Seladrin
Moonshadow (a wood elf
ranger - Keith); Nym Darkwind (a half-elf rogue - Les); Senella
Bladebright (a dwarf fighter - Gill); Nystrae ( a half-drow cleric
of Elistraee - Jill) and Ramas Serpet ( an aasimar sorcerer from far
Mulholrand - Brian) met fortuitously on the Tesh trail, heading through
Daggerdale to the town of Dagger Falls. As they got within a scant few miles of
the town, the trail suddenly became busy with groups of soldiers
riding swiftly to the south toward Castle Daggerdale. One of the troopers
stopped and warned them that a mysterious plague - Dream Fever - was loose in
Dagger Falls and that the Zhantarim were massing troops along the border!!!
Daggers Falls
Undaunted
the party moved on, but decided perhaps wisely not to spend the night within
the walled town - took rooms at the Red Rock tavern outside the town
walls. Next morning after a pleasant stay where Nym entertained them royally
with her flute playing - the party were approached but a Dagggerdale
officer Larkell Greenspring, who advised them that Randall Morn, the lord of
Daggerdale wanted to see them and had a job for them if they were interested!
The
party headed into town where they were ushered into the Constables
tower to meet Randal Morn, the tower and the surrounding garrison were a
hive of activity as preparations were being made to meet the Zhentarim threat.
Randall explained that a mysterious ailment was affecting the
townsfolk - a dreadful sleeping sickness under the influence of which
people were wasting away and dying. The clerics of Lathlander had advised the
malady was arcane, nor natural and their was little they could do about it. He
wanted the party to investigate the source of the Dream Fever and stop it. He
was willing to pay 50gp each - half in advance. The party agreed and Larkell
suggested they talk to Brother Anselm a cleric of Lathlander working with the sick.
Crossing
the town, the party arrived at the burned out remains of the Temple of
Lathlander - destroyed in a fire some weeks previously - and made for the
makeshift hospital where Brother Anselm was caring for the afflicted townsfolk.
he was unable to provide much information other that the disease was not
natural it also struck seemingly randomly not following the normal rules for an
infection - most of the victims curiously enough seemed to succumb at night!
After some investigations round and about and eliminating the possibility of
poisoned wells - the party put together a list of suspects. Many of the
townsfolk seemed to favour the Zhentarim as the culprits, especially as the
garrison had been hard hit by the outbreak, possibly as a prelude to invasion;
Other townsfolk felt that someone must have been foolhardy enough to
enter the nearby abandoned dwarven delvings at the Eagle's Eyrie bringing down
the ancient curse upon the town; Still others felt the most obvious candidate
was the priestess Eragyn - a priest of Cyric - who when the Zhentarim
were ejected three years previously had sworn vengeance against Dagger Falls.
The Eagle`s Eyrie
Uncertain where
or how to begin tracking down any Zhentarim agents, or indeed find out the
whereabouts of the priestess Eragyn - the party decided to investigate the one
thing they could find relatively easily - the dwarven delvings. Heading
out next morning the party had a relatively uneventful trip - excepting an
ambush by goblin raiders from the Big Belly tribe, and Ramas almost killing
himself falling down a gorge!
Discovering a cave they decided to investigate,
disturbing a brown bear that was in the process of settling in for the winter,
Seladrin's attempts to calm the angered bear failed and the party were forced
to putt the angry beast down. Moving deeper into the cave and after a brief
altercation with a dire bat, the party discovered the way in to the complex.
Inside they found two dwarven bodies one still clutching a shortsword, which
when Seladrin picked it up started glowing. They also found a message written
magically on a wall from someone called "Colderan the
Mage-Lord" threatening to destroy the dwarven inhabitants of the Eagle's
Eyrie.
Moving through the
rest of the dwarven delvings at the Eagle's Eyrie it quickly became apparent
that no one had been here since the Bladebright dwarves fled the wrath of
Calderon the Mage Lord a hundred years ago. Even
the guardian animated warhammer protecting the small shrine to Moradin in the
forge was still undisturbed - as Nystrae found out before Senella disarmed it
!!! After a brief altercation with a nest of dire rats, the party decided the
"ancient curse of the Bladebright dwarves" was probably not the cause
of Dagger's Falls current epidemic.
Back in town they began their inquiries anew this time focusing on Eragyn, the
cleric of Cyric - asking around they discovered that she may have been seen in
town a month or so ago round about the same time the temple of Lathander burned
down - and by a curious coincidence around the same time the Dream Fever first
swept through the town!
