Cataclysm of the Primordial Orders

Home Dungeons and Dragons Cataclysm of the Primordial Orders Page 3

Downtime Activity

2023-09-02

Between Adventures

Between trips to dungeons and battles against ancient evils, adventurers need time to rest, recuperate, and prepare for their next adventure. Many adventurers also use this time to perform other tasks, such as crafting arms and armor, performing research, or spending their hard-earned gold.

In some cases, the passage of time is something that occurs with little fanfare or description. When starting a new adventure, the DM might simply declare that a certain amount of time has passed and allow you to describe in general terms what your character has been doing. At other times, the DM might want to keep track of just how much time is passing as events beyond your perception stay in motion.

Downtime Activities

Between adventures, the DM might ask you what your character is doing during his or her downtime. Periods of downtime can vary in duration, but each downtime activity requires a certain number of days to complete before you gain any benefit, and at least 8 hours of each day must be spent on the downtime activity for the day to count. The days do not need to be consecutive. If you have more than the minimum amount of days to spend, you can keep doing the same thing for a longer period of time, or switch to a new downtime activity.

Downtime activities other than the ones presented below are possible. If you want your character to spend his or her downtime performing an activity not covered here, discuss it with your DM.

Crafting

The idea of crafting something is a very fundamental concept in the fantasy genre. It is part of many stores and legends both in fantasy and reality, but how is something created? The capability to create something new or modify something known is a basic concept used by many to give them that exact edge that they need to succeed. This chapter is here to describe a basic process for any type of crafting, whether it is spell creation, potion making, magic item creation, or just something that does not exist, but a player would like it too. Like all rules, these are a guideline and anything that will be attempted must be reviewed by the DM and have their agreement on the costs, time, and any other options that must be accomplished before the thing in question is crafted.

Every mundane and magical item has a formula that describes the materials required to craft it. The formula describes the number of units of materials with specific descriptors. For example, a Flametongue sword might require at least five units of rare metal and at least five units of fiery material. Thus, the formulas involve some resource management and optimization on the part of the craftsman. For example, if a player’s only source of fiery material is also a very rare material, they may not want to use it to craft a rare magic item. This adds a minor mix-and-match element to the crafting system to emulate the idea of tinkering with materials to find optimal combinations and to also let players make reasonable substitutions. To further enhance this feeling and to make it a workable problem instead of simply a matter of spending resource points, each formula will also specify some materials that cannot be used in the creation of that item. For example, a magic sword could be made with metal, but it might not be able to incorporate any plant matter. Fire items couldn’t use ice materials. Such constraints add an extra dimension to the resource management and optimization game and make it feel more like crafting is working out a puzzle.

To make the crafting system more intuitive and systematic – and to simplify the design work and streamline the result – the actual recipes and constraints should primarily be based on the type of magic item being constructed. All scrolls, for example, all wands, all potions, and so on would have some common rules for their formulae. This is a particularly good place for constraints on materials that can’t be used for certain objects. In the case of weapons and armor, it might be necessary to have several different sets of requirements and constraints based on general classes of items. For example, all swords might have one set of requirements, all axes another, and all bows might have another. Armor could be divided by weight or divided between metal and nonmetal armors or some combination of both. This also makes it easier for DMs to invent recipes for new magical items they create.

Tool and skill proficiencies serve as a prerequisite for crafting specific types of items, but no roll is required. This again emphasizes the fact that crafting is a specialized skill that not anyone can do and makes the crafting system an opt-in activity at the player level. It also provides niche protection for players. The number of proficiencies that can be used to craft equipment should be relatively small for the same reasons noted above and should have substantial – but not complete – overlap with the proficiencies required to gather materials. Because crafting should be a major feature of a character concept, this requires players who want to go all-in on crafting to invest some character-building choices on it. And because the game is a team-based game and because everyone in the party can benefit from a craftsman in the group, that means that a party could work as a group to make sure they have the relevant proficiencies. Such as one player choosing to be proficient in miners’ tools to gather minerals and metals for another player who’s proficient with smiths’ tools.

There are three primary steps to any crafting projects. First there is gathering research, second is creating the blueprint, formula, spell criteria, and such, and third is the mechanical iteration of creating the things that were being crafted. Each type of crafting is a little different in what is required, or how it would be used, so each one will be described separately.

Quick Summary

Each step will be outlined in more depth, but the following serves as a summary and reference for the process.

Select an Item. Find the item rarity you would like to craft on a crafting table.
Determine how much research is required.
Check with your DM. They will confirm if that item exists and has the default rarity in their game. This system is a tool, it does not supersede worldbuilding.
Start researching.
Gather the materials. Materials can be looted from humanoids, harvested from more exotic creature types, purchased at stores, or gathered from the wilderness. The specifics of any material and where it can be found is covered in the materials section.
Begin crafting! You can find the related tool and ability score on the table below. Use the related tool and skill to determine your crafting modifier using the following formula:

Work Periods

The first part that must be addressed is how often a character can work on a project. There are three eight-hour periods in a day available. One is always used for rest even if the character does not require sleep. There will always be the need for at least a mental break daily. This leaves two eight-hour work periods. Normally one would be used for travel and the second for adventuring without leaving any free time. But the characters are not always traveling or adventuring. If there is a complete uninterrupted work period available, it can be used for crafting.

Working Together

Many hands make light work. Multiple artisans can contribute to the same project, provided they have the prerequisites to do so, and their successes are applied to the progress.

One artisan can also choose to assist another, allowing the lead artisan to add the assistant artisan’s proficiency modifier to their roll. A lead artisan can only receive help from one assistant artisan. This is particularly helpful when working on high-quality items or items with powerful magical effects, which require great skill to make progress.

Sometimes artisans of different vocations must combine their efforts to complete an item. For example, catering a banquet for a dwarven lady and her subjects might require the services of a chef to provide the food, a brewer to serve drinks, and a glassblower to craft the glassware for the event. Required successes can be divided up between different crafting types, each requiring a different type of Artisan Check to complete.

Working for More than Eight Hours

Crafting is a physically and mentally taxing activity and doing so for more than 8 hours in a day place one at risk of exhaustion. However, circumstances sometimes necessitate a period of crunch, of pushing beyond these normal limits. Weaving a battle banner for a general who is about to march off to war, setting gems in a ring for an impatient noble, painting a landscape to submit into an art gallery before arrival can submit a similar piece – all are possible reasons why an artisan may need to extend their working day.

For every 4 hours of crafting or imbuing beyond 8 hours, make a constitution saving throw. The DC is 5 + 5 for every additional 4 hours. On a failed saving throw, you suffer one level of exhaustion at the END of your next Long Rest.

Taking 10

When you craft something, double the crafting period (from 2 hours to 4 hours per check) to “take a 10” on the crafting roll, meaning that your crafting checks are 10 + your related ability score + your related tool proficiency bonus. This provides a floor level that you can always succeed on if you choose to take your time. If someone with proficiency is aiding you for the entire duration of the crafting, the crafting check doesn’t gain any bonus, but can be completed in the standard amount of time.

Crafting Mundane Items

Majority of the items most of what would be crafted using the toolkits would be mundane items. These are all considered common objects and each toolkit will have a list of things that they can easily make without conducting any sort of research. If that crafter wants to stray from the norm, then some amount of research or testing will need to be done to complete their accomplishment.

Crafting a mundane item has two prerequisites: proficiency in the relevant artisan’s tools, and a formula, recipe, or blueprint. Crafting is done in three steps:

Declare the item’s Base Value
Declare the Item Quality
Craft the item

Base Value

The Base Value determines the time required to craft an item and is based on the cost of materials used in its creation. While a very simplistic look at the creation process and not really situated too much, it does make the process easier to manage and track.

Items listed in the Player’s Handbook are made of standard materials, and thus their listed costs are the minimum possible Base Value. However, experienced artisans may wish to use more expensive materials, such as precious or rare metals, gemstones, or monster parts. These materials increase the Base Value of the crafted item. A gem-encrusted platinum sword is worth more and takes longer to craft than one made of iron and steel.

The material cost of crafting an item is half of the Base Value. Declare the materials from which the item will be made and determine the Base Value of the item accordingly.

Item Quality

The Item Quality determines how difficult the item is to craft, as well as the value of the item upon its completion. An artisan must decide on the level of detail with which an item will be crafted. Crafting higher-quality items requires greater skill and carries with it a greater risk of making no progress but increases the final value of the item. A well fitted suit may use the same amount of material as an ill-fitted suit, but it requires greater skill and therefore is worth more. Item Qualities and their respective Crafting DC and Value Modifier are as follows:

Mundane Item Crafting Difficulty Table

Item Quality	Crafting DC	Value Modifier
Common	10	1x
Uncommon	15	1.5x
Rare	20	2x
Very Rare	25	4x
Legendary	30	10x

Declare the Item Quality before crafting and determine the Value Modifier accordingly.

Crafting the Item

The amount of time to craft the object in question will be measured in 10gp increments. For each 10gp of value, one work period will be consumed for that work. Once the total number of work periods required to complete the object have been spent, then a single roll on the Mundane Item Crafting Difficulty table is made for success or failure. Success means the goal was achieved and the object created. If failure is within five of the required DC, then the object’s fine quality is two less than the goal. If the failed roll is less than that, then it is considered trash and has no value except perhaps scraps.

Multiply the Base Value by the Value Modifier to determine the final Item Value.

Example:

Frobian is attempting to make a Legendary carving. He is carving out of an expensive wood worth 100gp. He will take ten work periods and will then make his attempt to complete the carving of the Tabaxi. His Dexterity modifier is +4 and his proficiency modifier is +4 giving him a total of +8 on his roll. The DC he is attempting to reach is 30. He rolls a 17 + 8 == 25 missing the DC, but his failure is within five, so his Legendary carving turns into a rare carving instead only doubling the price he could sell it the carving.

Research Points

The first part of any project is to understand how something will be crafted. This will require research, which could be working in libraries, experimenting in a laboratory, or even building prototypes in a woodshop. All of these are different types of research that then help the crafter come up with the final plan and direction that must be taken to complete their project.

For every five work periods that have been expended, the crafter is given a certain amount of research points. These points can be considered papers, designs, or any media that would make sense for that crafter. The work periods do not need to be contiguous, and could be collected once a day, once a week, or even once a month. The research points do not expire, although they do represent a tangible asset that could be stolen or even destroyed. There is no limit to the amount of research points that can be collected.

It is also possible to adjust the results of the roll by spending gold. For every 100 gold pieces that is spent, the crafter will gain an additional plus one to the roll. This gold is expended and is not recoverable no matter the results of the final roll. This is a way to improve the possible research results through the purchase of new exotic ingredients, or papers that look interesting. It does not matter what thematic vehicle was, it was just using gold as a shortcut to attempt to gain more research points. There is no benefit to spending more than 1000 gold pieces. All the gold must be spent in full before the first work period is used to conduct research. Gold may be spent again at the beginning of each five work period sessions.

Research Point Collection Gold Modifier Table

Gold Spent	Modifier Bonus
100gp	+1
200gp	+2
300gp	+3
400gp	+4
500gp	+5
600gp	+6
700gp	+7
800gp	+8
900gp	+9
1000gp+	+10

Finally, after the five work periods have been spent, a roll will be made to determine how many research points are collected for those work periods. The roll is immediately done once the fifth work period is completed. The roll itself has been determined by what type of crafting was being worked up, even though the research points themselves are considered generic.

Crafting Skill Check Table

Craft	Proficiency	Attribute Score
Acids, Oils, and Perfumes	Alchemist Supplies	Intelligence or Wisdom
Amulets, Gemcutting, Rings	Jeweler’s Tools	Dexterity
Antitoxin	Herbalism Kit	Wisdom
Armor, Weapons, Shields	Smith’s Tools	Strength
Cloaks, Clothing, Robes, Bags	Weaver’s Tools	Dexterity
Clockwork	Tinker’s Tools	Intelligence
Drugs	Herbalism Kit	Wisdom
Glasswork	Glassblower’s Tools	Dexterity
Leather Armor, Bags, Boots, Gloves	Leatherworker’s Tools	Dexterity
Masks, Shields	Woodcarver’s Tools	Dexterity
Poison, Toxins, Drugs	Poisoner’s Kit	Intelligence or Wisdom
Potions	Alchemist Supplies	Intelligence or Wisdom
Pottery, Ceramics	Potter’s Tools	Dexterity
Recipe	Cooking Utensils	Wisdom
Rings	Jeweler’s Kit	Dexterity
Rune Carving	Varies	Intelligence or Wisdom
Spells (Arcane)	Arcana	Intelligence
Spells (Divine)	Religion	Intelligence
Tattooing	Tattooer’s Kit	Dexterity
Tinkering	Tinker’s Tools	Intelligence
Wand whittling	Woodcarver’s Tools	Dexterity
Woodcarving	Woodcarver’s Tools	Dexterity

Once all the modifiers have been determined, the appropriate skill roll is made on the following table:

Research Points Collection Roll Results

Roll d20	Research Points Collected
Natural 1 or 1-5	-1d4
6-10	–
11-15	+1d4
16-20	+1d6
21-25	+1d8
26-30	+1d10
31+	+1d12

Example:

Roughfingers is conducting arcane research and therefore makes an Arcana roll. He has a 19 Intelligence giving him a +4 attribute modifier, and because he is sixth level, his proficiency modifier is +3 so in total giving him +7 to his d20 roll. If he had also spent 300gp to help with the research, he would have an additional +3 for a total of +10 on his die roll.

Every time Research Points are gathered, there is always a chance at failure, and if a natural one is rolled on the Research Point Gathering Table there are consequences. These consequences are applied immediately to the researcher.

Research Point Gathering Consequences Table

Rolls (d100)	Consequences/Complications
01-10	Wrong Path of Research: Lose an additional 1d12 Research Points
11-25	Confused: Lose an additional 1d6 Research Points
25-50	I won’t do that again: You have managed to injure yourself. Take 1d4 x character level in damage. It can be healed normally.
51-75	That was screwed up: Lose an additional 1d4 Research Points as well as having to spend 1d6 x 10gp in getting back to where you were. The character can no longer make any progress until the gold payment has been made.
76-90	Ouch, that Hurt: You did something to yourself, you twisted wrong, you bent over when you should not have. Lose 1d6 work periods recovering.
91-99	Accident: Your research has caused an accident and now you owe 1d10 x10gp per character level to cover the damages. The character can no longer make any progress until the gold payment has been made.
100	Recover from your mistake: Do not lose any Research Points from failure

Research Assistants

Conducting any research alone can be arduous and slow, but that effort can be supplemented by hiring a research assistant. Only one assistant may be conducting research for the character at any given time. This research is solely for the benefit of the character. There are different quality levels of assistant available, assuming one could be found. The more skilled and proficient ones are more expensive and likely to have more demands for spaces, or even their own time on occasion. There is also the possibility of an assistant running off with the research that had been done and decreasing the total amount of research points that have been generated so far.

So, keep them happy, fed, and well paid. An assistant will require an appropriate space to work and if the location is remote, proper lodgings and sustenance. The assistant must be paid in full before each five days of work and they only work in five-day blocks. If they are not paid, but forced to work, then they will not add to the research point collection. Each different level of assistant will generate a flat and specific amount of research points every five days.

Research Assistant Cost and Results Table

Assistant	Cost	Research Points Generated
Common	50gp	+1
Uncommon	100gp	+2
Rare	250gp	+3
Very Rare	500gp	+4
Legendary	1000gp	+5

Facilities

Specially constructed facilities can assist with the crafting process. Each facility is specific to one type of crafting, such as a Library for spell creation, a laboratory for alchemy, or a smithy for weapon making. The cost and time of creating such a facility is much more open to interpretation. It should be easy to build a small one with few Facility Points, and very difficult to build one with many. For all the facility collections the exact cost and results are completely DM driven.

Facilities have two main functions they provide to the crafter. First, they give assistance to any research the crafter is engaged in, but they can also assist in the production of any results of that research so that the chances of success on creating the potion, or forging that sword increases with the capacity of the facility.

These points can be used 1:1 as a replacement for Research Pints for any project. Facility points do not expire, nor are they consumed. But, no more than 25% of any project’s required Research Points can be replaced with Facility Points.

Facility Types

Each facility is different and unique and most likely will only work for the person who is building it. There would be severely diminished returns for someone else to attempt to use that custom facility that was built. Only 10% of the total of the Facility Points are allowed to be used by someone using the facility that is not the builder of it.

Library (Spell Creation): Finding rare books or collecting someone else’s research can be very valuable. A book might cost 10 gold pieces, or even 1000 gold pieces, with a range of facility points being applied. If it is a book that came from another planar resource, it might have greater value in some cases. One Facility Point might represent one book, or even 100 books. A book that is valuable to someone else might be worthless for you.

Laboratory (Alchemy/Poison Creation): Unlike the library, the laboratory is filled with chemicals, odd tools, and many other objects that would seem odd and weird to many others. But much like a library, these things must be collected, or even custom built for the laboratory. You might need some exotic tool that only the drow in the Underdark make or it could be the back tooth of an ancient red dragon, or as simple as a watering can.

Smithy (Smithing): Anyone can spend some money and outfit a normal smithy, but to work that exotic metal, you might require special tools, or even need to make them yourself out of special materials. You might need five barrels of different quenching liquids for that adamantine sword, or even a tiny silver hammer for that final tuning of a mithril shield.

Tinkering (Tinkering): Much like the smithy, a tinkerer needs his tools and parts, many small parts, most of which look like garbage to the average person, but each one of them has a place in the crooked mind of a tinkerer.

Building your Facility

While going out and finding those resources, assassinating that pesky alchemist to steal his notes, or just stealing an entire library to help your work, there are many ways to build and expand out your facility.

The first issue will be space. How much is required will depend on what you are collecting and why. Work with your DM on the exact size requirements for your work. But for a rule of thumb, you can consider that for every facility point you have, you will need a 5’ by 5’ space.

Example:

If you have 100 facility points of various rarities, you will need 100 five-foot squares for that physical location, or a 50-foot by 50-foot room.

Now that you have your space, you need to start filling it. It is possible to simply throw gold at the problem using the following table as a guideline. Each purchase only gives you one facility point.

Facility Point Rarity Table

Rarity	Gold Cost
Common	10gp
Uncommon	50gp
Rare	500gp
Very Rare	1,000gp
Legendary	5 ,000gp

How to Use your Facility

Facilities have a separate point collection for each of the different rarities. These points can only be spent on that level of research rarity or lower. That means that if you have 100 Rare facility points, those can be used for Rare, Uncommon, and Common research, but not for Very Rare research.

While you do not permanently expend the facility points when used, they are temporarily consumed. If they are used for research, they are consumed until that research has been completed. The points must be spent when the research starts and cannot be added in later. If the facility points are used to assist in the production crafting, then they are consumed during that process.

In all cases, the facility points can only be used while at the facility.

Research Points Utilization

At the beginning of any research project facility points can be used to replace required research points on a 1:1 basis up to 25% of the total needed.

Example:

Roughfingers is researching a new spell called Phantom Doggy. It is a 3rd level spell which will require 90 research points. Since he is using Phantom Steed as the example spell, his research cost was reduced to 45 points with the 50% reduction of the research cost for having a similar spell. Using his Uncommon facility points, Roughfingers can spend up to 11 (45 x 25% == 11) and reduce his research point requirement even down to 34. A much better path than the original 90 he needed at the beginning.

Production Assistance

For every ten facility points of the appropriate rarity for the product being crafted, you get a +1 on the creation roll up to a maximum of 10% of the DC.

Example:

Fogo is trying to cook Dragon Turtle Soup. It is a rare recipe and to complete it he would have a DC18 to succeed, but wanting to feed everyone, he goes for the 1d8 which changes his DC to 26. 10% of that would be two, so if Fogo spent 20 Rare facility points, he would be able to add a +2 to his d20 roll to succeed in cooking that meal.

Materials

There are several ways to find materials during adventures. First, the DM can place materials like treasure in the adventure. Second, the players can salvage materials from the monsters they kill. Third, the players can salvage materials from visible sources that the DM places in the adventure. Fourth, the party can forage for materials during their wilderness travels. By connecting resource acquisition to treasure, the killing of monsters, the discovery of specific locations, and wilderness travel, it keys the gathering of resources to common adventuring tasks.

There’s a problem in that the availability of materials is entirely controlled by the DM whereas its’ the players who determine what materials they need or want based on the items they want to make. This is already a problem in the existing system wherein magic items are only available as treasure placed by the DM. Because the DM is effectively deciding what materials are available while away from the table and the players are deciding what materials they want away from the table, communication can be difficult. While the DM should ensure a good mix of useful materials turn up in the game as treasure, other methods are needed as well.

First, it should be possible for players to buy materials. So, materials need a cost. This should be useful for getting small amounts of materials needed to complete items that the party has almost all the materials for, but the cost should be set such that it does not become a substitute for searching for materials during play and therefore detract from the idea that materials are one of the fruits of adventures.

Second, players should be given the explicit option to communicate the need for a specific material to the DM so the DM can create a situation wherein they can acquire the material. An explicit downtime activity, action, or option should exist for researching materials. So, the player can say, “I need to research where I can find some rare metal or fiery materials.” This prompts the DM to create an encounter, side quest, or adventure based around acquiring that resource so the players can complete their item. This provides an increased sense of player agency and gives players a way to ask for a specific material without asking for it. It also trains players to communicate with their DM about what adventures and goals they’d like to pursue in a more general way and could improve the player-DM relationship.

Because gathering materials happens during adventures, it can involve dice rolls and action resolution. Thus, to salvage materials from monsters and resource nodes, ability checks using skill or tool proficiencies are required. In addition to providing a use for existing tool proficiencies, which are woefully underused in the base game despite the number of character backgrounds that begin play with tool proficiencies, this also makes item crafting feel like a specialized skill or ability that defines a character. It also provides a bit of niche protection, which character customizers appreciate. And it further reinforces the idea that gathering materials is something that is a part of adventuring. That said, the number of proficiencies used for gathering materials should be relatively small as players start the game with only a small number of proficiencies and it is difficult to acquire new proficiencies. It should not be difficult for an average-sized party to have the prerequisites needed to gather many of the different types of materials. And the materials found as part of placed treasure should make up the shortfall easily.

Materials have three descriptors. Materials have a rarity that mirrors the rarities of magic items already in the game. Materials have a form that describes what the material is composed of in the world. And some materials have special attributes that describe types of magic or effects they are imbued with. It is not necessary to name or keep track of specific materials. Materials can be tracked as several units of materials with descriptors. For example, three units of a very rare, fiery mineral. However, the DM can provide specific names, particularly for items that also work as treasure or trade goods. Very rare, fiery mineral might be ruby. This approach allows DMs who want to add the detail to get specific about their materials while allowing less engaged DMs to still supply materials that feel like real objects that might be discovered to the players. Too much abstraction and the crafting system feels like a matter of just earning enough points to buy the magic item you want. Too much specificity and it becomes a burden on the DM to maintain.

The material descriptors also connect directly to the game’s existing mechanics. The rarity descriptor mirrors the magic item rarities to create a parallel language between the two systems and help connect the materials directly to the crafting of magical items. Because magic item rarities are also connected to the levels at which such items should be available, this also keys the materials to specific adventure and challenge levels, thus helping DMs determine what materials should be available in specific adventures. The form descriptors also describe the general way in which the item should be obtainable. Materials such as hide, and bone would be salvaged from monsters. Plant materials would be salvaged from plant-based monsters or by foraging in the wilderness. Minerals and metals would be available from specific mining nodes. Finally, the quality descriptors should connect the materials to specific magical effects, creature types, and other pieces of the game’s mechanics and lore to provide guidance for the DM in placing the items and to provide an easy way for players to assess what a material might be useful for. Fiery materials would be found in the volcanic lairs of red dragons, for example, and would be useful for crafting flaming swords, necklaces of fireballs, and potions of fire breathing.

Without materials, there is nothing to craft from. Crafting does not make things from thin air; it makes more useful things from less useful things. Gathering the materials will be the essential first step in any job. The sources of materials are tied to the pillars of the game. Looting and Harvesting are tied into the combat pillar, Salvaging and Gathering are tied into the exploration pillar, and purchasing and rewards are tied into the social pillar. This provides a lot of routes to add these materials to your game based on what works best for your group.

Materials are generally found in three ways.

Loot & Salvaging: Nothing is useless when you have a party of crafters. One of the main sources of materials will be the things you find. Nothing is useless when you have an expert craftsman in the party.

Gathering & Harvesting: How something is gathered varies depending on the profession; in many cases, it can only be gathered when the opportunity arises. Dragon scales, for example, are a lot easier to gather when there is a dead dragon nearby. Be it harvesting rare herbs, monster parts, or minerals, gathering is an opportunity you won’t want to pass up.

Purchasing: Rarely will everything you need to craft what you want fall into your hands without the assistance of the oldest and most powerful tool of any craftsman: money. When you don’t have what you need, frequently you can buy it. For some professions, there will be a lot more materials that can be purchased, while others will rely more on the other routes.

Selling and Buying Materials: In general, the buying price of a material is its listed value, and its selling price is usually half of that to an interested property. Between negotiation, market fluctuation, and DM moods, you may get better or worse prices. Note that many materials are simply junk to a party that does not have a use for them and will only sell to interested parties that can use or resell them. Threatening to burn down a merchant’s shop because they will not offer you the listed price may result in an Intimidation check but does not change market realities and is typically not beneficial to your reputation; most merchants that have the gold to buy and sell expensive materials have dealt with adventurers before and are not easily intimidated.

Types of Materials

Ingredient

Ingredients are a huge range of things; most often they are plants that contain some magical essence, but almost as frequently they are harvested from various magically inclined monsters. The exact source of an ingredient usually does not matter beyond defining its type, as the part of the ingredient used is the fragment of magic contained within that is distilled out.

There are many ways to make a potion. Consequently, the materials are sorted into categories. These categories include curative, reactive, and poisonous. These each come in the standard material rarities: common, uncommon, rare, very rare, and legendary. Ingredients can’t be salvaged once they have been combined into another form (such as potions, essences, or ink). ingredients can be assumed to weigh 0.2 pounds each.

Interchangeable Ingredients: All curative, reactive, and poisonous ingredients are interchangeable. This is intentional to drastically simplify the crafting process and tracking thereof. Individual names are included only to deepen the immersion of the finding and buying ingredients and can be treated as interchangeable by their label if preferred.

Magical Ink

While ink has many uses, crafting is mostly concerned with magical ink which has the power to hold the arcane words of scrolls. This is synthesized by alchemists from the magical properties of ingredients, as it is concerned with extracting their magical properties, the exact nature of the ingredients used do not affect the final ink beyond its potency.

Magical ink is not typically found or harvested on its own, though it may be found as loot, and in some instances a DM could rule that some blood collected from a fiend, celestial or dragon could be counted as such. It is generally created from ingredients or purchased from alchemists that create it from ingredients. Magical ink can’t be salvaged once they have been combined into another form (such as potions, essences, or ink).

Magical Ink can be assumed to weigh 0.1 pounds each.

Essences

While ingredients are substances that contain a glimmer of magical power that can be harnessed through refinement, Essences are more purified forms of magical power. These come in three types: Arcane, Divine, and Primal as well as in the five normal rarities (common, uncommon, rare, very rare, and legendary). These essences are the pure stuff of magic that makes things work.

You can get these by rendering down magical ingredients, salvaging magic items, harvesting them from magical monsters, or through the hard work of spell casters. Or you can find them as loot from people that have already done one of those harder steps. The rules for creating them yourself are under Enchanting, as it is their domain and skill set needed to do so.

While all branches occasionally use essences when extra magical power is needed, they are the primary material of Enchanters, and their pricing can be found in that section. Essences can be found as loot during the courses of your adventures, but can also be harvested (from monsters), salvaged (from magical equipment), synthesized (from ingredients), or created from the raw power of a spell caster, though the method is long and arduous.

Essences are flexible in their exact nature. There are many paths to each desired outcome, and this flexibility is represented in Essences. While the traditional way to make a belt of hill giant strength may call for a hill giant heart as its essence, an enchanter may substitute a dragon heart as their primal essences to make a belt of dragon strength that just has the same statistical effect.

Essences can be assumed to weigh 1 pound each. Each one must be gathered in an Enchanted Vial or Spirit Paper.

