Report 6: Of Ghosts and Dragons

On November 28, 2023 By ravonlockeIn Journal, SvalaLeave a comment

Duergar

There is an alert that rings out in Dwarven as we pass through the locked door and head downstairs.
Another door, this one with the face of a glowering Dwarf, but we do not pause.
A large long room greets us, lined with pillars covered with carvings of giants and dragons. Tiled walls have been smashed, and a dais holds a throne.
A voice greets us telling us to turn around, in Dwarvish.
Ms. Lendiel and Mr. Darkfoot explain that we come in peace, looking for Durgeddon, that we are looking to hire him to repair work he had previously done.
He has been dead a long while, but the voice seems interested in speaking further about our skills.
A Duergar woman and a few guards step into view, taking Ms. Lendiel, Mr. Darkfoot, and Shohei away to speak with their leader.
They return a short time later with a woman named Nimiria and eight more guards.

History Lesson

The orcs, after being repelled by the Dwarven fortification, burrowed in beneath the defenses.
Durgeddon died in the chapel to the north of the main forge.
The northern area, however, due to this and other horrors of the battles, is full of the undead.
These Duergar came up past the Black Lake below where a young black dragon lives.
Durgeddon’s notes may be where the ghosts and such horrors are, and the dragon may be guarding the Orachalcum.
They will show us where to go if we share the information in his journal and half the Orachalcum.

Hauntings

Through a large barricade we find a silent room with a brackish well.
We head to the right to clear out the living quarters before heading to the chapel.
The second room we checked had a Rug of Smothering that tried to devour me, but most are ransacked.
In an empty armory, the armor wakes and attempts to smash Ms. Lendiel and Shohei to death.
At the end of this hall is a larger room with many corpses, but thankfully, they do not rise.
A ghost takes possession of Ember, though, despondent that it can no longer fix the mistakes it made in life.
It asks us to set right the wrongs of the shaman and kin who are cursed in the chapel and to lay Durgeddon to his proper rest.
This sends us back the other direction towards the chapel. Most of the rooms this way have also been destroyed.
But in a barracks we are attacked by a few skeletons.
The chapel smells of death, it reminds me of memories that are not my own.
We are confronted by Orge Skeletons, ghasts, and an Orcish wight.
I feel the curse releasing it’s hold as the wight falls, but there more to do, so I perform a cleansing ceremony that would have made my elders back home proud.
The journal is not here, so we take Durgeddon back to the ghost and lay all the dead to a proper rest.
We find a Library through one of the doors, and a succubus masquerading as a captive researcher.
Undead are not the only things haunting this place.
She has found the book we need and tempts Ms. Rosewood and Shohei into attacking the party when #13 figures out she’s lying to us.
Axel tries to negotiate with her after she goes ethereal so we can’t hurt her, but there’s some magic from the desk and #13 helps me find a summoning circle and spellbook.
She says the book will go with her if we break the circle, she wants to talk to me alone, but the others won’t allow it.
I copy down the magic circle with Axel and take the book, but it will have to be translated from Dwarven.
We get tired or her threats and decide to break the circle. The book stays behind, so we pick it and other interesting books up before heading back to the Duergar.

Black Dragon

Nightscale is a young adult black dragon who lives on his hoard in the center of an underground lake.
The Duergar paid it so that they could work the forge undisturbed.
The group decides we need a boat to get across the lake, so #13 gathers materials from the rooms we explored, and I learn how to build boats. It’s small, but good enough.
We put it in the Hole to get down the stairs and then quietly get in the lake. Ms. Rosewood takes Ms. Lendiel on Seahorse-back and #13 pushes the boat.
Everything is working well, until I try to stand up in the boat to get out onto the hoard and fall on my face. Must work on boating skills if this is going to be a thing. .
The battle is fierce at first, but then the dragon dives into the lake, leaving us to cast about for it.
Mr. Darkfoot and Shohei start looting the treasure, and I keep tossing heals as people surface with grievous wounds.
After a short time, it becomes clear the dragon has left entirely, so we finish looting and swim back to shore and make our way, boatless, up the stairs.
We split the 100lbs of Orichalcum with the Duergar and head back up through the orcs.

