Category: W:DH

The bugbears streamed out of the open doorways and we met them with steel and spell.  As the battle ensued, I spotted an intellect devourer approaching.  I began to call out, but a searing pain in my skull silenced all thought

When I regained my senses, I found that we had won the fight.  Along with the bugbears and intellect devourer, a lone Gazer arrived with warnings about crossing the Xanathar.  It died as readily as the rest.  My fellows had searched the contents of the adjoining rooms and found a potion that restored my faculties.

As we continued to search for the vault, the Stone led us to a blank wall.  Losser found a secret door embedded in the wall, and we proceeded thru it.  At the end of the hallway beyond, was a door with a lock that looked quite secure – even to my untrained eyes.  Tobby spent just a minute with the lock, and it sprang open.  After we all entered the following room, Tobby closed and re-locked the door behind us.  The room beyond was oddly shaped with many pillars featuring dwarven carvings.  It was a truly impressive sight.  As we approached the front of the room, the Stone again led us to what looked like a dead end.  Losser again found a secret door, allowing us to proceed.  As we moved down a very long set of stairs, the passage began to widen.  Eventually, we reached a massive set of double doors.  Dwarven writing on the doors indicated that the three keys should be brought forward.  While we opened the small crate, Boaz sang the Dwarven song.  We removed a severed hand from the crate and pressed it against the doors.  Tobby pressed the dead Gazer from earlier against the doors

A loud crack rang out, and the doors slowly began to open…

Barnabus sent a message-bird – delivered to Jumanji’s head.  In it, he mentioned that he found a Dwarf to accompany us.  Boaz and Tobby departed to meet him.  While that happened, Shava and I made our way to the Yawning Portal.  There, we convinced Renaer to join us on our trip as well.  He was not thrilled at the idea, but reluctantly agreed that his presence may be vital

The Dwarf that Barnabus found for us is named Losser Mirlklav.  He was sitting in a cell awaiting sentencing, and he had no idea he was about to be asked to join us.  Barnabus vouched for the man and his expertise, so Boaz and Tobby pressed forward.  They talked to the warden, paid Losser’s bail, and promised to have the man back in five days.  Losser was happy to be out of his cell, but he would require some convincing before he agreed to accompany us

We all met back at our manor, where we received two deliveries.  We got one small crate, and one large crate.  We can only assume that there is a severed hand in one, and some form of a beholder in the other.  We left them unopened and continued our talks with Losser.  He explained how he knew the dragon that is reportedly guarding the vault.  At one point, he was at the vault’s location with the dragon but had escaped.  The final step of his escape was at the Bloody Fist.  Our plan will be to retrace his steps in reverse. 

We arrived at the Bloody Fist and met Renaer.  He was accompanied by Miloon Wardragon, for personal protection.  We made our way to the sewer grate outside the Bloody Fist and descended into the sewers below.  Transporting the unopened crates has been cumbersome.  We explored for some time, following Losser’s recollections, until we came to a room with several doors.  When we quietly opened one of the doors, the other sets of doors suddenly sprang open.  Creatures began pouring out of the doorways with murderous intent.

Tymora, protect us!

We continued searching the depths of the mausoleum for Manshoon’s body.  We came across a room with a small child singing nursery rhymes.  It became clear that this was no ordinary child.  Boaz joined the creature in its singing which allowed us to pass.  We learned that the child’s name is Asvoldo Casselanter.  Trench identified its true form to be that of a chain devil.

Beyond this room we found a large open space with a sleeping green dragon at the center.  There was an alcove on the far side with a sarcophagus in it.  Tobby deftly snuck by the sleeping beast and pried open the lid of the coffin just enough to sprinkle Trench’s solution over the body inside.  The entire room immediately began to shake.  As the ceiling and walls began to crumble, Tobby sprinted back towards us.  The dragon lashed out as it was being crushed and Tobby’s unconscious form tumbled to rest at our feet.  A quick healing spell got him back up, and we ran for the nearest exit.  The entire area was now collapsing!  As we escaped, we could now see the mausoleum had sunk quite a bit into its foundations.

