Editing Game-Summaries:4/14/2018 Recollections (section)

=Recollections by Rezik=


=== Our Interview with Karnifax ===
We had the opportunity to meet with Karnifax and ask him a few questions. We only had 30 minutes with him, it looks like many have been questioning him. He doesn't really know much, he's actually a houseless commoner in Menzobarenzan, trying to curry favor with House Melarn in the hopes of joining the house. When we finally had our chance to talk to him, he looked exhausted and annoyed. 

We had prepared ahead of time, so I took the lead asking the questions. Knowing that this Karnifax would be our emissary back to the Underdark, I wanted to be as professional as possible. 

I've included short notes from our conversation below:
* Karnifax knew the proper password "Hune's Head on a Spike"
* We asked about the Forsaken. He informed us that they are also known as the [[Shadar-Kai]], were elves forsaken by the [[Underdark]] and the elves of our plane. The Shadar-Kai keep the [[Drow]] in the Underdark, and the Wood Elves keep the Shadar-Kai in the [[The Nightshade Kingdom|Shadowfell]].
* The current leader of [[Menzoberranzan]] is [[Drow Houses|House Baenre]], lead by Yvonnel. Gromph, is the Archmage of Menzoberranzan and is said to have the real power. It's best to think about it as Yvonnel is the queen, and Gromph is the prime minister.
* There are a total of 8 ruling houses, with House Baenre being the highest house and House Melarn being the lowest. Danifae's house, House Yauntyrr is not part of the ruling council.
* We asked about Lord [[Dyrr]]. He's considered the second most powerful Wizard, after Gromph. He and Gromph are rivals.
* Karnifax then told us about the [[Silence of Lolth]]. That Lolth is currently missing. He wasn't sure why Lolth is missing, or what is being done to find out why; but he felt confident that people are trying to understand what is happening.
* The Drow have attempted to explore the Demonweb (another plan, similar to how the Underdark is below ours, the Demonwebs is under the Underdark), the home of Lolth. They've found it destroyed and without Lolth.
* We then learned about [[Ched Nasad]] another Drow city in the Underdark. [[Danifae]] had attempted to takeover Ched Nasad, with the help of [[Bregan D'aerthe]], but failed. The cavern that Ched Nasad was housed in collapsed and destroyed the city about 9 months ago. Menzoberranzan is now the last city of the Drow in the Underdark.
* Karnifax also warned us about the [[The Chosen|Chosen of Lolth]]. We've run into these half-spider half-humans before in the training dungeon. We wondered who the training dungeon could know about a monster from the Underdark - we made a note to ask about this in our debriefing.
* We asked a number of questions about the [[Illithids]] and the artifact that we know as the training dungeons; he let us know that based on the questions we and others have asked, he believes that the artifact is more than just a training dungeon. However, beyond that he doesn't know much more about either.
* We thanked him for his time and told him we're looking forward to our travels to the Underdark. He told us that we should be prepared for anything. We should bring gifts if we plan to travel through the forest to the Underdark; to be prepared for the Shadar-Kai to change their mind about allowing us to travel through their lands; and to be prepared to be stopped by the other houses of Menzoberranzan.

=== Tracking Down Imphraezl ===
After interviewing Karnifax we started on our initial plans of tracking down [[Imphraezl]]. We had found out that a Wizard looking for odd ingredients was in a fortress about 80 miles north of Solace. We weren't sure exactly which fortress or what kind of force he would have with him. 

We decided that we would pose as merchants leaving [[Solace]]. Our hope was to convince Imphraezl that we had beholder eyes (knowing that its an ingredient in the curse), so we could get close to him and better understand what he was doing. [[Jorg]] helped us get a caravan, and brought along a few men (and women) from his house to act as guards of our wagon.

The fortress was 3 days travel and after awhile we came across one that looked as if it was inhabited. Someone had boarded up the windows and take care to slightly fortify the ruins. We began to make our way to the fortress slowly, but as we approached it we were hit by a trap - it seemed to be some kind of variation on the Alarm ritual; not only creating a visual alarm but also firing a fireball at us. 

That's when we decided to send in Eryn and Ichol, the bard and rogue that Jorg had brought along. Our hope was that they would be able to cast Invisibility and go scout the area. However, after a minute they quickly came back. They let us know that they had run into a drow that had seen through their invisibility then laughed at them. They told us that the drow was heading south.

