Recollections by Dereth
Recollections by Ford
Recollections by Kaylorr
Recollections by Rezik
1: So it begins
Our day started today with us embarking on our journey to the Underdark. We knew it was going to be a difficult journey, but we were accompanied by a number of Adepts and Disciples, so I felt comfortable in the fact that we were a formidable group.
I've outlined who joined us for posterity's sake:
Adepts:
- Reshi - Green
- Fortia Camaia - Blue
- Ancis Decaius - Green
- Amus Bonuso - Red
- Sacra Fadanius - Gray
- Niditu Capa - Gray
Disciples:
- Domus Durocco - Brown
- Felicia Vianiusall - Blue
- Gina Musala - Yellow
- Desa Portula - Red
- Sasisbai - Green
- Amuriar - Gray
Eternal Order:
- Rezik
- Dereth
- Kaylorr
- Zanna
- Ford
- Tallulah
- Karnifax (Our guide through the Underdark)
- Kaanyr (He had joined us as a prisoner to be given to Halistra)
Regardless, even though we knew we had a full entourage, we decided to be fully prepared for whatever may happen.
Dereth was kind enough to have created Revivify scrolls. I truly hope we won't need these, but it'll be good to have them in case. Also, Kaylorr had brought health potions that he shared with the rest of the Eternal Order members.
Once the appropriate time approached, we all met together and prepared for our journey.
As we approached the group, we were told to join hands in a circle and suddenly were teleported away. Reshi, who seems to have been leading the group, informed us that we had teleported to just outside the Golden Forest.
2: Our Conversation with Reshi
We knew our journey would take us from Solace, to the Golden City of Elves, to the Nightshade Kingdom, at which point we would enter the portal to the Underdark; but we just knew broad strokes and not exact directions or even who our contacts in these regions would be.
Reshi, seemed to know exactly where to go, though. She led us confidently through the forest (which seemingly came out of nowhere and was so thick it was hard to see through).
As we were walking, Reshi gave us a history lesson on the region, the Underdark, and what we could expect. I've summarized and bulleted some of her thoughts below:
- The Nightshade Kingdom is the overlap of the Plane of Shadows and our Plane. Similarly, The Golden Forest, is the overlap of the Feywild and our Plane.
- We expect time to be different in the Feywild - it could be faster or slower, we're not really sure.
- Lolth, was known as Aurashnee. She backstabbed Corellon and was forced to leave Arvandor, taking on the name of Lolth. The elves that followed Lolth at first, but tried to turn back to Corellon after she backstabbed him became the Shadar-Kai.
- The Raven Queen is the Queen of the Nightshade Kingdom and is also the God of Death. She killed Nerull and stole his Divine Spark.
- The changing of Divine Sparks and upsetting of the balance is what lead to the awakening of the Kraken.
While we were walking through the forest, suddenly the Magistery Rings that the Disciples and Adepts were wearing starting to flash red. They seemed concerned and quickly huddled to whisper to each other.
Reshi grabbed us and told us that the flashing means that they are being recalled back to the Magistery. She told us that the last time the red's dispensation was called was the great awakening.
We were given an option. Join the disciples and adepts back to the Magistery to deal with whatever had triggered the alarm, or forge forward alone & on our own.
3: Alone & On Our Own
We decided to forge on. Reshi left us her notes (summarized below) and the disciples and adepts formed a circle and teleported away. We were left alone, with Kaanyr and Karnifax - not sure where to go or how to get there.
We just knew we had to go south west. So we started walking, with each of us trying to help guide the party through the woods.
Reshi's Notes: Ruling 7:
- House Baenre
- Yvonnel Baenre, matron mother.
- Gromph
- Quenthel
- House Barrison Del'Armgo
- Militaristic, trains with Melarn & Do'Urden
- House Agrach Dyrr
- Lichdrow
- House Mizzrym
- Plotting against Agrach Dyrr
- House Duskryn
- Meritocracy, militaristic
- House Melarn
- Halisstra
- Most fanatical for Lolth, founded from house Kenafin and Horlbar after the fall of Ched Nasad
- House Do'Urden
- Disgraced house reformed by Yvonnel
- ??? House Yauntyrr
- Danifae became a captive beholden to Halisstra when Ched Nasad fell, Yauntyrr started the conflict, and Kenafin & Horlbar are the only surviving houses, forming Melarn.
