The Puppeteer (Level 0 - Level 2)

It is the year 13XX DR, Year of the xxxx xxxx. Neverwinter is trying to recover from the Wailing Plague, a deadly disease that killed more than one-thrid of its poppulation. Lord Nasher, the ruler of Neverwinter, realising his city's dire need of manpower, has requsted from his allies, the Lords of Waterdeep, to send in people willing to start over.

The player characters start in Waterdeep as non-accomplished professionals. A maid, a tanner, a hunter, a healer, a stoneworker, all individuals who owe a lot of money to many people in the City of Splendors) and seek a way to better their lifes. Neverwinter's offer was all they needed to live behind their overdebt life in Waterdeep. The soon-to-be player characters sold everything they had, paid their debts and with the remaining of their money, they signed up in one of the many caravans for Neverwinter.

The caravan left Waterdeep for Neverwinter in a cold day of Ches. The trip to the north was hard; the muddy road slowed the wagons. After a hard trip of more than ten days, the caravan came to the Mere of the Dead Men. There, during a cold, moonless, stormy night the caravan got attacked by a young black dragon and his goblin minions; the dragon, who lives in the close viccinity, got annoyed by the heavy traffic and decided to take the situation in his own hands.

The attack on the caravan was devastating. The sole survivors, the soon-to-be player characters barely escaped when a group of goblins came to investigate their wagon. They ran for their lives and just when they thought that they would die, the goblins let them go, because the soon-to-be player characters dissapeared from their eyes!

What the players & the goblins didin't know was that they entered the radius of a magical effect that took place a couple of days earlier in the city of Kingshold. A six year old boy, by the name of Werdyn, while playing with one of his puppets, casted a spell (the boy had dragon blood in his veins, thus he was to become a sorcerer). Werdyn casted animate object to the doll in his hands, a black rider on his white stallion. The thing with this spell was that the boy's house was built upon a wild magic zone area.

So when the boy casted the spell, wild magic was released all round the area, within a two miles radius around the boys house with various effects. First of all, the boy that casted the spell suffered an effect similar to an disintigrate spell, killing it instantly. Second, the doll in his hands came alive, with his boys abilities, desires, needs, memories, knowledge, abilities scores. Also, all other peoples' essensces in the city got transfered into a puppet doll, and vice versa. Last, until this spell is broken, no creature can enter or exit the spell's area of effect.

When the players arrived to Kingshold, they informed everyone that a horde of goblins, just a few miles away, attacked and destroyed their caravan, killing everyone else. But the people of Kingshold, even the town's guards remain dull, unaffected completely of these dire news. Moreover, they seemed to have no connection with their environment. After spending a few hours within the city, talking to its people, they soon-to-be plyaer characters came to realize that everyone in the city is crazy. Everyone?

No, they met a man on top of his white stallion that seemed to respond to them in his own special way. All this man wanted, a middle aged man dressed in a shiny breatplate, carrying a heavy steel shield, a longsword and a lance, was to have fun with them playing childish games like hide-and-seek.

Soon, the players realized that this man was also crazy and avoided to speak to him. The man on the white stallion, obviously displeased with the players' reaction, got the whole town to bring revenge on the players. More than half of Kingshold poppulation was out on the streets searching for them and when that happened they chased the player out of the city in the fields, wanting to put a sword or/and a rake through their chests.

Once again, the players got safed by divine interception. Mother nature, in the form of big adders chased back the players pursuers and when they were saved, the soon-to-be player characters learned that in order to free themselves and the city, they had to stop the man on te white stallion.

After many hours, during the night, the players returned to the city, where they entered the six year old boy's house. There, in the boy's room, they found the remnants of the boy and under a sofa a bag full of puppet dolls mouths, that seemed to have been unknited. After a few minutes, the players arrived in the city's magic shop, where they looked for a puppet with no mouth. AFter knitting the mouth again on it, to their surprise, they doll started to speak to them, informing them that it is the city's magician ( a gnome diviner) and that a fe days ago he sensed an enormous magical aura in the city, right before he became a doll.

When the players brought the gnome doll to the boy's house, the magician informed them of strage magical auras and after tellign him about the man on the stallion, he laughedf out loud, telling them that this man is an old local hero, who died hundreds of years ago. Nowdays, only puppet dolls of him exist in the city. He also told them, that he this puppet-man must be a key ingredient of that strange magical effect, becuase the gnome knew the boy that lived in the house and it always ahd that doll with him.

