11 Marpenoth 1492
23.7.24
At the Fount of Knowledge, everyone is doing their own research:
Lyra went to the Elementary Magic department, where she met a Tiefling (Shalia Reman) and a Halfing (Decrates Lucius) wizard who tell her that their spells are also going wrong often recently. No one in the magic world knows why that is and it is generally not talked about much.
She also tried to research about the nature of magic in books way beyond her current capabilities, and (mostly from the pictures) learns, that Mystra is both the goddess of magic and the weave. That a certain sword plays a role. That the strands of the weave have been severed once from Mystra, but were re-tied.
Gigi, meanwhile, ventured to the cookbook section, there she met an old gnome who asked her what noble family she was cooking for (Gigi lied “The Greenwoods!”) and tried to hit on her.
Casmos, bless his heart, just went to Elias and asked him whether he knew his Auntie Talia. And in fact, Elias does! Five years ago, he was on the hunt for books in the high forest in the Starmounts, where he met Talia [STORY]. Eventually, Elias marked the position where he met Talia on a map for Casmos.
Eldara was researching the third aspect of Selûne. She confirmed that Selûne and Hekate are different aspects of the same goddess, also representing different moon phases. Also, different planes might worship her very differently. For example, in the Feywild she is known as “The Silver Lady” or “The Queen of Air and Darkness” and has a much more sinister way to her. However, disappointingly, she couldn’t find out more on how the moon lady is seen where she came from (the east).
Some more info from Elias:
- How Fey Crossing works: Need to have an eye for it, find a certain spot in the forest, then just walk into it
- He is around 600 years old, but wouldn’t give us an answer as to how that is possible
- He was extremely chill on the whole Potion of Dragon Majesty thing or the threat of a dragon appearing in the middle of Waterdeep. Result: He didn’t give us moral permission to break into Harlow Driscoll’s shop
In the afternoon, we shared some stories over wine and cheese:
First, how the moon goddess is like the Bogeyman in the Feywild, used to scare kids
Then, Caefaera interrogated Gigi about her previous life: We learned that she was unhappily tied, through an arranged marriage, to a nice but boring husband, Karl. One day she came across a wishing well, put a coin in and encountered a big, beautiful lady with purple, blue and black hair (Lyra recognized it as possibly a ruler of one of the Feywild kingdoms). Gigi wished for “a little more adventure in my life” and when she came home, her husband Karl was gone without a trace. To this day, she has no idea what happened to him.
Gigi then up and left, soon met a gang of Goblins who she started baking cookie dough for, who they then sold for a suspicious amount of money. There is also an aspect of the story about them getting rid of the competition who were essentially girl scouts.
The rest of the group was quite worried about Karl’s fate and we decided that maybe we should try to find him in the Feywild, when the opportunity arises.
Casmos asked the cards for guidance on Karl’s fate:
| Situation | Action | Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| The Hierophant | The Emperor Reversed | The Devil |
 |
 |
 |
The cards interpret the events of how Gigi’s wish for adventure disrupted her stable but mundane life with Karl. Their traditional, structured existence was seemingly upended by her desire for adventure, leading to a loss of control and stability. The consequence suggests that supernatural, possibly malicious forces were at play. The blue lady in the well may have been a trickster entity, granting Gigi’s desire for excitement at the cost of Karl’s disappearance. (Full reading here.)
The next day is market day. We find Lowell’s booth among the bustling huge market and see that it is empty, as expected.
First, Eldara and Lyra give a taste of their horrible acting and “buy” a healing potion each. Gigi then buys a camouflage potion and overall we managed to raise some attention from the bystanders.
Caefaera got him to identify the mystery potions from Abel: One potion of watchful rest, one potion of understand languages.
Next we stop at the district’s bulletin board which is overflowing with news and offers!
What stood out to us:
1. Wanted! A Kenku Blackbird – 100 GPs
2. Blackstaff Apprentice – 3y experience required
3. A missing boy last seen going to Baldur’s Gate – keep that in mind when we are going there
4. Cleaners Wanted - 30 GPs in Castle Ward
5. Someone missing their entire hometown!
We decided to go for number 4 first.
Lyra is interested in showing up for the Blackstaff Apprentice posting, if she can muster the courage.
Quotes:
- Casmos and Lyra
- Casmos “You can create a pig to person spell!”
- Lyra: “That’s a very specific spell”
- Casmos: “You have a very specific problem!”
- Feeding wine to Oracle: “How” – Go home Oracle, you’re drunk
30.7.2024
We picked the cleaning job first. In the Castle Ward, the Castrius Manor was easy enough to find: A dilapidated house with an overgrown garden in an area where all the other properties were extremely well kept. In front a sign: “For sale”.
Before long, we met the real estate agent, Polestead, an enterprising halfling, who told us that our job was not cleaning the house so much as getting rid of the ghosts who haunt the place. The ghosts were likely of Mr and Ms Herstein, the previous owners who passed away a while back. Their heir, who lived far away, had hired Polestead to sell the place who in turn had put up the ad at the bulletin board. What he would have done if a real cleaning crew had arrived, we don’t know.
Casmos rounded the mansion, discovered nothing unusual so far. We agreed on 30 GP PP with the agent, plus license to take anything of value in the house and went in.