=== Running Into Lord Dyrr ===
We decided we should follow the drow, see who it was and attempt to stop them. We parked the wagon at the front of the castle. [[Jorg]], [[Avant]], [[Kaylorr]], and [[Rezik|I]] started after the drow. 

We tried to catch up to him, but boy was he fast. As we got closer, the drow suddenly surrounded himself in a wall of fire. We lost sight of him and he suddenly disappeared. As I look back on it know, I realize that this drow was Lord Dyrr himself.

=== Entering the Castle ===
Since we had lost Lord Dyrr, we decided it was time to go back to the castle. We attempted to enter through the front door, but it was blocked by a "Wall of Skin". We didn't know what it was at the time, but now we know it was the foot of a giant (they're pretty big). 

We had to find another way in, so we decided that the roof was our next opportunity. We made our way to the roof. '''As we're on the roof we hear a voice from below "I told you, I'm not interested". We believe that Imphraezl thought we were Lord Dyrr - we're not sure what Lord Dyrr was offering Imphraezl - something for the team searching for Dyrr to consider.'''  

At this point, we decide to jump into the castle. Jorg jumps and breaks the roof, falling onto the giant's knee. The giant was laying and chained down. Kaylorr and I followed after that. 

Suddenly, we saw Imphraezl. He cast a spell and paralyzed us, while telling Cazic (a demon to attacked us). We found out later that Cazic was a chasme, an extremely dangerous demon. He had the ability to suck our blood and weaken us considerably. Cazic used this ability on us while we were paralyzed, knocking me out. 

Luckily, I regained consciousness just in time to counter spell one of Imphraezl's spells. Jorg used this as an opportunity to completely decimate Cazik, and I finished him off with a quick cast of magic missiles. 

We were excited that things were looking good. That's when things were obviously going to get bad.

=== The Death of Rezik ===
Before we could kill Cazic, Imphraezl had yelled to him to tell him to only subdue us, that he knew we had beholder eyes. I took this as an opportunity to tell him, if he wanted our beholder eyes, we would trade him for it but we need to get it from the wagon outside. 

Imphraezl, agreed. He allowed us to leave and get the beholder eyes from our wagon. We decided to put a potion in a crate and use an illusion to make it look like beholder eyes. 

We entered the castle with our full contingent, the guards carrying our crate. Imphraezl was no where to be found when we entered. We called out for him, telling him we had brought his beholder yes. We told him that in order for us to trade (we wanted the spell that he had cast on us previously). 

It was at this point he began angered. He started to tell us he didn't believe us and told us to leave. We continued to press Imphraezl, when we suddenly felt the pull of magic around us. Gravity changed and we were suddenly falling outside of the castle. 

The last thing I felt was the sudden lurching and the fall.

=== Rezik is Back! ===
Thankfully, Kaylorr and Avant brought me back to the magistery, where the house of yellow revived me. Death is a harrowing experience though. I've suffered for my pain and can no longer remember my childhood. I still remember who I am and it hasn't impacted my magic, but I seem to have forgotten specifics. It's a scarring experience, and I'll have to spend time finding out more about my past it seems.

=== Debriefing with the Seal ===
Once we were able to regroup, we were granted an audience with the [[Seal of the Realm|Seal]]. We climbed stairs in the middle of the [[Magistery]] library, to reach a completely gilded room. The Seal was hidden behind a screen, but we were able to engage with her. 

We asked her a number of questions, but due to my recent death, I was a little out of it. The most important piece that we asked her about was the [[The Artifact|training dungeon artifact]]. We were perplexed on how it knew about [[The Chosen]]. 

The Seal informed us that the artifact is more than just the training dungeon. It was created by the creators of the [[Magistery]]; and is an extremely powerful artifact. The training dungeon is only one piece of it and that as we gain ranks in the magistery, we'll be allowed access to other aspects of the artifact. 

She let us know that if the dungeon had shown us a [[The Chosen| Chosen]], it was because it believed we needed to know about [[The Chosen]]. She then said something that will stick in my mind - "[[The Artifact]], known to you as the training dungeon, doesn't do anything without a reason - everything you experience there is done with thought".