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1.1.
The party all find themselves at the Lamplighter Inn, Waterdeep. They got into a scuffle with three half-orc brothers–Grundo, Blundo, and Snell. During the night, they were alerted that a nearby orphanage was on fire.
1.2 The party rushed to the Eventide Orphanage. Eldrich, Mercy and Thurmack went through the front door, while Kildrack, Viola and Luna went others went around to the back. Immediately, Eldrich was nearly killed by a Mephit, but Kildrack came to his rescue by annihilating it with an icy chromatic orb. Luna and Viola climbed up an outside window into the bedrooms on the first floor, where they found Brummie, Phyrra, and Sky of Glass hiding under their beds, while Mercy and Thurmack worked together to rescue Ari and Raisin from a flaming corridor. On the first floor, Another Mephit came out of the flames, but Luna slashed its throat, dealing it a mortal wound with one blow. Eldrich discovered a charred body, an empty lead chest, and a leather satchel containing a map of the Sea District that someone had marked out the orphanage on. The party returned to the Lamplighter with Ari and the Orphans; Ari and Oswald, proprietor of the Lamplighter Inn, it turns out, knew one another, and Oswald agreed to take them all in. Mercy donated all her money to Ari to help her get back on her feet.
Everyone rested and woke to a rainy morning. Before they could set off, they were approached by two men: Enetir, majordomo of a “masked lord”, invited the party to meet with his employer at midnight in a warehouse to be offered a job of special importance. Almost immediately after Enetir departed, a frightening, tongueless man arrived and offered the party a letter inviting them to meet with Deothar Brightgarden at his Manor, an opportunity that would result in “spectacular rewards”.
1.3.
The party split; Mercy, Viola and Luna visited Valencia to find out more about the key; to their surprise, Valencia was not wearing it and seemed to have no knowledge of it. The group’s concern led them to insist on searching her quarters without her consent, allowing them to discover an inert Circle of Teleportation in her closet. They then went to the warehouse in the Dock Ward, where they met with a rather theatrical Masked Lord who promised riches to return three magical items in the possession of Doethar Brightgarden and provided a chime which he says may open doors and locks. The party found a small amount of GP in a crate.
Meanwhile, Thurmack and Kildrack arrived at Deothar’s manor house, where they were escorted inside by the tongueless man, whose name, they learned, was Quordo. Deothar explained that he has been robbed by the thief Azos Eolathe of a Magic Chime which is a family heirloom and that he wants it back. They were given until dawn to decide whether to accept the job, and after meeting with their party members back at the Lamplighter, they decided to accept both jobs but not to return the Chime just yet.
Eldrich spent some quality time with Eustasia.
The group then returned to Valencia’s House with the intention of getting the key and finding out where the Circle of Teleportation leads, but Bindleblatt wouldn’t let them in because Mercy had been fired from her position following her earlier behavior. The party convinced Bindleblatt that they needed access to Valencia to safeguard her, but were forced—with Bindleblatt’s consent—to knock him unconscious, thereby absolving him of responsibility for any incidents. The party then encountered Fasmus upstairs, who obstinately would not let them into Valencia’s room, so they left and tried to look into the window, where they saw someone through the pebbled glass, leaning over Valencia. Fasmus discovered them, however, and Mercy attacked him. The party was unable to defeat Fasmus outright and appeared to be losing the fight…
1.4
The group was fighting Fasmus when from a nearby street when they heard the sound of a parade… Leading what appeared to be a gang of Dragonborn, being carried on the back of an armored warhorse, was Ankhion Daardendrian, a powerful fighter known as “The Lost Princess”. Eldrich rejoined the party carrying a note from the Harpers telling the party to seek the champions, alluding to two keys and that the chime will ‘open the gate’. The party followed the parade; their reputation preceded them and the guard allowed them access to Ankhion, whom the party flattered and asked for information. Ankhion insisted on a contest of Strength to answer questions, but was soundly defeated in all but two rounds of arm-wrestling. She revealed that Deothar is her benefactor and gave her a magical pendant. After being taunted, she bet her pendant on the next arm wrestling match and lost. Mercy was nearly attacked by a Chuul which Ankhion had in a cage in her chambers.
Upon leaving, the party spoke to numerous peddlers and city guards, trying to get information on Azos who, they learned, had gained notoriety as a thief but had not yet been captured. He had been accused of stealing some high profile items from various nobles. One guard in particular had fallen in love with Azos, but was left brokenhearted when Azos only used him. Kildrack drank high-octane booze and took some internal damage.