Things got almost out of hands for the players, when someone spotted them inside the small boys house. Soon, the whole town gaurd with the man on the stallion in charge of them gathered outside the building and soon it became clear to the players, that the time has come to put a stop to this "prank".

They decided that they had to fight, in order to free not only themselves, but everyone on this city. At this point, they attained their first level and became from soon-to-be adventurers to soon-ro-be heroes. The wild magic zone area awoke in some of the PCs their magical powers, innate and not, while other pcs equipped themselves with armor, shields and weapon's from the house's cellar and became first level fighters, paladins, rogues.

Thirty militia guards with the man on the white stallion awaited the PCs in the town's central square. The fight seemed unfair. but the glorious militia leader had the mind of a six year old boy, and soon the PCs destroyed the militia guards, who proved to be walking puppets.

When the man on the white stallion suffered the killing blow, the spell broke and the city came alive. Everyone was free once again and the PCs became Kingshold heroes. But their quest was far from over... (END OF SESSION #1)

 

The Barrow of the Forgotten King (Level 2 - Level 5)

The town of Kingshold quickly recovered from the unfateful accident, when the puppets came alive. The PCs are the city's heroes. They are given a house to live in, jobs in the city guard and a secure future, as long as they stay to town.

The day after Kingshold liberation from the puppet-terror, the city's Mayor Thodor Ladros (human male aristocrat) approached them with the local innkeeper with him and asked the PCs help for a very urgent matter. He told them that some of the city's citizens are missing, after a visit of their to the local graveyards mausoleum. They went there to prepare a recently dead relative of theirs for the burial ceremony. The city's guard Captain Mia Desarna (human female warrior) has sent two of the regular basis guard after the missing citizens, two days ago, right before the puppet terror started.

The problem is that the guards didint come back neither. So, if the PCs accept the mission, which pays 300 gold coins, they are to go to the mausoleum and seek out the missing persons, citizens & guards alike. Also, they are instructed to bring to justice any evil-doers, responsible for these persons misfortune.

After a quick gather information checks (which helped the PCs find out that an old cemetery existed long before the city was built), the PCs left for the cemetary, only to find the two missing guards bodies at the mausoleum's doorstep, ravaged by a group of wolves and its worg leader.

When the PCs entered the mausoleum, they found out evidence that the guards have been killed inside the building and that someone else is also inside the building, disrupting the rest of the dead, stealing all their valuables from them.

After fighting undead guards that these other people left inside, the PCs found the bodies of almost all the other missing people dead and raised as undead guardians of the tomb. All except one, a young girl, who was trapped by the evil doers alive inside a vault. When the PCs freed the young child, it confirmed the presence of tomb-robbers, and in a state of shock left under escort the graveyard towards the town of Kingshold.

When the escorting PCs returned to the mausoleum, the party of heroes advanced deeper into the complex, until they came across a magical trap, through which they gained access to the mausoleum lower levels.

More undead creatures awaited for them and unfortunately a player character died, an elven female sorcerer by the name of Elwing Luinwe, when a zombie ogre smashed her with its fists. (END OF SESSION #2)

After Elwing died and the Zombie Ogre got killed, again, the party camped for the night in that room. In the morning they got reenforced by a female half-orc fighter, who was sent as back-up from the village. They advanced deeper into the mausoleum, fighting vargas monstres and their undead minions. In one point, they arrived in a room, where they engaged in combat a hobgblin wererat, who was hidden in a tomb with a vault -door of renforced steel. During the fight, bobbi entrails, the halfling barbarian, contracted lycanthropy & despite the party members efforts to help him by fixing up a belladona (wolfsbane) paste, bobbi remained infected by the desease. The hobgoblin, seeing no way out, surrendered to the dwarven paladin and in exchange of its freedom told the player characters, how to open the vault door (the hobgoblin missed a clue; a riddle that only good-aligned characters could find and thus could not figure out how to open the vault door). (END OF SESSION #3)

Bobbi, Fidelma & Brigardia returnd to the village in search of a potion that could heal bobbi's lycanthropy desease. The PCs got lucky, because such a potion existed in the local temple of Tymora (the cleric/rogue halfling priest of the temple stated that one such potion happened to "drop" in his hands, during the previous priests's departion to Waterdeep). Bobbi drank the potion and the desease was no more.

