SotD Summaries
Dec 28, 2020 2:49:42 GMT -8
Post by Daos on Dec 28, 2020 2:49:42 GMT -8
CH. 01 - On the Road to the Tomb
Many months after their last adventure, the party headed south to warmer climates, taking on odd jobs, until they eventually found themselves in Shadowdale. One night while there, they were approached by a man claiming to be Lhaeo, Elminter's scribe. He recognized Drezden as one of the heroes who stopped the sleeping sickness in Dagger Falls a couple of years back, and told him Randal Morn needed his help once again. Randal had recently gone to Shraevyn's Tomb to try and find the legendary Sword of the Dales, hoping it would aid him in his quest to reclaim Daggerdale from the Zhents. However, undead attacked his group, and he was teleported away by some unknown force. Lhaeo charges the party to head to Shaevyn's Tomb, investigate and see if they can find out where Randal Morn was spirited away to. He gave them three Potions of Extra Healing, and promised a far greater reward should they succeed. Before they depart, Gimak hands the Net of Dreams to Lhaeo for safekeeping.
On the road to the tomb, they come across a caravan heading toward Shadowdale. The guards seem wary and sport a number of injuries. The party is friendly, though, and wins them over when Malavar offers to heal them. Among the caravaneers is a small, energetic halfling like creature named Kendrivel. He claims to be a 'kender' from the land of 'Sithicus' ruled by someone named 'Soth.' He also claims to be a priest of someone named 'Uncle Trapspringer.' Nobody knows what he's talking about, although Drezden claims to know of kender somehow.
As Malavar heals some of the guards, Harikon inquires about the party's destination; but Malavar claims it's personal. Malavar instead asks Harikon what led to his men's injuries, and he admitted it was a kobold ambush. After finishing up, the party starts to leave, but Drezden invites Kendrivel--to Malavar's chagrin--to come along with them. The party considers whether they should stay on the road or take a shortcut through the woods; but ultimately decide to stay on the road.
Not long after, they come across a felled tree on the road. Bandits from within the forest to the north call out that the party must pay a toll to continue. The party taunts them, not believing them when they claim to outnumber the party four to one. The bandits start throwing darts from the treeline, and the party is forced to take cover. Drezden crawls out of cover and Kendrivel's bowstring keeps snapping. Dallion charges into the woods to take out a few, but gets grievously injured and is forced to withdraw. Eventually, though, the party whittles down enough of them that they start to retreat. Kendrivel taunts the leader again, and this time it works. He charges toward the party, and Drezden kills him with a well placed shot.
After checking on their animals and collecting any still usable ammo, Malavar gets into an argument with the others. Despite following the god of war and battle, he insists they should have tried harder to avoid fighting with the bandits, and laid the blame at Kendrivel's feet for taunting their leader, as he was certain he could have talked them down. No one else in the party sides with Malavar, so the subject is dropped and the party moves on. Just as night is beginning to fall, they come across an old shrine of some sort and decide to make camp there.
They discover they are not the only ones there, though. Zedd of Tymora emerges from the shrine, recognizing Drezden and grabbing the dwarf up in a bear hug. He introduces himself to the others and tells them about how he and Drezden fought the nightshades and saved Dagger Falls from the sleeping sickness. He offers to heal up the group, but there are no takers, despite their wounds. He mentions he is in the area investigating a sudden influx of undead. After confirming with Drezden that he can be trusted, Malavar tells Zedd of their mission and that the undead might have some connection with Randal Morn's disappearance.
Zedd agrees it's too much of a coincidence, so he volunteers to team up with the party, and they accept. With that decided, they prepare camp for the night.
The following day, they pack up, prepare their spells and head out. Around noon, they spot what appears to be soldiers in perfect formation but mismatched armor, marching straight toward them. The party opts to wait for them to get closer. When they are a couple of rounds away, it becomes clear they are skeletons. The fight goes poorly at first, with Malavar going down quickly. But in the end, the party is victorious. Dallion and Malavar agree they should try avoiding any further undead, but Zedd reminds them that finding and destroying these undead is his quest. Kendrivel also reveals that despite being a cleric of Trapspringer, he isn't capable of healing magic.
