CAMPAIGN CHRONOLOGICAL LOG

LEGACY CAMPAIGN

ACT 1

1st Eleasis DR 1371 

Essembra - BattleDale    

ADVENTURE 1: Tomb of Kyllrillian

            Arkhen quits the Ironwheel caravan heading north and explores the town of Essembra in Battledale. He visits the Adder Post, a second hand shop, and finds a rare elven artifact on a sale table. He’s sure the owner doesn’t know its value. He pays a few silver, then he heads to a new tavern, The Flying Frying Pan, to enjoy breakfast. The halflings there sell him cinnamon buns, and he relaxes, enjoying his first morning of true freedom.

            Moth the Monk awakens sitting on a rafter above, unsure of how he got there, but he doesn’t bother paying attention to details. He slips off the rafter, much to the surprise of the halflings who believe him to be a Zhentarium spy.

            A dwarf comes to the door to the inn, bloodied and bruise. He collapses to the floor, and Frying Pan, the halfling owner, insists that Arkhen goes to find a traveling cleric who is currently offering a local family healing for a case of the pox. He fetches Therella, priestess of Ilmater the suffering god, and they heal the dwarf, Ruvian. The dwarf tells how he’s been wandering Cormanthor woods and hunting rogue orc bands for the last fortnight. They buy him an ale.

            Already having breakfast in the corner is the ranger Dan Jur. The elven ranger is known to the locals, and he’s kept his peace, watching the strangers. A yellow planar being, a Githyanki, comes in, sitting in the shadows and watches the party with a suspicious eye as they enjoy cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

            A few minutes later, they are joined by a haughty elf in official apparel. He asks Arkhen about the artifact he just purchased, and Tyrith, the elven representative to the Dale’s Council, does not believe his story. He accuses Arkhen of tomb robbing and arrests him in the name Queen Amlaruil Moonflower. Arkhen denies the charges, and Tyrith leaves the tavern to fetch local guards. They follow him back, three entering the front of the tavern and two guarding behind. A fracas ensues. The dwarf, loyal to his new friends, wrestles one of the guards, causing a distraction while Arkhen sneaks out the back. Therella tries to talk their way out of it and gets arrested for her trouble. Arkhen sneaks out the back only to be accosted by the two waiting guards. He climbs the roof, and hearing the commotion, Moth sticks his head up through the thatch to see the trouble. Finally, Tyrith politely asks them to just to come along to answer a few questions, and he promised to listen and not assume guilt. He leads them to the walled keep at the center of Essembra, where they are locked in a stone cell with windows. The urn is placed on a desk.

            Waiting into the afternoon for Tyrith to return, Ruvian grows frustrated and hacks at the stone wall. The party watches outside as violet flowers bloom, weeping lilies that grow into Elven Sorrow Shades—a form of undead spirit sent to avenge elven injustices. The urn glows, indicating necromantic magic, drawing the Sorrow Shades. Tyrith releases the party, and they attack the Sorrow Shades. Through teamwork, the Shades are defeated. Tyrith then hires the party to travel to the tomb and return the urn, or more Sorrow Shades will manifest, growing in number.

2nd Eleasis DR 1371 

Essembra Battledale & Battledale, StarWatch Tower  

            After we rest the night, we meet at the Keep to discern the location of the tomb. From the urn, Arkhen and Tyrith deduce the name of the elf who was buried is Kyllrillian, a high and respected secretary during the golden age of Myth Drannor. A lunar icon and stars at specific locations on the urn indicate the position of the tomb. We have no resources to calculate stellar positions from 700 years ago, having changed a few times. Tyrith suggests we take the urn to a local stargazer, the gnome Starbeard, at his home, Skywatch Tower.

            We gather our gear, and we trek north up Rauthauvyr's Road. While traveling, more Elf Sorrows grow from dark flowers, and we battle. During the melee, Arkhen loses his rapier, flinging it by accident into the local wood. A roar shakes the ground, and a young gold dragon accosts us. The rapier struck his jaw while the dragon snored in sleep, shattering one of its fangs. It growls in agony, and we make our prayers. It flies off. We arrive at SkyWatch Tower in the evening.