When the three members of the party returned to the mausoleeum, they found there Snorttt & Neeshke talking to a human male ranger by the name of Jacob. A hurt wererat attacked the ranger a couple of miles NE of the graveyard. Jacob killed it and followed its tracks to the mausoleum, where he found evidence of battle and destroyed undead creatures. He finally found the paladin and the rogue and they decided to side-up.

When all the pcs were gathered they proceeded deeper into the mausoleum complex. In the next room, they encountered a hobgoblin cleric of Bane and his undead skeletons. In the battle that followed, the pcs killed it and destroyed its undead servants with the cost of Snorttt's ... ear ! During a mighty swing of his warhammer, the dwarf accidentally hit his ear, smashing it beyong repair (-1 charisma loss, repairable with miracle, wish, limited wish only).

After climbing three underground islets in a small lake they came into a magical labyrinth, which had the ability to summon fiendish creatures. The party was fortunate enough to have Jacob in their lead, because the ranger did an extraordinary job to lead the party quickly and correctly through this magical labyrinth.

After another short battle with worm-like creatures in another small like, Brigardira almost drowned but Fidelma saved her, the PCs came into a big room, where into a 30-ft pit, they found hurt & unconsious a half-elven female. They got her out of the pit and treated her wounds. The woman, Leera, told them that her friend Tyrel, got her a job in an expedtion in search of magical items in a forgotten tomb. She did not know where she was getting into.. The party she joined consisted by evil, vicious hobgoblins led by Xeron, a man-like poweful arcanist, a vicious, cruel person & Krootad ,a hobgoblin cleric of Bane.

She also told them that in the next room two of Xeron's hobgoblins died when they got attacked by automations that exited two metal statues. This happened when the goblinoids tried to play" with the statues. She requested to let them go and when the PCs agreed to do so, she gave them a tip of advice. Somewhere deeper in the complex is a waterfall, where a creature guardian of the tomb resides. Leera, managed to become friends with this creature and told the PCs if they vere encouter this thing to tell it that they are her friends...

After kissing each and everyone of them from rescuing her and letting her go, she ran back towards the mausoleum's exit... (END OF SESSION #4)

The heroes continued their quest into the depths of the forgotten;s king mausoleum anf after defeating a couple of varags & their scout leader, they encounter Sigur, an extraplanar creature that lived in a waterfall guarding the pass into the king's resting place. Showing wisdom, the party members parlayed with him and Sigur healed their wounds, and helped them advance deeper into the mausoleum complex. He also awarded him with his masterwork silvered battleaxe, when the PCs killed a large spider that infiltrated and infested a nearby chamber.

Deeper into the complex the PCs went, where they killed a couple of more undead creatures, until they finally came to a place where they fought they found the king's resting place ! Instead, they found a traito, condemed guardian of the kings true tomb ! The battle was furious, and in the process fidelma died and the remaining party members fell all to negative hit points. They were healed by Leera, who appeared after following a strange feeling she had, and all except fidelma of course regained consciousness. After searching the room, they found a secret door that took them to the forgotten king's true tomb !

There they encountered the remaining tomb-robbers; Xeron a Yuan-ti Sorcerer, Jeroog his hobgoblin guardian and a Nagatha. The battle was sort but deadly. Soon, the evil NPCs perished and the tomb was once again clear of enemies.

It was then when the ghost of the forgotten king appeared in fornt of the player characters and thanked them for killing those who have stolen his bones and stealing his weapns. He told them that their work is far from done, since some of them escaped through a hole to the underdark, and that in order for an old prophecy to be fullfiled, his posessions and remains must return to the tomb.

When the player charcters agreed to hunt the escapees tomb robbers, he gave to one of the PCs, Jacob Porcian the ranger, his sword Merthuvial ! An +1 adamantine longsword with unique powers... (END OF SESSION #5).

