THE ADVENTURE
THE BATTLE OF DAGGERFORD
While meeting up in the "" Inn in Daggerford, the group were introduced to two new comrades - Torin (Human Priest of Helm) and Tsallok (Distinguished Elven Mage). As they were getting to know each other and passing on all information and rumours they had gathered, the town rapidly came under massive attack from a trio of enemies. Giants were attacking one side of the town, ripping through buildings and palisade with their thrown boulders. Human raiders had brought their ships up the Delimbiyr River and were attacking from the river side. A large raiding party of Sahuagin had also gained the upper river east of town where they were meeting fierce resistance form the local Lizardman tribes.
The heroes headed to meet the giant forces head on. Through might, magic and the grace of their gods they defeated the giants and headed back to town to lend aid. There was some fighting within town but most was taking place around the small port. As the battle was engaged, a scene out of nightmares erupted in the river before them.
A gigantic, impossible entity stood before the the harbor of Daggerford, it's height reaching high into the sky, dwarfing all below it. It's turbulent movement through the river caused large disruptive waves which capsized the remaining raider ships. The heroes immediately launched into an intense battle for the survival of the town, and for their own lives.
Buffing spells were cast as the heroes lept into action - jade launching herself underwater to attack the main body of the beast, Tsallok and Jadarl flying up out of reach to cast their spells, and Thorvoldd, Gem, Abstract and Torin flew up to battle the beast's many heads, one by one. The many headed beast not only had ravaging toothy maws to attack, but was possessed of poisonous bites and different breath weapons to affect the group. It was a long and monumental battle that eventually ended in the death and dispersal of the sea monster.
Clearing out the remaining raiders the Dozen had to rescue the kids from the Orphanage which was set afire by the raiders. The children were saved, the raiders beaten, and the orphanage fire put out. A Raider was captured and interrogated. Something killed him and the group had to question his corpse. They learned that at least part of this attack seemed to be specifically targeting the Dozen.
DEALING WITH THE DEVIL (A Heavenly Compromise)
As the Dozen sat about the Inn trying to formulate their next course of action, a servant of Uruxinadroth walked into the Inn smiling. The netherworld creature's name was Abanath and he came offering to bargain information for years taken off of Urux's banishment. Although loathe to deal with this being they initially bought some information (Map to Reghed's Frozen Fortress). The group decided that communing with Helm might be the better option.
Althought the holy Commune's with Helm proved to be extremely helpful, Torin concluded that to find the recipe to the key to Reghed's Demi-Plane, he would have to deal with Abanath. The complete record of the Communes can be seen HERE. After bargaining away a total of 1500 years, this is what they learned:
1. Map leading directly to Reghed's Frozen Fortress in the utter north
2. An inside agent to aid us while in Reghed's Fortress
3. The complete recipe of ingredients needed to enter Reghed's demi-plane including where to find the items and how to use them.
4. 5 Questions that we may ask of him at some point we decide.
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THE RECIPE
a) Go to Waterdeep and meet Maliantor, who is the holder of the essence of Moradin's Furnace. Convince her to hand it over to Jade willingly.
b) Retrieve the Bane of Nehardrakkan.
c) Enter Reghed's Fortress and meet up with Ally who will show us where to go.
d) Find the 3 Conflict Crystals in the deepest part of the fortress and destroy them.
e) Use Moradin's Flame to fuse the crystal powder to the Bane of Nahodricon thereby creating the key necessary to enter Reghed's Demi-plane.
THE CONFLICT CRYSTALS
These are 3 powerful weapons that Reghed currently wields. They are called the Crystals of Ice, Darkness and Rage. The Crystals can be destroyed using the Bane of Nahodricon or by a suitably powerful artifact like the Black Shield or some of the artifacts the Dozen carry.
THE BANE OF NEHARDRAKKAN
Powerful artifact of unknown effect. It has the strange quality of not being able to be translocated through teleport and similar means. Unknown whether Planeshift would work. We have learned that this artifact can become more powerful. It has the capacity to have more items fused to it to grow in power. It is currently at a fraction of its full potential. The Bane may be of use in fighting Reghed (Possibly), but not the Hadraas.