Synthesizing Essences: In addition to harvesting essences from magical monsters fully intact, a more approachable and incremental way is to combine several ingredients to get an essence. You must combine three ingredients of the same rarity to gain one essence of that rarity. You can combine ingredients in the following ways:

Essence Synthesizing Table

Essence	Component ingredient
Arcane	1 curative, 1 poisonous, 1 reactive
Primal	3 reactive
Divine	2 curative, 1 reactive

This process takes 4 hours and requires alchemist’s supplies and a heat source.

Making Essences: Another potential source of an Essence is being created by a spellcaster. This process is long and arduous, and typically only suited to downtime. A creature with the spell casting feature can create one essence during one workweek (5 days, 8 hours a day); this process can’t be completed faster and for the duration they are considered to have spent all their spell slots.

At 1st level or higher can make a common essence in this way, a caster 5th level or higher can make an uncommon essence this way, a caster at 11th level can make a rare essence in this way, and a caster at 17th level or higher can make a very rare essence this way. Legendary essences require special rituals, more casters, and take far longer; they are exceedingly hard to make.

Crafter Level Requirement Table

Rarity of Object Being Crafted	Minimum Level Required
Common	1
Uncommon	5
Rare	9
Very Rare	13
Legendary	17

The type of essence produced depends on the source of the spell casting levels as per the table below:

Caster Essence Type Table

Caster	Essence Type
Bard	Arcane
Cleric	Divine
Druid	Primal
Monk	Psionic
Paladin	Divine
Ranger	Primal
Sorcerer	Varies
Warlock	Varies
Wizard	Arcane

Special Cases Explained:

Sorcerers produce a type based on their subclass; Dragon or Wild makes Primal, Divine Soul makes Divine, and Shadow makes Arcane.

Warlocks likewise produce a type based on their subclass; Archfey makes Primal, Celestial makes Divine, and all others make Arcane.

Ingots

Ingots are chunks of metal that can be used to craft things. They are assumed to be relatively pure and weigh 2 pounds each. The default ingot listed in all the crafting tables is an ingot of Steel. There are cheaper metals (such as Iron); pure Iron can’t be used to craft weapons and armor, but can be used for other items, resulting in a cheaper item. On the other end of the spectrum, more advanced metals such as Mithril and Adamantium can be used conferring special properties but being far more difficult to work with and costing more.

Ingots can be assumed to weigh 2 pounds each.

Salvaging Ingots: Metal items can be converted back to ingots quite efficiently but require a forge to do so. With a forge and 2 hours per item, a metal item can be rendered down into its component ingots. Advanced metals may require special tools to smelt.

Smelting Ore: Creating ingots from raw ore is largely out of scope for most adventurers, but you can create ingots from raw ore with a suitable facility. For more details see the Components and Materials table under Blacksmithing.

Metals

Adamantium: Said to be the strongest substance in the realms, its smokey and opalescent silver surface exhibits a greenish sheen in light. Adamantium is found in rare mineral veins deep within the world, or in meteorites that have come from other planets.

Unit Cost: 2,000gp
General: All Adamantium items are magical in nature, weapons gain a +1 magical bonus to attack and damage rolls, and armor gains a +1 to its AC. All Adamantium items weigh twice their normal weight, have twice the number of hit points, and are considered Indestructible – except when hit with another indestructible item, it is then counted as having an additional +5 to any Strength check made to break them.
Weapons: When hitting a non-indestructible object, deal damage equal to max critical damage.
Armor and Shields: Cancels any critical hit, making it anormal hit. (If an adamantine weapon was used against adamantium armor, it becomes possible to land critical hits.)

Alchemical Silver: A natural deterrent against most supernatural beings, some monsters are susceptible to silvered weapons, so cautious adventurers invest extra coins to plate their weapons with alchemical silver. Created by the process of transmuting lead into silver, this is why it maintains some form of magical properties without having to be enhanced by further magical effects.

Unit Cost: 100gp
Weapons: Count as a magical weapon for the purposes of overcoming resistances and immunities.
Armor and Shields: You impose disadvantage on attack from creatures hurt by silver.

Brass: A dull golden colored metal and is soft in comparison to most of the other metals. It is used mostly in small components instead of weapons and armor because it is useless for either application.

Unit Cost: 8sp.

Bronze: Appears golden in color and while hard is brittle when hitting most hard objects. It is inexpensive and easy to work with. An alloy between copper, small amounts of tin, and other metals in small amounts. The price of it varies depending on the quality of the alloy, but it has been used since ancient times.

Unit Cost: 8sp.
Weapons: Is fragile and breaks on a roll of a natural one or two as well as any natural 20.
Armor and Shields: Is fragile and breaks when any natural 20 hit is done against the wearer and it is rendered useless, but the weight remains until removed.

Cold Iron: Appearing to be mundane iron but exhibits a faint blue sheen when exposed to magical light. Cold Iron is mundane iron worked entirely without heat, being fashioned exclusively while cold and with slight ritualistic magics, this process, however, does not make the cold iron magical – but does make it particularly effective against the Fey folk.

Unit Cost: 250gp
Weapons: When you hit a fey creature with a Cold iron weapon, you can reroll the damage and use either result.
Armor and Shields: Grants a +1 bonus to any saving throws made against attacks or spells made by fey creatures. Additionally, while a creature is donned with an item of Cold Iron, they have advantage against being charmed or magically put to sleep.

Dark Steel (Fulmenar): A semi-metallic blackened blue metal with a purple sheen, Fulmenar is an energized metal that, at times, discharge static and electrical pulses. Typically found in mountain top and coastal crags where storms rage and the force of the tides and lightning push their way into the surrounding ore.

Unit Cost: 1500gp
Weapons: Deal an extra 1d6 Lightning damage on strike.
Armor and Shields: Reduce the amount of damage done by sources of lightning by 1d6.

Fire Steel (Feverus): A matte bronze steel while cold, Feverus is a constantly hot metal that appears as heated iron. Always putting off heat with a faint red glow, this metal is typically found in barren magma fields, volcanoes, and other consistently hot areas; especially where lava flow is common.

Unit Cost: 1500gp
Weapons: Deal an extra 1d6 Fire damage on strike.
Armor and Shields: Reduce the amount of damage done by sources of fire by 1d6.

Ice Steel (Cryrium): Bearing the color of sky-blue silver, Cryrium is an unnaturally cold metal that consistently gathers a layer of frost on its surface. Found in the most remote and desolate cold and frozen tundra where ice and snow have fallen for centuries untouched.

Unit Cost: 1500gp
Weapons: Deal an extra 1d6 Cold damage on strike.
Armor and Shields: Reduce the amount of damage done by sources of cold by 1d6.

Iron: A sturdy metal overall, iron is inferior to steel in practical regards. Any item made with iron will cost less than a steel equivalent but will be slightly less effective.

Unit Cost: 1gp.
General: All items made of Iron have the DC of strength checks made to break them reduced by 1. (As compared to steel items of the same make.)
Weapons, traps, and other metallic creations: Gain -1 to their damage rolls (to a minimum of 1 damage)
Armor and Shields: Gain -1 to their AC value.

Mithril: A beautiful silvery metal commonly used by the elves and dwarves. It is said to be as light as a feather, and stronger than steel. Mithril is a unique metal in its low weight and high ductility, making it difficult to manipulate properly if you’re not careful.

Unit Cost: 500gp
General: All Mithril items weigh half their normal weight. Weapons: A weapon with the Light property weighs nothing if crafted with Mithril and gains Finesse. All weapons with neither the Light nor the Heavy property gains the Light Property if crafted with Mithril A weapon with the Heavy Property loses the Heavy property if crafted with Mithril.
Armor: Requires no Strength requirement. Heavy Armor Made from Mithril counts as Medium Armor for armor proficiencies, and Medium Armor counts as Light Armor for armor proficiencies. Additionally, medium armor made of Mithril allows the user to add a max of +3 from their Dexterity Modifier to their AC, instead of +2. While wearing Mithril armor, you don’t suffer disadvantage on Dexterity(stealth) checks, even if the armor would normally impose disadvantage.
Shields: made from Mithril gain the light property (and therefore may be used in two-weapon fighting.) In addition, so long as the wearer is conscious and can see/hear/sense a threat, the wearer adds the AC bonus of their shield to their Dexterity saving throws.
Other: Mithril ammunition can be fired out to the long range of the weapon it is fired from without suffering disadvantage.

Orichalcum: A Bronze orange metal with a blood red sheen, typically found in high pressure locations such as deep beneath volcanoes or deep under water in volcanic trenches. This metal exhibits a high capability to “warp” gravity and natural energies around it innately, exhibiting a forceful aura. It is highly difficult to craft due to its resistance to pressure and force.

Unit Cost: 5,000gp
General: All Orichalcum items are magical in nature, weapons gain a +1 magical bonus to attack and damage rolls, and armor gains a +1 to its AC.
Weapons: An Orichalcum weapon deals an extra 1d6 Force damage on strike. Additionally, whenever you critically hit with an Orichalcum weapon, reroll the damage roll and keep the higher of the two results.
Armor and Shields: Reduce the damage dealt to you by all sources by 1d10. Additionally, critical attacks against you re-roll the damage dice, taking the lower damage result. Reduce the amount of damage done by sources of force by1d6.

Steel: The ubiquitous choice for smiths, crafters, and handymen when arming a soldier or warrior, or even preparing tools and items. Strong and durable, smiths can always put their trust in steel.

Unit Cost: 2gp.
General: All items made with steel follow the same rules as their Player’s Handbook equivalent as well as any special rules granted by a Trait crafted into the item.

Hides & Leathers

Hides, scales, and carapaces all tend to be harvested from monsters. Leather is a product of hides that can be processed from what it is harvested from the monster. The DM determines if a monster provides hide, scale, or carapace. Hides do not come in different sizes, rather larger creatures simply provide more hides, and monsters that are not large enough to produce one hide provide only hide scraps.

Scales are likewise abstracted: each increment is simply an arbitrary unit of scales that the unit of scales covers. Scales can be much larger or small from different-sized creatures. The system does not attempt to say how many scales a creature provides or how many literal actual scales make up scale mail, but rather provides a number that is then consistently used.

Hide and leather materials can be assumed to be about 2 pounds each.

Processing Hides: The process of turning hide into leather takes quite a while (as per the crafting table) and is often something adventurers can delegate to NPCs (delivering hides to be processed) or do during downtime. If you would like a more expedited system, there is no balance reason for this, and you can shorten the leather crafting process to taking 2 hours, it just won’t be exceedingly realistic.

Parts

The term “parts” is used to refer to gears, wires, springs, windy bits, screws, nails, and doodads. Parts can be either found or salvaged or forged from metal scraps (or even straight from ingots by a Blacksmith for those that really want to be industrial about it). The exact nature of each item making up this collection is left abstracted.

In addition, metal scraps are collections of salvaged material that generally fall into the category of things “too small to track” which can then be used for the creations of tinkerers. In addition to all of this, occasionally tinkers will use ingots… particularly ones of tin (which is their namesake, after all). Like other crafting branches, there are also named components for more iconic pieces of gear—the stock of a crossbow, for example, or other items. The cost for these items can be found on the common component table and are generally minor.

Lastly, Tinkerers use essences when constructing things that push beyond the mundane principles of plausibility, crafting magical properties into their inventions.

Named Components: In almost all cases, named components (such as a “wooden stock” for a crossbow) can be simply abstracted out as a minor cost, but, as always, the level of abstraction is up to the DM.

Salvaging parts: The other main way to acquire parts is to salvage them. What can be salvaged is determined by the DM, but in general common items provide parts, uncommon or expensive items may provide fancy parts, and esoteric parts are found only from esoteric sources at your DM’s discretion. Tools, vehicles, and complex items generally return 1d4 metal scraps and 1d4 parts for a small or smaller item, 2d6 metal scraps for a Medium-sized item, 3d8 metal scraps for a Large-sized item, and more for larger items, though they may return less of rare types of parts.

Bone: A series of bones joined together, mostly used by shamans and wildlings.

Unit value: Determined by the creature’s CR.
Fragile: With any weapon any attack roll of a natural one or a natural 20 causes the weapon to shatter, and any critical hit destroys any armor made of coral.
Weapon: Replaces the metal and wood; gain +1 to their damage rolls.
Armor: Replaces the metal. While wearing medium or heavy armor (non-hide) made with bones, you gain a +3 bonus to Charisma (Intimidation) checks you make.

Dragon Scales: Big scales harvested from a dragon body, with a variety of colors depending on the dragon.

Unit cost: Determined by the creature’s CR.
Armor: While wearing dragon scale armor, you have resistance to the dragon’s damage type.

Chitin: These flexible shells of chitinous creatures such as giant crabs or remorhaz are used to craft armors, known to be lighter than metallic armors.

Unit value: 100gp
Armor: Replaces the metal. While wearing medium armor (non-hide) made with chitin, the armor’s dexterity bonus increases by 1. Heavy armors made with chitin reduce the Strength Requirement by 1.

Stone and Crystals

Coral: Mostly used by sea and waterborne creatures to create their weapons and armors.

Unit value: 100gp
Fragile: With any weapon any attack roll of a natural one or a natural 20 causes the weapon to shatter, and any critical hit destroys any armor made of coral.
Weapons: Any melee weapon made with coral doesn’t have disadvantage on the attack rolls while underwater.
Armor: Replaces the metal. While wearing medium or heavy armor (non-hide) made with coral, your speed while swimming increases by 10 feet.

Obsidian: Volcanic glass created from cooled magma or lava; it ranges in colors from black to deep purple shades. Well known for its durability, as well as its incredible sharpness and ability to pierce, slash, and even bludgeon with its sharp angled structure. Found exclusively in old volcanic areas where lava flow was once common.

Unit Cost: 250gp
Fragile: With any weapon any attack roll of a natural one or a natural 20 causes the weapon to shatter, and any critical hit destroys any armor made of obsidian.
Weapons: Deals an extra die of damage on strike -regardless of whether it does bludgeon, piercing or slashing damage, as obsidian’s light and angled nature imposes harder strikes.
Armor and Shields: Deals 1d6 piercing damage to any creatures that attempt to grapple, physically restrain, or grab you.

Pearl Steel: An alloy made from alchemically melted pearls and combining it with high quality steel, the result is a semi-metallic, glossy cream-like pink to yellow stone. This makes beautiful, elegant, and often pricey items that combine the strength of steel with the awe of the ocean.

Unit Cost: 250gp
Weapons: Gains an additional +1 to hit if the wielder had moved with their swim speed during their last turn.
Armor and Shields: Allows the user to utilize their normal speed as their swim speed in water.

Wood

Commonly available in its lowest quality (firewood), higher quality woods are often found in rather exotic locations. Wooden branches (including wood scraps) are assumed to be of a useful wood that can be worked, while firewood covers everything else, with more useful woods falling into categories such as “quality branches” or rarer options. Wood scraps are assumed to be scraps of common branch quality wood, and consequently can’t be salvaged from firewood.

Wooden branches can be assumed to weigh 2 pounds each.

Salvaging: For the most part, wood can’t be easily salvaged. Wood carving is not necessarily a reversible process, and wood can’t be smelted down. You can render wooden crafted products into wood scraps equal to 4 x the number of branches used to create it.

Quality Branch: A quality branch refers to one that can be made into more precious objects, particularly bows. It is non magical in nature, but typically yew when dealing with bows, though ash, mulberry, elm, oak, hickory, hazel, and maple can be used under broader definitions.

Wood: The standard form of lumber ranging anywhere between ash, ebony, oak, teak, yew, and more. Each has their own regional uses, but ultimately, are all merely the husks of the trees they were once a piece of.

Unit value: Half its normal steel cost in gold.
Armor: Replaces the metal of any medium or heavy armor.
Armor and Shields: Replaces the metal of any medium or heavy armor, and shields.

Kirinwood: A Supernaturally tough, resilient wood, found in remote areas, and is as strong as steel. Named after a Mythical Creature said to have gifted it to humanity.

Unit Value: 250gp
General: All Kirinwood items are ritualistically magical in nature – weapons, armor, and items are considered magical for overcoming resistance and immunity. All Kirinwood items are immune to dissolving from all damage types except force. This does not translate to immunity or resistance for the wielder.
Weapons: Replaces the metal of weapons. Deals an additional 3 points of weapon damage on strike.
Armor and Shields: Replaces the metal of any medium or heavy armor, and shields. Ignore 3 points of damage when hit.

Living wood: Living wood can be of any kind of wood but is mostly found in the Feywild. It is a magically wet-green hardwood that doesn’t die when cut down or shaped; may contain the spirits of dryads or fey. As strong as mithril.

Unit Value: 750gp
General: All Living wood items are magical in nature, weapons gain a +1 magical bonus to attack and damage rolls, and armor gains a +1 to its AC. All Living wood items let the user know which way is east and west, and when it is day or night – by blooming flowers during daytime and entering Nyctinasty (the process through which flowers close) during night. Additionally, all Living wood items count as spellcasting focuses, and have the capability to cast “Goodberry ” once a day.
Weapons: Replaces the metal of weapons. Additionally, attacks against creatures who possess the Etherealness Ability, or the Incorporeal Movement ability are made with Advantage.
Armor and Shields: Replaces the metal of any medium or heavy armor, and shields. When worn, living wood armor doesn’t impose disadvantage on stealth checks.

Spiritual Wood (Aetherwood): This deep, cyan-blue wood has a natural connection with the weave, seemingly infused with the essence of spirits that have perished near its soil.

Unit value: 500gp
General: All Aetherwood items are ritualistically magical in nature – weapons, armor, and items are considered magical for overcoming resistance and immunity.
Weapons: Replaces the metal of weapons. When targeted by a spell attack or similar magical effect, you gain a +3″Parry” AC bonus to the attack.
Armor and Shields: Replaces the metal of any medium or heavy armor. While wearing an Aetherwood armor, you gain a+3 bonus to concentration checks to maintain a spell.

Yggdraswood: The wood of the fabled world tree. This version of living wood appears as simple as wood from a distance, but upon closer inspection, its true nature is evident: The wood seems to shift and morph between several differing forms of tree wood and seems to breathe on its own.

Yggdraswood is so unbelievably rare, that just being able to locate a world tree on a world is a legendary feat (there is one world tree on every world where magic exists – it remains hidden through magical means), being able to coax the tree itself into somehow shedding a living section of it is supremely mythical. Therefore, its value is too astronomical.

Yggdraswood has all effects of living wood, with its own abilities as well:

General: All Yggdraswood items are highly magical in nature, weapons gain a +2 magical bonus to attack and damage rolls, and armor gains a +2 to its AC. All Yggdraswood items bestow upon the wearer the constant effects of the “Tongues” spell.
Weapons: So long as you hold the weapon, you may cast the “Green-Flame Blade” cantrip, with no material components, equal to your level of cantrip scaling.
Armor and Shields: While donned in Yggdraswood armor, or wielding a Yggdraswood shield, it heals the wearer by 1d6per round, even stifling bleeding. Additionally, you become Immune to the diseased and poisoned conditions, as well as poison damage while donned in Yggdraswood.

Purchasing Materials by Type

Cooking

Materials	Rarity	Used For	Base Price
Rare Supplies (Hard to luxury goods)	Uncommon	Cooking	100gp
Supplies (Salt, Staples, etc.)	Trivial	Cooking	1gp
Uncommon Supplies (Uncommon spices, oils, rare seeds, etc.)	Common	Cooking	10gp

Leather and Hide

Materials	Rarity	Used For	Base Price
Boiled Leather	Common	Leatherworking	3gp
Hide	Common	Leatherworking	2gp
Hide Scraps	Trivial	Leatherworking	1sp
Large Carapace	Common	Leatherworking	30gp
Leather Scraps	Trivial	Leatherworking	1sp
Medium Carapace	Common	Leatherworking	4gp
Rawhide Leather	Common	Leatherworking	2gp
Resistant Hide	Uncommon	Leatherworking	500gp
Resistant Leather	Uncommon	Leatherworking	600gp
Scales	Common	Leatherworking	1gp
Tanned Leather	Common	Leatherworking	3gp
Tough Hide	Uncommon	Leatherworking	500gp
Tough Leather	Uncommon	Leatherworking	600gp

Metals

Materials	Rarity	Used For	Base Price
Adamantine Ingot	Very Rare	Blacksmithing	2000gp
Brass Ingot	Common	Blacksmithing	8sp
Bronze Ingot	Common	Blacksmithing	8sp
Cold Iron (Meteoric Iron) Ingot	Uncommon	Blacksmithing	250gp
Dark Steel Ingot	Very Rare	Blacksmithing	1500gp
Fire Steel Ingot	Very rare	Blacksmithing	1500gp
Gold Scraps	Common	Jewel crafting	1gp
Ice Steel Ingot	Very Rare	Blacksmithing	1500gp
Iron Ingot	Common	Blacksmithing	1gp
Metal Scraps	Trivial	Blacksmithing, Tinkering	1sp
Mithril Ingot	Rare	Blacksmithing	500gp
Orichalcum	Legendary	Blacksmithing	5000gp
Silver Scraps	Trivial	Jewel crafting	1sp
Steel Chain (2 feet)	Common	Blacksmithing, Tinkering	1gp
Steel Ingot	Common	Blacksmithing	2gp

Wood

Materials	Rarity	Used For	Base Price
Common Branches	Common	Wand Whittling, Wood Working	1sp
Firewood	Trivial	Cooking, Wood Working	1cp
Legendary Branch	Legendary	Wand Whittling	2000gp
Long Haft	Common	Blacksmithing	2sp
Quality Branch	Common	Wand Whittling, Wood Working	2gp
Rare Branch	Rare	Wand Whittling	80gp
Short Half	Common	Blacksmithing	1sp
Uncommon Branch	Uncommon	Wand Whittling	25gp
Very Rare Branch	Very Rare	Wand Whittling	800gp
Wood Scraps	Trivial	Tinkering, Wood Working	2cp
Wooden Stock	Common	Tinkering	5sp

Magical Materials

Materials	Rarity	Used For	Base Price
Common Essence	Common	Alchemy, Enchanting, Scroll Scribing, Wand Whittling	45gp
Common Ingredient	Common	Alchemy, Poisoncraft	15gp
Common Magical Ink	Common	Scroll Scribing	15gp
Crystal Vial	Common	Alchemy	10gp
Glass Flask	Common	Alchemy, Poisoncraft	1gp
Glass Vial	Common	Alchemy, Poisoncraft	1gp
Legendary Essence	Legendary	Alchemy, Enchanting, Scroll Scribing, Wand Whittling	25000gp
Legendary Ingredient	Legendary	Alchemy, Poisoncraft	5000gp
Legendary Magic Ink	Legendary	Scroll Scribing	5000gp
Legendary Parchment	Legendary	Scroll Scribing	5000gp
Normal Ink	Common	–	5gp
Parchment	Common	Scroll Scribing	1sp
Rare Essence	Rare	Alchemy, Enchanting, Scroll Scribing, Wand Whittling	700gp
Rare Ingredient	Rare	Alchemy, Poisoncraft	200gp
Rare Magic Ink	Rare	Scroll Scribing	200gp
Rare Parchment	Rare	Scroll Scribing	200gp
Uncommon Essence	Uncommon	Alchemy, Enchanting, Scroll Scribing, Wand Whittling	150gp
Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon	Alchemy, Poisoncraft	40gp
Uncommon Magic Ink	Uncommon	Scroll Scribing	40gp
Uncommon Parchment	Uncommon	Scroll Scribing	40gp
Very Rare Essence	Very Rare	Alchemy, Enchanting, Scroll Scribing, Wand Whittling	7000gp
Very Rare Ingredient	Very Rare	Alchemy, Poisoncraft	2000gp
Very Rare Magic Ink	Very Rare	Scroll Scribing	2000gp
Very Rare Parchment	Very Rare	Scroll Scribing	2000gp

Miscellaneous

Materials	Rarity	Used For	Base Price
Armor Padding	Common	Blacksmithing, Leatherworking	5gp
Buckle	Trivial	Leatherworking	2sp
Esoteric Parts	Uncommon	Tinkering	100gp
Fancy Parts	Common	Tinkering	10gp
Fletching	Trivial	Woodworking	5cp
Length of String	Trivial	Woodworking	5cp
Parts	Common	Tinkering	2gp

Purchasing Materials by Rarity

Trivial

Materials	Rarity	Used For	Base Price
Buckle	Trivial	Leatherworking	2sp
Firewood	Trivial	Cooking, Wood Working	1cp
Fletching	Trivial	Woodworking	5cp
Hide Scraps	Trivial	Leatherworking	1sp
Leather Scraps	Trivial	Leatherworking	1sp
Length of String	Trivial	Woodworking	5cp
Metal Scraps	Trivial	Blacksmithing, Tinkering	1sp
Silver Scraps	Trivial	Jewel crafting	1sp
Supplies (Salt, Staples, etc)	Trivial	Cooking	1gp
Wood Scraps	Trivial	Tinkering, Wood Working	2cp

Common

Materials	Rarity	Used For	Base Price
Armor Padding	Common	Blacksmithing, Leatherworking	5gp
Boiled Leather	Common	Leatherworking	3gp
Brass Ingot	Common	Blacksmithing	8sp
Bronze Ingot	Common	Blacksmithing	8sp
Common Branches	Common	Wand Whittling, Wood Working	1sp
Common Essence	Common	Alchemy, Enchanting, Scroll Scribing, Wand Whittling	45gp
Common Ingredient	Common	Alchemy, Poisoncraft	15gp
Common Magical Ink	Common	Scroll Scribing	15gp
Crystal Vial	Common	Alchemy	10gp
Fancy Parts	Common	Tinkering	10gp
Glass Flask	Common	Alchemy, Poisoncraft	1gp
Glass Vial	Common	Alchemy, Poisoncraft	1gp
Gold Scraps	Common	Jewel crafting	1gp
Hide	Common	Leatherworking	2gp
Iron Ingot	Common	Blacksmithing	1gp
Large Carapace	Common	Leatherworking	30gp
Long Haft	Common	Blacksmithing	2sp
Medium Carapace	Common	Leatherworking	4gp
Normal Ink	Common	–	5gp
Parchment	Common	Scroll Scribing	1sp
Parts	Common	Tinkering	2gp
Quality Branch	Common	Wand Whittling, Wood Working	2gp
Rawhide Leather	Common	Leatherworking	2gp
Scales	Common	Leatherworking	1gp
Short Half	Common	Blacksmithing	1sp
Steel Chain (2 feet)	Common	Blacksmithing, Tinkering	1gp
Steel Ingot	Common	Blacksmithing	2gp
Tanned Leather	Common	Leatherworking	3gp
Uncommon Supplies (Uncommon spices, oils, rare seeds, etc.)	Common	Cooking	10gp
Wooden Stock	Common	Tinkering	5sp

Uncommon

Materials	Rarity	Used For	Base Price
Cold Iron (Meteoric Iron) Ingot	Uncommon	Blacksmithing	250gp
Esoteric Parts	Uncommon	Tinkering	100gp
Rare Supplies (Hard to luxury goods)	Uncommon	Cooking	100gp
Resistant Hide	Uncommon	Leatherworking	500gp
Resistant Leather	Uncommon	Leatherworking	600gp
Tough Hide	Uncommon	Leatherworking	500gp
Tough Leather	Uncommon	Leatherworking	600gp
Uncommon Branch	Uncommon	Wand Whittling	25gp
Uncommon Essence	Uncommon	Alchemy, Enchanting, Scroll Scribing, Wand Whittling	150gp
Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon	Alchemy, Poisoncraft	40gp
Uncommon Magic Ink	Uncommon	Scroll Scribing	40gp
Uncommon Parchment	Uncommon	Scroll Scribing	40gp

Rare

Materials	Rarity	Used For	Base Price
Mithril Ingot	Rare	Blacksmithing	500gp
Rare Branch	Rare	Wand Whittling	80gp
Rare Essence	Rare	Alchemy, Enchanting, Scroll Scribing, Wand Whittling	700gp
Rare Ingredient	Rare	Alchemy, Poisoncraft	200gp
Rare Magic Ink	Rare	Scroll Scribing	200gp
Rare Parchment	Rare	Scroll Scribing	200gp

Very Rare

Materials	Rarity	Used For	Base Price
Adamantine Ingot	Very Rare	Blacksmithing	2000gp
Dark Steel Ingot	Very Rare	Blacksmithing	1500gp
Fire Steel Ingot	Very rare	Blacksmithing	1500gp
Ice Steel Ingot	Very rare	Blacksmithing	1500gp
Very Rare Branch	Very Rare	Wand Whittling	800gp
Very Rare Essence	Very Rare	Alchemy, Enchanting, Scroll Scribing, Wand Whittling	7000gp
Very Rare Ingredient	Very Rare	Alchemy, Poisoncraft	2000gp
Very Rare Magic Ink	Very Rare	Scroll Scribing	2000gp
Very Rare Parchment	Very Rare	Scroll Scribing	2000gp

Legendary

Materials	Rarity	Used For	Base Price
Legendary Branch	Legendary	Wand Whittling	2000gp
Legendary Essence	Legendary	Alchemy, Enchanting, Scroll Scribing, Wand Whittling	25000gp
Legendary Ingredient	Legendary	Alchemy, Poisoncraft	5000gp
Legendary Magic Ink	Legendary	Scroll Scribing	5000gp
Legendary Parchment	Legendary	Scroll Scribing	5000gp
Orichalcum	Legendary	Blacksmithing	5000gp

Harvesting

While there are also some other harvesting rules, if crafting is to be used in the campaign, then these will be added to and supplement the existing harvesting rules.

