The group finds themselves transported to a forested mountainside. The air is cool and crisp, a distinct difference from the damp and foul smelling caves they were just in. They stand between a pair of tall stone pillars, aged and weathered. The pair of stones lies on the edge of a large circle with other such pairs of stone pillars, each at the cardinal points of the circle.
Up a gravely path, they see a large structure. A hunting lodge with a foundation of stone and the rest of strong wood. It looks warm and inviting, but the group is hesitant. They are battered and exhausted. They need rest. The move deeper into the forest finding shelter as best they can. Arno sets up a tent and does his best to camouflage it. T'an later comes by and fixes the camouflage job. No fire is set that night and the group has a cold sleep.
Outdoor Patrol
350 XP
In the morning they approach the hunting lodge and cautiously move inside. They pose themselves as cultists and are questioned little while they quietly inspect several rooms. It is not long before they come to the kitchen. There they meet a large woman in the midst of cooking for the lodge. Several humans are helping while numerous kobolds move about fetching and cleaning.
The group nods as they nonchalantly move through the kitchen and find themselves descending into the basement below.
Cultists to be and not to be
500 XP
In the basement the Arno decides to stock up on some basic ingredients: flour, corn meal, spices, salt, etc. The basement is dark but dry so Smallfang, who cannot see in darkness like the others, waits near the bottom of the stairs, opens a barrel and discovers a hoard of pickles. He begins eating.
Old man Bohr/Darvin/ Medivh moves through the basement and in one darkened corner discovers 3 individuals. A dwarven male, beaten severely, with his beard shorn off roughly and chained to the wall. Also chained to the wall is a human woman. She is also badly beaten and cowers as the group approaches. There trying to comfort her is a slim human man who, except for the fact he is a basement looks fairly well kept.
The group discovers that they are prisoners of Talis, a half-elf who has taken over control of the hunting lodge. She has taken the dwarf, Craggnor, prisoner as he was the previous cult leader here. Apparently there is dissension within the ranks of the dragon cult. Talis is of the old beliefs of resurrecting dead dragons to produce dragoliches while the new direction of the cult is to bring about the ressurection of Tiamat herself and in that goal has started to raid up and down the SwordCoast.
The woman, Miresella, was captured during a caravan too close to the cult's activities and is being questioned as to what she knows of the cult. She is the last surviving member of the caravan. Her husband and children killed.
The young man is a priest of Amaunator. He believes that Talis is trying to groom him and convince him to join the cult under her direction. Perhaps she needs more bodies on her side of the cult's divided populace.
The old man attempts to knock out the dwarf, Craggnor, but not realizing how close to death the dwarf really was knocks him dead instead of unconscious. Quickly realizing his mistake he magically revives him using Spare The Dying and brings him back from the brink of death. He lies unconscious but alive on the basement floor. They promise to return to help the others escape.
The continue to move through the lodge. There is much activity by the lodges housekeeping staff and the adventurers casually ask where they might find Talis. They are directed to the upper floor and to the half-elf's meeting hall.
Talis's Hall
3,400 XP
On the floor, on the far side of the table is the body of Dralmorrer Borngray, the elf that was in charge of Castle Naerytar and who was going to question the group until their escape. Apparently he has not done a good enough job of it. He had come to the hunting lodge with the goal of warning Talis and the rest of the cult that a group had infiltrated the castle and had escaped. He correctly surmised that the group had used the portal to travel to the lodge.
Once warned, Talis used the opportunity to perhaps move further up in rank within the cult. She killed Borngray and is now asking the group to further aid her. She can either blame the group for the death of Borngray and they will be hunted down or perhaps they can do what they do best, infiltrate the cult further and kill another cultists who is in her way. the dwarf Varram.
The group considers their options, sizing up the three large humans, who look like they've seen and survived more than their share of battles, while listening to Talis.
Talis tells them:
- The password to enter SkyReach castle is "Tiamat, our Mother and Strength"
- A multicolor banner, black, blue, green, red and white, is flown to signify that the bearer is friendly to the cult.
