two tabaxi children, now young adults, as slaves. Opal knows them as Snowflake (white female, 4) and Walnut (light brown male, 5). Their current ages are 14 and 15, by this point.
Needing to find a way to dispose of the rakshasa without killing him, Callisto calls for the former head priest of Bahamut, Kedrin Damos. She knows he was fluent with spells when he was empowered, so she grants a small iota of her power for him to cast Petrification on the rakshasa. (Opal tries to use the Wand of Smiles on the priest as he casts, which fails. She also uses the Ever-Disappointing Mug on the rakshasa as he begins to petrify.) After his petrification, Opal tells Callisto that she has lots of cleaning up to do, and wonders why she is forcing Chance’s friend, Myka, to work for her. Callisto seems confused, and summons Myka.
She questions Myka if it is true, and he says it is not. He sees Chance, and asks that she not hurt him. She releases the group from her Hold Person spell. (Chance, before being held, was in the middle of firing at the rakshasa, and his bolt flies above his form. Kaiya proceeds to swing toward Callisto, but is buffeted away by her wings. Myka asks the Magic 9 Ball two questions.) Myka goes to Chance and asks if he is okay. The group question Callisto about her deeds, chiding her about letting evil fester within her midst.
Chance takes Myka out of the room, and questions him on why he said he needed to be saved. He tells Chance that he needs his help finding a way to save Easton. They have tried all they can, and he believes Easton is unwilling to return, or something is preventing him from returning. He tells Chance that with the duties Callisto has given him, his ability to focus on Easton is next to impossible. Chance tells Myka that he has spoken with Easton and he says he will not return at this time, and maybe he does not want to return, perhaps he’s earned his peace. Myka is slapped when he tells Chance that he’s disappointed that he won’t fight for Easton. Myka tells Chance that he cannot believe that Easton does not want to return. Myka thens returns to the room with Callisto and the rest of the group. Chance remains outside.
Kaiya questions Callisto about Glory and her role in the church. She tells her that Glory is being sent out on errands to locate magical relics. Her personal vendetta against Kaiya doesn’t seem to mean much to Callisto, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the task. Opal and Kaiya both press Callisto on the idea that it makes her seem insensitive to those who could join or aid her cause. Callisto tells them that she is beginning to see that, and this gathering was one of the first ways to break that pattern. She tells them she is not a diplomat, but a warrior, and learning a new role is an arduous task for her. She tasks Myka to communicate with the clerics and city members and get things under control here. He heads out to begin unruffling feathers with the nobles and calm people down.
She takes up the now petrified form of the rakshasa, and begins to head out. She tells them she will create a trophy room for these beings as they are hunted one by one. She also tells the group that they can still earn her favor, even though they spurned it the first time. Kaiya talks with Kedrin and lets him feel the essence of Bahamut within her. Not being religious, she tries to let him know that he needs to have faith. He tells her perhaps it is her faith that can one day shine light on the world as his former patron did for others. He thanks her for her kind words, and the chance to feel Bahamut’s spirit.
The party then head outside and join the rest of the city in eating at the morning feast. Together, they go over what was learned, much of it confusing and unsettling. Myka joins them after his diplomatic rounds and is introduced to the group by Chance. The group tells him they don’t yet trust him, and he returns that he does not trust them other than Chance. Kaiya mentions that they are now family, after he shared drinks with them, and Myka begins to soften, saying they are his family then as well.
Kaiya, feeling quite confused by the knowledge gained, leaves the group and heads to the tavern to send a message to Nasir and her father. Nasir replies that he will deliver the message to her father, and he looks forward to getting together when she returns, as he thinks they need to get together and talk about things.
Chance spends the rest of the day hanging out with Myka, getting to know him again. After some drinks, and a little boyhood rivalry tamed, their current tense relationship falls away. Chance tells Myka that they can send messages to each other via the Beholder’s Eye. Chance tells his friend goodbye, and heads to the tavern to meet up with the group. (Note: During this time, Opal, in raven-form, spied on them.)
Opal visits Fragrance and lets her know about the children who are in servitude to Laroq.
The party then meet back at the tavern. Kaiya is asleep by this point, The rest of the group quietly head to bed. Each of the party members have dreams.
-Kaiya is brought to Pandora’s realm to visit. She’s served tea, and tells Kaiya that there appears to be a haze of darkness around Opal and Chance.
-Opal dreams of the children before the attack.
-Chance dreams of fishing with Easton. In the morning, he uses the Magic 9 Ball to find out if: the Raven Queen had something to do with Opal’s group getting attacked.
The group wake up, exchange information at breakfast, and prepare for the day ahead.
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Session 26
The group decided over breakfast to head to Arcadia to deliver the amulet to Isaac and confer with Nasir and Kaiya’s father. Before leaving, Radiance joined them to pick up Ember. He told her that her mother was alive, and that due to circumstances, wanted her to meet her mother in case things went from bad to worse. Her mother had been in a coma, and was expected to never fully awaken from it, but she had. Fearing that it would not last long, he decided the reunion had to occur now. Ember said her goodbyes to everyone, and Radiance told them she would be back.
After Radiance and Ember leave, Kaiya teleported the group to Arcadia, bailing on the tavern breakfast bill. In Arcadia, the group headed over to Nasir’s office in the Magus State Building. Nasir was delighted to see the group and again, and told them of a meeting the Inquisitor Department wished to have once they returned back to Arcadia. Nasir believed it was better to get the meeting over and done with, so he joined the group and took them to the meeting.
The meeting with two inquisitors, Janeth and Arryn, proceeded in their conference room. They told the group they had questions regarding Callisto, the new god making her presence known within the world of Toril.
Arryn: Greetings. This shouldn’t take long. please be seated. Magus Carnala, you were not contacted for this interview.
Nasir: I am here as a representative of the Arcane Order. Kaiya is my apprentice, and her friends are in my protection while on Arcadia. You understand, surely.
Janeth: I see. Well, let’s get started then. We are interested in what you could tell us about this new god, Callisto, making her presence known within Toril. Usually, these new religions come and go, made up by charlatans trying to rile up the city’s or town’s populace, while going after their gold. This one, however, seems to be much more. Reports tell us she actually showed up physically in the city of Baldur’s Gate a day ago. Seeing as how we have some visitors from Toril in our midst, it would be a shame to waste some first-hand knowledge.
Arryn: The reports say she’s female. Can you give us any other information? What was she wearing? What weapons did she seem to use? Can you describe any items she was carrying?
Janeth: The reports from the city seem to believe she is a “good”, benevolent goddess. Do you agree with this assessment?
Arryn: Have she or any of her representatives given you any idea as to where her current base of operations is? The name of a particular plane of existence or a pocket dimension, for example?
Janeth: Did she seem to have any weaknesses you could see? Anything she “shied” away from? Did light seem to harm her?
Arryn: Did she seem trustworthy? Did her representatives seem brainwashed or magically coerced?
Janeth: Last question: Has she or her representatives mentioned searching for an item called the Inception?
Nasir: Do you really think my apprentice and her friends would have received that deep a well of knowledge from their brief encounter? I can vouch for Kaiya that her training has not delved into fanciful legends and myths, only factual, identifiable information.
Janeth: Perhaps you are right. Certainly out of their pervue of knowledge. Strike the last question from the record. Anyways, thank you all for your time. We hope your visit in Arcadia is a good one. Do let us know if you come across any new knowledge on the subject in question…for the sake of Arcadia’s safety, of course. Magus.
The group, in general, answered what questions they could, and overall did not completely agree and trust Callisto. Kaiya seemed the most likely to see the good in her. Chance believed she was doing what she thought was right, but was using others as pawns. Opal, not quite trusting Callisto, seemed to trust the inquisitors even less. She was highly offended by the line of questioning.
After the meeting, the party then proceeded to Kaiya’s home to give Isaac the amulet. Kaiya requests Nasir be there as well. After greeting her parents and brother, and introducing Maryn to her family, she gives her brother the amulet. After joyou hugs and thanks, Nasir eyes Nolan and requests the group join them for dinner. He tells Kaiya he will notify her later after making a reservation for the meeting place. Kaiya decides to stay with her family during the day to talk to her brother and give him insight in his now open future choices.
Opal and Chance head to the library and research the Bloodpits. They find out about what the researchers have found about the plane. They do find out the plane can be reached via magical gates or from a portal in the City of Doors, Sigil. After researching, they return to Kaiya’s home prior to dinner.
Later, Nasir meets them at Kaiya’s home, and teleports them to the town if Ghetto in a room at the Long Night’s Tavern. There, they get a room in the corner, blocked from the eyes of the other tavern revelers.
– Nasir speaks about the Inception item mentioned by the inquisitors, and presents a quest: An ancient ruin called Greystone on a world named Galicko, to find out what the Inception object the inquisitors mentioned is about. The gate to this world is located in Sigil. There’s a representative from Galilcko at Ghetto. Sigil can be reached through a portal in Ghetto.
– Kaiya’s father, Nolan, provides additional information about the army. Army – The army is called the Harmonium. It’s composed of three forces – one: Arcadian volunteers who are troops and support, two: celestial representatives called the Solari from various lawful realms, and three: a section of troops consisting of chaotic and neutral beings who have undergone “retraining”, as well as good spirits found by the Elandrin (angels who roam the cosmos for these beings to give them purpose) called the “Ascended”.
Leaders: The Arcadian leader is High General Dorath Thundren, a male human. The Solari general is Guardinal Jophiel, a female celestial. The commander of the Ascended is First Knight Garen Stareye, a male dragonborn. The three leaders focus on training and preparing for the next incursion of attackers, or demons, into the realms of the Outer Planes. Their orders can come from various leaders including: the celestial leader – Archon Uriel; the Balance leader – Imperator Louis Valarine; or a summons from at least three members of the Planar Council. He offers a quest to infiltrate a military records complex to see if a record about who sanctioned the Harmonium to kill Bahamut and/or Lolth. The complex is in control of the gnomish house, and near their domain.
After the meeting, and dropping Reich, the tavernkeeper, onto the table, the group transport back to Kaiya’s house and bed down for the night. Before going to bed, Chance calls for an audience with the Raven Queen.
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Session 27
Chance is visited by a shadowy form of the Raven Queen a few hours before morning. First, he asks her why she kept Xanatos from hearing their conversations. She answers that not all words are for others to hear. He also asks her if she had anything to do with the fires on his island and the death of Opal’s people. She mentions that some seeds were planted, and some pieces were placed on the gameboard. After sensing some anger and hesitation within Chance, the Raven Queen attempts to use her female image to tantalize Chance, all while making it known not to cross her. Chance ends the conversation, with the warnings still being heard in his head. The Raven Queen tells him “Be careful, Chance. Silence can feel like an eternity. Don’t disappoint me.” Upon exiting the dream, he cannot hear the thoughts of Xanatos, Vax, or Vex. After going to the bathroom, he visits Opal and tells her about what he learned from the Raven Queen. Chance is disappointed in the whole situation, and Opal is unsure if she should, or even could, cross her. They both decide to be on the lookout and pay more attention to the choices presented to them by her. Opal also finds some errant crumbs left by Payne to be under her bed.
He wakes up soon after, and checks to see if Xanatos is still with him. He pops Xan out, and Xan asks him what is wrong. Xanatos tells Chance that he doesn’t trust her either, and that he had been keeping a secret as well. He tells him that if he stores his energy, he can sometimes step out during Chance’s sleep. On one of those occasions, he was able to contact a former ally to find out if Xeranna had been freed when he sacrificed himself. His friend tells him that there was no Xeranna within the celestial realm. This leads Xanatos to believe the whole promise the Raven Queen made to him was a lie.
The voices of Vax and Vex are still silent. In fact, the magic of the crossbows have been rendered inert.
During breakfast, the group decide to visit Nasir. Chance begins to plan after finding out that mice were not within the city of Arstead.
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Kaiya —> Saber Knight
Kaiya and the party visit Nasir to ask for guidance, and he asks Kaiya to meet an individual that has asked for her. Nasir has told this group about his apprentice, and they determine she could be a candidate for the Saber Knights, a group of mage/warriors who defend their respective realms. She is introduced to Loqi Jaxson (sounds like Loki), a member of the Saber Knights who wishes her to be a member. She comes from a world called Aether. Her world had a constant influx of demons and errant spirits that was eventually tamed once they created the Saber Knights. Since bringing peace through their world, they have determined that helping other worlds set up their own sister organizations would stabilize the planes and bolster the general safety of their world. Becoming a member does provide some perks for planar travelers. Nasir believes this is a good idea, as his doubts about the Balance and the army has been increasing.
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After saying goodbye to Loqi, Opal asks Nasir if he would be willing to take them to visit Ghetto. He says it’s not a problem, and takes them there. On their arrival, Opal tells the group that she will be back a little later, and heads off to find a quiet temple. She comes across a currently empty alcove dedicated to the god, Thor. She enters, and meets an older priest named Jessa. Opal, metaphorically with jugs of water, asks Jessa which would be better to drink – water that you knew was dirty, or water that may be dirty. Jessa tells her that if she had to choose, she would choose the one that may be dirty, as the other was for sure dirty. Opal stays there and meditates for awhile in solitude, and eventually returns to the party. Nasir then returns them to Arstead. (During the visit, Chance captured some white mice from Ghetto.)
The party head back to Kaiya’s house, eat dinner, and rest for the next day. In the morning, after breakfast and after saying their goodbyes to Kaiya’s family, they head over to Nasir’s office and request a teleport back to Toril. They return to Radiance’s tower.
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Opal —> Loremaster
Fragrance left a message with Radiance to give to Opal when she returned. Because he had to leave, he left the message on the door which they found on their way in his tower. The letter tell Opal that she sensed the passing of her father, and Opal’s mentor, Loremaster Skyfall, and asked her to visit her as soon as she can. The group head out to Baldur’s Gate immediately.
At Fragrance’s home, Fragrance asks her to meditate and share stories for his soul at a little shrine she has setup in his honor. It is during her meditation that she is visited by the spirit of the Loremaster. He tells her he is happy to see that she is well, and that he hoped she would have returned by now from her travels, and is sad to hear about the loss of her group. He explains that it is her time now to take up the mantle of Lore Keeper. He asks her if she is ready. “All knowledge must be preserved. It must be saved and protected, for knowledge holds the key to who we are, what we were, and what we shall become.”
He then passes on his knowledge to her, and a golden book appears by her side.
He tells her how proud he is of her, and looks forward to the day she can return to her people and pass on the knowledge she has gained. He also asks her to protect Fragrance, and tell her he loves her.
Before leaving, Opal wrote down memories of Fragrance that were passed down from her mentor for Fragrance as a parting gift.
On their way to Matron Dumar’s, the group feels a presence and a violent shaking behind them.
Chance —> Reaper
A girl named Kasumi is following some Hollows (souleaters) and winds up stepping into our world via some planar intersections. The Hollow she is fighting looks like a giant with a white mask and a hole in its chest. (All Hollows have that chest hole.)
It sees Chance and the group, and rushes to attack. “SOULS FOR THE PICKING! TASTY TASTY FOR ME!” Only Chance can see her and the Hollow. The rest of the group sees a wind similar to a tornado, and they keep getting knocked down by the Hollow. The Hollow sees that Chance’s soul is unusually bright due to Xanatos, and uses a move that sucks out Xanatos. The move also begins pulling the souls from the rest of the group but they resist the pull, which reduces their movement and abilities.
Kasumi gets badly wounded by the giant with Xanatos’s soul within in it. She then realizes Chance can see her, and says through bleeding teeth,
“Do you want to save your friends?”
“If you can see it, your soul is strong enough to help me. I can share my powers with you…”
>She coughs up blood.<
“...and you can save them. Will you do it?” Chance agrees.
She plunges her sword into Chance, and a bright flash of light occurs, and he then becomes a Reaper. Kasumi drops to the ground, but Chance now has a long black blade in his hand, and is clad in a black and white gi. The sword and crossbows glow with a green energy. “Aim for his forehead…the mask is the key. They will not back down!”, she drags herself along the ground to safety, and passes out.