Harvesting and looting are two paths to the same place, but generally depend on what kind of foe was vanquished and you are now collecting the “stuff” of. Typically, humanoid creatures that carry stuff are candidates for the Individual Treasure tables, while Aberrations, Beasts, Dragons, Monstrosities, and Plants are harvesting candidates.

If you don’t normally provide loot equivalent to default treasure tables, you don’t need to start providing loot equivalent to them using these new tables, simply apply these tables as frequently as it makes sense for your game.

Remember that you can fully mix and match as it makes sense. You can replace coinage with gems or art pieces, you can replace crafting items that wouldn’t make sense with coinage, gems, or art pieces, etc. The tables are merely a guide and convenience for what sort of range of materials should come from what sort of creature.

Harvesting: The Harvesting tables replace the Individual Treasure for Aberration, Beast, Dragon, Monstrosity, and Plant type creatures.

Remnants: Remnants optionally replace the Individual Treasure table for creatures that do not leave behind a body on death, like Elementals, Celestials, or Fiends (ones that leave behind a body can use the Harvesting table).

Basic Harvesting

Beasts, Dragons, and Monstrosities can be harvested using Wisdom (Survival) for meat and hides. At a DM’s discretion, a Plant type creature can be harvested for food using the same DC and amount but providing common fresh ingredients instead of meat. Basic Harvesting takes 10 minutes. At your DM’s discretion, it may take longer for larger creatures.

Crafting Exotic Creature Harvesting

Applicable Targets: Aberration, Constructs, Dragons, Monstrosities, Plants, Some Undead

A random roll is performed to judge what can be harvested from the monster. For Dragons, Giants, and Monstrosities, a Wisdom (Medicine) check is required to harvest the material without destroying it, for Aberrations and Constructs, an Intelligence (Arcana) check is required, and for Plants an Intelligence (Nature) check is required. Exotic Harvesting takes 10 minutes. At your DM’s discretion, it may take longer for larger creatures.

If a beast is sufficiently magical, poisonous, or venomous, a DM can opt to use the Dragon & Monstrosity table for exotic harvesting, but this should be rare; even a poisonous beast is usually too mundane for the magical properties of harvested materials, and a beast should always be rolled on the 0–4 CR table regardless of its CR.

At a DM’s discretion, some Undead may be harvested as well if there were something that would make sense for them to provide in this manner, in which case they would use an Intelligence (Arcana) check. Undead are less likely to provide anything of use, simply having a rare chance of providing arcane essences, though some would consider the use of these essences evil.

Exotic Remnants

Applicable Targets: Celestials, Elementals, Fiends, Some Undead

Some creatures typically do not leave behind corpses. While these most often disappear without a trace, sometimes they will leave behind a fragment of the magical forces that powered them as a remnant, in the form of an ingredient or essence. These are less likely to result in a crafting item, but don’t require any check to gather it successfully. Gathering remnants is simple to do and requires only 1 minute.

Applying Material Tables

As a DM, never feel compelled to roll on a table if you feel it makes sense to do something else. The tables provide a baseline, but if you feel that it makes sense for a given monster to leave behind a given material, simply do so, requiring the check that seems most appropriate (using the tables as a guide if you wish).

Exotic Harvesting (CR 0–4)

d100	DC	Beasts	Dragon, Giants, Monstrosities	Construct	Aberration	Undead	Plant
01-20	8	–	–	Common Parts	–	–	–
21-50	8	–	Common Poisonous Ingredient	Common Parts	Common Ingredient	–	Common Poisonous Ingredient
51-70	8	–	Common Ingredient	Uncommon Parts	Common Curative Ingredient	–	Common Curative Ingredient
71-80	8	Common Ingredient	Common Curative Ingredient	Uncommon Parts	Common Poisonous Ingredient	–	Common Ingredient
81-100	8	Common Ingredient	Common Primal Essence	Common Arcane Essence	Common psionic Essence	Common Arcane Essence	Common Primal Essence

Exotic Remnants (CR 0–4)

d100	Celestial	Fiend	Elemental	Incorporeal Undead
01-50	–	–	–	–
51-70	–	–	Common Ingredient	–
71-80	Common Curative Ingredient	Common Ingredient	Common Ingredient	Common Poisonous Ingredient
81-95	Common Divine Essence	Common Arcane Essence	Common Primal Essence	Common Divine Essence
96-100	Common Divine Essence	Common Divine Essence	Common Primal Essence	Common Arcane Essence

Exotic Harvesting (CR 5–10)

d100	DC	Beast	Dragon, Giants, Monstrosities	Construct	Aberration	Undead	Plant
01-30	10	–	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Parts	Common Ingredient	Common Arcane Essence	Common Poisonous Ingredient
31-60	10	–	Uncommon Poisonous Ingredient	1d4 Uncommon Parts	Uncommon Ingredient	1d4 Common Poisonous Ingredient	Uncommon Poisonous Ingredient
61-80	10	Uncommon Ingredient	1d4 Uncommon Ingredient	1d6 Uncommon Parts	Uncommon Curative Ingredient	1d4 Uncommon Poisonous ingredients	1d4 Uncommon Curative Ingredient
81-90	10	Uncommon Poisonous Ingredient	Uncommon Primal Essence	Uncommon Arcane Essence	Uncommon Arcane Essence	Uncommon Divine Essence	Uncommon Primal Essence
91-100	10	1d4 Uncommon Ingredients	Uncommon Primal Essence	Uncommon Arcane Essence	Uncommon Psionic Essence	Uncommon Arcane Essence	Uncommon Primal Essence

Exotic Remnants (CR 5–10)

d100	Celestial	Fiend	Elemental	Incorporeal Undead
01-20	–	–	–	–
21-50	Common Curative Ingredient	Common Ingredient	Common Ingredient	Common Poisonous Ingredient
51-80	Uncommon Curative Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Poisonous ingredients
81-90	Common Divine Essence	Common Arcane Essence	Common Primal Essence	Common Arcane Essence
91-100	Uncommon Divine Essence	Uncommon Arcane Essence	Uncommon Primal Essence	Uncommon Arcane Essence

Exotic Harvesting (CR 11–16)

d100	DC	Beast	Dragon, Giants, Monstrosities	Construct	Aberration	Undead	Plant
01-30	12	–	Uncommon Ingredient	Rare Parts	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Poisonous Ingredient	Uncommon Poisonous Ingredient
31-60	12	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Primal Essence	1d4 Rare Parts	Uncommon Psionic Essence	Uncommon Arcane Essence	Uncommon Primal Essence
61-70	12	Uncommon Ingredient	Rare Ingredient	Uncommon Arcane Essence	Rare Ingredient	Rare Poisonous Ingredient	Rare Curative Ingredient
71-80	12	1d4 Uncommon Ingredients	Rare Poisonous Ingredient	Uncommon Arcane Essence	Rare Poisonous Ingredient	Uncommon Arcane Essence	Rare Poisonous Ingredient
81-90	12	Rare Ingredient	Rare Primal Essence	Rare Arcane Essence	Rare Arcane Essence	Rare Divine Essence	Rare Primal Essence
91-00	12	1d4 Rare Ingredients	Rare Primal Essence	Rare Arcane Essence	Rare Psionic Essence	Rare Arcane Essence	Rare Primal Essence
100	12	Very Rare Ingredient	Very Rare Primal Essence	Very Rare Arcane Essence	Very Rare Psionic Essence	Very Rare Arcane Essence	Very Rare Primal Essence

Exotic Remnants (CR 11–16)

d100	Celestial	Fiend	Elemental	Incorporeal Undead
01-20	Uncommon Curative Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Poisonous Ingredient
21-50	Uncommon Divine Essence	Uncommon Arcane Essence	Uncommon Primal Essence	Uncommon Arcane Essence
51-80	Rare Curative Ingredient	Rare Ingredient	Rare Ingredient	Rare Poisonous Ingredient
81-100	Rare Divine Essence	Rare Arcane Essence	Rare Primal Essence	Rare Arcane Essence

Exotic Harvesting (CR 17+)

d100	DC	Beast	Dragon, Giants, Monstrosities	Construct	Aberration	Undead	Plant
01-30	15	–	1d4 Rare Ingredient	1d4 esoteric Parts	1d4 Rare Ingredient	1d4 Rare Poisonous Ingredient	1d4 Rare Poisonous Ingredient
31-50	15	–	Rare Primal Essence	Rare Arcane Essence	Rare Psionic Essence	Rare Arcane Essence	Rare Primal Essence
51-89	15	Rare Ingredient	Very Rare Primal Essence	Very Rare Arcane Essence	Very Rare Arcane Essence	Very Rare Arcane Essence	Very Rare Primal Essence
90-94	15	1d4 Rare Ingredients	Legendary Primal Essence	Legendary Arcane Essence	Legendary Arcane Essence	Legendary Divine Essence	Legendary Primal Essence
95-100	15	Very Rare Ingredient	Legendary Primal Essence	Legendary Arcane Essence	Legendary Psionic Essence	Legendary Arcane Essence	Legendary Primal Essence

Exotic Remnants (CR 17+)

d100	Celestial	Fiend	Elemental	Incorporeal Undead
01-20	Rare Curative Ingredient	Rare Ingredient	Rare Ingredient	Rare Poisonous Ingredient
21-50	Rare Divine Essence	Rare Arcane Essence	Rare Primal Essence	Rare Arcane Essence
51-69	Very Rare Curative Ingredient	Very Rare Ingredient	Very Rare Ingredient	Very Rare Poisonous Ingredient
70-89	Very Rare Divine Essence	Very Rare Arcane Essence	Very Rare Primal Essence	Very Rare Arcane Essence
90-100	Legendary Divine Essence	Legendary Arcane Essence	Legendary Primal Essence	Legendary Arcane Essence

Hide Harvesting

Creature Size	Difficulty	Hide
Tiny	n/a	–
Small	DC12	1d4 Hide Scraps
Medium	DC10	1 Hide or 1 Medium Carapace or 2d6 Scales
Large	DC12	5 Hides or 1 Large Carapace or 3d6 Scales
Huge	DC14	10 Hides or 2 Large Carapaces or 6d6 Scales
Gargantuan	DC14	15 Hides or 3 Large Carapaces 3d8 Common Meat or 9d6 Scales

Special Materials

Material	Minimum CR	Harvesting Difficulty	Additional Requirement	Effect
Tough Hide/Scales	8	+4	Harvested from a creature with AC 16 or higher	Armor crafted has +1 AC
Resistant hide/scales	8	+5	Harvested from a creature with resistance to an elemental damage type	Armor crafted has related elemental resistance
Dragon Scales	14	+8	Harvested from a Dragon.	Armor crafted has +1 AC and Resistance to related elements.

Gathering Tables

Many of the materials can simply be found growing in the wild and can be gathered by someone that knows what to look for and spends the time doing just that. When traveling at a slow pace through wilderness for 8 hours or more (i.e., not urban land or farmland), you can make a gathering check, but have disadvantage on the check to harvest anything found.

If you dedicate eight hours to gathering without traveling, you can make two checks (without disadvantage) or find one item other than an Essence of your choice that is available within that biome’s table (making the ability check from the corresponding line of the table to harvest it) or 1d12 of any trivial item (making a DC8 ability check to harvest it)

The found items then must be gathered. You can choose to gather ingredients, search for materials, or hunt wild game. Roll a d100 and consult the corresponding table below for the relevant biome to determine what is found.

Gathering Ingredients: Ingredients are harvested by making a Wisdom check. If you have an Herbalism kit and are proficient with it, you can add your proficiency bonus to the roll.

Search for Materials: Materials can be harvested with your choice of a Strength, Dexterity, or Wisdom check. If you have proficiency with the Survival skill, you can add your proficiency bonus to the roll.

Hunt Game: Food can be gathered with your choice of a Dexterity or Wisdom check. If you have proficiency with the Survival skill, you can add your survival modifier to the roll.

Intentionally Slow: Gathering is a time gated system. It is not intended to be the primary source of materials. Rather than being balanced against the loot tables, it’s balanced against the down time activities (and consequently not particularly efficient).

Gathering Ingredients

d100	DC	Forest	Desert	Grasslands	Hills	Marsh	Mountains
01-10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
11-20	10	Common Curative Ingredient	–	–	–	Common Poisonous Ingredient	–
21-40	10	Common Curative Ingredient	Common Ingredient	Common Curative Ingredient	–	Common Poisonous Ingredient	Common Ingredient
41-50	10	Common Poisonous Ingredient	Common Curative Ingredient	Common Ingredient	Common Poisonous Ingredient	Common Curative Ingredient	Common Curative Ingredient
51-60	10	Common Ingredient	Common Poisonous Ingredient	Common Poisonous Ingredient	Common Ingredient	Common Ingredient	Common Poisonous Ingredient
61-70	10	1d4 Common Poisonous ingredients	1d2 Common Ingredients	1d2 Common Poisonous Ingredients	1d2 Common Poisonous Ingredients	1d4 Common Poisonous Ingredients	1d2 Common Curative Ingredients
71-80	10	1d4 Common Curative ingredients	1d2 Common Ingredients	1d2 Common Curative Ingredients	1d2 Common Ingredients	1d4 Common Ingredients	1d2 Common Ingredients
81-90	10	Uncommon Curative Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Curative Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Poisonous Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient
91-95	10	Uncommon Poisonous Ingredient	Uncommon Poisonous Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Poisonous Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient	Common Curative Ingredient
96-100	10	Common Primal Essence	Common Arcane Essence	Common Divine Essence	Uncommon Curative Ingredient	Common Primal Essence	Common Primal Essence

Gathering Ingredients

d100	DC	Caves	Underground	Jungles	Shore	Tundra
01-10	–	–	–	–	–	–
11-30	12	Common Ingredient	Common Poisonous Ingredient	Common Curative Ingredient	Common Curative Ingredient	Common Ingredient
31-50	12	Common Poisonous Ingredient	Common Ingredient	Common Poisonous Ingredient	Common Poisonous Ingredient	Common Curative Ingredient
51-60	12	1d4 Common Ingredient	1d4 Common Poisonous ingredients	1d4 Common Curative ingredients	1d4 Common Curative ingredients	1d4 Common ingredients
61-70	12	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Poisonous Ingredient	Uncommon Curative Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Curative Ingredient
71-80	12	Uncommon Curative Ingredient	Uncommon Curative Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient
81-90	12	Common Divine Essence	Common Arcane Essence	Common Primal Essence	Common Primal Essence	Common Primal Essence
91-95	12	Uncommon Poisonous Ingredient	Uncommon Poisonous Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient
96-100	12	Uncommon Divine Essence	Uncommon Arcane Essence	Uncommon Primal Essence	Uncommon Primal Essence	Uncommon Primal Essence

Gathering Ingredients

d100	DC	Feylands	Shadowlands	Elemental Plane	Lower Plane	Upper Plane	Outer Plane
01-20	14	Common Curative Ingredient	Common Poisonous Ingredient	Common Ingredient	Common Poisonous Ingredient	Common Curative Ingredient	Common Ingredient
21-40	14	Common Ingredient	Common Ingredient	Common Curative Ingredient	Common Ingredient	Common Ingredient	Common Ingredient
41-60	14	1d4 Common Curative Ingredients	1d4 Common Poisonous Ingredients	1d4 Common Ingredients	1d4 Common Poisonous Ingredients	1d4 Common Curative Ingredients	1d4 Common Ingredients
61-80	14	Uncommon Curative Ingredient	Uncommon Poisonous Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient	Uncommon Curative Ingredient	Uncommon Ingredient
81-99	14	Uncommon Primal Essence	Uncommon Arcane Essence	Uncommon Primal Essence	Uncommon Arcane Essence	Uncommon Divine Essence	Uncommon Arcane Essence
100	14	Rare Primal Essence	Rare Arcane Essence	Rare Primal Essence	Rare Arcane Essence	Rare Divine Essence	Rare Arcane Essence

Hunting Game

d100	DC	Caves	Underground	Jungles	Shore	Tundra
01-30	12	Fresh Ingredients	Supplies	Fresh Ingredients	Fresh Ingredients	–
31-60	12	1d4 Fresh Ingredients	Fresh Ingredients	1d4 Fresh Ingredients	1d4 Fresh Ingredients	Fresh Ingredients
61-90	12	1d4 Hides	1d4 Hides	1d4 Fresh Ingredients 1d4 Hide scraps	1d8 Fresh Ingredients 1 supply	1d4 Fresh Ingredients 1 Hide
91-100	12	1d6 Fresh Ingredients 1d4 Hides	1d6 Fresh Ingredients 1d4 Hides	1d6 Fresh Ingredients 1d4 Hides	1d6 Fresh Ingredients 1 medium carapace	1d6 Fresh Ingredients 1d4 Hides

Hunting Game

d100	DC	Forest	Desert	Grasslands	Hills	Marsh	Mountains
01-30	10	Fresh Ingredients	–	Fresh Ingredients	–	–	–
31-60	10	1d4 Fresh Ingredients	Fresh Ingredients	1d4 Fresh Ingredients	Fresh Ingredients	Supplies	Supplies
61-90	10	1d4 Fresh Ingredients 1 Hide	Supplies	1d4 Fresh Ingredients 1 Hide	1d4 Fresh Ingredients	1d4 Fresh Ingredients	1d4 Supplies
91-100	10	1d8 Fresh Ingredients 1d4 Hides	1d6 Fresh Ingredients 1 large carapace	1d8 Fresh Ingredients 1d4 Hides	1d4 Fresh Ingredients 1 Hide	1d4 Fresh Ingredients	1d6 Fresh Ingredients 1 large carapace

Details on Each Crafting Skill

Session XXV – Chapter One

evil.curmudgeon@gmail.com

2023-08-25

30^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

The afternoon started with the group discussing their next set of specific plans. All of them wanted to rest a bit more after all the rough days and Fogo really wanted to finish his cooking lessons with Xaasz before they set off again. Dancer would take all their gems and jewelry and sell them to the local underground black market – aka Jepos, while the rest would engage in low impact activity over the next ten-day.

1^st of Kythorn to the 10^th of Kythorn of the year 1492

Everyone renewed their rooms to ensure they were still able to stay at the Blackbutter Inn longer. Otherwise, everyone mostly went their own directions to accomplish different objectives over the next ten days.

Party Members:

Angelica: When not making scrolls, she trained with Vladimir with her new sword. Much like Vladimir, once she had enough gold, she went out at purchased a set of plate mail.

Avery Rockwell: Spent much of his time working with Fogo and Angelica on getting spells on scrolls from them so that he could copy them into his wizard’s spellbook. For the rest of his time, he wandered around to meet people, be friendly, and general socializing.

Dancer: Worked on little carvings of different members of the party. He completed ones for Fwoosh, Vladimir, and ISAC. Not wanting to be left out of spending gold, at some point he had gone to Dhelosk and bought a quiver of Ehlonna to allow him to have a greater capacity without the weight.

Fogo: Healing from his near-death experience and works in the Blackbutter Inn’s kitchen for Xaasz to complete his chef training. During his time in the kitchen, he was able to figure out that all five of the goblins in the kitchen are alchemists. Wanting to further his knowledge about Mystra, he ordered a religious text to get a deeper understanding of Mystra.

Fwoosh: He worked on his replacement mask for several days. Checking in with Jepos to see if had heard back about his missing friends in Waterdeep, but there was not any new news. The rest of his time he practiced his different performances. He was also diligent about collecting some bear claws and sharing them with the children at the sundries store. Once the Dwarves arrived, he collected his reward from Vallivoe for letting him know they would be coming. He was not the proud owner of a very nice pocket watch.

ISAC: While he does not have a spellbook, he did get Angelica to make a bunch of spell scrolls for him. He also stocked up with many healing potions.

Vladimir Miller: For most of his time Vladimir was spent training with his new maul as well as with Angelica to help her understand her new sword. Once the coin arrived from selling the gems and jewelry, he ran off to the Tantur’s Smithery to get his plate mail ordered. At some point he had collected the horses, picked up the wagon, and brought them back to the farm. The most exciting thing he did was to write a letter home, with whom he had not communicated with for several years now.

Happenings in Red Larch on Specific Days.

1492-06-01:

Avery’s scroll (Comprehend Languages) is ready from Dhelosk.
Party’s wagon has been repaired at Thelorn’s Safe Journeys in Red Larch.
Alfred takes over Gaelkur’s in Red Larch and renames it Alfred’s Shop.

A few of the party members went over to welcome Alfred to his new shop and the only oddity was that Marlandro had removed every possible piece of paper or evidence of any business from the shop. He had also left behind what appeared to be some jewelers’ tools, or at least the larger ones, since all the fine tools were gone. Alfred had packed everything in a box that they looked at but were clueless at what it might have represented.

Alfred

1492-06-06:

Coin from party selling gems and jewelry to Jepos Copperhand arrive.

1492-06-08:

Grafaerd Ulamoira helpers arrive from Bargewright Inn to help with the Galloping Wheelworks in Red Larch.

1492-06-09:

The party moved their wagon and horses to the Wagonworks as a closer location to be able to use them.
Contingent of Dwarves arrive to take care of the Tomb under Red Larch.

1492-06-10:

Jaleesa Orna becomes mayor of Red Larch, and her husband Harburk became the official constable of the town.
Bryllyn Trollfist takes over the Mellikho Stoneworks and immediately starts work on carving out stones to fix the sinkhole.
Theldor Darkaxe asked about the maul that Vladimir had found. He told him what little he knew about the maul. Vladimir also revealed that they had found an old ruined Moathouse to the south of Red Larch. When Vladimir brought up the Dwarven books they had purchased, he suggested that they be brought to Banmin Glehuruhr for more information.

While at the Helm and gambling with the Dwarves, the captain of the Dwarves, Theldor Darkaxe, took Vladimir to the side for a conversation.

“That is a mighty fine maul you have there, where did you get it from?”

“[We practiced this.] We ventured into a Moathouse to the southeast of here. It was filled with several different bandits and ne’er-do-wells, and we cleared it out and this was one of the things that one of them had. “

“That maul is from a famous Dwarf slayer from over 4000 years ago.”

“A Dwarf slayer?”

“Yes, he basically did not like a lot of different particular creatures and liked to hit them.”

“Oh.”

“He was very proficient; he was even known for haven taken out an ancient dragon at one point.”

“Our party has been encountering a lot of the Dwarven history around here, and it seems that even the Moathouse the bandits were in was a Dwarven fortress of sorts.”

“Oh, really?”

“And so, I wonder if they have been using some of these areas as hide outs and that might be where they picked it up?”

“He was known to be in the valley. His name was Angrboda Gog. He is legendary, but not much was known about him, but he was known for his maul and the dragon biting itself on the head of the maul. This is how I was able to recognize it.”

“You know, I have been playing around with this for the last few days and getting used to it, and it is very powerful, but it is just not quite as powerful as it could be. I am not sure if there is something particular about Dwarven weapons that lends itself to that?”

“It is an ancient weapon. We do not know much about that time. He is just a legend and known to bath in the blood of his enemies and bashing them all to pieces. This was pretty much his only weapon. He was known for bathing in the blood of dragons, demons, giants, and wading through hundreds of orcs.”

“He seems like an impressive man.”

“He hated them. He is known for his hate of those four species. He swore he would come back from the dead just to haunt and kill more of them if he could. He was a vicious Dwarf, but we are very proud of him.”

“It seems like Dwarves are very proud of their history. We also came across a few books of Dwarven lineage. I do not know if those would be of interest to you. They are dull, and in all honesty, full of a lot of begetting.”

“If you could bring them all, I will happily look at them. You should talk to our priest, especially if you have any books of lineage. He would be a much better person to talk to.”

Theldor Darkaxe

11^th of Kythorn of the year 1492

Starting off the morning with a well-cooked breakfast cooked by Fogo, everyone was happily surprised that it was not only tasty, but well balanced. Everyone was pleased that they now had a good cook to help them on their long-distance trips. Everyone noticed that Dolores was hanging out all the time, although she was much more translucent than normally. Fwoosh excitedly showed off his new pocket watch. Vladimir talked about meeting the Dwarves and that they were interested in the Dwarvish books they had purchased.

Dolores

Their next set of discussions were around how to deal with Dwarvish ruins and tombs in the future, as well as what they should focus on next. Dancer was all for the place called Treasure cave. Everyone else seemed to be interested in making a trip to Amphail for a variety of reasons. Dancer asked about the coded ledger, and Avery wanted to participate in the conversation with the new Wagonworks owner.

When brought to Grafaerd and asked if there was any related paperwork, he was not sure since they were still cleaning up. He told Dancer via finger talk that they were coded somehow, but it would take him some time to work through them, if he could. Avery kept trying to get into the conversation, but Grafaerd did not have anything that he was sharing with him. They finally left the ledgers with Grafaerd to see if he could figure something out.

Grafaerd Ulamoira

Vladimir and Angelica headed to the entrance to the old Dwarven Tomb. The guards seeing Vladimir waved him forward. It seemed that they were expecting him. They could also see a large pile of carved rocks piled up near the entrance.

“I’m going to win that card game next time. I have been practicing.”

“It is more about luck though.”

“No, we just need to feed you some ale, and then we will win more.”

“Then we will get you to face the real challenge the next time.”

“What is that?”

“The little bird guy that travels with me and deadly with cards.”

“Is he now, well we do not like card sharks, we prefer people like you.”

A little more banter revealed that it was Vladimir and his party that had asset off the massive poison trap in the tomb room. The guards also mentioned that the cultists were just weird, and that someone had spun around one of the floating holy stones, and that too was revealed to be the party. Feeling embarrasses Vladimir and Angelica quickly made their way down into the tomb before he inadvertently confessed to more war crimes.

Dwarven Tomb Guards

They made their way to the shrine room and saw a pair of Dwarven acolytes cleaning the statues and tidying up the area of all the ashes that seemed to be piled up in front of one of the statues. What appeared to be the head priest was in the middle of the room surveying everything within it. Hearing the two of them come down the ramp, the priest came over to them.

“What are you here for? Oh yeah, Darkaxe said you had some books you wanted me to look at.”

“Yeah, we were in the sundry store, and we were curious with all the Dwarven history here if there were any Dwarven books, and they happened to have these three, which we looked through and they appear to just be genealogy books.”

“Can you bring them out?”

As the priest began flipping through the books, a quick flash of concern and shock could be seen on his face by Vladimir.

“Where did you say you got these books?”

“In the sundry store.”

“That’s the one at the end of town?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s troublesome, I’ll have to go speak to him and see where he got them from.”

“You seemed pretty shocked looking through these.”

“Well, these are books from Mirabar. There was a contingent of Dwarves that came down from Mirabar. They were showing the flag and visiting different towns. One of them were carrying these books and the whole delegation is missing. They disappeared somewhere in the northern part of the Sumber Hills. I don’t know how their books got down here. It might be good to investigate this.”

“How long ago did they go missing.”

“More than a week ago. We have been concerned.”

“Well, this is not the first time we have heard of people going missing in this area and taken off the road.”