            Starbeard, a gnome wearing amethyst in its beard, is happy to help us, but he requires lenses and star charts from the tower cellar. Alas, gricks have infested the cellar, and he asks us to clear the critters. We remove them, much to our danger, then we spend the night at a near barn while the gnome calculates the location of the tomb.

3rd Eleasis DR 1371 

Cormanthor & Tomb of Killrillian  

            Knowing the location thanks to Starbeard, we trek into the eldritch wood of Cormanthor, following Red Fin Stream. We arrive at the tomb site and find an ancient oak of heavy roots and a stone pavilion. Arkhen discovers the pavilion to be a decoy, a trap, and Ruvian finds the real entrance, a stone shaft below the oak tree. Just as we break through, Cultists in dark robes ambush us: fighters, archer in the tree and a wizard. The wizard casts web, and we struggle. Arkhen manages to sneak and backstab a few of them, and we break free of the web. We take the last Cultists prisoner, but an unknown assailant fires an arrow from the wood, killing the prisoner.

            We descend into the dungeon in the evening, Arkhen goes first to take care of traps. The first antechamber holds statues in alcoves and a fountain filled with muddy slop. After studying the room, we find a secret door behind one of the statues, and Arkhen, Toth, Moth and Ruvian enter the five-foot wide hall. The far door is locked, and the back door seals. Gas fills the room. Arkhen works to disarm the trap, and three Elven Sorrows manifest. We do battle, open the hall and disarm the trap. Muddy water eat away at the bottom floor, flooding the antechamber, but we were safe on the alcove. We decid to rest in the hall, closing both doors for safety. We rest through the night.

4th Eleasis DR 1371   

Tomb of Killrillian & Cormanthor

            We awake to the collapsing floor, and we nearly don’t escape to the next room. In the second antechamber, planar magic eaters called Aoas attack Tyrith, feeding on his magic. We dispatch them. In the rest of the tomb, we find a treasury and chamber of Iron Cobras that we defeat. We have to swim through the underwater caverns below the door to the burial chamber with difficulty, and we emerge into the main tomb. Normal Elven Sorrows and one caster in the image of Kyllrillian attack us. We get the urn back to the altar, and the Sorrows faded. We discover bodies from the Cult of the Dragon in the tomb, and we find the shaft they’d dug into the dungeon to steal the urn. We notice other levels to the dungeon, but we save them for another day. We use the shaft to reach the surface, and Ruvian seals the tunnel behind us. 

        

ADVENTURE 2: Shadows Past

            We emerge to Cormanthor woods in the evening as the sun sets. Tired and drained, we search for safe harbor. On the breeze, we smell a hearth burning. Arkhen slips into the woods, traveling toward a glowing fire in the distance. He finds a hamlet, but all is still. There is no sign of any of the residents. Arkhen returns to fetch us, and we investigate the hamlet of Thistlevale. We discover the bodies of villages who fell in their stride, killed while going about their morning chores. We discover no obvious cause of death.

            On the edge of the hamlet, we find two Cult of the Dragon members outside a cottage. They had died like the villagers, and they tried to flee from the cottage. After searching inside, we find a trapdoor, which Arkhen unlocks. Dan Jur and Tyrith descend into the cellar and find magical workings: altar, runes, magical circle, arcane substances. Tyrith finds a rune radiating invocation magic, and using his skills, he discerns it to be a trap. It’s about to explode. Dan Jur finds a scroll, wraps it on an arrow and fires it out of the cellar. We flee the cottage just as it explods, harming a few of us who didn’t clear the explosion in time.

            We decid to gather up the bodies and burn them on a pyre. During this errand, worgs attack us, attracted to the smell of fresh meat in the town. Tyrith uses his color spray spell to stun a few of them, along with Dan Jur and Ruvian, and we dispatch the rest. Once awake, we leave the town to make camp.

            We setup camp on a derelict stone wall and old tree house. A platform still remains between two oak trees. We gamble, eat roasted worg meat, and play dice games until we sleep. That night, we share a dream: Therella’s story as a child when her father locked her in the cellar to protect her from a dark plague that infected her town, killing all the villagers.

