SAGA Log 1452: The Fortress of Conclusion

The RPG SAGA continues with...
Force Green 
a.k.a. Team Tortuga 
a.k.a. The Fey Knights 2nd Generation

Session 1452
Module: Return to the Tomb of Horrors
Force Green (Pylia the half-elf bladesinger, Drizmar the drow assassin, Blue the satyr paladin, and Blood the gnome cleric - with the magic mirror holding the Loot Company cleric, his 4 fighters, and the Moil rogue woman) continued their quest in Acererak’s Fortress of Conclusion. They killed 12 skeletons (that Acererak could cast his spells through), a nalfeshnee, a marilith, a vrock, and a molydeus. The human wizard Worth met back up with them and they killed the hezrou that was giving him problems.

They attempted a short rest after finding some loot, but a skeletal-frost-toad attacked them. They finished the rest and found Acererak’s balor demon father Tarnhem, whom they released in exchange for his true name and a deal to work together to defeat Acererak. In lich-body form, Acererak showed up and fought the group. They broke the mirror to release Loot Company, only to learn that the evil Moil rogue had killed the cleric and fighters. Tarnhem helped them defeat this Acererak body; after the battle, they killed the evil rogue.

Continuing on, they found Acererak’s wizard library and magic labs. The found the “Apotheosis Chamber” with a huge phylactery orb containing almost 3,000 souls; Acererak only needed 3 more for the Apotheosis. In demilich form, he took the souls of both Tarnham and the deva (from the ring Blood had been using). Worth managed to save versus losing his soul and so did Blue, who put a cloak over Acererak’s eyes. When the team destroyed the demilich skull, Acererak’s soul went into one last frost-skeleton in the secret side room; Drizmar and Pylia finished it off (before it could make it to the escape portal) and sent Acererak’s soul into the phylactery.

They collected more treasure, ultimately destroying the curtain portal and several evil items. The team had a plan to move the phylactery and managed to get the sphere into the hall, away from the hole above the negative energy field. They used a magic spell for shelter to rest for 8 hours while thinking over how to free the souls without destroying them. They also plotted to obtain almost half of the library before the place was destroyed. They remembered the story of Orcus and Moil so they used a daylight spell to free the souls, destroy the phylactery, and simultaneously they opened a gate (to Cobalt Castle on Kalibruhn-Toril) and used spells to get as many books as possible. They escaped as the place was crumbling apart and falling into the negative energy below.

Meanwhile, Corellon and Ehlonna had recruited people for the Godswar situation at Firth. Daria/Charity “Blueblood III” Thoron and her alt-reality husband Oran the Green Lord gave up their powers (to 2 of their children) to come help in the battle (thus saving some family members). Ryali and Holic waited for the effects of the destruction, allowing Ryali to capture Shendelavri’s lost portfolio as a goddess of love. Meanwhile, someone else took the death god portfolio left behind from Jergal’s death - but it wasn’t Acererak. Firth was no more, thus ensuring that it would never become Ficaria, thus guaranteeing a new destiny for the universe.

In Cobalt Castle, the Force Green team communicated with their family and considered their future options. They found out Strahd was no longer at the Jade Palace and about the results of the destruction of Firth. They wanted revenge against Veersalla, eventually, but they also realized they could take some down time. Pylia knew it would take months of careful work to de-trap the magic library and catalog the books (but it looked like she had access to all of Acererak’s spells and much of his research). Blue and Blood contemplated trying to become Chosen of Ehlonna (one of them on K-T and one for the Feywild) since it was reported that Drizzt perished along with the people of Firth. Drizmar suggested, if they were going to become Chosen, then Pylia should ask to become a Chosen of Ryali under the new love portfolio. He also pointed out that they had missed a lot of EV meetings and should check in with the organization now that they were going to have some free time...

FOE2 Log 2 Finding the City of Many Things

The Adventures of the Federation of Explorers Team 2 (FOE2) continue...
Homebrew Campaign set in the Forgotten Realms

Session 2
FOE Team 2 (Fox Stormleaf the half-orc cleric/wizard, Ox Stormleaf the half-orc barbarian, Seiken Varis the monk, and Goffrey Greycastle the human fighter) wanted to get out of the evil city of Bane-worshippers, but first they needed to debrief the leading triumvirate. Fox completed a ritual to get a hawk familiar before breakfast. During breakfast a mysterious commoner asked the team to locate the exiles (who used to be a good faction in the city before the Bane worshippers took over).

