24 Eleint 1385

Session 25

Upon leaving Caer Callidyrr, the group began to discuss amongst themselves where exactly they were headed and what they would be getting involved in. It only took a couple of days by cart and, as the party progressed, they realised the road was quiet and relatively safe,
which was a bit surprising. However, the trip was not without interesting events. On one of the nights when the party was asleep, Tayln and Us were on watch, making sure the campsite was safe. Us, after an hour of watch, summoned his rope trick and entered it, leaving Tayln to watch the camp as he himself began looking at his rope trick and attempting to find anything hidden and unknown, further wishing to develop his powers. During this investigation, he had a thought. What if his rope trick was connected to his bloodline and his ancestors? If that was the case, would he be able to access past areas previously hidden to him? During this, he decided to bring Tayln into his ropetrick and expressed these ideas. Us said it could be related to his own ropetrick and its structure, specifically the large clock suspended in the void. Us began to focus on the clock, imagining it shattering and breaking apart to reveal other rooms and locations, and as he raised his hands to focus, the clock shattered almost without any effort, causing a loud crushing and ripping sound of metal on metal, tearing apart, and causing those in the campsite outside of the ropetrick to awaken to the ear-piercing sound. Upon looking around for the sound, most of those in the campsite saw the ropetrick, saw no immediate danger, and returned to their sleep. Axi’nthys however had never seen the ropetrick before nor heard such a loud sound and began to search the entire campsite and surrounding area for the missing sentries. After some time, he realised the remainder of those who awoke to the noise went back to sleep, so Axi’nthys returned to his own sleep eventually.

Back in the ropetrick, Us and Tayln were looking at a now broken and shattered metallic clock in the void with what appeared to be openings in its surface yet there didn’t appear to be a way to reach there as of yet. And, surprisingly enough, the clock still seemed to function as normal, with the handles still pointed to the correct time. What was additionally new however was the blue third clock handle now pointing to the two instead of the one. Whatever this handle is referencing, Us believes he is on the right track. In a few day’s time, the party saw the now abandoned city of Blackstone; a large structure appearing to have been built jutting out of the south-western end of the Fairheight Range, with black stoned walls surrounding the city in several rings and layers. The gates appeared to have one large door closed and the other jutted open, slightly on an angle. The surrounding landscape was a mix of barren and dead, with a few bushes and half-dead trees, some animals in the area, and just generally a eye-sore due to years of negligence. Upon entering, the group took a look around and quickly noticed at the top of the city, there was a bridge leading into the mountain itself. With this, they began to find a way to the top with the cart, while Lucious the raven scouted from above. As he scouted, he appeared to come into contact with a field of some sort, gliding through it and appearing to have been affected by something. Due to Axi’nthys’ connection, the group was able to find where this strange field appeared and walked through it cautiously. Unknown to the group until after, they walked through a wild magic field and were all affected differently. Sckips suddenly began to felt nauseous, Us felt a pain in his mind as he took psychic damage, Tayln suddenly gained the knowledge of a cantrip and permanently learnt it, and a wide range of other effects occurred to the other party members. After this strange occurrence, the group continued their way to the top.

Upon reaching the bridge, the group came to a form of round-about where one bridge connected back to the main city (the one they were on), the the other led into the mountain. In the middle of this stood two statues, one facing east and one facing west. Us managed to identify both of these statues as representations of the goddess of luck, Tymora, facing east, and misfortune, Beshaba, facing west. After Us mentioned this to the party, Hamwise felt a strange chill come across his neck, and almost felt a strange sense of connection to the goddess of misfortune, creeping him out further. The group then began to move towards the entrance to the mountains, yet quite quickly noticed that next to the doors sat two statues sitting upright, only to notice the statue on the left was in-fact a motionless cyclops. As they got closer, the cyclops noticed them and called out to them, making its way to block the doors. Us, in his ultimate wisdom and ideas, said he had documentation to pass to see Omaric. The cyclops told him to approach to give him the papers and himself and Kreilor approached together to hand the papers over (documentations with Omarics signature).
The cyclops took the paper in his big fingers, appeared to look at it, and upon raising his hand to the sky almost to see it in the sun, he dropped the paper and a large boulder suddenly materialised in his hand, to which he threw it down infront of him, missing Krelior yet hitting Us directly, causing him significant pain. The cyclops then yelled “Idiots! No one passes me to see the master! Now DIE!”.

Session 26

After engaging the cyclops in battle, it appeared to activate the stone golem that was still intact, and ordered it to guard the bridge from the intruders. Once activated, both golem and cyclops began assaulting the group. However in quick succession, Axi’nthys managed to turn the cyclops against the golem with magic, and Tayln managed to knock the cyclops of the ledge as well as destroy the stone golems legs, leaving both cyclops and golem broken and shattered on the cities grounds below.