After a tough battle, Chance and Opal deliver the killing blow to the Hollow and it falls apart, leaving the spirit of a little girl, which fades away. Chance becomes a Reaper.
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Session 28
After last session’s battle, Kasumi introduces herself and answers a few questions:
-She is not human, but a race called the Shinigami (soul reaper) and comes from a world called Ressic. They are created by being born from a purified soul that has a desire for justice and empathy for the lost. They act as guardians of souls. They maintain the cycle of souls within the universe. Beings that actively prevent souls from traveling on are enemies of the Reapers.
-Kasumi realizes too late that Chance’s soul was stronger than she expected, and the transfer was complete, not partial. She will need to figure out how to get back to her world, and how to get her powers back. Chance and the group take her to the inn to rest and exchange information.
– Hollows are souls of people that have become empty due to staying in the physical world for too long. Examples of why are: being obsessed with a living loved one, being unable to prevent the death of a loved one who then goes on, or thinking they will be saved by their family. They are filled with sadness and depression, and their heart becomes empty, thus creating the hole in their chest.
-The mask on their face is the empty heart, twisted in anguish.
-It is driven by an eternal and insatiable hunger to devour other souls, living or dead, to fill the void caused by its descent.
-Destroying the mask will free their heart and let them go on to their destined location. It can, however, still be killed by attacking it’s body, but it may take longer.
-When a Reaper kills a Hollow, they purify the soul before it goes on, thus preventing it from journeying into the Abyss and becoming a demon.
-The masks of different Hollows can differ greatly in shape and form, but are always white and skull-like.
-Hollows have been rare for 50 years, but have recently been encountered much more frequently.
-All Hollows can inflict acid-like damage. Their powers vary, depending on the form their Hollow takes.
-Reapers can generally handle Hollows, but Hollows that have merged together is horrifying and deadly. They are called Legion. That happens when the anguish of a Hollows heart is so great, it begins to consume other Hollows around it.
-There are even Hollows who have learned to remove the mask, gaining their humanoid forms again, yet still retaining the hole of anguish somewhere on their bodies. They are called the Sundered. They are extremely dangerous, as they retain their Hollow powers but are now capable of thinking and plotting. Their evil and power rivals some of the highest order devils and demons. They are similarly cold, cruel, sadistic, ambitious, impatient, selfish, overconfident, ruthless, arrogant, impulsive, brutal, relentless, battle-hungry, overbearing, short-tempered, indifferent, and/or egotistical.
The group, with Kasumi tagging along and wearing Kaiya’s elven mask, head to the Beholder’s Eye to speak with Matron Dumar. Chance asks her if she knows of a captain who can take them to Evermeet. She tells him she has a captain named Victoria Black who can provide ship transport for them, but they will need to locate a navigator. She gives Chance a coin with a dagger and a hawk on it which will signify the favor/”payment price” that will alert Captain Black. She also tells the group about the great instability occurring below in the Drow cities due to the death of Lolth. Multiple forces have been pushing their way into their lands. She offers the group a job to locate a previously sealed (by Lolth) location in the Underdark.
With coin in hand, the party head over to the pier to talk to find Victoria Black. Opal pops into crow form and locates four captains, a tiefling male, a blonde human female, a grey tabaxi female, and a black haired human female. They ask around and eventually locate Captain Victoria Black. Using the coin, they gain access to the ship, but she tells them they will need to locate a navigator to the island. She tells them she will be leaving that night, and will return in a week. They head into the Blushing Mermaid, and ask around for a navigator, but none have the skill to get to Evermeet. They all sit down and drink some beer while they decide on where to go.
They decide to head over to Lenna’s lab. There, they find her continuing research on the planar intersections.
-She asks where their adventures have taken them. She comments that she only added a spell to allow teleportation between planar circles, not interplanar travel to Kaiya’s bracers. She comments that it seems like Kaiya’s armor has been magicked with a Gate spell instead.
-She comments that she has been a researcher for a long time, but it was the resources of the Balance that have really allowed her to advance her studies.
-She believes in the good that the Balance has been about, but always assumed it was for the greater good, but she never thought they actually would go ahead with killing good deities. She didn’t expect to face that choice.
-The assassination attempt has really questioned things more than before. Previously, she was comfortable openly questioning missions. Rarely did they occur so swiftly. Most missions would have at least a 6-month lead time to gather information and verify what they were doing was correct. The attack on Lolth seemed so soon after the fall of Bahamut.
-She is still working on gathering data using the planar locators that the group had gotten for her earlier. “I’m getting close, but rebuilding the lab has taken some time. Plus, I’ve been adding more security to the place.” The group mentioned the portal that Kasumi came through, and she tells them she did detect a high amount of interplanar activity within the last two hours.
They ask her if she will teleport them to Silverymoon to find the navigator, Tiana, that she mentioned before to take them to Evermeet. The group are teleported to the teleportation circle in Candlekeep in the city of Silverymoon. The meet one of the scribes named Everin who greets them and gives them a brief rundown on where a few may be found within the city. He mentions the Vault of Sages, the Conclave of Silverymoon, and the Map House. He also tells them about three average priced inns, Thundersquirt’s, Two Fist It, and Gallie’s Eatery. (He specifically tries to ward them away from Thundersquirt’s.)
On their way out of Candlekeep, Kasumi removes the mask and returns it to Kaiya. From a short distance away, the old elf maskmaker, Jub Yammy, notices the mask and rushes over. He is happy to see his prior customers, and offers to purchase or trade back the masks. The group ask why he wants them back, and he mentions that a small life leech spell is on each mask that will absorb up to a year of someone’s life energy. He uses the energy to extend his own. Kasumi doesn’t like this, and the group are a little shaken up by this knowledge. Kaiya sells hers back to Jub for 100 gold. Chance offers to trade his to him for one without the leech enchantment. Seeing the amount of life energy within it, Jub agrees and steps away to make one. He returns with two masks without the enchantment, one a long blonde-haired thin elven male and the other a more sturdy short red-haired male elven mask. Chance trades for the red-haired male mask.
Kasumi decides to leave and tells Chance: “Remember, you hold the duties of a Reaper now. Release full souls, and defend your world against Hollows. I’ll find you when I know more. It was a pleasure meeting all of you.” She then transforms into a white owl, and flies off in the direction of the waterfall sound in the distance.
They then head to the Map House. There, Opal’s Loremaster abilities kick in and she helps two dwarves locate an ancient hold through an old song. They give her a bag of 6 gold and a Coin of Barter. The rest of the group locate the fey, Tiana, a deer/elf looking female. They tell her that Lenna sent them to find her to help them get to Evermeet. She says she will help, but needs to finish off her business here before she can leave. She asks the group for help, and they agree and will meet her in the morning at Candlekeep. Opal buys a map of her continent to give to her lost people. Kaiya buys a map of Arcadia for Nasir. As the sun sets, they head back to the Two Fist It tavern and eat dinner.
After relaxing in the main room, a long-brimmed hat and spur wearing human male walks up to their table. He tells them his name is Austin, and was paid to find Kaiya. Eventually he mentions that it was Glory that paid him. He lets Kaiya know he would be willing to “forget” he found her if she paid him, but Kaiya declines and tells him to send her a message. “Come and find me yourself.”
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Session 29
The party waits until Austin heads out and waits a bit before following him down the road heading south in the area of Thundersquirts. They hang back about 200 feet as he enters the steamy in. Chance and Kaiya separately enter the front of Thundersquirts, briefly questioned by the bodyguard, but are let in with no issues. The tavern/bar is owned by three tritons (Seymour (suave business man), Silver (thin male), and Moby (heavy, low intelligence)) who have themed this as an aquatic sexy bar, as female and male tritons and a mermaid swim nude in a large tank as a show for drinkers.
Pushing her way through the back, Opal and Maryn enter the bar from the back, acting as a recently hired entertainer and her manager. During their stay, Opal entertains the crowd and earns 70 gold in tips. She later flirts with Silver and is taken to a small shack behind the tavern. She winds up knocking him out, and leaves evidence that something sexual had happened to him. Chance gets flirted on by a half orc female. Kaiya is flirted with by a triton dancer and offered a job.
Eventually, they all head out of the bar. Thinking Austin is still following them, or that Glory will coming to attack them, they set up camp with Kaiya and Maryn acting as bait. Chance and Opal sleep in the trees, and keep a look out. Kaiya has a dream about a shadowed knight named Lord Soth raising the bones of Bahamut as a mount. Other than the dream, nothing bad happens at night.
The party then head back to town to meet up with Tiana. The fey, Tiana, has a task to find out why a section of the forest is barren. The town thinks it may be related to blight worms in the ground, or possibly some creature living in it. She had asked the party for help and to meet her at Candlekeep in the morning after breakfast. Once this is completed, she has agreed to act as their navigator to Evermeet to assist with Magister Lenna’s task. The group gather some supplies, including a tent and bedrolls. When they reach the location of the blighted zone in the forest, Chance sees a ghostly town filled with wandering spirits. All of the spirits are acting together to hold a semblance of their former lives together. If the party will help the original spirits complete their tasks and go on, their substances will no longer be able to hold this town within the material world and he can send them all on their way.
–An elven male named Waylen Fieldspar. He is sitting on a bench. He has a daughter named Neela, and he wants her to have his deceased wife’s ring. He has buried it under a tree that they both marked in the past. Once the ring is found and returned to his daughter, he will allow Chance to send him on.
–A young human girl named Alice Corker who requests the bones of her faithful pet( a small dog named Casey) be buried near the location of her body.
–A female dwarf named Zelda SIlverflint. She wants her hammer, found near her bones buried under some rocks, to go to her mate, Theo. The hammer looks to be silver and small with a Z on it.
–Three young wolf cubs – They want revenge against the creature that killed them and their mother.
–The original spirit of an ancient female elf named Tessa Yammy. She is the mate of Jub Yammy, and she asks that they convince him to come visit her and to return with her to the next adventure. She will offer her greatest treasure – a mask that acts like a Disguise Self spell.
–A wild gnome girl named Mystara will float around the group and chatter. If talked to she will mention “Have you seen those without a name? Forgotten? No one knows. Their home still stands. All quiet inside. So many secrets. Where did they go? Only the flying rats know where it is.”
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Session 30
The group gather and make a plan to go out and assist the ghosts. After talking to each of the spirits to verify their requests, they head out to assist them.
–Opal flies around and finds the small meadow with the two rocks. They resemble two crude humanoids, which Opal believes are based on a very old legend – the First Ones. They find the ring.
–The group find the mine and see a large boulder covering a collapsed mine. After discussing the problem, Kaiya reduces the boulder’s size and together they all free it from the entrance. There, they find the squashed bones of Zelda. They gather the hammer and a collection of bones to return to her mate.
–They head out to find the waterfall, but come across two violent male owlbears, which they dispatch. –The group then find the waterfall and locate the bones of Alice at the base of the waterfall. Calling out, they summon the ghost of Casey, who takes them to her bones. She takes them to a cave which she describes as the place where her “last sleep” happened. It appears to be the den of the owlbears they killed earlier. Also there, they find an inscribed ring “to my love Marilyn” within the collection of bones.
–The group then head back to Silverymoon. They head to the library and find the location of the survivors. They return her mother’s ring to Neela, the silver hammer to Theodora, and the ring to Marilyn’s husband.
–They locate Jub Yammy in the city, who tells them he does not have a wife. Tessa is actually his past love. They convince him to return to the village to see her. There, the group convinces him to destroy his own mask, which ends his life. Chance sends their spirits on. He also sets Alice and Casey free.
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31
Chance continues setting the spirits of Waylen and Zelda free. They then set out to locate the wolf den. Using her crow form, Opal scouts ahead and finds an area southwest of the town surrounded by a strange green fog. Circling into the area near the center, she notices a large cave entrance underneath a large tree. On returning to the group, she describes what she saw.
The party then decide to head back to town to gather additional information and supplies. In town, they get some info on green dragons from two dwarven vendors. Chance picks up two black powder bottles.
They also head to Theodora, the blacksmith they met earlier, and procure three pairs of magical boots. Chance gets the black powder bottles fitted with pressure flints to make them into grenades.
Finally, they head over to confer with the druids, alerting them of a possible green dragon deep within the forest. The druid speaker recommends two inns to stay in, The Star’s Loft and Eve’s Rest. The group decide to stay at the Star’s Loft, where Kaiya, Maryn, and Opal enjoy a great, but expensive, meal before bedtime. Chance, not liking the food prices, traveled down to a cheaper tavern and picked up a sandwich.
In the morning after breakfast, they head out on the 17 mile trek toward the spot Opal had run into before. They run into a 10 foot tall hedge at the edge of the fog. After Chance fires into the hedge to determine if it was an illusion, Tiana opened up a hole that they walked through. On the other side, the fogged zone was quiet and nothing was seen other than some ravens and mice quietly skittering within the forest. Chance shoots a raven, also in verification if they are illusions.
After a mile’s travel, without detecting any game or large creatures, they came upon the large opening under the tree. Not quite sneaking, they made their way into the tunnel. After a few turns, the cave opened up to a large opening where they were “greeted” by a female bugbear (“Chancellor” Hegarr) and three others (Korz, Vort, and Thol). Chance used his new Yammy mask and took on the form and voice of a noble male elf and introduced himself as “Sir Beaurigard, servant of Royalalice of the Western Realms”.
The bugbear called forth the “Princess”, and a small green dragon wyrmling floated down from an area in the ceiling. She introduced herself as “Princess” Zeska Moorbane and asked if they wanted to speak to the Queen. It is there the group look over and see the nearly sleeping form of “Queen” Zathira Moorbane, a large adult female green dragon. Zathira told the party to work through their offer with her daughter, the Princess. Chance offered the Princess 10K gold and jewels to take out their enemies in the east. The Princess said she would need to confer with her mother on the offer, and that they were to stay as guests. She told her Chancellor to escort them to the guest residences. They are led to a back room with beds and a large bookshelf.
On the bookshelf are many volumes of journals with a strange language that even Opal finds difficult to decipher. In the midst, she does find a more handwritten journal set that has the following account.
—
Today, I climbed onto the edge of the mountain I grew up seeing from my home, and looked down upon the world. The beautiful forest of chaba trees below, softly swaying with the wind – quiet, for the few sounds of hunting animals in the distance. Mother and father would be angry if they knew I was up here, but I so wanted to get closer to the face of Indra, mother moon. I know she’s there, as she hides the lights behind her as she passes. I feel her, as she glides by. So serene. So purposeful. I know that it is because of her that we have the bounty of the land. With each of her passings, our crops grow strong. Our people prosper. Maybe father will let me learn the way of the Chaser, so that I may devote my life to her teachings. Pass on that knowledge to my children one day. Make them proud, and our people strong.
Today, our city was visited by two creatures, people so unlike anything we have ever seen. They carried within themselves, an energy that seemed to flow and hum from their forms. They tried to talk to us, sounds unknown, but we could not stay as that energy hurt our eyes so. We turned away. We could not bear to look at their presence for long. Some say they seemed confused, angry, or hurt. They did not stay long, praise Indra. Who were they? Where did they come from?
The two strangers have returned, along with others. All glowing like the cave lichen, but so much stronger. Do they not understand we cannot tolerate this? The glow is painful! and yet they keep coming, talking, in that strange language of theirs. We cannot stand near them for long, much less learn to communicate with them. We shooed them from the city. Better they live together, away from us. I know it sounds awful, shunning a people for being different, but it hurts so much.
I followed one of the strangers. They have set up a small encampment, not too far from the city, but far enough away to leave us be. How many times can they endure being turned away from the city gates before they understand. We have tried to tell them, but they seem unable to understand us as we them. They have cut some of the chaba trees down. As I followed the stranger, I noticed the animals became quiet. Maybe they also are pained by their glow. The trees around their makeshift camp look sick.