5th Eleasis DR 1371 

Cormanthor Wood to Battledale  

            On the last watch, Therella sees movement in the forest. Wave after wave of zombies attack, along with one Wight. Therella casts consecrate around the camp, weakening the undead, and she destroys them by Turning Undead. We fight until the waves disperse, then we pack up camp. A thunder storm pours rain down on us, flooding the low forest glades. Dan Jur guides the party in the direction of Essembra. After a few hours, we reach a swollen stream. Rain had flooded it, and we have to cross the swift and muddy river. Dan Jur rigs a rope system, and we prepar to cross two at a time. First, Ruvian crosses with Tyrith, and a zombie in the river grabs Tyrith’s legs. We dispatch it and make it across. Two worgs attack, and the party dispatches them. Arkhen and Therella go next, and they struggle, continually falling from the rope. This gives a worg pack time to reach us, and fifteen bear down on Dan Jur and his mule. Frustrated, he finally just asks us to pull him across, and he makes it into the river just as the pack reaches him.

            We travel into the afternoon, when a masked figure accosts us on the road. He introduces himself as Mic’Dur Car, a representative of the Cult. He wears a black and white mask and dark robes. He demands we return the scroll we found. Arkhen slips the real scroll into his sleeve, and Tyrith replaces it with a blank piece of parchment. Frustrated by Mic’Dur, Tyrith burns the scroll with a Fire Bolt, to the surprise of the party, and the Cultists attack. The archers strike down Dan Jur, who falls unconscious. He probably would have died if not for the healing administrations of Therella. We fight the Cultists and take two of them prisoner. Dan Jur chases the last fighter as he retreats, avenging his near-death. He then rescues a young woman from a pit in the forest who introduces herself as Chrysobetha. She kisses him after he binds her broken ankle.

            Starbeard flies in on a floating goat, followed by several of the Essembra guard. He’d come looking for us, and they escort us back to town.


EVENING

Essembra – Battledale - Dalelands

DOWNTIME SESSION 1: Essembra Life

 After a long ride home, stinking of dead flesh, we return to Essembra Village for rest and personal time to pursue our classes and goals—and of course, a long bath and warm fire out of the constant rain. It’s not stopped raining these several days, and the roads slop with mud and puddles flood to ponds and ponds to lakes. Villagers dump the water from their cellars.

Ruvian goes to the village blacksmith to order a new mace, but the masterwork mace the crimson bearded dwarf desires is far too expensive. Starbeard suggests The Watchful Eye Inn, a place good for Those Who Harp. We arrive at the Inn—a manor house, three story inn—and hire rooms from the owner, Chesduk Malrit—a silvery haired fellow sitting by the open hearth fire in the common room. His three daughters run the place while he rests in retirement, mourning his wife. We order meat pastries, wine and ale from Baerneysse Malrit, and she tells us of her missing fiancé who vanished in the night traveling with a caravan. We each take turns bathing, and Tyrith and Arkhen go up to the room to study the necromantic scroll we found in the dead village, the scroll in the holding of the dead Cult of the Dragon members. We are limited by our knowledge and require planar books to decipher it. Fortunately we encounter the youngest of the Malrit daughters, Lathyleea Malrit—an elusive lady with a spider web veil in her soft crimson hair. She is a wizard in training, and she has an odd collection of books given to her by suitors over the last few years. Tyrith and Arkhen ascend to her room, discover she has three pet steam mephits she keeps in bell jars, and we’re able to decipher more of the scroll, though it is incomplete.

The Scroll: The script is Planar, from the Abyss. It’s very dark and ancient magic. It has deep power called Dreams of Ryzhal Fu’ul. No idea who that is. Only one line: “The Living are only the dead who dream they are alive.” The scrolls are about creating a mist that kills than raises the dead en mass. No living thing is immune. It is incomplete. We need to learn more.

Arkhen and Tyrith return to the table to find our party being accosted by one Colwyn Baum, a human guard, who is another suitor of the elusive Lathyleea Malrit, the young lady wizard who has been helping us. He is terribly jealous, and finally Dan Jur, ever the diplomat, calms him. Of course Tyrith, who can’t suffer fools, makes some witty comment about he, Arkhen and Lathyleea going up the stairs to her room together and having a magical time, and Colwyn goes into a rage. He is grappled by the dwarf and Moth, then Arkhen saps him. They tie him up behind the House of Gond until he cools off, but not before Moth helps himself to the brute’s masterwork mace, which he presents to Ruvian.