The party pushes on. Later that afternoon, Drezden gets a sense that something is amiss, but keeps it to himself. Suddenly, the party is ambushed by kobolds. Despite being blinded by the sun, the kobolds do pretty well. They rain down javelins at the party from a pair of hills, and take down Kendrivel. Malavar rides off ahead (narrowly avoiding a pit trap), and once at a safe distance, slings stones at the kobolds. Zedd revives Kendrivel, who runs off at Malavar. Eventually, Drezden is worn down, too. But by that point, the kobolds had taken multiple casualties and lost their will to fight, so the remaining ones run off.
The party is unsure what to do with Drezden, but eventually remember they all were given healing potions by Lhaeo, so revive him with one of those. The party then found a safe place to camp for the night. The next day, they healed up and continued on until they reached the Serpentsbridge. After some apprehension, the party crosses it and moves on. Drezden notices a distinct lack of any kind of animal tracks in the region, which is troubling.
As the party discusses what might have caused this, they spot some kind of flock of birds flying their way. When they get closer, they realize they aren't birds at all, but stirges. The party engages them, but they are more difficult than they first seem. Things go south, as Kendrivel, Dallion and Zedd all fall, and then the swarm starts to go after the pack animals. It takes ten minutes before the last stirge is slain, leaving only the three animals, Malavar and Drezden still standing--but all in bad shape. Malavar uses his last healing spell to revive Zedd, but insists the party not use their healing potions at all, but instead gather up the unconscious, find a place to camp, and wait until they get their spells back. After an eight hour rest, the sun is going down, and they spot riders approaching their camp. Zedd and Malavar revive and heal up everyone as much as they can, just as the riders arrive. They are a Zhent patrol, and they demand to know what the party is doing and what their business here is.
Malavar claims that they are adventurers and are searching for a hidden and lost treasure in the nearby mountains. The Zhent captain assures him there is no treasure, but there has been rebel activity. He makes it clear that the party should avoid that area, and if they are caught there, the consequences will be severe. The party promises to comply, but after the Zhents ride off, they agree they are still heading for the mountains. They settle down to rest again until morning. Dallion takes watch, and during the night, four strange lights come toward the campfire. Dallion realizes they are firestars, but opts to leave them alone. They fly off a short time later.
The next day, the party heads for Giant's Craw. It's a large boulder that glows with a magical light. Dallion recognizes it has been enchanted with a permanent Faerie Fire spell. The party moves on, walking down into a valley where there has been a recent landslide. Drezden spots horse prints. Concerned, he and Kendrivel scout ahead and find that the entrance to the tomb is being protected by an encampment of Zhents, nearly a score of them. Malavar suggests they find somewhere to camp and hide, and rest up again so that he can regain his spent spells. Zedd warns that might give the Zhents time to call even more reinforcements. Eventually, the party decides to find a site to hide regardless, just to get out from the open, so they can discuss a plan. They eventually decide to rest for another 8 hours, then send Kendrivel to start a big fire. When some of the Zhents go to investigate, the party will attack the ones left behind and then rush into the tomb. However, by taking yet another long rest, they triggered another random encounter--this time a pack of hungry wolves had found their camp. Fortunately, Drezden was able to tame them by offering them some food.
Kendrivel then goes to spy on the camp and discovers most of the Zhents are missing, but their horses are still nearby. There are only six remaining (two in robes, four in armor). They notice the fire and the two robed ones mount horses and ride off to investigate. Kendrivel returns to the party to report. The party decides to attempt an ambush, using an arcane scroll Dallion found awhile back to put the Zhents all to sleep.
Dallion manages to sneak within range, but only two of the Zhents fall asleep. Drezden's crossbow jams, and the two remaining Zhents awaken the two sleeping ones. Dallion gets shot and goes down, but Zedd is able to revive him. The party manages to take out the two male Zhents, and Dallion uses his scroll to cast Hypnotism on the two remaining women, getting them to step aside and let the party pass. The party quickly did so before the spell could wear off.
