Team Gnarl answer the Call of the Netherdeep – session 14 – New Horizons

The characters:

• Badger – Ginger, a male halfling Gunslinger
• Hinesh – Gnarl, a male kobold Way of Mercy monk physician
• Lyam – Tezmin, a male harengon warlock of the Genie (dao) (Unavailable this session)
• Sarah – Hildegarde, a female tempest cleric of the Wildmother (Melora)
• Grey – Bek, a Shadar Kai bladesinger wizard

As may be apparent, we are utilising some non-WotC sources for this campaign. In addition to the usual 5e books, characters could draw upon the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Tal Dorei Reborn, and Gunslinger.

Da’leysen, 27th Fessuran, 836 PD

Arriving at the former temple of Avandra the heroes found Fogholme, the firbolg cleric of the Wildmother in conversation with a pair of tieflings. One they recognised as Question, the young member of the Cobalt Soul that they had explored the Hythenos house for. The other was a chubby-faced sandy-skinned man with a selection of archaeologist’s tools. As they approached Fogholme saw them and the body they carried.

The tiefling pair stood aside, realising the heroes need to be more important, and the firbolg helped them settle Hildagarde’s body as they prepared to perform a resurrection ritual. As he had done with Gnarl previously, Fogholme called upon the other heroes to assist. Ginger knelt beside the body, removed his hat (with the wig still attached) and said:

O Melora the Wild please hear our plea; Resurrect our friend and not just for me. Take pity on us and hear our appeal, For this friend of ours does more than heal. As Hilda’s blood starts to congeal; Through that cleric I was shown some zeal. Will your power shine through a big reveal, Or have they had their last meal? When we set out, we were five; Dropped one, gained one & now they’ve died. Help me make sense and make this jive; How can this death be justified. Help us know how to seek your grace; Alive & kicking! That’s Hilda’s place. So if found at all amongst the dead; listen to all they’ve done and said; We’re seeking that boon to restore us full, Because we’re like a ship with a broken hull. But if this plea falls on deaf ears, At least send someone to help face our fears.

Gnarl also beseeched the Wildmother in his own way, “Send her back, or don’t, whatever” as he sewed closed the many wounds on her body, adding a few extra stitches on the back of her neck to sign his handiwork. Bek just stood aside and watched silently.

Hildegarde was strolling through a lush, overgrown garden. Not neglected, the plants had just been allowed to grow to their full potential. As she walked along the path trailing her hand in the flowers blooming beside her she heard the screech of a rusty iron gate opening that seemed oddly out of place amongst the serenity of the garden. She headed towards the gate and as she did she heard the voices of her companions. Hildegarde glanced back into the garden as a warm comforting breeze blew her closer to the gate and she took that as a sign, turning and stepping through into the blinding white light beyond.

With a dramatic intake of breath, the formerly dead cleric sat up, surrounded by her allies and the familiar face of Fogholme. The sandy-skinned tiefling was ecstatic at having witnessed the reviving of the cleric and eagerly introduced himself as Prolix, an archaeologist of the Allegiance of Allsight. The name meant nothing to the heroes and he explained that he was from Ank’Harel and the Allegiance were seekers of history and knowledge there. He had come to Bazzoxan to learn more about Alyxian as his story was linked to the city. When the heroes recounted how Hildegarde had died and mentioned the red-robed elf mage he spat “That bitch!” and explained that she was named Aloysia and a member of a rival group known as the Consortium of the Vermilion Dream who sought out ancient magical secrets.

The heroes showed the tieflings the stone tablet that Aloysia had dropped and Prolix explained that it was a teleportation tablet and that he had one also which he was planning on using the next day to return home. Prolix offered to take the heroes with him and they accepted, rather than using Aloysia’s and teleporting into possible danger. They agreed to meet up the next day and the heroes retired to the Ready Room.

Miresen, 28th Fessuran, 836 PD

The next day they met up with Prolix and Question as arranged and the archeologist used his tablet to transport them all to Ank’Harel. The chilly air and gloomy clouds of Bazzoxan were replaced by dry heat and a brilliant blue sky visible through the arched window of a magnificent building with walls of white marble. Beneath their feet was a teleportation circle, from which the glow of magic slowly subsided.

Prolix asked if the heroes would be willing to meet with one of his superiors and they agreed. Question thanked him for helping her get home but had to go and report to her own superiors at the Library of the Cobalt Soul, but before she left she gave them a tourist map of Ank’Harel and a sending stone, explaining that one of her order would contact them soon.

Prolix led the heroes across what he explained was the Sigil District, passing its manicured lawns lined with fig trees between the white marble structures that resembled a massive university campus. They came to a smaller building, the sign outside read “Headmaster Alakritos” and the tiefling led them inside and to an office on the upper floor. He knocked on the door and a voice called out “Enter”.

Inside sat a male goblin in brown robes, tiny spectacles perched on the tip of his long nose. Rather than the expected desk, he was sitting on a plump cushion and sipping tea from a delicate cup. He invited the group to join him and began pouring them each a cup of tea.

The heroes recounted their run-in with Aloysia for the Headmaster, though they omitted any mention of the Jewel of Three Prayers and kept it hidden. In return, the Headmaster explained that the Allegiance had by royal decree, permission to explore and catalogue the ruins of the city that had been discovered below Ank’Harel which they believed dated back to the time of Alyxian and the Calamity. He told them that the Consortium of the Vermillion Dream had been trying to gain access to the ruins for their own reasons but the guards of the Allegiance kept anyone that wasn’t a member out. They showed him Aloysia’s teleportation tablet and upon examining it he announced that it appeared to be linked to somewhere in the Suncut Bazaar, an area the Consortium were known to frequent.

Prolix offered to take the heroes to quarters but they declined, asking about lodgings within the city instead. The Headmaster told them about various establishments throughout the city and they decided to head for the Suncut Bazaar before finding lodgings of their own and bid the Headmaster and Prolix a good day.

Using the map that Question had given them, and stopping a few times to ask locals for directions, they found themselves at the Suncut Bazaar at late afternoon. Hildegarde bought some lighter clothing from one of the market stalls while Gnarl explored the food stalls of the Courtyard.

T1 – Welcome Arch, T2 – Patrolled Battlements, T3 – Central Street, T4 – Market Stalls, T5 – Luck’s Run casino, T6 – The Bone Garden pawn shop, T7 – Mystic Pursuits arcane supplies, T8 – First Eclipse tavern, T9 – Food Stall Courtyard

The heroes entered Mystic Pursuits, as Gnarl wanted to see what magical artefacts they might have. The kobold was a little disappointed to find that the shop merely traded in spell components and a soothsayer offered to read customer’s futures in her prophetic deck of cards. The soothsayer told them that the sale of magical items was pretty much monopolised by Gilmore of Gilmore’s Glorious Goods, an overpriced establishment in the Sand Herald District.

Next, the heroes visited the Bone Garden, the sign outside signifying that it was a pawn shop. The proprietress was a young woman with a colourful parrot seated upon her shoulder. When they tried to talk to her they discovered that she communicated by a combination of hand signals and verbal comments from the parrot. The heroes perused her wares and enquired if she had any magic items but she didn’t, and when Ginger began enquiring about smoke powder and firearms the parrot became extremely agitated and they were quickly ushered out of the shop.

With the evening drawing in they decided to make their way through the sprawl of the Bazaar to the River District and seek out one of the taverns the Headmaster had marked on their map, the Harried Mongoose. By the time they reached it, the sky had already darkened and they rented a pair of adjoining rooms to rest in.

Grissen, 29th Fessuran, 836 PD

It took a little time to adjust to trying to sleep in the different climate but sleep eventually found them and their rest was undisturbed. When they awoke the next morning a note had been pushed under one of their doors, sealed with the symbol of the Allegiance of Allsight.

Allegiance hopefuls,

We need you to pick up and deliver a marble figurine of an elephant that was stolen from us. We have located it at a curio shop called the Bone Garden in the Suncut Bazaar and arranged for the proprietor, Rerosha, to hand over the merchandise without a fuss. Simply bring the figurine to Gatekeeper Raashid at the Crystal Chateau, and your task is complete.

Welcome in advance to the team!
—Professor Lymmle Wist, Allegiance of Allsight

…

Team Gnarl answer the Call of the Netherdeep – session 13 – Betrayers

The characters:

• Badger – Ginger, a male halfling Gunslinger
• Hinesh – Gnarl, a male kobold Way of Mercy monk physician
• Lyam – Tezmin, a male harengon warlock of the Genie (dao)
• Sarah – Hildegarde, a female tempest cleric of the Wildmother (Melora)
• Grey – Bek, a Shadar Kai bladesinger wizard

As may be apparent, we are utilising several non-WotC sources for this campaign. In addition to the usual 5e books, characters could draw upon the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Tal Dorei Reborn, and Gunslinger.

Da’leysen, 27th Fessuran, 836 PD

Continuing up the corridor they followed it along until they came to a T-junction and after a brief discussion chose to follow the left-hand path. The corridor twisted and turned several more times before ending in a door that had a set of concentric metal discs set in its centre. They also noticed pairs of narrow holes in the floor, walls and ceiling before the door.

As they examined the discs they could see letters carved into their surface and realised they could be rotated. Before they could touch the discs they heard a disembodied voice call out “Running through the woods at night, we look up at the silver disc”. Hildegard thought this meant wolves or wolf but noticed that the discs couldn’t accurately spell either but could put the letters W O L F in a different order and rotated the discs to do so. As she released the final disc there was a slight click and gouts of flames sprayed out of the holes bathing the area in front of the door and burning the heroes.

The heroes understandably decided to think it through a bit more before touching the door again, and eventually decided to try M O O N and were rewarded by hearing heavy bolts being drawn back. But the door remained closed and they heard the voice once more call out “My face is covered in these arcane symbols”, this time they easily guessed the word was R U N E and rotated the discs accordingly and heard a second set of bolts drawn back.

The voice called out a third time “What I will lead you into”, Bek suggested Hell, and when they tried it they once again were blasted with flames. Then Gnarl thought about the name of the temple they were in and realised that you could spell R I S E and tried that. The final set of bolts were drawn back and the door cracked open.

Beyond the door was a short corridor of the familiar matte black stone that led into the familiar chamber with the kneeling chained statue with the three over-arching arms. However, this time there were no other exits on the other walls of the chamber.

Not wanting to turn on each other they kept a respectable distance from the statue and with Tezmin having previously poked (and even licked) one of the pustules on the palm of one of the hands they tried attacking it. Ginger fired a pair of gunshots as Bek blasted a magical bolt and they were rewarded by watching the pulsing pustule being blasted to pieces, leaving a clean and clear palm behind and one side of the triangle carved into the floor lit up. They repeated the process with the other two pustules and as the third and final side of the triangle lit up the doors in the chest of the statue swung open revealing a prismatic light within.

