Tag: dragon

Report 18: Catacombs and Caverns

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, SvalaLeave a comment

Meeting Miirym

  • Miirym speaks to us in their own language, asking us to identify ourselves as they smell the Keeper’s magic, but not him.
  • I offer up the Writ as proof of permission to be here.
  • They tell us it has been a long time since the collections were added to, and welcome us to the catacombs, showing us their translucent form that was once a great silver dragon.
  • They will not keep us from our search but bid us leave all as we find it, for they are proud of their organization of materials.

The Catacombs

  • We are now surrounded by the dead of Candlekeep, Avowed laid to rest after a lifetime of service.
  • The first exit we find leads to an antechamber to the tombs – another way in for a different purpose – a room with altars and tables to prepare the dead.
  • Further on we find a massive room with spiraling walkway going both up and down.
  • Bookshelves, passageways, and several large double doors fill this space.
  • We decide to start at the very top and work our way down.
  • The top door sets of a Banshee Scream, but we are all well away and safe.
  • The path beyond leads to a room full of doors and passageways.
  • The first room is full of ravens, and the second that same impossible decrepit tavern, so we stop checking doors and head back down the spiral.
  • The second door is much hard to open, and Mr. Darkfoot gets ensorcelled and kills Tuppance and tries to attack Ms. Rosewood, but I dispel the magic on him.
  • When we get through, it leads us to a a room with thousands of glowing crystals and a singular podium.
  • These are Crystals of Notation – we have found the Echoes of Alaundo.
  • We head back out and further down, to the very base of the spiral.
  • The next door paralyzes Questdrone, and Mr. Darkfoot has to fix him before we can proceed.

The Chamber of Lost Lore

  • A spherical room with sloped ceiling and a deep basin with a prayer circle in the middle and full bookshelves all around the edges.
  • The ceiling holds a beautiful mosaic of the Library above.
  • The books, we discover, hold lore about Candlekeep itself.
  • One tells us that the prayer circle is used by the Avowed to speak to the spirit of Candlekeep itself to ask questions.
  • Looking through the books reveals much of this storied institution and the great mythal below.
    • It was crafted in the time of Mystra, before such magics were banned.
    • It is a True Mythal, made by the ancient elves.
    • It was found here, buried deep within the ground, and an ancient citadel once stood where Candlekeep now stands.
    • Through the work of Archmages and master craftmen, the housing units were created to drawn upon its power through the weave itself.
    • However, the power can only be drawn short distances, and this has set the boundaries of the Library.
    • The housing units are the programming, setting the rules, and there were a number of mishaps early on.
    • The mythal itself refuses to be used for violence or conflict and the first Candlekeep crumbled to dust when this was attempted.
  • Mr. Trisfir agrees to ask questions on my behalf, as I have yet to put myself forward to officially become avowed and we discuss what it is we will ask for quite a while.
  • When he meditates and then casts the spell, the room darkens, the mosaic above alights, and a wispy, humanoid figure with fiery hair manifests above the basin.
    • Where can we find books about True Mythals? In many places throughout the Library, but for the books we seek, we must go to the library by the main housing units near the Library’s Mythal.
    • How do we get there? There are three passageways, but we must take the 5th door to the vaults, and turn away from the sea, to the place furthest into the cliff.
    • Where might we find information on the human mages who most worked with True Mythals? The very same place.
    • What dangers might we face on our way there? The caverns themselves are a deterrent; the doors uniquely trapped, and the Mythal itself protected by a prismatic wall and other high level magics.
    • Mr. Darkfoot asks for the final question, as I have no others. How could we bypass the prohibition on interdimensional travel within the Library? The spirit shows how a specific housing unit might be altered to allow such a thing. I am concerned what he might do with this information.
  • Ms. Lendiel asks for privacy as she speaks to the spirit, so we drop a silence on those of us not in her immediate circle and rest while she speaks with the spirit.
  • After, we all take a long rest to recover ourselves from the long trek down here, and in preparation for the final thrust down into the caverns.
  • When we return to the spiral room, Miirym is waiting and asks of us what we have learned, but Mr. Trisfir tells them simply information on where to go next.
  • Mr. Darkfoot unlocks the final door, and Miirym comments on his skill, reminding us all not to steal anything.