Many months after their last adventure, the party headed south to warmer climates, taking on odd jobs, until they eventually found themselves in Shadowdale. One night while there, they were approached by a man claiming to be Lhaeo, Elminter's scribe. He recognized Drezden as one of the heroes who stopped the sleeping sickness in Dagger Falls a couple of years back, and told him Randal Morn needed his help once again. Randal had recently gone to Shraevyn's Tomb to try and find the legendary Sword of the Dales, hoping it would aid him in his quest to reclaim Daggerdale from the Zhents. However, undead attacked his group, and he was teleported away by some unknown force. Lhaeo charges the party to head to Shaevyn's Tomb, investigate and see if they can find out where Randal Morn was spirited away to. He gave them three Potions of Extra Healing, and promised a far greater reward should they succeed. Before they depart, Gimak hands the Net of Dreams to Lhaeo for safekeeping.
On the road to the tomb, they come across a caravan heading toward Shadowdale. The guards seem wary and sport a number of injuries. The party is friendly, though, and wins them over when Malavar offers to heal them. Among the caravaneers is a small, energetic halfling like creature named Kendrivel. He claims to be a 'kender' from the land of 'Sithicus' ruled by someone named 'Soth.' He also claims to be a priest of someone named 'Uncle Trapspringer.' Nobody knows what he's talking about, although Drezden claims to know of kender somehow.
As Malavar heals some of the guards, Harikon inquires about the party's destination; but Malavar claims it's personal. Malavar instead asks Harikon what led to his men's injuries, and he admitted it was a kobold ambush. After finishing up, the party starts to leave, but Drezden invites Kendrivel--to Malavar's chagrin--to come along with them. The party considers whether they should stay on the road or take a shortcut through the woods; but ultimately decide to stay on the road.
Not long after, they come across a felled tree on the road. Bandits from within the forest to the north call out that the party must pay a toll to continue. The party taunts them, not believing them when they claim to outnumber the party four to one. The bandits start throwing darts from the treeline, and the party is forced to take cover. Drezden crawls out of cover and Kendrivel's bowstring keeps snapping. Dallion charges into the woods to take out a few, but gets grievously injured and is forced to withdraw. Eventually, though, the party whittles down enough of them that they start to retreat. Kendrivel taunts the leader again, and this time it works. He charges toward the party, and Drezden kills him with a well placed shot.
After checking on their animals and collecting any still usable ammo, Malavar gets into an argument with the others. Despite following the god of war and battle, he insists they should have tried harder to avoid fighting with the bandits, and laid the blame at Kendrivel's feet for taunting their leader, as he was certain he could have talked them down. No one else in the party sides with Malavar, so the subject is dropped and the party moves on. Just as night is beginning to fall, they come across an old shrine of some sort and decide to make camp there.
They discover they are not the only ones there, though. Zedd of Tymora emerges from the shrine, recognizing Drezden and grabbing the dwarf up in a bear hug. He introduces himself to the others and tells them about how he and Drezden fought the nightshades and saved Dagger Falls from the sleeping sickness. He offers to heal up the group, but there are no takers, despite their wounds. He mentions he is in the area investigating a sudden influx of undead. After confirming with Drezden that he can be trusted, Malavar tells Zedd of their mission and that the undead might have some connection with Randal Morn's disappearance.
Zedd agrees it's too much of a coincidence, so he volunteers to team up with the party, and they accept. With that decided, they prepare camp for the night.
The following day, they pack up, prepare their spells and head out. Around noon, they spot what appears to be soldiers in perfect formation but mismatched armor, marching straight toward them. The party opts to wait for them to get closer. When they are a couple of rounds away, it becomes clear they are skeletons. The fight goes poorly at first, with Malavar going down quickly. But in the end, the party is victorious. Dallion and Malavar agree they should try avoiding any further undead, but Zedd reminds them that finding and destroying these undead is his quest. Kendrivel also reveals that despite being a cleric of Trapspringer, he isn't capable of healing magic.