The Temple Of Lathander
Ramas decided they should investigate the crypts beneath the burned temple and
while Nym went off to get permission from Larkall the others went to lunch in a
nearby pub where after chatting with the owner (an ex Zhentarim scout)
discovered that he too thought he'd seen Eragyn a few weeks ago accompanied by
four fighter-types. Heading down to the Temple's wine cellar the party avoided
disturbing a pair of nesting osquip before making their way to the crypts. The
crypts seemed undisturbed and quiet, however careful searching by Nystrae and
Senella revealed one of the graves had been disturbed, moving the lid of the sarcophagus
they discovered no body within but hacked through the back a tunnel leading
off.
Climbing through the desecrated grave they began to follow the tunnel, about a
hundred yards in they found the body of two Cyracist fighters and that of a
creature Nystrae identified as a hook-horror - as they took in this scene
of carnage, Nym heard a "clacking" sound as another hook-horror
emerged from the darkness. Even though this creature was still carrying wounds
from a previous encounter it managed to drop Nym and Senella before finally
falling to a barrage of magic missiles and Nystrae's greatsword. Although
Nystrae managed to stabilise her fallen comrades she had insufficient healing
left to contemplate going on and Ramas and she dragged them back up the tunnel
and into the care of Brother Anselm at the hospital.
Next day healed ad refreshed ( after the customary donations to the
Morninglord) the party headed down the tunnel again - this time penetrating
much further into the depths ad discovering a mushroom forest where they were
attacked by strange plant-like creatures (twig-blights). Disposing of them,
they moved on to a quiet cave, where in a pool of water they met and befriended
Mara, a nixie, who warned them of the bad plant things! Moving on again
they came to a large tunnel which was blocked by a wall of thorns - behind
which they could hear something moving !!!
As the doughty
dwarf maiden Senella started hacking her way ever so slowly through the wall of
thorns, the other party members rested and considered the clues and information
thy had that were pointing to Eragyn as the cause of Dagger's Falls current
epidemic. Eventually after many arduous hours of labour Senella managed
to care a narrow path through the thorns although the way still looked perilous
and would have to be negotiated with care. As Senella emerged from the other
side her victorious shout was short-lived as a twig blight attacked her from
out of the darkness. As she engaged the creature in combat her colleagues came
to her as quickly as they could avoiding the wickedly sharp thorns, although
Ramas managed to pick up some nasty scratches! The twig blight was soon
despatched and the party moved carefully on, briefly exploring a side-tunnel
where a hideous reek came from a sink-hole at the end. Down the sinkhole the
party could just make out what looked like a purplish ooze heaving
unwholesomely at the sides of the pit as if trying to slither up the sheer
walls!
Nym tried for a while to get a bead on the foul mass with her bow, but eventually
the party decided they'd wasted enough time and moved on. At the end of
the main passage they found a doorway, which Nym discovered was unlocked - so
they entered, only to be attacked by a half-starved guard dog !!! The vicious
beast proved little match for the blades of our heroes and they moved into the
vestibule beyond. Warily eying the arrow slits in the walls and the
murder-holes in the ceiling, Nym moved to the door at the other end. This door
proved to be locked, however with time and effort Nym managed to rectify that!
Unfortunately as she opened the door, she barely had time to take in the room
beyond when a bony hand bearing a scimitar swung at her out of the darkness. As
Nym fell gravely wounded to the floor, Senella moved to confront the skeletal
foe, only to discover three more! As Nystrae stabilised their fallen comrade
and Ramas readied his arcane might, Senella fell before the wicked curved
blades of the skeletons. Seeing the fate of her comrade Nystrae rose and
invoking the might of Elistraee managed to turn the undead, just as Ramas
launched a fusillade of magic missiles destroying one of the creatures. As the
skeletons cowered and Nystrae tended to her fallen comrades, Ramas, emboldened
by the skeletons cowering, drew forth the falchion left him by his father and
strode forward to launch a flurry of enthusiastic blows against them.
The skeletons despatched the party decided to rest and lick their wounds.
As they rested back a the thorn wall, Seladrin and Nym took watch.
