2024-09-21 – Shadowed Keep

Characters

Chartreuse (pp 17 Inv 20 Ins 11)
Eldrox (pp 16 Inv 10 Ins 16)
Helm Hobbs (pp 17 Inv 10 Ins 17)
Radon (pp 14 Inv 10 Ins 11)
Voxi (pp 11 Inv 17 Ins 11)
Zaffre (pp 14 Inv 14 Ins 11)

Strong Start

The wererats are free. The characters are approached by Mudhide, wererat scout who thanks them and gives them access to the mindflayer hoard. He knows about the Warrens of the Troglodytes.

Scenes

Meet the wererats – get the hoard – head to the cave of the gray spire

Secrets and Clues

The illithids want to infiltrate the drow of Erelhei-Cinlu. They've taken over a small clan of wererats.
There are primeval obelisks in the Warrens of the Troglodyte and the Shrine of the Kuo Toa.
The troglodyte caverns are a pit of several creatures including a band of bugbears, a den of trolls, the troglodytes, a drow outpost, and several independent groups and lots of dangerous monsters. They move about and are hard to map so the drow haven't gone in too far.
There is a natural stone obelisk in the troglodyte gardens that fills them with a strange otherworldly power that the drow fear.
Each monolith destroyed or disabled weakens the bonds between the Black Cathedral and the Other Side.
A lich used to rule over this hall. Some of his creations remain but he's long gone (a lie).
The drow have a small outpost in the north west section. They don't venture deeper into the caves.
A clan of bugbears operates out of the north east caves. Grimblade, their chieftan, wants to take over the whole chamber and is waiting for an imbalance among the others to take over.
The Troglodytes have their lair on the south east. They are totally obsessed with the obelisk. A band of trolls regularly eats them operating out of caves to the near-south-east. They also love eating bugbears.
A pair of wyverns regularly hunt in the larger cavern eating scouts and strays. Everyone leaves them alone.
The troglodytes built an effigy to their twisted demon goddess Zuggtmoy. They believe the spire is a way to bring her into the world — a beautiful world of filth and decay.

Drow Secrets

The drow of Erelhei-Cinlu worry for the coming of the demon princes.
There are eight noble houses in Erelhei-Cinlu who position themselves for power over the others. The top three are Eilservs, Kilsek, and Despana. They are in a constant cold war with one another.
Several houses in Erelhei-Cinlu are in a cold war with one another. Some houses are worse than others dealing with demons, undead, and worse.
Matron Mother Eclavdra Eilservs has information vital to stop the opening of the Black Cathedral and will share it. She possess an artifact similar to the key held by Voxi.
House Eilservs is served by members of House Tormtor (rank 6 but powerful).

Notable NPCs

Mudhide, wererat scout
Matron Mother Eclavdra Eilservs of Lolth.
Grimblade – Bugbear chieftan.
Hegrelva — witch queen of the troglodytes
Gnashteeth – Leader of the trolls
Kalyeve d'Kilsek – Drow commander of the cavern outpost
Asberdies – Lich of the cavern – travels the outer worlds. Knows all about the Black Cathedral.

Monsters LBM 17

Troglodytes
Trolls
Hezrou
Shambling Mound
Giant centipedes
Violet fungus
Skeletons
Skeletal vetrans
Shadows
Stone golem
Drow hunters, veterans, and mage
Giant crocodile
Green hag
Phase spiders
Drow corpses with rot grubs (TT 145)

Treasure

196 sp, 2,755 gp, 143 pp (4,204gp), 1,000 gp opal, Potion of Gaseous Form, Potion of Superior Healing, Decanter of Endless Water, +1 emerald elven longsword named the Claw of Gadhelyn (Gad-THEL-en) is the elven hero-god of Independence, Outlawry, Feasting, and Hunting. His symbol is a leaf-shaped arrowhead. Gadhelyn is a very old figure in elven myth, once a part of the Fey Mysteries but now largely forgotten. A character attuned to the Claw can use an action to cast the spell web, with a DC of 14.
The Inner Eye of the Elder Elder Brain +2 to psionic attack rolls and damage. As a bonus action, a character attuned to the illithid stone opens their mind. The next time they hit with a psychic attack, the attack inflicts an extra 4d6 psychic damage and the target cannot take bonus actions or reactions until the end of its next turn.

Session Notes

The characters made their way to Greyspire Caverns. They met a handful of bugbears after killing a bunch of spiders. The bugbears took them to their chief who wants to make a deal with them (go kill the troll king and we'll take out the troglodytes so you can get to the spire – also, watch out for the fucking wyverns).

Grimblade's Deal or No Deal

After the deaths of the mindflayers, wererats with liquid dripping out of their ears come out. They are thankful to be free after years of torture. A red gemstone comes out of one of the mindflayers' skull and speaks in Chartreuse's mind. According to the wererats, the mindflayers would use the stone to create a psychic bond to the rocks and make the wall open. Chartreuse uses her mind daggers to open the wall and reveal the mindflayers' loot. The wererats tell us about bugbears, troglodites, trolls, and wyverns around the cavern we're heading to. They tell us that the obelisk is in the fungal forest, where the troglodites live and they worship it as the gray spire. They also tell us a shortcut to Gray Spire Cavern.

As we travel toward the cavern, we pass giant worm holes and see giant lizard tracks and dead drow missing parts of their bodies, apparently killed and eaten by a handful of trolls. Chartreuse's develops pink (red) eye from the red gemstone.

Spiders attack us. Two transparant phase spiders and 4 regular giant spiders attack. We kill them. Chartreuse sees 4 bugbears sneaking up toward us, speaking goblin to each other about how awesome and dangerous we are. They offer a parlay with their chief. On our way we see two huge wyverns fly by. Chartreuse starts negotiating by trying to sign us up to start a full-scale war with the trolls. Zaffre sends some psychic daggers at her sister over their shared mental party line. We tell them we're here to destroy the gray spire. The bugbear chief says, "I have a deal for you..."