4: Centaurs & Magical Beasts
We traveled through the extremely difficult forest for 7 days. On the next day, as we were trekking through the forest, we realized that we had been surrounded.
As we started to determine who had surrounded us, suddenly, a group of [[Centaur| centaurs}} charged out of the trees towards our group. We had a hard battle ahead of us, but were able to dispatch the first few.
Just as the tide was turning and the centaurs were falling, out of no where a terrifying creature joined the fight. At first we weren't sure if the creature had come to save us, as it utterly decimated one of the centaurs. When we looked more closely, all doubt was gone from our mind - this creature was going to try to kill us.
We later learned that it was a Fomorian, a grotesque looking giant with a hideous eye. The group quickly killed off the final centaurs so we could focus our efforts on this giant fomorian.
Zanna had the brilliant idea of casting Tasha's Hideous Laughter and causing the creature to fall to the ground laughing helplessly (it doesn't actually laugh). We all prepared our most powerful attacks and were able to quickly kill the fomorian.
I kept the hideous eye - who knows if it might come in useful.
5: Seriously?!
Once we took care of the battle site, we decide it was time to continue on. Just as we were trying to figure out how to find our way through the forest, Dereth realizes that he's received a spell from his divine inspiration - Guiding Hand. The spell would point us in the direction we have to go.
(Seriously Dereth. Oh Kaylorr has the spell too... Both of them could've saved us so much trouble in the first 7 days of this trip. Stupid.)
With our magical hand ahead of us, we restarted our journey towards the Nightshade kingdom.
Our good fortune didn't last long.
6: Note to Self: Learn Sending
As we continued walking, suddenly we were surrounded by a group of wood elves that seemed to step out of the trees themselves.
The leader of the group, Celebor, stopped us and asked us what we were doing. He told us that we were not welcome in the woods, especially with Karnifax and Kaanyr.
We tried to explain ourselves and tell Celebor that we were from the Magistery on our way to the Nightshade kingdom to liaise with Halistra from the Underdark. He didn't care nor believe us.
When we finally mentioned Reshi, he become more interested in what we had to say. He didn't believe that we knew Reshi, but we showed him the notes that she gave us and I described her to him (I'm not sure why he didn't like my description). I've included an image for the journal
It almost seemed like he believed that we had met her, but wasn't sure that we were actually friends. I think he was worried that we had killed Reshi and taken her notes.
Dereth finally came up with a good idea. He would cast the spell Sending to get a message to Reshi - asking her something that she would only know.
Celebor allowed us the opportunity to do that and the response from Reshi was definitely interesting.
Turns out Celebor is Reshi's younger brother. He had been promoted to Captain of the Moonguard (which explains the glowing moonblades he and his colleagues carried).
Once we proved that we knew Reshi and were actually on a mission for the Magistery, Celebor relaxed and started to trust us.
He guided us into the Golden City of Elves. He even helped us resupply and prepare for our eventual trip to the Underdark.
7: The Library
As we were shown around the city, Celebor brought us to the library. It's a beautiful building with hundreds of spells. I'll definitely have to come back and revisit this place.
While we were there I picked up a few spells - specifically:
- Sending
- Guest of Honor
- Heartache
8: Leaving the City
Once we all had finished exploring and preparing, Celebor showed us to the edge of the city. We'll definitely miss the elven hospitality, especially since every step we took towards the Nightshade Kingdom felt darker and darker.
As we past the threshold of The Golden City of Elves, we could feel that we had entered The Nightshade Kingdom.
Ahead of us loomed a huge city with pinpoints of light and moving shadows of gigantic monstrosities. Entering the city required us to cross a single bridge. It's an absolutely unnerving sight to behold.