In the night, we also meet an old soldier who was a friend of Therella’s father and helped found the hamlet of Thistlevale. He mentioned Therella’s mother, but he could speak no more on the subject. It sounded as if Therella’s mother didn’t actually come to Thistlevale and may still be alive. We also hear the tale of Essembra from the bard, Lisendra Moonwater, about the namesake of the town who was a wild half-dragon lass. Lisendra is a half-elf with violet hair and a white cape, and she plays the crystal panpipes. She is a student of the bard and song-mage, Lunadooran Mooneyes.

Chrysobetha, rescued lady in red with a tattooed rune on her neck, arrives at the Inn and joins Dan Jur in his room for a night of passion. Of course, he finds a rotting fish in the bed, left by some nefarious blokes who aren’t Tyrith and Moth, those cads.

We set watch for the night in the hall of the Watchful Eye Inn and rest after our long journey.

6th Eleasis DR 1371 – 3 AM

Watchful Eye Inn – Essembra – Battledale – Dalelands

On Arkhen’s watch, Mic Dur Car manifests before the fireplace. He dissipates, and Arkhen hears noises in the cellar. The Watchful Eye Inn was once a manor home, and the crypts still exist buried under the building. He wakes the our group, and we venture into the cellar to defeat an incorporeal wraith, but not before he drains some party of attributes. Fortunately, Therella heals the damage. We return to our repose.

In the morning, a roar above shakes the village and wakes us from sleep. We rush to the windows to see the gold dragon with the dental problem raging above us, blowing streaks of fire breath down on the village. Burning buildings collapse, and the Watchful Eye Inn is hit. Dan Jur heads into the village to coordinate rescue and emergency efforts. We hear cries from the third flood and discover our new friend and wizard in training, Lathyleea Malrit—the human lady with many suitors and the spider web veil—is trapped in her room below collapsed debris. The door is jammed, and Arkhen and Dan Jur scale the outside of the building, which has torn open from the dragon attack. Ruvian breaks down the door, and we rush in. Therella Creates Water that puts out the local flames, but alas, the steam mephits have broken free from their jars and rage because of their captivity. Ruvian struggles to keep the roof from coming down on our heads, and Arkhen gets Lathyleea to safety. They blow their steam breath, doing severe damage, and Arkhen heroically leaps to the ground and tumbles, leading two of them away. Once away, Tyrith helps to defeat them with magic missiles.

We aid with rescue and cleanup operations for the rest of the day.

ADVENTURE III: DRAGON DENTISTRY

GOAL: To gather three ingredients to potion to heal the dragons tooth issues.

At night, Starbeard finds us at the Watchful Eye Inn and gives us a mission. We must heal the gold dragon’s tooth. To do so, we need to find the ingredients to an ancient and secret remedy, kept clandestine because of the soporific effect the elixir has on dragons. We must gather a troll’s regenerating heart, harvest lightning in a bottle, and pluck periwinkle mushrooms—a halfling delicacy and rare fungus that grows in caves. We rest the night at the Watchful Eye Inn to set out the next day into Cormanthor Woods to seek trolls.

7th Eleasis DR 1371

Cormanthor Wood (Outer)

Dan Jur leads us to favored troll lairs in the woods, tracking the gangly and disgusting beasts. We encounter a group of three as they cook poorly butchered deer. The green creatures stink, and lice infest their scraggly hair. We assault their camp with Dan Jur going around the side. Tyrith leaps in between two of them to use his new Fire Burst Spell, burning anything in a five foot range, but the spell burns cool, leaving the elven wizard at the Troll’s rage. He is saved by Ruvian who rages and defeats one troll, drawing the attention of the third. We salvage the troll heart.

We begin the hike to SkyWatch Tower, and we are attacked by tunneling ankhegs. One nearly drags Arkhen below into his tunnels, but we free the rogue in time.

We travel next that early evening through the relentless rain to SkyWatch Tower, home of Starbeard. A thunderstorm brews, and we wait by having dinner—potatoes and grick steaks and cheese. He tells us that the rain is unnatural, and the Harper’s council has been convened. We sleep and wait for the lightning storm to begin.

“The Sky is weeping,” Tyrith says.

