Candle in the Dark Campaign Diary - Session 12: The Glory of Bahamut

The Cast:

• Enid, half-elf cleric of Bahamut
• Nashgar, dragonborn paladin of Bahamut
• Leilua, tiefling warlock
• Corrin, halfling barbarian

Having defeated a group of orcs transporting prisoners to the Gardmore Abbey village, the heroes find that one of Lord Markelhay's officers within.  The officer, Sir Oakley, tells them that Lord Markelhay was leading a group into the westlands of the vale to see if rumors of the orc incursion were true.  The band was attacked by a large contingent of orcs and many were captured.  Lord Markelhay was taken, presumably to the orc leading the invasion to be made an example of.  Sir Oakley says he was likely being taken to Gardmore Abbey to help the orcs get inside.  Sir Oakley tells the heroes what he knows of the abbey, from his exploration of it about 15 years ago, and says that it is infested with monsters and undead.  He tells them of the structures atop the hill and those within.  An evil presence forced him out of the Catacombs below the Grand Temple, and a similar issue prevented a full exploration of the Vaults (the dungeons below the Hall of Glory). The last thing Sir Oakley imparts to the group before leaving to alert Lady Markelhay of the situation is a secret staircase that was carved into the western side of the hill, which will allow the group to climb to the top without having to go through the occupied village.

Taking their leave of Sir Oakley, the group move slowly around the hill to avoid drawing the attention of the orcs, and by nightfall they make it to the western side, but the darkness prevents them from making any progress on finding the stair.  They make camp.  That night, Enid has a vision of brave knights falling in battle, being interred within a catacomb and then an evil entity invades and defiles the knight by raising their corpses to serve it and it's lord, Orcus.  During her watch, Leilua is visited by a group of fairies that claim her patron sent them to have Leilua retrieve something of interest from the Abbey and that she'd know it when she sees it.  

The following day, the group spends a few hours searching the hillside for this hidden staircase and finally find it.   The climb is long and difficult, but they manage and by mid afternoon they reach the top of the hill.  The grounds appear to have tracks from wild creatures but no signs of humanoid presence.  They enter the closest building, the Hall of Glory, and find that it was once a place that honored the knight's achievements and displayed Bahamut in all of his grandeur, inspiring his followers to great deeds. 

However, the group is attacked by the hall's current residents; swarms of spiders and their two ettercap masters.  The group fight them off and spend the rest of the evening cleaning the hall of webs, dust and dirt.  They are each rewarded with a divine boon.  The group also finds the stairway leading down into the Vaults.

End of session.

Candle in the Dark Campaign Diary - Session 11: Kiss Me

The Cast:

• Enid, half-elf cleric of Bahamut
• Nashgar, dragonborn paladin of Bahamut
• Leilua, tiefling warlock
• Corrin, halfling barbarian

After leaving Moonstone Keep, the heroes go their own ways in town.  Nashgar and Enid go to the House of the Sun while Corin and Leilua head back to the Silver Unicorn Inn.  

At the temple, Nashgar goes to pray in the shrine dedicated to Bahamut, while Enid admires the old temple architecture.  A human man in blue robes bearing the symbol of Bahamut approaches Nashgar and the priest engages the dragonborn in small talk.  He introduces himself as Mandet and the conversation eventually turns to a request by the priest for Nashgar to seek out Gardmore Abbey and see if there is an Orb of the Dragonkind hidden within, and if there is, to secure it from those rumored invaders that would use it's power to summon dragons and supplement their armies.  Nashgar agrees and Mandet takes his leave.  Shortly after, Enid approaches and asks who Nashgar was speaking with.  Nashgar describes his discussion with Mandet and Enid says that he didn't see anyone next to Nashgar as he approached.  They chalk is up as an oversite and leave the temple.

At the inn, Leilua drinks in solitude until the tiefling known as Melech Ambrose approaches her and asks to sit with her.  He buys her a drink and proceeds to offer her a place in his crusade to restore honor to the tiefling people through solidarity and rebuilding their lost empire.  Leilua takes his card and he takes his leave of her.

The following day, the team leave Fallcrest and begin their 2 day journey to the Gardbury Downs where the Abbey is located.  The weather is miserable en route, but they are otherwise unbothered and towards the evening of the second day, they find the hill that the abbey sits upon.  A village on the hillside leading up to the abbey seems to house a warband of orcs.  The heroes ponder how they will find the wizard's tower when a caged wagon approaches them from behind, accompanied by a number of battle-weary orcs.  The group sets up an ambush with Leilua as bait in the road.  Leilua uses her magic to charm the orc leader, calling him to her and asking him to kiss her.  As he leans in to do so, she places her hand upon his face and summons her eldritch power.  A blast of magic evaporates the orc's head and his body drops to the ground lifeless.  The rest of the group uses this distraction to jump out at the orcs and attack. The orcs are caught by surprise which results in the ensuing slaughter. 