- The cult has been aligning themselves with the Red Wizards of Thay.
- The treasure hoard is being transported using a flying castle which currently resides near the town Parnast but it should be leaving soon.
- The leader of the cult currently is Severin the Red.
The group agrees to her terms but demands that she allow her three personal guards to accompany them to the castle. She agrees.
The group splits to quickly accomplish different goals within the lodge.
MetaGame Spoiler Inside
Smallfang returns to the prisoners in the basement, keeping his word to free them before they leave. He returns to the main entrance to await the others.
Smallfang returns to the prisoners in the basement, keeping his word to free them before they leave. He returns to the main entrance to await the others.
T'an follows one of the guards to retrieve the dragon banner from one of the rooms. They enter a linen room. Tucked away in a corner beneath regular bed sheets is the multicolor banner. Curious T'an sticks his thieves mirror under the door to an adjacent room. From what he can see the room is luxuriously furnished with many books and hunting trophies.
Three Hounds Parlor
1,100 XP
Pilfering done, they move to leave.
A large suit of armor standing near the door comes to life and shuts the door in front of them, barring their exit. T'an on the other side is separated from them. A large section of the floor beneath their feet turns black as tendrils of the blackness rise up and grasp at each of them. Orvusita is the only one able to escape its grasping tentacles as she jumps to a nearby chair. The others are not so lucky. Once grabbed the tentacles begin to crush the life out of them. Arno is eventually able to escape and retreats to a safe distance.
T'an at this point is able to open the door and come to their aid. He slashes at the Helmed Horror but is unable to make much of a dent in its armor. Arno in a panic decides to light the door on fire in hopes of creating an escape route. Indeed the door does blaze to life but then shortly thereafter so does the floor and fire-ready books nearby as well. The room soon fills with smoke and fire.
Orvusita is grabbed by the black tentacles and is pulled to the ground. Old man is unable to escape the grasp of the Evard's Black Tentacles. Soon both of them are pulled apart, their body pieces pulled into the blackness never to be seen again.
Arno, seeing the blaze is not and escape route but a death trap moves to the nearest window and smashes at it with his staff. T'an moves quickly past the suit of armor and smashes at a different window. The helmed horror behind them in fast pursuit. The suit of armor, in fact, rises into the air above the flames and moves right behind Arno. T'an dives through the window to safety. Arno dives through the window but not before the helmed horror is able to take one last swing at the gnome. The gnome continues to sail through the air but it is a lifeless body which hits the ground outside the lodge.
T'an rushes to the side of Arno, looking up into the window which the gnome had just jumped through. He sees the suit of armor standing still at the window sill, flames rising behind it. He has ceased his pursuit. Rummaging through Arno's pockets he finds a couple of potions of healing and pours them quickly and roughly into Arno's mouth.
Smallfang, still inside waiting for the others eventually notices the smoke and soon the flames. He shrugs in bafflement and surprise when a furious Talis descends the stairs demanding to know what is going on. They both move outside to discover T'an and the now recovering Arno.
Failed Negotiations
1,600 XP
Outside the now burning hunting lodge, Talis demands of the group what happened. T'an tries to explain but no good explanation is forthcoming. T'an slashes at Talis, knocking her to the ground but her war forged guards step in. It is a brutal bloody fight which is quickly over.
T'an is able to hit a few times but realizing they are vastly overpowered he succumbs to his fears and bolts for the safety of the forest. Smallfang hovers over the prone body of Talis inflicting damage until Talis utters a magical word into his mind, "Flee". Smallfang runs away into the forest. Arno he is just recovered from death is able to fend off the war veterans only for so long.
Arno and Smallfang awake to find themselves in chains inside a barn, weaponless and armorless. Talis is above them readying a hot iron for use in her questioning. A guard stands just behind. While Talis is focused on questioning the dragonborn, Arno uses the opportunity to use a magical acid spray to work through the iron manacles around his hands. Soon enough he is free and sneaks up behind Talis and the guard and ensnares the elf with magical vines. Unable to move, Talis is helpless while Arno frees Smallfang the same way he loosed himself and Smallfang rushes up to Talis and punches her in the head.