Hildegard cautiously climbed up the statue and peered within the door, seeing a tunnel barely wide enough to walk in single file disappearing within, clearly extraplanar in origin as it led deeper than the thickness of the statue. She returned to the rest of the party and told them what she’d seen and they decided to take a brief rest before they entered. As they finished their short rest, however, the lights went out, the doors closed and the pustules reformed on the palms of the arms.

After a slight grumble, the heroes once again destroyed the pustules and opened the doors, this time heading in with Gnarl leading the way. The tunnel twisted and turned and the heroes were sure that at one point they were walking directly downward but somehow remained perpendicular to the floor, eventually opening out on the east side of a circular chamber. The walls were covered with softly glowing amber-coloured crystals that filled a crater at the room’s centre. At the bottom of the crater sat an altar made of the same crystal.

Carefully the heroes made their way down to the altar at the base of the bowl and Tezmin felt his necklace pull towards it, and a compulsion to place it upon the altar.

A spectral figure blossomed forth from the amulet. This warrior, who called himself Alyxian in their previous vision, looked up at them with a faint smile and said, “You came… you followed… you can find me.” The crystals around them glowed brightly, and their vision went white. Then they saw a company of armoured soldiers, Alyxian among them, marching into the Betrayers’ Rise. Their expressions were grim. Though they did not speak, they could tell that none of them expected to come home.

The vision shifted again, and everyone in the company of soldiers was dead except for Alyxian, who continued to fight while surrounded by the corpses of mortals and demons. He was hurled across the battlefield by the claws of a gorilla-like demon. The scene blurred, and he fell to his knees, pleading, before a simple wooden altar that bore the holy symbol of Avandra. At the end of his prayer, he was lifted to his feet by a tall young woman with light brown skin and flowing black hair.

A foreboding voice cut through this scene of divine intervention, and Alyxian froze. “The Change Bringer and a mortal,” the voice intones. “What brings you into my sacred, devouring darkness? Even if you save him, Change Bringer, he will suffer. He will die. He will be forgotten. All that he has worked to save will crumble and be devoured by worms. Why invite further suffering? Let go. Give in. All is futile in the end, so why…”

As the voice trailed off, Alyxian turned to face the heroes and fell to his knees in tears. The scenery shifts, and the forsaken warrior was now underwater, amid the ruins of a sunken city. “The Crawling King spoke true,” he muttered. “All was futile. All has been forgotten… and I am lost in darkness. Please, help me set it right.”

The heroes were able to ask Alyxian a few questions and he told them he had fought in the Calamity and was called the Apotheon because he beseeched the gods for power three times and three times received it—first on the shores of Wildemount, again in the depths of the Betrayers’ Rise, and once more in a temple of Corellon the Arch Heart in a city of elves and orcs in the jungles of Marquet. These divine gifts transformed him from a mortal being into something more. Alyxian says that the city of elves and orcs was destroyed centuries ago. Alyxian is imprisoned in an underwater place lit by a crimson glow. He grows angry as he explains that mortals are harvesting the source of the glow and leaving him in darkness and that this is torture for him.

As the vision of Alyxian fades the heroes saw that the necklace of Three Prayers had transformed upon the altar, and heard a slow clap coming from the entrance to the chamber and turned to see their competitors from Jigow accompanied by the red-robed elf standing on the lip of the bowl. “Well done, heroes!” said the elf. “Now, if you would simply hand over the jewel, we can all get out of here without spilling any more blood.” “If we don’t?” asked Gnarl as he stood upon the altar, blocking the necklace from their sight and nudging it back towards Tezmin before jumping forward to be between his friends and the new arrivals. “Well then we’ll just retrieve from your corpses” replied the elf with a wicked grin.

Tezmin snatched up the necklace and put it back on quickly turning invisible and flying up towards the ceiling as Bek cast a fireball at their foes, the elf tried to counter it but Hildegard countered her counter, only to have her spell countered in turn by Galsariad with a resigned frown. The goblin cleric, Dermot, chanted a blessing on his allies as the drow threw a crackling black orb down into the bowl that created a pulse of intense gravity that pulled all the heroes within range closer together and knocked most of them off their feet.

Ginger had managed to stay upright and stalked backwards up the far side of the crystalline bowl before taking aim at the red-robed elf and unloading four rapid shots at her and injuring her quite badly. Irvan threw daggers at the kobold monk but whether his aim was bad or his heart wasn’t in it, none of them came close to striking Gnarl. The genasi, Ayo, snarled like an animal and charged Gnarl with her ivory spear, but her strikes went wide of the nimble kobold and she called the ogress down to help her.

Maggie strode down and swung her hammer almost reluctantly at the monk but thankfully neither swipe connected. Then the red-robed elf cast a spell, a ball of crimson energy streaking into the centre of the bowl and almost as a reverse of the drow’s earlier spell, pulsed with force and threw the heroes nearest away and knocking Bek and Hildegard unconscious.

Gnarl struck out at Ayo, and even as she reactively struck him with the ivory spear he hit her with a stunning strike. Tezmin moved closer to the exit of the chamber but realised that to get into the tunnel he would have to get past the elf. Dermot moved to stand beside his friend Ayo, casting a searing smite at Gnarl as he approached and readying his hammer to strike too, but the little kobold’s luck had run its course and the cleric’s spell knocked him out. Despite having the opportunity Dermot didn’t strike the unconscious Gnarl, he cast spare the dying and stabilised him instead.

Galsariad threw another of the black orbs to the rear of the altar, its gravitic pulse pulling the unconscious forms of Hildegard and Bek towards the far side of the flat bottom but Ginger was able to keep his footing and stay upright, answering with another pair of dead-eye shots at the red-robed elf. Irvin moved to stand beside the elf and whispered something to her. With a shriek of exasperation she shouted “Fine, we’re leaving!” and ordered her allies to retreat as she pulled a scroll from her satchel and cast an earthquake spell!

The chamber shook and large chunks of the ceiling began falling around the heroes as they rushed to check on their fallen comrades. As they did so they realised that neither Hildegard nor Bek were breathing, and as they watched the bladesinger melted into a pool of shadows and was gone. Ginger grabbed the cleric’s body as Tezmin fed Gnarl a potion to revive him, and pursued their foes into the tight tunnel but, unfortunately, they had disappeared, but they had left behind a small stone tablet covered in arcane runes. They took it with them and made their way out of Betrayers Rise, heading for the dilapidated temple in the hopes of reviving Hildegard …

B1 – The Gates, B2 – The Crematorium, B3 – Infirmary, B4 – Gatehold Barracks, B5 – Dilapidated Temple, B6 – Wall of the Unforgotten, B7 – The Ready Room

Team Gnarl answer the Call of the Netherdeep – session 12 – Secrets and Sharks

The characters:

• Badger – Ginger, a male halfling Gunslinger (unavailable this session)
• Hinesh – Gnarl, a male kobold Way of Mercy monk physician
• Lyam – Tezmin, a male harengon warlock of the Genie (dao)
• Sarah – Hildegarde, a female tempest cleric of the Wildmother (Melora)
• Grey – Bek, a Shadar Kai bladesinger wizard

As may be apparent, we are utilising several non-WotC sources for this campaign. In addition to the usual 5e books, characters could draw upon the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Tal Dorei Reborn, and Gunslinger.

Da’leysen, 27th Fessuran, 836 PD

The heroes prepared the gear and Tezmin paid the barkeep enough gold to secure their cots for another couple of days and left his giant rat resting on his bed before they set off once again to to the north of the city and mounted the steps to the entrance to Betrayer’s Rise.

The guards checked their permission to enter slip and let them inside. Hildegard and Tezmin summoned their magical light as they again walked across the black basalt bridge to the massive door carved with the face of Avandra. With the Jewel of Three Prayers in their possession, the door opened easily at their touch and they entered the temple proper, the door closing behind them.

As on their previous visit, they found themselves in a corridor made of the same matte black stone, though this time it was smooth and didn’t appear to have the multitude of holes that the gibbering mouthers had oozed out of. Unlike last time the corridor seemed to follow a different route, twisting and turning until finally, they noticed it was steadily inclining upwards until it ended in a large door carved in bas-relief with a skull upon it. They tried to look for a lock or handle and found that while there wasn’t a lock the handles were recessed in the eye sockets of the skull. Cautiously they opened the door and peered beyond.

The chamber beyond was once again made of the same matte black stonework. The nearer half of the chamber had its vaulted ceiling held up by numerous pillars that formed an aisle and had four side chambers lining the sides. Beyond that, the chamber was dominated by a raised dais where pillars on its corners held up the ceiling and had stern-looking warriors standing on each corner facing outwards to the room. The top of the dais glowed with an eerie green light.

Cautiously the heroes began to advance through the chamber, Bek and Hildegard walking up the central aisle while Gnarl hugged the southern wall and looked in the pair of chambers on that side and Tezmin did the same to the north. Both of the southern chambers were empty but the second northern chamber had a skeleton slumped in the northeastern corner.

From the doorway, Tezmin cast his mage hand spell and sent the arcane limb towards the recumbent corpse, fully expecting it to rise up and attack. The magic hand poked the skeleton in the collar bone and as it did so the head swivelled to face the Harengon in the doorway, and then continued to roll free of its neck and onto the floor. The warlock held his breath for a second but when the rest of the skeleton remained motionless he relaxed and joined his companions standing before the dais.

The figures standing watch on the corners of the dais were revealed to be statues and the glow was coming from a large sigil carved into the top of the dais. The heroes couldn’t see any other exit from the chamber and thought perhaps they needed to somehow turn off the sigil. Bek took a brief moment to cast detect magic while the others attempted to either topple, move or twist the statues, but they found them very securely fixed in place. Completing his ritual, the bladesinger examined the sigil and learned that it was giving off transmutation and conjuration auras. Tezmin sent his familiar, Renfield, onto the sigil and they watched as the light flared and the pudgy imp burst like an over-ripe fruit.

With no other options springing to mind, Gnarl stepped onto the illuminated sigil. Immediately he felt the temperature around him drop and involuntarily shivered. Then he felt hot breath on his neck and heard a whispery voice from beside his left ear ask “What is your deepest, darkest, secret?”. The little kobold glanced at his companions and saw that they appeared oblivious to the voice so answered, “I left someone to die even though I could have saved them” and then he disappeared.

The other heroes watched Gnarl step into the glow of the sigil, they couldn’t hear what he said but saw him say something and then disappear. For a moment they were panicked but then realised that there was no other way forward and one by one entered the sigil.