The Caverns Below

  • Greeted by stale rotting air and sea water, we slip and slide our way down to strange unnatural rock formations.
  • Turning inland, away from the sea, we find irregularly lit caverns and tunnels.
  • The first large room we find contains a strange, glowing, amorphous shape at the center.
  • Looking carefully, it appears to be a living spell – perhaps a Prismatic Spray.
  • As soon as we enter it attacks, and will not be dispelled, but Shohei manages to destroy it, and several of us are caught in the resulting explosion.
  • Some quick magic keeps Ms. Rosewood from turning to stone and we continue on.
  • The next room is a large library, but Ms. Lendiel finds many pressure plates througout.
  • Mr. Darkfoot marks them to keep us safe, disabling them as he can.
  • There is a glyph of warding beyond the exit that he studies while we check out the books.
  • Ms. Lendiel said they were safe, but one sends out a pulse of energy that curses everyone.
  • Meanwhile, Mr. Darkfoot attempts to dispel the glyph, but when he fails, Questdrone orders us all back and sets it off himself, absorbing a chain lightening all himself.
  • We rush through the hall as the tide begins to roll in.

Report 17: Into the Undercroft

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, SvalaLeave a comment

Meeting with the Keeper of Tomes

  • Keeper Janussi summons me to his office.
  • He has a writ of permission for myself and the group to go down into the Undercroft in search of information on mythals.
  • He tells me that the magics down there respond to those who come, and rise to challenge them.
  • He cautions that we must be mindful of Miirym and play into their beliefs.
  • He warns that while we should not be able to get close to the Library’s mythal, that should it happen anyway, we should be very careful.
  • He asks I give him a full report when we return, and should it be good enough, he might be able to get me access to nearby mythals of slightly less power.

The Basement of Doors

  • We gather up in the morning and head to the Restricted Section of the Library.
  • The guard there inspect our writ, and advise me to give one tassel to each party member, who must stay within 120 feet of me at all times.
  • We head down into the catacombs and first come upon a high vaulted room filled with shelves, crates, case, tables and chairs.
  • An altar to Oghma is at the far end, I offer a prayer to guide our quest for knowledge.
  • The rogue crew begins checking the doors for our path further down.
  • The first is full of pots and pans, the next door reveals a ratman bathing, the third door leads to stacks of books.
  • We find a path leading east and down, to a glass-domed laboratory.
  • Here, the doors lead to falling wine racks, an impossible decrepit tavern, and people who try to pull Questdrone in until he slams the door.
  • Shohei objects and disappears into this room for a short while, returning unhurt, but very tired.
  • Ms. Lendiel finds us a passage going further down to a room with statues eerily resembling golems.
  • The doors here lead to a narrow hatch going upward and a room full of buttons, and a passage further down.
  • Heading down we find a room full of mist, with several doors.
  • One to a room with a spying coin on a table, and one with a small dark floating sphere of annihilation in it. Mr. Darkfoot must be convinced to leave it be, and I fear he may try to come back for it another time.
  • There is also a stairway up, but it leads us to an airvent overlooking the Court of Air, but is magically protected from being used as an exit.
  • Having to backtrack at this point, we search more carefully, and Ms. Lendiel finds a moving bookcase with a downward chute behind it.
  • We all feather fall down together, a total of thee hundred feet to the bottom, into a room full of socks.
  • This room has but one door with a stone carving of a dragon attacking a keep, perhaps this is the greath Miirym’s battle against Candlekeep.
  • Mr. Darkfoot disarms and unlocks this door, and we head further on.
  • There are several passages and a door beyond, this doorway revealing a vast chasm with a singular bridge guarded by a minotaur, who appears to be feasting on part of a horse.
  • Questdrone speaks to him and discovers he his guarding the bookcase on the far side and will not be moved from his task.
  • Mr. Darkfoot and Questdrone begin to cross, but the minotaur shakes the bridge so badly, that Mr. Darkfoot must enter his book.
  • Questdrone is able to duck and dodge his way past the minotaur to the far side, though I worry they are getting outside the protective range of the writ.
  • They take all of the books they discover on the far side, including a Tome of Clear Thought, and make their way back, quite injured by the minotaur, but he stays his post on the bridge and does not pursue them.
  • I fear we are taking things that would rather stay in their places, but the others assure me that locked away is no place for such a powerful Tome.
  • We head down again, and the air grow hot and dry, and there is the sound of breathing.
  • Perhaps we have found Miirym at last.

