Session 56 - Heroes of Moonfall
In-game timeline: Start of session: 1489DR Nightal 3. End of session: 1489DR Nightal 14
Our "Heroes" are in a bad state. Exhausted, injured, worried. They consider their options. Given their situation, there are not many.
The glowing device that caused Derrick and Iwee such harm seems to be fading. Derrick hopes that this means he can pick it up and he proceeds to impress the entire group by knowing the word "bindle". He uses a cloak to wrap the fading device up, luckily without harm, and ties it around his javelin. In a bindle.
They decide, much to Jaxii's disappointment who wanted to have a long rest in the dark torture chamber, to avoid a battle with stained-glass knights. And avoid a possible battle with were-bears, were-wolves and were-rats on the higher levels and instead try out the area of this level they hadn't yet seen - behind a locked door. Jaxii, in her state of exhaustion, struggled to smash open the door, but after a couple of noisy attempts, the door does indeed open.
They tumble into a corridor, fortunately currently empty of enemies. There are two empty 'picture frames' drawn on the wall, that the group identify via the runes painted within the chalked frames, probably originally linked to the pictures on the top level of these ruins and in the house in Moonfall. A third picture seems 'active' and currently shows a picture of a mountainside in darkness.
Hoping that Lispeth and Redback will not return at least for another few minutes, the group split up to quickly explore the corridor, which seems to end in two rooms, one at each end.
Iwee and Derrick head to the southern room. Iwee grabs three silver-coloured bracelets that seem to be related to the painting portals, along with a jewellery box which she stuffs in her pack to open later, when they have more time. Between them they prise open a drawer in a desk - with Derrick, even in his exhausted state, managing to successfully and carefully open the drawer. Inside is a fair bit of money, along with a note that suggests Lispeth was extracting souls in order to create "intelligent golems" for sale to the highest bidder. In addition there is a small pouch containing a pretty glass eye. Iwee pockets everything quickly, wanting to press on.
Meanwhile, in the northern room, Karoshi stands guard whilst Jaxii searches the room. This seems to be Redback's room. There is a similar drawer in the dressing table in this room, which Jaxii tries to yank open. Unfortunately this drawer is trapped and Jaxii is surrounded by a cloud of acid. She manages to dodge the worst of it, but her little remaining health is reduced to almost zero by the acid. To add to her misfortune, the acid also seems to have dissolved a couple of waterskins that had some form liquid / potion in them, along with a couple of scrolls, now rendered useless. She does manage to get some un-dissolvable loot, however, which she pockets quickly, before anyone else spots her.
The party regroup in the corridor and are surprised, and concerned, when one of the blank pictures slowly begins to display a misty picture, that slowly coalesces into a scene - one which seems to contain a large wolf-like creature and a small humanoid, although the background is as-yet unclear. Urgency seems to understandably strike the party, with the exception of Karoshi, who seems to be very calm in a crisis. Some would say slow, but Iwee insists it is calmness. The urgency wins out, and the group quickly use the bracelets to transport themselves out of the single, working picture portal before the other one can reform. They seem to escape just in time, along with Starwyn and Poppy.
They arrive on a mountainside, at night, with a picture portal behind them, drawn on stone - part of a stone circle. They quickly dodge out of the way of the picture, so they could not be seen from the other side.
Pacino is summoned and asked to scout around. Between Pacino's scouting and Starwyn's local knowledge, they work out that they are at a stone circle on the mountain behind the village of Moonfall. They make their way down to the village as quickly as they can in their exhausted state, and decide to wake Eldred and Iwee's parents.
Iwee returns Poppy home and her parents are overjoyed at her return, though a little confused as to what has gone on, and very worried about the state that Poppy is in. The group then tells Eldred what has happened - Iwee spares no details, while the others rest a little.
Eldred quickly rouses the village, despite it being the middle of the night, and tells them to hunt around for the portal that Lispeth and Redback seemed to have been re-establishing. It could not be found in Beryl's house, where it was originally, but one of the villagers does eventually find it just outside the village, hidden behind a small, rocky outcrop. The villager who found the portal also found a note under a rock. The note offered a trade - the children in exchange for the device.
After much discussion, and persuading Jaxii that saving the children IS actually worth doing, the party decide to accede to the trade.
At 6am, at the allotted time, the party return to the portal to find a golem standing, holding a note, explaining the process for trading the children for the device. Lots and lots of discussion, interaction, recriminations, mistrust and careful planning later, the device is returned to Lispeth and Redback, and the children (minus Hansel, of course) are returned, safe and sound. Lispeth and Redback are back in the ruins, with the device, and they seem to quickly cancel the portals leading to Moonfall and the stone circle to prevent any quick retaliations.
The villagers are joyful, though touched with sadness at the loss of Hansel and of Horgarth, Starwyn's husband. Loot is shared amongst the party (well, most of it), including a gift of 600gp from the villagers, who also gift Tandred's Vuvuzela and Tandred's Poem of Moonfall to the group.
Iwee spends some time before resting, talking with her father about her past, learning a little about the legend of the Golden Born within the gnomes of Lurkwood, though it seems that much of the knowledge about the reason and purpose behind the Golden Born is lost to history, though probably something to do with The Intricate Web - a gift to the gnomes of Lurkwood centuries ago. A wise old lady named Silvermoon may know more, as she had acted as a mentor to the previous 3 Golden Borns before Iwee. She used to live within a town called Settlestone at the edge of Lurkwood, though it is not known if she is still there. The group express some surprise when Karoshi admits to knowing a little of this Intricate Web. Iwee's father is suspicious of the tiefling but Iwee once again vouches for him. Derrick and Jaxii are not so sure.
After some resting, the party decide to quickly head to Elturel to try to get some Remove Curses for Iwee and Derrick, who can still sense The Curse running through their veins. They are encouraged to act quickly by Iwee's parents, and Eldred, who are concerned about their nasty bites that are not healing well.
Unfortunately the clerics in Elturel struggle to contain the curses running through the gnome's and human's bodies. It costs the group a lot of their money (450gp) to eventually cure Iwee, as the spell needs to be cast three times, and then they move on to Derrick. The curse is strong in him. After spending 750gp the curse still remains. Derrick wonders whether life as a lycanthrope may be worth it?
The party head to Baldur's Gate to all level up to level 7! They just about find the funding for this, with Jaxii producing an inordinate amount of gold from between her scales. Flushed with money, she still hesitates about lending any to Derrick.
While there, they also have another attempt at removing Derrick's curse, paying extra for a higher level cleric to try it out. It fails. Oh dear.
And so we leave our Heroes, the Heroes of Moonfall, learning their trades in the city of Baldur's Gate, contemplating their next moves. Karoshi and Iwee are keen to find Silvermoon, and discover more about Iwee's birthright, and the Intricate Web. Karoshi is also wondering about the Eye of Kronos gem that is also part of his task, and which they failed to get from the Radiant Sisters. Perhaps the captured Sister in Neverwinter will know more, after the reported raid on their island? Derrick is keen to see if the Little Fingers have found out more about his enemy, Dagult Neverember, now Lord Protector of Neverwinter. Jaxii is wondering what to spend the rest of her gold on.