Oozes and Orcs

We check through the last of the dwarven area and find a storeroom of rotten food.
And several oozes which attack #13. Ms. Rosewood and Mr. Darkfoot destroy them.
The only other things left on this middle level are corpses and water.
And a cavern with a Roper that we smash and then cut open for the treasure it has eaten.
There is also a small jail with a dwarf corpse that I am able to speak to. She was put here by the orcs to die.
After laying her to rest in they crypts in the main room, we head upward.
We find a room full of orcs and after Mr. Trisfir destroyed them with fire, the entire orc encampment came charging down the corridor.
We were forced to destroy all but one who ran away so that we could leave this place.

Report 5: Deeper and Deeper

On November 14, 2023November 28, 2023 By ravonlockeIn Journal, SvalaLeave a comment

Dwarven Ruins

The exit to the shaman’s room is carved with the face of a dwarf, and a skeleton lays against it, long dead and scorched.
Mr. Shohei takes care of disabling a firey trap on these doors, and then brings down two containers of alchemist fire from inside the next room.
I have to read my skills book quickly so that we can properly seal the tanks, as he wishes to bring them along and they had no caps.
The next room is also covered in Dwarven frescos covered in Orcish graffiti.
There are similar doors at the far end as well as a staircase leading down in the middle of the room.
The group rests here briefly before heading down the stairs, covering our faces as heavy smoke pours out of four braziers and down the narrow stair.

Strange Caves

We head down into cavernous spaces with small streams cutting across our path on multiple occasions.
There is a strange buzzing with turns out to be large insectoid creatures known as stirges, but they are quickly dealt with.
The next cavern has a penned up cave bear in it, but #13 is unable to make friends with it, which is unsurprising as it appears to have been poorly fed on humanoid flesh.
There is also an exit to the far side of the Tooth.
Another tunnel leads to a fungus filled room, where #13 is able to retrieve a sword and a satchel of money from among the poisonous spores.

Dwarven Tomb

The next cavern we find is home to a large and beautiful sepulcher of Dwarven origin.
Shohei, Ms. Lendiel, and Mr. Darkfoot look through the individual tombs, finding only three of them occupied.
It seems there was some calamity here before the clan had been here very long.

Lizard Cavern

There is a barrier which, when removed, reveals a cave nearly filled with water, a pool and streams leaving either end, but several members of the group are not interested in swimming.
We backtrack and choose the next path which has narrow stairs down to another chamber with a stream and this one has a waterfall going down at one end.
Mr. Shohei goes to investigate the other end of the room, but it is not long before there is a roar of pain and he runs back out along the walls.
A giant lizard follows after him, and is soon followed by lizard men jumping out of the stream, and one throwing magic from the opposite side of the room.
After these foes are defeated, Mr. Shoehei, Ms. Lendiel, and Mr. Darkfoot go investigate their caves and return with some coins, gems, and potions.
I have to bandage various members of the group at this point as I am running low on spells and these caves are quite dangerous.

Mine Shafts

We start finding mining shafts after that and rough passageways.
In one such place, there is some left behind mining equipment infested with gricks, who attack us.
In another tunnel, we find another large iron door with Durgeddon’s mark upon it.
Mr. Shohei is injured in his attempt to open it, so Mr. Darkfoot has to step in and disable the bladed trap.
Once through the door, we can hear the sound of metal against metal.
There is a staircase down to a room with several bronze Dwarf statues and a couple doors.
The sound, however, seems to be coming from behind the wall, and the doors appear unused.
After finding the secret door, the group decides this is a secure enough room and beds down to rest before delving further.

Report 4: The Search for Orichalcum

On November 7, 2023November 28, 2023 By ravonlockeIn Journal, SvalaLeave a comment

Meeting with Great Reader Teles Ahvoste

Much damage has been occurring around the library from broken chains to broken power units.
They have been stepping up patrols, but it is not enough.
The Housing Units for the power of the Mythal are being attacked or breaking down.
They were designed ages ago by Dugedden who has been out of touch for a century.
The housing units are made of Orichalcum which was only provided by Dugedden’s clan.
Scouts have been sent to find his last known location but it is dangerous travel in the Spine of the World.
We are tasked to find his workshop, discover his disposition, and either negotiate resumption of relations or return with the ore and his plans for the units.
We will be transported to the nearest town, Blasingdell, to our assumed destination and be given further information there from the Mayor, Sir Miles Barrik.