I visited the strangers’ new village again. The poor chaba trees cry in pain. Their bark has dried out, cracked, flaked to the ground. Even our world aches at their presence. There are more of them now. They chatter among themselves. I would have stayed longer, but one of them made this hideous glowing ball that cast a glow far stronger than their own glow. I had to run, blindingly through the forest until I could see again. I cry for how the trees must ache now.
The strangers have begun to make more of their glowing orbs, expanding the pain of their expanding city. The trees grow quiet and have begun to weaken and fall near their glow. The animals are afraid. Father says something must be done or they will forever quiet the forest.
We had a meeting together, the whole of the city, on what to do about the strangers. Their expansion continues, and gets closer to our town. Some parts of the glow have affected our crops, making them die, rot from the outside in. We have set up signs to warn them away, but they ignore them. We have found some of our signs broken, or lying on the ground. The city has communicated with other cities, and have asked for aid to disperse these strangers. Maybe it’s for the best. Their glow pains the world.
The defenders came, and together, the warriors of four cities went out to disperse the strangers. It was to be peaceful – shoo them further away and destroy the globes, but it was not to be. Some fought us, and a few died. After the deaths, the others gather together and made their glow bright, and just…disappeared from the world. We have frightened them off. The globes ceased their painful glow when they left. Praise Indra. The world can be at peace again.
SO MUCH PAIN! The strangers returned, but brought with them a hideous monster that sits in the sky. Its glow is so horrible! The chaba trees and beasts of the forest cry out! It not only pains our eyes, it burns! I can feel heat drying my skin. We tried shooting it down, but our weapons cannot reach it. Poor Indra! Her soothing rays do nothing against this fearsome beast. Woe to us all! The leaders tell us we must go below, hide from this beast. Mother has told me to gather my things. We are leaving tonight.
We’ve been below in the cool ground, shielding ourselves from the monster above. It never leaves – just hovering above the world, casting its glow, its pain, its…fire! I’ve snuck out a few times. Seen the strangers going through our city, knowing we cannot be there. My eyes ache, but my blindness has receded some. I can’t stay for long though. Why would they attack us so? We only wanted their pain gone from us. Why couldn’t they see what they were doing to the trees? Not doing, but done to the trees. The great chabas are falling. They have no more strength. The monster above has stolen their souls. Our world, my future, is dying.
The chabas are dead. All around me is emptiness. Underground, my people yet live, but…the world we knew is gone. The great beast is no longer stationary in the air. It has moved, but comes back to torture us. It leaves. It comes back. It leaves. It comes back. Over and over again. Are they using the beast to destroy all of our world? Is no place safe? Will we ever see Indra again? My eyes ache…
Father says I am going blind. Tells me I should not have gone above ground. I should have stayed safe and cool within the embrace of the world, but I cannot. Someone has to tell our world’s story. Someone has to bear witness to its death. If not me, then who? I never imagined I would go blind in my thirteenth season. No matter. I will tell our story. Remember us. Indra, forgive us.
~Nala~
—
Within the hour, they hear a knock at their door. The Chancellor tells them Maryn, “the gold celestial,” is requested by the Queen for a brief questioning. She is lead out of the room, with Kaiya listening at the door.
The Crown of Balance – Session Information – Sessions 15 – 23
Posted by Steve | Filed under D&D
Session 15
The group had to escape from the crumbling ceiling of the underground temple where Lloth was killed. In her death throes, Lloth flipped to her back and impaled Maryn with one of her talons. It leaked some black energy in to her, causing her to be unable to heal and cast spells. Donvar Lothien beheaded Ubrine D’garne. Kaiya took the talon that had impaled Maryn.
They carefully escaped back up through the floors, dodging falling debris and jumping or climbing past obstacles. Once they made it up to the surface, they could see the true damage the broken tavern had taken. It was slowly sinking into the ground. The party helped out some other people and guards in distress. Donovar told the group they should return to the jewelry shop and let the city begin its cleanup.
At the Beholder’s Eye, Matron Dumar asked what happened. Donovar said he would return to the Underdark and try to make his people aware of what had occurred with Lloth’s death. Through comments made between them, Opal was able to determine that Dumar was herself a Drow in disguise, and Dovar was her brother. Before leaving, he paid Dumar , and she then paid the group 750 gold for their help. The party asked Dumar if she knew of any help for Maryn, who had the dark energy imbedded in her wound. She told the group of someone who could help them in the Lost Mountains, and gave them a note to give to the resident there – Jaleth the Binder. He owed her a favor.
Opal contacts Radiance and asks for transport to the Lost Peaks. He tells her is will be there, and to meet him outside the city walls. He takes them to the foot of the peaks. They head up halfway, and take a long rest along the side of the mountain. Later, they travel up and reach a cabin close to the summit. Chance senses something in the forest, and tries to find the noise. Eventually, a young tiefling named Payne drops in behind Chance. He tells him that Jaleth is his uncle, and takes him into the shack.
They are introduced to Jaleth, who takes the note and gives the group some info. Long ago, he was part of a group who worked on a theory to create a way to put down a god in case he/she became mad. A group calling themselves the “Trinity of Faith” would be the chosen who would use these “godkillers” in case they were needed. The group ask him if he can help Maryn, who still has some of the strange energy from Lloth’s talon coursing through her wound. He tells them he may be able to help, but will need time. Kaiya hands him the talon in case it will help, and tells him they need to head out to check on her brother. Jaleth tells them to leave Maryn with him so she can rest and work on curing her ailment. Payne requests to come with them since he’s bored and interested in traveling some place new. Jaleth agrees.
Kaiya then uses her ring to teleport her and the group to the tower circle in Arcadia. They head down the tower, and exit into the grounds of her school, the Valarian Academy of the Sorcerous Arts. Now in her home world, Kaiya takes the group to the Academy’s library to check in on her brother. She finds out that Isaac has quit his job at the library. She then takes the group to the office of her mentor, Magister Nasir Carnala. Nasir is happy to see Kaiya, and tells her that he hasn’t seen Isaac in a few days. After pleasantries, Kaiya asks Nasir if he’s heard of the Trinity of Faith. He does not, but will ask around for information. Nasir tells Kaiya that she should let her parents know she’s back and return tomorrow for more info. The group head out of his office and to Kaiya’s parent’s residence.
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Session 16
The group went to Kaiya’s home to meet her parents and stay the night. Payne cast Disguise Self and Cory wore his mask, thinking to make themselves less conspicuous, but natives of Arcadia can see through illusions. Kaiya’s family is allied with House Angelis, formerly in control of the military. Kaiya asked her parents if they had any information regarding her brother, Isaac, and about what Glory had done to Kaiya. Her mother told her the last she saw him was earlier in the week when he came to gather the rest of his clothes. Her father will not provide specific answers to questions the group poses about the military, but did tell Kaiya that he would ask about Glory’s actions.
Kaiya decided to check her brother’s room for clues. She found that all his clothes were gone, and a small box of school love letters. She showed her room to the group, and the found a letter on her vanity that said “Welcome Back”. Under her mattress were 6 dead snakes. Payne took them and made jerky.
At dinner, Payne tried to disguise himself as an elf, but learned that illusions can be seen through by natives of Arcadia.
Kaiya’a family provided some information regarding the Cult of the Shattered God, mostly about how they have been hanging around the Academy, and headed east.
Nasir contacted Kaiya in the morning and asked her to meet him in his office. He told them about a city named Ghetto in the east, where the cult may be trying to get additional members from. He also explains that “belief” is important to existing in the outer and inner planes. (A character can roll a d20 and will break certain limitations, or provide advantage, on a roll of 15 or more.) He also told the group that he had come from a different world called Gallius, and that he had lived in Ghetto for a few years before traveling to Arstead. He told them that to find Ghetto, they would be tested.
The group decided to head to Ghetto to find out if Isaac was with the cult. On their way there, they found a small family being harasses by a gnoll, ogre, and minotaur. They fought and beat the enemies. After their defeat, the goddess Meriadar, showed up and thanked them for showing they were willing to defend innocent people regardless of their race and alignment. After asking about the cult, Meriadar told them the cult was hanging outside the city trying to find a way in. She told them they had failed their test, and weren’t allowed entry at the moment.
The group could now see the city between two hills, and went in. They traveled to the inn, “The Long Night” and met the tavern keeper, Reich, a male dwarf from the world of Krynn.
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Session 17
The group drank at the inn for a while, waiting for the sun to set. They saw the tavern begin to pick up business, and they spotted two kender making their rounds around the room. Sam and Shiri, shook hands with the group, and were able to steal the rings from Kaiya and Chance. They told the group they hoped to see them later that night when they would perform. The group headed upstairs to stow their gear.
Once a bard showed up playing tunes, Opal stepped up to sing along with the bard. Later that night, they saw the kender performing, and convinced them to go to their room to listen to some stories. The group confronted them about the rings, and were able to retrieve them. After returning the rings, the kender were let go. The group then went to bed.
At night, Chance was woken up by something outside the window. He noticed three figures skulking along the shadows, stopping at buildings. He carefully made it down from his window and followed them. He followed the group to a building, and one of the shadows opened up a magical hole to allow the smaller one in. He overheard them saying they had found what they needed, and they headed out to town and teleported away. [DM Note: The item was the Inferno’s Beginning.] He left a cursed mark to find his way back to the spot and headed back to his room.
Also at night, Kaiya had a mental visit from the Worm that Walks. He asked whether she would still assist him, and that he had a way to help Isaac. She said she would help once she found her brother and made sure he was safe.
In the morning after having breakfast, they followed Chance to the location of his cursed mark. Opal used Detect Magic as was able to locate a hint of the spell used to teleport, and followed it east. There they came across a farm, which the cultists were using as a base. Opal used her raven form to scout the base, and saw them moving boxes from sheds into a portal erected in a small cusp of trees. Kaiya and Payne snuck around to the north to check the main building, while Opal and Chance walked in to ask to be let into the cult.
In the house, Kaiya saw Glory, a guard, and, hidden in a closet, her brother. She overheard her tell the guard they were leaving and to take Isaac through the portal. Fearing for her brother, Kaiya cast “Hold Person” on the guard, Mistystepped into the room, and took her brother from the guard. She tried to make her way out of the house but was stopped by Glory’s “Hold Person” spell. Glory used a spell to summon a Spectator and call out to her group that they were under attack. At this time, Chance and Opal began their attack of the guards and the mage empowering the stones who was keeping the portal open.
As the battle raged and Glory’s forces thinned, Buck and Myka joined the fight. Opal felled the mage on the portal, and Myka took up her position to hold it open. After taking losses, Glory called for her men to retreat. Myka was surprised to see Chance and told him that he was on the wrong side, and he was whisked into the portal by Glory. Chance tried to enter the portal before it closed to chase after Myka, but the portal did not let him through. The group were able to capture Buck and a guard before the portal completely closed.
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Session 18
The party questioned Buck, the guard, and Isaac, and gained the following information.
– Isaac knew: basic understanding of how the god would rid the world of evil heard about a church that will be formed soon Glory didn’t know teleporting would hurt him – she said the Shattered God would heal him
The Guard knew: basic understanding of how the god would rid the world of evil know that a church will be formed soon Glory is part of the cult hierarchy – possibly one of the first priests they have been tasked to locate relics and magical items and get recruits
Buck knew: name of the Shattered God more detailed understanding of how the god would rid the world of evil know that a church is being formed in Baldur’s Gate Glory is part of the cult hierarchy – possibly one of the first priests they have been tasked to locate relics and magical items and get recruits know they just got the recently found the Inferno’s Beginning artifact know the god is using the Orb of Planar Melding the god is searching for a rumored crown of immense power know the Shattered God is using has a spy within the Balance there has been numerous gods that have been “dealt with”, then the Balance removes a related god to balance out the universe. The Shattered God is currently residing in a floating city within Toril know that Myka is one of the Shattered God’s first “touched”
Kaiya contacted Nasir, and he brought a security captain, Alleria, to deal with the prisoners. After some questioning by the captain, Nasir conjured up transport back to Arstead. The group returned Isaac home, and Kaiya and Isaac stayed home while the party went shopping and to the library. They picked up various items, and stayed in Kaiya’s home for a few days. During the time at Kaiya’s home, Kaiya has a dream about Pandora who tells her there is something calling her at Bahamut’s fall. Chance has a dream about young Myka, who changes into his grown up form, wearing a cloak, black energy coating his arms, staring into Chance’s eyes.
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Session 19
The group spent three days at Kaiya’s home, and prepared to head back to Toril. At breakfast, Kaiya’s father asked to see Kaiya alone upstairs, and he gave her a message and told her to only look at it when she was far from this world. He hugged her, and told her not to hate him. The group said their goodbyes, and Kaiya contacted Nasir to help them use the teleportation circle. He told her he would meet the group at the tower. Opal contacted Radiance to let him know they were returning to his tower. Once they get there, they say goodbye to Nasir, and they head back to Radiance’s tower.
(The note Kaiya received from her father says he and the Arcadian military killed Bahamut. He feels extremely bad about what they did, and asked for her forgiveness.)
There, Radiance tells the group they can use his tower as a safe place to stay, as a headquarters. He also introduces them to his 8-year old daughter, Ember. She looks to be about 10, has long blonde hair in a ponytail, and has an elven look to her. Her mother was an elf, but died within a year of her birth. He asks Opal and the group to take her along with them on their adventures. They agree, and ask him for travel to pick up Maryn and return Payne. He agrees.
Radiance takes them to the mountain to and Jaleth welcomes them and his nephew, Fenwyck. Hearing his name, Payne gets angry and goes inside to drop off his stuff. The group gives Jaleth some info, then Maryn comes out. She and Jaleth describe how he has helped her. She has lost her abilities and connection to the Raven Queen due to the cursed energy being held within her heart. (Maryn has black eyes with small electrical flashes. She will still have access to her cantrips, and hides them that way.) She shows that she has been taught something by Jaleth, a way to extend her spirit into a phantom that can heal (Healing Spirit). She can also extend the curse into her spear changing it into a magical scythe.
Payne tells them goodbye, and thanks them for taking him on an adventure. Opal gives him a bracelet she crafted that has her family’s symbols on it. She tells him that if he ever meets another Tabaxi, he can show that to them to get a favor. He tears up and hugs them her goodbye. The group then head out to Bahamut’s Fall.
At the Fall, the group use their abilities to search for the presence of Bahamut. Opal uses Detect Magic and senses a presence within Bahamut’s body. Chance looks through Xanatos’s eyes and sees a golden sphere of magic being protected by two circling bits of energy, one black and one white. Chance takes up Xan’s form and is able to remove the protective energy around the sphere. This allows Kaiya to summon forth the energy, which travels into her head, and circles around her head giving her energy and power. The group then ask Radiance to take them to Baldur’s Gate.
Once there, they say goodbye to Radiance, as he tells them he has some researching to be done that will take him away for some time. When entering the city, Skittersnip catches up with Chance and delivers a message from Matron Dumar asking for a meet up. The group splits up. Kaiya, Opal, Maryn, and Ember head over to see Fragrance of Spring. She tells them that she believes one of the new Eternal Fire priests is one of the demons that attacked their group. Chance heads over to the Beholder’s Eye and talks with Matron Dumar. She clears the shop, and tells Chance that Myka left her a message that tells him to meet him at the Blushing Mermaid in the evening within the next two nights. She also seems worried, and offers to give him protection.
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Session 20
Opal, Kaiya, Ember, and Maryn head to the Purple Wyrm tavern. When entering, they meet Gabrius, who has been waiting for them.
Meeting with Gabrius at the Purple Wyrm Tavern
Opal, when you enter the tavern, you hear a familiar voice yell out to you from the corner table farthest from the window. “Opalfire! Dear friend. Please come join me in some drinks.” You see Gabrius, the handsome devil, wearing the odd looking black costume from before, his black hair slicked back, black eyes shining, the tiny horns on his head glinting and pointy.
