Adventure 03 - The Shadow Key

The Shadow Key

Played August 23, 2004
Dateline Sharn, 26 Dravago, 998 YK (Late spring)
Featuring Jory, Kirin, Metal Guy, and Quarion

Having captured Sevrin Nhall our heroes discovered the disadvantage to capturing members of conspiracies like the Purifying Flame – individual members tended to know very little. Sevrin Nhall knew nothing about the key save that it was “evil”. His orders were to take it to the city of Stormreach on Xen’drik where he would be contacted by another member of the Purifying Flame – apparently some sage named Cornellus Krenn would examine it – though whether for money or if he were a member of the Order, Sevrin did not know. Their final use of Sevrin Nhall was to turn him into the mainstream church of the Silver Flame – it turned out that Sevrin was in a bit of trouble with his church – a local bishop in Sharn paid for their passage back to the Eldeen Reaches and a potion of cure light wounds to each of them in return for their… discretion.

Not wanting to go to Xen’drik just yet, the heroes prepared for the trip to the Eldeen Reaches. Metal Guy went to his dojo, where Master Echo warned him about the fey he would encounter there – they were chaotic – the opposite of the Warforged who so often embraced order. Yet they could dance, which he might find of interest.

Three days on the lighning rail (coach class) took them to the opposite end of Breland, Sword Keep, over a thousand miles from Sharn – at the border of the Kingdom of Aundair. The next day took them to the City of Passage along the picturesque shores of Lake Galifar. They booked passage on a mundane sailing ship piloted by a Dragonmarked member of House Lyrandar. Four days later they were at the town of Delethorn in the Eldeen Reaches. And here their passage slowed considerably. They joined with a caravan to take them to the capital “city” of Greenheart, deep within the Towering Wood. It took them another month navigating their own paths through the forest to the Twilight Demense – a beautiful but strange region of forest which was a Manifest Zone with Thelanis, the Faerie Court – meaning the boundaries between the land of Eberron and that of the fey was very thin.

It was the night of the 15th day of the month of Barrakas (late summer) when they returned they arrived on a celebration being presided by one of the lead Greensingers, the druidess Erin. Much mead flowed and much dancing commenced – though perceptive eyes noticed the party which greeted our heroes acted far more intoxicated than they truly were – they knew Kirin well and had met the warforged monk, but Jory and Quarion were strangers to them. Nevertheless Erin was grateful for the return of the Key and all were welcome to the celebration. The guests were a mix of fey and more traditional beings. One oddity happened during the night – a leprechaun expressed interest in Metal Guy’s time spent with Hwan’s Traveling Circus – especially the shadow dancing Halflings. The leprechaun was interested in knowing that the circus knew nothing of the key…

The next morning Erin suggested that they might be interested in gaining more information about the Key. She mentioned that Ian Grenhol, a shifter, lived rather close. He was a very learned man and had been corresponding with his sister about the Key - his sister, Kerrine, had lived in Cyre and was also a scholar – apparently Ian had learned much about the Key from her. However, she, like nearly everyone else in the Kingdom of Cyre, was killed on the Day of Mourning back in 994. Since then Ian had withdrawn from the Greensingers – and everyone else for that matter.

His home being nearby, the heroes decided to pay Ian a visit. However, all was not well – they saw signs that he had been attacked – careless sword marks etched into trees near his home, broken branches, etc. Their confirmations were confirmed when they reached his home – a small compound consisting of a small house, a barn, an outhouse, a courtyard, and a hedge surrounding it all. Quarion and Beak both spied a pair of goblins atop the roof of his house. Pretending not to notice they closed and then launched a preemptive strike. Quarion and Kirin opened fire with their bows. Jory ran around the compound from behind, seeking to climb up the house. Metal Guy sprinted towards the house. In the battle which followed two more goblins emerged – one from the barn (Quarion noted that goblins seemed to have a fondness for barns) and another materialized from an invisible state, trying to backstab Metal Guy. Our heroes triumphed, though Kirin and Quarion were badly hurt and had to use potions to heal themselves. Also, Metal Guy was locked in an epic battle with the goblin who had materialized – neither could land a blow, but he did keep him distracted long enough to let Quarion slay him with a single arrow shot…

In the barn they found a badly beaten Ian – apparently the goblins had known about his correspondence with his sister and had been gathering information on the Key. They hailed from the savage realm of Droaam. Ian told them what he knew of the Key – rumor had it a band of fey, millennia ago, dabbled in dark magicks – shadow magic. This Key supposedly led to their source of power – or a lost city. Or a prison of the shadow fey. It depended on what version of the tale you believed. His sister, Kerrine had gathered quite a bit of information about the Key – he was going to visit her but was never able to, owing to the Day of Mourning. The other expert on such matters was a sage named Cornellus Krenn. Ian told them the location of his sister’s home, should they dare to brave the Mournland…


Loot, Experience, and other notes:

• Three of the goblins were Challenge Rating 1/3. Defeating all three gave you 300 experience points total. The leader was Challenge Rating 1, giving you another 300 experience points. That is 150 each, bringing each of you up to 888 experience points – so close to 1000 for 2nd level…
• Each party member gained a potion of cure light wounds. Kirin and Quarion both used one.
• The goblin leader had two potions of invisibility. He used one. Jory took the other.
  