Preparations

Orichalcum is naturally cool and incredibly dense and has a natural magical current that makes it easier to enchant.
Ysayle believes we will be lucky enough to find a large sum of the metal, but #13 believes that to be statistically unlikely.
We have no group members who can speak Dwarven though magic will help us read any leftover writings.

Blasingdell meeting with Sir Barrik

The location is two days ride on horseback north, but he has only a couple pack horses to spare.
We are provided a rough map to our intended location, the Stone Tooth, a 1400′ tall spire.
There are aggressive orc tribes in the mountains, followers of Gruumsh it is believed.

Travel to the Tooth

#13 is quite adept at following maps and navigating terrain, he believes it no harder than navigating the great cogs, which he says can be as large as continents.
Mr. Ashfall updates our map as we go along.
On the second day, #13 notes footsteps of a 6 orc patrol in the area.
We are attacked by these in the night, and one appears to have reached her violent perfection before death.

The Stone Tooth

We arrive at midday on the third day to see smoke curling out of an opening halfway up.
Tuppance, the raven of Mr. Darkfoot, is sent to investigate and finds no orcs moving about, but a well-trodden switchback path leading to stairs, and the smoke coming from a natural rock chimney.
We all go up to investigate the chimney and send #13 and Tuppance down to investigate.
After he noisily puts out the fire below, we all make our way inside to a large kitchen with a floor covered in stew that just might have townspeople in it.
Down the hallway, we find sleeping quarters and two humans, Garadil and Carana, in a cage whom we free and bring along with us. They were part of a mission to map the area.
We take a narrow, rough-hewn path to the east which stops at a smooth wall, where #13 finds a hidden door, behind which is a circular passage marked with Orcish graffiti and curses.
Behind a hidden door in this passage we find a room containing an Orc Shaman and her three apprentices, who all attack without question, and all die for the glory of Gruumsh.

Report 3: Secret Room & Firefly Cellar

On October 31, 2023November 28, 2023 By ravonlockeIn Journal, SvalaLeave a comment

Amberdune Bookshop Wrap-Up

Master Reader Renzu and Grovekeeper Nim brought Dawnbringer Galure to perform the resurrection of Nidallia, a Lamia, as it turned out.
Mr. Darkfoot acquires clothing for the Lamia from the tailors.
We bring her, Korvala and the other two pack members back to the Hearth for explanations.
Nidallia seems familiar with the trick they were playing, but displeased they were playing it.
Mr. Darkfoot explains how she may gain proper access to the Library in the future.
Vziir’Ag gifts us with a portable hole for our services.
Inside the hole, we find a number of things including a skeleton, gold, potions, scrolls, weapons and armor that the group divides up.
The skeleton remains seated in a chair in the room until we can decipher where it came from. I must learn to speak with the dead, imagine how much we could learn.

Opening One of the Doors

Mr. Darkfoot requests everyone gather in the room, for he has found a key that he hopes will open one of the doors.
He did not, in fact, find the key, but stole it from the Lead Chanter. Saying she had a ring of over 100 keys and perhaps she did not even know she had it.
When putting it into one of the doors and turning it, both the key and the lock disappear and the door opened.
This new room is similar in style to the first Room, but contains a great many secured storage boxes.
There are heavy magical protections in this new room preventing magical travel, divination, and other such things.
Each of us finds a key in our own pockets that opens the chests within, all of which are empty.
There is a rug in this room, which, when moved, is found to be covering a dormant teleportation circle.
As an experiment, I take one of the blank books from the Room and carry it into the new room. It does not disappear as it would if I took it out into the Library.
Mr. Ashfall puts his mark upon one of the boxes to claim it as his own.

Discussions

Mr. Darkfoot explains that banks create fake money while either embezzling from people or the government. They loan more money than they own, he says, it is just numbers on paper.
#13 asserts that luck does not exist, that everything in the universe is by design of the cogs. Mr. Darkfoot disagrees.
#13 says there are many different types of cogs for the many different types of love, but that three are specifically responsible for romantic connection between two people.
#13 has heard of the masked modron and believes it must be one of the other shelvers.
#13 says modron are not capable of forming emotional attachment, even though Mr. Trisfir says the masked one exhibits emotion. I’m not sure I agree with that.
#13 says he must be a rogue modron which can perform multiple tasks at once.
This is dangerous because it might make bad decisions, never having been socialized to behave this way.