 

The Sinister Spire(Level 5 - Level 7)

The player characters, with a new member included, decided to follow the Forgotten King's tomb robbers and went after them into the underdark. They arrived to an earth node and soon they found two bodies; one of a halfling & a hobgonlin laying dead on the ground with a note on them stating that they had the king's bones & his followers magical items & weapons. They also learned that the person responsible for their deaths was a woman by the name of Fadheelz.

The went into the earth node and arrived to a vista near the fallen drow city of Pedestal. Fighting their way through the big underdark cave they arrived at the city in search of this woman and her hobgoblin followers. They arrived to a inn, the only safe spot in a city of anarchy, violence & chaos, and came to an agreement with the inn's keeper; an undead creature of significant power to help him in some errands of his, while in return he will find information about the person they are after.

These tasks included killing a matron mother of the local drow house and going to a nearby fungi island and bringing back fungi spores, ideal for antitoxin making.

During the fungi spores acquirring procedure, Jacod Porcian, the party's ranger, got killed and in order to become raised from the dead, the party close a deal with the undead inn-keeper, a thing that caused Snorttt's his downfall from his paladinhood, since the cause is not so noble.

Furthermore, if this was not enough, the player characters "succeeded" in making the local & powerful assassin's guild their hateful enemies, having a death contracts on their heads... Already a first assassination attempt failed, but the party members barely escaped by their lifes... (END OF SESSION #6)

The party attented to see the second task appointed to them by Es Sarch complete. They entered the secret tunnel and arrived at House Dusklorn Matron Mother's torture chamber, where they fight her and killed her along woth one of the drow house's wizard. Before leaving they planted the evidence suggesting that the assassin's guild was responsoble for the act. With all their missions complete they returned to the Dripstone Inn, where they informed the lich of their success,

The undead informed them that Fadheela, possibly a highly ranked member of the Assassin's Guild and a medusa, lives inside the Necromancer's Spike in the ash doom striken paert of Pedestal. He informed them that House Duskorn claimed the area and gave them a powerful token that can grnat them access inside the place, surpressing the destructive magic of the area.

The party members stayed at the Inn during the night, before attending their quest. During the night Bobbi almost got killed by a duergar during a duel, Neeshka and Bri escaped another assassination attempt, while Bibi was sleeping in his bed. When all the other party members were alseep, Jacob approached Es Sarch and requested from his to release his companions from the task he appointed to them when the undead creature raised him from the dead. He declared that he will see to it immidiately instead. Es Sarch agreed and all his companions were fre of the task, meaning that Snorttt has regianed his paladinhood, since yet no crime has been commited.

Jacob, before leaving the Inn requested from the undead one more thing; he gave to him "Merthuvial" and asked to be given to his companions, once they will wake up in the morning.

When Jacob was log gone, a human monk entered the Inn. His eyes fell upon Merthuvial, who was resting upon a table near Es Sarch... (END OF SESSION #7)

The party, with its newest member included, left Es Sarch's inn for the Necromancer Spire; the evil place where Fadheela currently lives. Although warned, twice, that the drows of House Duskloen claim the area, Neeshka went right to the entrance of the spire wearing the cloak of house Dusklorn Matron Mother ! Unaware, of the drow guard hiding in the shadows, near the entrance, she turned her back to him to speak to her colleques.

The drow had the perfect opportunity to strike her from behind. His hit was solid and Neeshka was badly hurt ! Moreover, she became poisoned from the drow and collapsed on his feet ! Despite her teammates' heroic efforts to prevent the obvious, the drow delivered a coup de grace on Neeshka, sending her to the wall of faithless once and for all !

The drow guards, after this, were quickly killed and the party using the magical ring the lich gave them, surpressed the magical trap in the next room and entererd the necromancer spire ! There they explored the ground floor of the Spire and inside a temple of Lolth, they found a human male sorcerer who was trapped in a cocoon inside the temple's web. In order to free him the party had to fight a bone spider golem and a spider swarm. Although hard, the battle was victorious for the pcs and the sorcerer was released from his bonds and soon joined the other characters in their quest to stop Fadheela.

But he never made it far, because in the next room, the sorcerer was killed by a ghoul mimic, when the PCs got attacked by a group of tomb motes & theimic itself..... But the party soon found a new sorcerer, who happened to pass outside the Nexromancer's Spire ! That guy, aways wanted to enter it, but was stopped by the drow mercenaries. Now with them dispatched, he found the golden opportunity to enter the building and explore it. He soon found the party and joined them, determined to assist them in their quest !