“They were not here, they were in the northern part of the Sumber Hills on their way to Summit Hall and other places, but they never got there. There are people checking on it, but we have not heard anything. Have you heard anything about the missing Mirabar delegation?”

“No, we do not think so. We have been lacking any information about Dwarves in the area.”

It was then that Vladimir remember the guard they had rescued from Lance Rock, Gef Rilisk. He had said he had been in a trade delegation from Mirabar, and it had Dwarves in it.

“Oh, wait a second. The guard we had rescued from Lance Rock. He had said he was part of the Mirabar trade delegation.”

“That would have been them.”

The discussion continued with the story of the rescue, and finally giving the assignment to Vladimir and Angelica to go find out more about what had happened with the delegation in exchange for having desecrated their tomb and setting off numerous traps inside. He also looked at the maul and was not sure if it was from the legendary maul or not. Vladimir was also curious about the floating rocks and what they were and was told that they were to be set up for different constellations for different religious days.

The priest seemed amazed that there was not a clear leader of Vladimir’s group and had a lot of mocking words for them about that.

Banmin Glehuruhr

The two rejoined the rest of the group at the Blackbutter Inn and started filling them in about what had been discussed. The group seemed a little surprised that their trip to Amphail might have been derailed and that they now needed to hunt down a missing delegation to appease the Dwarves for having tomb robbing and setting off the poison trap filling part of the tomb. They decided that finding Gef Rilisk the former Mirabar trade delegation guard would be a great start to their newly assigned adventure.

Splitting up to try and be more efficient to find him. Realizing that they had been seeing him in town, but just did not socialize with him after the rescue. He had been seen at the Helm, the Market, and just in town in different places. They also needed to query Endrith about here he had bought those books. The topic of the trade bars they had found on the earth priest that was in the tomb was also reviewed. They suspected these might have also come from the missing delegation. This caused them to spin off with some fanciful theories, but without some more solid evidence, they would not be anything but fanciful.

Fwoosh and ISAC ran off to the sundries store, Avery and Fogo visited to Mother Yalantha’s, and finally the group of Angelica, Dancer and Vladimir went to the Helm.

At the Sundry store Fwoosh was swarmed by the children there hoping for more bear claws but were only disappointed since Fwoosh was on business this time and not a pleasurable bear claw run. Asking Endrith about the Dwarven books and where he had gotten them. They were told that a passing merchant going through town had acquired them in Womford from some shady guy on the wharf. Endrith did not have much else to tell them about the books, but suggested they go down to Womford for more information.

Endrith Vallivoe

Wandering to Mother Yalantha’s, the two there engaged her in conversation about Gef and it seemed that there was a lot more room for rent now since eight of her renters had suddenly left and had not returned. They had been rough looking men that had a mean look about them. They even left all their small luggage as if they had just disappeared. When asked about Gef, she explained that he had been helping around the establishment and had been waiting for word his friends that he had gotten separated from. He was doing odd jobs around town and was helping at the Helm working as a bouncer. With that the two of them headed to the Helm.

Yalantha Dreen

Back at the Helm the last trio looked around for Gef they find him standing off at the side keeping an eye on the room and especially a pair of arm-wrestling Dwarves. Approaching him, they began to ask about the caravan he had been in and if in fact it was the Mirabar trade delegation. He confirmed it all to them. When told that the delegation was missing, he was surprised and worried for his friends. He wondered how that had been possible with over 20 guards and that the whole caravan was nearly 50 people. Dancer asked about where he had been kidnapped and he told them that it had been on the Stone Trail just south of Westbridge. The caravan had been heading to the Stone Bridge, Beliard, and Summit Hall.

Convincing Gef that he should go talk to Banmin about what he knew and that he had been from the delegation, they got ready to go. Heading off to the quarry to gain entrance to the old tomb, they were waved in by the guards there, but not before they commented on the group’s pet cat, Dancer. Several insulting words later, they entered the cave complex. Having Gef explain his story about the kidnapping and subsequent rescue did not really impress Banmin much. It was then that Gef revealed that he had heard someone talking in the Helm about the fact that they had seen the delegation in Beliard. The person had been a guard with another merchant and had gotten into a fight with a member of the delegation.

Gef Rilisk

Heading back to the Helm with Gef, they were able to meet up with the rest of the party. Sharing what each found out with the rest, they came up to speed quickly. Asking about the trade bars, Gef explained the purpose of the bars and confirmed they were from the trade group. There was a little maker’s mark on each bar that gave its origin. The delegation had bars of many different types of ores including Mithril and Adamantine. The discussion start going around the topic of cultists and that they had been finding them in many different places around the valley, and that it seemed that a lot of the different concerns and problems that have been happening were very likely related to these cultists. During the discussion, Gef told them the breakdown of the caravan, the important members, and that there were many others there.

After waiting around playing old maid for three hours, a large half-orc woman walked into the Helm munching on a large pickle. Gef pointed her out and said she was the one that had seen the delegation last in Beliard. She ordered a meal and several ales and sat down to eat. Avery, the smallest and least assuming of the group went over for a chat.

Purchasing a new round of drink for her, Avery asked about the trade group in Beliard. She complained about how four of them had jumped her, and she was not even satisfied with it. She did say that she was satisfied with Grund but was worried his hips and endurance would not be able to keep up. When asked about the caravan, she said she had seen them leave Beliard, but did not know much more. She did let them know that there is a priest in town staying at the Swinging Sword that had seen them as well. When Avery started explaining everything, they knew about the caravan including the future destinations, she did not have much to say about that except that there were rumors of hill giants in the area near Beliard.

Half-Orc Guard

Crossing the street to get to the Swinging Sword, they were met inside by Kaylessa Irkell the owner. Asking about the priest, they were directed to a table where the half-elf was daintily drinking a glass of wine.

Kaylessa Irkell

The entire group crowded around the priest making him a bit nervous, but he still greeted them. ISAC understanding that it did not look good to have everyone there found a nearby table to sit at with some of the others. Avery started his interrogation right away. He asked about the Mirabar delegation, and the half-elf said he had seen them in Beliard around the 26^th of Mirtul and that they had said they were headed to Summit Hall and then further south, and eventually up to Red Larch. Once again revealing that the delegation was missing, the half-elf seemed surprised and concerned. The half-elf had come a more direct way over Larch Path, a muddy and much smaller path that usually had room for wagons assuming there were not any mud slides across the road. He also mentioned that there were rumors of hill giants and ogres wandering the hills as well as strange fires being seen at a distance, groups of people wearing gold masks, and hippogriffs and other large birds in the flying air.

Half-Elf Priest

Standing in the middle of the main room, they started discussing what they had found and some of the connections they might have figured out between the visions and clues they had found so far. Unaware, they were starting to draw more attention to themselves once again. The group started trying to figure out which direction and place they should go next. Dancer wanted to make sure that they visited the “Treasure Cave” on their way to Beliard. It was then that Dancer pointed out that continuing the conversation where they were might be a bit weird and suggested they go to one of their rooms to finish their talk.

It was there that they continued their strategy making. Fogo was for pushing ahead sooner and not pick up his armor in Amphail since he was concerned that the more time that went by, the more of them that might be killed. He based this from what had happened to the Ammakyl family merchants and guards. They started with over 40 and ended up with less than ten in the end. Planning on starting first thing in the morning they were not sure if they could take the wagon or not. Fwoosh ran downstairs and asked about the best route to Beliard and if they should take the Larch Path or the Long Road through Westbridge. They gave some options and their thoughts, and with that Fwoosh went back to the room with the others. Not satisfied with those answer, Fogo ran back to the Swinging Sword to talk to the priest to ask about the condition of the Larch Path. Told that the path was open and that there should be room for a wagon, Fogo ran back. With that everyone voted for taking the Larch Path to Beliard and hoping that it would be quicker for them.

It was then that…

All of you pause for a moment. You look around seeking something. Your eyes are causing you a slight pain, your head has a dull ache, and your entire body feels like there are tiny pin pricks occurring all over it. As you look around you can see that nothing else is moving, nothing, except the group of you. You can see the curtains by the window that were fluttering a minute ago are frozen and unmoving, yet still furled as it they were caught in a moment. You can feel that you are breathing, but there is no air movement, as if everything was just still. Unlike all the visions and dreams you have had; you know you are awake and can feel. It feels like reality has glitched somehow.

It was then that all the color from everything around you begins to slowly drain away until everything is in simple black and whites. Even your hands and others around you are also standing there in a stark black and white.

You hear a voice from behind you, and as you look you see that ISAC is at the edge of the room away rest of the group. He seems a frozen and unmoving. Everything around you is in such a sharp focus, sharper than anything else you have ever seen, almost painfully sharp. On ISAC’s shoulder is a black leather gloved hand resting there, not putting any pressure, but also not letting go. You cannot see the figure behind ISAC, it is just not tall enough, or wide enough, or just not quite in focus enough.

“All of you are just rats in a cage.”

You are unable to move, but you can feel the malice coming from the unknown figure. You can feel the hatred rolling toward you.

“I have been told I am impetuous, that I am not patient, and even quick to anger. I have also been told to not interfere, to let everything play out, that all of you are good little rats. Sigh, yes, all of that is true, but I cannot just wait around no matter how much I might be punished. I feel the need to push, it is just my nature.”

“So, here is a little push from me. Be good little rats and run along.”

The mouth on ISAC’s scarred and pained face opens but no sound comes out, it appears that he is trying to scream, scream something, scream in pain, in anger, or just scream, but nothing comes out. As you look his face, which you know is a mask, started pixelating in small boxes, and then larger ones. The mask starts stretching out from between his eyes further than is believable when a black blade emerges sliding smoothly through ISAC’s head.

The mask shatters and the pieces fall, but all turn into whisps of smoke before they can reach the ground. ISAC’s face a hard combination of metal and what appears to be wood, has no expression, but is still attempting to scream, scream as loud as he can, but no sounds leave his mouth. The small gems that are his eyes start blinking rapidly as if they are trying to send a message that no one can understand.

The blade is quickly drawn out but fades into smoke as it is removed. ISAC’s body starts to fall forward, but what you can see of his face start corroding, melting, and turning into crumbling dust. His body falls forward but the only thing that crashes to the ground is his clothing and gear. His body is nowhere to be seen except for some dust and ashes blowing around and away from the body.

It is then you can see the figure. It seems to be a he, from the voice and figure, but he is not tall, nor short, just a medium height. He is covered from head to toe in black leather with various weapons stashed on his waist, and a leather mask covers his face leaving it unseen. As you attempt to move, to look closer, to understand what has just happened, the figure also fades away in a wisp of smoke.

As he disappears color starts seeping into the world around you. The unnaturalness that pervaded everything is fading. Once the color has once again moved into where it should have been, everything starts moving around you again.

Dark Figure

And this is where the session ended.

History Lesson

Forlorn Hills

Description

The Forlorn Hills was a hilly region in northwest Faerûn between the Dessarin Valley and the Delimbiyr Vale. The hills were once the center of the ancient shield dwarven kingdom of Dardath—one of the three kingdoms in Phalorm, the Realm of Three Crowns—and were then called the Dark Hills. After the triumvirate collapsed in the Year of the Lamia’s Kiss, 615 DR, the Dark Hills became known as the Fallen Hills or, more commonly, the Forlorn Hills. The people of Athalantar called them the Horn Hills. Some folks mistakenly called them the Sword Hills, confusing them with a smaller range of hills on the south bank of the Delimbiyr.

Geography

The Forlorn Hills were located east of Ardeep Forest, across the swath of open land that contained the House of Stone and was once the realm of Elembar. To the south was the Delimbiyr Vale and the River Delimbiyr. The Iron Road ran southeast from Womford, skirting the northern edge of the Hills, until it reached the village of Uluvin on the eastern edge. The town of Secomber was farther to the southeast. To the northeast was the High Forest and to the northwest was Gaustar’s Creek, a tributary of the river Dessarin.

Geographical Features

The Forlorn Hills were once part of the great forest that included Ardeep Forest, but dwarves cleared portions of it and then later humans from Athalantar put the western side of the Hills (known as the Halangorn Forest) to the torch to drive the remaining elves away from lands they wished to claim. The hollows between the hills were often in the shadow of the surrounding peaks and thick mists typically obscured vision until highsun.

By the time of Phalorm, the landscape was stony, and the hills were isolated in places. The line of hills that formed the northern border of the area were known as the Watchers of the North. There was a high ridge that arced through a portion of the Hills near the center. It was here that the mansion known as the House of Taeros once stood before it and part of the ridge were destroyed in a spell battle around the end of the 6th century DR, leaving behind the ruin known as the Crumbling Stair.

History

Since the time of the First Flowering, elves held sway over the surface of the Forlorn Hills. Initially it was the moon elves and green elves of Illefarn and Ardeep, then it was the gold elves of Aryvandaar during the Crown Wars. The area saw a resurgence of Illefarn and Ardeep after the defeat of the Vyshaanti of Aryvandaar at the beginning of The Founding Time.

Dwarves established settlements beneath the Forlorn Hills sometime in the early part of The Founding Time, if not before. At the very latest, they were there to take in refugees from Besilmer when that above-ground dwarven realm was wiped out by hill giants and other creatures in −4160 DR.

In the time leading up to the founding of Phalorm, the dwarves established their underground realm of Dardath, but above ground the human realms of Elembar (in the Year of the Risen Towers, 146 DR) sprang up on the west side of the Hills and Athalantar (in the Year of the Murmuring Dead, 183 DR) on the east. Athalantar had ambitions to take over the Hills and set fire to the Halangorn Forest between Elembar and the Hills to drive out any inhabitants. Ultimately, this tactic failed when Elembar moved into the Halangorn uplands and established noble houses such as the House of Taeros and what became known as the Moon Tower. The untamed portion of the Hills remained the habitat for bandits and monsters. In the Year of Many Mushrooms, 238 DR, the young Elminster was an outlaw, hiding from the magelords of Athalantar in what they called the Horn Hills. Athalantar was destroyed by an orc horde in Year of the Cantobele Stalking, 342 DR and Elembar suffered the same fate in the Year of the Fortress Scoured, 511 DR.

Phalorm, the Realm of Three Crowns, was chartered in the Year of Trials Arcane, 523 DR, and the dwarves of Dardath became part of the triumvirate along with the elves of Ardeep and the humans from Delimbiyran (the last remnant of Elembar). The dwarven population of the Hills grew during this time as refugees from the Duchy of Hunnabar fled a troll incursion in the Year of the Supreme Duelist, 592 DR. Phalorm lasted less than a century. Dardath suffered the death of their king, Oskilar Ironaxe, in the Year of the Shattered Scepter, 614 DR, and the elves withdrew from the alliance, many leaving for Evermeet, the following year. Delimbiyran, under King Javilarhh II, claimed all the lands previously belonging to Phalorm and named it the Kingdom of Man in the Year of the Ensorcelled Kings, 616 DR.

The Kingdom of Man was ultimately unable to stem the invading hordes in the face of internal strife after King Davyd was assassinated in the Year of the Triton’s Horn, 697 DR. The dwarves of the Forlorn Hills continued to drift apart after the death of King Oskilar and, in the Year of the Lamia’s Kiss, 615 DR, the loss of most of their fighting forces. Dwarf holds became defensive and isolated, depleted further by emigration to Ammarindar. They even went so far as to pretend a plague had swept through Firehammer Hold, hoping the ruse would keep enemies at bay.

The Kingdom of Man devolved into lesser realms including the human Calandor, Scathril, Loravatha, and Starshadow; the halfling Duchy of Imristar; and the gnomish Duchy of Gloraela. Roughly, the northwestern quarter of the Fallen Hills was claimed by Loravatha, including the House of Taeros/Crumbling Stair. Many of these small kingdoms fell one by one under the relentless assault of orc raiders until finally, in the Year of the Clutching Death, 702 DR, the Duke of Calandor was able to muster an army strong enough to defeat the invaders.

For centuries thereafter, the dwarves maintained a relatively low profile in the Forlorn Hills, but the story about a plague-devastated Firehammer Hold eventually became an attraction for adventurers instead of a repellent. The clerics of Haela Brightaxe that controlled what they called Torstultok, the Hall of Grand Hunts, had little choice except to try and redirect these would-be tomb raiders by hiring them to seek out and clear other dwarven holds that were known to have been taken over by orcs. Eventually, the old Firehammer Hold became a nexus for dwarves and other races looking for glory and treasure. By the Year of the Unstrung Harp, 1371 DR, the priests had spread rumors and placed clues around the region to lure more adventurers to spend their money and sell their loot at Firehammer Hold. The most well-known example was a map scrawled on the wall of a small room in the Singing Sprite inn. By the Year of Rogue Dragons, 1373 DR, there were several dwarf clans making their home in the Forlorn Hills.

In the late 15th century, Firehammer Hold was conquered by duergar from the Underdark in a plot instigated by the Red Wizards of Thay. The evil wizards also began building a small fortress called Bloodgate Keep on the west side of the Forlorn Hills, far from any large settlements, for use as a base for invading the Sword Coast via a portal from Thay.

Notable Locations

In the Year of Prideful Tales, 1219 DR, Lord Geldirth Gost of Waterdeep began constructing a secret underground complex with a series of portals that eventually emerged in a secluded cave on the southern slopes of the Forlorn Hills. Other interesting locations included:

Crumbling Stair

The Crumbling Stair is all that remains of Taeros, a grand, turreted mansion that once stood proudly amid fanciful gardens adorned with fountains and pools. The house sprawled along a curving ridge in the heart of the human-ruled barony of Loravatha. Originally built by a merchant lord, Taeros became a school of arcane study for young lasses seeking to master sorcery under the direction of his widow, the sorceress Ybrithe. Twenty years after the founding of the school, the mansion was torn apart by southern mages seeking to plunder whatever they could. But before they could seize Ybrithe’s treasures, a latent magic trap blew apart the ridge, Taeros, and all the surviving attackers.

The Crumbling Stair now rises from broken lands overgrown with scrub woods. The weathered staircase, made of green-veined white marble, rises six or so steps into the air from a dark hole at its base. Beyond this aperture is a long corridor with a few attached rooms that once served as extensive cellars. The fore chambers are home to the maddened ghost of one of the attacking wizards and some sort of creature— possibly an all-consuming hunger (Und)—that leaves glowing slime-trails on the walls, floor, and ceiling. In addition, the phantom of a half-elf sorceress sometimes appears to point out collapsed tunnels and forgotten secret doors leading to a large warren of catacombs, which are said to be home to some sort of beholder.

Floating Tower of Ondil of the Many Spells

The northern edge of the Forlorn Hills was marked by a line of hills known as the Watchers of the North. Immediately south of them was Ong Wood – and unbeknown to most folk, a secluded vale at the western end of the Watchers held the legendary Floating Tower, home, and later tomb of the mighty archwizard Ondil of the Many Spells. Once guarded by liveried griffons who drove intruders away, it was found the Bright Blades adventuring band (when Elminster – as Elmara – was their mage). The tower’s name came from the fact that mighty magics held it up, floating unsupported high above the ground, after its lower floors had collapsed.

Tales say Ondil had withdrawn into this spell-guarded tower even before Netheril’s rise to greatness, to craft many new and powerful spells. He was reportedly so mighty in magic that he was able to hide his tower from all Netherese mages. Older tales said Ondil had been a sorcerer of Thaeravel, the land of mages from which Netheril sprang (believed to lie – then as now – under the sands of Anauroch).

Moon Tower of Elembar

Little remained of Elembar’s northern settlements after the invasion of an orc horde shattered the realm. One notable exception, however, is the Moon Tower of Elembar, an ethereal spire visible only on the nights of the full moon. Thought to have been the domicile of Elembar’s mage royal, this mysterious figment has spawned many fanciful tales. The Moon Tower of Elembar can be accessed via the Border Ethereal, but the magic-laden ruin is well guarded by the ghosts of its defenders, the ancient constructs that keep watch over it, and an advanced ethereal marauder that uses the place as a lair.

Torstultok (Firehammer Hold)

Torstultok, or the Hall of Grand Hunts, is a temple-fortress of Haela Brightaxe. The place is well known among the Stout Folk of the North for the all-dwarf and mixed-race adventuring companies its inhabitants sponsor to reclaim long-lost dwarven relics from orc held halls.

Torstultok lies within a sprawling complex of tunnels and grand halls beneath the eastern end of the Watchers of the North — the line of tors that marks the northern edge of the Forlorn Hills. Torstultok was known as Firehammer Hold before the Fallen Kingdom fell, and much treasure is still ascribed to the latter name in the tales of the North. Those same legends claim that the dwarves of Firehammer Hold perished in a plague shortly after the founding of the Kingdom of Man, but in fact the dwarves’ numbers had dwindled over time, and the leaders of the hold planted false evidence of a deadly plague to increase the security of the dwarves who remained.

An unexpected consequence of this action was the arrival in subsequent centuries of treasure-hungry adventurers seeking long-lost hordes of dwarven gold. To assuage the anger of such would-be plunderers, the dwarves hired them to seek out other dwarven holds that they knew to be occupied by orcs. From this tradition evolved the hold’s current role as a clearinghouse for battle-loving dwarves and adventurers of other races who sought glory amidst the ruins of long-fallen dwarven kingdoms. In recent times, Haela’s clergy have even begun to lure adventurers to the temple deliberately with ancient-looking, incomplete maps and other enticing items. Such a map may be found on the walls of a not-so-secret hidden room in the Singing Sprite—a slate-shingled, many-gabled stone inn located in the bowl at the center of the three hills upon which the village of Secomber is built.

Campaign Notes

A small lapse of time so that everyone could get personal stuff done, and then digging into the Dwarvish books. Chapter One has started with the missing delegation. ISAC is murdered in front of the entire party by some unknown figure. The next session will prove to be interesting.

Session XXIV – Intermission

evil.curmudgeon@gmail.com

2023-08-17

29^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

Already tired and ready to head back to Red Larch, the party was surprised by a nasty goblin assassin and a thuggish half-ogre. The battle, like many, did not last very long, but this one proved to be a bit more dangerous than many of those that came before. The half-ogre was able to stand fast and weather many blows before falling, allowing him to pin in place several of the characters while the goblin was able to sneakily hide and fire from his hidden positions doing incredible damage with his bow shots and poison. Most of the party fell and were only saved through timely heals and magic.

Goblin Assassin

Half-Ogre Thug

With both ambushers’ dead, the group quickly looted the bodies and made for Red Larch as quickly as possible hoping to avoid any additional hostile encounters. Carrying along the body of the dead Goblin, Fogo seemed sure that this goblin meant something important. Heading to the constable’s office they found no one there, and after banging on several of the other buildings they finally found one of the butchers who allowed them to store the body in the freezer for the night.

Their current home, the Blackbutter Inn still had the front doors open but the main room was empty. They made their way to their rooms, and everyone collapsed into sleep quickly, except Vladimir, who gleefully cradle the ancient Dwarven maul in his lap to become more acquainted with it before heading to bed with it at his side.

30^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

The next morning was as normal as it could be as they all slowly came downstairs and started breakfasting in the main room. Dhelosk was at his counter, and Delillia managing the tables. The room had few other customers since most of the merchants who stayed here usually got moving early in the morning. Dhelosk gave Fogo some odd looks since his fur was still patchy and missing large chunks.

“Do you have anything to fix that?”

“I’ve never had that problem. Maybe if Fogo goes and talks to Xaasz maybe he can do something for you.”

Dhelosk Quelbeard

Fogo made his way into the kitchen and saw all the goblins scurrying around, that is until they saw his bedraggled state. He was then the center of attention by the small group of goblins that seemed to be staring and evaluating his condition. Xaasz did not seem to be happy seeing Fogo in this condition while in his kitchen. Fogo was told to take a couple of days off and was given a small vial of something to consume that Xaasz claimed it would make him feel better. Fogo had managed to collect a few common and uncommon poisonous plants that he gave to Xaasz. Again, it was not anything that impressed the small goblin chef as he just chewed on them without a second thought.

Xaasz

The rest of the group moved to a table and ordered some breakfast. Fogo joined them and his patchy fur seemed to have recovered a bit, but all the new fur seemed to be replaced with something more orange than his previous grey. Maybe from the traumatic experience, or perhaps from the vial of something Xaasz gave him. Back with the group, Fogo explained about his thoughts and that it seems that he had previously been wandering, but now he feels he has more of a purpose. There was also some discussion around the maul they had found and the fact that Vladimir seemed very enamored with it. It was agreed that his old sword would be given to Angelica once he was able to properly say goodbye to it.

It was midmorning when the constable finally came in and seemed to be grumpy. He was not happy with a dead body being left in the freezer, and wanted to make sure it was collected before his wife found out and caused him bodily harm. When asked about a goblin and half-ogre duo he only had a little to share.

Harburk Tuthmarillar

“There have been some rumors of some brigands running around doing tomb raiding. Was there something in place you went where they would have had trouble? Where were you?”

“We were investigating the little girl that said she say a ghost and we were kind of looking into that.”

“So, it was a tomb or something and they ambushed you on the way out.”

“Yes, that is right.”

“Yeah, that sounds right for a lot of the brigands. Was there something early in the tomb that was difficult to get past?”

“Yes, that was the ghost.”

“Oh, so you took care of the ghost?”

The ghost won’t be a problem for anyone.”

“Maybe they had difficulty in getting past the ghost or did not want to.”

The conversation continued some more, and Fogo agreed to run over and collect the body and bury it somewhere outside of town. Before grabbing the dead goblin, Fogo asked Dhelosk on what the respectful way was to treat the goblin body.

“They eat each other.”

“Well, we might skip that tradition.”

Vladimir explained they were trying to provide more transparency to the constable and perhaps fewer surprises. Harburk told them that at this point, everything was a surprise. He was not trained for this; he was only a retired soldier. It was the elders that appointed him to this position, and it seemed that they were already in some sort of conspiracy which every now knows how that ended. Finally heading out to do their body collecting, the group split up into different directions. Vladimir went to his room to say goodbye to his old sword, Angelica went to her room and wanted to get some additional sleep, Avery headed to the market, and Fogo and the rest went to collect the dead goblin. With the constable leading the way, he opened the freezer and allowed Fogo to carry out the frozen solid goblin.

“How far out of town would you like me to take it?”

“Somewhere the children cannot find it…. Like Amphail.”

Walking about 20 minutes outside of town, they buried the goblin, and then they all came back into town. Everyone headed to the market while Fogo made a stop at the Allfaith’s Shrine. He was greeted by Imdarr and Lymmura. When asked about why Fogo was so patchy looking, he explained that he had survived a near-death experience and that he now felt closer to Mystra, the goddess of Magic. While training to explain his vision while almost dying, it seemed to confuse Imdarr since the whole party seemed to be having vision, and Fogo had been dirt, but now was fire, or something like that.

For a moment, there was just darkness. Hmm… darkness isn’t quite right. We have been in the dark underground where no light can penetrate, but this was darker. It was blackness.

After some unknown time, from the edge of my awareness, an orange glow started to grow. It soon became bright enough, though still very faint, that I could see myself. I appeared thin, like a threadbare sheet, barely together. I was so thin in fact, that I could feel myself floating down. I had so little substance that I was but a feather on the wind.

As I fluttered down, I twisted to get a look at the glow coming from down below. I saw a ring of fire. It was small, like it had just been lit. As I slowly fell towards it, I could see that there was much unlit fuel. But! I also saw something heartening, a banner with an oak leaf, the sign of Silvanus, in the center of the fiery circle.

I continued floating down towards my fiery demise, the threads of myself now becoming visibly undone. I landed squarely on Silvanus’ banner. My body did not have enough form for me to move. When I tried to move my body, the few strings left holding me together would snap. Helplessly, I laid on the banner and I watched as the fire encroached.

Finally, an edge of the banner ignited, then another, and another. The flames approached until the fiery tongues licked my frayed edges. A part of me felt ready to succumb, to give up. But the seed of a thought rapidly blossomed in my mind: the fabric of my life was becoming undone, but I had learned of Mystra, now on her third incarnation, who was the Tapestry of arcane magic. Died and born again, she held together, taking new forms as she needed.

The flames ignited me right as the last remnants of mind that wanted to give up were pushed out by this revelation. I put every ounce of my being into holding my shape, feeling each individual thread of myself, and moving them, weaving them back together, even as they were engulfed in flame. I cannot fully convey the mental exhaustion that I went through in these moments.