“Bartender! Please, some drinks for my friends.”
[Give the players time to choose to sit down and say hi.]
“It has been a while, has it not. You are looking as delicious as ever. Maryn, you seem…different…dangerous…new diet perhaps? And new friends I see!” [He looks at Kaiya] “Oh my! Such strength, strong cheekbones, what wonders is your armor hiding, I wonder. Is this your new bodyguard, dearest Opalfire, or perhaps newest lover?”
[He looks at Ember.] “Aren’t you the cutest! You are truly brimming with energy, and dare I say, sorcerous voodoo? Do you dabble in the Black Arts, my dear?”
[Let group reply, etc…]
“Well, I was hoping to bump in to you for some time, especially with all the hullabaloo going on. Poor Nick, didn’t deserve what he got. As for Bahamut, Lloth, and the others, they may have deserved it, but still a shame. So many lives impacted by their sudden loss. Certainly opened the field for that new church, eh?”
“Well, I wanted you to know that there are forces within both sides that have had reservations about what is happening with all this Balance business for some time. There is a quite formidable force of the Celestial army being led by an Exarch named Valorian. He has pulled his unit from the main force enacting these dastardly acts. One the other side, there is an Archdevil by the name of Baalor. He has currently pulled his unit from the Hells and is training them for opposition. I tell you these things, because you and your friends are beginning to make a name for yourselves outside your local sphere, perhaps due to your proximity to so many events that are ground breaking, to say the least. If at any time you’d like me to liaison between them and you, just let me know. I am not as clingy as that Wyrm fellow, but I too like to keep tabs on my friends.”
“I have also been asked to make you aware of a group calling themselves the Soulglaives. They are from a world who have had to deal with their own end-of-the-world events in their past, and they have formed an inter-planar guild, so to speak, to provide protection and aid as required. They have asked me to look for possible members on my travels, and I did provide your names to them. How could I not? Just be aware they may be calling you soon. Powerful allies are always a good thing to have, so it is said.”
[If asked about the demon at the church.]
“Ah…High Priest…Bishop…whatever he is calling himself. Yes, I have seen him, smelt him, more like it. I am not acquainted with him, but if you would like, I can…ask around.”
[if asked what he gets out of it]
“In all honesty, dearest Opalfire, I just want to be kept in the know. Information is my currency…well, that and a few souls or two. I am unable to return to the Hells, not like I’d want to, so I seem to always be getting my information second- or third-hand. The benefit of assisting you will, obviously, be in my best interest.”
Gabrius lets Opal know that he can be summoned via the card he gave her.
During this time, Chance heads to the Purple Wyrm Tavern, and tries to sneak past the other party members, but fails. He talks to Xanatos and is convinced to ask the party for help. He heads back down, and lets the party in on his plan. They figure out a way to infiltrate the tavern to gather information, and possibly sicken members of the Shattered God cult if they are seen. While discussing this, a dwarf asks for some coin for drinks and asks them a riddle. They give him two gold pieces, answer the riddle, and he tosses them a silver nugget. He proceeds to fall asleep on the table across the room.
The group then head to the alchemist to gather something to cause stomach sickness and a truth serum. The plan is: Opal will act as an entertainer, Maryn will be a cook in back and add the stomach poison to cult member’s food/drinks, and Kaiya will act as a waitress trying to gather info from customers. They plan to offer their services for free.
Chance, wearing his elven mask, heads to the Blushing Mermaid to sit and watch people in preparation for a possible attack. The group eventually make it to the tavern a few hours before 10 PM. They offer their services, and agree to pay the tavern keepers, Torka and Kaldor,to gather information. The plan is in action.
Fifteen minutes before 10 PM, a group of church members come in and pay the owners to clear the tavern for a while. The help shoo away customers, including Chance, and then they step out. Chance removes his mask, and waits for a few minutes after to come back in.
Meeting with Myka at the Blushing Mermaid PUT ON THE “Sad Emotional Music | Beautiful Dramatic Orchestral Music Mix” SONG.
You step into the Blushing Mermaid tavern. You see a half-orc woman behind the main bar area. She is pouring liquor into three glasses. She looks up at you, looks toward the back of the tavern, and takes the drinks in that direction.
Sitting at a table in the back of the tavern, is Myka. The tavern appears to be empty, except for Myka, the tavern keeper, a waitress, and an entertainer. His hood is pulled back from his head, showing his short black hair, cut close along the sides. He wears a light grey tunic. His sword rests against the wall behind him. He looks up toward you. The half-orc woman sets the drinks on the table, then steps back toward the bar.
Myka: Chance. [Myka stands up, walks over to Chance, and hugs him.] It’s good to see you again. Please, come and sit. [Myka sits down.] I wasn’t sure you’d let me. [He points at the drinks.]
Do you remember our first drink? The day we became brothers – you and I and Easton?
[He points to the third glass.] That’s for Easton…when we find him.
##Answer if asked about what happened to him##
[Myka orders another round of drinks for the two of you.]
This will take a while, so don’t let these drinks go to waste.
I got fished out of the sea by that damn pirate, Captain Gunmar. GUNMAR! The same man who tortured me when I was a boy. You remember what he did to me back then? He tossed me in his brig. Laughed at me. Told me he’d sell me to anyone that wanted me…for whatever reason. I was down there for weeks. Fed when they remembered. Covered in my own waste.
I waited for you and Easton. Someone. Anyone. But no one came. I would try to sleep, hoping I would wake up to my friends. Then I slept, hoping to not wake up again. I don’t know how long I lied on the floor. How long my eyes had dried up the tears…and then she came.
She stood over me…beautiful…strong…she sat down on the ground…in my filth…didn’t bother her. She held me close, told me I would be okay…safe…free. All I had to do was spread her word. Help her save the world, save all worlds. Save people from men like Gunmar. She told me she couldn’t do it alone…that she learned giving up was letting them win. Those in power failed her and her people.
She showed me how her world was invaded by demons. She was a goddess of war in her realm. She tried to get her fellow gods to fight them, some did, some did not. Some believed their people would win, and didn’t need their help. Others believed help from outside would come, for “How could anyone allow life to fade from a fellow world?” But, the world was torn asunder. No one came to help her world as it began to fill with the demon hoard. Those few gods who fought, died on the battlefield with their world.
She called upon other gods, other pantheons, told them it could happen to them too, but she was told that they could not help. It was the Balance. If they raised a hand to help, upset the Balance, they could accidentally end the war between the demons and devils. She said she yelled at them, told them of the world that was dying as she asked for help. She told them of the millions of helpless people in danger. They turned their backs on her. She returned to the fight on her world. But it was too late.
People, families, life…gone. Nothing but an ashen world filled with demons. And with that life gone, with no one to believe and worship them, the gods faded into nothingness. She tried to hold on, used her anger and hope of vengeance, to survive. But holding on to their memory was all she could do as she passed into the void. The place where dead gods, memories, the last light of her people go. She told me she didn’t know how long she was there, how close to madness she was, holding onto her world’s memory and her vengeance. Until a hole appeared before her. A way out. She thought herself mad, that it was a trick, a lie her mind was imagining, a trick by the demons, but there…was a way out. She willed herself through…into our world. In her haste and anger, she killed those on the other side. Men, soldiers, people like she remembered, guarding a portal. Who knew what they were looking for, but they found her. She looked on their now dead forms, and added them to the memory of the fallen she would avenge. She fled out into this new world, and worked to get stronger.
She told me all this, and I could feel her tears fall onto my face. She held me, and I hadn’t been held like that in so long, hadn’t felt human…loved…needed…in what felt like forever. I looked at her, and said “I’ll help you….but I am so weak. I’m nothing. I’ve lost everything.” She told me not to worry, that she would give me strength, and together we would protect those we loved, and avenge those we lost. I asked her to help me find you and Easton. She said she could not see you at this time but felt your spirit still within this world, maybe as her powers increased she could locate you. As for Easton, she couldn’t sense his spirit. I knew then he was dead. What little liquid I had in me, I cried them out in her arms. I always thought you two were safe…never imagined a world without you two in it.
She told me to stop crying. To join her. And she would bring him back to us. We would be a family again.
She took me to the top of a mountain, so high up, I could see the whole of the world. On this mountain, was a small structure she had built to heal, to protect her from the cold and outside. I asked if she was cold, if the weather effected a god. She said it did. She told me she was not much more than I was, but hoped to be stronger for the fight to come. She fed me, bathed me, let me sleep. I felt like I had a home. I felt safe. Once I started feeling better, I asked her, I begged her for another favor. She said “Of course, if you need it to continue forward.” First, she found Easton’s body, brought it to the mountain top. Tried to bring him back, but she said either she does not have the power to do so, or his spirit was not willing to return. Why would he NOT want to come back…to come back TO ME!? I made the decision to make her more powerful and to make him want to come back. Whatever it took. His body lies on that mountain top, protected by her…until we can bring him back. You and I, Chance…a family again.
##Myka will talk about his sword.##
[Shows Chance the sword.]
This is Captain Gunmar’s. After she touched me with her power, I was able to return to his ship. I made him pay for what he did to me, for all those he wronged, for all the bad things he would have done. He and his crew are rotting at the bottom of the sea. And this…I took to remind myself of what I fight for.
##Myka’s idea about the world##
Don’t you want that, Chance? A world without rich and poor? A world where no one goes hungry? A place where you can feel safe, that half your people won’t plot to kill the other half? We dreamed of being pirate kings! Traveling the world, helping people, wearing the coolest clothes, eating and drinking the best to be had. What does all of that matter when creatures can descend upon the world and wipe it all out. Who will fight for us when that happens? We need to wipe out the demons! We need to make this world, ALL WORLDS, safe! Don’t you see?! If we don’t, if…I…can’t make that happen, why would Easton want to come back?
##When asked about Calisto’s past##
She traveled the world, and sought out relics to boost her power. In her travels, she met people who joined her cause. She helped them, and in turn, their worship helped her power grow. Chance, she went to the Abyss and killed Demon Princes! Took their power! Some are still more powerful then her, and she planned to venture out to gather more power, until she found out something horrifying. The Balance, the thing that prevented others from helping her world, went out and KILLED good aligned gods to restore their coveted balance. These PEOPLE went out and killed gods for their idea of Balance! She realized then, that not only were the demons the enemy, but so was this Balance. Rationalizing killing a god! How many people would be affected by that sudden loss. She tracked down this recently killed god, and there, was able to gather a tiny semblance of their power, to use for the coming war.
##when he leaves##
Chance, you know I love you. You’re my best friend, my family. I dream of you and I together, saving Easton, and all of us growing old together, but I can’t make you join me. If you change your mind, you can leave word at the Church of Eternal Fire for me.
[He gets up, stows his sword, and pushes in his chair. He walks past you, and places a hand on your shoulder.]
I would never hurt you, Chance. You know that.
[He tosses a small bag of gold in front of the tavern keeper, and starts to walk out of the tavern.]
The group head back to the Purple Wyrm Inn. There, Chance shares his whiskey with them and thanks the group for helping.
********************************
Session 21
The party decides to step out and check out the new temple being set up, the Church of the Eternal Fire. They spot a few clerics acting as security around the new temple. Kaiya sees the two Bahamut-worshippers she met at the bar earlier, and tells them to be careful and not to trust the new church. They eventually head away. Opal uses Speak with Animal on a mouse she lures out of the alleyway, and asks it to go into the temple and tell her if a person with black eyes is in the temple. It returns and tells her he is. Chance enters the temple and pretends to pray. Inside, he threatens the new god of the church, and she enters his mind, trying to convince him she is only there to help the people and that he would be a blessed addition to her cause. He leaves.
The party then return to the inn to sleep and await word from the Worm that Walks. During their sleep, Chance dreams of fishing with Easton. Opal is visited by the Raven Queen and told to rescue the spark left within Lloth’s body, deep under the debris in the city. In the morning, Opal awakens early and is met by the Work that Walks. She tells him they will help but to return in the later part of the morning, as they will need to awaken and eat. He agrees and leaves the room. She heads down to get some milk from the group, and upon returning, Ember is punted from the bed by Kaiya.
After eating, the group head back up to the rooms to await the return of the Work that Walks. He tells them about that he will return them to the point in time right after his death. They will need to close the portal using four crystal gems that can be found on the lowest floor of the tower. He gives Kaiya a scroll with the time spell that can be used with his staff to return them to this time once they have completed the task. He tells them he is not able to give them additional information on what is below there because he was dead and had not yet arisen in his current form. The group is sent 1000 years into the past.
When they appear within the past, they arrive at the top room of the tower, the same one Kaiya had appeared in during her first trip a few months back. Opal receives a message from the Raven Queen of the current time, and she opens up herself to her patron. The Raven Queen is able to gather knowledge about future events, including: how Opal came into her service, the fall of Bahamut and Lloth, the attack on the Balance, and so on. After a brief investigation of the room, they notice the raven statue is missing the names of Opal and Chance. Opal is tasked to etch the names into the statue to close the time loop. Kaiya assists Ember in locating three intact books. [Ogre’s Guide to Tying Knots, A Monster’s Guide to Secret Lairs, and a Diary of a Thief]
The party heads deeper into the tunnel, and encounters bodies of the fallen Delian Order, and a group of demon dogs feasting on a pile of bodies. Once defeated, they head further down. Chance acquires a complete set of their teeth for sale later.
Once they reach the bottom, they come face-to-face with the portal, pulsating with black and swirling arcane energy. They also see loitering around the area, a group of quasits, which they dispatch easily. Beginning their investigation, they see four angelic statues, arms and head raised to the sky, their hands open as if holding something.
********************************
Session 22
The group heads down into the tower, and finds the bodies of dead soldiers, researchers, and others. They encounter a few hell hounds, or low level demons like imps. At the bottom, they find the body of the Magister, the commander, and more near the portal. The group must replace the gems into the corresponding statues to seal the portal.
BATTLE NOTE: Once the third crystal is placed, a male Rakshasa with two-heads named Laroq, Prince of the Bloodpits, comes out of the portal brimming with joy that he has made it to this realm. He sees Opalfire, and calls out to her. “Dark-haired female! You shall be the first of my harem on this new world. Fetch me drinks and food that we may celebrate as my station commands. Remove your clothes, as they are an affront to my eyes. Let us see you as you are in your glory. Your ape slaves can begone, or perhaps they should stay to wipe us down from our heat and joy.”
The Raven Queen will show her a superimposed image of the demons that attacked her troupe to show that he is the leader of that group.
[“Look deep, Opalfire. Feel it within your bones. Look upon the deceiver.”]
He will attack the party, and all but Opal will be defeated. Any attacks made against her are absorbed by the crown, and her attacks will do massive damage to him, as she is currently empowered by her patron ad this past one. He will curse her, vow to make her pay, then escape back into the portal, but not before he tears some fur from her.
He will use invisibility as a bonus action to hide and move. He will also do monk stuns with his claw attacks.
After the battle, Callisto will enter everyone’s minds and tell them:
“The Fire of Battle within this world! No, a new universe! Ugh…the smell of gods, weak ones, pretenders. But, each with a piece to grow my dream.”
TO OPALFIRE:
“Such magical prowess and hardiness! Are you a goddess? Demi-god? Join me! Help me to lay low the evil and blight of this world and renew it for the weak and scorned. I could use one as gifted as you in the arts to scrub clean the stains of vileness from this land.”
TO CHANCE:
“Young, strong, boy….no, young MAN. You are indeed a gifted soul, one I need in this world. One to help me reshape it, to save it from itself. Do you wish to be the first of my vanguard? The first spark that will bring evil and strife to its knees? Take my hand, raise your fist for me.”
He will fight, and she will look into his mind and see the image of Myka since it is so strong and in the forefront of his thoughts. She will say:
“I see….another….one not yet on this world, but who will do for my tasks. He will be my champion. Sad….it could have been you….Could have helped me usher in a fair and just world. Pity. May you not question your choice, dearest Chance. Tread your path carefully, as I see bottomless pits at every turn for you. It would have been so much easier with me at your side.” and she fades from his mind.