But he didint also go very far. On the secomd room of the next floor & while the party members were distracted, the sorcerer decided to enter alone a room, where he faced a flesh golem & two swarms, one claw swarm and one bone swarm. Badly hit on the first round of combat and with one swarm all round him the sorcerer decided to cast a spell on the swarm so he can kill it. In the process he managed to burn himself to death..... Looks like that sorcerers in this group of adventurers do not lastlong.

The rest of the party hearing sounds of combat in the next room, rushed in to join the battle, only to find their newest member still burning and the flesh golem already on them. The battle was fierce and the flesh golem could withstand many hits. Bobbi was killed and the party members decided to retreat backwards, terrified to go on... (END OF SESSION #8)

Once again, the party's newest members,Garuk a half-orc fighter with a peculiar perception of the world around him & Gildmar a human fighter/monk, were introduced to the party and we had love at first sight ! Brigardia and Garuk fell for eachother (DM's Note : Think I am gonna puke....) and a great romance started !

The reenforced party stared once again for the Necromancer's Spire and after a skirmish with the drow guards at the Spire's entrance they fought their way through the Spire's higher level, where they expected to encounter Fadheela the Medussa.

Well, if they knew that they were to fight a Medussa, the players sure kept it a well hidden secret ! They smash the door, went right in and...truned to stone ! Only the gnome illusionist survived the encounter to tell the tale ! One level for Bibi ! Keep your illusions sharp, cause I am coming for ya ! (END OF SESSION #9)

 

The Fortress of Yuan-ti (Level 7 - Level 9)

With the Forgotten King's bones still missing, the players had no other option than to go on ! But ythey had to spilt into two smaller teams. Bibbi had to saty behind, in order to see to that Snorttt, will be brught back to life from stone. The remaining players, that is Garuk, Brigardria, Linkius & Gildmar, decided to go after the missing bones. They activated a portal found inside Fadheela's private chaber and found themselves somewhere in the mountains of the jungle of Chult ! There they tried to enter the Yuan-ti's Castle, Castle Seratis and they managed to do so only after losing to the Yuan-tis Linkius, bearer of Merthuvial.

Linkius was stripped naked and all of his possessions, including the Forgotten King's sword was taken. He was chained inside a trture area, where he was interrogated by the leader of the Yuan-tis and when the interrogation was complete, he was to put to death ! In a futile attempet to escape, Linkius got killed in the way by an undead guarding, while he was at the gate, trying to open it...

In the meantime, his fellow adventurers were trying to sneak into the castle, using a hidden tunnel that the yaun-tis sometimes used to enter/exit their fortress. They were unable to find the entrance, but luck was on their side, a group of yauntis exited the castle using the very same tunnel the PCs were looking for. The battle was bloody & furius and the Pcs prevailed ! (END OF SESSION #10)

Back in Pedestal, Snorttt's pretrification status was canceled and the group of PCs there met another adventurer who was about to leave Pedestal, after completing his personal quest, Akiro Wahikani, a human male samurai from the far east ! The samurai, noble in spirit, heard the PCs doings and decided to lend them a hand. So, together the three adventurers returned to fadheela's personal chamber and entered the portal. They exited to the other side, where Garuk, Bri, Gildmar & Linkius were, just as the last adventurers were finishing off the Yuan-ti raiding party ! They teamed up and entered castle Seratis from the secret tunnel.

They had a almost fatal skirmish with the otyugh that resided in castle Seratis leveil 1 pit and after that they entered the castle's magic cache's chamber, in search of anything that might helped them. What they didint know was that this chamber was magically guarded by an alarm spell, and when they tried to exit it they stummbled upon a yuan-ti patrol led by a naga sorcerer ! Snorttt didint survive the battle and was the party's firct casualty !

After having one melee after the other, badly hit with adility scores' damage, the PCs entered a chamber where a lizrdfolk druid resided and in a rather rude way demended of him to tell them things. Another battle started and Akiro the samurai died in the process.

With two of their party members killed, Brigardria missing (she fell into a pit trap abd dissapeared), & the PCs badly hit, what will the group of brave adventurers do ?

(END OF SESSION #11)

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