At the meeting, the the council ordered the team to assist the guards in arresting the fiend-cult members. When the team met up with the guards at the rebel temple, they easily arrested everyone but the high priest. It turned out the HP had crucified the acolyte who revealed their secret and left a petrification trap in his office that turned 2 of the guards into statues. The team found a fiend symbol in the office desk, argued with the head guard, and searched through the hidden passage in the stairs. Inside, the team and guard captain had to defeat 3 lemurs and 5 imps. With the fiendish ritual circles in the secret room, the guard was satisfied they had enough evidence.

Before leaving town, the team also traded out gear at 2 different wizard shops. Their merchant friend asked them to investigate some forest bandits that had been stealing purple gems from one of the merchant companies. The team spent 2 days getting to the High Forest and another 5 days traveling through it, during which they had an encounter with 6 satyrs and some pixies.

The satyrs challenged Ox to a drinking contest long enough to knock him out, after which they temporarily charmed Fox and Goffrey. Once the charm ended, Fox used burning hands on 3 of the satyrs and told them to leave them alone.

The guys finally found the outer wall for the City of Many Things (which had magic runes); the city and its walls were both huge. They also discovered the camo-netting for the exile camp in the woods. They befriended Bruth, one of the 100ish exiles.

[Next time they may go back into the forest to find the gem bandits before trying to find a safe way into the dangerous City of Many Things...]

SAGA Log 1451: The City that Waits

The RPG Saga continues...
Module(s):
The Tomb of Horrors
Beneath the Tomb of Horrors
AD&D Return to the Tomb of Horrors
3E Tomb of Horrors Conversion
4E Tomb of Horrors Campaign
5E Tales from the Yawning Portal: Tomb of Horrors

1451: The City that Waits
Force Green (Pylia, Drizmar, Blue, Blood) and their new buddies The Loot Company (the human cleric and his 5 fighters) traded out gear at the “New Mystara Marketplace.” The gnome wizard merchant sent them to the archmage tower when they wanted more powerful stuff. The archmage’s “apprentice” scheduled them an appointment. The wizard interviewed them, deemed their goals worthy, and was willing to cast wish for them. They freed Sergei von Zarovich’s spirit from the sun-sword they recovered back in Barovia. They rested overnight and came back in the morning for 2 more wishes: (1) they found out Veersalla’s weakness (she must eat the heart of a phoenix each week) and (2) they protected the group from cold damage/effects for 8 hours.

The team went to “Wizards for Hire” and hired Worth the Evoker to come with them. They plane-shifted (via scroll) back to Oerth/the Tomb of Horrors and used the Amulet of the Void to plane-shift to Moil, where they were on a bridge near towers and above negative energy.

They had to find magical keys to release a creature that could fly them through the negative energy barrier to the Fortress of Conclusion. They defeated wraith spiders, frost-wights, Moilian zombies, ice snakes, floor traps, magic traps, a roulette wheel, the executioner demon, and riddles. They avoided a brine dragon and a medusa. They convinced the High Exalted of Orcus to help them (temporarily) work against Acererak. They also picked up some mystic dream drug doses and a magic mirror that can trap up to 12 people inside at once (which they used against the enemies).

After securing half of the group [Loot Company and the rogue woman they had rescued] in the magic mirror (to protect them from the cold and negative energy), the rest of the team [the “Core 4” and Worth] released the phantom flyer and rode it to Acererak’s Fortress of Conclusion.

They made it about half of the way through, dealing with more traps. They killed the Nightwalker, a dretch, and a glabrezu. They also magnificently dealt with or avoided many deadly traps. At the demon-face portal with swirly-orange mist, they had Worth deactivate a magic gem and go through; Worth used sending and magically-messaged back that he was choking but safe in a blue-tiled room with a passage off to the side. Amazingly, along the way, they only lost one fighter.

[Next time they hope to finish the lair and survive fighting Acererak. With all of their strategic planning, wealth spent on magic/gear, and careful exploration, they truly have a fighting chance.]