Firefly Cellar in the House of Rest

Great Reader Sylcira Savikas assigned us to take materials to the Firefly Cellar in the House of Rest and to assist with renovations there.
It is so called because it is lit with magical firefly lanterns.
Scribe Varneer gives us additional books to carry when we arrive, asking us to deliver everything to Ebner.
Other inhabitants include Ebner’s young daughter Gailby, Crinkle, a kenku, and Katoola, a tabaxi.
Ebner takes us down to Crinkle’s office on the lowest floor, and we deposit everything with him before getting some dinner and sleep.
At breakfast in the morning, everyone is humming the same tune, but there does not appear to be an enchantment on us.
Scribe Varneer rushes up to the top floor and seals us all in, telling of a “singing madness” that had happened once before.
Ms. Lendiel and I return to Crinkle’s office to see if we brought something untoward in with us the day before, but nothing looks unusual or out of place.
The lights begin to flicker as Ms. Lendiel listens to a humming in the stones of the floor.
She follows the humming through the floor and I follow her with a steady light.
Ebner begins screaming from the top floor and we rush up to find him catatonic.
He is breathing, but quite cold. Gailby reports that he was complaining about the song, and then stood up and fell over shrieking.
I cast Protection from Good and Evil on him and he begins singing words to the song.
It is a story about a mother scything a father while he slept in a wheat field and a dog eating a hand.
There is also mention of a Shimshine Shadow, but that’s just a story parents tell children to get them to do their chores. It’s a trickster who punishes the lazy.
There is a malevolent presence here, not a story, though turning undead and abjuring the arcane does not chase it away.
The humming grows louder and several others begin singing the words. It is very difficult not to join.
Books begin flying of shelves and we head down to the Kitchen to find the others.
Gailby had looked at a book with Crinkle the night before so Mr. Darkfoot goes to find it.

Shimshine Shadow

The book has four sections and is a moving machine of a thing.
- First the woman with a scythe and a legless man and a black inky shadow figure
- Second the dog eating a hand
- Third a riverfront and a drowned boy
- The fourth scene is broken.
Mr. Trisfir sets to work fixing the book and the room grows cold.
Ms. Lendiel hears the song coming from the room next door and takes Mr. Ashfell to investigate.
As the fourth section is completed, showing a young woman squishing the shadow with a millstone, Ms. Lendiel screams.
I race to her and heal here and she stops screaming.
Mr. Ashfell destroys some skeletons they had uncovered in the wall of the room. Perhaps people who had hidden from the initial outbreak of the singing madness.
Crinkle reports that the book itself was not one we brought with us, but is fully registered as a book available for borrowing.
There is no millstone here, but there is a giant stone candelabra on the top floor so we go up there.
The singing gets even louder and a shadowy figure appears.
Mr. Trisfir begins to lower the candelabra, Ember throws a firebolt at Ms. Lendiel who falls, Katoola attacks Mr. Trisfir.
I heal Ms. Lendiel and bring up a spiritual book to defend us.
The book opens upon the table, spewing shadow. The forth section now depicts us crushing the shadow with the candelabra.
Ember throws fire at the shadow, but it explodes into mist, reforming over the book.
#13 arrives and goes to examine the book while Mr. Trisfir drops the candelabra.
The shadow, the table, and the floor are crushed beneath its weight.
The lights come back on at full, the singing ceases, and the air warms.
A nearby book transforms into the Shimshine Rhyme, but it is closed and innocuous for the moment.
Scribe Veneer opens the door to the Avowed waiting outside. They take the book and ensure we are clear of the curse before escorting us to the bath house to refresh ourselves.

Report 2: Amberdune Bookshop

On October 17, 2023November 28, 2023 By ravonlockeIn Journal, SvalaLeave a comment

Bookshop investigation

Location: Baldur’s Gate, Upper City, The Wide.

Mr. Trisfir discovers Wizards of the Wide, Coppers to Crowns, and Amberdune
A guard tells me of Wizards of the Wide and Amberdune
Ms. Lendiel acquired hot drinks for everyone, she is very kind, but investigation does not appear to be her strong suit.