THE HEARTFLAME (THE ESSENCE OF MORADIN'S FURNACE)
The flame was given to Malianthor of Waterdeep through strange circumstances. It is of unknown and untested power. It will manifest its true power only in the hands of a devout follower of Moradin, and Malianthor is not acceptable, but Jade is. The flame will bind the crystal powder to the Bane of Nehardrakkan - creating the key needed to access Reghed's Demi-plane.
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THE BATTLE OF WATERDEEP
The group's next move was to head to Waterdeep and find Malianthor, which proved to be fairly easy once they made the connection that Malianhor was a member of Waterdeep's Force Gray. No sooner had they met with Malianthor, who willingly gave the Heartflame to Jade, then they were called to a new crisis as the city came under attack by a massive force of Sahuagin and other strange creatures (Some were the queer dragon creatures Thorvold, Jadarl and Torin fought beneath Illefarn). Worst of all, two gigantic entities similar to the one that attacked Daggerford, crested the waves to assault Waterdeep from the sea. The group of heroes once again cast many defensive spells and rushed into combat, as no one else could - Showing all of Waterdeep what heroes truly look like.
The battle was long and hard fought by all. They tried to keep both of the monstrosities in front of them as they concentrated attacks upon the first of the entities. The trick to this creature was that it would heal all damage within a round if magical damage were not also applied. So this fight required close precision and timing between front line warriors and the mages in the party. Suffering a huge number of flailing, grasping and shocking attacks from both monsters, they finally managed to destroy the first one and begin battle on the second. This second beast did not have the same regenerative powers as the first, but it electrifying tentacles were its most decisive weapon - as armor provided no protection from it. The heroes exhausted most of their spells and healing to finally defeat the abomination, exhausted but victorious. Jade was severely wounded and was rushed to safety by Jadarl.
The city was still under heavy attack. Frost Giants were attacking the outer North Gate and Chillborn were assailing the inner North Gate - the Heroes were needed once again. Tsallok went to help shore up the outer baily with a wall of force before following the remaining team to the inner fortification to battle the Chillborn. The team, exhausted and beaten down from their previous collossal battle, fought desperately against the Dragon creatures in earnest. Enemy numbers eventually brought the heroes offence to a vicious battling retreat into the bowels of the gatekeep. With healing all but used up and Torin, Gem and Thorvoldd battered and fighting with their dwindling strength, the calvary arrived. Jadarl, Tsallok, Marcenay, Malianthor and others arrived to battle the remaining Chillborn to the monstrosities defeat.
The Heroes and the city fought bravely against the attack and had defeated or driven off the surviving attackers. The rest of the day the group spent time helping where they could and ministering to the wounded and frightened refugee’s. They spent an exhausted night catching up on their rest and tending to Jade’s grievous wounds. By the next morning Jade was feeling better and much healed. They did not take much time to revel in their victory and enjoy any praise from the people before they felt they must be off on the next part of their journey.
Only one strange thing had them thinking of something other than the quest directly in front of them. A courier from one of the hidden Lords of Waterdeep brought 3 unique scrolls before the Dozen and Malianthor. The scrolls emanated evil and the team felt that perhaps the unique and powerful spell scrolls were cursed (And perhaps Caraptus scrolls?). They decided to shelve those problems for later and continue with the road in front of them for now.
THE ROAD TO REGHED
It was determined that the team would split up. Half the team would make their way to Silverymoon and the rest would go to claim the Bane of Nehardrakkan from their hold at Baltron’s Beacon far to the east and south of Waterdeep. They decided that using the powerful priest spell Wind Walk to transport the Bane North and hook up with the rest in Silvery Moon was the best option. They would continue wind walking and the rest would use teleports to catch up with them.
After a week’s unique travel north they entered into the plateau of Reghed’s Fortress. They were greeted by their agent, the Witch of Hell - Ibrijilix 'Jajaraj. She warned of the powerful Demon-Giant Gorn sitting upon his throne and his pet White Dragon. The way into the Fortress proper lay beneath the throne. To make matters worse, a powerful Draco-Lich patrolled the area as well.