Among the crowds, by chance, the party spotted the three Orcish brothers who’d previously made a ruckus in the Lamplighter. They followed the brothers to a tavern called The Bottom Fang, which was filled with half-orcs, but due to some smooth talking and the restrained nature of the bartender, Carrow, were able to gain access with no trouble. Kildrack and Thurmack agreed to fight the brothers in exchange for information, while the others found out that Grulltar was upstairs. They found him packing his chests, preparing to leave Waterdeep, feeling depressed. Luna offered him safe haven in her home village of Greenhollow, to the South, in Amn. As thanks, he gave him the Magic Bracers provided to him by Deothar in shame and left.
The party exited into the street, where they found the brothers waiting for the fight. Snell took a magic potion which increased his size, but was swiftly defeated; his brothers fell soon after. The party tied them up and prepared to interrogate them…
1.5
The party healed the orcish brothers and returned with them to the Lamplighter, where, to their surprise, they found at least two of them—Grundo and Blundo–rather agreeable; the party separated Snell from the others in order to question him privately, and Blundo shared some family history. During this time, Thurmack heard whispering in his ear—a directive from Umberlee that Blundo was one of Talos’ followers, and therefore needed to die. He hesitated, and his lungs began to fill with seawater. Feeling he had no other choice, he attacked Blundo with his mace and dealt him a severe blow; when Grundo tried to intervene, Thurmack used divine magic to defend himself. Both brothers were knocked unconscious and nearly killed, but the party restrained Thurmack and managed to save the brothers’ lives. A number of maids working in the Lamplighter were about, and Kildrak later discovered that one of them had stolen the Amulet of Thoughts from around his neck. When Snell regained consciousness, he promised that the one responsible for this betrayal would pay; the party allowed the brothers a room in the Lamplighter to recuperate.
During the night, Luna dreamed of the moon encircled by five green stars; the dream felt extremely real. Later, she had a similar experience, dreaming that a shadow was standing in her room, watching her.
In the morning, Viola received a missive from her father, directing her to return home to Arush Vayem immediately—the war with Unther had reignited and her brothers had been called to battle. Kildrack, having studied the spell in his spellbook, learned Moonbeam. Mercy, meanwhile, was summoned to the Fields of Valor to fight. The party accompanied her; while there, Mercy questioned some horse traders and found out that one of them remembered a group of Tiefling horse traders on the outskirts of Marsember, a port city on the shore of the Sea of Fallen Stars. While the party explored and investigated the Fields of Valor, Mercy fought a bugbear and managed to win. Eldrich and Thurmack bought new weapons from a blacksmith, while Luna searched for Deothar, who was present at the match but whom she didn’t approach. Eldrich discovered that his name and stories of his songs had spread through Waterdeep, and he was approached by a noble lady, Anastahsia L’Dyn, to perform for her and her noble friends at her manor that evening. Meanwhile, Kildrack searched for the thief who stole his pendant, and happened to spot one working the crowds; he gave chase but the thief escaped; luckily, the thief ran straight into a group of guards outside, who captured him. The party was able to barter for time alone with the thief, who, they discovered, was in fact Azos Eolathe. In exchange for helping Azos escape, he agreed to return the pendant and answer the party’s questions. The party agreed and all returned to the Lamplighter, having tricked the guards into thinking Azos was in fact their own captain and starting a fight among them. At the Lamplighter, Azos agreed to steal Valencia’s key in order to get the rest of Deothar’s magic objects, which, he explained, he believed Deothar was using for some grander nefarious purpose; he also revealed that he could not himself rob Deothar, having already been nearly captured by him once, and that Deothar had a secret vault somewhere in his house. Azos left to head to Valencia’s, but on his way out, stole the pendant again…
1.6
The party arrived at Anastahsia’s Manor for the party at which she had invited Eldrich to perform. Mercy did not accompany them, having no taste for parties and wanting to seek out more information on the city of Marsember.
When the party arrived, the manor was full of well-to-do Waterdhavians, many of them merchants or nobles. Eldrich was invited to perform and did so well, earning the admiration of all in attendance. Among the guests, Thurmack helped Rowana Highcloud with her sore feet and earned a whole 1 gold piece; Kildrack lost a battle of insults with Uncef Brasswine, a blind, obese dwarf, trader in all manner of valuables in Waterdeep. Viola managed to get upstairs, wanting to change her clothes into something more party-appropriate after someone sneered at her muddy adventurer’s boots. Luna received an interesting riddle from a talking raven perched on the head of a manic halfling named Ignatius Ygdra, while Viola, looking on from the mezzanine, used divine influence to discern the presence of many undead at the party. Eldrich was then approached by a tall man with fine hands who introduced himself as Underlord Xanthus Warvyn and requested he play a piece of music called The Lady of Thay.
Eldrich performed it masterfully, and Xanthus began to cry tears of blood. He revealed that he himself had written the song more than a thousand years before. For his performance, Eldrich was given Xanthus’ Lute. The song Eldrich performed was also recognized by Luna, causing her to remember her mother.