Amberdune Bookshop Investigation

Mr. Darkfoot suggests we attempt to subtly investigate the shop and detect magic for any further exploding books. With the possibility of buying and examining any suspect books if the sellers are not forthcoming. An addendum of following the booksellers at the end of the day if nothing is otherwise discovered.
Mr. Trisfir, Mr. Darkfoot, and I enter the bookshop to browse, while the rest of the group observes from various other places around the market.
Amberdune Bookshop is a simple stall selling a variety of materials from broadsheets and penny novels to expensive hardbound books.
There are two patrons and two clerks, neither matching previously given descriptions. Both dusky brown skin and blue eyes.
Mr. Trisfir asks the younger seller, an energetic young man, for unique books.
The young man refers to the woman behind the counter as Ivani, she refers to the young man as Theryn.
They offer Mr. Trisfir The Wanderings of a Humble Aasimar, but he cannot afford its 400 gold price tag, so he leaves.
I approach next, noting some small transmutation on a couple of the books behind the counter.
Theryn offers me Fallen Tethemar for 225 gold, which I do not quite have.
I involve Mr. Darkfoot in the discussion at this point, and he begins to interrogate Ivani.

Ivani Interrogation by Mr. Darkfoot

The book came to her from collector who bequeathed a collection to the shop’s patron.
Ivani knows no magic nor anything about an enchantment on the book.
She refuses to discuss any further books from the same collection.
The shop’s patron will return in forty-five minutes if we wish to speak with them.

Korvala Interrogation by Mr. Darkfoot and Myself

The patron is a dusky woman with amber eyes and auburn hair.
She leads us away from the shop to a bakery patio to eat and speak.
She repeats that the items are from her personal collection and is suspicious of our concern.
Mr. Darkfoot shows her the burn he received from the one which attacked us.
She is genuinely surprised and invites us to speak later than evening at her home with all the special books present.
Shohei keeps an eye on the shop to be sure they do not skip town while we wait.

Korvala Interrogation

With all present in her home beyond the Black Gate beneath a larger building.

There are seven people living here, appearing to share familial characteristics.
Mr. Darkfoot explains more fully our reason for being here.
Korvala created the books with magic – creating Gingwatszems, creatures that can mimic tiny objects or animals for a short time.
The intentions were deceitful, but relatively harmless under normal circumstances.
The Gingwatszems, when not locked in a highly magical library, would simply unravel after a time and wander off.
Mr. Darkfoot and Mr. Trisfir insist she stop doing this as Candlekeep is the ideal place for this type of book to end up in this region.
They are trying to raise enough money to resurrect Nidallia, her previous patron, who was killed by adventurers.
She has the five original books, include one about Gingwatszems, which we ask to see, and the latter of with #13 reads while we talk.
#13 suggest she sell something less dangerous, but she just wants to get out of selling anything as quickly as possible.
Mr. Darkfoot suggests we bring the five books, some part of her fallen friend, and the money they have collected so far, to Candlekeep, and we will have Nidallia resurrected, so they can go back to their lives.
Korvala agrees and will bring several members of her family along.

Other Bookshops in Baldur’s Gate

Wizards of the Wide only sells spell foci and spell scrolls
Sorcerous Sundries is a massive tower with good security. There is an angry illusion who is not very helpful. The books (and other items) are kept behind portals, but the arcane specialists can put in requests per topic. I found a book on the interaction of the Weave with the Hells.

Resolution of the Amberdune Investigation

We report succcess to Whisper who allows us entry with our guests to the Hearth
Taking the three originals of the books, we speak to Parmac to get a meeting with Vziir’Ag
Vziir’Ag is strangely familiar with Mr. Ashfall who is extremely uncomfortable with the attention
Mr. Darkfoot explains our findings.
Vziir’Ag sends to the First Reader, Bookwyrm, who recognizes me.
He looks at the books and takes us immediately to the Hearth.
He recognizes them as Jackalweres, which shocks them and us, to be honest.
He examines all of the books and confirms the offered deal.
He will send for a friend to resurrect their friend in the next few days. They are welcome here while they wait.
We will be paid when the matter is concluded satisfactorily.