In the small hours they were attacked by a twig blight and two skeletons but
these two were dispatched after a brief melee. Deciding they were too badly
damaged to go on, Senella began clearing a wider (and safer) passage through
the thorns, whereupon they returned to the tender mercies of Brother Anselm's
makeshift hospital. As their colleagues rested and recuperated Ramas helped
brother Anslem with the sick and Seladrin patrolled outside, discovering at one
point in the night a twig blight attacking a woman in an alleyway and
experiencing some kind of strange magical assault from a winged creature with a
silvery net.
Rested and recovered the party returned to the tunnels under the town,
only to discover that the vestibule they'd discovered earlier was now filled
with an impenetrable wall of thorns! As Senella wearily drew her waraxe, Ramas
joined in with his falchion and the others took it in turns to assist. Some
hours later a safe path had been cleared to the doorway beyond, which Nym again
managed to unlock. Two skeletons in the room beyond were swiftly
despatched and the party began to explore the complex beyond.
In one room, some hind of herbarium they discovered a huge iron cauldron, as
they entered a high picked voice which appeared to be coming from a shelf
warned them to leave or face the wrath of Calderon! Seladrin reacted by
swiping viciously at the shelf cleaving it as a grotesque winged figure took to
the air, Senella immediately rushed forward and with a mighty swing of her
waraxe clove the misshapen creature in two. Searching the room they discovered
a couple of potions and behind a concealed door the remnants of Calderon’s
library. As his colleagues looked at the books, Seladrin investigated the
contents of the cauldron, discovering to his disgust that it appeared to
contain a human corpse. Tipping the cauldron over, as the floor of the room
spilled over with man-soup, they discovered the "corpse" appeared to
be in the process of transformation to a twig-blight, barely containing his
bile Seladrin decapitated the unwholesome creature.
In the room beyond they discovered stone slabs on which rested unconscious
dream fever sufferers, obviously some of those who had gone missing from the
town and hospital, to their utter surprise they discovered one of the sufferers
to be a female Cyracist cleric. Obviously Eragyn, whom they had felt to be the
behind the mysterious plague was herself merely a victim !!!
The party stayed
awhile in the room of Sleepers, pondering their next move. having discovered
Eragyn was not the force behind the Dream Fever, that only left one option
Calderon The Mage Lord, retuned somehow from death. Deciding, that given the
amount of damage they'd done so far, that Calderon was probably expecting them,
they launched a frontal assault on the Mage Lord's tomb. Calderon, revealed to
be a podgy human was guarded by two twig blights and as the party approached he
summoned some Jermalaines to slow them down, the jermalines caused little
problems fro the flashing blades of Nystrae and Senella, but Calderon's next
move, an entangle spell, caused them more difficulty. Two skeletons which moved
from alcoves at the side were easily tuned by Nystrae invoking the power of
Elistraee and one of the twig blights rushed forward and cast a silver net over
Senella, but she somehow managed to shrug off the effects, much to the twig
blights horror as Senella's axe clove him in twain. As Nystrae and Senella
began to move their way forward painfully through the creeping vines, Nym stood
her ground and began peppering the mage with shots from her longbow. Calderon,
already enraged and wounded by the death of him homunculus retaliated with a
fusillade of magic missiles against the rogue. As Senella and Nystrae got
closer Calderon's launched a Mel's Acid Arrow at Senella causing the doughty
dwarf to falter slightly, as the last remaining twig blight attacked her
futilely. Nystrae was subjected to a Tasha's Hideous Laughter and collapsed
helpless amongst the entangling plants. Seladrin, joining the fray from the
other room replaced her with the longbow, hitting the mage sorely. Calderon
panicking was preparing to cast gaseous form and flee when, Senella and Nystrae
broke free from the entangling vines and swiftly returned the Mage Lord to the
land of the dead.
With the death of the Mage Lord Ramas in the other room noticed the sleepers
starting to wake and called the others back. Nym still distrustful of Eragyn
had her bound and gagged, although later relented and allowed the priest of
Cyric to tell her story, although no-one seemed convinced by her "fell
asleep at prayers and don't remember anything else" yarn. Once the
sleepers had recovered sufficiently, the part led them out from the Mage Lord's
tomb and to the Constable's tower, where they discovered Randal Morn had
returned in a poor temper having spent a week chasing non-existing Zhent troops
in the middle of winter. When told the full story however he was cheered that
the threat to this people had been removed, he paid the party the remainder of
their fee and a bonus to avoid mentioning too much that his own grandfather had
been behind the plot, and had Eragyn locked up!