Adventure 01-02 - The Purifying Flame Parts I-II

The Purifying Flame

Played July 26, 2004
Tale transcribed by Khyn Felloren, based on a true story).
Dateline Sharn, 25 Dravago, 998 YK.


Four adventurers had converged on Sharn, city of towers for various purposes. “Second-Story” Jory had lived there most of her life. A Dragon-marked member of House Tharask, her Mark of Finding aided her in her efforts to find things – things which people were unaware they no longer needed.

Kirin Meely, a member of the Greensingers, a druidic order with close contact with the fey, was pursing a thief in the employ of the Silver Flame. Apparently the Silver Flame desired an ancient key made of pure shadow – it had been in the possession of the Greensingers for generations. Obviously it was magical, but what it did was unknown. They sent Kirin out of the Eldeen Reaches to retrieve it. Together with her owl, Beak, and a Warforged monk, she journeyed from the largest forest of Khorvaire to the largest city, Sharn.

A Warforged monk who would answer to anything, no longer at the beck and call of man was returning to Sharn. He had been made in the final days of the Last War and never saw battle. Unsure of his role in life, he pursued many vocations after the war – he fell in with a circus where he was introduced to shadowdancing. He sought enlightenment at a monastery and learned control of his body, mind, and spirit. His teacher sent him to the Eldeen Reaches to commune with nature. Despite the best efforts of various druidic orders, he found difficulty becoming one with nature, though he did get wet. Heading back to Sharn anyways, he accompanied Kirin in her tracking efforts and offered to get her in touch with some friends of his – Jory and Qarion, who had assisted him in his awkward first days.

Qarion was an elf who hailed from the island-continent of Aerenal. The long-lived elves of Aerenal embraced death, with their religion centered around the worship of undying ancestors. A skilled warrior, Qarion was an apprentice of the deadly sword-and-dagger style of fighting. He had dedicated years studying magic and hoped to one day learn to combine the steel of armor and sword with the power of magic. In search of adventure, he had left his home of Aerenal and had settled recently in Sharn.

The Warforged monk, who found himself called everything from “Will” to “Metal Guy”, brought the four adventures together. He and Kirin had tracked the thief to Sharn but the city was large and their leads small. Jory used her contacts in House Tharask to track the thief down. It turned out that Patch, a half-orc in the house, knew of the thief. The thief was a mercenary – a silver-haired elven thief by the name of Kayva Tinieri. Patch was rather fond of her, though she had spurned his heart-felt advances. He gladly told Jory that Kayva could be found at the Tavern of the Black Anvil, asking only in return that she recite some of his heart-felt love poetry to Kayva in the hope of wooing her (“But hark, what light is that? It is you!”)


The Tavern was on the fancier side and rather empty – a little surprising considering it was early evening and a light rain had broken out. Kirin secured a pair of rooms for the group and bribed the innkeeper for the location of Kayva’s room. Metal Guy hovered in the background, keeping an eye on things. Jory tried making some small talk with Kayva, but it was Qarion who had more luck, as they were able to chat about ancestors. Jory then broke into Kayva’s room. They found notes indicating that she had dropped off the Key at a local church of the Silver Flame – one located in the lower levels of Sharn. Quickly taking some other goodies, Jory left the room and the four of them departed into the rainy night to look for the church.

However, it turned out Kayva had noticed her room had been broken into (a broken lock will do that) and she tailed the four adventurers, attacking them from behind while they were crossing one of Sharn’s many narrow bridges. She apparently remembered who it was who snuck upstairs, piercing Jory with an arrow. Beak distracted Kayva, allowing Kirin to launch sling stones. A launched dagger by Qarion did little good so he closed in with his sword. Metal Guy had little luck with a fury of blows, all of which Kayva easily dodged. Finally, the pierced Jory swung beneath the bridge with her rope and grappling hook and snuck up behind Kayva, stabbing her in the back. Almost a little too well, nearly killing her – and it would be nice to gain more information from her. Kirin patched Kayva up and used her druidic healing powers on Jory. The four dragged Kayva back to the tavern (and demanded their money back from the Halfling innkeeper – not feeling they got their money’s worth in their bribing).