I simply refused to let the fire take me. The memory of the passage of time in this space feels hard to remember, but it felt like it took ages, and yet by the time the fire calmed down to a smolder, you could have convinced me no time had passed. I felt my body, once again with shape, and I stood up. I looked down at the banner, which I knew had been burned, yet it remained. Though it had changed: the oak leaf was now wreathed in flame. I looked at my body and noticed a change as well, a fiery orange emblazoning my fur.

And I laughed. I had made it. I picked up the banner and wrapped myself in it and continued to laugh. I sat down in relief at having come through the flames and out the other side.

It was then I noticed the ashes of my former self. It may sound strange to be able to recognize ashes, but if you have ever stared at your own ashes, you may know the feeling. I scooped them up, suddenly feeling the loss. I survived, I changed, but something else was also lost. I cried, tears falling into the ashes I had cupped in my hands. It was when I felt lost in the pain and joy of loss and rebirth that I saw a large hand appear from above me. I realized that I recognized that hand. By the time it plucked me from ground, I realized it was ISAC’s hand, picking me up and taking me back from where I had been before.

Imdarr Relvaunder

Lymmura Audarhk

Explaining that he was interested in knowing more about Mystra and wanted start a more focused worship and Imdarr was willing to assist as much as possible. When asked about any priests of Mystra, Fogo was told that he would have go to Waterdeep, but Imdarr was willing order a book of worship of Mystra for him. Before leaving shrine, Fogo spent a bit of time at the statue of Mystra and offered his prayers. He then joined the rest of the party at the market.

It was during this time that Vladimir was able to say goodbye to his sword and deliver it to Angelica so that she would be able to attune to it and be able to use it for the next time they needed to stab something. Angelica seemed sad about something and while Vladimir attempted to find out what might be bothering her, she was not willing to share at this time. They went ahead and walked to the Market to join the rest of their party.

Looking for paper for scrolls Avery hunted down any deal he could find to acquire a few sheets that he could use later. Getting a snack of meat on a stick, Avery hung out until the rest of the group arrived. Dancer and Fwoosh joined Avery at the market. Making their way to the booth where the Farrowvale family were selling their different cuts of meat. Dancer was interested in hearing about the health of their horses and found out that they were much better would be ready to pull a wagon within the next couple of days.

In their wandering, they passed Grund who still seemed to be in a bad mood but was very instant on giving Fwoosh a bowl of Grund’s Special Pickles. The party moved away quickly before they had to actual consume them in front of Grund. When looking around they were able to hear some of the rumors that were going around town. There was a lot of talk of the elders and what had happened in town. There was also some surprise that someone had bought the Wheelworks. There was also someone trying to purchase Gaelkur’s. There was also a lot of gossip about a bunch of crazies that had jumped down the sinkhole to save the children. Some had mentioned that there is giant Dwarvish Temple under the town that is the size of the entire town.

Grund

Trying to cause additional confusion, Fwoosh started speaking out loud about something about large dumb worms underground, rampaging through the tunnels. It did not seem that anyone paid attention to his attempt at starting a new rumor. Looking for Feng, Fwoosh approached a random stranger wandering around and when he started asking his questions, the stranger seemed surprised at Fwoosh and his overly shiny cloak. Fwoosh was asked if he was a performer which got the show started. Doing some card tricks and a few acrobatic stances earned Fwoosh a hand full of copper and a round of applause. When Vladimir asked if performing is something he enjoyed, Fwoosh did not seem to really understand. It was explained that he should also seek out things that he wants to do for himself, not just do what others tell him to do, become more of a free agent while still support his family.

Fogo finally joined the group at the market and with ISAC leading them to Feng’s booth to help Vladimir shop for some plate, but there was not any to be purchased. There was a new allotment of Iceshield Orc axes on the wall, but no plate armor. When asked about the plate armor, they were told they would have to go visit the smith for something like that. They then sold the arms and armor they had collected from various dead bodies that they were responsible for and were able to collect a few more coins.

Feng Ironhead

When asked about Aerego Bethendur, they were told that he does not usually come to market. They learned that the storage spaces he rents out are expensive and only some of the larger merchants use him, or those that need more protection for their cargo. He even has magically protected spaces available there. He mentioned that some merchants use him as a third-party transition point, where one will drop off and their buyer will come by and pick up the merchandise. They asked if he knew who had purchased the Wagonworks, but he only knew that it was someone recently that came to Red Larch, and it was not a name he knew. He further elaborated that the Wheelworks is an important shop in town since any merchant spending the night would need to store their wagon and horses. The town had seized the property after Ilmeth’s death and were anxious to get it sold and running again.

Still wanting some plate armor, Vladimir led the group to Tantur Smithery hoping that some might magically have been left there. While they headed there, Fwoosh stayed at the market in a bit of a daze of being free and Dancer and ISAC headed to the Wheelworks to see if they could find the new owner.

At the smithy they were greeted by Laefra Tantur. Asking about some plate armor, Vladimir and Angelica were disappointed in that there was not any available, and it was going to be a large amount of gold for it to be made, and all the coin would need to be paid up front. They were also curious if the maul they had found could be repaired, which required her to call out her husband out front to look it over. Eldras was impressed with the very nice Dwarven antique work, but he did not have the skill nor the knowledge to fix something like the maul. He told them to seek out a Dwarven smith to appraise it for repair.

Laefra Tantur

Eldras Tantur

Back at the Wheelworks, Dancer began knocking on the door hoping for an answer and it was, by Grafaerd Ulamoira. He was happy to see his rescuers and let them know that he was the one that purchased the Wheelworks, but he would not be open for a week or two. He was waiting for friends and family to come in from Bargewright Inn to replace all the workers that had left. He had purchased this place because he had decided that treasure hunting was too dangerous, and they it would be better if he settled down. In finger talk, Dancer introduced himself, but Grafaerd seemed to already be aware of Dancer from Jepos. Asking about getting some space for their wagon, he offered to store it for free, but suggested that he charge some nominal amount to not arouse suspicion. Dancer was also curious of the Zhentarim had also purchased Gaelkur’s, but Grafaerd said that it was a different person they had rescued, Alfred the merchant. He seemed to also want to settle down here.

Grafaerd Ulamoira

Fogo went to the baths since he still was still losing fur and did not smell the best. When he got there it was closed because today was market day, and most businesses in Red Larch were closed on market day. He decided to search for some of the rare plants he had learned about from Xaasz but even with his strong druidic magic, none were within range. Heading back to the Blackbutter Inn he met up with the rest of the group. Avery went up to his room to work on some scrolls, Angelica wanted to spend some time with her new sword to attune to it, and everyone else sat at a table in the main room.

Fwoosh hunted down the baker at the market and bought a dozen bear claws and while purchasing them he asked about Jepos and was told that Jepos would be available tomorrow afternoon. Going over to the Sundry booth, he shared all those bear claws with the kids which made him the hero of the day to the kids in the area. He also asked Endrith about if any pocket watches were available. Unfortunately, it was not an easy to come by item, but Endrith promised to send out word with the merchants to see if one could be gotten and brought to Red Larch for Fwoosh.

Endrith Vallivoe

The two also talked about how the business was at the market and Endrith was satisfied with it and was happy that those in town are starting to talk to each other again, and the air of suspicion that had been over them seemed to have disappeared. The people of Red Larch were enjoying themselves once again. Fwoosh mentioned that he knew Dwarves were going to come to town because of the temple underground. Endrith had not thought about that and started planning on how to get more goods the Dwarves would like, especially ale. He told Fwoosh that if this turned out profitable, he might get him that pocket watch free, or at least at a heavy discount. With that, Fwoosh went straight back to the Blackbutter Inn.

Once there, he could see his friends, but he headed over to the mantle to get a better look at the maker’s mark on the mantle clock. Fogo wanted to discuss the group’s plans, if they were going to stay in town, if they wanted to explore, or what. Fogo was interesting in staying in town and finishing his chef apprenticeship. That discussion would have to happen later since Fogo needed a bath and used Vladimir’s room for that while Vladimir ran to the Thelorn’s Safe Journeys to see if their wagon was reason from being repaired and modified. Again, another shop was closed on market day.

Mantle Clock Maker’s Mark

With some time before dinner, they went to one of the rooms to open the chest from the sarcophagus in the haunted tomb. Inside were more platinum and gems of such high value than they had ever seen before. Hidden in a false bottom, there was a gold chain with a locket with the etched figure of a half-elf. With such a large collection of gems and jewelry, they needed to find a buyer, but in this small town they did not know who could. Dancer offered up his contacts but mentioned that it would be 50% to 75% of the face value for him to sell it, but that he could probably sell it quickly and get the coin to the party. Everyone seemed happy with that, but Fogo wanted to know more about the contact and how Dancer would be able to sell these things. Dancer answered that almost any town of any size would have a black market, and that he knew how to find it and would be able to sell things there.

Agreeing that selling the loose loot would be good, then they would be able to purchase more things that they needed, specifically the plate armor for Angelica and Vladimir. Everyone was also very interested in getting their wagon outfitted better, with windows, a hatch, and maybe even beds. It was then since everyone was together, they also discussed their plans and what and where they might go next.

And this is where the session ended.

History Lesson

Another weekly episode of the Savage Frontier with your host David Bourgh-Ettin. We have covered a few of the places around the valley, but none stand as tall as the Sword Mountains. Today we will be continuing our review of the history of this area.

Description

North of Waterdeep, the Sword Mountains march north toward the Neverwinter Woods. Although not militarily significant, this range shields the Dessarin river valley and the High Forest from the worst of the storms that blow in from the Trackless Sea. The western flanks of the range are home to orcs, bugbears, kobolds, leucrottas and other dangerous creatures. Self-styled bandit lords, such as Amalkyn the Black and the wizard Helduth Flamespell, have long-established holds in the region. The southern peaks are home to stone giants and more fearsome menaces, as well as sylphs on the high ledges and peaks. The Sword Mountains is littered with ruins dating back to the orcish empire of Uruth Ukrypt and the dwarf and gnome clanholds that preceded it.

Geography

With an arc-like shape, the mountains were located northwest of Waterdeep and east of the Mere of Dead Men. Their western slopes led to the Trackless Sea in rolling foothills.

History

The mountains were home to orcs and trolls, but after the orcs were united by Wund and the Brotherhood of the Scarlet Scourge in the Year of the Red Rain, 927 DR, a shaman named Wund arose among the orc tribes of the Sword Mountains. On the eve of the Feast of the Moon, as Wund had prophesied, blood red thunderclouds engulfed the Sword Mountains. For three days the slopes ran wet with blood, leaving behind the sickening stench of rot and decay. All manner of plagues quickly swept through the region. Many orcs (and other folk) died by the White Hand of Yutrus, including every tribal chieftain, but the spawn of Gruumsh who survived the crucible of plagues grew stronger.

In the immediate aftermath of the Blood Plagues, Wund established a monastic order known as the Brotherhood of the Scarlet Scourge. Members of the order organized the surviving orc tribes into a united realm under the spiritual guidance of the brotherhood. The most powerful chieftain, a massive, unintelligent tusker named Uruth, was crowned king by Wund. This was a contributing factor to the Trollwars.

In the Year of the Sky Raiders (936 DR), the armies of Uruth Ukrypt swept down the eastern slopes of the Sword Mountains. The armies of Waterdeep battled the orcs of Uruth Ukrypt in a series of pitched battles known as the Orcfastings War. Early orc victories in the Battle of Whirling Blades, the Battle of Sarcrag, and the Battle of Withered Fields drove Waterdeep’s forces back to the gates of Nimoar’s Hold. However, a timely feint by the Duke of Calandor enabled Nimoar’s forces to break the orcs’ siege of the hold in the Battle of Burning Cliffs. They hatched another plan to attack in the Year of the Cold Claws, 940 DR, but this plan was ruined by the gold dragon Palarandusk.

Due to a raid on Ukrypt’s crypt by a human adventuring company called the Dawnbringer Company in the Year of Lathander’s Light, 1024 DR, the orcs of the Brotherhood of the Scarlet Scourge formed a horde called the Broken Bone with the intent of destroying Waterdeep. Their plans were once again ruined by a dragon; this time Lhammaruntosz. Still determined to exact their revenge, the orcs formed another horde, calling it the Black Claw, and in the Year of Crimson Magics, 1026 DR they came from the mountains to attack Waterdeep. This attack proved unsuccessful, and they were defeated, causing the orcs to lose their unity and plunge into a period of tribal conflict and the orcs of the Sword Mountains disintegrated into warring tribes.

Notable Locations

Hills & Peaks

Mount Araddyn: Located just north of Mount Sar, Mount Araddyn is easily accessible only from the High Road.
Icespire Peak: The tallest peak of the Sword Mountains situated just east and a bit north of Phandalin.
Mount Galardrym: the peak that was home to the dwarves of Clan Forgebar.
Mount Sar: The second most southern peak of the Sword Mountains, was named for one of two great fomorian giants who lived in the southern Sword Mountains before they were slain by an early warlord of Waterdeep. Mount Helimbrar, the southernmost peak, was named for Sar’s twin.
Mount Helimbrar: The southernmost peak of the Sword Mountains, was named for one of two great fomorian giants who lived in the southern Sword Mountains before they were slain by an early warlord of Waterdeep.

Landmarks

Mountain’s Toe Mine: a successful gold mine owned by a Neverwintan business consortium.
Wave Echo Cave: the labyrinthine caverns that housed the fabled Forge of Spells.

Settlements

Axeholm: an abandoned dwarven stronghold that was haunted by a banshee.
Gnomengarde: a minor kingdom of rock gnomes that was in caves at the base of the mountains.
Ieirithymbul: another gnomish settlement nestled in the valley of Felrenden.
Kheldell: a rather small human logging village.
Nasaqh Estates: East of the High Road, in the valley between Mount Sar and Mount Helimbrar, lie the Nasaqh Estates. Eight generations of Nasaqh lords have ruled this valley, but the current Lord Nasaqh (LN male Illuskan human aristocrat 9) may be the last of his line, considering that he is growing older and has not yet produced an heir. The Nasaqh holdings are known for producing “seawine,” a potent liqueur popular among Waterdeep’s merchant elite.

Within the holdings of Lord Nasaqh lies the Agrivar estate. Consisting of more than 100 acres of fertile fields, old woodlands, and a stone manor house set on a rise overlooking the land.

Structures

Icespire Hold: the mountain-top fortress that was claimed as a lair by the young white dragon Cryovain.
Marune’s Stronghold: The infamous necromancer who seeks to rebuild the Shadow Thieves Guild in Waterdeep has laired for more than three decades beneath the base of Mount Helimbrar, undiscovered by Waterdeep’s city guard. Although he spends the bulk of his time in the City of Splendors, Marune still returns to his longstanding lair from time to time, usually to craft new magic items or research new spells. The lair is always well defended by a variety of undead, and the spell trigger traps that Marune has placed there summon all manner of monsters to battle intruders.
Melairrin: High on the slopes of Mount Sar lies a warren of caves leading deep into the mountain’s heart. Gulyaikin Dzrund, “the Mad Dwarf,” dwelt therein nearly nine decades ago, and some believe that he lives there still. Gulyaikin was noted for fits of berserk glee during which he delighted in killing all sorts of passersby by rolling large rocks onto the High Road below and catapulting boulders at fishing boats offshore.

The warren of caves is now home to Harshnag the Grim, a frost giant and member of the Gray Hands. Harshnag’s caves are linked to Blackstaff Tower via a large-sized, two-way, keyed portal.

The deepest caves of Harshnag’s lair lead down to a dwarf-built citadel in the heart of the mountain. Once known as Melairrin, the complex fell to the orcs of Uruth Ukrypt early in the history of that realm, giving them a secure base from which to dominate the southern Sword Mountains. In the Year of the Dracorage (1018 DR), the caverns of Melairrin were taken over by a black Wyrm named Shammagar, who claimed it as his lair. The black dragon dwelt therein for several centuries before Asilther Graelor, longtime companion of Mintiper Moonsilver, stole much of his hoard. Fearing further thefts, Shammagar abandoned Melairrin and relocated to an offshore island.

The caverns of Melairrin still retain traces of their various owners, but they are now home to a wide variety of monsters that have crept up from the depths below. Harshnag reports encountering small bands of half-black dragons of orcish ancestry from time to time, suggesting that Shammagar’s progeny may still dwell below. Older reports speak of a vampire lairing in the depths and a one-way portal linking the Sundered Throne to the dragon’s lair in the depths of Melairrin. The vampire Rorrina, dual, (daughter) of Tuvala of Clan Stoneshaft, does indeed exist and is a servitor of Artor Morlin

Olothontor’s Lair: Olothontor the Minstrel Wyrm dwells on the western flank of Mount Araddyn, high above the High Road. His lair lies behind the ruins of an old stone mansion originally built for the brother titans Endrigul and Roevryn Taluth, and later taken over by the self-styled Gnome King Karlus “Goldgoblet” Dlinshoulder as the seat of his court. In the wake of repeated orc raids, the place was abandoned. The rear rooms of the mansion are now open to the sky, allowing the Minstrel Wyrm to fly in and out. A cavern in the cliff face behind the mansion leads into the dragon’s lair, which lies on the far side of a deep chasm heated by a volcanic flow. Olothontor is entranced by music, and he demands regular visits by traveling bards, from whom he commands repeat performances.
Temple of Abbathor: another site abandoned by the dwarves, later uncovered by a mining excavation.

Rumors and Tales

There have been many rumors of older civilizations hidden under the northern part of the Sword Mountains. The stories range from old Drow ruins to a buried ancient Gnomish city of lost technology. These are all said to date back over four thousand years. There were stories about a young lad from Westbridge who had found a key to enter these secret passageways and had found the entry somewhere in the northern part of the Kryptgarden Forest in the foothills of the Sword Mountains.

Campaign Notes

The party continues to rest up and start looking at selling their massive pile of loot. There was some discussion on what to do next, and several of those will start up Chapter One. Now we will see how long they can hold off before the main story takes over.

Session XXIII – Intermission

evil.curmudgeon@gmail.com

2023-08-08

29^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

Setting forth in the late morning, they used the directions they had gotten from Pell to make their way to what they were told was a tomb with a ghost in it. Upon arriving, they were able to see the partially collapsed hill and the stone door entrance into the hill. The stone door was cracked open.

Pushing it open further, a piece of metal, something from a wagon, fell to the ground making a loud banging noise. While the party was surprised at the noise, nothing jumped out to attack them. Moving into the dark corridor it led to a staircase heading downward. It stopped at another stone door. Pushing it forward again, they were able to see the room ahead of them.

Inside the mid-sized room, they could see a 20-foot-tall statue of a dwarf holding a large maul. The ceiling was 20-feet high and was held up by four pillars. One was a large horned demon as tall as the room, but appeared to be getting squished by the weight of the ceiling pushing him down, another was a giant grimacing in pain as he too attempted to hold up the ceiling, the third was a large pile of orcs, some dead and mashed on the bottom, while all the others were climbing up and preventing the ceiling from falling, and the last was a large dragon roaring in defiance, but still stuck holding up the ceiling as all the others were.

The party moved into the room and began investigating all the features of the room especially the intricate carvings of the pillars. They were very lifelike and frightening at the same time. There was another door in the room in which Vladimir approached. Angelica was able to identify the dragon statue as a red dragon, and was at least an adult one, if not older. A soft wispy voice filled the room.

“Don’t, don’t go forward. You can look around here, just do not go any further.”

“What are you? A ghost?

“I’m not a ghost, just a guardian here.”

“Do you have a name spirit?”

“I do not remember.”

“What are you guarding here?”

“A tomb of a mighty warrior. I failed in my duty once; I will not fail it again. Do not go any further.”

‘What happens if we go further.”

“Then I will have to stop you. Don’t test my patience either.”

“I am sorry to hear you failed before, what did they do?”

“That is why I am guarding now.”

“These columns are very intricate; do you know the story behind why they are holding up the ceiling?

“The master wants them all to feel pain. He has hunted them all.”

“Who is your master?”

“You have already seen the statue.”

“Who is it though?”

“I do not remember.”

“Guardian, would it make any difference to your master if we are also hunters of some of these creatures? We’ve slain orcs.”

“You should not compare yourselves to the master, all of you are pathetic in comparison.”

“Is his tomb behind the door over there?”

“That is the space you should not go, and you would never have met my master, he died over a millennia ago, several.”

“Did he task you with guarding this?”

“My penitence for having failed him once. There used to be more of us, but I am the only one left now.”

“Besides the little girl, has anyone come by recently?”

“None have entered, the other stone door has opened and closed, and something might have attempted to peek in. but, as long as you do not try to continue, I will not bother you.”

Wanting to strategize outside the earshot of the spirit, the group went outside to determine what their action should be, and if they wanted to delve further in or not. For a while they discussed whether the tomb was related to the cultists or not, but in the end they decided not. There was some talk that perhaps the spirit guardian was fake because of the alerting trap they triggered. Attempting to use some Mold Earth to dig around the tomb, all they managed was to move a lot of mud and expose a lot more clay rock which Fogo’s spell could not effect. They finally decided that tomb robbing should be their goal, and off they went to confront the spirit.

“I see that you must have made your decision. Do you really want to do this? Do you really want to be my foe?”

“I mean, not really.”

“Then you can turn around go back.”

“We do not want to do that either. We have questions that we are searching for answers and are hoping we can find them here.”

“I have no answers, I barely remember that I am here.”

“Does the last war mean anything to you?”

“There were so many, so many wars, trolls, giants, orcs, so many wars.”

“How about the elements?”

“The elements always strike upon you in war.”

“Any Drow?”

“Not any, any that I remember.”

It was at that point that Vladimir moved fully into the room and he could see the guardian standing next to the door waiting for him, and combat began. It was a brutal combat with an opponent that was incorporeal and was able to move through any of them, any object, and was able to fly fast enough to reach anywhere in the room. The most terrifying aspect was that it was able to drain their health and make it unrecoverable except through time and resting. Fogo was brought down into a coma losing many patches of fur over his body. Its hateful glare was enough to send both Vladimir and Angelica running at different points, but they did finally defeat it.

Guardian Spirit

After the arduous battle they camped and rested hoping to regain the health losses almost everyone had suffered. The rest proved to be the best medicine they had, although Fogo was still very spotty with his fur as none of it grew back yet. Moving on to the next room, they found another medium sized room covered in five-foot tiles. Each tile had a different number of brass medians upon them, and another stone door at the opposite side of the room. Pain filled and grotesque carvings of orc heads covered all the walls as well as the ceiling leaving not a single open space. There were hundreds of carved heads. Dancer took a closer look and realized, that much like the other Dwarven tomb, every one of these mouths had an opening of some sort.

With several of them running in and out, they finally figured out that they had to take a specific route with a specific number of tiles and then pause to finally unlock the door. Any deviation from that caused crossbow bolts to shoot from several of the orc mouths at them. It was Fwoosh that came up with the solution and was almost able to execute it through. Once the correct path was taken, the door unlocked and opened itself leading to another hallway.

In the middle of the hall was a set of double doors, and down some stairs there was a cistern. The party debated on going through the doors and investigating the cistern, and Fogo persuaded them to dive into the cistern first. Or at least, Fogo did. Using his wild shape to become a giant frog he dove in to explore. The cistern was 90 feet deep and had a diameter of 50 feet with the opening at one end. He could see a faint light on the ceiling of the other end. Otherwise, it was filled to the top without any breathing pockets left open.

Swimming to the other end, he could see a hatch with some faint light coming from it, and a large lever in the wall. Thinking that this was the way to open the hatch, he pushed the lever down hoping for the best. When the water began draining rapidly and creating a giant whirlpool, he was sucked down through the false bottom that had collapsed into a put filled with jagged rocks causing his frog form severe injuries. With the water drained, and him changing back to his bedraggled form, he could communicate with the rest on what had happened. Tossing down a rope and pulling them back, they trudged forward to the double doors.

Feeling optimistic, Vladimir pushed the doors open with the help of Angelica and they found another corridor with a set of stairs heading down, and at the bottom four alcoves, two on each side, stood a set of full plate armor. Another set of double doors were at the other end of the hall. Excited at the prospect of gaining some real armor, Vladimir ran forward to fondle the standing armor.

Unfortunately for Vladimir, the armor objected, and all four sets began attacking. With limited room, the party had to frequently switch positions to support Vladimir and Angelica. The fight did not hold many surprises until some of the animated armors were killed, and one of the ones in the back absorbed the fallen armor making itself large, bulkier, and most likely much tougher. But even that one was eventually beaten down by everyone. As each of the armors were defeated, they could see that within them was a mummified orc chieftain that had been stuffed inside to rot there indefinitely. Vladimir was very saddened that all they he could recover was a pile of rust and ash from the armors and his dream of parading around in a loud clanking set of full plate was burst.

Animated Armor

Hoping that there would be some sort of treasure ahead for all the work they had gone through, the party forged ahead. The double doors led to another corridor with two more sets of double doors, one to the south and one to the east. Choosing the closer southern doors, they burst them open looking for some loot. This room was very large and narrow with stone table lining the walls of the room. Upon each table was some sort of large creature’s skull.

They could see a Minotaur head, that was at least three feet across, not counting the horns, a horned demon skull that looked like it came from the demon pillar from earlier, a dragon skull that also appeared to match the one they had seen earlier, and finally a pair of giant human looking skulls, clearly from large giants. A shatter giant sized great sword sat upon a table adjacent to the giant skulls.

Fogo was able to see that all the tables had a faint amount of magic that encompassed whatever was sitting upon them, but that magic was fading, and would most likely end within a few years. Reaching out to touch one of the skulls, the magic popped, and the skull collapsed into dust. Deciding to leave this trophy room intact, they moved on to what they hoped was the last set of doors of the day.

Behind these doors, which were the last ones, they could see a huge sarcophagus floating five feet off the ground resting on top of some white clouds. The sarcophagus was 12-feet in length, and at least three feet high and wide. Fogo started to step in but jumped back just as a lightning bolt struck out at him from that cloud. ISAC was next hoping to use the protections from the statue to weather to lightning bolts, but even he had to retreat as there seemed to be no end to the lightning.

Again, it was Fwoosh that helped solve the problem. Using his newly acquired dagger, he turned invisible, trotted inside, and attached a rope to the sarcophagus and the party pulled it from on top of the cloud causing it fall and smash open. Out popped a mummified dwarf body holding on to a large maul and a small chest. Grabbing both, Fwoosh made his way out, but not before the lightning now having a target, shot a few bolts at his retreating back.

Thinking that this was everything in the tomb, the party was happy to make their way out into the dark night to escape back to Red Larch. As they stepped out of the tomb, arrows were shot at them catching them all by surprise.

And this is where the session ended.

Maps

History Lesson

Good evening gentlefolk, this is your host David Bourgh-Ettin. Last week we reviewed the history and condition of the Kryptgarden Forest, and this week we will be moving further south and look at the Westwood. Westwood was a forest on the Sword Coast North on the eastern edge of the Sword Mountains. Welcome back to our program looking into the history of the savage frontier.

Description

Westwood, as a general term, is used throughout the North to describe the western edges of a forest. This entry, however, details only the Westwood Forest south of the logging town of Kheldell. It’s said that this forest used to extend easterly to the High Forest, north to the city of Yartar, to the Delimbiyr Route in the south, and along the Sword Mountain range in the west. If this is true, Westwood once stood as proud and as large as the High Forest of today. Some sages believe this forest’s been shrinking since the destruction of Netheril.

Geography

The closest settlement to Westwood was Kheldell, which sat on the northwestern edge of the wood at the bottom of the Sword Mountains. This forest covered part of the eastern slopes of the Sword Mountains south of Kheldell. Amphail lay to the south of Westwood.

Westwood was part of a group of forests that were referred to by some as the Other Woods and others as the Moonwoods. The forests in this group were Lurkwood, Southkrypt Garden, Southwood, Moonwood, and Westwood.

History

Notable Locations

Elven Castle

Local legend claims that the ruins of an elven castle stand in a dell at the heart of the Westwood. Much magic exists in the ruins, and they’re supposedly haunted by owlbears and wild trees (probably evil treants preying on intruders). The way is best sought at night, for the route from Kheldell is marked by ancient spells that cause floating moonglow symbols to shine in the darkness.