TO KAIYA:
“My, my. A fellow warrior. Blonde, ambitious, overflowing with desire! You and I could be twins! Join me, and together your might will grow with my training. I could awaken the flame within your heart, and give you battles to overcome to become a goddess in your own right. Imagine! The fires of a sun flowing from your hands, glistening along your blade, felling evil wherever it stands. Shielding the downtrodden, seeing them look up at you, at their saviour. Join me!”
TO EVERYONE:
“So, none of you will stand for the fallen? None of you has the honor or valor within your souls to think beyond your own skin? So be it. Live your lives in your fragile shells and pray evil doesn’t strip the skin from them as was done before, to my people, to me. When you are laid low, at the feet of Death itself, I will stand strong and you will look toward me wishing you had taken my offer of salvation.”
Note: Kaiya found an amulet with her shield that has a star symbol on it – Amulet of Celestial Arcanum.
********************************
Session 23
The group heads down the final tunnel, triggering a gas trap. They find the blue gem, and then narrowly avoid a ceiling spike trap. Once they get back into the main hall, they place the gem into the final statue. Beams emerge from the gems, and seal the portal. Kaiya uses Iceguard’s staff and reads the time portal scroll and returns everyone to their inn room. In their time, only 15 minutes have passed.
Now that the portal is destroyed, Iceguard thanks the group. He gives Kaiya a Periapt of Health to help her brother. He then asks the group to end his unholy existence. Before he becomes undone, he breaks off the top of his staff and gives it to Opal. It’s the front center part of the crown (conditions immunity). Kaiya borrows the Black Crown from Opal and he embraces her. He tells her to tell Nasir that he is proud of him and Kaiya. With the magic now negated, the creatures tethering his soul to his form lose their power and fall away to dust. He will leave behind the Robe of the Archmagi.
Now that they are back, Opal plans to gather the essence of Lloth that was tasked by the Raven Queen. The group head to Dan’s armory to get information about the pure silver she found. He tells her he can work the metal into a weapon, but if she wants dust she will have to find a silversmith. While there, Chance purchases a magical dagger that generates poison (1D4+1, Con save or +1d8 poison damage). He also sense a cursed dagger and asks Kaiya to identify it. Chance offers to take it from Dan’s hands to get it away from him, since it is affecting his sleep. He agrees.
They then head to the alchemist’s to sell some items. While there, Kaiya asks about the spider claw she sold before, and once she explains where it came from, Landice covers up the items and gives it back to her. He tells her she is not to tell anyone that she gave it to him, and to never say he knew about it. Kaiya asks about how things are going with Karissa, and he mentions that he hopes to convince her to go into a larger business together. Opal and Kaiya recommend that maybe he take a vacation with her, and they would get someone to watch over her shop – Fragrance of Spring.
The group splits up. Kaiya and the girls head over to talk to Fragrance of Spring and let them know about their discussion with Landice. Fragrance agrees if he is up for it, and she is told to see him later in the day or tomorrow.
Chance heads to the Beholder’s Eye to talk to Matron Dumar. He asks her if there is a way to enter the floor that Lloth died in from below, but she says there is not currently without perhaps a well-paid group of ogres or a powerful druid to move the debris from the area. He asks her if anyone is missing a cursed dagger, and she asks to see it. She tells him it belongs to an old member who has left the organization. She asks Chance if he is up for a job to teach this member a lesson. He agrees. He is tasked to “return” the dagger to a Duncan “Shiv” Michaels who is living in the southern part of the city at 264 Logan’s Lane.
Chance heads over to the residence to gather info. Kaiya and the girls head over to the damaged part of the city where Lloth was felled, and Opal merges with her raven and heads down into the debris. Nearing the body of Lloth, the raven loses the ethereal ability and she is forced to crawl through tight spaces and use her strength to push things out of the way. Eventually, she finds the body of Lloth. She can hear the thrum of the essence deep within her fallen form. Opal seeks assistance from her patron, and she hears “Go and take it”. She creates a break in the carapace of the body, and the fluids and entrails pour from the hole. Once they settle, she heads into the body and locates the essence. She begins the slow crawl out until she again gains the raven’s ethereal power and flies out of the hole.
The group then meet up at the inn and rest, as they plan to deal with the new church being built within the city.
The Group levels up to 8 at the end of this session.
The Crown of Balance – Session Information – Sessions 3 – 8
Posted by Steve | Filed under D&D
———————————————————————————-LVL 4
Session 3
Once done, they headed to the Klink and Kettle tavern to meet Wicked Nick. The tavern keeper told them seeing Nick wouldn’t be an easy process, as he enjoyed his privacy. They were directed to a stairwell to the cellar. There they encountered three giant spiders, and a few zombies. After defeating these foes, they found a key within a small chest, and were able to locate a door that was uncovered by finding a torch sconce that had wear on it. This led to a narrow hallway that ended at a trapdoor that was opened by the key found earlier.
Descending down into a large room, they found “Wicked Nick”, guarded by a vicious werewolf. “Wicked Nick” welcomed them, and identified himself as a middle-aged-looking wizard named Nicodemus. He seems friendly, but is curious that they have come to see him. They explain that a devil named Gabrius pointed them to him for information. He understands, and then realizes why they called him “Wicked Nick”.
“There are many things I have done in the past that could certainly deem me to be “wicked” in the eyes of this world. Funny that it comes from a devil.”
Opal and Maryn describe the circlet they have found, and that Gabrius believed it to be a part of an item called the Crown of Nine Hells. Nicodemus asks to see the item, and Opal tentatively hands it to Nick. However, he is unable to actually lay hands on it. It hovers above his hand. He finds it strange that only Opal and Maryn can actually touch the circlet.
Nick turns to the werewolf, Caravic, and tells him to fetch some tea for the them, as he has some information to impart with them. The werewolf changes into a young, bearded man and heads out a nearby door to do so. Nick returns the circlet to Opal, who places it back in the pouch on her chest. Caravic returns with tea.
Nick explains that he is a member of the Balance, a group of very powerful, and long-lived, beings who have taken on the task of making sure the Blood War is never unbalanced. He describes the Blood War, the great continuous battle between the forces of the devils and demons in Avernus. Finally, he summons another member of the Balance, an angel named Jerico, who explains what the crown was. [Crown of Nine Hells]
Nick explains that no matter what, the crown should not be reforged, but since only Opal and Maryn were able to touch it, perhaps they could journey and locate these missing parts and find some way to destroy or hide it from those also searching for it. Jerico explains that he is truly worried that others know of its existence, and they may do anything to obtain it. Nick and Jerico believe they should first search for some way to gather info on where other parts might be. They describe a great tower that was headquarters to a Holy Order in the past that were gathering relics and knowledge in order to begin a crusade into the realm of the devils, specifically to kill Asmodeus. The Balance knew this would destabilize the War, and were forced to bury the tower deep within Toril itself.
Opal and Maryn agree to do so, and are given a silver, Raven-faced, coin that would allow them to pass information to Nick from great distances. He told them he would meet them in the morning to provide them supplies for the journey.
———————————————————————————-LVL 5
Session 4
Opal and Maryn went back and wandered around Trader’s Way, and spent the evening exchanging stories, listening to townsfolk, and buying munchies from the traders. On their way back to the inn, to rest for the night, a crying Sarah runs up to them and asks for help. She says her friend, Bobby, was trapped in an alleyway by a ghost.
The group goes to the alleyway, which is right next to Portly’s Barrel Tavern. They see Bobby hiding way in the back of the alleyway. They try to persuade him out, but he won’t budge, looking extremely scared. They head down the alleyway, and come across a very dim spirit who asks for help. He says his body is being held by some thugs in the tavern next to him. Maryn takes Bobby out, and sends the kids across the street to safety. The group says they will help.
Opal and Maryn head to the front to go into the building. A guard and his two dogs stop them and ask why they want to go in. He warns them that it’s a rough place and to go on. Eventually he relents, and lets them in. When they step into the area right in front of the tavern, the floor drops out from them and they slide down in a cage in the basement. There they see a group of thugs, and three wolves, torturing a half-orc, and notice others being held in cages. The spirit lands behind them, and tells them his body is near. The leader finishes with the prisoner and tells them he’ll get to them later. (The group are a bit drunk, and they don’t perceive them as a threat.)
The spirit floats over to “his” body, and Opal and Maryn use food to bring the dogs near the cage. Opal sends her raven to peck through the bindings holding Chance, and wakes him up. When all three dogs are lured to their cage, Opal teleports out and starts attacking the dogs. Maryn, Opal and Chance are able to kill the dogs. Opal lets out Chance, and they find out that he and the spirit are linked. The thugs have gone into the back room, and are playing card games and getting drunk. The group lures them out into magical AOE traps, and they eventually defeat the thugs. They release two prisoners, a half-elf male and a halfling. The half-orc prisoner is dead on the slab. On their way up and out, Chance steals back the money stolen from him by some women the night before. (The women lured him into the inn, and knocked him out.)
Once they get out, they head to Sambar’s Inn to rest. Sambar provides a room for Chance, and some cheese and dried meat for them to eat. The party goes to rest, and will meet with Nick in the morning.
[800 XP earned]
———————————————————————————-
Session 5
[Kaiya’s Introduction
**9 Years Ago**
In the plane of Arcadia, on the grounds of the Magus School of Nir, two fifteen year old female
mages, practice swords in hand, face off against each other in a golden magical globe. One
blonde, hair cropped short, thin, lithe on her feet, blade rotating in a small circle. The other, also
blonde, long braided ponytail resting on her shoulder, muscular, standing low knees slightly
bent, the still blade held in front.
A tall elven male mage, dazzling white hair, wearing colorful robes, yells to the two combatants:
“This is the last of your trials. To the winner, I will take you as my apprentice. To the loser, you
will have to retake the tests and choose another as your master. Focus on your training. Still
your fear…and BEGIN!”
The two young women bodies leap into battle. The thin warrior rushes in and begins to swiftly
slash at the other. The muscular warrior, holds steady, and parries the blows sent her way.
Back and forth, the blade dance goes, neither warrior giving ground. The thin fighter eventually
is able to duck in close, and casts a blinding flash from hands left hand, while slashing down
with her weapon. The flash would have blinded most fighters, but the muscular female,
concentration fully on the battle, heard the other’s quiet spellspeak seconds before the spell
completed and closed her eyes while ducking under the swipe she knew was coming.
Spinning under the slash, the muscular female takes her own slash at the feet of the other, and
trips her feet up onto the air, cause her foe to fall to the ground, weapon clashing to the ground
feet from her. She places the practice blade to the neck.
Kaiya: “Yield.”
Glory: “YOU CHEATED! You should be blind from my flash spell! There’s no way you could
have known!”
Nasir: “STOP! Good job and technique, Kaiya. Glory, get up. There was no cheating. You
failed to realize that spells are not infallible. All Kaiya did was listen for your spell and close her
eyes. Simple. Sufficient. You were beaten fairly.”
Glory stands up, eyes locking on Kaiya, anger in her heart, but tongue held, seething.
Nasir, bows to Kaiya. “It has been years since I’ve taken an apprentice, but I look forward to
your training. Kaiya Day, I accept you as my apprentice, and it will be my honor and privilege to
see you as my better one day.
Glory, please return to the initiate’s quarter below. Don’t see this as failure, but as a means of
finding your true master.”
**Three Years Ago**
Nasir: “I am afraid your brother, Isaac, will not be able to apply to the school for entry. He has
been diagnosed with Displacer’s Malalignment. Any spell or teleportation can potentially shift
him into a solid object, killing him. It’s almost like his form is slipping between this world and
some other. This will rule out the military, as well, as they do work alongside mages, and even
a healing spell could accidentally shift him within space. There are many professions he can
still train for, but his days of magic are over.”
————————————
**Current Day**
Kaiya and Nasir appear on a teleportation stone in the Tower of Azucar. They look out at the
beautiful, ordered world of Arcadia. Ahead of them is a stairway leading to the planar
teleportation disk of the Arcane Order.
Nasir Carnala: “It’s hard to believe that next year will be 10 years since you first stepped into
your role as my apprentice. I know you feel like you’re not yet ready, but I’ve never been more
sure of your skills than now. Also, don’t worry about your brother. You’ll only be gone for a
bit, and his studies as a Keeper of Lore is going fine and keeps him busy. …Did you tell him
goodbye?”
“Listen, I won’t pretend to know how you are feeling, but I know how I did when I was sent on
my first assignment. I was scared. I didn’t feel ready. Maybe I just didn’t want to leave my
friends and family, and I certainly didn’t want to leave the tomes of magic. I knew there was so
much more I had to learn. But…my master knew I was ready, that it was time to kick me from
the nest, so to speak.
I don’t like sending you on this assignment, but when the council came to me and told me of the
task, I knew only my best would be able to handle it. All you have to do is gather some
information from one of an old library, meet with the Balance representative, Magister Lenna Wright, to
pass on the information and see if she has a task for you, and that’s it. I don’t imagine it will
take you long, at most a few weeks. Once you’re done, use your Order ring to return home.
Just remember your training, be wary of the Balance, they don’t feel right, and try not to worry
about Isaac. He’ll be here safe when you get back.”
Kaiya appears within the second floor from the top of the ancient Delian Order tower which was buried within the planet. She looks around and finds a pile of books, most in bad shape and illegible. However, she is able to find four dirt-encrusted journals. [One by the last magister of the order (Magister Cornellian Iceguard), one by the last paladin commander (Lord Commander Darian Rose), one by the tower’s archivist (Archivist Heath Trommel), and one by a low-level wizard (Initiate Janeth Harper) with an Identify spell scribed in it.]
During the search for information, the portal re-opens and three mages appear – Glory, Galus, and Buck. They speak their theme poem, and Glory casts a Hold spell on Kaiya. She gloats that she has finally been able to catch her alone, that she has found a new master, and that she has plans underway with her gone. She tells Galus to put some magical shackles on her, which prevents her from using magical teleportation or planar travel via magic. Buck places three crystals around Kaiya and the teleportation circle. Glory transforms the shackles into silver wristbands so Kaiya doesn’t look “uncouth” to the “local yokels”.
After additional gloating, the group re-enters the portal, and right before returning to Arcadia, Glory tells Kaiya “I’ll let Isaac know you said hi.” As they disappear into the ether, the crystals around the portal explode and destabilize the circle, rendering it inert. The crystals around Kaiya hum to life, and reinforce the Hold spell on her. Like a statue, Kaiya stands immobile within the darkness.
Displacer’s Malalignment – Appears to be the common cold, but is actually a disease that can be deadly for magic users & planar travelers. Afflicted must make a check to succeed any teleportation spell or ability. On a failed check, will move the afflicted 1d6ft in a random direction. Afflicted may be damaged or killed if teleported into a solid object.
– Roll d100. 1-50 is a failure. Character moves 1d6 ft in the direction of the next roll, and takes 3d10 force damage.
– Roll 1d8 to determine. [1=N, 2=NE, 3=E, 4=SE, 5=S, 6=SW, 7=W, 8=NW]
– Reroll d100 until they are safe or dead.
This disease often causes magic users to be incredibly wary of those presenting symptoms of the common cold. Spread through ingesting of bodily fluids, most commonly from the sneezes or runny nose of the afflicted.
——
Opal, Maryn, Chance, and Xanatos wake in Sambar’s Inn and head down for breakfast. There, Nicodemus and Caravik arrive, meet the new group member, and offer supplies to the group. Opal and Maryn tell Nick that they have cleared out Portly’s Barrel Tavern, and that he should not have allowed their evil to permeate the town like that. He tells them that he has to enforce a little “evil” in order to maintain the balance. He gives the group a map to the sunken tower, and wishes them well.