Each felt the same cold and heard the whispery voice but was asked a different question. Bek was asked “What is your heart’s desire?” to which he responded, “To return home”. Hildegard’s question was “What is your biggest regret?” and her answer was “That I couldn’t convince my family of the power of the Wildmother”. Finally, Tezmin stepped onto the sigil and was asked “What is your biggest failure?” and responded “Getting my crew caught”. Each of the heroes disappeared after their answers and the chamber was empty once more.

As their eyes recovered from the flash of the sigil’s magic, the heroes found themselves standing on a raised area looking over a flooded chamber. The air was heavy with the scent of brine and the sound of water lapping on the sloping lower level of the floor below them. A quartet of sturdy-looking pillars held up the ceiling twenty feet above the water’s dark surface and a rowboat bobbed gently untethered.

The heroes passed one end of their rope to Tezmin as the warlock activated his flying ability, floated gently over to the boat and tied the rope to it. As he gave the others a thumbs up he spotted a pale yellow light pulse in the depths of the water ahead of him and flew to the other side of the chamber where another platform rose out of the water. As he did so the heroes began pulling the boat over to them and they all saw a dark triangular fin break the surface and begin to lazily move across the width of the chamber.

In a rare example of bravery, Tezmin flew over to where the fin was but remained up against the ceiling and began dropping a couple of crumbled rations from his bag into the water. The pulsing yellow light reappeared, this time nearer the centre of the chamber and almost distracted the flying harengon as the water below him burst upwards as a large grey-striped shark leapt upwards and took a bite out of him before splashing back down into the water.

Having pulled the boat close enough the remaining heroes clambered aboard and tried to row it across the chamber, unfortunately, none of them were familiar with the correct way to do it so it was slow progress. They also saw several fish-like heads appear at the water’s surface – sahuagin!

One of the sahuagin was a spellcaster and engaged Tezmin in a duel of magic, even taking a moment to counter Hildegard’s attempt to cast a spiritual guardian spell. The other sahuagin assaulted the boat and its occupants. Claws slashing and jaws gnashing. The cleric was temporarily mesmerised by the pulsing lure hanging from the forehead of one of the fishy foes, but Bek and Gnarl abandoned the boat and used their own abilities to rapidly swim across to the safety of the far platform.

Unable to get through Hildegard’s armour the large sahuagin with the pulsing orb dove back into the water and began savagely wrecking the hull of the rowboat which began to rapidly flood. Tezmin blasted the sahuagin caster with his eldritch blasts and forced him backwards and away though was shocked and surprised when a jolt of lightning travelled back along the path of his bolt to strike him squarely in the chest. Not wishing to get that again the harengon pulled the door behind him open and ducked into the corridor beyond and used the door to hide behind.

The caster swiftly swam up onto the platform and assaulted Bek and Gnarl but the pair of heroes easily smashed the sahuagin shaman to a pulp.

With the boat sinking Hildegard had no choice but to risk swimming in her heavy chain mail. She quickly cast spirit guardians before jumping in and trying to swim, but the armour began to weigh her down. The sahuagin around her had no such problems and swarmed her, her spirit guardians still managed to kill the lesser foes but the larger sahuagin quickly ripped into her in his watery domain and left her unconscious before turning to look at the circling shark which suddenly sprinted at the platform and beached itself so that it could snap at the bladesinger and monk.

Gnarl leapt atop the shark and mercilessly pummelled the ferocious fish until it was dead and Bek assaulted the final fishman with his magic. With their foes defeated they rushed back into the water to retrieve Hildegard, dragging her to the safety of the platform and happily surprised when Bek’s healing word spell was able to revive her, though she did spend a minute coughing up a large amount of swallowed salt water.

With the fight over, Tezmin opened the door and his companions staggered through to join him and see what awaited them beyond …

B1 – The Gates, B2 – The Crematorium, B3 – Infirmary, B4 – Gatehold Barracks, B5 – Dilapidated Temple, B6 – Wall of the Unforgotten, B7 – The Ready Room

A few acknowledgements.

Thanks to Sarah for the additional photos during the sahuagin fight. Map book is the Giant Book of Battlemaps from Loke Battlemats along with the doors. The battlemat of the sahuagin chamber is from Dungeon Craft. The sahuagin themselves are a mixture of Wizkids minis from the Ghosts of Saltmarsh boardgame, the Critical Role Monsters of Wildemount II, and an Abyssal Fisherman from Flesh of Gods. The scenic items of the sahuagin chamber are created from PDFs from Crooked Staff Scenery on DrivethruRPG. The boat is from Badger’s son.

Team Gnarl answer the Call of the Netherdeep – session 11 – Three heads are better than one

The characters:

• Badger – Ginger, a male halfling Gunslinger
• Hinesh – Gnarl, a male kobold Way of Mercy monk physician
• Lyam – Tezmin, a male harengon warlock of the Genie (dao)
• Sarah – Hildegarde, a female tempest cleric of the Wildmother (Melora)
• Grey – Bek, a Shadar Kai bladesinger wizard
• Tom – Mercutio, reborn Air Genasi College of Tragedy Bard (special guest visit)

As may be apparent, we are utilising several non-WotC sources for this campaign. In addition to the usual 5e books, characters could draw upon the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Tal Dorei Reborn, and Gunslinger.

Conthsen, 17th Fessuran, 836 PD

The remaining burly orc roared incomprehensibly at the heroes when they suddenly heard a familiar voice from behind them call out a scathing insult that looked to utterly shock the brute, a quick glance over their shoulders confirmed that their former companion, Mercutio, had indeed appeared. Greetings had to wait, however, and the beleaguered heroes renewed their assault upon the remaining orc as the boiling blood continued to rise almost to their knees (Ginger was standing on the chest of the dead orc while Gnarl simply swam in it). They reigned blows and spells upon the orc and in return his brutal axe swings missed their mark on every swipe, inevitably he fell to their assault. As his body splashed to the floor the blood rapidly began to drain back until it only remained in the central pool, and the stone slabs receded into the floors to once again allow access and egress from the chamber.

Gnarl, Tezmin and Ginger greeted their friend warmly, curious as to how he had got there. “I have no idea, one minute I’m backstage preparing for a show rehearsal, I walked through the door into my dressing room and then, POP!, I’m here” replied the skeletal bard. Hildegard and Bek were introduced and the group explored the corridor leading south from the chamber.

It was the same as the previous corridors in construction but only went around twenty feet until reaching a dead end, one thing they did notice was that sound seemed to be deadened within it, not silenced, but any noise made in the corridor didn’t echo out of it like it did in the others. As they were unable to determine the cause of this oddity they returned to the large chamber with the chained statue. Mercutio went straight up to the doors in the chest of the statue to examine them and then whirled upon his allies, attacking them with his magic. The rest of the heroes recognised that he had succumbed to the same corrupting influence that had affected Ginger and Hildegard previously but thankfully the bard seemed to be able to snap himself out of it very quickly. They agreed to leave the statue alone for now and instead head down the eastern corridor leading from the chamber.

It wasn’t long before the corridor turned south, then further down it turned southeast but there was also a pitch-black side corridor leading off to the west. Gnarl donned the goggles he had taken from the Hythenos Estate and was able to see in the magical darkness that this side corridor turned south. But as the rest of the group couldn’t see in the magical darkened corridor they followed the other route.

The corridor reached a junction, one way was lit in a violet light the other in a crimson, and the heroes chose to follow the violet route. The corridor twisted and turned, they felt as if they had been walking for hours and a few of them began to feel exhausted doing so. Eventually, they came into a long corridor and once again saw that there were the same three exits, back up the violet corridor, a red corridor or a pitch-black one. Hildegard recalled one of the tenets of Torog, “Seek and exalt places where no light touches.” the heroes roped themselves together with Gnarl leading the way through the blackened corridor.

The walk through the eerie darkness was tense as they expected something to attack them at any second but they quite quickly emerged back into the corridor where they had first found the tunnels without any such incident. Slightly annoyed that they had traversed the tunnels with nothing but exhaustion to show for it they crossed back through the statue chamber to the western archway, finding a staircase leading upwards. While they ascended about a hundred feet they actually climbed closer to triple that as the staircase wound around and around before reaching a small landing and set of double doors.

Cautiously they opened the doors to reveal an all too familiar long black stone corridor, though this one had narrow silver blades embedded in the walls along its length. Mercutio volunteered to lead the way but as he began walking along the corridor he felt it tip left and right, throwing his body into the walls and the razor-sharp blades sliced into him. As he turned to his companions he spotted a small crystal cylinder mounted above the doorway in the corridor and saw a small trickle of blood appear within it.

Not wanting to be shredded by the corridor Tezmin activated his flight and sped down the corridor trailing the party’s rope. In the chamber at the end of the corridor were a pair of statues of swollen, worm-bodied abominations, each with three arms and the hairless head of a howling, fang-toothed man wearing a crown of black spikes. The harengon tied the rope to one of them and the rest of the party tied the other end to the stair bannister. Using the rope to traverse the corridor made it easier, though the tilting of the corridor still caused a couple of them to catch themselves on the blades. Once everyone was through Tezmin flew back and retrieved the rope before trying to pry the cylinder free (which was now full of blood) but wasn’t strong enough to do so, and returned to his allies.

Turning their attention to the archway on their right the heroes discovered it led into a short corridor ending in an iron door that had unreadable symbols upon it. Before Bek could offer to translate it the door was opened, revealing a trio of skulls floating amidst green flames!

Immediately Gnarl punched and kicked at the nearest skull, shattering it into fragments. The other two skulls opened their mouths wordlessly as a tiny bead of fire erupted out of each that then sped to the far end of the short corridor before blossoming into a pair of fireballs, incinerating the heroes.

As the flames cleared most of the heroes lay unconscious on the stony floor. Tezmin and Gnarl used their healing potions and abilities to revive Hildegard and Mercutio, who then used their healing magic to bring Ginger and Bek back to consciousness.

The two floating skulls then spat magical missiles at the three nearest heroes, Hildegard called forth a magical shield to prevent hers from hitting. Gnarl, the only one who had actually stepped into the room beyond the door, grabbed the door handle and as the kobold monk dove back into the corridor pulled the door closed behind him. For a tense moment, the heroes waited expectantly for the skulls to open the doors and resume their attack but as the seconds passed and nothing happened they relaxed. As the adrenaline of battle faded the pain of injuries rose and they all agreed they needed to rest.

They tested the blade corridor, finding that for some reason it was no longer tilting when they walked it and quickly made their way back to the sound-deadened corridor to make camp and rest up.

Grissen, 22nd Fessuran, 836 PD

Despite their dreams being filled with images of the horrors and depravity of the Betrayer Gods their rest was enough to let them recuperate, but as they awoke they realised they were not where they had gone to sleep. They were instead on the bridge over the mist-filled chasm before the door carved with the woman’s face.

Gnarl finally admitted to his companions that he was still suffering from being brought back from the dead and the heroes agreed to exit the Rise and spend a few days in Bazzoxan recuperating fully.