Shrine of Mielikki

Mielikki is venerated at a hidden shrine in Westwood, and only rangers are guided to her temple. It’s said those who kneel and place fermented seed or newly sprouted oak trees at the altar are rewarded with a healing, neutralize poison, or remove curse spell (whichever is most needed). Those of evil alignment or who venerate evil deities that kneel at the altar are cursed with either a curse, a reversed neutralize poison, or a reversed cure critical wounds spell (whichever is most dangerous).

Campaign Notes

The haunted tomb was fun, a different puzzle appeared for them to solve. The specter was a much tougher fight than they thought it would be, mostly because they were not able to get into a better tactical position. The room was a perfect set up for the specter that was able to move through anything in the room including objects and people able to appear anywhere it wanted and attack. Being intelligence, it was able to focus on one character at a time, meaning that the possibility of death was much greater.

And of course, something was waiting for them on the outside. Afterall, who placed the warning trap that they triggered when thy entered?

Session XXII – Intermission

evil.curmudgeon@gmail.com

2023-08-03

27^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

With a long walk ahead of them, the party used the time to go over some of the things that have happened to them and to think about the contents of the different dreams, visions, and prophecies that they had received.

Dancer started off the conversation expressing concern about how the constable handled the capture Ilmeth. He thought that it was suspicious that Harburk and his deputies were not able to subdue and capture the combative Wheelworks owner. There was some agreement, but Avery was the primary defender of the law in Red Larch and that he felt they were doing the best they could.

This was also when Avery brought up their relationship with Dhelosk, and that it would be very bad for all of them, especially him if they irritated the wizard anymore. This led to them discussing about how to better approach him in the future and be clearer with their communication, as well as not going back and forth with him on objects of interest. It was also brought up that he might be one of the few sources of information related to the wider scale of things that are happening, from being able to give them some history, and general conversation on things related to the arcane. It was also brought up that Dhelosk is powerful enough to take away anything he might want if he truly wanted to. Vladimir suggested that they be much more deliberate in their discussions with him and come to an agreement on the topics before approaching.

Regarding Dhelosk, Vladimir expressed that they needed to find people that they could trust. The constable and Dhelosk seemed to be the only two that they could approach. Dancer continued pushing more suspicion on to Harburk since he was still dissatisfied with the constable’s performance and aggressiveness with chasing the elders and the issues at hand.

They also discussed the statue and even though it has been helpful, they had some concerns because of the things that Dhelosk had warned them that could be happening. ISAC strongly defended the usefulness of the statue and that it has helped them survive more than once. Avery was concerned about the amount of power it had and was not sure if they should even be using it.

Ideas and concerns were being shared among the group when the cults were brought up. They wondered if the cults were somehow connected or operating independently of each other, and that either option was equally valid. Vladimir brought up that the concept of elements is not only wrapped up with the cults, but also the prophecy they had found on the wall in Lance Rock. Their concern that all of that might be related and connected somehow and that they will need to investigate it further.

With what has been happening, then they needed to find the heroes that were mentioned in the prophecy. Since no one had copied it down they would need to go back to make sure they would be able to review the words more closely. Angelica brought up that they did not know if the prophecy meant them or someone else. ISAC asked about the dream Angelica had from her god, and she recited it to the group:

You stand at the edge of a vast, tempestuous sea. Dark clouds loomed overhead, casting an ominous shadow upon the horizon. The air crackled with electricity, and the sound of distant thunder resonated through the air. Istishia, appearing as a colossal figure wreathed in stormy clouds, reached out to you with a hand that sparked with lightning.

“Angelica,” the deity’s voice boomed, carrying a sense of urgency. “A tempest approaches, a tumultuous storm of great magnitude. It gathers strength, threatening to engulf all in its path. Heed my words, daughter of the tempest, for you are chosen.”

You feel a mixture of awe and trepidation, your scales tingling with anticipation. You bow her head, showing reverence to your deity.

“Seek shelter, Angelica,” Istishia commanded. “Gather your friends, those who have stood by your side in times of trial. Together, you must weather the storm that looms on the horizon. Trust in each other’s strength and find solace in the unity of your bond.”

As your deity’s words faded, the vision shifted, revealing Angelica standing among her loyal companions, their unwavering support evident in their eyes. They stood together, backs against the wind, bracing themselves for the impending storm.

“You are not alone, Angelica,” Istishia whispered, his voice gentler now. “Harness the power of water and ice that flows within you, for they shall be your shield against the coming tempest. Stand firm, weather the chaos, and emerge stronger on the other side.”

With those final words, the vision dissipated, and you awaken from you dream. You knew that your path was set before you, and that your destiny intertwined with the approaching storm. Determination surged within your heart as you vowed to gather your companions and prepare for the challenges to come. For in their unity, you would face the storm and emerge victorious, guided by the whispers of the storm god, Istishia.

She attempted to interpret the dream for the group.

“This seemed like a direct message from my god Istishia. It was more than a dream, more like a sending. That I needed to gather friends and allies to survive the upcoming storm and strengthen their bonds. I also saw the entire party together, minus Dancer standing together, and I should harness the water and ice elements to fortify herself. Basically, gird our loins and get ready for the shit coming to us.”

When coming up with goals that each of them had, Dancer reminded them that they still potentially had bandits to clear out. When he was told that they also had a treasure map, Dancer was excited to go after those places and was confused why they had not already gone there. There was some argument about the party not really pursuing coin when Dancer reminded them of their loot aggressiveness in the tombs. ISAC guided the discussion to answer the question, “What is Evil”. Vladimir was a bit unsure how to best define it, when Dancer asked if what they are facing is out to hurt friends and family, and if so, then it is evil.

It was also questioned about what the statue wanted, or if it had wants. It seemed to be of an element source same as the cultists but was perfectly able and maybe even willing to operate against them implying that the entire situation might be more complex than they thought, or that there were multiple agendas that they were facing.

In parallel to these discussions, Dancer finger talked with Fwoosh about going into Ilmeth’s house later tonight and not let anyone know until their mission was complete. Fwoosh was ready for action later once everyone had gone to sleep. With everyone opening up about their personal thoughts, the different members started sharing what each of them had for personal goals. This led them reviewing what they should be doing in the near term, as well as determining where they should set up a base of operations.

Finally getting back to town and to the Blackbutter Inn, Dancer and Fwoosh headed off to bed early intending on getting up early for some undercover reconnaissance. Fogo and ISAC also headed to bed while Angelica, Avery, and Vladimir went over to the Helm at Highsun. The group that went to the Helm met the distinguished Garlen Harlathurl who was bartending there.

Garlen Harlathurl

Enamored with the menu, everyone ordered their drinks with Angelica and Avery ordering full bottles for themselves. There was some small talk around the Elders in town and their actions. Garlen seemed surprised about what they had done. When asked about the constable, Garlen had only good things to say about him. He did bring up his failed business in Waterdeep and that he had done poorly there as a merchant and moved here as a retirement job. A few times during the conversation a much larger man came from the cellar to bring up casks, bottles, and other things and would have a short quiet conversation with Garlen each time.

Justran Daehl

With the long day coming to an end, they all headed back to their rooms at the Blackbutter Inn for evening. Winding down a bit, the three of them all chose to read and work on their journals. Vladimir read his romance novel, Avery made notes in his journal, and Angelica continued reading about Mirabaran Dwarven lineage and the convoluted way that dwarves wrote about their hereditary connections was quick to put her asleep. It did not take long before they all finally went to bed.

28^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

Waking early and before sunrise, Dancer and Fwoosh met at Ilmeth’s Wagonworks to scope out the place and see if they could find anything important left behind. Leaving Fwoosh outside as a lookout, Dancer went in and moved through the building looking for an office and perhaps a bedroom. Going through the workers bunkroom quickly and heading upstairs, it did not take long for Dancer to find the office. It had already been ransacked with papers strewn all over the floor, the drawers dumped open, and the bookcases emptied on onto the floor.

While looking around carefully, Dancer did notice that there was a spot under the desk that looked a bit odd. When he was not able to open the spot, he moved the bookcases in front of the windows to hide any light they might need and brought Fwoosh back to get it open, and he did so easily. Inside was a small chest, and a pair of books. They took the items and before closing the hidden spot, Dancer filled it with a bunch of the papers from the floor. They then headed back to their rooms to get some more sleep, but before Fwoosh headed to bed, he snuck over to ISAC and stole the dagger they had found in the tombs and hid it in his bag.

Later in the morning as everyone was getting ready, ISAC approached Fwoosh and asked what he had been doing in his bag. Fwoosh in a very convincing tone said he was looking for ISAC’s maker’s mark and that he thought that ISAC might have put it in his bag. Before heading down, Dancer looked at what he had collected from Ilmeth’s. The two books appeared to be some sort of accounting books but were written in such a way with abbreviations and summaries that it was impossible to figure out quickly. He failed to open the chest and would have to wait for Fwoosh to open it for him.

With everyone downstairs they got a breakfast, and with some whispered words from Dancer, they went back up to Dancer’s room to investigate what they had found. Avery took the two books to see if he could inspect them more closely, and Fwoosh opened the chest quickly. It contained two pouches of coins, a small silver emblem of the Drow Earth symbol, and a note which read:

“Shipment came through fine, material passed. Payment coming soon as well.”

It did bring up the topic of if the elemental cults were related to each other or not. The fact that they had multiple coins with different Drowish elemental symbols. Even though all the representations were different, they thought they were probably related. The group went to check out the tannery to see if Fogo could recover any of his material he had left there to be processed.

No amount of knocking seemed to get Ulhro Luruth’s attention, nor get him to answer the door. With that failure on hand, he went back to the Blackbutter Inn to work another kitchen shift with Xaasz. Stopping into the Sundries store looking for some more notebooks, Endrith was quick to point out that they had bought them all yesterday, but did have some new romance novels that had come in. Promising to buy more later, they went to their Inn waiting for Dancer.

Endrith Vallivoe

Once everyone was together again, minus Fogo who was on kneepads learning cooking from a Goblin, everyone else headed out to Lance Rock and copy down the blood written prophecy. The trip was uneventful as was copying the scrawl on the wall. Nothing seemed to have changed since they had been here last.

In the realm wh’re destiny int’rtwines,

a bodement f’retold, through ancient signs,

of elemental l’rds and prophets four,

at which hour chaos awakens, the w’rld to expl’re.

The elemental l’rds, fi’rce and unbound,

earth, air, fireth, and wat’r, profound,

with allies by their side, prophets of might,

seeking dominion, to vanquish the lighteth.

Air l’rd’s prophet, with partisan hath raised high,

earth l’rd’s prophet, war picketh to defy,

fireth l’rd’s prophet, dagg’r ablaze,

wat’r l’rd’s prophet, trident’s gentle gazeth.

Togeth’r those gents gath’r, darkness their guideth,

their weapons, unknowing, holdeth secrets inside,

keys to the gateways, wh’re chaos is b’rn,

to saveth the w’rld, a quest might not but beest sw’rn.

But h’roes shalt riseth, their spirits untamed,

to visage the prophets, their destiny unclaimed,

with courage and val’r, those gents’ll hurlyburly the odds,

to reclaim the keys and confronteth the gods.

Through treach’rous battles, those gents’ll striveth to succeedeth,

to slayeth the prophets and fulfill the decree,

to seize the weapons, the keys those gents conceal,

unlocking the pow’r to mendeth and to healeth.

With each fallen prophet, a key is revealed,

a grise clos’r to vict’ry, the darkness repealed,

sealing the gateways, wh’re chaos runs deep,

rest’ring the w’rld from et’rnal catch but a wink.

The h’roes, chosen, their hearts int’rtwined,

unit’d those gents standeth, their purpose defined,

harnessing the weapons, the keys yond ignite,

those gents sealeth the gateways, rest’ring the lighteth.

And so, the bodement shalt cometh to passeth,

a testament to the h’roes’ val’r and class,

f’r those gents possesseth the strength to defy,

to safeguard our w’rld, until the endeth of timeth.

Rememb’r this bodement, etch’d in l’re,

a tale of triumph ‘gainst the elemental roar,

embrace the h’ro within, alloweth thy spirit ignite,

to protecteth our w’rld, pres’rving its lighteth

Looking over the writing that was now flaking off the wall, they began discussing some of the content as well as some of their other experiences. Vladimir pointed out that they seem to be looking for four prophets, and they had some kind of magical weapons. The priests that they had already met were probably working for these prophets.

Deciding that what was left of the cobbled together dragon skeleton might have some value, they used an old ratty carpet to carry the skull back. The skull was proved to be very fragile and continued to crack a little with each step they took, but they were able to get it in some condition back to their Inn. When asking Gwendolyn about it, she suggested that they store it themselves until Dhelosk was available in the morning.

Gwendolyn Venelli

Dropping it off in one of their rooms so they would be able to attempt to sell it to Dhelosk in the morning. Wanting some dinner, everyone except Dancer headed to the Helm. Dancer stopped into the bakery to meet with Jepos. Asking about what has been happening in town and about some of the people they had encountered, Jepos seemed open in sharing.

“It was an interesting thing. I am newly arrived and so it was not something we were aware of. In talking to Mangobarl, the town has been changing in the last several years. Things have been getting more suspicious and people acting out, but with a small rural community that happens sometimes.”

When asked about the Zhentarim in Red Larch.

“Oh, I am only here because of the group you are with. We had known the banditry was happening more, and I was sent out to look it over, which was that Ruined Moathouse. Your group seemed kind of interesting. The Zhentarim did not really have anything here. Mangobarl is just a local contact, almost every town has a contact, it does not mean he does anything. He’s not a thief, he’s not a thug, he’s nothing, he is just a baker that owes us a favor.”

“No, I came to town to follow that group. They seem to be doing some interesting things and I suggested that we learn more about it. You here were a surprise to me, and the other one, I was not expecting him here either. Neither one of you were assigned here. Now there are many of us, which is sort of interesting.”

Dancer, ever ready to pick on the constable, asked about him as well.

“I have not dealt with him directly but from Mangobarl and some of the others, he is just a part time law man here, who does not have much of an official position and is the husband of the butcher. The town sees him as the law, but his authority is limited, most of these small towns are run a group of elders, which are those that got caught. His authority came from them.

When asking about the constable morals and competency.

“Well, I think they made sure he did not involve him, because you can look at his actions around the sinkhole. He argued against them and allowed your group to go in the sinkhole, which they did not want at all because it exposed the crimes they committed. I think he is just busy and does not have time. He is not an investigator. He is just the local law and reprimands those get drunk in public. He is just a small-town sheriff that he has not been trained for this and was just selected because he is former military. He is probably one of the more honest people in town.”

And looking to see if there were any missions for him, Jepos revealed something interesting.

“No, but I think that the Zhentarim will be moving in little more heavily into this town. That weird things are happening here usually means an opportunity for money. In fact, we will probably buy a business here or something. Give us more chances.”

Dancer shared his concern about Dhelosk.

“Oh, he is an interesting one. I have been trying to do research on him and it has not been an easy thing. But I do know that Dhelosk is not his real name. There is a lot of magic around the Blackbutter Inn. They all came into town three or four years ago.”

Checking in about the tanner.

“He has not been out of his house since the sinkhole, but I did hear that Albaeri ran away sometime last night or this morning. So, the tanner is the only one left, well, except the storage guy. But there does not seem to be any evidence, and he has seemed to have avoided it all. He has been trying to help the constable gather evidence against the others.”

Dancer expressed his concern about keeping the Zhentarim presence from the party, especially with Fwoosh and wanted to know how bad it would be if they were revealed.

“Well, one of them has links to the Harpers, one of them has links to the Lord’s Alliance, and one to the Order of the Gauntlet. Two of the three are goody-two-shoes and would not appreciate us and would probably try to burn us out of town.”

“Fwoosh is an interesting thing. He met one of our executives in town, and for whatever reason took a liking to him, and gave him his ring, and if Fwoosh comes by we are supposed to assist. I do not know what the executive’s thought was. Fwoosh has told the rest of the party that he was just given the ring on the way out of town, and that he does not even know what the symbol means and if they have not done anything at this point, it is unlikely they would in the future if he does not talk about us too much. If the baker gets burned, I can always find a new place.”

“We will be expanding our presence here soon; I am just waiting for word to come back from Waterdeep. In fact, I think a team has already gotten to the Bargewright Inn. The concerns have been the bandits, they are not ours. If you could capture some, that would be great.”

“The Ruined Moathouse, I just got a report about that. It seems to be completely covered with ghouls and giant lizards at this point. Something about an extra-large spider living in the main courtyard and filling it completely with webs. There seems to be a huge ghoul warren underneath it. Without whatever was keeping them from it, they seemed to have flooded the entire basement area.”

“But the bandits, there seems to be something guiding them and we just do not know what it is, some force. They have proved to be a bit more organized than bandits should be, and there have been far too many of them. Taking out some of the wagons they have was more like a military exercise than bandits. I had seen some of the soldier types at the Ruined Moathouse, but your friends did not really share much about them.”

Jepos Copperhand

The remainder of the party headed to the Helm for drinks and good food. As usual, the Helm was filled with local Red Larchers. It was there that Vladimir shared more about his past and family, that he was the fourth of nine children and some about his least favorite sister Olga. He also talked about how he joined the army and met Benny. With Dancer joining them, Avery went back to the Inn to work on the ledgers and study them in greater detail. The rest ate, drank, and attempted to listen in on what the locals were talking about.

There was a lot of discussion about the elders, and that two of the elders had run away. Some grumbling about Ilmeth having gotten killed. Gaelkur ran off the same day the sinkhole showed up, as if he knew it was going to be bad. Everyone is wondering what is in the sinkhole. They have heard that there is Dwarven Tomb. There was some talk of bandits along Cairn Road. There were several complaining about the Iceshield Orcs and Uthgardt barbarians attacking farmhouses and that the Samular knights were attempting to defend as well as they could. There was also a lot of local gossip that had little relation to what they were interested in. There was an odd rumor about Thorsk Thelorn, that he had been a mercenary and has treasure buried under his house.

With what they knew, they started planning their next set of actions, and where they should be heading to. Hunting bandits seemed high on several of their lists, but as long as there was loot, everyone was interested, especially Dancer and Vladimir. They planned on hitting the haunted tomb first and work their way around Red Larch through the different locations keeping Red Larch as a safety point, they could run to if needed.

With their next sets of days planned, out the group went back to the Blackbutter Inn and went to bed for the night. Before getting to bed, Avery informed them of what he had found after spending several hours on the ledgers. It seemed that Ilmeth had been using some type of cypher on the ledgers and it was beyond what Avery could figure out. He would need something more to go on to work it out. This surprised everyone since they had only thought of Ilmeth as a drunken and poor woodworker. They did not expect this level of sophisticated work from Ilmeth.

Before Fogo got off his shift, he did see the goblins making something several times that was not meal related. They seemed to be working on herbs and plants and then taking those results to Xaasz where he did something else with those components. Fogo was not sure what they were doing because he had never seen anything like this previously.

29^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

Before anyone got up, Dancer went to the bakery to get his bear claw baking lesson. While not a complete failure, his bear lumps were tasty, if only for the first inch until you got to the raw dough.

Later in the morning, they met with Dhelosk at the front desk and brought down their dragon skull for him to examine. He did not seem to be very impressed, nor seemed to have some for it, but he did bring out Xaasz who did offer up some platinum for the skull and mumbled something about grinding it up for something he was working on. Xaasz did comment that it seemed that all the magic in the skull had already been consumed which is why it had such little value and why it was so brittle.

Dhelosk Quelbeard

Xaasz

While negotiating with Dhelosk about the skull, they party also checked in to see what magic items and potions Dhelosk might have one hand. Fwoosh bought a pair of googles that would also him to see in the dark as well as a cloak that is able to change its color and form to almost anything. Fwoosh was very excited about having a color changing clock. Avery was convinced to purchase a hat of wizardry giving him something a little more than he had. Fogo somehow resisted the magical staff of birdcalls. It was a very tough internal battle Fogo went through, but somehow managed to convince himself he did not need it right now.

When asked about what kinds of things he was interested in for his research, Dhelosk answered that he would more things related to inter-dimensional space. Putting big things in small spaces. He seemed disdainful of Dwarven magic but was interested in Drow magic much more.

Wanting to head to the haunted tomb, they realized that they did not really know where it was and that they should probably go ask for directions from Minny’s daughter. Heading to the poultry store looking for Pell and find out more about what they might be facing. They convinced Minny to allow them to speak to her daughter about the tomb.

Minthra “Minny” Mhandyvver

Her daughter had found a stone door in the side of a hill, and that door was cracked open. She had gone inside and there was a ghost inside that talked to her. It was a glowing person in there, but she was not able to tell if it was a human or not. There was another stone door within and when she went to look at it, the ghost told her she was not allowed to go there and that she should go home. She had a nice conversation with the ghost and then it shooed her on her way.

Before departing, they took a quick peek at the tannery, and they found a deputy guarding in front of the door. When asked about what had happened, they were told that Ulhro Luruth had committed suicide in the last day or two. Still wanting his stuff Fogo asked the condition of any of the work inside and was further told that Ulhro had spiked all the tanks, and anything left there had been ruined.

And this is where the session ended.

History Lesson

Here we are with another session of the history of the savage frontier. This is your host David Bourgh-Ettin, and this week we will be looking deeper into the Kryptgarden Forest. Last week we talked a bit about the creatures making history, and this week we will investigate the forest that old Gnawbones resides in. It has a history that goes back at least to the minus 230^rd century.

Summary

Named after Southkrypt, this small forest is believed to be the second-most-powerful source of the evil that pervades the dwarven ruin, the first being the Sword Mountains lying just north. The eastern outskirts of the forest are often used by the inhabitants of Westbridge for hunting purposes, even they don’t delve farther than a few hours walk into it.

Description

Kryptgarden Forest, also known as Tsordvudd, was a small but ancient and foreboding forest on the Sword Coast North in northwest Faerûn and one of the so-called the Moonwoods of the North. It was a site that once housed long-lost realms of the elves and dwarves.

“Dark times have come to Kryptgarden. May gods and heroes end the corruption on this day!”
Dala Silmerselve

Name

The name ‘Kryptgarden’ arose from the dwarfhold known as Southkrypt Garden, which stood in the north. The forest was itself sometimes called Southkrypt Garden. The name also seemed to originate in the orc realm called Uruth Ukrypt, meaning “Home of Uruth” in Orcish, that rose in the Sword Mountains in the 10th century DR.

Geography

It was located east of the Sword Mountains. It lay just west of the Long Road and the village of Westbridge and north of Waterdeep.

Description

It was an old-growth forest and local humans knew little of what lay within as of the mid-1300s DR. Kryptgarden was a hilly woodland was covered in a thick layer of foul-smelling fog. Parts of the wood had an unexplained reddish hue about the forest floor and the bases of the trees in the late 1400s DR. The forest contained many ruins of bygone dwarven civilizations.

Geographical Features

A portion of Kryptgarden south of Phandalin was known as the Crooked Forest because some of the trees there had been bent by ancient creatures that dwelled there to indicate paths through the forest. Following the passage of Volothamp Geddarm through the area, the forest received more visitors than it had in decades, disturbing several treants and blights.

A deep hole in the ground—known to some as “the orifice”—in the red forest east of the Sword Mountains led to the Underdark and a passage to the Hanging City of Dolblunde.

Flora & Fauna

Small game animals lived in the forest, but few larger creatures dwelled within, as they were readily eaten by Kryptgarden’s most fearsome predator, the dragon Claugiyliamatar.

Activities

Folk from Westbridge hunted animals along the eastern edges of the forest during the 1300’s DR but did not dare go deeper than a few hours on foot. They’d stopped by the late 1400’s DR after some of their fellows went missing. Some logging also went on around the edges in the mid-1300s DR.

History

During the era of the First Flowering, the forest that later came to be known as Kryptgarden was a part of the ancient elven realm of Illefarn, which was founded circa −22,900 DR. The surface-dwelling dwarves of the briefling flourishing realm of Besilmer, from −4420 DR to −4160 DR, also had borders reaching Kryptgarden Forest. When Illefarn fell circa −1100 DR, the elf realm broke up into several smaller states; of these, Rilithar encompassed Kryptgarden Forest.

The green dragon Claugiyliamatar established her lair within the Kryptgarden Forest in the Year of the Evening Sun, 1303 DR.

In the Year of the Warrior Princess, 1489 DR, the Five Factions all gathered in the forest to deal with the rising threat of the renewed Cult of the Dragon. The cult’s Green Dragon Mask was recovered from the lair of Claugiyliamatar in Kryptgarden Forest. Old Gnawbone herself was injured while blows were struck against the Red Wizards of Thay, the Cult of the Dragon, and the Zartruss hobgoblin clan.

Rumors & Legends

Kryptgarden Forest was reputed to be one of the sources of the evil that lurked in the ruined dwarfhold of Southkrypt, and only the second most powerful of them after the Sword Mountains. In the mid-to-late 1300s DR, rumors swirled of another dwarven citadel in the hills at the heart of Kryptgarden, but these were unconfirmed.

At that time, a crazed adventurer was discovered in the plains west of Red Larch, on Kheldell Path. Supposedly the only survivor of a nine-person adventuring company, he rambled on about a strange citadel in Kryptgarden, one that housed insectoid creatures that walked upright, wielded powerful magic, threw weapons that slew a man at 500 paces, and could camouflage themselves so well they could only be detected by smell and tracking, suggesting it was a supernatural power. Moreover, he had unexplainable burns on his arms and back and had no possessions on him. However, this man was a known to be a lair by 1370 DR.

In the 1300s DR, King Witchthorn had a relationship with the Adarbrent noble family of Waterdeep. For decades, the family sent its firstborn child of each generation to pledge an oath to Witchthorn. The children performed an unknown service to the king by their eleventh year and in exchange the family businesses and their homes were protected by secret fey guardians. This arrangement was unknown to all but the eldest son and daughter of each generation.

Campaign Notes

A fairly low impact session, and the characters finally started to compare notes on the things they have seen, like the dreams and other portents that have fallen on their heads. Consequences are still impacting some of the members of Red Larch and the town has still not settled down. The group has begun to discuss setting up a base, whether it is in Red Larch, Lance Rock, or even the Ruined Moathouse, they have not yet decided what might be best for them. Planning on finishing off any lingering items around Red Larch seems to be next on their agenda.

Session XXI – Intermission

evil.curmudgeon@gmail.com

2023-07-25

26^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

The afternoon started off nicely. After a little sacrifice on the altar of Dwarven gods, and now this. A cranky old dead Dwarf wielding dual axes seems to be angry at the party and he is competent for a dead guy, seems to be yelling curses, assuming you understood teeth chatter Dwarvish, and can move around tactically like there was a brain left in the skull pan, and the worst part was that he seemed to be immune to all piercing attacks.

The combat lasted longer than anyone wanted and made a mess of most of the characters involved in it, but everyone survived and were mostly wounded, but no one died, and until they found a small onyx mirror everything seemed normal. Looking into it showed a death that had been avoided sometime in the past. No one really looked more deeply into the mirror for any additional clues since what they did see was horrifying to each one.

Vladimir: You see yourself dead in the mirror – at the sight of the ambush – your body chopped by Iceshield orcs, your head next to Benny’s.

Fwoosh: It is very fascinating – You see yourself in the mirror, but you are dead – it looks like you are at the collector’s house and have been captured and tortured.

ISAC: You see yourself disassembled, a pile of parts on a table, everything is covered in dust and abandoned

Onyx Mirror

ISAC, not afraid, looked into the mirror a second time to see if he would get something new. Instead, it seemed to start sucking his soul out as the party just watched him freeze in place. Eventually managing to get the mirror away from him and smashing it on the ground seemed to have been sufficient to free ISAC from whatever had kept him captivated.

ISAC: In your mind you are swirling in the void no body, but something is pulling you into the distance – you seem to be moving faster and faster.

Moving back to the safe shrine room, the party took a short rest. While resting, Vladimir shared the Dwarvish book he had bought from Endrith at the Sundries store with Angelica. The books were beautifully illuminated manuscripts written in Dwarvish. They contained a genealogical history of the Dwarf clans of Mirabar. ISAC and Vladimir also discussed death and life in general. And the fact that Vladimir was concerned about turning into a creepy skeleton dude after he dies.