Back at our manor, Shava tried once more to speak with the Stone.  We think that we were able to transcribe the rhyme it relayed.  It said:    

In the depths of ancient folk
Only the child of Moradin will get the joke
It is only true
When the bill comes due
What was done by the father
Must be answered by the son

We decided to attempt contact with Force Grey, and so contacted Barnabus as an intermediary.  He made several things clear to us.  Vajra would not be speaking with us.  We could also now be in trouble with the watch unless we handled the situation well.  It seems we will get some help, but our schedule has been accelerated.  We will be approaching the vault much sooner than we might like.  We scrambled to make our final preparations.  Boaz went to ask his singing instructor to accompany us, as having a Dwarf present seems wise.  Shava and I departed to ask Renaer if he would accompany us, as the rhyme makes mention of the son answering for something.  We can only assume this is referring to him

Now if we could only figure out where we are going to get a severed drow hand and a beholder…

We continued our talk with Renaer and Durnan.  Our discussion moved to Manshoon’s assumed murder of Istrid.  Going over the details, we described what we could remember of her now missing necklace.  Durnan identified the icon on it as a symbol of Asmodeus.  This doesn’t clarify why Manshoon took the necklace, but we should keep it in mind as we proceed.

Back at the manor, we had a discussion about the Stone.  We need to get some outside help to proceed, but the decision of what group to use is one we must all agree on.  We took a vote, and while I voted to ally with the Harpers, the majority of the group would like to ask Force Grey for help.  If they are willing to help, they certainly should have the resources we may need.

Shava and Tobby went to Trench’s place of business to discuss his investigation.  He concluded that the break-in was made by Manshoon.  It seems that there may be several version of the man, but our version is most likely in a ghost-like semi-physical form.  Trench has a special solution that will destroy the creature if it is sprinkled over its entombed corpse.  He even knows where the corpse is laid to rest!

We met Trench in the city of the dead an hour before dawn.  He would lead us to a mausoleum where Manshoon’s body resides.  When we arrived at our destination, we realized that we had been inside it before.  We had entered it when we were pursuing Urstul Floxin.  As we entered, Trench changed shape into a tiger-like creature.  Apparently, our friend is a Rakshasa!  We made our way to a locked door, which Jumanji forced open.  We found a sarcophagus, and opened it hoping to find Manshoon’s body.  A ghost-like creature emerged and attacked us, but we were able to destroy it without too much trouble.

When it seemed we had investigated the whole mausoleum without finding Manshoon’s body, Trench noticed an illusory wall.  He went thru it and opened a door on the other side, causing the illusion to fade.  A hallway lead to an open chamber where we were once again set upon by an undead spirit.  Her presence was terrifying at times, and few of us were able to face her without a terrible sense of fear clawing at the back of our minds.  I will admit, that I fell prey to this fear, and when I recovered, the spirit had vanished.  Then Tobby suddenly attacked Shava!  Shava collapsed, and Trench responded by attacking Tobby.  As Tobby fell, the ghost emerged from his body. We finally killed the spirit, but our resources are running low, and time is not on our side. We must hurry!

Our grand opening was tonight, and I couldn’t wait.  This was going to be our night. Nothing was going to ruin it.  Well, except for the dead body upstairs, or the evil-aligned troupe setting up to perform for our guests, or the increasingly frustrated Sgt. Cromley who keeps popping up at the least opportune times, or – I don’t know – the leader of the Zhentarum staging an attack against us.  While all of those things were bad, I think a portion of the guests who endured it all may have had a good time!

We started our evening by learning a bit more about our performers.  They call themselves the Sea Maiden’s Carnival.  We watched as they set up and noticed nothing negative about their actions – they were quite busy prepping for the performance.  We immediately noticed our friend Sgt. Cromley scribbling in his ever-present notebook.  He had somehow heard about the break in we had last night.  He insisted that we let him up on the roof to see where it had happened, and we grudgingly allowed it.  A short time later, he began shouting orders to some of his men below.  We couldn’t make out his words, but if Cromley is excited, we will likely not enjoy the results.

We were split trying to monitor Cromley, entertain our guests, watch for suspicious activity from the performers.  It was on this last task that Tobby may have landed.  He noticed a window open on the second floor with talon marks in the snow outside.  He, Boaz, and I investigated.  Our search ended in the library, where we found Kenku turning over the place.  Tobby was the first in the room and they immediately attacked him.  We fought back and killed two of them.  Moments later, they stood back up.  Their wounds were still visible, so this didn’t seem like healing.  I attempted to turn undead.  Before I could finish calling for Tymora’s aid, a large being appeared in the corner.  It spoke, and my holy symbol melted in my hand.  Never have I experienced such power.  Tobby killed two of the Kenku, and the large creature let our a bellow that caused the last living Kenku crumple and die.  The creature then vanished.