Looking around, Hamwise went back to the statues to ponder, returning to the party after their short rest, while Tayln attempted to create a glass tooth in replacement of one that was knocked out by the stone golems attacks. The rest of the party healed up and begun to look deeper in the cave entrance, wondering what could be ahead. However, the group unanimously agreed that whatever surprises may lay in store, Omaricis somewhere ahead of them, possibly waiting in hiding for them, possibly unaware. Regardless, the group knows that caution is their ally moving forward.

Session 27
After a short rest, the party entered the underground passageway, hoping and trusting it would lead to The Cairn of Cymrych Hugh, the old Guildhouse. As the party journeyed through the mountain, time went past and the only thing that they could hear was the sound of their footsteps echoing along the walls, the flicker of their torches, and the occasional discussion and comment passed between party members. After some time, the smooth stone of the passageway began to implement stone bricks, sometimes noticing the stones had been placed, other times noticing the wall itself has been carved out into a stone-brick pattern. Soon, they began to see the passageway open up and began to see two large stone sentinels standing guard next to a set of double doors, partially unhinged and broken, yet semi-intact. Even with the torchlight or darkvision, it was difficult to see the top of the cavern. The party investigated the entryway, and figured as they were getting closer, began to become more cautious and walked slower. Axi’nthys sent Lucious ahead to investigate and managed to see some light in the distance, being blocked by some large forms and pillars. Soon, the party came forward with this information and noticed some more cyclops around several fires lighting their campsite.

With this revelation of their path being blocked, the party dimmed their torches and prepared their ambush, agreeing to cast spells and shoot projectiles at the same time to catch their enemy off guard. Quite quickly, the party began to assault their enemies and, although caught off guard, the cyclopes still posed a significant threat. Their spellcaster began to cast something with thunder and lightning appearing in the highest areas of the ceiling, causing thunder and lightning to begin to appear. This caused the party to quickly take him down, preventing a powerful spell from being cast on them.

After dispatching the cyclops’, the party looked battered yet alive, looting the bodies and acquiring a few magic items, as well as a strange wooden mask. Upon casting identify, the party discovered its power was on an artefact level, yet its enchantment didn’t appear to relate. It appeared that this item was meant to be a conduit to unlock something powerful by redirecting power from other sources into and through it. This left the party to decide who will wear or carry it, and now look to find a place to rest and recover their energy for the rest of the trip to the Cairn.

Session 28

Upon further inspection, the party ventured forward to discover where the entrance to the Cairn was, soon discovering that further down the hallway, it did indeed lead to a valley within the mountains and there, sitting across the way carved into the mountain, a fortress in slight disrepair. The party didn’t notice any movement, yet the early afternoon sun may have been casting shadows in the wrong direction. The party decided to venture back and take rest, only to discover that there was a section of the passage blocked off with wood and an eerie warning written in elven script etched into the stone;

“By the magic of these lands, turn back for darker enchantments await beyond.”

The party, deciding a challenge was in their best interest, pushed past the warning, only to be standing in front of another;

“Turn back for beyond this threshold, the realms of magic and peril intertwine, and mortal footsteps may find no return.”

Pushing forward, the party was met with a final writing in common this time;

“If you got this far you’re an idiot.”

Taking offence, the party pressed forward, only to come across a large set of metal doors, with strange symbols and carvings decorating its space. The party pushed the doors open, to reveal a dark open space. Upon moving further into the darkness, Tayln and Sckips found a stone table with a strange headpiece sitting atop it - a helm with small draconic carvings protruding from the sides, portraying the 5 chromatic dragon variants. As they began to inspect it, the cavern lit up with flue flame, only to suddenly realise they were not alone; a large demon, blue furred, goat-like face, and bright blue eyes appeared in front of them, wielding a large sword that looked bigger and bigger the longer you looked. As the party slowly began to realise what they had just walked into, the demon attacked. The party managed to survive and damage it to the best of their abilities, however their previous encounters had whittled down their resources, making their chances of survival look bleak. Just as this demon was about to land a killing blow, the party heard a snap from behind, and the demon suddenly vanished. Looking behind, the party saw a half-elven man, wearing brown robes, brown hair, a bit of a beard, and a look of concern on his face. He introduced himself as Wilber, and began to heal some of the members with what appeared to be druidic magic. He also mentioned that he knew Tanari and apologised to the party profusely as this was in fact a trap for a man named Galdeth…the very one who took over the The Sword Coast. Us threw a firebolt at him considering his slight anger, only for Wilber to hold out his hand and shake it off, though it did appear to do a slight bit of damage as he did react and mentioned it was warmer than he expected. With that, Wilber offered to help mend their wounds and set up camp back with the cyclops’ were, and was willing to answer what questions he could. With looks of suspicion, the party agreed and began the walk back.