Exploring the Skyforge – #15 Eberron 2020

The party moves up the corridor deeper into the Skyforge, but are quickly halted when a metal door slides into the ceiling and 4 Warforged step out. Some of the designs are familiar; the greatsword-armed type from the laboratory in Fallen and another type that Dallara Rumskin had in his employ, armed with a barbed grappling hook. There is a new type with them, a slender Warforged that casts spells. 

The guards engage the party with intent to kill, the hook-armed ones firing their shoulder-mounted magic cannons over the head of the greatsword-user while the new design attempts to trip up the party with its spells. Reginald and the caster sling spells at either side with surprisingly little effect while Fian fires barrages of thorns into the warforged backline to great effect. The fight drags along the corridor as the ranged fighters retreat from Golkir’s attacks while the greatsword charges Fian. The ranger takes a heavy blow but the greatsword-user pays for it with its life. Thuun presses the caster and one of the hook-users into a kitchen off to the side of the corridor where they can’t escape his halberd. The fight ends there as the caster is decapitated by Thuun while Fian puts a final arrow in the chest of one of the hook-users. 

Dallara “d’Cannith” Rumskin- #14 Eberron 2020

The party, exhausted after their excursion to Q’Barra and the fight with the Kyrios Monarch butterfly, accept Dallara d’Cannith’s offer to stay the night in his mansion. The gnome takes them to a sizable mansion in the Highwater district in Upper Sharn and shows them to some empty servants-quarters, divided into a room for the men and the women of the group, for propriety’s sake.

Hours later, as the party is waking from their slumber and putting on their gear, there is a knock on the door to the women’s quarters. Fian and Golkir see the door open to admit Dallara d’Cannith, flanked by his loyal steel defender. He asks Fian for a favor, namely if she will surrender the bow they found in Q’barra to Dallara as loot from a ‘successful’ expedition. Fian refuses, to no-one’s surprise. Dallara admits that he wished there was a different way, but he must be known as the primary member of the expedition and must have loot to prove it. He brings out a small whistle and blows it, and in the next moment, the door to the other bedroom also slams open, revealing thugs in the hallway, as well as the mercenary and warforged that Dallara had in the jungle. 

Atrocity Unforgiven – #13 Eberron 2020

The stone hatch slides away, revealing a dark space underneath the jungle-infested ruin. The party members glance at each other and begin to descend, leaving the humid jungle behind. After descending for a moment, they see light ahead. A voice calls ahead, asking for their master. They find a lit chamber with worktables, bookshelves and a large pile of dirt and debris. All the party members note that, as they descend the stair, they enter a Zone of Truth. A warforged is there, standing in a worn robe. It calls itself Alfred and is elated to see other people again. According to Alfred, his master, Malleon Kallen, locked him in the basement because of a disagreement on the ethics of an experiment. He also asks the party if they have seen him, for Alfred wonders what has become of his master. When asked how long Alfred has been locked down here, the warforged replies with 28 years. When the hatch was locked, the war was still at full strength and his race was still new in the world. Fian tells Alfred of his master’s demise, and the warforged is not surprised. 

At the far end of the chamber is a steel gate locked tight to the floor. Fian tries the green-stone ring on a green-tower sigil on the door, and it slides open to reveal a nightmarish scene. 

Far From Home – #12 Eberron 2020

We rejoin the group as they explore their new surroundings. An old building, much like a small castle complete with towers, has fallen into ruin decades ago. A crimson vine snakes its way through the entire complex. The group splits up to search the area, finding a chest with magical items, a corpse and their cleric examining a bookcase. The group confers to try and figure out their location, as the portal they took to get here was apparently one-way. The more outdoors-y of the group figure that, being a jungle, there are only three places on Khorvaire they could be on, if indeed they are on Khorvaire; Valenar, east of the Mror Holds or in Q’Barra. All three are across the continent from Sharn.

Reginald takes a moment to catch a colourful bird that flies overhead, killing it with his magic and plucking its prettier feathers. The carcass he gives to his dog. 

