Session 5

Gracklstugh on Five Silver a Day
Concerning certain events occurring between the evening of 14 Kythorn and mid afternoon of 16 Kythorn in picturesque Gracklstugh.

After speaking with Fargas Rumblefoot our party, who have apparently remembered that they called themselves the Young Adventurers way back in session one and have taken up that mantle once again, settled in for their first night in Gracklstugh. Nespip found the local air quality lacking compared to the High Forest and came down with an actual lung disease. Everybody else was luckily made of sterner stuff.

Nespip, after rereading his character’s backstory having a night to think about it, tracked down Fargas to have a talk about this tomb his group was looking for. Fargas confirms that it was the Tomb of Khaem but he has never heard of Dawnbringer. He agrees (reluctantly) to accompany the party to the tomb if they agree to take him to the surface when they leave.

Despite barely managing to sneak into the city without attracting official notice the party then decided to talk to the captain of the city guard, who they discovered was Errde Blackskull. They made their way, along with Derendil, Jimjar, Eldeth and Stool (all that remains of the prisoners they escaped with), to Overlake Hold. There they were made to wait for several hours before Jimjar and Eldeth were arrested by the guard and Captain Blackskull deigns to see the rest of them. (DM aside: having a duergar surname that’s just two english words mashed together makes me consider things about how language works in the Forgotten Realms that are best left unexamined. This goes for you too, King Steelshadow.) Captain Blackskull tells the party that a drow agent of Ilvara has identified them as her rightful property and wants them held to be returned to the drow. Jimjar and Eldeth were arrested for being an agent of Blingdenstone and a shield dwarf, respectively.

Luckily, Captain Blackstone doesn’t want to be a lackey for the drow and offers a compromise--the party will do some tasks for her and be allowed to leave the city, while she keeps the drow from following their trail. In addition, if they first prove themselves at least a little competent she will equip them out of Stone Guard supplies. The party agrees and are set to find and capture (or murder) a derro named Droki, plus bring Captain Blackstone evidence of mounting corruption amongst the populace. She believes the derro are involved in some sort of plot against the duergar. She gives the party tokens that allow them to travel as far south as Laduguer’s Furrow.

The group returns to the Blade Bazaar where they almost immediately see Droki. Unfortunately an attempt to nab him is foiled when he reveals that he has magically enhanced speed of some kind. Kaia is able to tag Droki with her Hunter’s Mark spell, but he escapes. Talking to the merchants Droki was seen with revealed that he may have been involved in some sort of protection racket run by a group called the Grey Ghosts. They also discover that Clan Thrazgad has had a large amount of processed steel ingots stolen from them, possibly by these same Grey Ghosts. The steel had been treated for acid resistance for some unknown reason making it very valuable. At some point in here they return to the inn and discover that Eldeth and Jimjar have been placed on “house arrest” pending an investigation and can’t leave the inn.

An attempt by Kaia to locate Droki before her hunter’s mark wears off is unsuccessful, though the party does take a walk to the Furrow and checks out the gates to the derro slums. They decide not to go into the slums at this time, mostly because Ralkor thinks it’s a bad idea.

On the way back to the Darklake District the group is confronted by what appears to be a member of the Stone Guard but who identifies himself as King Horgar Steelshadow V. He demands the party immediately kill Themberchaud, the dragon who lives in the city. This is obviously crazy talk, why would there be a dragon living in the city? So Kaia (who, by the way, has been doing literally all the talking because she speaks dwarven and undercommon and nobody else does) plays along and agrees to return with the dragon’s head in two hours.

The party then dicked around for a while (honestly, I don’t remember. They went back to the inn for a bit and I think hung around the bazaar? I’d say this is the part where they enquired about a route to the surface but they never did get around to that) before returning to meet the purported king. Kaia convinced a couple of non-crazy Stone Guard to come along, finding out in the process that there was in fact a dragon named Themberchaud living in the city, and that dragon had the title Wyrmsmith. The insane guardsman was located, found to be still crazy, and taken into custody by the other three guards present.