Grissen, 22nd – Da’leysen, 27th Fessuran, 836 PD

Over the next five days, while rooming at the Ready Room the heroes gathered their strength. Ginger, Gnarl and Hildegard traded their skills at the temple and infirmary for a handful of healing potions as they prepared to return for a third attempt at discovering the secret hidden within Betrayer’s Rise …

B1 – The Gates, B2 – The Crematorium, B3 – Infirmary, B4 – Gatehold Barracks, B5 – Dilapidated Temple, B6 – Wall of the Unforgotten, B7 – The Ready Room

Great to have Tom back at the table, while he visited the UK. He’s due to head back to New York imminently but if he’s still around he’s always welcome to attend the sessions.

Team Gnarl answer the Call of the Netherdeep – session 10 – Chilly Down with the Fire Gang

The characters:

• Badger – Ginger, a male halfling Gunslinger
• Hinesh – Gnarl, a male kobold Way of Mercy monk physician
• Lyam – Tezmin, a male harengon warlock of the Genie (dao)
• Sarah – Hildegarde, a female tempest cleric of the Wildmother (Melora)
• Grey – Bek, a Shadar Kai bladesinger wizard

As may be apparent, we are utilising several non-WotC sources for this campaign. In addition to the usual 5e books, characters could draw upon the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Tal Dorei Reborn, and Gunslinger.

Conthsen, 17th Fessuran, 836 PD

The humongous spider unfurled and reached a talon up to the silken webbing obscuring the ceiling, dragging it through and tearing a gash in it, allowing a quartet of goblins to use the ripped strands to abseil down into the chamber.

Gnarl punched the spider in her side, hoping to rupture another of the egg sacs and retrieve a sample. In response, the giant arachnid wrapped him up in her silken webs before spitting a glob of sticky web at Ginger and trying to reel the halfling towards her.

Rather than try and free their kobold ally the heroes concentrated on slaying their foes. First to fall were the goblins, despite one of them standing toe to toe with Tezmin for a brief moment. Then the heroes focused on the spider. Despite having healed much of the damage they had already inflicted it was only a matter of time before they were victorious, almost as an afterthought blasting the remaining swarm of spiderlings into oblivion.

With their enemies dealt with the heroes tore Gnarl free of the webs and they took a brief rest to ten to their wounds while Bek and Tezmin examined the alcove that had been revealed during the battle. Dozens of mouldering leather-bound books were scattered from the shelves that had held them. Tezmin had a look at the books but couldn’t decipher the scrawlings within. Bek couldn’t either but took ten minutes to perform his Comprehend Languages ritual once again and then read the books to learn they were records of the deals made between the Betrayer Gods and the numerous Demon Lords that joined their forces during the Calamity. Scribbled at the bottom of one page was a short verse that caught the bladesinger’s attention in particular.

“First praise be to the Spider Queen, whose kingdom was forsaken. Next, exult the Ruiner, whose spear shook the green earth. In turn, pay homage to Oblivion and the ending of all things. And last, I give myself to the Crawling King.”

Once the heroes were ready to continue onwards they headed to the double doors to their west, cautiously they listened for signs of what might lay beyond but heard nothing so they pushed them open and entered a large vaulted chamber that resembled the nave of a church, complete with a large stained glass window at its northern end.

Unlit braziers were sitting at the foot of four of the pillars and the heroes tried to see if they had any markings on them. Each was covered in arcane sigils but Bek’s Comprehend Languages didn’t register any linguistic meaning. However, as they got within reach of the braziers they flared to life, a small flame shaped like a humanoid dancing, a couple of the heroes got a flare of flames thrown at them but once they tried to mimic the dance the flames jumped out of the braziers, ran across to the window and touched four of the icons of the Betrayer Gods in a sequence that matched the verse from the earlier book.

As the fourth symbol was touched the window swung open to reveal a tunnel beyond, The walls were carved in relief with images of bodies lying prone and wrapped in chains, ominously there were several chains strewn across the floor and Ginger and Tezmin found themselves suddenly under a compulsion to lay on the floor and let the chains wrap tightly around them.

Thankfully their allies could pry the chains off of them, though they received jolts of psychic damage while doing so. Once free of the chains and compulsion they turned their attention to the wide pit at the end of the corridor, dropping a coin down to gauge the depth and estimating around a hundred feet. The harengon warlock floated down and saw the pit was only around ten feet deep before opening into a massive chamber below.

Below the opening was a massive stone arm that rose up from the floor and faced its palm towards the statue of a gigantic kneeling man chained to the floor. Two more arms of lower heights formed a triangle around the statue. Quickly returning to his allies, Tezmin helped them tie a couple of their ropes together and anchor them to one of the chains so that the others could shimmy down to the floor below.

As they descended they heard moaning noises coming from the statue and could see that it had a massive set of double doors in its abdomen. They also saw purple pustules on the palm of each of the massive hands and as Tezmin got closer they began to pulse and his amulet pulsed in unison with them.

They had barely reached the floor when Hildegard and Ginger began to look enraged and attacked their allies. After a short but furious fight, Gnarl was able to knock both of them out and while they waited for them to regain consciousness the remaining heroes took a brief rest and noticed that there were three corridors leading from the massive chamber.

Tezmin examined the pustule on the palm of the largest arm, but despite poking it with a stick nothing seemed to happen. When Ginger and Hildegard regained their senses the three of them tried to push the doors on the statue open but nothing happened.

Eventually, they gave up and reasoned that perhaps there were three triggers, one down each of the corridors and so set off down the southern corridor.

As they rounded the bend in the corridor they saw the signs of life in the chamber at the end of the corridor. A pair of muscular orcs stood thigh-deep in a pool, stripped to their waists and using small ceremonial bowls to bathe each other in the pool’s liquid which had a deep red colour and viscus texture.

The heroes entered the chamber and Gnarl calmly called out “Hey guys!”. The pair of orcs whirled upon the heroes and called out something unintelligible and a pair of stone slabs shot up from the floor and blocked the tunnel behind them and the entrance to the tunnel on the opposite side of the chamber. The orcs reached down and each pulled a wicked-looking axe from beneath the surface of the pool which had begun to froth, bubble and overflow. The thick red fluid flowed across the stone of the chamber floor.

Bek hurled a firey bead at the emerging orcs that blossomed into a fireball that engulfed the pair and the pool but as the conflagration subsided they stood unharmed, “They’re immune to fire!” cried the bladesinger as they began to go into their bladesong. The orcs rushed forward quicker than the heroes anticipated but thankfully just couldn’t seem to land a blow with their axes.

The fluid from the pool was now beginning to reach the hero’s feet and they realised that it was blood, boiling hot blood! They focused their attacks on one of the orcs at a time and as that foe fell Ginger clambered onto its back to stay out of the blood a little longer …

B1 – The Gates, B2 – The Crematorium, B3 – Infirmary, B4 – Gatehold Barracks, B5 – Dilapidated Temple, B6 – Wall of the Unforgotten, B7 – The Ready Room

Team Gnarl answer the Call of the Netherdeep – session 9 – Into Betrayers Rise

The characters:

• Badger – Ginger, a male halfling Gunslinger (unavailable this session)
• Hinesh – Gnarl, a male kobold Way of Mercy monk physician.
• Lyam – Tezmin, a male harengon warlock of the Genie (dao)
• Sarah – Hildegarde, a female tempest cleric of the Wildmother (Melora)
• Grey – Bek, a Shadar Kai bladesinger wizard

As may be apparent, we are utilising several non-WotC sources for this campaign. In addition to the usual 5e books, characters could draw upon the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Tal Dorei Reborn, and Gunslinger.

Whelsen, 16th Fessuran, 836 PD

Kneeling beside the unmoving form of Gnarl, the little kobold’s companions checked for signs of life but sadly there were none. Unwilling to give up that easily they hoisted his small frame up and Ginger and Tezmin began carrying him towards the dilapidated temple in the hopes that Fogholme could help revive him.

As they walked Tezmin couldn’t help himself and began rummaging through Gnarl’s pockets and pouches, but Hildegard spotted him and confronted the Harengon. What began as a verbal dispute quickly turned into a physical confrontation as Tezmin suddenly grew taller and turned rabid after jabbing his finger on something in one of the pouches.

Before it turned into a full-blown fight the warlock used his flight ability to ascend to a nearby roof and disappeared over the apex, Ginger picked up the body once more and called out to his companions “Don’t you think we should at least try and revive him before we start divvying up his gear?” and began stalking off once more towards the temple.

At the the temple the cleric of Melora, Fogholme, offered to lead the companions in a ritual to attempt to revive their comrade and they agreed. It was a tense ten minutes as the gentle giant Firbolg led the ritual and in turn, called upon the companions to call to Gnarl’s spirit and convince it to return to the mortal plane, as the ritual ended they waited with bated breath until the kobold suddenly opened his eyes and looked at them and asked “What? What are you all looking at?”.

Despite Gnarl’s insistence that he was fine the party decided to return to the Ready Room and have a night’s rest to allow him some chance of recovery. At the same time, they recounted what had happened after the gloomstalker had knocked him unconscious when he heard about Tezmin going rabid he began questioning the harengon, not to see why he rummaged through his things but for how he had felt during the transformation.

They spent the rest of the day and night relaxing and recovering at the Ready Room, they noticed that the blue-skinned genasi, Ayo, and her party had been absent throughout, along with the red-robed elven woman.

Conthsen, 17th Fessuran, 836 PD

In the morning the heroes gathered their gear and prepared once again to enter Betrayers Rise, thankfully they did not have to contend with escaping gloomstalkers this time and the guards let them enter after checking their authorisation from Captain Thelyss. They stepped through the entrance doors into the first chamber and before they had gone further than ten feet when the doors closed behind them leaving them in darkness. Hildegard uttered a short prayer and called forth a golden light to reveal the chamber they had entered.

They stood on a bloodstained bridge that extended over a chasm of swirling silver mist. On the far side of the bridge was a closed double door of black stone inscribed with a circle containing the profile of a smiling woman. The symbol was gouged with deep marks, as if something with claws had tried, but failed, to scour it from the stone. Tezmin dropped a stone from his pocket over the side of the bridge and they all waited to hear it hit the bottom and gauge the depth, but they heard nothing.

As they continued over the bridge the doors began to glow and pulse and Tezmin felt his medallion begin to heat and pulse in time with it. He backed away and both stopped, he tested this a couple of times, stepping closer and retreating, but since the heat never became uncomfortable or unbearable he shrugged it off. The heroes approached the doors and gave a hearty push, surprised at how easily the doors gave way and opened.