Both Fian and Thuun notice that some of the vines quiver, but make no deal of it. Eventually, as Golkir is marching through the ruins on her search, there is a burst of movement. A lash of vines strike out at her, attempting to pull her down into the brush and strangle her, but the thorns catch the metal of her armour and the paladin manages to resist. The group hurries to assist, and while the assassin vine tries to resist by entangling Fian in its crimson grip, it is quickly dispatched. Zildar lights the vine on fire with his tinderbox, quickly finding that the smoke it emits is disturbing to breathe in. Thuun and Reginald quickly put it out, hands over their mouths to resist the uncomfortable smoke.

The group reconvenes, both to heal and for safety against further dangerous flora, and Golkir and Fian find a break in the jungle cover that shows them some more about their location; they are on a plateau on an island off a jungle-covered coast, with a natural rock formation serving as a bridge to connect to the mainland. They follow a path that takes them down from the plateau, until Zildar and Fian notice a rustle in the bushes. Shushing the rest of the group, the ranger fires an arrow in the direction of the noise. The arrow only hits wood, but a moment later, two large feline creatures spring from the bush to attack, followed by a flutter of wings from the jungle below the cliff close by. 

Casinos & Ciphers – #11 Eberron 2020

The gambling rules used for this session were copied from Matthew Mercer’s Critical Role campaign. 

A letter arrives for Fian but the young ranger declines to identify herself. Instead, Golkir accepts the letter in her stead and gives Fian the letter once the innkeep turns away. 

In the meantime, Zildar and Thuun arrive at the Broken Legs Casino; the weathered front indicates *Katra Casino* but the wooden letters have long-since lost all colour and glamour, and someone has written *Broken Legs* with white paint. The atmosphere within is rough, with shady folk staring at them from every corner and bugbear bouncers at every door. Various types of gambling are spread out across tables throughout the ground floor. A wrestling ring is busy in the corner while cockfights can be heard on the floor above. 

A Daask of Trouble – #10 Eberron 2020

The group escape with Thomas, fleeing into the Grayfloods streets to a dingy apartment that serves as one of Thomas’ safehouses. There they tie up the drow they captured from the raid and Thomas begins interrogating him. The bounty hunter is clearly unused to the situation and makes little progress until Fian steps in, talking about creative interrogation methods out-loud. 

The drow doesn’t know much, claiming to have been a street scout for the gang and not being initiated into their deeper stuff. When asked what he scouted, he said that he had done some work in Sovereign Towers, scouting a Blood of Vol shrine. Lional pipes up, saying that knows what shrine he’s talking about; Lisephine’s shrine. The drow pleads mercy, claiming that he doesn’t know any more. Fian quickly gets tired of his rambling and, with no resistance from Thomas or the rest of the group, snaps the drow’s neck. Reginald looks away, stepping behind Thuun.

Lional and Zildar stay behind to help Thomas, while the rest of the group takes a ride on a skycoach to Sovereign Towers, after handing Thomas the singed documents they found in the warehouse, with Reginald hanging on to the documents he found in the secret compartment. Reginald also akss his dog to stay behind.

The Party Reunited – #9 Eberron 2020

Zildar, Golkir, Lional stand by the mysterious iron-grate door with their new ally Golm de Feldtmar. After pondering for a moment if they should move further down the tunnel, Golm borrows a crowbar from Zildar and levers the door off its hinges, allowing them access. At the top of the stairs they find a hexagonal room built of cut stone with no adornments and a corridor leading out. Golkir uses her divine senses to look ahead for threats and finds a single undead signature somewhere above her. At the end they find a door that, when Zildar opens it, triggers a spell. The energy washes over the group but has no impact; it is a spell meant to dissuade undead from entering, and even Lional has no ill-effects.

Behind the door is a laboratory or workroom. A man is lying on the floor covered in blood, surrounded by four ghostly-blue images of other men, each different from the other. They look deeper into the room before noticing Zildar and vanishing. The cleric enters and sees what they were looking at; a massive creature is standing in the back of the laboratory, covered in the same ghostly-blue energies as the men. It is easily twice as tall as the cleric and covered in bony armour. One arm ends in a blade that would be a greatsword for any mortal and the head sports two bony horns. Zildar remembers this creature very well, for it is the sporting image of the undead creature that murdered his family years ago. 