Cromley came to the room and we began to explain why we had yet more dead in our manor.  He blew a whistle and his investigation started immediately.  The watch showed up in force.  Our grand opening wound down, with the remaining patrons moving outside.  While Cromley started his work, we spoke with Barnabus.  He told us the large creature we fought was likely Manshoon, the undead leader of the Zhentarum. It seems we have gained some very unwanted attention.

We realized that the dead body was still upstairs.  Shava had cast invisibility on it earlier, and we could only hope it had gone unnoticed.  Jumanji bluffed his way past some guards and went upstairs.  With guards both above and below, he somehow found an opening to toss the body out a window unnoticed.  He gabbed a large bag and made his way down.  He was able to find the invisible, but surely mangled body at the base of the building.  He was able to fold the body into the bag, make his way to the sewer, and deposit the body into the water below.

We spoke with Renaer.  With all that was happening, we came clean with everything we had done.  We even told him about finding the Stone.  We discussed what we hoped to do with the stone, and how our plans may affect the attention we were gaining.  We need to tread carefully here.

We needed to figure out exactly what happened to Jumanji’s guest, Istrid.  We combined our efforts and came up with a few leads that may bear fruit.  It seems that she is missing a necklace that she was previously wearing.  We spoke with some people outside that saw a large humanoid on our roof last night.  Inspecting the area, we found large footprints in the snow on our roof, as well as the sides of our house.  The murderer could walk on walls, apparently.  Given the information about the intruder’s size, we realized that the hand marks on Istrid’s neck were much larger than any of ours.  It all fit together, but we still need to find out who this person is, why he killed the girl, and why he took her necklace.  We were going to need some help.

We decided to pay for the services of our neighbor, Trench.  We spoke with him and told him about the intrusion, but left out any mention of the murder.  He agreed to help and spent some time inspecting our roof.  Hopefully he can help us fill in some of the missing pieces

Boaz made his way to the Pink Flumph and convinced a fellow bard to teach him the Dwarven song required to open the Neverember vault.  It sounds as if she will be coming to our manor to work with him.

I decided to stop by our cab driver’s place to check in with Maxine.  She seems to be happy with her current arrangement.  She only had one report for me.  She mentioned  a group of three people who seemed to be acting drunk as they were being picked up by the cab.  During the ride, they seemed completely sober. When they left the cab to enter a second establishment, they had somehow changed their appearances.  Could these people be the shape-changers seeking entry into the Harpers?  We might want to check them out.  I got the names of both establishments they had visited from Maxine.  At least it might be a place to start.

Shava seems like she might be having some trouble communicating with the Stone.  I think what I am sensing is probably frustration.  It sounded as if she was finally able to verify the keys needed to enter the vault.  She also learned the name of the dragon guarding it – Aurinax.

Tobby and I stopped by the Bloody Fist to invite Mirt to our grand opening.  He didn’t seem very excited about our tavern, but I think he may show up.  It really was more about extending the invitation anyway.  We mentioned the shape-changers, and Mirt confirmed that it was likely the group we had been asked to investigate.  He seemed unhappy that we had yet to look into this matter.  I’d like to take care of this, if only we could stop producing corpses at our manor…  Mirt also suggested that we keep an eye on the performers that were hired to put on a show in front of our manor.  He mentioned that they were members of the Bregan D’aerthe.  This is just great.  We were warned not to work with that group, and now we appear to be paying them to come directly to our home.  What could possibly go wrong with this arrangement?

Seated in the viewing booth with Jumanji, Tobby, and Cromley, I got the uncomfortable sense that something was off.  I knew the Harpers wanted to disguise the identity of the priest, but the goat-head mask seemed a bit much.  The priest brandished a weapon and then killed a child with it.  Have the Harpers gone insane?  I’m not sure how I kept myself from beating my way through the glass. I could sense the outrage from the other occupants in the booth as well.  We watched in stunned silence as the questions were asked.

Usrtul refused to answer any questions about the specific identities of his employers.  He confirmed that he was following Dalakhar, intent on stealing the Stone before it was delivered to us.  He retrieved it after the fireball and went to the Gralhund Villa.  The Gralhunds double crossed Urstul and gave the Stone to the Nimblewright.  The confrontation at the villa ensued, and Urstul followed the Nimblewright to get the Stone back.

