Undermountain Session 1 - A Forest Collective
OBX January. There was some pregame preparation including the rule on ranged attacks (disadvantage while ANY hostile creature withing five feet of attacker) and the short summary of the group heading down before through Skullport, losses and divination dreams, and the services available to sell magic items or transfer magical properties.
The tavern had been doing passably well [rolled for cost profit over the past 5 tenday periods resulting in 240g for the tavern] but the heroes were restless for their own reasons. Sumfun felt a bit lost and disconnected at Midsummer, Ysara’s second Valkur temple had been struggling with sailors and citizens both growing fearful of monsters from below and storms to the south (Wizlards) with few answers to their prayers. Malsaños helped at his fathers’ forge and stayed distant from Fitemi, but hadn’t charted and new path for his days until last night.
At the same time the Spear (first Phandelin group) went through their gate, the Delvers got summoned to the Yawning Portal and down to Skullport. There you met with two drow, the proprietor of the Flagon and Dragon Cailel Cadarn and a large engineer named Moc’Geiver. He noted that Waterdeep has sent soldiers and heroes below and that the Bregan D'aerthe wants Malsaños to enter Undermountain to ensure that events unfold to their benefit – that Silverhand doesn’t disrupt the drow below and any change in status quo serves the network. Malsaños made an inspired (point) and heated rebuke of Moc, asking why he should trust anything when they were happy to stand idle when his father murdered him and cast him away, pounding tables and pointing to his true friends saying he would listen but would be interested only where their interests are also cared for. Moc’Geiver clearly had no regard for the others so dismissed that out of hand. He promised Malsaños “what you want the most” perhaps justice, retribution, his birthright. He suggested that he and others are less than happy with Jaraxle as well and might welcome a change. In the end, all conceded that a journey below may serve multiple aims even if they don’t align. As Malsaños pointed out while getting lost in his own sentence, “It’s true that the timepiece at times will tell the right time…”
Helion Moonstar approached as Moc’Geiver left and made introductions, offering to buy Ysara’s formidable Efreeti chain (she turns him away with sass, gaining inspiration) and ultimately agreeing to buy the Deck of Many Things from Sumfun for 23,520g (and some other mundane items) and also agreed to hold these funds for the Delvers, witnessed by the Watch and a member of the Lord’s Alliance.
The first offer to buy the Deck was rejected by Sumfun, causing a spit take from a lithesome half-elf who had been sitting at the bar. You were reintroduced to Esvele Rosnar, who was already a few pints past reason and lambasted the table for being so quick to move on from losing their friend Rhasbaradon. She didn’t understand why they didn’t bother to research the “why” or even if their friend may even yet be in need. She alluded to her own efforts and travels with little detail, only that they’ve led her down here with Meleghost Starseer. Ysarra rejoins with a quiet yet powerful rebuke of her own. “You’re better than this” and starts killing Esvele’s tirade with kindness, resulting in Esvele joining up with the Delvers the next morning. Because they can’t use the nearby waygate – an arcane gateway allowing travel between levels but keyed on a unique item or action – the Delvers (now loaded up with 20 days of rations) were taken to a rowboat on the river Saragauth and sent down into the dark.
While the early rowing was easy enough, the last half of their water journey showed no place to make a mooring or rest. After 14 hours on the boat and a mounting uncertainty if they missed their only exit, they became exhausted and could no longer scout or row effectively. Luckily, the cold and dark channel opened to an autumn forest with a morning sky and life all around. The party struggled to land the boat on the western shore, but Malsaños made a crossbow grappling hook and Sumfun turned into a bear to finally push the boat to safety. The party took a long rest in cliffside crevasse, doffing their armor in order to rid themselves of their exhaustion and wake to an afternoon sun and a Hydra that took interest in them until Esvele chopped of a head (making two more) and the party all do JUST enough damage each turn [<25] to win the day without causing more heads.
The Delvers poked their way through a few ruined and derelict buildings (a tavern, a garrison) and scout using the crumbling walls that dot the forest. Splitting the party, Esvele and Malsaños examined a refreshing but disquieting pool near a western cliff, ultimately put off by giant ape skull under the waters or the smear of blood sliding down the far wall. Meanwhile, Sumfun and Ysara pushed deeper into the lush forest, now finding rusted adventurers’ gear around the grounds and frightening totems or effigies among the trees. At this time, the autumn sun set and illumination from an impossibly large tree to the east was evident. The party reconnected and made their way to lights.