The heroes then check the caged wagon and find 4 human soldiers within.  The ranking officer is revived by Nashgar's healing magic and awakens with a start.  Nashgar brings him up to speed on where he and his soldiers currently are and the officer states that they were attacked by an orc warband and that Lord Markelhay must have been taken.  He says that the orcs will likely take him before Warlord Azar Kuhl of the Red Hand Army.  He says that he's likely being brought to Gardmore Abbey because of his knowledge of the place, which he says is cursed and filled with monsters and undead. He insists that he must contact Lady Markelhay and arrange for the militia to be raised in order to save Lord Markelhay. 

End of session.

Candle in the Dark Campaign Diary - Session 10: The Wizard, the Lady, and the Tiefling

The Cast:

• Enid, half-elf cleric of Bahamut
• Nashgar, dragonborn paladin of Bahamut
• Leilua, tiefling warlock
• Corrin, halfling barbarian

The heroes arrive in Fallcrest and decide to get a room in the Silver Unicorn Inn for the night.  They spend some time in the taproom, getting some information before heading out to visit the wizard Nimozaran the Green.  On the way they pass by Naerumar's Imports, a store of oddities run by the tiefling, Orest Naerumar.  He seems somewhat smitten by Leilua, but pays little attention to the others, who leave shortly after entering.  Leilua talks to Orest about her origins and questions him about whether two humans can produce a tiefling (yes), then asks if he has any magical items beyond the trinkets on the showroom floor.  Leilua ends up making a trade for a magical cloak and Orest offers more potent magic in exchange for items of equal value/rarity.  

After leaving the shop, the group heads to the Septarch's Tower and spot some multicolored smoke coming from a window towards the top.  An elf boy opens the window and is chastised by his master.  The group head to the tower, but find no door.  They wrap on the wall and a magical mouth forms from the stone and asks if they have an appointment.  After interacting with the mouth several times, they manage to get an appointment for 3 days later.  Unsatisfied with this, they throw rocks up to the windows, and then Leilua conjures an magical servant to knock on the window.  The elf boy answers and calls his master to the window.  The wizard tells the heroes to make an appointment and dismisses them.  However, as the group turns to leave, the boy opens a magical door in the tower and says his master's calendar has cleared and he can fit them in.  

The boy leads them into the tower, up a magically rotating spiral staircase to his master's reception area.  The wizard is an elderly man trying very hard to look important and powerful, conjuring chairs and a desk, magically lighting candles, and so on.  The heroes sit and tell the wizard what it is that they need information about.  Nimozaran has his apprentice bring up various tomes to research the Lord Mage Starris and the dragon Calastryx, but does not really impart much information of value except that the Lord Mage once had a tower in Gardmore Abbey.  The heroes happen to mention their encounters with kobolds and eventually mention the orc warband they had a run in with, which Nimozaran finds troubling.  He tells them that they need to meet with Lord Markelhay immediately to report this information.  

The wizard takes the group to Moonstone Keep, but learn that the Lord is away. However, Lady Markelhay is present, so they gain an audience with her and disclose their information.  The Lady Markelhay recounts how Dyson's Legion came through town recently, warning of possible invasion, and now this news makes the likelihood of this happening much higher.  She states that Lord Markelhay had left to investigate these rumors himself and she now fears for his life.  She asks Nimozaran to find her husband with his magic and asks the heroes to work on behalf of Fallcrest and the Vale to alert its leaders of any such threats.  In exchange she offers to equip the heroes with items from her armory and her personal collection of magical items.  She sends a guard with the group to the armory.

End of session

Candle in the a Dark Campaign Diary - Session 9: Dythan’s Legion

The Cast:

• Enid, half-elf cleric of Bahamut
• Nashgar, dragonborn paladin of Bahamut
• Leilua, tiefling warlock
• Corrin, halfling barbarian

Having rescued the halflings of Corrin’s village, along with four humans, from the orc war band, the heroes make good time and distance from the encampment by traveling through the Gardbury Downs at night.  When they believed they had reached a relatively safe distance, they set up camp for the remainder of the night.  Luckily, the orcs did not find them, so the group had the halflings return. To their village on their own, while the humans asked to accompany them to Fallcrest.  They find the King’s Road and begin making their way.  