At the end of that rest Fogo went back to the Blackbutter Inn so that he could complete another cooking lesson with the chef there. The rest kept looking around and keeping to themselves, however, it seemed that ISAC’s and Vladimir’s cat killing curiosity needed to be scratched and off they headed back to the room of sarcophaguses to inspect, open, and loot as many as they could get to.

It did not take long for the rest of the party to realize that they had left, and probably where they had gone. Joining the two wayward looters, the whole party got into the game of checking for traps and opening the sarcophaguses. With everyone ready, they started moving on to the rest. One in a corner released a spore cloud of yellow mold almost poisoning ISAC and Vladimir. That only seemed to give them strength to start moving faster. In another one they found it filled with nothing but skulls, all from orcs and Drow. It did not warrant a second look, and off they went again. They were surprised when the second to last one had nothing but a huge mirror in it that did not seem to cast a reflection when someone investigated it. Unwilling to remove it after the last experience they continued their exploration.

In one of the sarcophaguses, they did find a note written in Dwarvish.

Note Found in the Tombs

When translated by Angelica, it stated:

“gods forgive us — we could not stop th”

The party finally got to the last one. If it was by luck or just random chance, this one was trapped and activated all the carved reliefs of Dwarves and creatures along the walls and ceilings to open their mouths and to spew out poison gas. It was slow enough to allow everyone to escape with only a few being affected by the poison. It was at this point they decided that their looting, or as they called it retrieval exploration, had come to an end, and off to the Blackbutter Inn they went.

Angelica and Avery had headed to the Inn a bit before the rest and managed to get themselves hammered and started singing nonsensical songs made of mismatched tunes and syllables that sounded like words but was not. While in the kitchen getting yelled at in Goblin, Fogo did notice that several times during the different meal preparations, occasionally Xaasz seemed to be working on something that was not meal related.

Xaasz

To be prepared for the next morning, Vladimir went ahead and bought two Dhelosk’s special Hair of the Dog drinks so they would be ready in the morning for the two that were still attempting to sing with their foreheads pressed against the table. Fwoosh inquired about the clock on the mantel and Gwendolyn Venelli told him that it had been a gift to Dhelosk from a Gnome Workshop, and that there were several Gnomish workshops in Waterdeep.

Gwendolyn Venelli

Being that it was late, the group bought food and drink to fill their pie holes with something that was not rations and stale water. The discussion eventually came around about what Fogo was doing in the kitchen. Dancer who had witnessed the glorious chaos of the Blackbutter Inn kitchen explained about how the whole kitchen was being run by Goblins and that all the counters were about a foot and a half high, therefore explaining why Fogo needed knee pads to work within there. Some things suddenly made a lot more sense the group. Although when Dancer described that the Goblins used all their limbs, including their very nimble toes to cook, Vladimir’s stomach seemed to have some difficulty.

When Vladimir asked Gwendolyn about the Goblins, he was informed that they all had been working for Dhelosk for over 40 years, and probably longer based off the stories she had heard from Xaasz. When thinking about it, Vladimir realized that something was not quite right, since Goblins tend to only live 30 years at best, maybe 35 in captivity. That was when Gwendolyn also revealed that Dhelosk himself is almost 300 years old.

She continued to talk about the Goblins and explained that they were almost like small green Gnomes, but instead of tinkering, they much preferred playing with chemicals, usually poison. At some point, Angelica started burping something fierce and let loose an explosion of thunder and lightning as her Dragon’s Breath was belched out point blank into the table destroying it completely. ISAC was quick to pay for the damage and everyone decided it would be best to head to their rooms and rest for the evening.

27^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

In the morning, Angelica and Avery felt like there were 50 little Dwarves hammering inside their heads and a pair of Elves with lances poking the back of their eyes. Heading down, they were quick to quaff their Hair of the Dog. Fogo was surprised to see their normal table missing and a small burn mark on the floor in its place, but they all settled down for some breakfast and conversation. Before much time went by, Fwoosh went over to Dhelosk and gave him the book that contained a copy of all the runes that were on the floating stone in the shrine room from the tombs. He seemed surprised and happily took it promising to investigate it and get back to Fwoosh in a week or so. Dhelosk did mention that some of the runes looked like they had come from the fifth and seventh century.

Dhelosk Quelbeard

When Fwoosh brought up the Golden Statue, he mentioned that the statue seemed to be absorbing some sort of elemental energy from specific types of creatures. The group had mostly decided to show him the current state of the statue, but ISAC seemed very reluctant in letting Dhelosk examine it. When the conversation had a lull, Dancer ran off for more Bear claws, and so Fwoosh filled the gaps asking Dhelosk about the clock. He told Fwoosh to go and look at the back of the clock, he would be able to see the maker’s mark on it, and that there were many Gnomish workshops in Waterdeep. Once Dancer was back, the conversation once again came back around to the statue.

“So, the statue, you said that it has changed. I did say before that it seemed to be awakening in some way, has it awakened?”

“It seemed to have awakened at least a little bit. Now it can produce fire.”

“Can I see the statue?”

“ISAC has it.”

Fwoosh went over to ISAC and tried to convince him to allow Dhelosk to examiner it, but ISAC just was not willing to let it go, even at a distance. Fwoosh ran over to Vladimir with a concerned and questioning look.

“He won’t come, something is not right with him.”

The group began trying to figure out why ISAC was not willing to show Dhelosk the statue. No matter the argument, ISAC was not willing to take it out. The more they argued, the more stubborn he become became. Trying a new direction, they asked Dhelosk on where they might find more information on their own. Being told that they would have to go to the Wizard Academy in Waterdeep or go to one of the Drow kingdoms in the Underdark. Neither location was easily accessible, and the Underdark a place of great danger.

“The Underdark is not a place for the weak of heart, it is dangerous, even me going there was a perilous situation. I would not advise attempting it anytime soon. When you are powerful enough to go, you will figure out how to get there, if you do not know how to get there, then you are probably not powerful enough to do it.”

“But you might even find an entrance in the valley somewhere. There are Drow ruins under the Sumber Hills, so there used to be entrances, or should have been entrances to the Underdark. Although the old Dwarven ruins are sitting on top of them. If you follow the ruins deep enough, you will probably eventually find an entrance.”

“Is it normal for Dwarven ruins to be on top of Drow ruins?”

“No, there is at least a thousand years between the two. The Drow were here, and then went away for some reason, and then the Dwarves came afterwards.”

“And the Dwarves went away for some reason?”

“The Dwarves did not last more than two or three hundred years. It was not one of the troll wars, but trolls and orcs invaded and destroyed the Dwarven areas.”

A few other questions came forth from Fogo, and he continued to apologize to Dhelosk about them keeping it back at this time.

“I have already handled it once, but now you seem reluctant to allow me to examine it again. Is it awakening more?”

“Yes, that is what we understand.”

“When artifacts awaken, they can sometimes influence your thoughts. Just be aware as it awakens, if it is an artifact, who knows what it really is, it could be further influencing what you think and do.”

“How will we know when it is fully awakened?”

“Well, it will probably talk to you. If I can examine it, I might be able to tell what kind of awakening it is. Sometimes artifacts get more powerful and sometimes smarter.”

“Is there anything we should look out for in an awakening artifact?”

“As long as your directions align, there should not be any problems.”

“How do we know if they align?”

“It will probably tell you or attempt to influence you in a direction it wants you to go. It could be anything. It could just be gathering power. It could be broken and gathering power to fix itself. Without examining it, I cannot tell you which direction it is going. There are a hundred possibilities.”

“Do you think it might be influencing me right now.”

“Hard to say.”

“If it has moved from one of you to another, it has potentially identified you as a group. So, it got whatever it needed from the first, and now it is getting something from the second. This is not to say it is a bad thing, there are more good things than bad things out there when it comes to these things. You did say it has a multitude of functions that are beneficial to you.”

With those heavy thoughts weighing them down, they then brought up the effects of the onyx mirror they had found. Dhelosk did not know much about, nor was able to help them much, but did let them know that many times that magic items that showed you the possibilities of alternate realities was something that each person was only allowed to investigate it once, but a second look, it might try to consume that person. They also brought up the second mirror and Dhelosk expressed interest in that one as well.

Bringing Fogo up to speed since he missed the last part of the exploration, and described all the things they had found, as well as a lot of coin. One point of interest was the staff they had found which and they had Avery Identify it in the public room of the Inn. With an audience of everyone there as well as the party, he was able to determine that staff was in fact magic, but only contained some residual magic and no longer had any functions.

The conversation finally got around to the party collecting their wagon and horses from Ilmeth Waelvur. They found the constable yelling at Albaeri Mellikho who was still hiding in her home and refusing to come out. Harburk Tuthmarillar was not having much success with her, and was happy to be moving on somewhere else, although confronting Ilmeth was not going to go well.

Albaeri Mellikho

Harburk Tuthmarillar

Collecting his deputies, the constable and the party all went to the Wheelworks. When approaching, Ilmeth started yelling at them to go away and to stop bothering him. The party wanted their wagon and horses, and he refused to allow access. It went back and forth with Dancer pushing the hardest on Harburk to act. The constable was not looking for a violent confrontation and knew that Ilmeth would calm down eventually, but Dancer just kept pushing and pushing. Finally, the constable had enough of it all, and told Dancer to back off, and then instructed his deputies to kick in the door to Ilmeth’s place.

Ilmeth Waelvur

Ilmeth was waiting for them inside with a short sword and as the deputies tried to secure him Ilmeth cut at them and wounded several of them. Harburk was trying to help but due a quick movement by Ilmeth catching Harburk by surprise, the constable inadvertently stabbed Ilmeth in the heart killing him. The owner and proprietor of Ilmeth’s Wheelworks was now dead.

Ordered to head around to the side by Harburk, the party were able to get into the back area and find their wagon and horses. The horses were in poor condition, clearly not haven eaten in several days nor had much to drink. Their wagon on the other hand had no wheels. A quick search only exposed broken wheels and broken wagons around the yard. Heading over to Thelorn’s Safe Journeys, they were able to convince Thorsk to get their wagon with his large flatbed wagon and bring it back, replace the wheels, repair any damages, and add in windows on to their wagon.

Thorsk Thelorn

Now that the wagon was settled, they needed a safe place to store the horses. Avery negotiated with the Farrowvale family, the parents of the two girls Isabella and Sophia that had been rescued from Lance Rock, to store the horses at their farm. The family agreed and eventually the whole group joined them out at the farm dropping off the horses. The girls were happy to see Dancer, somewhat horrified with the naked riding cat of Avery’s, but happy to see the party. After dropping off the horses, the group had dinner with the family and afterwards they headed back into town since it was getting late, and it had been a long day already.

And this is where the session ended.

History Lesson

Once again this is David Bourgh-Ettin bringing you history from around Faerûn. Again, we will be continuing form last week covering more of the history of the Savage Frontier.

History is not just about a place and time, but many times it is about the people, or in today’s case a creature. A creature that has lived for several millennia. The great ancient green dragon named Claugiyliamatar. It is unknown how old she might truly be at this time, since anyone attempting that inquiry only ends up as a pile of melted goo.

Some ballads call Claugiyliamatar “Old Gnawbone” for her habit of carrying a corpse dangling from her jaws to munch on absently from time to time, just as some humans suck on unlit pipes or chew cigars. She is cunning, paranoid, and possessed of a cruel sense of humor: trapped victims have been known to escape her because she played with them to watch their pain and suffering instead of slaughtering them outright.

Claugiyliamatar lives alone, driving away male green dragons who come courting, but she has always been rumored to employ several dozen loyal human and halfling agents to work behind the scenes for her in the less savory side of business in Neverwinter and Waterdeep. These agents make profits on goods made scarce by the dragon’s attacks. Old Gnawbone seems to enjoy manipulating affairs in the cities for the sake of wielding secret power, not for the wealth it brings her.

Claugiyliamatar is fascinated by human and elven women who wield power, and she spends hours watching them from her lair through her array of crystal balls. This collection of scrying spheres marks the second thing that fascinates Claugiyliamatar: magic, especially items that allow her to take human form and participate in the things humans do (knifings in alleyways, for example, and passionate courting, and, well, drinking). Her personal spells are too weak to enable her to take human shape, so she watches the nobles of Waterdeep and the sorceresses of Neverwinter for hours at a time, learning who has magic and where it is hidden, before sending her agents forth to steal it. Woe betides an agent who tries to cheat Old Gnawbone out of even the tiniest scrap of magic: he will find himself nailed to a tree deep in the forest, drenched with blood, and left for the wolves (or other hungry forest denizens).

Having her own way is everything to Claugiyliamatar. Among other dragons, her reputation for trickery makes her best avoided. Balagos, for instance, considers her a twisted, crabbed thing given to petty silliness and, as such, beneath his notice.

She is a tireless foe who goes to ridiculous lengths to cause even small harm to someone she regards as an enemy, and this “worry-all-the-bones” trait has made most other dragons leave her alone. This is just fine with Old Gnawbone, as it leaves her free to pursue her schemes wrapped in the presumption of her own supremacy over other dragons. It also leaves her great Waterdeep as part of her territory. That there are more than a dozen steel dragons and were-dragons’ dwell in the city under her very nose, and generally regard her activities with amusement, is something she serenely ignores, even when one of her agents is imprudent enough to point it out to her.

Claugiyliamatar’s Lair

Old Gnawbone lairs in a cavern in Kryptgarden Forest, at the end of a deep ravine that runs from the base of one of the mountains that bounds the old, thickly grown woods on the north. Several tombs and abandoned dwarfholds pierce the mountain walls nearby, including the infamous monster-haunted complex known as Southkrypt. Claugiyliamatar employs both human agents and woodland creatures as guards around her lair, to lead intruders astray (sometimes with the aid of audible glamers and other spells she casts herself) into waiting traps or into one of the waiting perils of another cave.

The green dragon doesn’t seem to have a name for her abode, but to humans it’s the Deeping Cave, a name of forgotten origin that it possessed long before Claugiyliamatar arrived the early 14^th century.

The cave gapes at the end of a gloomy, vine-crossed gully overhung by gigantic old oaks and duskwoods. Within, Old Gnawbone’s lair is a weird place of creeping phosphorescent lichens, giant toadstools, and hanging mosses draped over statues of imperious human women (warriors, mostly) looted from a dozen tombs.

At the back of the cave, Claugiyliamatar slithers about in the gloom from her bed of coins to the alcove where her crystal balls glow and flicker. She often spends hours sprawled before them, watching what befalls far away, while a servant (always a man clads only in manacles and chains, though these are a decorative costume he can remove whenever desired) oils her soft scales with tree-sap and ointments made to the dragon’s own formulae from crushed and boiled forest leaves, fungi, and roots.

Claugiyliamatar is vain and believes she will stay youthful and supple if her scales are tended daily, polished with these healthy substances to a deep, almost blue, emerald hue. Those who anoint her are allowed to scoop up as many coins they can grasp in one hand (only!) from her hoard-bed as payment when they leave. Thus, attending the dragon is a popular duty among her servants — though one must be careful to do nothing to make Old Gnawbone suspect treachery; she’s been known to roll over with sudden, deliberate speed and crush a servant beneath her bulk.

Claugiyliamatar’s Domain

From Deeping Cave, Claugiyliamatar holds sway over a dominion that stretches from the southern bank of the River Mirar down the Sword Coast to the north bank of the Dessarin, and along the western fringes of the High Forest to about Dead Horse Ford, where it swings north and west in a wide arc over the Evermoors to take in Nesmé, Longsaddle, and Grunwald, to reach the Mirar south of Mirabar. If all the borders of her territory are disputed by other dragons (particularly northern Neverwinter Wood and the land between the Dessarin and the High Forest) and her ability to waltz into Waterdeep is more fantasy than something she dares do, Claugiyliamatar cares not. She rarely flies anywhere east of the Long Road and seldom leaves her lair in any case, preferring to watch through her scrying-crystals and have agents work for her.

Lance Rock, a landmark west of the Long Road south of Red Larch, looks as if a gigantic boulder were hurled down from the sky to strike deep into the ground — and that’s just what happened. A brash young adult red dragon, Smergadas, liked the look of the lands around the Dessarin. After flying about unchallenged for most of a day, he filled his belly with roaming deer and curled up for a nap — whereupon Old Gnaw- bone, who’d been watching him through one of her crystals, emerged from her lair, plucked a loose boulder almost as large as herself from atop the mountains, and flew over to drop it on him. Then she landed to fill her own belly with foolish red dragon.

Conclusion

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this ancient green dragon has been kicking around for a long time, hates being interrupted, and fundamentally is a vain, ill-tempered, vindictive creature that claims dominion over a large area of land including the Dessarin Valley, and not many dragons are willing to contest her in her claims. Wander not the northern areas of the Kryptgarden Forest lest you incur her wrath, one that she will happily fester on for decades.

Campaign Notes

The Tomb of Moving Stones has been completed. Waking up the cranky dead Dwarf and the not so quick killing of him did not really reveal anything new. One more of the Believers dies, this time in a fit of fury. What will happen with all those businesses that now have no owners? When will those Dwarves arrive? They party seemed to have been in a hurry to loot because of the worry that the Dwarves would arrive and take it all before them.

Session XX – Intermission

evil.curmudgeon@gmail.com

2023-07-18

25^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

After completing their discussion and reviewing of what they found and a tour of the tombs with the constable, the tired party wandered their way back to the Blackbutter Inn. The constable had run off to fetch his deputies to gather in the those involved and start interrogating them on what they had been doing. As they passed near the sinkhole, they could see that most of the crowd had wandered off.

A small barricade had been built around to prevent any more mishaps with additional children falling in. Most of the preventive measures seemed to be set up ten to 15 feet from the sinkhole, obviously fearing more of a collapse.

Arriving at the Blackbutter Inn, they were immediately directed by the server to head to the back by going around the building and to wash off before entering the building. With all the mud attacks, exploding mud devils, and having a corridor explode around them did cause all of them to far dirtier that any sane person would prefer. Gwendolyn Venelli came out with a tray of ale and offered a free meal to the team for their hard work in rescuing the children in the sinkhole.

Gwendolyn Venelli

Quickly washing up and reentering the Inn they all decided it was best to get a meal, especially since it was going to be free. Before eating, they all went to their rooms for quick clothes change. They reconvened in the main room except Dancer who wanted a warm bath in his room. Vladimir seemed a bit jealous of the individual bath and individual room that Dancer had, but he still had warm dreams of large teddy bears. Everyone collected back and ordered food and since Dancer had not come down, Fwoosh being friendly, had ordered a large bowl of clotted cream and a spoon for the Tabaxi. Dancer’s only comment was that he liked meat too.

Vladimir started a discussion about the friends that all had escaped with Fwoosh from the Collector. Fwoosh described their names and their specialties. Which led Dancer to ask about who was Benny. Vladimir explained more about how he knew Benny and as well as a little about the ambush that led him out of the army and eventually to Waterdeep. With the different soul baring stories coming out, ISAC explained a bit more about his awakening and that he believes that his name might be an acronym.

This brought up something that Fogo was interested in, which was if anyone belonged to any factions as he was a member of the Emerald Enclave. Vladimir was a part of the Lord’s Alliance, Angelica was with The Order of the Gauntlet, and Fwoosh was confused if he belonged to the baker’s guild or something else. This caused a lot of Thieves’ finger-talk with Dancer about their relationship with their faction and Dancer convincing Fwoosh to not disclose their relationship with the bakery and their faction.

With Fwoosh talking about his past and his home a clocktower, Avery noticed that there was a small clock on the mantle of the main fireplace. This also led Fwoosh there who seemed fascinated with it. Dancer gave a little more information about his past and the source of his name and everyone shared a bit more with each other. The group was opening a little more and becoming closer to each other.

It seemed that the party had opened enough and felt like they trusted Dancer sufficiently such that they showed him the Golden Statue and some of its capabilities. He was enamored with the fact that once it was about ten feet away from ISAC it would disappear and reappear in ISAC’s hand. It was also mentioned that it seems to be growing in power and was awakening in some way. ISAC also explained that every time they killed an elemental type of creature the statue seemed to absorb something from them upon their death. Dhelosk, the owner of the Blackbutter Inn is a wizard, and had identified the symbols on the statue as the four drow symbols for the elements, and that it was very old, maybe as much as 5,000 or 6,000 years old.

Golden Statue

The group continued to talk about some of their previous adventures and opened it up for Dancer to join them. He was very amenable to joining the group and adventure along with them. They did mention a little of some of the odd dreams they had but did not explain much to Dancer. He told them to consider that they had ingested something that might have caused that because it was just crazy.

Moving the discussion along, and ensuring no one was close enough to listen in, they decided to try and decipher the text they found on the door with the dwarven carving. Angelica who had been studying Dwarven in her seminary work was able to figure out the exact words for everyone. Before working on a solution Dancer suggested that they just sell what they knew to the Dwarves and not tempt themselves with the Tomb since it was scary for Dancer since he feared the undead, curses, traps, and all the possible combinations of those.

The conversation went into circles a bit as they tried to figure out what it meant. Fogo pushed that it could represent the four elements and might be related to the other elemental objects they had found, while Angelica suggested they might want to think about what the known attributes of Dwarves are. This seemed to have given them several new ideas. In the next few hours, they were able to come up with a plan and items they needed to purchase the next day to enact what they thought was the solution. With what they thought to be a solid plan everyone headed up for a much-needed rest.

26^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

After rising in the morning, they found Constable Harburk Tuthmarillar waiting for them already drinking some ale. He complained that he had not yet gotten to bed while working on the investigation and there were already issues. It seems that someone had murdered Baragustas Harbuckler last night by dismembering him, pinning the parts on a wall, and gouging out his eyes and replacing them with some small stones. Sometime while the sinkhole was being explored by the party, Marlandro Gaelkur had closed his shop and ran off somewhere. This morning Elak Dornen stole all his business’s coins and valuables and snuck away leaving his very angry wife and several children behind. The town is concerned that she will have some difficulty in being able to keep the business running without the gold to pay the workers.

Harburk Tuthmarillar

Baragustas Harbuckler

Marlandro Gaelkur

Elak Dornen

Albaeri Mellikho was arguing that she had nothing to do with it, Ilmeth Waelvur was stinking drunk and acting overly belligerent, and Ulhro Luruth was just hiding in his shop. When asked about Braelen Hatherhand and his father, Harburk explained that Rotharr had been kicked out of his house by his wife. He had come into town, drank a bunch, and then swore vengeance on the those that did this to him before departing for parts unknown.

Albaeri Mellikho

Ilmeth Waelvur

Ulhro Luruth

All the elders implicated that were still in town were attempting to blame Baragustas for everything, but there was little evidence except a lot of finger pointing. While Aerego Bethendur had been implicated, there was even less evidence about him participating. What was interesting was that Aerego started helping the constable with finding some evidence and reporting in on what he knew to prove the guiltiness of the other elders.

Aerego Bethendur

While the Harburk was explaining, Dancer and Fwoosh decided that they needed to run to the bakery for some bear claws. Continuing to explain what had been happening, he finally got to Grund who just seemed guilty of being bullied into helping. Grund was released but did not seem to be normal happy-go-luck attitude and in fact was no longer tolerating anyone stealing his pickles and had even beaten two men this morning when they came by. ISAC was curious if any of the bodies or the suspects had any tattoos, ones that matched any of the drow elemental symbols.

Grund

Arriving at the bakery and looking for Jepos, it turned out that only Mangobarl Lorren was there while Jepos was out doing something. Not waiting around, they ran back to the Blackbutter Inn.

Mangobarl Lorren

As the party described the things, they had found such as bandits having castles, the possibility of there being different four elemental cultists, that the bandits and the cultists organizations and that they might be working together, and that the elders might even be involved in all of this since the earth symbol was found in the tombs too. Going for a stronger drink, Harburk fortified himself before asking clarifying questions about all of that. Before Harburk could depart, Vladimir suggested that the constable reach out to the military commander in Amphail. Leaving less happy than he arrived, the constable left to search for tattoos and anything else.

Jumping in, Avery went over to talk to Dhelosk before getting riled up by Fogo shortly. He purchased a spell and a lot of magic ink to allow him to copy spells into his spellbook and therefore making himself more universally useful. Once completed, it was Fogo’s turn who took advantage of Dhelosk’s kindness by getting a bunch of items identified and priced, although for some reason not the dagger with the dried blood they had found in the tombs. Dhelosk was happy to help, especially when Fogo brought out the Lantern of Equivalent Exchange and his Ring of Free Action. The wizard was very interested in purchasing both, but Fogo was not selling anything except a cheap magic mace, and then headed back to the table and leaving the disgruntled Dhelosk behind.

Dhelosk Quelbeard

After a small discussion with the rest of the group Fogo came back and asked about purchasing some Bags of Holding. After admitting there were a couple available at a now premium price, Fogo relented and sold the lantern to help cover the cost of buying those useful bags.

Deciding to visit many places in parallel the party split up visiting different locations. Fogo went to the smithy to fetch his newly made knives. That proved to be a quick jaunt and then joined Angelica and Avery at the Allfaith’s Shrine to pick up some healing potions and fondle the dead body of Baragustas’s body to look for tattoos. Dancer, Fwoosh, ISAC, and Vladimir visited Ironhead Arms to sell all the excess arms and amor they had collected.

Laefra Tantur

At the shrine Angelica and Avery purchased a large pile of healing potions and convinced Imdarr and Lymmura to allow them to go through and inspect Baragustas’s body. Before their search, they inquired about having Imdarr perform a remove curse if they encountered one when attempting to identify the magic dagger they had found in the tombs. They were instructed to head in the back with their discission on whether Avery would identify the dagger or not and that they should take the box with the body parts to the back of the building for their searching. Once the search was completed, the three of them headed back to the Blackbutter Inn to wait for the rest except Avery who went to his room to start copying spells.

Imdarr Relvaunder

Lymmura Auldarhk

At Ironhead Arms, the four of them sold a pile of armor and a few weapons while Dancer filled up his almost empty quivers and Fwoosh picked up some daggers. Finishing up their business they headed back to the Sundries store.

Feng Ironhead

At the Sundries store Fwoosh was surrounded by children all looking for more sweets, especially those bear claws, but they were all disappointed when all Fwoosh delivered was a pair of sourdough bread loafs. It was disappointment all the way around. Purchasing some charcoal and checking in on some better-quality rope, they were able to buy everything except the non-hemp rope. Fwoosh was able to pick up an interesting toy top that was spun using a string. Just before departing, Vladimir bought some blank books, a couple of Dwarvish books, as well getting one of the romance books (The Bard and the Rising Tower) secretly from Endrith while no one was looking.

Endrith Vallivoe

Seeking some fine wood, Dancer convinced them to head to Thelorn’s Safe Journeys so he could acquire some higher quality wood for his carving fetish. Meeting Thorsk, a large and scarred man, Dancer had a nice set of selections to choose from. Vladimir attempted to convince Thorsk to take care of his horses and wagon but was continually rebuffed. Dancer suggested they use the farm of the old woman they had rescued, but it was not something Thorsk knew about.

Thorsk Thelorn

Finished with their business and shopping the last of the wayward group headed to the Blackbutter Inn and meet up with the rest. Going over their tomb raiding plan once again, they started checking to make sure they had everything that was needed. Vladimir picked up a cask of Dwarven Ale and remembering that they still needed some tobacco and a pipe, everyone except Avery ran back to the Sundries store to fetch those.

After collecting Avery, the party headed out to the northern quarry to gain access to the Dwarven Tombs and finish looting the spaces they had not done previously. Getting the name of the old woman they saved before heading down, the group all headed into the Tombs. They made their way to the locked Dwarven door and got ready to execute their plan on opening it. Reviewing the plan once again they began executing what they thought was the solution.

Starting off with putting the coals in the eyes caused an immediate reaction which almost caused Vladimir to fall over. A loud chunking noise started coming from the door with the loud sound occurring once a second. In a more of a panic mode, they lit the coals on fire, poured ale into the saucer, dropped a gold piece into the slot, and with the lit pipe blew smoke into the mouth. A different noise started from within the door, and it unlocked and opened itself. Their careful planning and discussions of the solution had paid off. The door was open.