The huge tree was an arboreal palace, replete with an awakened tree named Halastree carved to look like a bearded man as well as a displacer beast pet Crisann and a timeless druid named Wyllow. She welcomed the party conditionally to her realm and palace, admonishing them to do no harm to the innocent creatures in her domain. Malsaños made flowery speeches and she is pleasantly surprised by his humility but clearly put off by his race. He quietly directed the party’s attention to a symbol she wears around her wrist – the lions head on a green shield Sumfun immediately recognized as the symbol for Nobanion. While Halastree wordlessly dissuaded Esvele from exploring given the large crate of totemic effigies at her feat, Wyllow entreated the Delvers to prove their worth by ridding the forest of the blight to the north, though clearly without any hope that the Delvers would actually honor the ask. All stayed the rest of the evening into early morning and set out while it was still dark.
In the north forest they found a ruined church on a hill surrounded by a neglected cemetery with grave markers all over 200 years old. As the party approached the ruin, Malsaños and Ysara were confronted by wight clawing it’s way from a grave while Esvele and Sumfun squared off against a large horned skeleton and – for a moment – an ethereal specter which soon disappeared. Both Sumfun (pre-bear) and Ysara caused the night’s storm overhead to send bolts of lightning into the fray and the wight and skeleton were soon defeated, but Esvele was now hacking at Sumfun’s bear hide with her swords. Malsaños failed to tackle her and the party set out beating Esvele into an unconscious pulp. The specter reappeared and was dispatched with haste, while Ysara and Sumfun set about restoring some of the thief’s health. They moved ahead up to the ruined church, where a bit more health would have been nice.
An odd creature clawed up from a central pit, huge with plant-like roots but skeletal arms, claws and skull around a torso that was once humanoid. The foe summoned dire wolves and wrapped foes in roots, teleported in swarms of pecking crows, and was generally unpleasant. However, the Delvers were equally unpleasant with Sumfun’s fire elemental, Ysara’s spirit guardians, Esvele’s devastating flanks and ripostes, and the gritty explosive shots ringing from Malsaños’ Bad News. Though Ysara fell in battle, you won the day and over a short rest found hysterical journal papers and bits of cloth from the corpse that still defied logic. The journal ended with mad scratchings "whatwashelookingforwhatwashelookingfor...." and was marked with a stylized "R"
Ysara even (one of several skill-based 20s prompting a DM pivot) found one shattered pew with “H+W” scratched in the wood. The Delvers briefly explored some of the nearby north forest and elected not to engage with foul, fetid “swamp buffalo” (catoblepas) who were unhappy with your approach.
Turning south toward the palace, the party intended to check on a lifeless expanse they had seen near the river but not before Malsaños ran to the refreshing pool and healed up by taking a deep drought from the waters. Sumfun greeted a family of five cave bears roaming the woods but contented himself with grunts and waves as they passed through. [From Ysara's notes: "we run into five cave bears and Sumfun decides family time"] In the lifeless garden, Esvele scouted ahead followed by Sumfun and Malsaños while Ysara, still pondering her recent brush with death and not stealthy at all, hung back. Esvele concluded that the regular hills of the forest might have been houses or huts from a fishing village or (considering the higher crumbling walls) a castle’s hamlet, but the unease she’d been fighting grew and, spying a larger lifeless tree in the center standing over a prone scarecrow, she finally gave into her fear and bolted back to the garrison building. Sumfun and Malsaños explored the decaying scarecrow, remarking on it’s lifelike features and the creepy tree above. Sumfun started to talk to the tree.
Ysara arrested the flight of Esvele who was now in full panic, screaming “I need you to take my temperature!” Ysarra slapped her hard across the face. Esvele commentted (gaining her own inspiration) “That’s not how my mom took it…” but was calmed again by Ysarra’s steady presence. They made their way back towards the others but not before Sumfun – no doubt hoping to help the poor tree (gaining the final inspiration) - learned instead that the dead tree is evil, abhors him and all life, is trapped, and Malsaños offered his thoughts on this by dropping trousers to urinate refreshing pool water onto the roots. The tree (Yggdrasti) sents lightning at the drow, who’s constitution spectacularly failed him and he continued to soil himself completely while skeletal owls exitted the tree and the other Delvers arrived. Guns, bane spells, thorn whips, wicked scimitars all dispatched the evils (though maybe the urine helped) and the party retreated to the nearby pool largely because the drow insisted that he can’t return to Wyllow looking and smelling as he did. He and Ysara took more healing waters but when Sumfun took the fourth drought he was assaulted by a slimy pseudopod. A huge grey ooze fought the party, quickly becoming gargantuan, but the ooze was more annoyance than threat. It destroyed most of Esvele’s mundane shortsword but quickly dissipated, allowing the Delvers to complete their return to Wyllow.