A short time later, the group watches as another war and marches down the road towards them.  This war and was not made up of orcs, goblins or kobolds, but was instead a band of Dragonborn.  One of them rode upon a large drake-like beast and hailed Nashgar for a parlay in the tongue of the dragons.  The paladin stepped forward and the two conversed for a time as the others watched on.  Nashgar then returned to the group and explained that this was a unit of Dragonborn from a larger group known as Dythan’s Legion; followers of Bahamut. They are traveling these lands seeking signs of trouble from other Dragonborn war bands that are aligned with Tiamat, and that seek to bring about the ruse of dark Arkhosian Empire under the rule of Tiamat.  He asked if the heroes had seen any trouble from the humanoids of the Stonemarch here in the western part of the Nentir Vale.  Nashgar told him about the occupation of the town of Kiris Dahn by goblinoids, as well as the orcs that are seemingly controlling them.  The Dragonborn, named Captain Norlak, son of a General Dythan, son of Ragnus, reacted when told about the red hand upon a black field that the orcs and goblinoids were using as a standard.  He said that the Red Hand are a particularly powerful and aggressive army led by a red Dragonborn known as Arkhan the Cruel.  This warlord has spent years conquering territories and growing his power in the name of Tiamat, and now seems to have his sights set on the Nentir Vale, using the orcs, goblins and kobolds as spies and informants to assess the strength of the vale’s defenses.  

Captain Norlak said that he’d hunt down the orc war and that the group rescued Corrin’s people from and asked that Nashgar and his friends make him aware of any other aggressive and organized humanoids they run across.The group watch as the Dragonborn march past them.  Captain Norlak asks one more favor of the group, and that is to keep an eye open for word of a silver dragon egg that was stolen from one of Dythan’s units.  

The group resume their journey to Fallcrest and several hours later they run across a wagon that had been attacked a day or so earlier, from a group of kobolds from the Cloak Woods, based on the tracks left behind.  

The group then resume their journey and make it to the Moon Hills just before sunset.  Corrin finds them a defensible camp site and the all retire for the evening.  On Corrin’s watch, a sound is heard that puts Corin on alert.  He wakes Nashgar, whose turn to take watch was approaching.  Nashgar donned his equipment and began scouting the surrounding terrain when he came upon a large, black beast with yellow eyes that reflected the paladin’s light. The beast growled and brought to Nashgar’s mind of the warnings of the Dark Drake of the Moon Hills that they were warned about at the Goathorne Inn.  This beast matched that description and Nashgar called to his companions to be roused, as it appeared that the beast was about to pounce.  The others got up and went to the paladins side as the beast attacked!  And as they were told, the creature disappeared after each attack, confusing the group.  It used this ability to isolate one of the humans and drag her into the darkness, where it brutally killed her.  The heroes found her mutilated body and spent the next several moments chasing the elusive beast around the camp, attacking when it appeared and attempting to either kill it or drive it off.  They finally got the monster to appear close enough to them to all attack at once, which seemed to overwhelm the beast and bring it down.  But as it fell, it disappeared again and this time did not return.

The following day, the group resumes its journey and make it to Fallcrest.

End of Session.

Candle in the Dark Campaign Diary: Session 8, Corrin’s Village

The Cast:

• Enid, half-elf cleric of Bahamut
• Nashgar, dragonborn paladin of Bahamut
• Leilua, tiefling warlock
• Corrin, halfling barbarian

The heroes travel the plains of the western Nentir Vale towards the King’s Road, intent on reaching Fallcrest to get an audience with Nimozaran the Green to learn what they can about the dragon Calastryx, the so-called “prophet of Tiamat”, and the wizard that stopped it from fulfilling a prophecy that culminates in the Rise of Tiamat and the return of the dragon empire of Arkhosia.  The brass dragon Tyristys told them about the prophecy and that it may still be fulfilled should the prophet be awakened from the magical slumber that the Mage Lord Starris placed it under.

While traveling, the group spies a large number of humanoids traveling in the distance.  That’s when a white dragon swoops down upon them!  Attacking without provocation, the white breathes its frosty breath on Enid, who falls from the intense cold.  The others lure the dragon down with attacks and fight it on the ground.  Enid is revived by Nashgar and the group pool their efforts and manage to wear the dragon down before it could recharge its breath.  The dragon reveals his name to the heroes in taunts, as Szartharrax, before falling under the might of the group.

Corrin realizes then that the group of humanoids they spotted were traveling from the direction of his village, which is nearby.  The group hustles over land towards Corrin’s village, and when they arrive they find that it had been attacked.  Several dead halflings lay among the broken and burned tents, but many appear to have scattered into the surrounding woods, while others appear to have been taken prisoner by the attackers.  They decide to follow the attackers & try to free the captives.  The pursuit takes them into the Gardbury Downs, where the trio leads To the encampment of an orc war and, flying a banner bearing a red hand on a field of black.

Outnumbered, the group decides to sneak into the camp to free the captives.  Nashgar & Leilua use magic to distract or incapacitate some of the orc guards while the others free the captives.  They manage to liberate the captives and escape before the orcs realize what has happened.

End of session.