SAGA Log 1450: Escaping the Tomb of Horrors

The RPG Saga continues...

Module(s): 
The Tomb of Horrors
Beneath the Tomb of Horrors
AD&D Return to the Tomb of Horrors
3E Tomb of Horrors Conversion
4E Tomb of Horrors Campaign
5E Tales from the Yawning Portal: Tomb of Horrors

Session 1450
Still inside the Tomb of Horrors: Force Green’s Core 4 (Pylia, Drizmar, Blood, Blue), along with Pylia’s parents (Gale and Thane) and the  survivors of the “Loot Company” adventuring group (1 cleric and 5 fighters) were in a room hoping to rest.

Thane & Gael revealed the info they overheard while they were held prisoner: Acererak’s true lair is elsewhere; he made multiple bodies for himself that he could project himself through (such as the skull the team destroyed); you need the Amulet of the Void to access his lair; he has manipulated people - Thane & Gael think he has been playing Veersalla, Strahd, Cap, and Keraptis - using them and then distracting them all with worldly concerns of power and vengeance while Acererak is working on some sort of secret project. Whatever it is, Thane is sure they need to get to his lair and stop him. Gael also overheard something whispered about the city of Moil.

The Loot Company cleric attempted to planeshift them out, but that summoned a marilith; the team killed her. They were then invaded by the undead and necromancers from the Black Academy and had to kill/destroy: 6 wights, 14 ghasts, 1 bone golem, 3 vampires, 5 necromancers, 1 iron golem, 1 flame skull, and Mistress Ferranifer the vampire archmage. After winning, the team had both halves of the Amulet of the Void. They rested. Pylia figured out how the Amulet of the Void could be used to get to Moil.

Blood’s legend lore allowed her to find out that Moil was a city originally from the world of Ranais full of people with advanced science and magic who worshiped Orcus. When they turned from Orcus, he cursed them to sleep in a deathlike state until the sun hit them, but he put the city in a demi-plane with no sun, dooming them to slow death in their sleep. The city crumbled around them, preserved by the bitter cold.

Blue and Pylia convinced Thane and Gael to return home and check on Pylia’s brother and his relationship with Ivanja. The Loot Company said they wanted to go with the team to fight Acererak and helped by plane-shifting them to Mystara to go to the magical marketplace to buy scrolls and trade out magic items.

[For next time: The team plans to buy what they need, plane-shift back to Oerth, and rest again before entering Moil.]

FOE2 Log 1 Naeb Leader Quests

The Adventures of the Federation of Explorers Team 2 (FOE2) begin...
Homebrew Campaign set in the Forgotten Realms

Backstory
During the Sword Coast Dragon War the town of Loudwater became Naeb, a lawful evil home of mostly Bane worshippers. Around Neverwinter, the half-orc/elf Stormleaf brothers met the famous tempest cleric Clover Downer. Clover taught Narg "Fox" Stormleaf the ways of Kozah; Fox then worked as an apprentice to a diviner wizard. Garn "Ox" Stormleaf worked as a scout in the war, helping to defeat the evil dragon army. As a soldier, Ox befriended the human fighter Goffrey Greycastle. Post-war, Goffrey and his elf monk friend Seiken Varis joined with the Stormleaf brothers as an adventuring party. When Raylinn Sunsoaker came to the area recruiting heroes for the Federation of Explorers, the guys signed up.

(Above: Fox, Ox, Seiken, and Goffrey)

Session 1
Raylinn assigned FOE Team 2  to go find his keep called "The City of Many Things" (that he had been rewarded with from the Deck of Many Things) and clear out all of the hostile forces there. First, the team needed to go to Naeb and get their permission to quest in the nearby area of the High Forest.

When Fox, Ox, Goffrey, and Seiken went to Naeb, they discovered an orderly evil city (where people had to leave their armor and weapons with the guards). Their merchant caravan buddies helped them get an appointment with the ruling triumvirate (Gable, High Priest of Bane; Tavic of House Delanthor the Merchant Guild Leader; and Balkul the retired adventurer in charge of the city army). The rulers gave the team 3 quests to prove themselves.