Th group head out and traveled northeast for four hours to the location on Nick’s map. There, they found a lone hill with a group of kobolds camped near a small knee-high cave entrance. After defeating the kobolds, they proceeded into the cavern. It opened up to a larger cavern, and the group ventured forth, finding nothing but a few cavern bugs. Eventually, they reached a stairwell leading down into what appeared to be a mages study. Within, they found Kaiya, still in a frozen state. Opal used the crown to snuff the magic from the crystals, freeing Kaiya.
After introductions are made, the sound of their talking brings a large group of skeletons to attack them. One of the skeletons appears to be wearing mage robes, and tells the party that they will sorry for looting this tower. The party defeats the skeletons, and the robed-one heads further down into the tower.
The groups searches the room, and finds a hidden container within an eagle statue containing a Sun Sword, Hat of Disguise, and a Rod of the Pact, that Kaiya stores in her bag. Kaiya looks over the journals, and learns the Identify spell. They also find a black, obsidian raven statue that looks pristine. Written on the statue, in an ancient language, are the names of Opal-Fire and Chance. Maryn kneels below the statue and begins to pray. After a few minutes, the raven comes to life and flies toward Kaiya, circling her bag. The items recently found begin to vibrate, and the bird returns to the statue base and returns to stone. Kaiya retrieves the items from her bag, and is able to identify the items. She gives the Rod and Hat to Opal, while keeping the Sun Sword.
They head back up and out of the tower and cavern. Maryn flips the coin to Opal, and she uses it to contact Nick and let him know what they found. However, it’s Caravik who answers the coin and tells them something terrible has happened, and to please hurry back to the Klink and Kettle. The group hurries back to Almswood, and the tavern. When they get to Nick’s saferoom, Carivik, in werewolf form, looks very agitated and appears to be ready for an attack. Once he sees it’s the group, he shifts in to human form, and grabs Opal and drags her in the back to Nick’s chambers. They see Nick laying in bed, bruised and bloody. Caravik says he is dead.
[800 XP earned]
———————————————————————————-
Session 6
Caravic is able to tell the characters that: when he returned from gathering supplies, he found Nick near death–bloody, bruised, and multiple broken ribs, barely able to breathe. Within the hour, Nick died. Nick was preparing to travel and confer with another Balance member, Magister Lenna Wright, her laboratory is east of Balder’s Gate.
Haldar, the tavern keeper, rushes in and says there is some major commotion going outside in the road.
Outside, there is a wight holding up the unconscious body of Sarah. He yells at the tavern and players:
“FOLLOWERS OF THE DEATH QUEEN! I KNOW YOU HAVE RETURNED! MY MASTER COMMANDS YOU COME OUT AND DELIVER THE CROWN TO ME, UNLESS THE LIFE OF THIS GIRL MEANS NOTHING TO YOU!”
He holds her body with one arm, and lifts it into the air.
——————
COMBAT: 1 Wight and 6 Ghouls – Caravik and 3 guards will be assisting in this fight.
GUARDS
HP 25, AC 16, +5 to Hit, Longsword 1d6+5 slashing, Bow 1d8+3 piercing
During the fight, if any of the guards are killed, they will rise as zombies.
ZOMBIES
HP22, AC 8, +3 to hit, 1d6+1 bludgeoning
Name: Jorgash – AC is 17, not immune to sunlight
Jorgash will make comments about how Orcus will rip their flesh and other evil comments. Before he dies, he will comment that his master will raise him again, and laughs as he is destroyed.
——–
Chance’s Death will occur during this fight. – Needed to award Chance his crossbows.
To Chance, after taking his death blow:
You feel yourself fall to the ground, your body no longer in control of your mind, which is wracked with pain. The sounds of battle begin to drift away as your head hits the floor. The last sounds you hear are the rushing of blood within your ears…the muffled shouts of Xanatos calling out your name in your head…the drum of your heartbeat…becoming a whisper…and then fading to nothing.
You are standing in darkness. Pitch black. No sound. So quiet, so dark, you feel it pressing against you, imagining it pushing the air from your lungs, yet…you notice you don’t hear your breathing. The sound of your heartbeat from earlier, is eerily silent.
{Not your time…}
You hear footsteps coming toward you. A light appears in the distance, held by a figure close to your height. It comes closer, and the light appears to be coming from a torch held by a young brown-haired boy. As he comes closer, his face comes into focus. Standing before you, in the cleanest form you’ve ever seen him in, is Easton. He smiles in the cheeky grin you remember he always had and says:
“Long time no see, Chance.”
{You are worthy…}
“You didn’t fail us. You saved us. You and Myka were my family…ARE my family. Heck, I wouldn’t be wrong to say you’re the hero we used to pretend to be.” He smiles.
{Ally yourself…}
“You know I would stand by your side, as would Myka, if we could. We’d take it to the bad guys, and show them who’s boss! We were unstoppable together. Since we can’t be there, you need someone else to cover your butt. And wouldn’t you know you be hooking up with a bunch of girls AND a ghost! Man…you’re always trying to one up us.”
{Not alone…}
In the distance, two adult figures come into the torchlight, one male, one female. They have similar facial structures, and look similar to elves you’ve met before. The male stares at you, and tilts his head in your direction. “At your service, as the Queen behests.”
The female grins “This should be fun.”
{Your battle is merely beginning…}
“…you need to get up, Chance. You have people that need you. You didn’t let me or Myka down…don’t let them down. Take care, brother. The next time I talk to you, I hope you’ll have a wonderful lifetime of stories to tell me.” He pulls you into a hug, holds you for a second, then lets go, as he blows out the torch. Darkness returns, until you open your eyes.
You wake up to Maryn kneeling over your body. Eyes closed, mouth in prayer, hands to your chest. You feel the presence of Xanatos, his voice… “There you are! I thought you were gone!”
Maryn looks down, her eyes completely black, expression completely vacant. She looks into your eyes, then over to your side. “…you’re not alone, Chance.” As you look over to where she was staring, you see two beautiful, black weapons by your side. “Take them up, and earn your life.” Her eyes close, and the golden glow returns to them. She appears confused. “…uh…um..” She realizes her hands are still on your chest, a glowing energy pulses from them, and pulls them away. “…uh…are you okay?”
—————–
The journals Kaiya found:
Initiate Janeth Harper – A short journal about her early days in the college of magic in Hestia. A page has the Identify spell.
Magister Cornellian Iceguard – A personal journal detailing the planning and staging of the push into the Nine Hells. It talks about the gathering of relics, supply issues, an influx of volunteers, and ends oddly. Days before the battle was to commence, the Magister has doubts that the portal they have created for the mission is correct. One line reads “…the portal seems to be producing a noticeable feeling of dread and visible corruption along the seam of the portal’s anchor…However, this could be a byproduct of the Nine Hells itself. I’ll have to note this and speak with the Lord Commander in the morning.”
Archivist Heath Trommel – A detailed journal numbered as 23 of 67. This one reads like a partial ledger, listing out various locations of potential relics for the cause based on research done by fellow magisters. Three listed lines are underlined.
The following highlighted notes detail the most plausible locations of relics.
– A disturbance within the Feywild reported from a fey being named Tiania.
– A group of Modrons have broken from Primus and appear to be worshipping an “invincible” construct in the realm of Mechanus.
– From a planar traveler – “….all things burn within the Elemental Plane of Fire, unless protected by magic. During my venture into the realm to gather ingredients, there was talk of an object that was unburnable. A simple handheld rock.”
Lord Commander Darian Rose – This journal details the reasoning and plan to strike the heart of the Nine Hells and wrest control of it from the devils within. It mentions the conversation with Magister Iceguard about the “feel” of the portal. “The elf is just worrying. He knows the price of his failure would be evil staining this land along with his name and honor.” He describes posting guards near the portal to “calm the nerves” of the Magister. Further, he talks about how peaceful the world will be once they return in victory.
——-
Magister Lenna Wright’s Lab
A bell is outside her lab, and when a button near the bell is pressed, it rings. A voice is heard saying “Um…Hi!…I’m quite busy, but you can wait for me in the Waiting Room until I’m done.” The door to the Waiting Room will now open.
The Waiting Room
The small laboratory will be protected by a puzzle. The Waiting Room is an intra-planar space with the following puzzle.
A normal-looking room with some decent furniture in it (a couch, a coffee table, several easy chairs, a bookcase, a clock, etc.) There’s also a water fountain and a bowl of fruit on the table. When they go inside, the door locks behind them and becomes impassable. (As the other door already is.) How to get out? The clock on the wall is open and magical- turning it advances time (or reverses it) in the room, but only on the objects in the room (and the doors). They can reverse it to reopen the first door, or they can push it forward until the doors rot away and fall off the hinges. (Or open automatically- something like that.)
Lenna is within the door past the puzzle. “Oh! I thought I would have a little more time to get presentable! Hello there! My name is Magister Lenna Wright.” She smiles with a big, toothy grin and shakes everyone’s hand. “How can I help you?”
NOTES:
The Balance contact that Kaiya has to see (Magister Lenna Wright) will be the expert on planar research. Her research will allow her to be able to catalogue items and identify which plane they were recently in. If Opal shows her the circlet, she will explain that that it resided in a different plane not long ago (within the last 600 years).
She believes the item may have gotten here via a planar intersection, the original location of the crown crossed paths with Toril, and it “deposited” it here.
She will tell the group that she has magically detected multiple planar intersections, and will provide a map with general locations. Each location is a point where a portion of the crown can be found.
1) Mirabar – old dwarven city – North of Neverwinter
2) Evermeet – island west of Sword Coast – Find the fey Tiana in Silverymoon (east of Neverwinter).
3) Old dwarven cavern in Icewind Dale
4) Mount Hotenow – Northeast of Neverwinter in Neverwinter Wood
She also asks Kaiya to retrieve tools from her contacts in the Star Mountains – [Grubby Starwhiskers (firbolg) and Tonk]
[1055 XP Earned per person]
********************************
Session 7
03/19/19
Before heading out, Magister Lenna Wright gave the group two maps of the Sword Coast, one with highlights of the locations of the planar intersections she has found. She also shows Kaiya how to use her bracers to “remember” a location and teleport back to it.
As the night sun was beginning to set, the group decided to camp out near the road, slightly past Lenna’s lab. While setting up camp, Chance talked with Xanatos and Maryn. Maryn told Chance about why she had to leave her town and how she came to meet the Raven Queen. Chance replied with a part of his story, quietly telling about what he did to the city. Before they bed down, a half-elven male ranger named Elaro Woodsoul asks to sick next to the fire for a bit. He tells them he was born in Silvery, but moved to Baldur’s Gate and has been acting as outside security. He gave the group some info about the surrounding areas heading towards Star Mount. He tells the group to mention his name at the Purple Wyrm Inn and Tavern for a discount. Before heading out, he tells them to be careful in town and keep their eyes and ears open.
In the morning, they head to Baldur’s gate. They are not accosted at the gate. They do see two goblins, one female and one male, both in nice looking dress/suit who bribe a guard to let them into the city to sell some jewelry. They head over to the Purple Wyrm Inn and Tavern and talk to the tavern keeper, Jacen Hallmark. They ask about rooms and mention the ranger’s offer of a discount. He tells them that the ranger was part owner of the inn and has been dead for 15 years, and let them know they will have available rooms later in the afternoon, since it’s so early. The group decide to roam the city while they wait.
Opal meets one of her tabaxi troupe members, Fragrance of Spring, who is working at the inn as a waitress and she tells her she was found by a group of clerics. She eventually reached Baldur’s Gate and d3ecided to stay here in hopes of finding her loved ones. She is overjoyed to find Opal, and tells her she will be off of work around 3pm. Opal says she will see her then.
Chance learned of the following from a merchant leaving the inn after breakfast:
1) There was a small group of goblins setting up a camp about3 miles out of the city. They are supposedly building a statue of their pointy hat-wearing leader.
2) There is rumor of a noble’s daughter getting kidnapped multiple times by the goblins.
3) There is a grey-robed man selling cursed sewing needles in merchant square.
4) Chance also heard about someone who is breaking dishes in two taverns so far.
Before they leave, a wild and bulbous-eyed halfling tells them to help him.. He says he’s a genie, and his lamp was stolen and is in a shop a few houses down from the inn. He says he will give them wishes if they will get it back to him. He tells them that he will be near the inn later if they get it.
They head out into the city, and decide to go to the lamp place first. It’s the Stockton Antiques shop, a nice place with a large “I Dream of Genie”-type lamp that they can see in through the window. They go in and ask about it. The owner tells them her father has had it for a long time. Since his passing, she is the new owner. They attempt to detect if its magic but find out it’s just gilded with gold and valuable gems. Chance finds out there is a cursed book in the bookshelf. He buys it from her. (It’s a cursed journal from a pirate captain.) She tells the group that the halfling they describe has been trying to court her for a few weeks now.
They then visit an apothecary, and then a jewelry shop, which is actually a front for the local thieves guild. Chance detects that there are MANY cursed items in and below this shop. The owner is able to detect that he found this out after he questions her about it, and says she is very interested in his abilities. She offers him employment if he ever needs it. They also visit a small blacksmith shop and purchase some armor for Kaiya. The owner, Dann, offers her a discount on a bright pink breastplate if she will allow him to use it as a means of advertising. She agrees and he includes his mark on the front/right of the armor. Chance changes into Kaiya’s old armor, and they sell his old armor to Dann.
On their way back, an elf asks to paint their group photo, and it comes out very well. He sells it to the group. They then head back to the inn. Once they get back, Merdermer asks if they got his lamp back. Kaiya tells him they did not see it. He begins to panics and runs to the antique shop. Kaiya misty steps in the shop before he gets in, and grapples him when he shows up. He is yelling at Lady Stockton, and a guard shows up and drags him to jail. While there, Kaiya asks if she can look more closely at the lamp, and Karissa lets he hold it. Kaiya determines this is an ancient vase that came from her home world of Arcadia, coming from the prime empire. As payment for her help, Karissa gives Kaiya what appears to be a toy. It’s an obsidian ball with carvings, and inside is another round item. It makes noise when shook. Kaiya heads back to the inn to rejoin the group.
********************************
Session 8
03/26/19 – Begins in Baldur’s Gate
The party went back to the inn, and while there they noticed the two goblins, Haley “Pumpkin” Masterson and Grackston. The female looked sad and dejected. They overheard the male goblin trying to cheer her up. “It’s okay, pumpkin. We’ll find someone to buy your stuff.” They also noticed she sips from a red flask. (This is a potion that turns her into a goblin. She needs one expensive ingredient to make it permanent, which is why she is trying to sell her jewels.) The group noticed that the goblins kept trying to enter stores, but they were faced woth raciststore keepers, who yelled at them to leave, or that they wouldn’t sell to them. The group came up to them and offered to help them.
When the goblins are rescued, they both thank the party and are so happy that there are people willing to help them. Haley tells the group that she is not a goblin, but wants to be. She asks the group if they will be able to help her sell her jewelry for her. “No one wants to do business with a goblin.” She also asks them if they would buy a black pearl from a jeweler. She needs it to become a goblin permanently.
Opal uses her disguise-self hat to convince a local jeweler and the apothecary, Landice, to buy half of the goblin’s gems and her pearl. She convinces them that she is Lady Karissa Stockton. Opal flirts with Landice and gets a reduced price for the pearl, and sets up a dinner date with him and the real Karissa for the next evening. (She tells him the pearl is for a broach she is having made.) The group runs over to Stockton Antiques, and give her a letter they have written that they say is from Landice, asking for a dinner date. She gets flustered, but Kaiya convinces her to be calm and to prepare for the dinner tomorrow night. She tells Karissa that they’ll help her get ready – clothes, hair, and makeup tomorrow.
The group return to the goblins, but see they are being accosted and forced into an alleyway by six men. They rush to their defense, and beat the men, one of which is dressed up like the Flaming Fists. They hide the bodies in the alleyway. Each of the men is a member of the local thieves guild, The Crystal Daggers. On their person, each is carrying a small diamond dagger worth 50 gp each. Grakston takes one of them. Chance is worried this is going to come down on them.