The walls of the corridor beyond the doors were lined with carvings depicting a titanic battle between mortals, celestials and fiends and as they walked along they realised that several of the carvings were actually holes and a whistling snore-like sound. As they reached the halfway point thick goop began to ooze through the holes and coalesce into lumpy forms. The heroes didn’t wait to see what they were and ran ahead into the chamber beyond. A high vaulted ceiling with three alcoves on each side, all empty besides a seventh against the north wall. It held a skull on a semi-circular table.

Bek approached it and saw the skull was actually a vase holding a handful of long-dead flowers and there was an inscription on the wall behind it. The bladesinger began a ritual casting of Comprehend Languages as his allies turned to see three gibbering mouthers slowly emerging from the corridor behind them. While Bek continued his ritual they used their own abilities to quickly despatch the mouthers as easily as they had the ones when they first arrived in Bazzoxan.

Bek translated the inscription to read “To me, touch your hand. To me, relinquish hope. To you, accept death. To you, invite hollowness.” and Tezmin sent his familiar to touch the wall. It held its hand against the wall and was sucked through!

The warlock still had telepathic contact with the imp and asked what it could see, “I’m in a corridor like the last one but no snoring this time, it’s dark.” Still not quite willing to touch the wall themselves the heroes instead set about clearing the rubble-choked alcove to the east. Once it was clear they followed the tunnel it revealed as it turned north but halted as they saw cobwebs filling the path ahead. Cautiously they advanced, relieved to find that the webbing was dry on didn’t stick them in place. They could also hear scratchy voices that appeared to be singing, Bek’s comprehend languages spell was still in effect so he could understand the singing and advised his companions that it was a prayer to Lolth, the Spider Queen.

As they pushed past the cobwebs they found a pair of sallow-skinned goblins riding large spiders singing the prayer. When the goblins saw the heroes they drew their scimitars and screamed (though the singing continued from somewhere else in the room).

Gnarl sprinted forward, somersaulting over one of the mounted goblins, pummeling it as he did so, and landing on the far side of it. The goblin and its spider turned on the kobold but couldn’t land their own blows on the nimble little monk. The other goblin urged his mount forward as it spat a sticky glob of webbing at Tezmin which stuck him in place. Before Bek and Hildegard could do anything to assist some of the thick webbing obscuring the ceiling parted to reveal the biggest spider the heroes had ever seen as it sprang to the floor to land beside the tiny kobold monk.

Gnarl was able to take out the goblin beside him and take its place atop the spider, while the remaining goblin and its mount were destroyed by the combined abilities of Bek, Tezmin and Hildegard, unfortunately not before Bek too had been webbed into place.

The humongous spider flicked one of its spindly legs at a cocooned former victim and hurled it at the heroes where it burst upon impact, releasing the gasses it held in a brief fiery combustion. The big spider then also spat a line of webbing, at Hildegard, but it missed. In response, the cleric charged at the beast as she sang a prayer imbuing herself with a holy radiance.

Still atop the smaller spider, Gnarl rode along as it charged down the chamber at the still-webbed Tezmin. The spider tried to bite the restrained rabbit and in return, the kobold punched his fist through the back of its head.

The massive spider shuddered and burst one of the egg sacs on its bloated body, a swarm of tiny spiderlings bursting forth beside the disgusted cleric before biting down on her, snatching her up in its mandibles and wrapping her in silken webs and dropping her at its feet.

With Gnarl’s help breaking free of their own webbing, Tezmin tried to blast Hildegard free of her cocoon with his eldritch blasts while Bek hit the spider with his own spells. They were able to free the cleric but she took some of the damage of the impacts too, and unsteadily got to her feet. She cast a shatter spell, rocking the monster back and destroying a section of wall behind it, revealing a small chamber beyond and then retreated to join her companions, just as Gnarl ran past her to punch at the armoured legs of the massive monster.

The spider curled its legs in under itself, becoming a ball of armoured carapace and the heroes looked on in horror as they saw several of its wounds healing …

B1 – The Gates, B2 – The Crematorium, B3 – Infirmary, B4 – Gatehold Barracks, B5 – Dilapidated Temple, B6 – Wall of the Unforgotten, B7 – The Ready Room

Team Gnarl answer the Call of the Netherdeep – session 8 – the Hythenos House

The characters:

• Badger – Ginger, a male halfling Gunslinger.
• Hinesh – Gnarl, a male kobold Way of Mercy monk physician.
• Lyam – Tezmin, a male harengon warlock of the Genie (dao) (unavailable this session)
• Sarah – Hildegarde, a female tempest cleric of the Wildmother (Melora)
• Grey – Bek, a Shadar Kai bladesinger wizard

As may be apparent, we are utilising several non-WotC sources for this campaign. In addition to the usual 5e books, characters could draw upon the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Tal Dorei Reborn, and Gunslinger.

Grissen, 15th Fessuran, 836 PD

In the relative quiet and safety of the storeroom, the heroes took the time to examine the items that had been liberated from the display cases. Gnarl took the whip and as he attuned to it the handle wrapped around his arm and the jade fangs bit into his flesh, anchoring themselves. Bek discovered that the necklace could boost his bodily health and eagerly put it on, but as soon as the clasp fastened the necklace began to constrict and choke the bladesinger until his allies were able to pull it off of him. Cautious now, they put the other items back in their packs for the time being and exited the storeroom.

They were surprised to find that the stone statues had been rebuilt and stood once more on either side of the room’s exit. They fully expected them to animate and attack once again but were relieved when they didn’t and they headed back to the foyer and began to ascend the stairs to the upper floor. As they did so they noticed that they couldn’t see the feet of the dead Aurora Watch guard in the kitchen, but ignored it and continued upwards.

At the top of the stairs was a landing that curved back towards the other end of the house with a pair of doors ahead of them. The heroes opened the first door on their left, finding another unlit storeroom. This seemed to have several mismatched pieces of furniture covered with dust sheets and for the first time in the house, they actually saw a thin layer of dust had been allowed to settle on them. Hildegard saw one of the sheets in the westernmost corner ripple slightly and with no windows to cause a draught she moved to investigate, calling out to whatever might be under the cover as she approached. There was no answer so she whipped the cover off, flinging the dust into the air around her and making her cough and sneeze a little. All that was under the cover was a chair, of similar design to the sofa in the living room downstairs. They heard a deep-voiced giggle come from under another of the covers opposite the door and Hildegard again investigated but again, found only furniture.

Gnarl asked the cleric if she was finished and as she exited the room, the little kobold used druidcraft to make a foul smell and quickly closed the door. The heroes turned their attention to the next door but found it locked. Ginger pulled out a set of thieves’ picks and attempted to open the door but had no luck overcoming the rather high-quality lock so they gave up for now and walked down the corridor to the other end of the landing.

As they got to the end they saw a third member of the Aurora Watch lying dead on the floor, apparently having bled out from having his throat slit. Gnarl once again retrieved the soldier’s dog tags while examining the body, determining that it had been dead for roughly a week.

They chose the southern door and opened it, entering an opulently furnished master bedroom. A tidy desk stood at the eastern end with an open notebook sitting upon it. They looked at the writings but couldn’t decipher them so popped it in their bags for later. A plush chaise longue sat before the unlit fireplace, while a large bed dominated the western end of the room, with a pair of dark purple wooden pillars on either side of it that ended about a foot and a half short of the ceiling. The tops of the pillars were flat and bare but looked as if they were meant to hold something. At the foot of the bed was a footlocker made of the same deep purple-coloured wood, and against the northern wall was a bookcase.

Gnarl looked up the chimney but there was nothing untoward hidden within, while Bek checked out the collection of books on the bookcase, finding most were discussions and treatises on the worship of the Betrayer Gods (mostly second-hand accounts of those who had witnessed such things).

Hildegard flipped the lid of the footlocker open and had to hurl herself backwards as a blast of lightning was released from a concealed glyph within. Getting back to her feet she moved back to the locker and peered within, but only found several sets of very well-made and expensively tailored clothing. Looking at the exterior of the locker again they realised that it didn’t seem deep enough and after a brief investigation, they found it had a false bottom and lifted it clear to reveal what had prompted such magical protection. A pair of healing potions, a purse full of coins, a periapt of health and a small brass key.

As the heroes divided the coins Bek examined the notebook and was able to ascertain that Hythenos had been theorising that Betrayers Rise could be cleansed by destroying one of the Arms of the Betrayers inside the temple. His notes further detailed that he believed one of the Arms was still located within the temple, the item known as Ruin’s Wake, a spear dedicated to Gruumsh the Ruiner.

Moving on to the next door they found a smaller bedroom with a pair of low-quality straw mattress cots, a single armchair facing the unlit fireplace, and another desk, this one had a pair of dark blue knapsacks embossed with a circular symbol.

Emptying the knapsacks they found a handful of silver pieces and a scroll which Bek was able to recognise as the Comprehend Languages spell, the knapsacks had initials embossed under their flaps, one read “K.A.” while the other was “B.B.”, the heroes remembered Question having a similar looking satchel.

As the bladesinger and the cleric moved to investigate the final door, Gnarl and Ginger stood by the door to the master bedroom to keep an eye along the landing. The room behind the door was a bathroom, an iron tub with clawed feet dominated the room while neatly folded towels rested atop a table opposite a wall-mounted mirror just inside the door. As Bek was investigating the towels and table he noticed the mirror fogging up and writing began to appear on it “You’re all going to …”, before the mysterious message could complete Gnarl and Ginger called them out onto the landing as the dead soldiers head had turned to face them on its own. The heroes kicked the corpse with their weapons at the ready but it didn’t move again.

Then they heard slow steady footsteps ascending the stairs. Gnarl and Hildegard moved partway along the landing while Bek and Ginger hung back, the sound of the footsteps reached the landing and their source ambled into view, the guard from the kitchen, its head lolling sideways on its broken neck.

The figure stalked closer and its gaze focused on Gnarl, the little kobold gave a squeal “Get them off me! They’re all over me!” as he saw hundreds of tiny spiders swarm out of the carpet and all over his body. His companions saw no spiders but unleashed spells and pistol fire at the figure, rocking it back on its heels.

The heroes were quickly able to overcome the figure and it fell back onto the floor, but as it did so it left behind a ghostly image of a jellyfish-like creature that sank down through the floor and disappeared. Gnarl recovered himself, the spiders having disappeared with the jellyfish, and checked the body. Still dead and now having fresh wounds.

They made their way back to the locked door, the kobold using his magic to cover the landing floor behind them with a frosty layer to prevent the jellyfish from returning. They tried the key from the hidden compartment of the footlocker and unlocked the door. weapons at the ready they entered the chamber.

The only light in the chamber was Hildegard’s light spell, the lamps around the room having long since burned out. Two of the three tables lay smashed into ruins, the third had several sheets of parchment scattered across it. A bookcase at the far side of the room held several pieces of black stonework and a blood-stained rug lay on the floor with the remnants of a broken vase or urn upon it.