Wyllow, surprised to see the party alive but appearing grateful, now conceded to offer some answers though perhaps not all [the party had not cleared some optional blight and not explored some other areas which may have helped]. Sumfun, still not sure himself about the knowledge of Nobanion within him, was unwilling to offer any of that to Wyllow but asked about the Mad Mage and this domain, further expanded by others. Wyllow sensed his unease, attributing it to being under the mountain and far from true nature, and took the party to a wooden fresco they’d passed a couple times, showing cloud chariots pulled by fiery horse coursing through the stars, and using a hidden button on a star revealed a workroom and gave Sumfun “the only one that worked” – a staff of flowers that will help ground him in his travels. Sumfun asked if she knows Larue, which Wyllow found to be an odd question but confirmed that she and Larue were friends for her part and Lurue has been in the woods many times until she died in the blue fire.
Esvele offered the patch of fabric found at the church and asks information on it or what business Wyllow has with Halaster. “None of yours,” was the short answer. But Wyllow offered a lot of information about the Mad Mage, Halaster, a master of planar and dimensional magic who forcibly pulled this place into the mountain and has held her an all here a prisoner. His domain is here for a reason, going back centuries to “a knot in the weave.” She mentioned apprentices and speculates the creature in the north “must be one of his” mentioning another that studied living spells and gave a voice to the mountain but she hasn’t spoken in a long time. She mentioned an arcane academy somewhere lower in the mountain where a promising went not long ago. Yakul may help find more information and, if shown a feather token given to Esvele, might offer something more practical in reward or recognition.
[Note: Consolidated “Lore Learned” as you advance will be put here as well as a shared, persistent handout within the game]
When asked if the party could linger to get their sleep cycle aligned with the night cycle of the forest, Wyllow returned to one of the items that the party had not explored or investigated, a large stone table that she can use to shift the day or season to something of her liking. She moved the sun to night causing the whole forest to speed through the day, and bade the party good luck, offering Esvele a creepy dress made of animal hide and spiderweb or a nicer one with bright colors and nature designs/symbology. Esvele claimed the prettier dress offered in a small wicker basket while Ysara claimed the loyalty of a small mangy dog (that she named Riptide) found earlier hiding under a bed upstairs; Willow is only too happy to be rid of it, surprised “that thing is still here.” She offered to let the party leave the domain through a sealed entrance to the south. She is aware of an exit to the east as well where others have gone, but as she has never left the forest can offer nothing further.
In the new day, the Delvers moved south, passing several ossuaries built into western walls near the palace. Two searched. Sumfun searched and was able to deduce that many had been killed with acid and great poison damage but as the bodies were so old there was little left of interest. Ysarra (rolling a 20) explored outside the second ossuary and found that some remains were more recent, confirming a human female largely buried in the bones had been dead for about a year with some few traces of flesh intact under a threadbare uniform. This body was next to an abnormally large feline skeleton that had been well chewed upon by enormous teeth. You watched three giant apes swing through the forest.
The party then found a wrecked trader’s cart in the forest nearby, with only a few crates intact. One held potions, prompting Esvele to revisit her favorite drinking game Best Friends Tea Party and drinking one of the five vials at once. You found Hot Brown Morning Morning Potion (Sumfun), an Ale of Heroism (Malsaños), a Potion of Bears Endurance (Ysara), and a Potion of Truth that Esvele nabbed though would use in short order. You also found some billets and scraps of paper placing the cart in a time around 120 years ago and a place – Demara – long distant from the Sword Coast. Having learned some of the history from Willow by this time, you quickly connected some dots; the cart being outside of place and time connects with what you know. The Delvers take copious notes from a billet about Gareth Dragonsbane spreading his faith in Damara and seeking supplies and his magic sword and makes the DM feel guilty that maybe this was just temporal window dressing – the DM vowed to make it relevant somehow.
The Delvers continued south, finding a passage in a south cliff wall with a flickering energy field some 40 feet within. Wyllow arrived on the displacer beast, shifting forms and ready to honor her pledge to let them pass. Before that, Esvele connected some dots and Wyllow grudgingly admitted that she was close with Halaster once, that the church was theirs and they were to be married. She was clearly unhappy and unwilling to discuss her business further. As the Delvers weren’t yet ready to depart, she touched the wall an area of blue flame appeared on the wall farther down the tunnel. The Delvers may leave when they will, but the way back will be closed. She cautioned them against intruding in the temple to the east, cryptically leaving them with “It’s not for you.”