Battle was joined with a sneak aerial attack on the reposing Dragon. Helpful enchantments were cast and several powerful blows landed before Gorn stepped out to do battle. The team now launched all of their efforts against the giant and left the witch to do battle with the Ancient Dragon. The Giant was a frightful foe with an eldritch Rod of Power to smite his foes. The battle was long and hard, the Giant finally ultimately defeated by a charm from Tsallok that brought him to his knees. The Dragon fought on for some time longer before finally falling to the might of the Dozen.
The heroes being mostly out of spells and Healing, weary and wounded, then the Draco-Lich finally showed it’s rotted self. The fight was desperate and Torin searched for a way to retreat, but ultimately there was none. The only option was to fight to win or die before the eyes of the gods. They won. After the Draco-Lich crumpled to a rotted ruin, they found the hidden stairs under the giant’s throne.
This passage led down to a landing with a door across and a dangerous unseen pit in the center. The door proved to lead to the Dragons Treasure room, and the team spent an hour or so scooping up the half a million coins, many art objects and magical items. The treasure going into the portable hole they found.
The pit stripped those entering it of active magic, and deposited them about 20 feet below in a strange room. Tsallok’s Robe of Useful items proved useful as it produced a 20’ ladder that was used to enter the chamber below. Down below it was quickly determined that magic and spells would not work unless they came from a powerful item or artifact.
The area below branched off into 3 seperate areas - each one containing one of the Conflict Crystals. They decided that to overcome the Crystals, they should send one agent to each and use their artifact weapons to crush the crystals at the same time. This more or less worked, with a couple of hiccups and alot of damage caused as each crystal was shattered to dust. The dust was gathered and the heartflame that Jade carried in her left her body and fused all of the dust into the Bane of Nehardrakkan, creating the key to enter the plane of Reghed.
INTO REGHED'S LAIR
They used the key and found themselves in a small chamber with a large mirror on one wall and a mural on the other three walls. Investigating the area carefully revealed that the mural opposite the mirror would show signs of animation when looked at through the mirror, but not when looked at normally. Testing out the theory confirmed that all of the Murals behaved the same way when looked at through the mirror. It was also discovered, upon moving the mirror, that a door was hiding behind the mirror with three key holes.
The Murals were:
1. SOUTH: A mural of a kitchen hearth with a bubbling cauldron as the focus of the image. The steam was seen to move when looked at carefully through the mirror.
2. WEST: A mural of a short landing and a set of stairs leading up and stairs leading down. Deeper in the mural was a darkened archway. Many things were revealed to people who carefully studied it through the mirror. Smoke could be seen slowly making its way down the stairs. The faint image of barely seen eyes being seen deep within the shadows of the Archway.
3. EAST: A mural showing four shadow silhouettes side by side. When looked at through the mirror the figures turned their heads to reveal members of the party looking over their shoulders back at them. Very creepy.
It was decided that the south mural would be entered first. Half the team would be allowed into this magical room while the rest were restricted. Initial investigations of the room gave the indication that there was something in the bottom of the pot. The magically refilling pot was filled with an acidic substance which, through testing, would burn through even the floor. Utensils were found in the room that seemed to hold up against the acid longer. Fishing the object out was very difficult as it never seemed to be able to come out of the acid, even though Jade became quite proficient at getting the key to the top of the waterline, it would not breach. After several tries, Torin decided that perhaps the test was more a test of bravery than anything else. He wrapped his arm and hand in leather and as Jade positioned the key, Torin plunged his hand in and pulled out the KEY. A telekenesis spell quickly whisked the key away as it came into view. They had solved the mystery of the first room!
Next the group decided to tackle the east mural, with the strange silhouettes. The characters who had gone into the first room were restricted from this one, and the remaining three walked through the mirror into a non-descript land of darkness and impenetrable fog. They could see the silhouetted figures in the distance, but no matter how hard they tried they could not catch up with them. In the main area, the team were startled to see their three team mates jump out of the mural and attack. In the end, the three dopplegangers defeated the party and the real team mates were freed from the mirror/mural realm with a key.