Report 13: Bookwyrm’s Request

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, SvalaLeave a comment

The Book That Wouldn’t Open

  • First Reader Bookwyrm brought me a while marble and blue leather bound book that he has been unable to open and asked me to look into it.
  • Mr. Trisfir and I attempt to Identify the book, but only find that the lock itself is an incredibly intricate abjurative spellworking which is keeping the book closed.
  • It also seems to be keeping something locked away inside the book.
  • There is no key or command word that we can decipher, but some process by which the book may be opened.
  • We request a scroll of Legend Lore from the bindery to learn more about it.
  • It is called Zikran’s Zephyrean Tome.
  • In researching Zikran, we discover he is a recent elementalist interested in giants and the elemental planes, especially cloud giants and their flying castles.
  • This book is a traveling tome, a spellbook, so perhaps leaving the library might help us learn more, away from the wards.

Gazreazam

  • As we fly out on the magic carpet, I keep detect magic up to watch the book.
  • Magic begins to build and the title appears on the cover, before a burst of energy bursts the padlock apart and the book open.
  • A purplish gas emits forth, followed by the body of a man made of gas and sparkles, or rather a Djinn.
  • He introduces himself as Gazreazam and says he was enslaved by Zikran and trapped in that book.
  • Zikran must still be alive, as the spell has not broken, so he asks us to help free him.
  • He gives us a description of a cave down along the Sword Coast where he had last been with Zikran. Mr. Darkfoot believes it to be south of Baldur’s Gate.
  • We discuss what to do back inside the Library, where the book slams shut and locks again.
  • Questdrone says their are universal laws which must not be broken and a prohibition against slavery is one of them. I wonder if this is somehow different from a wizard’s familiar, but no one really wants to have that conversation.
  • I message the First Reader, and he agrees we should work to set the Djinn free.
  • Most of the book itself is about trapping Djinn and Gazreazam’s behavior.

Zikran’s Cave

  • It takes us a couple of days to get down to the coral reef Gazreazam mentioned as a landmark for the wizard’s cave.
  • Ms. Lendiel and Mr. Darkfoot fly out to the reef, to look back at the coast for the cave.
  • It is underwater for the most part, so we work out safe ways for us all to get down there at low tide
  • The first things we find are a couple dead half elves with deep claw wounds, healing potions undrunk. Killed too quickly, and by a dragon from the looks of it.
  • Gazreazam never saw a dragon with the wizard.
  • The next room has destroyed furniture, but intact books and scrolls.
  • Music begins to play from somewhere, and as we begin to look around, a voice rings out from beyond a doorway.
  • “Who dares entreat upon my lair? Present yourselves so you may be judged.”
  • In the next room, a laboratory with a stone dais, holding a horde of wealth and a huge, bronze dragon.
  • He introduces himself as Zelapharn, and after being convinced that we are merely here looking for Zikran, makes us promise to tell no one.
  • He does allow us to investigate for traces of Zikran.
  • The books in the first room are ship logs and navigation charts, his collection.
  • In the lab, we find Zikran’s things – a journal, a map of the Cloudpeak mountains with an area marked near an old giant’s castle.
  • We also find schematics for an elemental air cannon.
  • We thank Zelapharn and give him a gem for his horde before taking our leave.

