Our tale takes place in the ruined city of Neverwinter, a nexus of brave adventurers hoping to forge their destiny within the crumbled and apocalyptic shell of a once grand city.

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Session 4: If a Halfling falls in a dungeon..?

Our adventure starts in the Bawdy Boar, a rough and tumble tavern filled with a motley assortment of patrons including Helg Firebeard– it’s purveyor.  Our adventures noticed that some new faces found their way to the inn. The Bawdy Boar is known for it’s Shield Wall, a wall within the tavern that serves as a message board filled with potential work for would-be adventurers and cryptic messages between said adventurers.

On with the story…

Today’s cast of Neverwinter protagonists include…

  • Kaiser Hemlocke (Mike M): human | ranger2
  • Baron Silas Hightower (John): half-orc | fighter3
  • Maxtillar Highhelm (Garret): human? | cartographer0
  • Hildegarde Stonewall (Sharon): dwarven | rogue3
  • Warwick Dinklage (Brian): halfling | cleric1 (“companion” Manly Littleknight)
  • Hoss Hogart (Chris): human | goatherder0
  • Lilac Buttercup Nettle (Michelle): half-orc | tinker0
  • Malek (Travis): human | shepard0
  • Altooooooooonnnnnn “Longfall” (John): halfling | temple acolyte0
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Creepy old wizard looking for an “Orb of Destruction”…  Sounds totally legit to me!


The story begins with a group of of eight individuals who seek a life of adventure and treasure.  Some were born of nobility, others led a more simple life- but the Bawdy Boar has an uncanny way to bend and weave the fate of it’s patrons.  It’s serendipitous nature can bring noble, soldier, and peasant together alike.  And here is where our fateful adventurers meet- unified under a shared interest of righteous glory, our heroes scan the now infamous Shield Wall for a a mission suitable of their expectations.

The Shield Wall has had one mission posted for weeks.  The pay was great- at a combined 2500gp upon completion.  But with great pay- comes great responsibility.

Our would-be heroes decide to take this mission making enemies along the way.  Lilac, our half-orc tinker companion looking to make a name for herself, quickly gets into an altercation with a couple of the Bawdy Boar inhabitants.  The altercation starts with words and quickly escalates with wicked man named Hade, feeling the backside of Lilac’s hand.  “Stop!” yells Helg Firebeard, grabbing his flaming great-axe from the wall above the hearth.  “No fighting in my establishment!” Helg proclaims.  The now bloody Hade (a large and ugly man with twin scimitars), quickly retreats from the Tavern and promised our half-orc heroine with an unusually light-hearted namesake.  A shifty looking wizard named Cassier joins him.

Felbrost O’ the Caustic Spittle, is an old mage of questionable scruples- but he did offer good pay.  So we accept his mission to retrieve a floating black orb of destruction from Cloak Tower.  

felbrost

Felbrost pays us 500gp up front and promises another 2k upon mission completion.  He also gives us an amulet that allows us to control the orb remotely (touching the orb would lead to death or worse).  We also make a point to buy some potions and provisions for our journey.  Upon leaving, Felbrost informs us that we must take steps in a certain order.  Spider > Arrowhead > Snake > Eye.  Maxtillar scribes this in his notepad and we set off.  We also enlist our old friend Jerrot, thinking his paladin skills may help.  To be honest, Hemlocke wanted him there for his impeccable comedic timing- in an “Archie Bunker” kind of way.

We leave the safety of Protector’s Enclave and make our way to Cloak Tower rather uneventful.

Competition

We enter Cloak Tower through the front gate.  Inside the wreckage of a once great wizard tower, is a grand room with large pillars with multiple portals leading different ways but we were looking for steps with runes of a spider, arrowhead, snake, and eye.  We find these steps but here a slight commotion in the distance.  The commotion is Nog the Torchbearer, an orcish porter, who is not excited about being there and does not love his ladle.  Lilac, feels an Orcish kinship with “Not Nog” and they bond.

Our adventures also find a note from another adventuring party who also seeks the “Black Orb of Destruction”.  Apparently this orb was a powerful and well sought item.