As we were leaving the ceremony, Cromley punched Barrage in the face.  I felt no need to step in here. I wanted answers too.  After Cromley left, Barrage introduced us to the recently murdered child – alive and well.  It was all an act to ensure Cromley’s silence.  I understand the logic of the ruse, but do not care for it.  We invited Cromley to a ceremony run by those we are allied with.  While we mentioned no name, Cromley must now think we have an affiliation with a cult of some sort.  One problem solved, and another created.

We returned to our manor and found that Shava had attuned to the Stone.  It seems that the thing is intelligent.  Shava was conversing with it, trying to gain information about the Neverember treasure.  She learned that the vault is protected by an ancient dragon.  This dragon apparently also carries Aghairon’s staff.  The Stone then went silent.  Apparently, it can only talk for short intervals between periods of rest.

While discussing this, we realized that Jumanji’s house-guest was one floor above us, and had possibly heard everything we had just discussed.  Tobby snuck upstairs and snatched a journal from the woman’s hands as she was writing in it.  He was back with us before she could even react.  And react, she did.  Luckily, Jumanji defused the situation, and she returned to her room.  The only one among us that could read the journal was Jumanji, and he said that the entries that mentioned us were less than flattering.  We discussed it, and decided she needed to leave in the morning

Shava, having waited an hour, started speaking with the Stone again.  It now insisted on being referred to as, “Your Highness.”  This cannot be a good sign.  The Stone spoke of three keys needed to enter the vault.  The 1st is the freshly severed hand of a Drow.  The 2nd is an unerring rendition of the Dwarven drinking song, “Your Bearded Face.”  The 3rd key is having a beholder present.  If these are indeed the keys to the vault, we have our work cut out for us.  Are they really the keys though?

The next morning Jumanji found his house guest dead in her room.  She appeared to have been strangled.  We need to stop producing dead bodies in our manor.

Boaz made his way to the performer’s guild to learn about the Dwarven song needed for the vault.

Tobby and I went to the Yawning Portal to ask Volo about Emek Frewn.  We learned that the man attempted to hinder Volo’s efforts to purchase Trollskull manor, and later tried to drive him away.  We should be able to find the man at his place of business – Frewns’ Brews.  I think we should pay him a visit.

Tonight was the night for our soft opening.  We have been so busy chasing the elusive Stone of Golorr all over Waterdeep, that we’ve barely had time to prepare.  Luckily, Renaer did much of the heavy lifting for us.  Before the guests began to arrive, Barrage came asking about the body of Urstul Floxin.  He suggested it would be best to remove the body as Crawley would be attending in his official capacity as a member of the watch.  We reluctantly conceded, unsure of how Crawley would react.  We agreed to meet the Harpers at midnight to get answers from Floxin’s corpse.

As the guests began to arrive, things were going smoothly.  Our plans to run a successful tavern just may work out.  Boaz gave an amazing performance from the stage, and the guests seemed to be enjoying themselves.  Then Crawley arrived.  As predicted, he was in uniform accompanied by Barnibus Blastwind.  We feigned ignorance of any dead body in our possession, and Crawley fumed at us.  He left in a rage. I have serious concerns for our ongoing relationship with him.  It will be a complication to be sure. 

Jumanji met a woman that needed a place to lie low for a while.  He agreed to let her stay up in the attic. Trench, from the Tiger’s Eye was in attendance.  He mentioned that he dug up some information on the Shard Shunners.  It seems they were working for Emmek Frewn.  We must ask Volo about this man as soon as possible.  Trench also introduced us to a woman named Vevette, who works for a trading guild.  Boaz took this in from the stage and noted that Vevette seemed to get nervous at the sight of Crawley.  She immediately made her way to the kitchen.  Jumanji followed and found her outside the servant’s entrance.  She confided that she was worried that the watch may be looking for her.

Barnabus was finally distracted from his drinking when he became curious about the area where Vevette was previously seated.  Again, Boaz noted this from the stage.  He stopped playing and approached the man to ask what he was looking for.  We convened in our private room.  Barnabus told us that Vevette had a powerful magic item on her person – so powerful that he could still sense where she had carried it.  He also mentioned that we might make peace with Crawley if we help him with the investigation into the fireball in our alley.  As we left Barnabus, Tobby shared an idea he had.  He suggested inviting Crawley to the Floxin questioning tonight.  It was brilliant.  I left to get permission from the Harpers immediately.  There was no time to lose!  Mirt gave his blessing for Crawley’s attendance under strict guidelines.  Shava and Jumanji left to meet Barnabus for a meeting at 10:00.  Things were happening quickly.