Castle in the Mountain Valley

  • Horses secured in the foothills, we trek up the mountains through an unnatural storm.
  • Mr. Trisfir keeps me from falling to my death, but I really need to research a sheltering spell.
  • We are woken in the middle of the night by a pack of shapeshifters that followed Questdrone back from scouting.
  • Their leader, once dispatched, is found to have a large, intricate transmogrification tattoo on his back. I copied it down to take home with us.
  • Their lair has a number of corpses of unwary travelers and a handful of useful items they must have scavenged. I now own a lamp that will float around with me when I need it.
  • Another day on, we find a giant castle in a cleft where the storm calms significantly.
  • The castle appears quite ruined, especially in the higher levels, as though it crashed here.

Report 6: Of Ghosts and Dragons

On 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.

Demon Dragon

On By ravonlockeIn Jin, JournalLeave a comment

We got to East Haven as the demon dragon was still attacking it. It’s all on fire and falling down. We gotta get it out of the town, so I grab the alarm horn from Eggy and blow it at the dragon. It really works and it breathes pain all over me, but I’m fast and smart so it doesn’t hurt that bad. Doc gets really big and just keeps hitting it right in the face while we all throw stuff at it. Saalym and Sandy fight with a bunch of the blue dwarves first, and then run right up Doc so they can punch it, too! I kill it though! Cuz I’m the strongest! It falls right down in front of us and Explodes! That was really fun!

Doc and I run off with a piece of scale to show the town what I did. We help them kill the rest of the blue dwarves, and tell everyone they’re safe now cuz I killed the demon dragon. Leshy came with so she and Doc can help the hurt people. When we save the people at the townhall, I show them the scale and he takes it. But Leshy says it’s dangerous and takes it back. He says we should take the big statue, too. It all needs to be destroyed or something. I’m going to keep my piece though, it won’t hurt me, I’m too smart!

In the morning, Twitch says he has a new mission for us, to help with the stupid winter goddess lady. Says there’s an old city under the ice with big magic things. Says the dragon heart he got yesterday is a battery for the sun thing, but there’s even better under the ice maybe. We have to go get a book first though, that knows how to get under the ice. That seems like a really smart book, just like me. I know how to get through ice, you chip it out of the way. Twitch says it’s on an island of frost giants, so that will be lots and lots of fun!

Twitch asks then if I still have any of the demon rock. It’s mine though. Eggy says it’s dangerous and it could hurt me. Doc is worried about me, too. Eggy doesn’t want me to end up in a cage like the gnolls’ guy, or crazy like the king we killed. I think he might kill me and take my head, even though I’m faster and smarter than him. I could kill him first, but Saalym wouldn’t like that at all. So, I bury it near the dragon rocks. I know where it is, I can get it back if I want to.

We go check on Good Mead first. The bees are okay, but most of the town is wrecked. We go check on the church where they put Sammy, but the crypt is open and Sammy is gone! Saalym is really upset and no one knows what happened. Maybe he wasn’t really dead. Maybe the winter goddess lady took him. Eggy says we should ask around wherever we go to see if anyone has seen him.

So, I turn into him, as best I can remember and head off to ask everyone in town. Eggy and Saalym shout at me, but it’s what Eggy said to do. I don’t understand why they’re mad. I’ll get her some mead so she doesn’t have to go near the bees. I don’t know why she hates the bees so much. Nobody in town has seen Sammy, but I tell them if they do to tell the Speaker. I make my funny hat change my clothes so they look like Sammy’s, too. But only to show the kids. I think the others would like that even less. Weird.

Saalym doesn’t want my present of mead, so I drink it myself on the way back to the mountains. We gotta make sure all the blue dwarves are dead before we go kill a bunch of giants. But some other blue dwarf lady has taken over the castle. At least she can talk so we understand. She’s not gonna play with the demon rock and doesn’t want to take over Ten Towns, so we let her be. Boring! I wanted to kill more blue dwarves! Time to head for the giants’ island then.