The heroes began to examine the room contents, and as Bek and Hildegard looked at the broken vase they heard the slightest noise, like a rasping noise from the rafters, and looked up just in time to see the body of a drow male in tattered clothing scuttling across the ceiling on all fours but his head was facing them – the wrong way!

The figure moved to hang upturned from the ceiling above them and struck out with its bare hand, striking at the cleric. Quickly the heroes hurled spells and pistol shots at the figure, obliterating it and as it dropped off the ceiling into a jumble on the floor the familiar form of the jellyfish oozed out onto the floor around it and began dissolving. Before it could all disappear Gnarl filled an old potion bottle with some of the ichor.

A quick search of the room garnered them a trio of vials of acid and the scattered notes again in Hythenos’s peculiar shorthand which Bek was able to relay were descriptions of the interior of Betrays Rise from accounts of those that had ventured inside, unfortunately, Hythenos concluded that no two visits were the same and that the magic of the place seemed to actually move the rooms around.

They gathered what they could and headed out to find Question waiting for them, alone. They asked why she hadn’t brought the guards, “Well, apparently they think I’m a nuisance and just told me to go away” she replied, her gaze upon the ground. Hildegard set off at a trot to go and bring the Aurora Watch while Gnarl showed Question the pair of knapsacks and she confirmed that they belonged to members of her expedition, “See K.A. is Korthya Alzar and B.B. is Bending Branches, he’s a tabaxi” she said upon seeing the embossed initials. “But were they in there?” The heroes told her that only the knapsacks were there, the only bodies inside were the trio of Aurora Watch guards and Hythenos himself. “Well, I guess that means there’s a good chance they’re still alive, though, probably not if they went into the Rise” she responded gloomily. Thank you anyway, here, I hope it helps” and she gave them a coin purse of a hundred gold pieces.

Hildegard returned with Captain Thelyss and half a dozen soldiers. Gnarl handed over the dog tags as the heroes recounted what had transpired in the house, though they failed to mention taking the items from the display cases. Thelyss sent his men in to recover the bodies and thanked the characters, he told them that normally no one could enter Betrayer’s Rise without his written consent but since they had again proven they could handle themselves he handed them a permission writ and wished them luck. The heroes thanked him and said goodnight, heading over to the Ready Room and the cots Gnarl had earlier booked for their use.

They had a quiet meal before bedding down for the night, they noticed that neither the red-robed half-elf nor their fellow adventurers from Jigow were present but were too tired to enquire if anyone had seen them.

Whelsen, 16th Fessuran, 836 PD

In the morning they prepared themselves and set off across the city to visit the cleric of Melora at the dilapidated church. Fogholme greeted them warmly and they purchased a couple of healing potions from him before heading to Betrayers Rise.

The temple rose ominously and beautifully. Its black walls were carved with intricate reliefs, many depicting scenes of torture. Lifelike grotesques of leering demons perch high above, peering down at any who dared approach with contempt.

A staircase, wide enough for the heroes to walk up abreast led to an open landing before the immense double door that formed the entrance. The gate was made of onyx inlaid with copper and silver. A pair of the Aurora Watch stood before them and began to turn the heroes away until they showed their writ of passage. One of the guards was about to open the door when it shuddered as something hit it heavily from within. Despite the worried looks on the heroes’ faces, the guards assured them that it happened regularly and was just a denizen within testing the defences that, usually, kept them contained.

At the guard’s suggestion they waited a few moments before the guard again moved to open the door, but as soon as he released the lock the door was pushed open from the inside as a pair of familiar smoking bat-like monsters burst outwards. Gloomstalkers!

The guards tackled one while shouting for the heroes to see to the other. Gnarl immediately leapt at the monster, lashing out with his whip and then giving it a couple of hefty kicks as he tumbled past it. The beast’s response was to let out its paralyzing shriek which left the kobold and the bladesinger stunned.

Ginger backed away slightly and took a pair of shots but was shocked when both flew wide of their mark. The monster lurched at the defenceless kobold, its massive claw crushing the wind out of him and then grasping his unconscious form as it suddenly melted into smoke and reappeared in the air above them, wings beating to rise up even higher.

Hildegard murmured a quick prayer to the Wildmother and sent a Guiding Bolt up at the beast, striking it squarely. The radiant damage of the prayer obliterated the monster, releasing Gnarl and causing him to plummet to the stone landing below as the guards dealt the death blow to the other stalker.

The heroes rushed to the side of their tiny companion desperate for any sign of life …

B1 – The Gates, B2 – The Crematorium, B3 – Infirmary, B4 – Gatehold Barracks, B5 – Dilapidated Temple, B6 – Wall of the Unforgotten, B7 – The Ready Room

Team Gnarl answer the Call of the Netherdeep – session 7 – Exploring Bazzoxan

The characters:

• Badger – Ginger, a male halfling Gunslinger.
• Hinesh – Gnarl, a male kobold Way of Mercy monk physician.
• Lyam – Tezmin, a male harengon warlock of the Genie (dao)
• Sarah – Hildegarde, a female tempest cleric of the Wildmother (Melora)
• Grey – Bek, a Shadar Kai bladesinger wizard

As may be apparent, we are utilising several non-WotC sources for this campaign. In addition to the usual 5e books, characters could draw upon the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Tal Dorei Reborn, and Gunslinger.

Grissen, 15th Fessuran, 836 PD

The halfling rejoined the majority of the heroes and they made their way over to where they had been told the dilapidated temple was. Many of the walls had collapsed, and those that remained had been propped up with ramshackle shelving units holding many earthenware pots of straggly-looking plants. Just outside the far end of the enclosure, a smashed mosaic of stained glass sat in a splintered window frame next to a withered, skeletal tree. They heard someone within moving about and humming, and as they entered they saw the source of the sounds, a large firbolg tending to the various potted plants. After introductions, they learned that his name was Fogholme and he was a priest of the Wildmother. The temple had been dedicated to Avandra, the Changebringer, but since there were none of her priests in the city the Taskhand had given him permission to use the space to worship Melora, unfortunately, the conditions were not conducive to growing healthy plants aside from one or two stubborn cacti. He also told them that while meditating the other night, he felt something surge within the earth nearby—a warm and kindly presence reminiscent of the Prime Deities. He suspects the presence is a sign that a relic of the Calamity has awakened within the Betrayers’ Rise. The heroes asked if he recognised the amulet that Tezmin was wearing but he didn’t, he offered them to come back in the evening and join him in his meditations where perhaps the Wildmother would grant them the wisdom they sought. They thanked him and assured him that they would be happy to join him later, and then they set off to meet back up with Gnarl.

Meanwhile, Gnarl had made his way to the Ready Room, the only still functional inn in town and secured cots for the group in a quiet corner where he began to experiment with his collected demon ichor, samples of Silver’s blood, and one of her fangs. After a short while, he was able to successfully combine the three into some sort of injection device with the comment “It’ll either kill or cure, be interesting to see which”.

As he worked he spotted the familiar faces of the other group from Jigow as they also claimed a set of cots across the room. They were deep in conversation with a new figure, an elf woman in crimson robes. He also noticed a young tiefling woman staring at him and when she saw that he had spotted her she quickly approached him and sat down. She excitedly introduced herself as Question, a researcher with a contingent of the Cobalt Soul, newly arrived from the grand library of Ank’Harel. Before she could continue the rest of the group arrived.

As they talked she told them that her group had arrived to study the Betrayers Rise but she was too scared to go herself, “I’m just a researcher, not a field agent”. However, she did tell them about the legend of Alyxian, a folk ballad, written in Undercommon, that speaks of a “halfway god,” a champion who was given so much power by three of the Prime Deities during the Calamity that he became nearly divine himself. It was believed from the Cobalt Soul’s research that this champion had something to do with a site within Betrayers Rise. Question showed them her sketchbook and two sketches in particular, the first was of an island bathed in the moonlight of Catha and Ruidus, both full. The island was covered with trees, marble pillars, and crystal shards and resembled the chamber in the Emerald Grotto where they had discovered Tezmin’s amulet. When they mentioned this Question asked to see the amulet and when they showed her she said it was similar but not quite the same and showed them the second sketch from her book.

The tiefling recognised that there were indeed similarities and when the heroes told her that Eldar Ushru had named it as the Jewel of Three Prayers, she almost jumped with excitement. She told them that this was a vestige of Divergence, an artefact imbued with power by the gods themselves but it appeared to be dormant, her research showed that such things grew in power when their wielders performed great feats that aligned with the values of the empowering deities.

Question explained that she had been trying to talk to the only survivor of the last group of researchers that had been inside Betrayers Rise, which had been over a hundred years ago, and the individual resided in a house on the eastern side of the city. Something had gone terribly wrong on the expedition, resulting in the opening of a rift to the Abyss and still causing the emergence of demons to this day. As it stood, the Aurora Watch very rarely allowed anyone else to enter unless they had proven themselves remotely capable. The survivor was a drow named Tenaryn Hythenos but when she visited his home it was locked up tight and she had heard disturbing noises from inside.

The heroes agreed to investigate the house and as they gathered their gear to head out they noticed that the red-robed elf had been listening to their chatter. Gnarl nipped to the bar, sliding the barman a couple of gold and asked him to “get that group good and drunk” as he indicated Ayo’s group and the elf.

The home was a two-story manor with stone walls and dark slate roofs, nicer than almost any building they had seen so far in town, though some scars of the constant struggles that Bazzoxan faced still marked the house. Red rock dust had blown up against the walls and windows, all of which had been shuttered from the inside. No lights were on in the building, and knocking on the door gave no response. The few residents passing in the streets shuffled away with nervous glances which the heroes weren’t sure were directed at them or the house.

Tezmin used a spell to become a gaseous cloud and passed through the keyhole into the house before returning to his normal form and opening the door for his companions. As they entered they suggested Question go and fetch a member of the Aurora Watch, just in case, not that the skittish tiefling needed much encouragement to get away from the building. Once inside the foyer, Hildegard produced a magical light to let them see better. The walls were lined with portraits, several goblins, a bugbear, and a drow in fine clothes and with symbols of the Luxon. A wide sculpted staircase led to the upper floor, while a long carpeted hallway led into darkness and four doorways led out of the foyer, all slightly ajar.

To the north, the doorway led into a large dining room where a wrought iron chandelier hung over a large polished dining table made of a deep purple wood. Each seat at the table had a full place setting aside from the one at the head of the table which had been brushed aside to make room for a pile of books and a plate of uneaten food that had begun to moulder.

Beside the dining room was the kitchen, piles of pots and pans lay in the sink unwashed and the body of an orc in the armour of the Aurora Watch lay motionless on the floor. Hildegarde and Gnarl examined the body and discovered that it had been dead for some time, its neck having been broken. Gnarl retrieved the soldier’s dog tags and they explored the next room.