After the performance, Deothar appeared at the party, but Eustasia, perhaps misinterpreting the look on Eldrich’s face, spilled wine all over him, and Deothar was forced to go upstairs to clean up. While there, Viola attempted to steal his key, but was unsuccessful; she then tried to get him to leave the room and leave the key there, but he flatly refused to go out undressed.
At the same time, a human in a black cloak with a skull tattoo on the top of his head—Heirarch Quillus—entered the party and appeared to bestowing ‘blessings’ on the partygoers. Eldrich tried to steal his ceremonial dagger, but was unsuccessful. A black altar was brought in, and upon it, a maiden was sacrificed to Bhaal with the dagger. The maiden appeared not to resist and the partygoers began to imbibe her blood.
After the ceremony, Deothar called everyone onto the terrace for “one more gift”. Looking out over the rooftops of Waterdeep, they began to hear bells—from one side of the Sea District, then another, echoing over the rooftops. Then they saw the flames. Deothar announced that “Tonight it begins. The Hierarchies will be restored.” In the street below, a large gang of Orcs met with a gang of Dragonborn and the two groups engaged in a bloody battle to the death.
The Party took this as a good time to leave, but the front doors had been barred. Thankfully, Quordo appeared and led the group into a room under the stairs which was kitted out for adult activities. In that room, they found a secret door; it was trapped, and Luna was hit with a poison arrow. Heading through, the group descended into the sewers…
1.7
The group found themselves navigating the sewers, Quordo in tow. Suddenly, a creature with tentacles and pincers burst from the water, seized Viola and Luna, and dragged them under. Eldrich recognized the beast as a Chull and the group began to search for it. When it appeared again, bursting out of the water to attack, Viola and Luna were nowhere to be found. Those remaining fought hard against it. A bloodied Ankhion appeared out of one of the tunnels and joined the fight; she revealed that she had tracked the beast down after a group of rioting orcs had attacked her quarters at the Fields of Valour and freed the creature from its cage.
Thurmack was seriously wounded. Eldrich climbed the abberation’s carapace and drove his longsword into its head, but to his surprise, the chull reacted by crushing him in both its pincers, incapacitating him and nearly killing him. Eventually The party defeated the Chull and explored the sewers, encountered a Wererat and killed it, but found little trace of their lost party members—only a shred of Luna’s cloak. Ankhion invited the party to join her, even giving grudging respect to Thurmack, but the party declined. They returned to the surface, emerging through a trapdoor in a warehouse in which they discovered stashed in barrels and crates a fair amount of GP, the Pendant of Thoughts and a battered prop version of a Masked Lord’s mask among lots of dried fish. They deduced that the Warehouse must be Azos’ hideout.
In the streets of the Sea District, they witnessed the brutal evidence of the riots; burned buildings, overturned carts, and fleeing citizenry. They and could still hear fighting and alarms in the distance. The Sea District had been blockaded by silver-armored soldiers at every entrance and they encountered the Open Lord herself, Laeral Silverhand Arunson, leading troops through the streets to safeguard the citizenry. When asked where the city’s sewers emptied, Laeral revealed that the tunnels were ancient and myriad—there was no hope of tracking where their lost friends may end up, or if they were even alive. After the party discussed their discoveries about Deothar with her, she asked them to seek Deothar and stop him while the soldiers quelled the riots.
The party returned to the Lamplighter, hoping their lost friends would be there waiting, but found that the Lamplighter had not been immune to the violence sweeping the Sea District.
The door had been axed in, tables and chairs overturned or destroyed, alcohol robbed or ruined. There was no sign of Viola, Luna, Oswald, Ari, or the orphans, but they did find a note in one of the bedrooms, swiftly-written, reading “3 safe” with the image of the harp scrawled in the corner. Hearing footsteps downstairs, the party discovered that Snell, Grundo and Blundo had come to finish what was started, claiming they only wanted revenge against Thurmack for trying to murder Blundo. Eldrich and Kildrak stood with Thurmack, and a fight commenced. Kildrack used the spell Moonbeam to severely damage Snell and the party tried to convince them to stop the assault; both Blundo and Grundo acquiesced and pleaded with their brother to cease his mad vengeance, but Snell could not be dissuaded. Blundo and Grundo withdrew, and Eldrich promised Grundo that Snell would not be killed, but when Snell used a Potion of Firebreathing and immolated Thurmack, Eldrich pushed his sword through Snell’s belly from behind. Snell, severely wounded, passed out, and Thurmack, after being resuscitated, kneeled down beside the wounded half-orc and, covering his nose and mouth with his hands, suffocated him to death.
1.8
Following the murder of Snell, Thurmack suddenly left the Lamplighter—something about him seemed different than before he committed the act; not long after, Mercy arrived, covered in blood, led by Azos Eolathe, soon followed by Luna, who had been carried into the depths below Waterdeep where she experienced something she could not explain before being dragged from the water by Cedric and led out of the sewers. Azos agreed to return Valencia’s key, after initially trying to swindle the party out of a further 100 gold for it; he also gave the party a note to leave at the scene of the crime, should they still choose to rob Deothar, and let the party know he planned to leave Waterdeep.