8th Eleasis DR 1371 – Early Dawn before Sunrise

Skywatch Tower (Residence of Starbeard) – Dalelands in North Battledale – Dalelands

Thunder awakens us before dawn, and we climb the stair to the top of SkyWatch Tower. Starbeard gives us a clay jar with leads and the heart of a conductive magical animal to gather the lightning. We must climb one of the rickety telescopes, putting us sixty feet above the ground. Ruvian attempts it but has little luck, so we decide to employ the Flying Moose Cap we found as treasure almost a ten-day before. The antlers flap like wings, and Moth sails into the sky, gathering the unnatural crimson lightning. Then, his new moose instincts overtake him, and he partially transforms into the four-legged animal. He runs into the woods, looking for blackberries, and Dan Jur and Arkhen hunt him down, tracking him and spooking the happy moose-Moth several times.

A lightning bolt hits SkyWatch tower, breaking free one of the telescopes, and Rauvian and Tyrith fly off the side, hitting the ground below, nearly killing Tyrith. Therella heals him and administers his wounds for the day. Dan Jur and Arkhen finally corner Moth-moose, tether him to a tree, which he flies around in a circle in panic. They get the hat free, and we rest the day and night at SkyWatch tower, mending the damage, before heading out the next day for nearby caverns for the periwinkle mushrooms.

9th Eleasis DR 1371

Cormanthor Woods & Periwinkle Mushroom Caves

We travel to the Periwinkle Mushroom Caves (Dungeon). Inside the caverns, we find no obvious mushrooms. We are attacked by carrion crawlers in the side cavern, and then we discover a secret door built into the cavern wall. We enter an artificial structure built into the caves. In the first room, we defeat a complex trap: a machine with four arms and four mechanical spiders that inject sleeping poison. The second room also has a magical sleeping trap, that we set off but endure. To the east, we defeat a specialized undead servant, an entomber, thanks to Therella’s powerful turn ability. To the north on the eastern side, we find a cell where we free Baerneysse Malrit missing fiancé, Gundarn. Drow elves attacked his caravan and took the traders prisoner, to be taken below as slaves. The treasury enriches our inventory.

To the west, we encounter several drow guard and a drow priestess of Lolth as she dances on spider webs above the room. We engage in combat, and more guards emerge behind us from secrete rooms to surround us. The priestess uses special drow feats to lower our willpower against controlling magic. She uses hold magic to freeze some of the players, and the fighters utilize drow poison to knock us unconscious. Rauvian rages and chops some of them in half. Tyrith uses color spray to keep some of the guards down. Arkhen succumbs to the poison, going unconscious. A drow guard prepares to kill him by switching from a crossbow to a long sword, but the party is able to defeat the guard, saving Arkhen. Dan Jur ends the cleric with arrows, scoring damaging hits, and the dangerous combat ends. We were nearly knocked out and taken below as slaves. We find some periwinkle mushrooms in the adjacent cavern, and we exit the cave in the evening, ready to journey back to SkyWatch Tower to make the elixir and cure the dragon. We rest the night in a campsite in the wood, in the relentless rain. Tootherka, having shadowed us, meets us outside the cave.

As soon as we exit, Moth snatches the flying antler hat, which still has some duration left for the previous wearer. He sticks it on his head and goes off flying. Dan Jur sighs and says he’ll join us as soon as he tracks down the flighty flying monk.

We select a spot on a hill, above the flooding and work to start a fire. Using rope and parchment to start a small fire, we’re able to dry some wood enough to start a proper fire. We setup watch and sleep.

10th Eleasis DR 1371

Cormanthor Wood

Before dawn, Ruvian’s dog paws at the ground, agitated. Copper, the dog, barks at the dirt. Ruvian, expecting more ankhegs, awakens the party. The ground collapses below us, dropping us into a cavern twenty feet deep, knocking us prone. A drow group attacks, fighters using long swords. In the combat, two drow rogues sneak attack from the side. We get to our feet and engage in combat. Large puddles and toxic mushrooms hinder our movement. In the combat, Tootherka uses his mental powers to hide himself and Tyrith and uses a mental blur effect on the party. Tyrith casts prismatic mist on the corner, causing random effects to a few drow and to Therella and Tootherka. They move out of the mist and continue combat, while Tyrith is damaged unconscious by a drow soldier. The party defeats the drow in the dangerous combat, and Tootherka is not happy with Tyrith. Ruvian binds Tyrith’s wounds, and Tootherka shows his discontent by threatening with his blade; then, he drops a cure potion on the wizard’s chest.