This room was a sitting room, containing a fine array of furnishings, plush sofas sat on moorbounder rug and a harp made of the same deep purple wood of the dining table stood in the corner. Long, deep blue velvet curtains were drawn across the windows. Tezmin drew his fingers across the strings of the harp and they rang out in the eerie quiet of the house. Gnarl began putting his hand down the back of one of the sofas but had to quickly jump back as the moorbounder rug suddenly rose up and attacked.

The heroes quickly destroyed the animated rug before it could cause any harm to them and Tezmin grabbed the harp and took it into his magic stone before coming back out to his companions.

Crossing the foyer they investigated the fourth door, which led into what looked like a study. Floor-to-ceiling shelves lined the walls, all filled with books, texts and papers. A brass oil lamp sat atop a large desk covered with unfinished research notes. Blood spattered the papers and its source was discovered to be another body of an Aurora Watch soldier, this one a drow that had been disembowelled. Once again Hildegarde and Gnarl examined the body, discovering that the fatal wound appeared to have been self-inflicted. Gnarl retrieved the dog tags once again as the other heroes noticed a pool of blood in the northeastern corner of the ceiling that was dripping down onto the floor. No sooner had they noticed it than it disappeared leaving no trace that it had ever been there.

As they all moved back to the foyer they heard a scrabbling noise coming from above them, possibly rats or similar scurrying across the upper floor. With Hildegarde and her magical light leading the way they began to head down the darkened hallway to the door the light had revealed at the far end. It took a few moments for them all to make it however, a couple of times Bek and Ginger found themselves back at the foyer before they reached the doors, but eventually, they all entered the chamber beyond.

A huge room of dark stone awaited them, to either side of the door stood hooded figures made of worn black marble with outstretched hands pointing into the room. Half a dozen display cases sat on plinths of stone and carved stone friezes lined the walls. One of the display cases had been broken open and Gnarl clambered up to investigate its contents, as he did so they heard a grinding noise and turned to see both the statues were now pointing directly at the kobold and he felt himself struck with magical force but kept his balance and continued to examine the cases contents, a pair of blackened steel goggles with black lenses sitting on a stone head. Gnarl plucked the goggles free and the statues attacked!

Gnarl and Bek moved forward to engage the statues as Ginger and Tezmin used their ranged attacks and Hildegarde began to close on them also. Their foes were quite hardy, the marble being very dense and resistant to damage from all but the strongest of sources, and when they struck the heroes it was literally like being slammed into a brick wall. However, the heroes worked well together and focused their attacks on the statues one at a time, allowing them to bring them down in short order.

Once the guardian statues were reduced to piles of rubble the heroes set about looting the remainder of the display cases, gathering a gold chain necklace with a golden medallion inscribed with chains and shackles, the placard on the case read “Necklace found on the corpse on the second level”, a ridged metal wand with a dark blue crystal hilt “Recovered by Mariet Tasithar, last survivor of the Irien Expedition of 824”, a whip of black snakeskin with sharp jade fangs at one end “This whip was recovered from a cultist of Zehir by Tenaryn Hythenos through a feat of extraordinary magic”, a small pouch of pale powder “Dust of Disappearance given to me by Jiri Dwendalos who sacrificed herself to allow the rest of our original party to escape the untimely opening of the rift”, and the final case contained a carved bone statue of a gloomstalker, a jet stone shot through with red crystal streaks, and dark steel and carnelian spider with a body in the shape of a skull, its placard had been dropped to the ground but read “Signet of the Children of Malice, worn by a rider servant of the Spider Queen defeated in the eternal tunnels”.

While her companions stripped the display cases bare, Hildegarde examined the friezes on the walls. The northern one showed shapes composed of bones and faces, creature-like forms ranging from human to animal, all twisting across the surface but the bottom right corner had a sizable chunk missing as if it had been defaced and chiselled away. The one on the eastern wall showed a sarcophagus in a tomb, the carving making it look like it went deeper than the actual surface. The sarcophagus was covered in intertwining snakes and you couldn’t see signs of where the lid would join. The third one, on the southern wall, depicted the massive bestial form of the Horned King, Baphomet, striding across a broken land, an army of malformed creatures swarming around. As the cleric stared intently at the friezes she heard a voice whisper in her ear, as if the speaker stood close behind her, “They’re going to take everything from you” but when she looked around there was no one there and none of the others showed signs of having heard anything.

Once they had finished looting the cases the heroes opened the other door leading from the room, it opened into a storage room where several packing cases were haphazardly stacked, they surmised that these had once held the items from the cases during their transit to the house. The heroes spent almost half an hour searching the room, finding a suit of studded leather armour and a complete dungeoneers pack all prepared in readiness for use …

B1 – The Gates, B2 – The Crematorium, B3 – Infirmary, B4 – Gatehold Barracks, B5 – Dilapidated Temple, B6 – Wall of the Unforgotten, B7 – The Ready Room

Team Gnarl answer the Call of the Netherdeep – session 5 – Back on the road

The characters:

• Badger – Ginger, a male halfling Gunslinger.
• Hinesh – Gnarl, a male kobold Way of Mercy monk physician.
• Lyam – Tezmin, a male harengon warlock of the Genie (dao)
• Sarah – Hildegarde, a female tempest cleric of the Wildmother (Melora)
• Grey – Bek, a Shadar Kai bladesinger wizard

As may be apparent, we are utilising several non-WotC sources for this campaign. In addition to the usual 5e books, characters could draw upon the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Tal Dorei Reborn, and Gunslinger.

Yulisen, 12th Fessuran, 836 PD

As the heroes packed up their camping gear (including newly purchased tents from the merchants) they were approached by a pair of adventurers, an armoured human female and a male shadow elf in normal travellers garb. Greetings were exchanged and the newcomers explained that in their own ways, each had been led to this place by their deities to join the heroes’ quest to discover the meaning of the vision they had received.

Despite Gnarl’s refuting the existence of gods the party welcomed the new additions and set off into the Barbed Fields, noting the rather drastic change in the terrain very quickly. The muggy marshes gave way to a dry arid landscape, broken by jagged rocks and pillars of stone that upon closer inspection were revealed to be the fossilised remains of gigantic creature’s rib cages that formed crooked spires.

Having purchased travelling rations at the caravan loop the heroes quickened their travel pace, hoping to reach Bazzoxan in around four to five days. They made good progress throughout the day and by evening had found a suitable campsite in the lee of one of the larger outcroppings. As they settled down to rest Tezmin noticed a trio of tiny bright lights a short distance away and awoke his companions before heading to investigate.

The lights were barely bigger than a coin but so bright as to give off an aura that made them look larger from a distance and they hovered over what appeared to be an overturned wagon. The heroes approached cautiously and quickly discerned that the wagon’s wheel had broken causing it to crash onto its side. There was no sign of whatever had pulled the wagon and the wind and dust had eroded any identifying features.

Before any of the others could stop him Tezmin picked up a loose stone and threw it at one of the lights, hitting it squarely but passing through it. The fuzzy light flared, turning into an angrily buzzing little ball of electrical energy that swooped at the harengon, passing through him and giving him an electrical shock. The other two lights did likewise to his companions, whizzing through the air with considerable speed.

Ginger and Hildegarde had been bringing up the rear and used their pistol and spells respectively to engage the lights from range while Bek and Gnarl used their melee capabilities. The quick and agile light balls were difficult to hit though. Tezmin clambered up onto the wagon and disappeared inside, putting his hand down to steady himself and feeling the bony remains of a hand and arm below him.

One of the lights zoomed at Ginger, having been hit by one of the halfling’s pistol shots, but disappeared from sight before it reached him. Another of the lights also winked out, while the third continued to flit between Gnarl and Bek and give them electrical shocks.

Tezmin ran his hand along the arm bone to find it was attached to the rest of a skeleton, the skull seemed to indicate a delicate featured humanoid. He was worried that it was about to animate and attack him when one of the lights suddenly reappeared inside the wagon with him and zapped him again. Calling upon the power of the amulet he had retrieved from Sil’s bag of holding he turned himself invisible and climbed back out of the wagon.

Ginger had readied his pistol as the light had approached him and disappeared when it suddenly reappeared beside him and passed through him, giving him a massive jolt of electrical energy, he whirled upon it and fired point-blank, the pistol barely lifting above his hip as its shot echoed in the night air. The bullet hit true and the ball of light disappeared once more though this time because it was destroyed.

Hildegarde and Bek used their spells to bring down the second one while Gnarl and a reappearing Tezmin extinguished the final one. The rest of the group admonished the harengon for instigating the fight before consulting them or at least letting them know to be ready and Tezmin accepted the blame, promising to be more considerate in future.

He told them about the body in the wagon, and they investigated it. With a light source, they were able to see that there were in fact three bodies in the wagon, all reduced to skeletons by time and scavengers. Judging by the skulls they determined that two were of elf-kind while the third was orcish. Gnarl salvaged some of the tattered fabric and padding from one of the seats while Tezmin searched the rest of the interior, finding a lockbox under one of the seats. The orcish skeleton had a small iron key amongst its remains and they used it to open the box. Inside they found a scroll enchanted with the Thunderwave spell and in a small padded box, a glass bottle of clear fizzing liquid with what looked like a sliver of ivory floating in it. They took the contents and agreed to bury the remains of the three bodies, there was some discussion on saving the skulls to magically question but eventually, they agreed to just let them rest, though Gnarl kept the orcish skull for his own purposes. They returned to their camp and resumed their rest.

Da’leysen, 13th Fessuran, 836 PD

With the disturbed night they slept later than they normally would but eventually set off once more across the Barbed Fields. Again the day proved quiet and uneventful and they searched for a suitable site for their night camp, settling for a small bowl-shaped depression a short way from the trail they were following.

As night fell the land was once again bathed in the crimson glow of Ruidus as it flared in the night sky above them again, as if in defiance of the last night of its fullness. But, thankfully nothing else disturbed their sleep and they awoke the next morning and set off once more.

Miresen, 14th Fessuran, 836 PD

It was shortly after mid-morning when they saw a group of riders approaching at speed. The new arrivals had used the terrain to mask their approach and so were able to quickly surround the heroes before they could run for more favourable standing.

The group numbered a dozen humans, all mounted on horseback and dressed in dirty leather armour. All but one aimed loaded crossbows at the heroes, the other calmly leaning forward in his saddle to address the group. “By order of the Queen of the Kryn Dynasty, you’re nearby ordered to pay the road tax” he leered. Having grown up in and around Rosohna both Tezmin and Gnarl knew there was no such tax in this area and told the riders that they should pay them to be allowed to be on their way. The lead rider laughed and replied “We got ourselves some feisty ones boys, we’ll take the tax off your corpses!” and motioned for his men to fire.