Reap the Rewards – #8 Eberron 2020

Lional, Golkir and Zildar return to the Fallen Kenku Inn, where they meet a pair of Sharn watchmen. They approach Zildar but Lional steps in their path, claiming that it is never a good thing when the Watch is involved. They claim that they simply wish to ask Zildar some questions since he had volunteered to help look into the destruction of the tavern-room, and Zildar agrees to be questioned. 

When asked what he found, he says that he found some thugs and that he was nearly murdered. The watchmen are surprised, but when they pry further, Zildar has nothing to add. After a moment, the watchmen take it at face-value. Next they ask about the item that Zildar took from the room to aid his investigation. When they learn that he discarded the item, he is threatened with fines if he cannot retrieve it, since it is an item in the investigation. Grumbling under his breath, the cleric walks outside the inn to the gutter where he dumped the brooch and gives it to the guard.

As the two watchmen thank them for their time and walk upstairs to survey the scene, a man in armour much like Lional’s rises from his seat and rudely hails the paladin of the Blood. Golm de Feldtmar, the paladin that Lisephine mentioned. After his rude greeting, the man quickly warms to the group when they inquire about his errand in the city and offer their aid. Golm is heading east to New Cyre to investigate rumours about an undying or indestructible undead, but he has been informed of similar creatures in Sharn, in the sewers beneath the very inn they’re in. To accentuate his tale, the man pulls forth a skull from his pack, a skull with a shape that Zildar knows very well and one that still haunts his dreams on bad nights. The cleric is stunned by recollection for a moment, but is the first to offer his help in defeating the creatures. They discuss briefly if they should wait for the entire party to assemble at the inn, but Golkir asks how many of these ‘skull reapers’ Golm is expecting to find. He is unsure, but he does not think there will be many. Lional says that with 2 paladins, some undead should be no trouble. Golm draws his hammer and exclaims that they are 3 paladins. So roused, the group sets off following Golm’s directions.

“Let’s split up and search for clues… and beer.” – #7 Eberron 2020

During the night, Zildar is faced with a strange vision. He finds himself in an endless field of tall grass, tall enough to cover his waist. For a moment he is alone, and then he notices another figure. An elf in armour stands in front of him, motioning and gesturing while their lips move. They clearly try to speak, but no sound emerges. Zildar has seen this figure in his dreams before. After a moment the figure gives up on speech and points at something behind Zildar. When the cleric turns to look, a blanket of darkness covers his vision and the field of grass fades from view. 

Golkir too has a vision. The dragonborn paladin is present in a vast, dark space. The darkness begins to fade, showing a cathedral. As Golkir is processing this, the hooded cleric that joined their group the same day appears beside her in the dream. Somehow, both are aware that this is no simple image in the dream; they are both experiencing the same vision. 

As they watch, the cathedral space fills with people of all nations and of all races. They are happy and joyous, but then there is a rumble. A scream rings out from the crowd and they flee, leaving the cathedral empty. A new creature enters; a wolf. It’s fur is not simply dark but a pure black, a blackness that is left behind it’s every step. The blackness slowly covers the majestic cathedral until the wolf beds down in its new lair. Only a small mote of light remains in the very centre. The vision is over and it slowly fades.

The party as a whole is later awoken by a racket; the dog that Reginald adopted is barking at the window and they hear sounds of battle outside. Thuun is first to act, grabbing his halberd and leaping out the window of the shed. A young man is fighting off two ghouls, one of the scimitars in his hands slick with ghoul blood. The party rises up and swiftly deals with the undead, after which the young man questions them, claiming that undead normally do not approach the town. Thuun and Lional convince him of their story concerning Granny’s hidden deal with the ghouls, after which the young man leaves them to their sleep. 

Dungeons & Definitions – #6 Eberron 2020

The air is cold and still in the hidden basement below the church. Even the members of the party that have enhanced vision in the dark find it difficult to see, so Fian and Zildar light torches. Lional quickly makes the first find; a trap that explodes outwards with thunderous force. Golkir is also caught in its effect and both paladins are battered by the energies. Zildar administers some healing while the echoes of the thunder dies away. 

The party ventures out of the entrance corridor into the basement proper and finds three routes, one of which has 3 pulsating sources of light at the end. Initially the party scatters in all directions, but Zildar and Fian manage to convince everyone to stay together. This is clearly a dangerous place, and splitting up would only isolate them. A sensible decision, all agreed.