We exit the cave by swimming through a subterranean lake, then we make our way to SkyWatch Tower, bringing the periwinkle mushrooms to Starbeard so he can create the elixir to soothe the gold dragon’s dental agony. We arrive in the late afternoon, while Tootherka follows behind after carving a makeshift boat. He sails along at about three knots.

Starbeard brings us inside and invites us to get comfortable while he heads up to the second level to begin work on the elixir. The delicate formula requires a day to make, and any disruption in the process can have the most deleterious consequences. Because the elixir can cause soporific effects on dragons, we are required to guard the tower, since the elixir would be most useful in nefarious hands like the Cult of the Dragon.

We decide to make dinner. Tootherka goes up to the second floor to speak to Starbeard, distracting him from his work. At last, Starbeard gets frustrated and touches one of the gems in his beard, vanishing with nearly all his equipment.

Tyrith notices a vibration coming through the floor, and Arkhen, Tyrith and Ruvian descend into the basement. The dwarf uses his natural acumen for earthen structure to find a sealed shaft descending into rooms below the tower. The tower has been there since the time of the elven empire, and we discover lost rooms beneath. The party finds elven runes and a glowing pillar that emits a green light in a pyramid. The light reveals another world of silver fields and flying violet element dragons. A silvery man appears wearing an alien draconic armor, but he vanishes after tiny icy crystals fall from the stream. The crystals melt into a memory mist, and we can see elements of his memory. Therella pokes at the slab, and it exploded, throwing us back. Ruvian lands on his potion of enlargement, shattering the glass. He begins to grow, and we evacuate the cellar. When he normalizes, he heads upstairs and demands that Tyrith reveals what he knows about what they say. Tyrith tells of family legends that he never believed true, of his great-grandfather and his ability to engineer space-time dimensions. Ruvian recognized the silvery man, who appeared in one of his clan tunnels. No one believed the dwarf, and this is one of the reasons he was estranged from his home.

 We bed down, setting up a watch schedule.

11th Eleasis DR 1371

SkyWatch Tower – North Battledale - Dalelands

Before dawn, Arkhen stands watch on one of the mid-level balconies. Mic Dur Car appears below and requests peaceful parley. Arkhen wakes the party, and we meet him at the door. He offers us our lives for the elixir, speaking of a future where the world is ruled by Dracoliches—the faith of the Cult of the Dragon. We deny him, and Ruvian charges. Mic Dur Car evaporates.

Zombies and a wight shamble out of the wood, heading for the tower. Tyrith takes a position on the mid-level balconies, and the party heads out. Arkhen climbs a tree, waiting. The zombies and the wight are quickly dispatched. A second wave of Cult of the Dragon fighters and a wizard attacks. The party joins battle. Using his newly obtained abilities as a wild mage, Tyrith casts a fireball from the midlevel balcony, catching three cultists. He gains max power, inflicting terrible damage on them. The party continues to battle the cultists, and the enemy wizard casts a web spell on some of us. Therella heads up to the midlevel balcony to join Tyrith.

The third wave arrives. A young green dragon flies low over the hill and hovers in front of the tower, at the balconies. It opens wide its jaw and blows its breath weapon of chlorine gas on Tyrith and Therella, who both suffer terrible damage. Therella works to heal them both. The party finishes off the cultists, then they ascend to the second floor, finishing a cult fighter who got inside. The party focuses on the green dragon, who has been attacking with bite and claws as its breath weapon recharges. Tootherka leaps out on the dragon to attack, and he’s followed by Ruvian who charges with his great axe. Tyrith casts feather fall on the dwarf to keep him stable as the dragon tries to shake off his uninvited riders. The green dragon blows his chlorine gas breath again, but the damage isn’t too bad on those of us in the tower. He is weakened. Ruvian loses his axe, and in his rage, he punches the green dragon in the head, killing it. The dragon collapses to the ground. The tower assault is repelled.

CAMPAIGN LOG: ELEASIS 1371