They follow the goblins back to their camp, and Haley tells them she really is the daughter of the Lord Mayor. Grakston, who is the chief of this band of goblins, thanks the group and tells them if they ever need his help, to let him know. He also tells them that if they encounter other goblins out there to mention his name, as he has a large family, all of which have spread across the land.
While there, they saw that the goblin camp had captured a human, dressed in grey robes, that had turned some of their members into little puppies with cursed needles. Chance uses a needle on the puppies, and they turn back. The group convinces the goblins to tie him to a tree near the city gate so that he can face justice. Chance takes the bag of needles. They also learn that the person who was breaking all the dishes in the city taverns was a goblin who could go invisible. He appears with a large pile of plates under his arms. He’s a little slow in the head, and believes they were given to him as “gifts”. They convince him to give them the plates so they can return them. Chance and Maryn think they know what to do, and they plant the dishes on the grey-robed man who is tied to the tree. Once they get to the gate, Chance tells them about the guy. The group then heads back to the Purple Wyrm Tavern and Inn to rest for the evening.
At Dinner
– During their evening meal, they hear a storm coming in, a low rumble of thunder in the distance. They each see a cracks in their reflections in windows, mirrors, or shiny objects.
At Night
– At night, each is visited in their dreams by the Worm that Walks. If asked who he is, he will reply “We were a guardian, but we have failed.” He asks them how they came to be a caretaker of the crown. “What would you give to protect this world?” “We will find you. This world needs your kind.”
In the Morning
– Opal finds a note from Fragrance slipped under her door. It asks for a little time in the morning to meet. She wants to let her know that she has found a small affordable place in town. She’s going to work mornings at the inn, and intends to get back to leatherworking, which she did back when the troupe was together, in the evenings. She’d going to rent a stall and sell some armors, boots, and bags, she has been working on in the evenings.
– Kaiya receives a message from Glory.
Glory: “Howdy again, Kaiya. (whispers) Buck’s “gifts” should be letting you go here soon.
(normal volume) I just wanted to thank you for lettin’ me take your super cute brother under my wing while you’re away. He’s such a gentleman. HEY ISAAC! COME ON OVER AND SAY HI TO KAIYA!”
Isaac: “Ummm…hi sis. I’m sorry I missed you before you left. Glory says you had to leave quickly on some secret Order mission. I hope you won’t be gone as long as she says you will…”
Glory: “Come on, dear. We need to get ready to go.”
Isaac: “…okay. Well, gotta go, sis. Glory’s taking me to one of her club meetings. She says it will be fun. Anyways…I miss ya, sis.”
She is very upset at getting this message. She fears for her brother, thinking that Glory will make her brother use magic that could kill him.
– Chance wakes up to a very young and beautiful form of the Raven Queen. Xanatos is kept asleep by the queen.
“Good morning, Chance. You’ve grown strong since I saw you last.”
She wants to let Chance know that Myka is in trouble because he has joined a cult. All she is able to say is they are worshipping some being calling itself “The Shattered God”.
She allows him to ask some questions, and will describe about how she was punished for being different. She wants Chance to know it’s okay. She leaves by telling him to remember where he came from, what he learned from those he cared for, and to not be afraid to trust in others. She also is holding the cursed book he found the night before and says “…and that’s a good book.” She walks up to chance, kisses the top of his head, and disappears in a shower of black feathers. Xanatos wakes up. Vex and Vax “Nice.”
Chance starts looking at the logbook. The cursed journal that Chance found will talk about the pirate captain’s life, and about his love for the sea. It will mention the captain’s ship named Galestorm, and how they often used to make port in Baldur’s Gate at midnight to unload goods. They could do so because they disguised the ship to look like a merchant vessel, no pirate colors showing. It ends with a story about how he dreamed of a beautiful elven woman, long black hair, who came to him one night, and removed her flowing feathered bodice in front of him, beautiful and curvaceous, completely naked. She asks him “Do you want me?”, and he’s captivated with her…”…more than anything in this world…” “What will you give me to make love with you all night and all time?” “…anything…” The book says that when he woke from the dream, he felt calm and cold. Time seemed to stand still. The last sentence in the book reads “…even in this condition, she visits me each night, as she promised.” Tucked into the cover in the back of the book, is a pure gold pirate doubloon with an anchor on it.
In the morning, Kaiya does not come down for breakfast. Chance has to go and check on her. The group talks and Kaiya tells them she really is scared about her brother, but until she finishes her task, she can’t get back home. They decide to leave the city now and gather the tools Magister Lenna requested. Chance notices a guy eyeing him, and he confronts him. The man tells the group that they if they were smart, they’d turn in this murderer. Chance uses one of the cursed needles on him, and >pops< into a puppy. They gather up the puppy, and dump him into some horse poop near a stable. The dog gets up and gets chased around the pen by 6 horses. The Group Leveled Up To 6!!
The Crown of Balance – Session Information – Sessions 9 – 14
Posted by Steve | Filed under D&D
Session 9
The group was stopped on their way out of town by a Kenku named Skittersnip who delivered a message to Chance. It was from the Diamond Daggers leader who wanted to talk to him, and notified him that he owed them for the men they killed. The group continued on the road. Chance told the group his story when Kaiya asks. He asks Kaiya if she will turn him in. She says she will not. Opal is asked about her story and how she met the Raven Queen.
On their first day, they encountered two ogres. One was killed, and the other let go. They were fighting over some buried food.
When they set up camp, they each had dreams.
– Opal appeared on a cliff overseeing the first morning of Toril with a golden metallic dragon. He tells her he is the first, and she is the second. She named him Radiance.
– Chance was taken to the last day of the world. Next to him was an undead dragon named Contagion, with Easton sitting on top of his head. They watched the Raven Queen, in a very emaciated form, walk through a battlefield filled with creatures as far as the eye could see. Before he woke, she turned to dust.
– Kaiya appears in the sealed silver plane and meets Pandora. She tells her that she’s happy to see her.=, and shows her current, past, and alternate scenes of the party’s life. She tells her that she didn’t leave because she was scared and felt safe here. Now, she cannot leave. (She is trapped within by the other gods.)
– Maryn tells the group of a dream she had. She saw them within a magical storm on a blackened plain, fighting a large winged being carrying a sword of radiant light. The party is attacking the being, along with a female surrounded by fire and ice, two large dragon shapes – one golden and one bone, and various other humanoids. She remembers the screams of people dying, the smell of dust and death, and the taste of blood in her mouth.
The next day, they meet an old elven man, named Jub Yammy, selling wooden masks and healing potions traveling towards Baldur’s Gate on the road. He immediately puts on a kitten mask when he sees Opal. He has an elven male face, an elven female face, an ogre face, and a gnome female face. Chance buys the elven male mask, and Kaiya buys the elven female mask. As he heads off, he puts on a blank mask that turns him invisible and proceeds on his journey.
After setting up camp, a storm picks up and lightning starts crashing everywhere. The wind howls and starts to tear down their tents. One lightning crack thunders right next to the group, blinding the group briefly, and there stands a large lightning elemental. The final enemy of the evening is a storm paraelemental.
After it is killed, the group notices other lightning elementals, at least seven, in the distance. The ranger, Elaro, comes out of the forest and yells at them through the wind and rain – “FOLLOW ME! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS STORM NOW!” He lights a torch and leads them into the forest. Some ways in, he leads them to what looks to be a large hole heading down under a tree. “This is an old bear den I found! She and her cubs moved out of here a few weeks ago. GET IN!”
The group hunkers down and waits out the storm. They ask Elaro multiple questions. He doesn’t know why people think he’s dead. He does remember a storm like this a few days ago (from his perspective), and nearly getting struck by lightning.
Jerico will find them in the cave, body bruised and broken, a spear glowing out of his back. “Caretaker….Opal Fire….take it…” He falls, a key made of crystals, small stars glow within. “…take it…open…the…door…only you…..free her….keep it close…only…way….” He dies. After a few seconds, his body begins to glow, and fades to bright, tiny motes that hover in the air, then disappear. The spear remains within the ground, flares, then zooms out of the top of the cave.
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Session 10
-Note: The group did not get a full rest.
After seeing the body of Jerico die in their presence, Xanatos yells out “Brother! Nooo!” He also exclaims, upon seeing the spear, “No! How could the Justicar do this?!” (The Justicar is the prime High archon, the wisest, fairest, more ordered member of his order.) He appears to be shocked, and retreats to Chance’s body.
The group travels further into the cave, as they do not want to go out into the storm filled with elementals. This leads to the discovery of an underground halfling laboratory under the Trollclaws. It’s been taken over by a diretroll, one that has been hunting and eating other trolls, which they slay. It is much larger than a regular troll, is black, and has a stony mane. They also save a halfling trader (Carbyn Deffler – “CD” for short) who was brought down as food. He gives them a coinpurse of holding as payment for the rescue, thanks them, and uses a ring to teleport home.
They find the following magical items: Book of Dorne, Spectacles of Balding, Magic 9 Ball, Glasses of Seaing, Dwarven-Throwing Hammer, the Brand of Harmony, and the Ever-Disappointing Mug. In the lab, the also find one of the personal journals of Hinda Wheeters, a crazed looking halfling female. The journal describes how she found the cave while hiding from some trolls. She returns to set up the lad. She has so many “wonderful” ideas, and the local towns keep kicking her out because of some issues she’s had with some of her “testings”. One of note is an overly large, sweet watermelon that grew kobolds from it’s seeds when planted “How would I know it would do that?!” It ends with her saying she’s made enough stable items to open up her shop in Neverwinter. Kaiya also finds 4 other journals and a codex that she can decipher later.
After long-resting in the lab, they head out and avoid the outside trolls and come out past the Trollclaw Hills. The continue north, and come across Dragonspear, a large marble obelisk tower. Kaiya knocks on the door, and they meet Lord Whitestone, an older looking elf. His blinks go side to aside rather than up and down. He invites them in, but Elaro says he needs to head back into the woods to see what damage has been done due to the storm. The party tells him he should go visit Baldur’s Gate, as they believe him to be dead. He tells them to meet him either at the Purple Wyrm Inn or outside near the gate at 6PM. He heads back into the woods, and the party enters the tower.
Lord Whitestone takes them to a nice room with comfortable furniture and offers them food and drink, magically creating it as needed. He eventually lets the party know that he is Radiance, the first dragon/being, and is happy to finally meet his first friend, Opal, who he has been eyeing and smiling at sine their meeting. He answers what he can, and offers his knowledge to the group. They tell him they need to get to the Star Mounts to pick up a package. He offers to fly them their.
He takes them to the base of Star Mount, and when they land, he gives Opal a golden pearl that she can use to call him as needed. He leaves and heads back to his tower. The group reach a stairway heading up. At the base is an old human man asking for help up to the nearest town of Tenjin. The old man is named Truffin Brewstorm, and he trades ales between the mountain villages and the dwarven encampments at the base of the mountain. They proceed up the stairway to the village.
There, Chance begins to be effected negatively by the cold. Opal gives him her Ring of Warmth. They head to the nearest inn, The Snowshoe Inn, and meet Theonora Snowshoes, a dwarven female, the innkeeper. They get 2 rooms to stay the night, and Kaiya is quick to meet Grubby Starwhiskers and Tonk. Theonora tells them the blacksmiths are to the right of the Grocery Mart and the Job Board across the road from the inn. They head to the blacksmiths, the building with an anvil and two hammers (one large, one small). Inside they meet Grubby and Tonk. Tonk is quite excited to meet them, and runs in the back to get cookies and drinks to share. Grubby tells Kaiya that he has finished the tools Magister Lenna requested, three large sphere-globes that act like magical dynamos. He tells Tonk to bring the box, which she does after some searching. They are contained in a large box that requires two of them to hold. (They also learn that Tonk is a very young, but powerful, forgemaster. She can imbue things with magic or tech with her hammer and innate power. Before they leave, they give the dwarven-throwing hammer to Grubby who tries it and summons a dwarf, Thorin Oakensmoke, mid-poop. Grubby says he knows the dwarf. As the party exits, they bump into Thorin who is agitated and covered in poop and urine, and proceeds to yell at Grubby. He gets gently thrown from the blacksmith’s shop.
********************************
Session 11
Kaiya heads to the Grocery Mart to buy some clothes. She buys a winter jacket and boots from the teenage worker named Kaiden, who passes his house number to her. She returns to the inn.
The group decide to go and ask about the protection job mentioned on the board. Theonora offers to allow them to borrow some of her old snowshoes for the job. They talk to a dwarven mining boss named Rorin Bloodstone, who tells them he will pay 5 gold a head for each wolf killed, and the group mentions how much for a yeti. He laughs and says if one shows up, which he doesn’t believe is likely, will pay for its toe as proof. They decide to take the job, and return to Grubby and Tonk’s shop to ask them to hold the spheres while they are on the job.
At the mining entrance, they meet the mercenary leader, a white dragonborn male named Hgrrarraggr or “Drake”, who is hired to guard the entrance with three other guards. He leaves to eat, and the group is attacked by 6 winter wolves. They manage to scare three away, but the blood of the battle brings a yeti to the site. The group kill 5 of the wolves and the yeti. Drake returns and is surprised by the carnage. He thanks the party for protecting the miners, and gets his men in shape.
The party takes the spheres back to the inn, and intend to rest there until the morning. The party headed to their rooms, the girls to one room and Chance to his own. Before bed, they were visited by the Wyrm that Walks. He tells them he was the former arch wizard of the Delian Order, Magister Cornellian Iceguard, who was within the tower when the Balance buried it, is alive as a Worm That Walks. (The Worm that Walks will use the pronoun “we” when referencing itself.) He was also a member of the Arcane Order and mentor to Nasir Carnala, Kaiya’s mentor. When it was submerged, he and the survivors tried to make it down to the portal that had been opened to escape, but something had emerged from the portal and killed them. Over time, the evil seeping from the Abyss changed him due to his magical abilities. He has since been able to overcome the evil and anger seething within his body, and has heard word of the group and what they are doing. (He cannot get close to Opal or the crown, as it negates the magic of the individual worms.)
He eventually saves or finds the group and tells them that he had animated his brethren to act as an army to protect the world from creatures from the Abyss from getting out. The original creature that came out of the Abyss that killed him and his men had escaped the tower and was out in the world. He tells the group that the portal has grown, and is now beyond his ability to control. Demons have found the portal and are using it to come through. He tells them that they cannot close it here, but he can send them in the past to close it when it was smaller, during a time when he and his skeletal men were able to guard it.
The group decide to help him, but not at this time, as Kaiya wants to return the spheres to Lenna first. He adds an enchantment to her bracers to allow her to contact him when they are ready.
The group contact Radiance and ask for transport to Lenna’s lab. He meets them at the base of the mountain, and takes them there. Kaiya uses the bell as instructed previously, and the portal opens. The portal seems to be experiencing a problem, but the group enter in. They appear within a room filled with moving floors, and the portal leading out on the far side of the room.
********************************
The group pass the first floating trap, the second maze trap, then reaches the main room. Lenna is within a spell shield casting a powerful slow spell at the center. On each corner of the room appears to be 4 lightning humanoids, slowly pushing through her spell to reach her. She yells at the group to help her, as the spell is beginning to unweave. They eventually defeat the humanoids, and Lenna drops her spell shield. A celestial female named Saryn, holding a silver spear, crashes into the room surprising the group. She threatens Lenna, and Lenna tells her to get out of her lab. A battle ensues, but she is eventually defeated. Xanatos tells them she is an archon of Justice, the silver spear signifying her station. (During her battle, she used the spear in a two-handed style turning it into a scythe that was able to cleave magic into the party.)
After the battle, Lenna seals her lab. She tells the party that the enemies must have been invisible in front of the group and entered first when the bells were used at her door. This caused them to appear straight here, while the party was shunted into her trap rooms. The party gives her the spheres she asked for. Kaiya asks her if she can send her home since their deal has been completed. She creates some beds and tells them that they all need rest. She will send them to Kaiya’s world if that is what they want in the morning. They all head to sleep.