The party returned to Valencia’s, where they found Bindleblatt and Fasmus injured and Valencia herself missing. With both keys in hand, they investigated the formerly inert Circle of Teleportation, which they entered all as one. It transported them to Deothar’s Mansion, where they discovered Ankhion Daardendrian, seeking her own vengeance against Deothar. She joined the party. All together, a painting of family which seemed to have an illusion cast on it. By dispelling the illusion, they revealed it was actually a magical painting of a house on a hill, and it seemed to have a preternatural depth to it. The party entered the painting and found themselves trapped within until they used the chime to reveal its true dimensions. Once inside, they approached the mansion…
Entering via the Garden, the realized they were still within a powerful illusion; as though seeing a dream, or a memory, the party witnessed events from the past reenacted with marionettes of shadow. Afterward, the garden itself seemed to awaken and attack them, and two rotten, human hands crawled out of the black water. Defeating the creatures, they found an enchanted ring; taking it, they felt a strange reverberation ripple through the fabric of the illusion around them.
Given the choice of two doors, the party tried to open them both; one exploded, while the other granted access into what appeared to be a working forge. Here, they witnessed more events from the past. The resident Blacksmith, however, a dwarven-looking creature with a beard of fire, was not so welcoming. After a long battle, the party defeated him, and, searching, found a magic coin. Taking it, they felt a stronger reverberation in the illusion—like an earthquake. Two more doors leading further into the mansion stood before them…
1.9
Thurmack rejoined the party, having gone to Deothar’s mansion on Azos’ advice after reflecting on his actions against Snell.
All together, the party ventured deeper into the mansion, continuing to witness shadowy figures enacting some terrible history. In the Great Hall, the party was assaulted by Enchanted Armor and Floating Swords; after defeating them, Eldrich recovered from one suit of armor a Homeward Chain. Next, the party proceeded into the Servant’s Quarters, where they witnessed the the shadows apparently assaulting a barrier of furniture blocking their path. The quarters were filled with headless zombies dressed as servants themselves, all of which the party easily dispatched. The party found a hidden diary detailing a love affair between two servants and a heavy black key. Each treasure the party recovered seemed to affect the nature of the illusion around them, even beginning to tear into its very fabric…
1.10
The party made its way through Deothar’s mansion, defeating more monsters, finding magical items, and witnessing the shadows of one dark night in Deothar’s childhood.
At the mansion’s heart, they discovered a temple to Bhaal, where they found Deothar along with Suvethar and Lady Valencia; Although Deothar was powerful, he was eventually defeated by Kildrack’s powerful magic and was dragged through some kind of portal by an enormous skeletal hand which opened in Bhaal’s Sigil on the wall. Suvethar was destroyed and Lady Valencia rendered unconscious. They recovered the remaining magic relics and the illusory mansion around them was torn down, revealing underneath the actual, though long abandoned, mansion of Deothar’s childhood. While exploring it, they were attacked by a number of giant spiders which had taken up residence in the derelict library; Kildrak, eager to explore the possibilities provided by the party’s newly-acquired Wand of Wonder, very nearly incinerated everyone with an ill-placed Fireball. No thanks to him, the party still managed to defeat the spiders and barely survive. In the library, they discovered a number of enchanted books, detailing various lores, languages, and legends and giving the party more insight into Faerun’s history and Deothar’s past.
The party left the mansion to find that the magical entrance from the painting in Deothar’s Waterdeep mansion had vanished. They also discovered that during their time within the illusory version of the mansion, a number of weeks or even months had passed, and the air had the sharpness of coming winter. Confused and alarmed, they descended into the village below, Llorkh, which they found overgrown and abandoned. In the village square, they found a cart and horse parked next to a small camp belonging to a halfling by the name of Ulbeth, a travelling cartographer; Ulbeth said he had traveled there with “his companion”, who was not in the camp, to map the wood between the Greypeaks and the Elven city of Evereska. Speaking to him, they learned that Waterdeep’s gates—more than 450 miles to the West–had been shut apparently on command of the Open Lord Laeral Silverhand Arunson–something that Ulbeth could never remember happening before. Ulbeth agreed to sell the party a map, and Mercy had a short conversation with his horse, Nutmeg, whom she discovered was a tougher negotiator than Ulbeth himself. Thurmack, wary of a trap being set by Ulbeth’s absent “companion”, followed a noise in some nearby brush, hoping to surprise a potential interloper—but whom did he encounter, emerging from the brush, wielding a heavy lance, eyepatched and scarred, but his long-lost friend…Viola.
LAMPLIGHTERS ADVENTURING PARTY 