Back at the Overlake Hold Kaia presented the crazy guardsman and a couple other weird occurrences as evidence of the corruption Captain Blackskull was looking for. After verifying what Kaia told her, Captain Blackskull had a subordinate outfit the party properly with dwarven made gear, who promised that the equipment would be delivered in the morning.

Sebastian was very keen on going to back to the inn and staying there for the night so as to avoid any trouble before getting their new supplies but Ralkor for some goddamn reason wanted to go check on their boats. So the four Young Adventurers returned to the docks and of course ran into an attempted assassination. A male duergar, walking alone, was jumped by two duergar wielding glowing, translucent swords. The party came to the victim’s assistance, killing one assailant and knocking the second unconscious. The victim identified himself as Werz Saltbaron and told the party to come see him at the Shattered Spire. He then took off, warning the party to clear out before the guards arrived.

Instead, both Ralkor and Kaia cast disguise self, taking on the appearance of Stone Guards, and carried the unconscious dwarf to the Overlake Hold. They dismissed the illusion before entering the building and were quickly surrounded by hostile Stone Guard demanding to know what happened. They explained themselves to Captain Blackskull, who sighed and told them she’d have to open an investigation given the dead dwarf, but they were free to move about the city in the meantime. She further told them there were rumours of an assassins guild, which she had not found credible, called the Empty-Scabbard Killers. She thought the two assailants might be related to those rumours though she still does not believe an assassins guild is operating in the city.

That night the party again experienced terrible nightmares, this time of being pursued through a maze by some great beast or monster, always just a few steps behind them. As they come to a dead end and turn with horror to face the pursuer they awoke. Nespip finds that his Grackle Lung has cleared up, so it’s not all bad.

Captain Blackskull held up her end of the bargain and the party’s new supplies were delivered as promised. Sebastian and Nespip were able to find some local armorers who could engrave their shields with holy symbols while Ralkor found a super creepy screaming face wand that he really liked. At no point did they see Droki around the bazaar.

The Young Adventurers decided to head towards the Shattered Spire to see if they can locate Werz Saltbaron. On the way Kaia keeps her eyes open for suspicious rats, having heard a rumour of rats running around with exposed brains. Sure enough, just before reaching the Shattered Spire she sees a rat with a faint glow around its head and what appears to be visible brain on top. The rat escapes into a crack when the party gets closer.

At the Shattered Spire the party locates Werz Saltbaron. He thanks them for saving his life and gives them a small purse of gold in thanks. He believes the men who attacked him were the Empty-Scabbard Killers and claims he doesn’t know why they were after him. Werz says he has a business proposition for the party if they are able to find out enough about the assassins to ensure his safety, or even better kill whoever wants him dead.

Sebastian suggests the party check out West Cleft gate and see if they can spot Droki coming or going. As the party approaches the gates out of the Darklake District, however, they hear a loud booming noise. Suddenly the gate splinters and an enormous grey-skinned humanoid bursts through. Ralkor recognizes it as a stone giant, although this one seems to have sprouted a second head and then gone mad. The giant began to immediately lay about himself, killing several duergar citizens. The party leapt into combat alongside three members of the guard, against some of their better judgment. While it was close--especially for Nespip--the party was able to bring the giant down. At the last moment a second giant ran into sight, begging the party not to kill the rampaging giant, and they were able to merely knock him unconscious.

The second giant, Dorhun, thanks the party for not killing his friend. Apparently, in addition to duergar, derro, and a dragon this city is also home to some stone giants. Dorhun states that the fallen giant, Rihuud, was meditating when he went mad, sprouting the second head. They are both apprentices of the Stonespeaker, and Dorhun invites the party to come speak to the Stonespeaker. As the duergar guards start asking questions of Dorhun another duergar dressed in robes approaches and states he is Gartokkar Xundorn, leader of the Keepers of the Flame. He invites the party to come to their headquarters as he is impressed with their abilities and has a proposition for them. He assures them that he can escort them to the Stonespeaker afterwards if they want and the party agrees.

As the group approaches the building the ground trembles and a huge red dragon--presumably Themberchaud--comes out of a large cavern next to the building. “Gartokkar,” he says, “you didn’t say I was having surfacers for dinner today!”

Find out how Themberchaud likes his meals prepared next time on Out of the Abyss!