The party pushes on. Later that afternoon, Drezden gets a sense that something is amiss, but keeps it to himself. Suddenly, the party is ambushed by kobolds. Despite being blinded by the sun, the kobolds do pretty well. They rain down javelins at the party from a pair of hills, and take down Kendrivel. Malavar rides off ahead (narrowly avoiding a pit trap), and once at a safe distance, slings stones at the kobolds. Zedd revives Kendrivel, who runs off at Malavar. Eventually, Drezden is worn down, too. But by that point, the kobolds had taken multiple casualties and lost their will to fight, so the remaining ones run off.
The party is unsure what to do with Drezden, but eventually remember they all were given healing potions by Lhaeo, so revive him with one of those. The party then found a safe place to camp for the night. The next day, they healed up and continued on until they reached the Serpentsbridge. After some apprehension, the party crosses it and moves on. Drezden notices a distinct lack of any kind of animal tracks in the region, which is troubling.
As the party discusses what might have caused this, they spot some kind of flock of birds flying their way. When they get closer, they realize they aren't birds at all, but stirges. The party engages them, but they are more difficult than they first seem. Things go south, as Kendrivel, Dallion and Zedd all fall, and then the swarm starts to go after the pack animals. It takes ten minutes before the last stirge is slain, leaving only the three animals, Malavar and Drezden still standing--but all in bad shape. Malavar uses his last healing spell to revive Zedd, but insists the party not use their healing potions at all, but instead gather up the unconscious, find a place to camp, and wait until they get their spells back. After an eight hour rest, the sun is going down, and they spot riders approaching their camp. Zedd and Malavar revive and heal up everyone as much as they can, just as the riders arrive. They are a Zhent patrol, and they demand to know what the party is doing and what their business here is.
Malavar claims that they are adventurers and are searching for a hidden and lost treasure in the nearby mountains. The Zhent captain assures him there is no treasure, but there has been rebel activity. He makes it clear that the party should avoid that area, and if they are caught there, the consequences will be severe. The party promises to comply, but after the Zhents ride off, they agree they are still heading for the mountains. They settle down to rest again until morning. Dallion takes watch, and during the night, four strange lights come toward the campfire. Dallion realizes they are firestars, but opts to leave them alone. They fly off a short time later.
The next day, the party heads for Giant's Craw. It's a large boulder that glows with a magical light. Dallion recognizes it has been enchanted with a permanent Faerie Fire spell. The party moves on, walking down into a valley where there has been a recent landslide. Drezden spots horse prints. Concerned, he and Kendrivel scout ahead and find that the entrance to the tomb is being protected by an encampment of Zhents, nearly a score of them. Malavar suggests they find somewhere to camp and hide, and rest up again so that he can regain his spent spells. Zedd warns that might give the Zhents time to call even more reinforcements. Eventually, the party decides to find a site to hide regardless, just to get out from the open, so they can discuss a plan. They eventually decide to rest for another 8 hours, then send Kendrivel to start a big fire. When some of the Zhents go to investigate, the party will attack the ones left behind and then rush into the tomb. However, by taking yet another long rest, they triggered another random encounter--this time a pack of hungry wolves had found their camp. Fortunately, Drezden was able to tame them by offering them some food.
Kendrivel then goes to spy on the camp and discovers most of the Zhents are missing, but their horses are still nearby. There are only six remaining (two in robes, four in armor). They notice the fire and the two robed ones mount horses and ride off to investigate. Kendrivel returns to the party to report. The party decides to attempt an ambush, using an arcane scroll Dallion found awhile back to put the Zhents all to sleep.
Dallion manages to sneak within range, but only two of the Zhents fall asleep. Drezden's crossbow jams, and the two remaining Zhents awaken the two sleeping ones. Dallion gets shot and goes down, but Zedd is able to revive him. The party manages to take out the two male Zhents, and Dallion uses his scroll to cast Hypnotism on the two remaining women, getting them to step aside and let the party pass. The party quickly did so before the spell could wear off.