First thing we saw were two enchanted armors to either side of the entrance.
In the first room to the right, the fireside lounge, we discovered four Darklings. They were ready to fight us, but Gigi made a deal with them to leave us in peace in exchange for the key to some other object she just stole from the agent. We made a mental note to check on that poor fellow later. Maybe.
Upstairs, to all our surprise, we discovered a gallery of paintings of the Feywild, of all places. One picture seemed to glow with the aura of conjuration magic. Gigi, with the hesitant help of Eldara, tried to lure Casmos upstairs by claiming that one picture was of the moon lady, but the sly little bird (2x Nat20) saw through their ruse and stayed downstairs, polishing the armors for now.
Before we could investigate the paintings further, we were attacked by two dark creatures. Babbling in Elven and Common tongues, and the female one furiously writing something with a quill. They were hitting us with some quite devastating effects to our health and mental constitution. We even started attacking each other for a little, before getting to our senses and turning to the real enemy.
For a while we seemed a little overwhelmed, then Eldara killed the first one with her Spiritual Weapon / Sicle. Gigi then, in an unexpected move, threw the portable hole over the other one, trapping him for the time being.
Potentially next:
- Examine painting. Portal to the Feywild?
- Long Rest
- Explore more rooms. Including Downstairs
- Why does the woman carry a quill?
6.8.2024
The enemies we had just were a „Reflection” and an “Allip”, the latter one possibly the result of a curse for people that have found out a secret too big or twisted for their mind to hold, thus driving them to insanity.
The next room held the house’s library. On the opposite wall was a desk, from which Gigi picked up a book. Immediately a bunch of books came to life and attacked her. Lyra, with her “Dragon’s Breath” spell torched down a good section of the library, which inspired Gigi to build her own Redneck Engineering version of the spell with a bottle of booze she “found” downstairs and ended the fight in flames and ashes.
We checked the remaining books on the walls, however, most were handwritten notes in elvish which none of us spoke (but one scroll of “Feather Fall” for Lyra). Gigi found a “Flute of Scribing”
While the rest of the group then discussed whether or not to throw something a the magical painting, Casmos simply turned invisible and entered a small bedroom, where he found a Tarot deck with 13 cards (Deck of Wonders). He also found a bunch of very valuable jewelry: A locket with a painting in it, a necklace with a pearl.
Lyra then sent Oracle through the painting and saw that behind it was a small world, almost looking like a stage set, trees and everything flat and oriented towards the viewer. She wanted to bring people inside, but Casmos, now apparently emboldened by his success in the last room, just wandered into the next one. Lyra plopped down, waiting.
Gigi, following Casmos into the room, found some gold and a bag with 5 beans.
Casmos, looking down into the ballroom, saw 4 ghostly dogs moving around, and teleporting from one place to another.
Gigi and Lyra finally went in the painting together, found that it’s only about 40 ft deep, and found a spot that felt like it was erased and smelled like Petrichor (smell of rain). We could not make out the meaning of this, however. Lyra found a longsword that gleamed with moonlight, and tried to convince the others she always had that, but to no success.
After a short rest, we went downstairs and searched the remaining rooms. We looking into the room adjacent to the ballroom, which was filled with chairs and a curious looking gargoyle statue that emanated a strong magic aura….
Quotes
- “What did you find??”
- Casmos: “I got some jewelry!”
- Gigi: “I got a flute…”
- Eldara: “I got hurt!”
- Gigi (about the portable hole): “I will NOT open the hole for you” Lyra “That’s what she said”
27.8.24
As we approached it, the gargoyle opened its wings and introduced itself as the Ceremonial Master - and pulled back the curtains to the ballroom. It magically compelled Caefaera and Lyra to dance into the room where they got immediately attacked by the ghostly teleporting dogs. After the gargoyle was destroyed when it tried to fly on the balcony, the dogs also fled upstairs. We went up to finish them, but Casmos opened the main door and let them outside.
Next, we went to the real estate agent Polestead to collect our reward. As we left his office, something in Gigi‘s backpack stirred - it was the Allip that was trapped in her portable hole who managed to free himself. Panic on the streets ensued! As we joined the escaping crowds, we screamed “Polestead, why did you do this!?”
The last we saw was the city guards approaching while Polestead just stood there, mouth open.
We made a quick detour to the shop of Abel Shadowcutter so Caefaera could finally buy a pearl. Since she was short on money, Eldara gave her 26 GPs. As soon as the trade was done, Casmos told her “I also have a moon necklace!” and showed him the amulet with the pearl. Caefaera was… silent.
Back at the Temple of Selune, Casmos donated the pearl necklace to the monks, in exchange for a longer free stay for us. Caefaera now was silent..er.
While Casmos slept, Gigi went to Caefaera to identify the Sea Diadem.
Quotes:
- Lyra sold “Moontouched Sword” at Abel’s, where it gets put on a rack with many similar magical swords. Lyra “We should steal the sword back!” Gigi: “It doesn’t sound like me but theft is not always the answer. Sometimes it’s blackmail.”
- When Casmos gave pearl to temple: “We will use the funds for our orphanage” Gigi “Oh that’s unfortunately nice…uhm awefully nice!”