We received a note from a cab driver dispatched by Shava and Jumanji that they were following Vevette, and we raced to join them.  When we arrived, a chase ensued.  Shava and Tobby were racing after Vevette who was leaping from rooftop to rooftop.  They were just barely able to keep up.  We watched from the ground below and did our best not to lose them.  At one point Vevette jumped from a roof and landed in the back of a moving wagon.  Moments later she rolled from the wagon and continued to flee and made her way into a building.  Boaz, Shava and I followed.  There was a distracted
matre d’ in the lobby, so Boaz and Shava wisely snuck past the man.  I am not the quietest person, so I opted to toss the man a coin, hoping for the best.  Behind a black curtain, there seemed to be a meeting filled with black-hooded people gathered in a darkened room.  I attempted to use magic to gain an appearance close to theirs.  If only I were better at concealing myself when casting the spell, it might have worked.  At least i was a distraction for Boaz and Shava who made their way to the kitchen.  The cooks were already in an alarmed state.  They followed the sound of commotion up a set of stairs.  There they found a ladder to the roof.  They witnessed someone get kicked in the face , then falling to the ground.  They climbed and ended up cornering Vevette on the roof.  Shava determined that Vevette had the Stone of Golorr, and convinced her to trade it for a cache of valuable gems.  The trade complete, Vevette fled once again.  We brought the Stone back to our manor in order for Shava to determine just what the thing is.

With time running out, Tobby made his way to the home of Crawley.  He was still upset, but ultimately agreed to the terms of the meeting.  Perhaps we haven’t completely torched our bridge with the man after all.

We asked the cab driver to take us to the city of the dead, but he asked more questions of us than the usual cabby does.  Tobby investigated the contents of his pockets while the man continued with his questions.  He found a storage-box key, not unlike the type used by the lamp-lighters guild.  We exited the cab, and made our way to where to the lock-boxes are located.  We needed to examine the contents before the cab driver realized his key was missing.  Inside the locker, we found a note with instructions to keep an eye on some unnamed group, with a promise of payment.  It was signed by someone named Frewn.  We can now safely guess that this Frewn was paying the cab driver to watch us.  For what, we don’t know, but we may have more than one reason for people to be interested in us!  If memory serves, Volo may have mentioned someone named Frewn in relation to our manor.  Perhaps we should revisit the topic when we see him again.

We returned to the city of the dead once again to follow our map.  It led us to a mausoleum that Tobby unlocked for us.  I stayed outside to keep watch while the others entered.  I decided to act as if I was relaxing under a tree right across the street.  Something seemed odd about the tree and as I investigated, an incredible thing happened.  The tree began to converse with me!  It told me that it had protected the city from trolls long ago.  It mentioned that a metal man had entered the mausoleum we were investigating along with many other people.  Some people had since left.  As the group fetched me to investigate the lower level of the crypt, the tree mentioned its name – Branite.  I shall have to return to this spot in the future.

As we descended the stairs, we followed a trail of blood.  Foul deeds had been carried out here.  We found not one, but two corpses along the way.  Assuming we would find nothing but death, we were startled to hear a faint cry for help from farther down a passage.  We approached and found an injured woman clinging to sanity.  Boaz offered some healing and her eyes focused on us.  She said that she works for the Casselanters.  She was apparently here with members of other families, but she would not tell us which.  She did mention two other individuals – Arn and Seffia, who were here, but had since left with the Stone.  She seems certain that they would take the Stone to a windmill hideout in the Southward.  As we put her in a cab, Tobby listened for the address of her destination to confirm her story.

We arrived at this windmill hideout and encountered a number of homeless families.  I spoke with one, and determined that our quarry was likely in a room near the top of the structure.  We made our way up the stairs and when we opened the correct door, we were immediately set upon by two men with daggers!  There were also three flying monstrosities hovering just outside a window.  One of the men moved to the window and handed a stone to one of the creatures outside. The other two creatures climbed in to join the fight.  We fought well, and slew those in the room, but the remaining creature with the stone had escaped.  Tobby scanned the skies and spotted the thing flying in the direction of Mt. Waterdeep.  The Stone seems to have slipped from our grasp once again.

While deciding what action to take next, I was struck with the feeling that we may have forgotten something…

-Our tavern is holding its soft opening tonight!