Talis who had received a near fatal wound from T'ans bow shot but a few minutes ago has been able to heal only minimally. Smallfangs punch is fatal. Together Smallfang and Arno overcome a simple guard and quietly leave the barn, avoiding the guard posted outside.
Unsure of what to do and fearing T'an dead, along with old man Bohr and Orvusita, they move down the road to the only town they know of nearby, Parnast.
Parnast and the Ice Castle
Once in the town T'an enters the local tavern and orders himself some food and drink and waits for a secluded seat to open up. The tavern's keeper, a enormous man name Raggnar, has sent a boy to "fetch the pot" when T'an says that he would like some food.
T'an waits and then waits some more. Eventually after a good long while, no food has arrived for him but he does see Smallfang and Arno enter the tavern. He sees them talk with the tavern keeper and Raggnar soon tells someone else to "fetch the pot".
A middle aged man walks by T'an on his way out. As he passes by T'an, he quietly and discreetly says, "fetching the pot is not a good thing". Before he leaves by the front door he turns to the rest of the tavern and bids the tavern a good-night, saying if anyone needs their wagons mended they can find him at his Wheelwright workshop.
T'an knows a warning when he hears it and gets up to leave. As he does so he quietly tells Smallfang and Arno to meet him outside. Witnessing this whole exchange is a table of noble elves and as the adventurers leave the tavern so do they.
They adventurers watch as the elves enter their large and ornate wagon and as it starts to leave they hop aboard. The driver of the wagon, Lithariel drives just beyond the houses of the town and stops the wagon. The two groups find that they are on the same mission: follow the cultists to find out as much as they can as to their nefarious doings.
They do not have much time to converse though. A large retinue of guards has arrived at the tavern and not finding their quarry split up in search of the town's newcomers. The group, larger now with the addition of 3 elves, finds their way back to the Wheelwright's workshop.
The wheelwright, human named Gundalin, lets them in quickly. He explains that the cult has taken over the town several months ago and anyone here is either in the cult or aids the cult in return for good pay. He has remained because his wife and child have been due back from their travels and he fears that if he leaves he will not find them again. So here he waits. But in the mean time he will do what he can to rid the town of the cultists.
He tells the group:
- There is at least a couple of wyverns in a closed up stable that are sometimes used to travel to the Sky Castle if it has left the ground.
- The black half-dragon, Rezmir has recently been spotted entereing the castle.
- Judging by the cultist's activity in the town and near the castle, the castle is probably due to leave soon.
Questioning With Force
2,100 XP
As Gundalin tries to give them this information, the noble elves including Lithariel are keeping watch outside and warn the others that guards will soon arrive at the wheelwright's workshop. The group leaves via the backdoor just as the guards approach the front door.
The elves though, with their large wagon are hard to miss and their little group is taken in small farm house for questioning. They are each manacled with their hands behind them sitting on chairs around a large farmhouse table. The captain of the guards, Captain Othelstan, begins to question why they are here.
Not satisfied with their answers he pulls a knife out in hopes of intimidating them. This doesn't work so he approaches one of the noble's squires from behind and thrusts the knife into the temple of the elf killing him instantly. The elf's head lays on the table, a pool of blood slowly emerging from and then surrounding the lifeless form. Captain Othelstan waits for his theatrics to take effect and begins the questioning again.
Witnessing the entire encounter is the small group of adventurers just outside of the window of the farmhouse. They agree on their next direction.
Together they burst into the farmhouse. As Smallfang opens the door Arno and T'an let loose several attacks on the captain and guards within. It is over before it has hardly begun. The room is secured as the bodies of the captain and guards lie on the floor, dead. Lithariel rushes to the lifeless body of one of his entourage and performs the magical spell to bring him back to life.
Obviously they have outlived their welcome in town.
They didn't even get to have their meal.
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