Next, our intrepid heroes from the first mural had stepped through the mirror and entered the west mural of the landing, archway and stairs. They had decided to go up the stairs first to discover a strange room of flowering globes and an escape shoot. Touching the stalks of the globes dropped the globes to explode and have a specific effect (mostly hazardous). Jumping down the shoot to escape proved incredibly painful and not something they were willing to do again, however it did deposit them back to the landing. Checking downstairs revealed the same type of room only in reverse (The globes hanging from the ceiling). It turned out the only trick here was to randomly set off these traps until you got the proper one which would allow you to set a locking mechanism. Once both tasks were complete, they could defeat the Beholder who guarded the key. They did so and exited the mural.
THE FINAL BATTLE
They now had three keys, and stepped through the mural of the door with three locks. Placing all of the keys appropriately instantly transported them into an awaiting chamber of death. They appeared on a raised platform in a dark, pillared room. A couple hundred feet directly across the room, sitting on a throne, was Reghed. Slightly in front and flanking him were two horrible looking henchmen. Immediately, without preamble, the battle began. One on the henchmen dashed off to the left and disappeared while the giant one advanced and was met by Thorvoldd and the rest of the melee in the group. There was not alot of time to cast buffing enchantments, but a couple of stoneskins and haste were cast.
This opponant was impressive, with several attacks per round to devestating effect. He was somehow maintaining a stoneskin spell on himself that would have to be beat down before he could be damaged. A strange mist tried to take over the minds of the party and eventually Tsallok became possessed and threw a fireball at his teammates. The group was being pounded by the giant demon and Reghed's spells were blasting into the group and now Tsallok! Torin turned and Dispelled his next spell and took down some of his enchantments as he advanced on Tsallok. Jadarl stunned him with a spell, but it was not a permanent solution, so Torin advanced on Tsallok and made a tough decision. He hit him with his mace in the head until he was convinced he could not be alive. It is easier to come back from Resurrection at that point.
In an attempt to slow down the onslaught of spells from Reghed, Jadarl rushed to his throne and grappled with him to try and cancel his spells. Gem took a terrible wound and collapsed in death. Potions, her regeneration and a Heal spell from Torin brought her back into the fight. The fight was taking it's toll on the mighty demon as it's weapons were mostly destroyed and it took many severe wounds that slowed it down and reduced it's capacity to do as much damage to the group. Jade, Abstract, Gem and Throvoldd took every advantage they could to beat him down. Reghed, seeing his servant nearing death, began advancing towards him to heal him and Jadarl did everything he could to slow him down. Abstract and Torin left the main melee and moved to block the beings advance. Just as the Giant Demon died, In attacking Reghed, one of Abstracts attacks cut straight through his magical staff, causing a huge explosion that rocked the room. In an instant, the group members who remained standing were down to just two.
Jade and Thorvoldd were up to the challenge. They moved in on Reghed and had to beat through his stoneskins. As they were doing this, Reghed blasted off a fireball directly into melee. He was unharmed, Thorvoldd's magic helm protected him but Jade took some damage from the fire. She retreated, having already been wounded previously, to heal up with potions. While this was going on Jadarl got back into the fight (Having not been completely beaten) and cast spells into the combat. Gem's ring of regeneration brought her back into the fight, but she needed potions to heal up again as Torin was down for the count. She took healing potions off Abstracts broken body.
Soon Gem was joining a rejuvenated Jade and very determined Thorvoldd in the melee. With so many opponants on him, Reghed's defenses were overwhelmed and he knew he was done for. He called out for Parley but was met with a furocious rebuff, both by word and by weapon as Thorvoldd and the other two finished him off. There was nothing else of interest in the room, so they set about finding a way home with their fallen comrades. They used the Bane of N and after all touching it, they were magically transported back to Daggerdale. Jadarl whisked off to Waterdeep with the bodies of Torin and Tsallok to have them revived and after half a month Torin was returned much healed and shortly after, Tsallock came home.
The Group of adventurers that faced giant sea gods, mighty dragons, and evil ancient beings of power, were much applauded throughout the north as word of their deeds saving Daggerford and Waterdeep, and the explicit acceptance that it was their heroics which stopped the advancement of the Glacier, made them even more famous than before. These courageous people have emerged from almost certain doom to become the greatest heroes the north has seen in decades.