Quest 1 (for Tavic): The team had to convince the merchant Roaming Gold Caravan Company to stay in the city. Fox convinced them to consider staying so they could be a trade conduit to the City of Many Things; Celn, the merchant leader, said the team had a 10-day to prove themselves, but he was willing to stay to work with them.

Quest 2 (for Gable): The team had to snuff out the secret fiendish cult in the city. The town had several temples: 1 of Tyr (justice), 1 of Savras (divination), 1 of Myrkul, 2 of Bhaal, and 4 of Bane. The team spoke with and ruled out the Myrkul temple and 1 of the Bane temples. Fox accepted a magic dagger from the head guy at the 1st Bane church. At the 2nd Bane temple, they figured out the leader there was hiding something and questioned one of the acolytes. They used Ox's war trophy fiend idol and the Bane dagger to trick the acolyte into admitting that they could do a murder/sacrifice to create a fiendish summoning.

Quest 3 (for Balkul): The team had to get rid of the kobolds infesting the sewers. They went down and killed the 15 kobold warriors and their shaman leader. After the combat, the team went back to the tavern to rest [and level up]. They planned to go tell the city leaders of their success the next day.

SAGA Log 1449: Tomb of Horrors

The RPG Saga continues...

Module(s): 
The Tomb of Horrors
Beneath the Tomb of Horrors
AD&D Return to the Tomb of Horrors
3E Tomb of Horrors Conversion
4E Tomb of Horrors Campaign
5E Tales from the Yawning Portal: Tomb of Horrors

(Above: Acererak on the 5E DMG Cover)

Session 1449
Force Green’s Core 4 (Pylia, Drizmar, Blood, Blue) left Strahd at a magic lab at Jade Palace so he could make potions and scry on Ivanja for Pylia. From the group loot, they set aside 52,436 gp for Mercy’s child.

Borngray II communed with Corellon and got the team an invitation to a celestial grove where they met up with Corellon and Ehlonna, who told them they had a visit from an agent of the Alpha-Omega Organization who was unhappy about the Godswar. Force Green’s actions have caused Veersalla and her allies to alter their plans. Veersalla has retreated back to her homeworld after giving Pylia’s parents to her allies, thus making Caperakis, Acererack, and Keraptis the current threat (with Caperakis now governing Veertopia on K-T and Keraptis on Oerth). As for Pylia’s parents - a retired cleric of Ehlonna on Oerth named Sather, in her prayers, said she had heard rumors of Gael and Thane being taken through the town of Kalstrand. The other lost family members are fighting at Shendelavri’s side, but it looks like she and Jergal are about to obliterate each other.

Blue came up with the idea to get her mother and her mother’s allies from “the other universe” to help fight in the Godswar and help Shendelavri; Corellon said he would commune with her to see what she would want to do. Pylia recommended Corellon’s team work on the post-Godswar situation to secure the portfolios of any deities who perish. Blue also suggested Ehlonna get Drizzt to help with the war. Pylia requested, in the future, to get an item of Veersalla’s so they can plane-shift to her (to get vengeance).

Ehlonna sent Force Green to Oerth. They found Grunther, who brought them to Falon’s grave and told them how to find Sather's home and “the screaming place” in the swamp. Instead of recruiting Grunther as a guide and going to Sather, the team proceeded to use their magic carpet to fly through the swamp (avoiding monsters) and ended up at Skull City, home of the Dark Academy necromancer school. They argued with the guards and a necromancer (and banished a demon) before proceeding to where a mudslide had covered up the entrances to the “cave of the Devourer” (which they didn’t realize was the Tomb of Horrors).

Inside, the team dealt with traps for several hours. They lost all of their gear when they were teleported naked. In another teleport, they all had a magical sex change; Pylia and Drizmar went back through and switched back. Blue put on a cursed crown that blinded him (when not in the throne room/treasure vaults). Blood was crushed to death, but Blue healed her body and revivified her. Drizmar had his soul taken by Acererak before the team finally defeated the villain. They saved Drizmar, Pylia’s parents (Gael and Thane), and a small team of adventurers.

[At the end, the team was in a room trying to start a rest but they were pretty sure the vampires and necromancers from the city outside were probably going to come in and attack them...]