There wasn’t too much additional information to get from Kayva – she told them she knew little about what the Church of the Silver Flame wanted with the Key – she had no idea what it did – it was just a job to her. Her contact was a young priest named Sevrin Nhall – she had given him the Key (and received her money) outside a small chapel of the Silver Flame – one which served the poor, diseased, and drunks of Sharn. He was apparently a member of an ultra-conservative faction of the Church – the Purifying Flame. They helped themselves to Kayva’s possessions (including some nice blades and bow) and left her alive but tied up.


The next morning the rains had increased as the adventurers made their way to the small chapel. The Church apparently rented two floors of a tower in a poor neighborhood of Sharn. Jory and Qarion posed as drunks while Kirin and Metal Guy tried their luck at posing as people looking for information on potions they had obtained from Kayva. Hopefully one group would find him. Kirin and MetalGuy asked the elderly Reverend Aldous about Sevrin Nhall. He offered to fetch Brother Nhall – a red-haired man who ran when he saw adventurers paying him a visit. He ran into his cell, slamming the door shut. As the four adventurers (and Beak) tried to break down the door, they heard grinding sounds – breaking the door down they saw the floor of his cell returning – it was an elevator, leading beneath the city. And apparently Nhall had escaped using it. Assisted by Reverend Aldous, they activated the elevator and followed him.

The elevator led to secret catacombs, dating back centuries. The once fancy mosaic walls had been dulled with age and the stone floors were covered with slime, muck, and a thin layer of water. MetalGuy lit his lamp and the band advanced. Ignoring a side passage they continued straight ahead. Jory and Qarion jumped back just in time to avoid falling into a pit which opened beneath them. Before the trapdoor snapped shut again they saw a huge, four-foot long rat at the bottom of the pit. Jory tied a rope around her and leapt across the pit. As soon as she did an ambush was launched – another giant rat jumped down on her, giving her a nasty, disease-ridden bite. On the other side of the pit a net landed on Qarion and MetalGuy – two nasty-looking humanoids, about a foot tall, had dropped the net from above. Qarion cut his way through, freeing them. Metal Guy launched a javelin at one, killing it. Kirin finished off the other with her bow. Untangled, Qarion fired his arrow at the rat, killing it.

After the battle Kirin healed some of Jory’s injuries, though it was obvious her bite would need to be looked at. Continuing on, the passage ended with a door covered with rat-images. Opening it, they found themselves in a temple dedicated to some sort of rat-god…


Loot, Experience, and other notes:
Kayva is a second level rogue, making her a Challenge Rating of 2, granting your group 600 experience points. For loot she had:

• Two potions of Cure Light Wounds (Kirin has them)
• Two potions of Bull’s Strength (I believe Xarion and Metal Guy have one each)
• A Masterwork Composite Short Bow – provides a +1 bonus to hit. Also allows the user to receive a strength bonus to damage, up to +1. Kirin has this.
• A Masterwork Short Sword – provides a +1 bonus to hit. Jory has this.
• A Masterwork Dagger – provides a +1 bonus to hit. Xarion has this.
• 12 gold pieces, 4 platinum pieces (40 gold piece value), and two moonstones (100 gp value) for a total value of 152 gold pieces. Dived by four it is worth 38 gold pieces each.
  

The pit had a Challenge Rating of 1. Overcoming it grants 300 experience points.

The Dire Rat had a challenge rating of 1/3. The two tiny humanoids were Jermlaine. Each had a challenge rating of ½. That makes this encounter worth 400 experience points. The Jermlaine had as loot:

• Four Bottles of Alchemist Fire – each is a splash attack doing 1d6 damage on a direct hit (and damages on the next round as well). I believe Xarion and Metal Guy each took one.

Total you guys earned 1300 experience points or 325 each, putting you just about a third of the way to second level (1000 experience points).

Part II

Played August 9, 2004
Tale transcribed by Khyn Felloren, based on a true story).
Dateline Sharn, 26 Dravago, 998 YK.


Our heroes examined the rat temple. It was ancient – centuries, if not millennia old. They had emerged on a rickety balcony that covered three of the four walls. Ten feet below was the temple proper, with crumbling pillars, a rat statue (with gemstone eyes) and a shallow stream. They were on the south side of the temple, with the balcony extending northwards on both walls. And both the east and west walls had doors on them. Smoke came from one of them. As they cautiously worked their way to it they saw blood on the floor – Sevrin’s perhaps?