Unfortunately for the riders, the heroes were quick to react and with spells, blades, pistols and bare hands quickly dispatched two of them before the first could pull their crossbow triggers. Gnarl used his agility to swing up onto the leader’s horse, perching just in front of the saddle and striking the man repeatedly. As he saw his men, and most of their horses too, being taken down so rapidly he turned his mount and dug his heels in hard, urging it into a full sprint away from the adventurers.

As the last of the bandits fell to their assault, Tezmin tried to use his eldritch strikes to blast the man out of the saddle but somehow he was able to remain astride his mount and escape into the surrounding hills. They salvaged what gear they wanted from the fallen bandits and harvested some equine steaks before continuing onward, keeping a wary eye out in case the rider returned.

That evening they enjoyed the steaks and as they were preparing to settle down they saw a group of figures approaching on foot. Once they were near enough to see more clearly they recognised the armour of the Arora Watch and relaxed as the patrolling soldiers approached their camp and asked if they could join them for a brief rest.

The heroes were happy to let the weary soldiers take a break amongst them, though Tezmin retired to his tent. The patrol was looking for a reported band of highwaymen who had been waylaying travellers and demanding a road tax, and the heroes informed them that they had encountered them earlier in the day and had even killed many of them. The patrol leader asked for the location of the encounter and the heroes were happy to point it out on his map before he gathered his troops and wished them a good evening, setting off down the trail into the darkness.

Grissen, 15th Fessuran, 836 PD

As they awoke in the morning a strong wind picked up, swirling the dust of the Fields around them and making it uncomfortable to travel without covering their faces with a cloth. Thankfully it died down shortly after midday and they were able to continue as normal until shortly after mid-afternoon they spotted a large black mound ahead.

Approaching cautiously they realised that it was a massive creature lying on the floor in a heap, covered in bristly black fur and apelike in appearance. Getting nearer they saw it had several spears sticking out of it and had been struck repeatedly by what appeared to be axe wounds. Thick black ichor oozed from the wounds to pool upon the parched earth around it, and several large splotches of it could be seen leading off to the west. Ginger, Gnarl and Tezmin recognised the creature from descriptions they had heard or read previously, an Udaak, leftovers of demonic armies that had battled across the land during the Calamity but had lost their connection to the Abyss after the Divergence so now roamed the wilderness as solitary predatory hunters.

Ginger and Gnarl approached the body, intent on harvesting whatever they could from its hulking corpse, but as they approached a trio of small reptilian-looking impish creatures leapt out from amongst the thick fur as the heroes heard a screech from the skies above, looking up to see a humanoid vulture creature diving towards them …

Team Gnarl answer the Call of the Netherdeep – session 4 – Gloom and Doom

The characters:

• Badger – Ginger, a male halfling Gunslinger.
• Hinesh – Gnarl, a male kobold Way of Mercy monk physician.
• Lyam – Tezmin, a male harengon warlock of the Genie (dao)
• Sarah – Silver, a female goblin artificer/weretiger
• Tom – Mercutio, a male air genasi college of Tragedy bard, reborn in skeletal form

As may be apparent, we are utilising several non-WotC sources for this campaign. In addition to the usual 5e books, characters were able to draw upon the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Tal Dorei Reborn, Gunslinger, and after an interesting roll on the Heroic Chronicle for Sarah’s character, Children of the Moon from Grim Moon Studio’s Nightfell setting.

Miresen, 7th Fessuran, 836 PD

With the landscape around them bathed in the blood-red moonlight of Ruidus, the heroes took a very cautious night’s rest, Mercutio singing a short lament before settling down.

Crimson orb of dread,

Clouds shield us not from your light

Or your wretched curse

Grissen, 8th Fessuran, 836 PD

When they awoke the next morning they still felt uneasy but gathered their gear and began making their way along the caravan route once more. It was approaching midday when they saw a pair of mammoths in the distance being harried by a dark flying shape. As they got closer they saw one of the mammoths strike the flying creature with its trunk, causing it to rise up into the air out of reach. It was then that the flying creature noticed the heroes’ group and swooped towards them with an unearthly screech.

It looked like a gigantic bat but it seemed to be trailing smoke behind it as it flew at them. The heroes prepared to face the creature and spread out slightly so as not to present too tasty a target.

As the monster swept down on the group it let out an ear-splitting shriek that paralyzed the heroes and awakened the slumbering skeletal remains of a fallen soldier that had fought in a battle ages in the past. Thankfully the paralysis wasn’t long-lasting and the heroes quickly recovered and began battling the monster and the the awakened skeleton.

Mercutio tried to drive the bat-creature off with a Disonnant Whisper, calling out “Wings of ashen smog, Share not your malice with us, Lest you feel our wrath” but the beast seemed unaffected and responded by grasping the bard in one of its claws before launching itself skyward still holding Mercutio.

The monster rose up to a height of eighty feet and then dropped the bard, his impact with the ground knocking him unconscious.

Tezmin and Ginger pelted the flying monster with their spells and pistol shots, while Gnarl smashed the skeleton to pieces with a well-placed punch through its spine before rushing over to the called bard and reviving him, and Silver launched magical missiles to strike unerringly into the monster.

The creature again swooped down and unleashed a shriek that again paralyzed most of the heroes and awoke another five skeletons. Gnarl was one of the unparalyzed heroes and began smashing the unloving daylights out of the nearest undead.

Silver shrugged off the paralysis only to find the bat-like monster barrelling towards her and she was snatched up in one of its claws and borne aloft. The beast was showing signs of being quite injured and looked to be trying to carry the little goblin off to feast upon without interruption. Ginger took a long-range shot at the monster, clipping it but not enough to cause it to fall but it did release its prisoner.

Silver had a micro-second to choose to either try and grab hold of the creature’s leg or strike at it with her thunderous gauntlets. She chose to strike, her artifice-enhanced armour gauntlet smashing into the leg and making the beast cry out in pain before she fell earthward. Just before she hit the ground she saw the beast flying off with all the speed it could muster, in search of easier meals. The armoured goblin plummeted to the ground with a thump and lay motionless.

Gnarl continued to be a bane to the skeletons, smashing them to smithereens with his bare fists and the remaining foes were quickly laid low and they rushed to see if they could do anything for Silver who still hadn’t moved.

Sadly, they found that the impact had killed her. Checking through her belongings they found a metal disc and when one of them touched it they heard Silver’s voice come from it, explaining that in the event of her death, they should take her bag of holding but be aware it would disappear and take anything inside with it after three days. While Tezmin went through the rest of her belongings, Gnarl performed a type of autopsy, taking blood samples, a tooth and a claw from their odd little goblin ally. Afterwards, Tezmin put her remains in the bag of holding and they moved on until they found a suitable site to make camp for the night once again.

While they made camp, Gnarl retrieved Silver’s remains and buried them in the wilds as Mercutio said a few words over the grave “Brilliant of mind, Beast-like goblin felled too soon, Gravity brings doom”.

Whelsen, 9th Fessuran – Folsen, 11th Fessuran, 836 PD

The next three days passed without incident, other than finding the grounded remains of another of the smoking bat creatures. The heroes examined the body carefully and noticed it had been brought down by multiple arrows and several blasts of lightning. Gnarl and Ginger took samples of its skin and meat and were able to deduce that its species had originated from the shadowfell and had a vulnerability to radiant damage.

The availability of forageable food was becoming scarcer. As afternoon drew to evening on the third day they reached a large stand of oak trees into which the well-rutted path disappeared, passing a wooden sign bearing the shepherd’s crook symbol of Melora, the Wild Mother and the words “Emerald Loop Caravan Stop”. The heroes dimly recalled that the oak grove was rumoured to be home to a pair of dryad sisters who let caravans rest here in safety as long as they were respectful and polite. As they followed the path through the trees they could smell the enticing scent of meat roasting ahead.

A family of goblins were busy making repairs to their home atop a full-grown horizonback tortoise, while several caravan wagons circled a bonfire at the centre of the clearing, and the heroes could see many people gathered around it cheerily sharing a meal. They introduced themselves and added some of their foraged items to the communal feast and took a share each while they had a pleasant evening chatting with those present.

Tezmin approached a pair of bugbear merchants and sold them Silver’s bag of holding for fifteen gold pieces, while Gnarl traded them the moon-touched spear he had pulled from the giant shark in the Emerald Grotto for some healing potions and gold coins.

Ginger spotted a young tiefling tending to his moorbounder mount and struck up a conversation with him, his name was Justice and along with his mount, Rice Pudding, they were scouts for the Aurora Watch along the caravan route between the Loop and Bazzoxan. Ginger asked if Rice Pudding could eat the bat creature’s flesh, explaining where it had come from. Justice informed him that the monster was called a gloomstalker and was a common nuisance in the area, its flesh was inedible to most but his moorbounder “has a cast-iron gut” and let Ginger feed her and even pet her while she munched the chunk of meat down.

After a pleasant evening, sharing food and stories with the gathered merchants, Aurora Watch members and goblins, everyone took to their beds and slept soundly, the soldiers taking the night watch.

Yulisen, 12th Fessuran, 836 PD

They were rudely awoken when the bugbear merchants led a group of the Aurora Watch soldiers to their campsite, demanding Tezmin’s arrest. The bag of holding had disappeared in the night and they were accusing him of trickery. It was a tense moment but the soldiers remained calm and after hearing all the sides turned to the merchants and said “So he sold you what you believed to be a bag of holding which then disappeared, but you agreed to his asking price of only fifteen gold pieces knowing full well a bag of holding was worth considerably more? Gentlemen, this is over, you both learned a valuable lesson to not try to pull a fast one lest you be the one being the victim. Sorry to have woken you for nothing folks, good day”. As the soldiers began to head back to their bedrolls and pack up one of them turned to Tezmin, “You know you’re very familiar, do I know you from somewhere?” the harengon quickly denied having met the soldier “I just have one of those faces I guess” and the soldier walked away.

As they all ate some porridge that had been cooked beside the bonfire they saw another caravan entering the clearing, amongst which were the blue-skinned genasi, Ayo, and her companions. Before they could talk to them though, a courier rushed from the caravan to Mercutio, handing him a sealed letter. The bard’s curiosity was piqued, and he eagerly opened the letter and read it to himself. As he read his mouth fell open, and he clutched the letter to his chest as he broke out into as wide a smile as his skeletal face would allow. He had been requested to perform at one of the most prestigious theatres in Rosohna and was to be escorted there immediately by the courier and an escort of Aurora Watch to perform for several high-ranking members of the Kryn Dynasty!

The heroes were sad to see him go but wished him luck as he pursued his dreams further afield, as they each declared that should their paths cross in the future they would be welcomed …

This was Tom’s last session with us as he’s off to live in New York before we meet up again. We wish him all the best in his American adventures and there’ll be a seat waiting for him at the table when he visits.