The four adventurers continued south and east, towards what became clear as an outer bailey wall buried in the mountain, but Ysara picked out a metal glint in a clearing the east. The party investigated the clearing, with Esvele continuing a string of high skill checks and spotting an enticing handaxe buried in a tree but failing to extract it while the rest of the party examined the rusted nimblewright slowly overgrown with the forest. Ysara helped free the axe (which Esvele later confirmed to be a Berserker Axe but did not attune to it) while Esvele used extra lamp oil to free the jaw of the construct. The nimblewright immediately requested the return of his axe and was not immediately open to other questions without further help, prompting Esvele to dump the Potion of Truth down it’s gullet. It seemed to resist, but offered very truthful information on other random topics. It was clearing the wood for the Garteth Dragonbane 25th Spectacular at the direction of Quartermaster Fitzroth of the keep who was a good friend of the aunt and uncle, Elyndra Rosnarstein and Leroyacles Jenkinks who were bringing their cordon of show ponies…… entirely too much information for a session recap but nice that we all wrote it down so there. It described Willow as that bitch that fried him with lightning and left him for a century until someone else… his story was interrupted by the Anointed Hammer of Valkur collapsing his newly oiled jaw, and a second series of blows reduced him to a melting pile of metal as riptide ran up to it whining plaintively before Ysara called him back.
The collective began remarking on events and similarities to fables of Oz. Flying monkeys may be bats. A scarecrow. This woodsman. They pondered “falling into a new realm” and began to speculate if they were “serving the bad guy”. However, there was fun to be had as the party explored some of the collapsed castle in the south, largely subsumed by the mountain but the odd room or hallway still navigable. Malsaños gutted a large stuffed creature and took the “squatch kit” as a costume despite it’s heavy weight. Farther south in castle, they found a sunken chamber with a colossal stone statue coming from the earth and a purple worm devouring a bulette on the far end. While Esvele mused that the statue might look like Halastree, Sumfun gave wise counsel to perhaps avoid this predator and the party left to the north again.
After a short debate of using the south passage exit and heeding the druid’s caution or investigating the green temple to the east, the plucky crew decided to check out the temple and discovered a tiered ziggurat very similar to the one they fought on with Vajra and the Marilith. On this Ziggurat, however, a sleeping green dragon stirred, announcing himself and Tearulai and extolling the beauties of Myth Drannor (and Ysara’s armor). Esvele recalled that dragons are intelligent and (with some rolls) that green dragons are known to decimate their foes with poison and are evil. He commended the wormlings for their proper awe and humility toward the dragon and noted that he and Wyllow shared an accord of sorts to share the forest though he is desperate to leave. The magic that would allow him to do so is somehow blocked and he is not able to traverse the river either south past the “waterfall to death” or north through smaller tunnels above. There is a hole, he is certain, in the east past the cliff and he implored the party to make a larger entrance that he might finally exit and return to his home, prompting another verbal explosion about Myth Drannor. Tearulai also confirmed that Halaster has frequented the wood to see Wyllow and destroyed the North forest quite some time ago. More recently, a robed woman appeared and caused the storms and blight that remain there today.
The party noticed a jeweled sword embedded deep in the dragon’s skull, the hilt jutting from behind an ear. Multiple offers to help the dragon by removing the sword were flatly and soundly rejected as he loves his shinies. As if in foreshadowing, Malsaños confirmed that the sword was precious to him.
The party crossed the bridge over the river to a rickety wooden bridge crossing before a wide cliff waterfall where an encounter could have happened but Ysara spied a ghoulish face watching them from a crevasse 30 feet above on the other side. That seemed more fun, so the Delvers crossed the bridge, entered a cave, and were spotted by an elven archer who, panicked and weary in his own flight, first saw the drow Malsaños and sent two arrows into his ribs as he asked “who goes there?”. As both parties gradually filled in – the collective from the bright crevasse and the other from the dark tunnels below – more blows were traded. Rangers, dwarves, halflings all defended their friend. But to no avail. Malsaños used a piercing shot to demolish Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas. Sumfun summoned 8 wolves and himself ended Frodo and Boromir after Esvele had shattered his horn and a few other things besides. Merry and Pippin were the last to fall. At the end of the fight, a hidden ghoulish creature hopped to Frodo’s corpse to retrieve a ring and made a beeline for the exit but it took him by Ysara’s Guardian of Faith who fried him in radiant brilliance. A ring clattered to the floor while behind and down the tunnel you heard drums. Drums in the deep.