********************************
Session 12
After waking up, the group made plans on what to do. Lenna appears and checks on the group. She leaves and returns soon with breakfast from town. Kaiya is thinking about returning to Arcadia, but Lenna tells her it will take her some time to work on the teleportation circle. She also tells her she can modify her wristguards or ring to help with teleportation. Kaiya decides to stay the day with Lenna. The group plan to head to Baldur’s Gate and sell some items and check on previous people they met before. Chance puts on his elven mask.
On their way to town, they meet an old goblin named Skag Ogrebottom (his friends call him Craig). He asks the group for some food and water, and that he is looking for a goblin encampment that is near Baldur’s Gate. The group then head into the forest toward the camp. The party asks him questions, which arouses suspicions in the group. While talking and speaking, he casts a paralyze spell on them and proceeds to take back his bag of cursed needles, and Opal’s gold. He mentions getting his lab up and running again, and about getting revenge against the goblins and “his enemies”. He proceeds to cut the ankle tendons and stabs the back of each group member. He then heads into the forest, and teleports away.
Eventually, Chance is able to get Xanatos out. Opal merges with her raven, and flies to the goblin camp. She lands and tells them about the attack. Haley and Grackston help Opal, and Grackston gets some of his people together and heads out to rescue the other party members. They are returned to the village, and some healers get to helping them. Opal is obviously pissed.
They head to the gate, and tell the guards about the attack. He tells them to head to the main guard house and report it. Also here, Chance sees wanted posters for 6000 gold for himself. Opal proceeds to draw a moustache on them. She convinces the guards that the original artist was incorrect and they thank her for giving them better info. They then head to the guard house.
There, they meet the Sergeant at Arms, Kacey Taggert, who gets their statement. While there, Matron Dumar, asks Sergeant Taggert for a room to ask them some questions. She asks the group about Chance, who is still wearing his mask, and Opal tries to deceive her by saying he was eaten by a dragon but fails. She tells the group it is important she meet with him. The group ask her if she knows of the person who sold the cursed needles. She tells them that he is Greg Felton, and offers info on him if they will set up a meeting with Chance. They accept, and she tells them to meet her outside the city, not far from the gates, at sundown. Once Matron Dumar leaves, the group learns from Sergeant Taggert that Matron Dumar is a powerful member of the city council.
With some time to kill until sundown, they head to the Flowery Cauldron, to sell things to Landice Turner. They find out the hookup with Lady Stockton did not go well, as she got mad at him when he began to question her about the necklace she was planning to make. From here, they head to the antique shop to talk to Lady Stockton. She asks for Kaiya, and tells them how it went. Opal convinces her to go and talk to him, as she may just have been upset due to Kaiya not being there to help, as she had promised earlier. Finally, they see a new shop open being run by Fragrance of Spring. They stop in and say hi. She tells them she is still working in the morning at the inn, but she is here in the afternoons. She also tells Opal that she has a small place in town, and that she is saving money for when they can head home.
The group heads to the Purple Wyrm Inn to get a room, and see Elaro in the corner. He is sad, as he tells them his friends don’t quite believe him to be alive and that he has seen his grave. They eat up and rest until sundown.
That evening, they meet Skittersnip who gives the okay to Matron Dumar. She tells them Greg used to be a part of her organization until he starting going crazy, and was forced out of the group. She gives them a map of the location of his old lab, in exchange for them getting an item from someone located far below the city who will be journeying topside tomorrow. They agree to the contract. The group then heads back to the inn to rest for the night.
********************************
Session 13
Kaiya, Opal, and Chance are taken to Pandora’s realm during their sleep. She appeared to be a little older (from 10 to 13).
Kaiya thought over her choices. Lenna repowered her teleportation ring.
Caravik sent Opal a message using Nick’s pearl. He told her that Almswood had been rebuffing attacks from undead since last evening. They appeared to be coming from the roads heading west to Baldur’s Gate. He told her to be careful.
The group will headed to Greg Felton’s lab to get their stuff back. The map Matron Dumar gave them led to a forested area with a well at its center. They traveled into it and confronted Greg. They killed him.
After coming back from Felton’s lab, the group returned to Baldur’s Gate. A green fire was seen in the city, and the city began to be filled with screams. The group ran to the fire. It was the temple of Bahamut (ba-HA-mut) that was on fire, bathed in green fire. Mages put the fires out, while guards helped those trapped in the tower. Eventually it fully burned and crashed straight down.
In the sky, the sun went black, and the stars making up the constellation of the dragon, Bahamut, flared and burst out. They disappeared. Slowly, the sun returned. Thin clouds surrounded the city, a light rain began upon the city, as if the sky itself mourned the loss.
********************************
Session 14
-After coming back from Felton’s lab, the group returned to Baldur’s Gate. The got a quest from Matron Dumar to return a magical Lloth statue from an Underdark priest, Ubrien D’garne, who was above ground at the moment. (He believed he needed to spread the faith to the above ground as her reign would cease if something were to happen to the Underdark. He had been having visions of a massive underground apocalypse.)
She gave them a guide, a drow paladin, Donovar Lothien, who’s patron was Lloth. (He believed Ubrien is a thief, and needed to be “cleansed of his sins”.
They fought the priest, and he invoked his deity. Lloth’s spiritual presence manifested itself, and mentions how proud she was that the fighting spirit of her people still boiled within them. She told Ubrien and Donovar that they had always been loyal followers of her, and deemed them both worthy of determining their “falling out”. Eventually she fuill manifested into our realm, and multiple spears, silver dripping with black energy, entered her body and disrupted her magic. Her form screamed as she breathed her last. The drow paladin’s and cleric’s powers ceased. The statue cracked, and broke into pieces.
The Crown of Balance – Session Information – Sessions 1 – 2
Posted by Steve | Filed under D&D
Levels 1 – 3
Session 1
Opal was traveling east and made camp in the woods near the road. She was sneak attacked while she slept, and was nearly killed, but Maryn showed up and helped defeat the thugs. Opal was able to use her book spell to learn that they were trying to “keep you from reforging the crown”. They decided to continue east to Crag’s End, where they found an inn to stay the night. Upon waking, they made introductions, and had breakfast. The got info from the innkeeper, to talk to Lester’s boy, Brandi. The boy told them he had found what looked to be an old well, and he drew them a map to its location.
They then traveled east to the well, but found out it was the entrance to an old dwarven mine. They heard wailing from inside. They fought: hellhounds, hobgoblins, a flameskull, an Otyugh, zombies, a wight, and a black pudding. There, they also met Gabrius, a devil, who tried to convince them to stop searching for the crown parts, as it could lead to another Blood War. He recommended they talk to a devil named Wicked Nick in Almswood, a thieves’ town north of Crag’s End. They then returned to the inn at Crag’s End to rest and communicate with the Raven Queen on what to do.
———————————————————————————-LVL 3
Session 2
In the morning, they headed off to Almswood. On the way, they met Jake and two members heading there to set up their wagon for sales. He told them to be careful there, as it could be dangerous, and to visit “Old Jake’s” later. This was the sign he hung over his stall/wagon.. They also met other people going to/from Almswood.
On the way, Maryn and Opal investigated the circlet. Opal used Prestidigitation on it, and uncovered the dirt and mar on it. It was of pure black material. Opal was able to see that the circlet was actively absorbing ambient energy. Opal tested her energy shock spell on it while it was being held by her mage hand. It completely absorbed the shock. Maryn tried her divine spell on it, both while being held by the mage hand AND while Opal wore it. The circlet provided 100% spell nullification/absorption. (In reality, the circlet absorbs al magic directed at it, and also to all energy around it, although passively. The circlet transfers this energy to other parts of the crown once they are attached.)
They finally made it to Alsmwood, which is located in a large forested area.
In the town, Opal gave some coins to a girl, Sarah, and learned about where “Uncle Nicodemus” lives. She told them he gave them food and coin to bring info to him, usually through one of his men. She said he only ever was seen coming out of the Klink and Kettle tavern. Opal was told to stay away from the Portly’s Barrel tavern. Opal then went to Sambar’s Inn and got a room for two nights. They paid for dinner and breakfast. Then they went to Tavern’s Way, a street lined with vendors. There, Opal purchased some leather material to craft a hidden pocket for the circlet. Maryn purchased some shoe inserts from Mabel.
Back Into D&D
Posted by Steve | Filed under D&D
Wow! It’s been a while since I’ve posted something here, but a lot of things have happened since. The most important is I’ve gotten back into Dungeons and Dragons through some friends of Dawn. I haven’t played since high school, but about a year ago I got to join a group and it just had me hooked all over again. Since, I’ve picked up the new edition books, and have dived into DMing my own game. It’s been a lot of fun, and has sparked my creative engine again that I think I was losing just playing video games.
I’m currently running my own game, set in the Forgotten Realms universe called The Black Crown. My players have been great, full of RPing experience, and I hope they continue to enjoy the world of adventures I’ll place in their way. =)
The Problem with Teathugs and the Shutdown
Posted by Steve | Filed under politics
The Super Right-Wing arm of the Republicans, the Tea Party (or Teathugs, as I like to call them), are slowly eating the brains of normally moderate and smart Republicans. The party that gave us Lincoln, among others, has decided to embrace the Teathugs and given up on its will to govern in a way that sees all Americans as…well, American. Rather than work along with the Democratic Party and the Democratic President, they have chosen to do everything in their power to prevent anything the Dems see as benefitting the U.S.A. It’s not that they are blocking only Democrat ideas, but even formerly Republican ideas.
“The President Is Not OUR President”
I can’t help but believe that the Teathugs are not just the super right-wing portion of their collective, but also the most racist. As soon as Senator Obama became the President, this “grassroots” organization manifested itself to complain and block anything offered by his administration. They immediately claimed he was not a “true” American. First they said he was not American, which was disproved time and again. Then they said he did not have “American” values. They even brought up his religion and said he was not “Christian” enough, even though whatever religion a president believes in has no actual reason in preventing his taking office. I even heard black teathugs say he wasn’t “black” enough. Teathugs hate that a black president sits in the White House – plain and simple. They will say they hate his fiscal policy, but you have to wonder where they were under President Bush’s watch.
How far would these Republicans go against President Obama’s administration? Senator McConnell, the Republican minority leader of the Senate, said “the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president” – instead of saying something like “providing strong leadership for the American people”. The Republicans also like to throw in little racist comments or words in their speeches or interviews, and then claim they are not racist at all. They have used terms such as “shucking and jiving”, “nigger rigging”, and even posted or shared images showing the First Family as monkeys.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)
President Obama was elected on his idea to fix health care in America. The main push in his life for that was the cancer his mom lived and died with, and their battle dealing with and paying for her healthcare. It affected him so strongly; he made it a priority in his political life. The Teathugs don’t see this, however. They think his reason for working on healthcare is to either control people through medical means or kill them off via “death panels”. [This “death panel” idea came out of language in the bill that helps provide people with a way to communicate with their doctors on issues related to end-of-life care. The Teathugs falsely claimed a bureaucratic panel would be created to pick and choose who would live or die. This was the 2009 “Lie of the Year” named by PolitiFact.]
A large portion of the Democratic Party have always been for single-payer healthcare, healthcare supplied by the government to all Americans and paid for by all Americans, but this idea has always been shot down by Republicans due to its socialist lean. Rather than go this route, the President took a Republican-created healthcare system from Massachusetts, and modeled the ACA after this plan – complete with individual mandates which helps spread the cost of the insurance among the population to increase its affordability. When this system as promoted by the administration, there were many Democrats who felt this was too conservative a system for them to get behind. Realizing this capitulation was needed for any change to get done, the Democrats rallied around it and got it passed and signed by the President. There was plenty of debate time, and many amendments by the Republicans were included in the bill, but even so it had to be voted on by the majority of Democrats. The Republicans said they wanted to support it, but it was not right-wing enough for them.
This zeal for the hatred of the law was flamed and pushed by the Teathug group of members. The revulsion of the ACA by the Teathugs was so great it had to be ruled on by the Supreme Court. They validated its constitutionality, but allowed states to opt out of creating the exchanges and not having to accept additional Medicare. Rather than rally around benefits that could actually help struggling Americans, and reduce the deficit, Teathugs have decided the ACA is akin to humping the Devil.
This hatred never went away, which led to…
The 2013 Shutdown
At midnight on 09/30/13, the government shut down. Rather than pass a clean (meaning no political attachments) continuing resolution for two months, the Teathug-dominated Republicans first added a ACA defunding amendment to the bill. When that was tabled by the Senate, they changed it to a delay for a year of the ACA. Again, it was tabled by the Senate. The reason for this is after a hard-fought battle over the ACA, followed by acceptance by the Supreme Court, the Democrats feel it shouldn’t be used as a pawn by the Teathugs as a hostage for getting a budget passed.
An hour before the government shut down, the Republicans offered to meet on appointing members on budget negotiations. The Democrats didn’t go for it, unless the clean CR was submitted. Doing so otherwise would create a precedent that any minority could use this tactic in the future to get concessions by holding the government hostage.
Yes, the Tea Party has decided that negotiating like terrorists is the way to get anything done. I can only hope the intelligent, moderate, and, right now, silent members of the Republican Party will gather the courage to purge this cancer from their party. Ultimately, it will be up to the American voters to see the danger the Teathugs have for the U.S. to continue being a strong and prosperous nation and vote those buggers out of office. Here’s hoping…
Tags: politics, shut down, tea party, teathugs
My Rising Sun
Posted by Steve | Filed under Uncategorized
My Rising Sun
by Steve Chatman
The virtual girl entered my life,
Smiling and Killing,
Spreading her Interests.
Raining stories of G.I. Joe,
Smurfs, and He Man.
Am I her Man?
The Darkness Living in My Heart
Trembles and Fears her.
It’s Safety compromised. Gripping
Protectively to its Home –
That which Feeds and Shelters it.
She’s since Smiled and Killed her way
Deep into My Heart. Killing
the Darkness. Crushing the Head,
Driving it to Out as it Hates and
Spits into Another.
The virtual girl isn’t virtual anymore.
Lying next to Me in the Darkness,
Lying in the Place that Was the Darkness.
Her Light Burning away the Old Home.
Making a New Home filled with Joy
And Smiles. Holding tight.
Darkness unable to Look Back into
My Rising Sun.
Tags: Dawn
Where are the healers? =o
Posted by Steve | Filed under Movies, World of Warcraft
Why is it impossible to find healers in World of Warcraft? If one thing has been flying through my head, it’s that question. I can tank any and all Heroics, and I’d love to do more 10-man content, but I can’t find that elusive piece of the group makeup – a healer. I can have all the people ready to go into an instance within 3 minutes, but wait for 40 minutes for a healer…and even that’s not guaranteed!
I’ve had a few healers in my current guild, but all have either decided to stop healing or join some other guild. As rare as a healer is, they basically can pick and choose whatever will occur when it comes to runs. I know this because I have actually changed instance locations just because a healer said they would heal instance B over A.
I honestly think this is how it will always be unless Blizzard creates NPCs-for-hire. The end of the Bear God questline in Grizzly Hills actually lets you use an NPC druid to heal you as you fight it. This is how I beat the quest solo. I tanked, it healed. Loots and XP abounded. Why can’t we have this all the time.
Anyways, enough ranting about the lack of healers. My wife, Dawn, and I went and watched the prequel for Underworld. It was a great movie, and fits perfectly into the franchise. I loved the look, characters, and the effects of the film. The CG lycan were amazing and believeable. The soundtrack was hauntingly beautiful. I highly recommend it. It will make you want to rewatch the previous UW films. =)
Tags: underworld, wow
Happy Birthday
Posted by Dawn | Filed under Uncategorized
For the love of my life, I wish the happiest of birthdays. <3
Tags: birthday