The balcony was indeed old and a ten foot chunk of it was missing, with a narrow beam being the only bridge leading to the far side – and the smoke beyond – something being burned? Snagging a grappling hook on a rat-gargoyle above, Jory swung across – only to be attacked by another monstrous rat – this one was especially fierce, dripping acid from its mouth – a Horrid Rat, magically engineered by druids in ages past. Jory was badly wounded, knocked unconscious, and fell to the stagnant water below, face down. Kirin climbed down and poured a healing potion down Jory’s throat. Meanwhile the rat scampered over the bridge and attacked Qarion and Metal Guy. The two of them surrounded the rat and finished it off, though not before Qarion took a nasty bite, much like the diseased one Jory had suffered earlier.

They then examined the door – Beak heard something, that much was clear. Metal Guy attempted, albeit unsuccessfully, to kick the door off its hinges. However, he did kick it open a little, exposing a tiny Jermlaine in an office getting ready to ambush them. Looking at his odds, he decided to surrender and told them that Sevrin had been using this area as a base, but he two-timed the Jermlaine, abandoning them and burning his papers. He just left into the sewers, accessed at the other end of the table. Our heroes finished putting out the fire and began going through what remained of his papers – one thing was clear – Sevrin had booked passage on a ship named the Orca.

The heroes left the temple, stopping just long enough to snag some rat-statue gemstones – which basically covered the cost of paying for a cleric to heal both Qarion and Jory of the rat infection they had contracted.


Healed, the band went down the plateau of Sharn to the port town. Jory and Qarion asked around about the Orca. Metal Guy took advantage of the time to ask Kirin about something that had been bothering him – what was the deal with small humans (and other species). The whole concept of children seemed rather… inefficient to him. It was how people produce more people? But they produced him at full-size. Kirin explained to Metal Guy the reasoning and advantages as best she could. Meanwhile, Jory and Qarion had found a drunken member of the Orca crew – a drunken half-elf claiming to be the first mate – named Gigli (pronounced “gee-lee”). He was rather taken with Jory (which might not have been much of a compliment, considering his intoxicated state) and offered to show her the Orca – after forgetting he had turned down passage to her earlier… Though he couldn’t find any crewmembers to row him back to the Orca, which would be setting out later, with the tide. Fortunately, the remaining three heroes were available for rowing duty.


Aboard the tiny caravel that was the Orca, they made a few discoveries. First, her full crew was not yet aboard – the captain, Gigli, and four sailors were aboard – another eight or so sailors were completing their leave. Second, their passenger, Sevrin, was aboard in the tiny forward cabin. Finally, Gigli was not the first mate – he was the cook (and he also passed out).

Sadly, Captain Curg was not inclined to let them meet with her passenger, who popped his head out the door of his cabin. A battle broke out, with Jory getting a boat ready for departure while the others tried to take Sevrin (alive preferably). They also found themselves under attack from the crew – much to Kirin’s disappointment, who had tried to convince them to let them be. Qarion set fire to the mainmast and rigging using a bottle of alchemist fire which distracted the crew. Eventually they knocked Sevrin out (though Metal Guy took a beating in the process). Jory grabbed his sea chest (which contained the Shadow Key) and band escaped from the Orca, dodging arrows all the way…

Loot, Experience, and other notes:

The Horrid Rat was Challenge Rating 1, worth 300 experience points.

The Jermlaine was worth 150 experience points. (Though he wasn’t killed he was sufficiently intimidated, giving you the experience.)

• Between the gemstone eyes and the cost of healing Jory and Qarion you netted 100 gold pieces.
  

Sevrin was Challenge Rating 2, worth 600 experience points. His loot of interest:

• 1 Longbow (Composite/+1) – gives a +1 strength bonus to damage when used by someone with at least 12 strength
• 1 Mithral Shirt – very light chain mail shirt
• 1 Onyx – 50 gold piece value
• 5 White Pearl – 10 gold piece value each
• Divine spell scrolls (Kirin can use some of these) - 2 Scroll (Bless), 2 Scroll (Bull's Strength), 2 Scroll (Command), 2 Scroll (Cure Light Wounds), 1 Scroll (Cure Moderate Wounds), 1 Scroll (Hold Person), 1 Scroll (Spiritual Weapon), 1 Scroll (Summon Mosnter I)
  

Each sailor was Challenge Rating ½. You killed two, worth 300 experience points.

The Captain was Challenge Rating 1 and the two remaining sailors were Challenge Rating ½. They weren’t defeated but you did escape them with your goal, so we’ll call that worth half the normal award for defeating them in combat, for another 300 experience points.

Total experience gained: 1650, or 413 each. Combined with last adventure brings you to a total of 738, almost three quarters of the way to second level. (yay!)
Total loot for the two adventures was 63 gold pieces each. Feel free to buy some goodies…