Stone Door with Dwarf

Description of the door: The door is a dark grey granite that still has remains of faded paint upon it. The stone dwarven warrior stare outward at those in the hallway. Its eyes are holes large enough to fit a small hand while there is a hole leading into the mouth, the left hand is holding a stone saucer with a small hole on the bottom of it, and finally the right hand is held out as if waiting to hold something. It is at an angle that will cause whatever is in the palm to slide into what appears to be a pouch that has a slot on the top of it.

Surrounding the carving in Dwarven on the door is the following:

Aundra e eth hallanaryr wundstr avor corruption

Jert eth vjakr avor ljef

Grasp eth murmal avor temptation

Ynsta eth aldrorz anzjon

Which translated to:

Breath in the heavenly air of corruption

Drink the water of life.

Grasp the metal of temptation.

Feel the burning sight.

Wandering down the steep ramp and a turn, they came to a large domed room that had another large floating glowing stone in the middle and the room was filled with some sort of mist that obscured the vision. When attempting to see magic, the mist blocked all of it. Going into the room, they found three 20-foot-tall statues of Dwarves. Each of the Dwarves had a different symbol in front of them.

Symbol of the Northern Dwarf Statue

Symbol of the Western Dwarf Statue

Symbol of the Southern Dwarf Statue

Angelica was not able to discern what gods they might have been from but speculated that these might be very old representations of the Dwarven gods. Wandering around and looking for magic more closely, the floating rock was radiating as well as all three statues, but nothing more could be discovered. She was able to determine that this room must be some sort of shrine to the Dwarven gods.

The rest of the party convinced Angelica to cast Gust of Wind in the room to attempt to get rid of the mist, but it had no effect that they could see. They next all surrounded the floating stone and started turning in a circle clockwise and back to see if that changed anything, but again, nothing seemed to change or happen.

Wondering what to do, Fwoosh stepped forward to the northern statue and offered his Pick mask as an offering. The mask vanished and a small tattoo of a mask appeared on his hand. Excited to partake of any boons, Vladimir tried by sacrificing his old personal battle axe to the northern statue, and it too was accepted. Vladimir felt he was stronger if he faced certain types of creatures.

Now everyone else was in a bit of a frenzy and did not want to be left out of anything special happening. But anything they placed on the third statue’s base caught fire and turned into ashes. Maybe they should not have started with Grund’s old grungy and beaten and bloody studded leather. They tried a couple of other items but all of those caught fire and turned into ashes. Thinking they needed something more expensive; Dancer ran back into town to buy back one of the armors they had sold as well as a side jaunt to pick up a couple romance books (A Fairy and his Paramour and The Dragon Mounting the Knight) that attracted his attention. But when placed at the base of the statue, the chainmail also went up into flames and then ashes.

They were going to continue when Avery offered some advice. He stated that if this was really a shrine that gave boons, they would be very limited and if you pushed too hard, you would very likely get an anti-boon. Deciding that a new curse would be bad, they moved on to the rooms where the sarcophaguses were, but leaving Fwoosh and ISAC behind so Fwoosh could keep copying the runes on the floating stone.

Deciding that they should first using Fogo’s Detect Trap since this was a tomb, and according to Dancer, everything was probably trapped. Moving to one end to see as many of the coffins as possible he cast his spell. While he did notice one of the coffins trapped, it also seemed that casting the spell in a firm loud voice also awoke something they were not expecting. In the alcove at the very end, the top was tossed off and a medium sized skeleton looking much like a dead bearded dwarf holding a pair of axes leaped out and glared at them.

Dwarven Skeleton Champion

And this is where the session ended.

History Lesson

This is David Bourgh-Ettin bringing you history from around Faerûn. Today we will be continuing form last week covering more of the history of the Savage Frontier.

This week we will start talking about Dessarin Valley. While most of the current west coast scholars and cities call this the savage frontier, it is equally ancient as any other area on the Sword Coast. There are many stories of Drow, Dwarves, Orcs, and the Uthgardt. There are many ruins and old buried secrets there, most of which we still have not found, mostly due to the danger involved with the different barbaric folks that inhabit the valley.

The earliest known inhabitants are the drow who had created an underground city and temples sometime around minus 52nd century Dalereckoning, usually shorten to DR. Not much is known about them since any records are buried very deeply in those hills, and most likely into the Underdark. It was not until about the minus 43rd century that we finally have more written records, although even those are somewhat sparse from the subsequent orc invasions.

The dwarves built a magnificent metropolis and fortifications all under the Sumber Hills called Tyar-Besil. It was said to not only completely cover the underground of the Sumber Hills, but all the way to the Sword Mountains and the High Forest. It was a crowning achievement for the dwarves and said to have been something so stunning with its engineering and construction that artisans came from thousands of miles to see it. It is unfortunate that it only lasted a mere two hundred some years. Their king Torhild Flametongue was killed in one of the many battles with giants and trolls, who both still infest the Sumber Hills to this day.

We can still find many fortifications and old ruins around the valley, but these are not usually part of Tyar-Besil. These instead belong to a much later generation of dwarf and explorers. In the 9th century Dalereckoning a group of adventurers settled in the valley building several strongholds. They managed to entice several groups of dwarves at the same time who also then build different settlements and defensive works to help them old out against the constant invasions of orcs and other creatures.

Campaign Notes

Some elders ran, some are sticking it out, and at least has been murdered. The party heads back down into the tombs to try and finish off what they found before Dwarves show up and take the party’s soon to be well earned loot. The Dwarven Shrine was a nice find a couple of boons might be helpful later. Waking the Dwarven Skeleton Champion? That was just a bonus.

Session XIX, Prelude

evil.curmudgeon@gmail.com

2023-07-11

25^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

After the combat, they decided that they need to keep moving quickly. Heading east through the last room they had cleared, it led to a hallway and at the end of the hallway was an old man whittling sitting on a bench. Baragustas Harbuckler, a retired carpenter was quick to start begging for mercy even before the party got to him. After some interrogation they were able to determine that he was not only a believer like many others, was quick to name many of the other believers, and was somehow involved with the murder of the men from the other room. He attempted to convince the group to not go further east into the tomb of the delvers.

Baragustas Harbuckler

“Aerego, Albaeri, me, Braelen the boy who is over there, Elak, Ilmeth, Marlandro – but he is kind of shifty, think he has been, well, donno, Rotharr who is Braelin’s father, and Ulhro the tannery guy.”

He did mention that when the stones move, they would cause bad luck and the earth would move. He also let them know that the stone masked men and the mephits had just come by a couple of minutes ago and had instructed him to say stay where he was found. He also talked about the Earth Priest gave them instructions on the interpretation of when the stones did move.

“From time to time, the great stones change position when no one is watching. That is how they talk to us. They show us signs of coming danger and warn us when we make bad choices.”

“The believers sneak in at night, they take the tunnel in and wear the cloaks to hide themselves, they just come in and worship at night and talk about things like how to keep others out.”

Dancer was convinced that he was not telling them all the truth that he had and had lied in several places when telling his stories. Stealing all his wealth and even his wedding ring from his dearly departed wife, the party imprisoned him in a cage near Grund, who was still sulking naked in his cage. Moving forward the opened the last door to the east finding one of the largest rooms so far filled with large stones all covered in runes much like they had seen previously.

It did not take long for four stone masked men to run and engaged them. With some sort of sorcerer taking potshots at them, the group was quickly at a disadvantage. Just when they seemed to have gained some control of the combat, the sorcerer ran forward and created some sort of seismic ripple that shattered the floors, walls, and ceiling of the hallway they were fighting from. It was only some quick action by the few outside of the hallway that allowed them to kill the earth priest.

Stone Masked Men

Earth Priest

Searching around did not discover anything, so they collected their prisoners and moved back to the first room where their attention was gathered to the hole in the ceiling and Harburk yelling down asking what had happened. They had been down in the hole for a couple of hours at this point. He had instructed Braelen to head down the tunnel and the deputies had collected him and had left a guard at the end of the tunnel. The party exited the tomb out of that same tunnel.

Harburk Tuthmarillar

Trying to explain what they had found, they brought Harburk down while giving him details that had found out, especially about the elders in town and that they had been responsible for several murders. Dispatching his deputies to gather those named as well as Grund and Baragustas back to the constable’s office. Harburk took off to take care the investigation.

And this is where the session ended, and the Prelude has been completed.

Campaign Notes

The Tomb of the Moving Stones has been completed, although there are still a couple of areas that still need to be explored. The Earth Priest has been killed, and the elders rounded out. The Prelude is completed.

Session XVIII – Prelude

evil.curmudgeon@gmail.com

2023-07-10

25^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

Having run out of the Swinging Sword with Harburk Tuthmarillar they were greeted by the sight of a large sinkhole over 30 feet across having opened in front of some buildings across the street from them. They could hear the screaming of children in the hole and as they watched, an old woman ran to the edge, and had it crumbled further, and she slid in as well. All the screaming was quick to draw the attention of other villagers including some of the elders.

Harburk Tuthmarillar

Albaeri Mellikho, Ilmeth Waelvur, and Ulhro Luruth were attempting to push the other villagers away from the edge and seemed to be trying to keep everyone away from the sinkhole. Dancer noticed that the three of them seemed to be nervous about something related to the situation. There were many calls for rope, ladders, anything to help.

Albaeri Mellikho

Ilmeth Waelvur

Ulhro Luruth

The three of them could be heard yelling at the villagers that everything was in control, and that they should just go home, and the problem would be handled. Harburk went over to assess the situation. Albaeri came over to intercept the party. She tried to push the characters away and told them simply that they were not needed and did not need to be involved.

While she was confronting the party, Dancer and Fwoosh were finger talking that they felt there was an issue there, or that she might know more about what had happened. As the group started ignoring Albaeri, the other two elders came over and blocked the group as well. They were saying things like.

“The Stones should not be disturbed.”

Fogo stepped forward and strongly stated that they were involved and were going to rescue those that had fallen. As they argued with the three, they noticed that there were a few more notable people were missing from the crowd. No one from the Blackbutter Inn, but more interestingly was that Grund was nowhere to be seen. The party attached a long length of rope to a building for a secure hold and Dancer was quick to head on down to check out the situation and the room that everyone had fallen into.

Switching his position with a child, Dancer allowed a child to go up and Fwoosh came down following that. This started them bringing the kids up while different members slowly made their way down. While this was occurring, Ilmeth stepped forward and started a much more aggressive stance and stood up to Fogo.

“The Delvers should not be angered.”

When pushed for answers, they only got more push back and that this was a town problem, and they should just go somewhere else. The elders will handle this. This did not stop the rescuing of the children and finally the old woman who had sprained her ankle and needed assistance. Questioning her it seemed that the town, or at least many of them were not aware of this space under the town. Harburk had come back over where the group was working on getting everyone up from the hole and stepped in and shepherd the elders further away from the group.

Those that were in the room at the bottom of the sinkhole began investigating the space finding a large stone door to the east and a narrow passageway to the north. Dancer and ISAC struggled with the stone door but did not have the physique to open it up. It was heavy and difficult for them to open. As the details was shared with the party members, Fogo became much more aggressive and attempted to push Ilmeth for answers but becoming very belligerent Ilmeth only continued to push back strongly.

Harburk once again pushed the three away from the party so that the group would be able to do something while the elders were arguing against any action. It did not take long with the assistance of the villagers; the rest of the party was all able to get back together in the large room under the sinkhole. Analyzing the hole above them and room itself, it occurred to them that the recent heavy thunderstorms had saturated the ground and the tremors shook enough of the dirt and rock loose to have caused the sinkhole to open.

Exploring the tunnel heading north a bit more, it reminded them of the escape tunnel from the Ruined Moathouse. They surmised that it might heading upward and toward the Mellikho Quarry. The fact that Albaeri had been running interference, and the issues with the quarry workers might all be related. Finding some human sized footprints in the muddy passageway that were going in both directions.

Angelica and Vladimir were able to easily open the stone door opening to long corridor where they could see another pair of stone doors with Dwarven warriors carved upon them. All the corridors were all masoned stoned. It was all crafted and well made. Using Dancer as the forward scout everyone moved forward. The southern passageway only went a short distance before ending in a dead-end. Having a choice of further east to another stone door, or to the north. They decided to take the northern route.

Moving slowly and carefully via the northern route and a couple of turns they eventually got to a room that had several dead bodies and many greater giant rats. Slaughtering the rats did not take long, although Vladimir did suffer several bites reminding him of his time in the Middens in Amphail only a few weeks ago. Once the rats were dead, they were able to move forward and inspect the dead bodies. These bodies were all in a rough shape, and someone had carved a symbol in all their foreheads that was deep enough to crave directly into the bone.

Symbol Carved into Skulls

The symbol was very recognizable to all of them except Dancer. It was the Drow symbol for Earth. Moving forward again they found another room with a large floating stone. Learning to be more paranoid Dancer was able to determine that there was something waiting for them in the next room. Sending in Benny to fool anyone inside, Benny was quickly covered in some sort of Mud Breath revealing their opponents. A set of Mud Mephits.

Mud Mephits

The battle only held a few surprises which was the Mephit abilities to breath out an immobilizing mud breath, but the worst part was that once killed, the Mephits would explode causing damage, restraining those in range, and healing the other Mephits close by. After taking care of three of them, the other two fly away much faster than what the party could easily pursue.

With the battle completed, they moved into the room with the large floating stone but seemed to be very reluctant to touch or have anything to do with it. The strange runes on the stone glowed softly and to the party was only a nightmare waiting to pounce upon them. Moving down the southern corridor they found another larger room with a very life-like broken statue of a dwarf. It had a small plaque attached to the frame holding it together.

“Petrified Ironstar (?) dwarf, found 1459 DR in Red Larch West Quarry in broken condition.”

Around the statue was a ring of gravel and between the two nearly a thousand coins and a dagger covered in dried blood. Convinced this was another trap that could send them to one of the many planes of hell, they avoided crossing the thin and beckoning stone barrier. While inspecting the room, the noticed that there was a secret door on the southern wall. Deciding that it was safer than taking one of the two doors in the room, off they went.

What they discovered was that this door had not been opened in at least several hundred years, meaning that the current inhabitants of this place had not found it. Excited with the prospect of unlooted treasure they quickly moved down the steep ramp that led downward. The passageway left to a tomb area with 19 alcoves, each one containing some sort of stone sarcophagus. Lights appeared on the tall ceiling as they entered, and they were able to see the reliefs of many different images. Dwarves fighting different creatures, from humans, orc, elves, and even dragons.

Suddenly afraid that all the dead things might get up and attack them, they decided it was best to not touch much here or pay consequences that they were not ready to face. Although a lengthy and healthy discussion about looting the dwarven tomb later came about. Deciding that since it had been previously undiscovered, they could close the door again and come back later when they had more time. Heading back up to the previous room and moved to the western room. Getting everyone ready for combat, and a difficult door, Vladimir was surprised when it easily swung into the room. They were greeted by a very large obelisk in the middle of the room with a small boy held down by rocks un front of it, and Grund looking through something through the west door on the other side of them, keeping his hands on a set of chains waiting for something.

Grund

Braelen Hatherhand

The sudden entrance seemed to have surprised him and the party. Grund did not seem to be very happy to see the party. He was worried that the others would come back and punish him. He continued to argue with the party that they should leave. Trying to fool him, Fogo disguised himself as Albaeri which seemed to work for a bit, but as the arguments continued, he seemed to realize that something was not quite right since Albaeri who always seemed to yell at anyone and everyone, was not willing to say anything. If anything, it was the multitude of people talking that really caused the confusion and exposed them more than anything else. Even with calming and logical arguments, eventually Grund was not convinced which caused ISAC and Dancer to attack Grund.

While large, he was not a difficult foe for the party. He was quickly knocked down and only because of Vladimir yelling about not killing him, Grund was only knocked unconscious, although heavily wounded. After removing all the stones from the boy, they attempted to chat with him, but the bloody and heavy-handed takedown of Grund right in front of him caused him to clam up and refuse to talk. They had managed to completely intimidate and nearly frightened him to death.

Avery being the smallest and least threatening of the party took the boy away from Grund’s beaten and bloody body. Feeding him some food and water, Avery was able to get him to start talking if the rest of the party was nowhere near them and out of sight. Braelen Hatherhand shared that he had been put here by his father as a punishment, and that his father is one of the believers that worship down here. He was able to name a few more of the believers and that they were concerned about the movement of the stones in the room to the far east and that they were concerned about the stones moving which seemed to cause bad luck and might be related to the tremors that have been happening. Convincing him to go back to the starting large room where the sinkhole fell into and wait for them there.

Again, while figuring out the caging system in the western hallway, Dancer was wandering around the room and once again found something on a southern wall. Caging Grund in one of the ones in the hallway, the found another secret door, this one a bit different. It still appeared to have been unfound by those here, but when the door was opened, it revealed a second door.

The door was a dark grey granite that still has remains of faded paint upon it. The stone dwarven warrior stared outward at those in the hallway. Its eyes are holes large enough to fit a small hand while there is a hole leading into the mouth, the left hand is holding a stone saucer with a small hole on the bottom of it, and finally the right hand is held out as if waiting to hold something. It is at an angle that will cause whatever is in the palm to slide into what appears to be a pouch that has a slot on the top of it.

Stone Door with Dwarf

Surrounding the carving and written in Dwarven on the door was the following:

Aundra e eth hallanaryr wundstr avor corruption

Jert eth vjakr avor ljef

Grasp eth murmal avor temptation

Ynsta eth aldrorz anzjon

The party was amazed and completely clueless since no one was able to read Dwarvish. After a short discussion, the closed the door and pretended it no longer existed. After getting the door closed, some of the members heard something on the other side of the door to the east. Pushing the door open were the two mephits that had flown away with four men in stone masks.

Stone Mask Men

In melee the Mephits were not very difficult, but the four stone masked men proved to be much tougher. After nearly a minute and surviving the exploding mephits, all were vanquished. After the combat, Angelica offered a prayer to her god and healed everyone in the party all at once.

And that was the end of the session.

Campaign Notes

They are finally in the Tomb of the Moving Stones. They found two secret doors and were only able to open one of them. Too bad no one spoke Dwarvish.

Session XVII, Prelude

evil.curmudgeon@gmail.com

2023-07-03

24^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

Evening was rolling in quickly and no one wanted to be wandering around outside while dark, however Fogo’s insistence on poking dead bodies would be causing a delay. With many skeletons and a few zombies standing up and starting the assault, it did not take long for Fogo and ISAC to run screaming for help away from the room.

Skeleton

Zombie

The rest of the party was able to respond with Vladimir taking the lead to block the hallway and bottlenecking the undead from coming further down. Deciding that retreating and with the prisoners should be smarter than trying to fight the creatures in place. The three former prisoners with Dancer grabbing the children they quickly ran outside the cave. When having retreated halfway outside the cave, the party back around and started engaging the undead once again.

Grafaerd Ulamoira

Alfred

Gef Rilisk

With Dancer repeatedly asking what was happening, and left unanswered, but the weak and slow undead were easily killed off and reduced to moldering piles. Reuniting outside they started making their way back to Red Larch. Halfway back to town tremors started up again shaking the ground and everything around them. This time it was a bit more severe as they could hear the slight roar of the earthquake around them.

On the way back Grafaerd was chatting with the group. He had been out here seeking his fortune using an old map he had found in a book hidden in a library in Waterdeep. Realizing that he was over his head and should pursue a safer profession, he handed it over to the group as a reward for saving him.

Map from Grafaerd Ulamoira

Vladimir started briefing Dancer about some of the things they had faced, especially the Bleeding Eye group and their connection with bandits. He included his favorite enemy, the Iceshield Orcs and that they were detestable in general. The bandits have been preying on merchants, the orcs and Uthgardt on smaller undefended settlements, and that there were some other cult groups in the area. When Fwoosh started explaining about their golden statue, everyone, especially Angelica tried to shush him from speaking about it too much. Fogo was quick to talk about the unnaturalness of the weather and some of the odd microhabitats. Dancer was happy to let the party know that he was a bounty hunter and sent out to collect a bounty of 1000gp on Oreioth, the necromancer’s heads.

Oreioth (Necromancer)

The merchant was also forthcoming about the different vendors in Red Larch. The Wheelworks was run by a drunkard, Grund was a great pickler, but not too smart, the Swinging Sword was the nicest Inn, and that the Helm was the place where all the locals hung out at night. Continuing their way back to town, the tremors did not seem to have damaged anything and they made their way to Harburk Tuthmarillar office. The two little girls were reunited with their parents which made the family whole once again and much happier than before.

Harburk Tuthmarillar

The group started describing what happened but once he got to the Ruined Moathouse, they decided that it might be better to talk among the party first and explain everything tomorrow to the constable, especially since Harburk seemed to be a bit frustrated and unhappy that bandits have a castle nearby.

Funding Grafaerd some gold, both he and Dancer were able to rent rooms from Gwendolyn Venelli. The entire group sat down for a meal getting a little rest and good food before heading to bed. Delillia was as surly as usual, but it did not take much long for the food to arrive. Fogo headed to the kitchen for his training with Xaasz. He put on his knee pads and headed on back. Consumed with curiosity Dancer followed into the back and was greeted by the small group of goblins in the kitchen making all the meals.

Gwendolyn Venelli

Delillia Quelbeard

Xaasz

While at dinner, the party began describing more about themselves and they got a little more information about Dancer himself. He explained that he was tired of adventuring alone and waking up on top of zombie piles. Giving some background information of each other Dancer as he shared a little more about his history. Heading up to bed, Dancer left for the night. Gathering everyone in one of the rooms, Vladimir had an internal discussion with the party about Dancer and how to have him involved.

The discussion veered toward some of happened in the caves. That the statue seemed to have swallowed a ball of light that had flown out of the image of the eye after the vision they all had.

25^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

With everyone in bed, Dancer made sure he got up before sunrise and head to the bakery in town. Knocking on the door he was able to gain access with a certain amount of finger talk with Mangobarl Lorren. Bringing him back and having him speak with Jepos, dancer informed them of his task completion. Requesting his reward, Jepos suggested that Dancer come back at sunrise to collect the reward. Jepos also offered a chance to shop at the black-market store that they were running in the bakery.

Mangobarl Lorren

Jepos Copperhand

Departing for a few hours Dancer went back to the Blackbutter Inn. In the morning, Dancer went back and collected his bounty as well as a dozen beaver tail buns. Passing Fwoosh heading to the same direction to purchase some bear claws, they all eventually met in the dining room of the Blackbutter Inn. A struggling tired Fogo wandered down still wearing his knee pads and his apron, which was covered with blood and fruit juice. He decided to head out to the bath at Haeleeya’s and then come back once clean. When Angelica came down, it seemed that she was a bit out of sorts since she had been disturbed by a dream that consumed her.

You stand at the edge of a vast, tempestuous sea. Dark clouds loomed overhead, casting an ominous shadow upon the horizon. The air crackled with electricity, and the sound of distant thunder resonated through the air. Istishia, appearing as a colossal figure wreathed in stormy clouds, reached out to you with a hand that sparked with lightning.
“Angelica,” the deity’s voice boomed, carrying a sense of urgency. “A tempest approaches, a tumultuous storm of great magnitude. It gathers strength, threatening to engulf all in its path. Heed my words, daughter of the tempest, for you are chosen.”
You feel a mixture of awe and trepidation, your scales tingling with anticipation. You bow her head, showing reverence to your deity.
“Seek shelter, Angelica,” Istishia commanded. “Gather your friends, those who have stood by your side in times of trial. Together, you must weather the storm that looms on the horizon. Trust in each other’s strength and find solace in the unity of your bond.”
As your deity’s words faded, the vision shifted, revealing Angelica standing among her loyal companions, their unwavering support evident in their eyes. They stood together, backs against the wind, bracing themselves for the impending storm.
“You are not alone, Angelica,” Istishia whispered, his voice gentler now. “Harness the power of water and ice that flows within you, for they shall be your shield against the coming tempest. Stand firm, weather the chaos, and emerge stronger on the other side.”
With those final words, the vision dissipated, and you awaken from you dream. You knew that your path was set before you, and that your destiny intertwined with the approaching storm. Determination surged within your heart as you vowed to gather your companions and prepare for the challenges to come. For in their unity, you would face the storm and emerge victorious, guided by the whispers of the storm god, Istishia.

She relayed parts of it to the rest of the party. Given that still had time before needing to visit Harburk, Avery was able to go through and identify all the different magic items they had collected but were just using a baggage until now. The most interesting item was the Lantern of Equivalent Exchange.

Lantern of Equivalent Exchange

Once all of that was complete, it was time to go see Harburk at the Swinging Sword to meet breakfast so they could explain what has happened more leisurely and in greater detail. The constable was waiting for them with his six heavy-set part-time deputies and butchers sitting nearby. As they approached Harburk they were greeted by Kaylessa Irkell the owner of the Swinging Sword. Ordering some drinks, they settled down to finally have their conversation with Harburk.

Kaylessa Irkell

Taking time to describe and explain that they had discovered a swamp southeast of here and as they entered, it started to freeze over. In the middle was an old dwarven fortress, the Ruined Moathouse. Within were many bandits and other creatures allied with the bandits even including an ogre. There were some thoughts considering the possibility that the necromancer and the bandits were working together since there were zombies in the Moathouse, although there were also bandit zombies in Lance Rock. Their story only got stranger when they described the Ice Hag, and finally that there were what appeared to be soldiers in the Moathouse.

Harburk started to describe that there were stories, rumors that there was a giant dwarven city complex underneath the Sumber Hills, but there was not any proof. They also informed him that they still had not visited all the possible bandit locations and that there might be more. They also updated the constable about the changes in Amphail, and that there was now a Lord Warder in charge who had brought a unit of soldiers with him. They also expressed their concern about the hippogriff riders they had seen. He mentioned to them that there was something about a place called Feathergale Spire in the hills somewhere, but he did not know exactly where that was.

It was then that the building began to shake. A loud roaring could be heard with creaking and groaing of buildings here and around them. Harburk jumped up and ran to the door. They could hear all the screaming outside, and people panicking. A giant sinkhole had opened out outside in the street.

“The children, they fell. Someone please help us.”

And this is where the session ended.

Campaign Notes

They thought that with the rescue of the children their adventure was coming to a point where they might get some rest, but now there was a sinkhole in town and more children to rescue.

Maps

1 234...8 Page 3 of 8

Between Adventures

Downtime Activities

Crafting

Quick Summary

Work Periods

Working Together

Working for More than Eight Hours

Taking 10

Crafting Mundane Items

Base Value

Item Quality

Crafting the Item

Research Points

Research Assistants

Facilities

Facility Types

Building your Facility

How to Use your Facility

Research Points Utilization

Production Assistance

Materials

Types of Materials

Ingredient

Magical Ink

Essences

Essence Synthesizing Table

Crafter Level Requirement Table

Caster Essence Type Table

Ingots

Metals

Hides & Leathers

Parts

Stone and Crystals

Wood

Purchasing Materials by Type

Cooking

Leather and Hide

Metals

Wood

Magical Materials

Miscellaneous

Purchasing Materials by Rarity

Trivial

Common

Uncommon

Rare

Very Rare

Legendary

Harvesting

Basic Harvesting

Crafting Exotic Creature Harvesting

Exotic Remnants

Applying Material Tables

Exotic Harvesting (CR 0–4)

Exotic Remnants (CR 0–4)

Exotic Harvesting (CR 5–10)

Exotic Remnants (CR 5–10)

Exotic Harvesting (CR 11–16)

Exotic Remnants (CR 11–16)

Exotic Harvesting (CR 17+)

Exotic Remnants (CR 17+)

Hide Harvesting

Special Materials

Gathering Tables

Gathering Ingredients

Gathering Ingredients

Gathering Ingredients

Hunting Game

Hunting Game

Details on Each Crafting Skill

30th of Mirtul of the year 1492

1st of Kythorn to the 10th of Kythorn of the year 1492

Party Members:

Happenings in Red Larch on Specific Days.

11th of Kythorn of the year 1492

History Lesson

Forlorn Hills

Description

Geography

Geographical Features

30^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

1^st of Kythorn to the 10^th of Kythorn of the year 1492

11^th of Kythorn of the year 1492

29^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

30^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

29^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

27^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

28^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

29^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

26^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

27^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

25^th of Mirtul of the year 1492

26^th of Mirtul of the year 1492