 

“One step, two step, three step, four”

We walk the steps, with mettle-tested Hildegrade leading the way.  Upon reaching the final step- she vanishes.  Totally seems legit.  Hero Hopefull Hoss Hogart, follows with his trusty goat in tow along with the rest of the adventurers.

We are teleported into a room with prismatic glowing tiles that lead to a bare wall.  We also notice that we are flanked by 2 statues.  The left statue is a trifecta of individuals with arms stretched out in a welcoming or receiving manner.  The right side is a little more sinister- an old wizard with a recently killed dwarf at his feet. We investigate the left statues first and find 3 potions and a ring.  Alton, our curious halfing investigates the right statue which awakens and proceeds to try and choke him.  With the party looking on, a couple companions free out pint-sized hero from the statue’s stoney grasp.  We eventually proceed forward into another room that has 3 doors leading separate ways (North, East, and West).  The West wall had “Path of Strength” scrawled onto in an old, antiquated language.  North was “Path of  Wits” and East was “Path of  Obstacles” – we went Strength.

We step into the room and are met with a strong gust of wind with enough power to extinguish any torch or flame.  Luckily our Halfling Cleric, Warwick Dinklage, was smart enough to cast a light cantrip on a device before we entered the room.  I think Manly Littleknight is a “lights on” kind of dwarf.  After entering the room we are quickly met by floating, and disembodied, skeletal arms waving deteriorated blades.  After a couple strikes (one was unfortunately placed on Warwick’s head via critical miss), we learn that the arms are quickly defeated with bludgeoning weapons.

 

What season comes after summer?

We proceed to the next room and are again met by mettle-testing puzzle.  The room had a steep ramp that followed two walls leading to a single exit about 40 feet up.  The most notable feature was a suspended manticore, trapped in a bubble, blocking the entrance.  The opposite wall had a craggy cliff face that went up about 40 feet.  Hoss, an experienced climber from herding his goats, and Alton decide to climb the broken cliff.  The reach the top and Hoss discovers a scroll.  They begin to climb down and hit a lose stone.  Hoss crashes but survives.  Alton, the halfling falls the nearly-full height <insert Vilhelm Scream> to his unfortunate death.

The party, not one to cry over spilled halfling, decide to avoid the manitcore by throwing a rope up the ramp’s steep face by way of grappling hook.  We all Nearly all make it up and through the door into the next room.  This room is a long hallway with a giant floating mass in the center.  Switching to stealth mode, we all make it through  to the next door.  Although Jerrot, in full plate,  nearly woke the collection of floating beasties.

 

The other party…

We proceed through another short hallway and cautiously open the exit door, to be met with hushed arguing from another group of adventurers.  Enter the Company of the Unicorn Glorioan’s Glorious Heroes.  After a short Mexican Stand Off, we warily sheath our weapons and continue down separate paths.  This room again splits into three ways.  Again they are the paths of Strength, Obstacles, and Wit.  An eerie disembodied voice warns us that we may not take the same path twice.  We take Obstacles and the rival party takes Strength.  We also find Baron Silas Hightower lurking in the depths of Cloak Tower.

The next room was a bit of a challenge…  It slices.  It dices.  And it has a huge Indiana Jones boulder ready to roll and crush unsuspecting adventurers.   The middle of the room had two giant blades that perpetually swept back and forth in a pendulum motion.  There was about 2 feet of space between these heavy and deadly swinging blades, with a wooden coffer nestled in between.  Hemlocke decides to try it first, he succeeds and finds a pair of bracers in the wooden chest.  The rest of the party follows through with a couple adventurers  losing some skin off their backside.  We also bypass the giant round boulder by again climbing a ramp to the exit.

The next room had a series of pillars over an apparently deathly fall into mist, spikes, and an unknown creature that caught a few eyes.  Basically like in The Golden Child.  Hildegarde, the most nimble of our crew, is chosen to attempt the task of jumping from pillar top to pillar top.  She narrowly makes it with the sound of gold coins flipping all along the way. 🙂

 

The next room had a puzzle that required us, again, to place a puzzle consisting of multiple stone disc levels in a consistent order of Spider > Arrowhead > Snake > Eye.  Upon figuring this riddle, the exit door unlatches.  We progress to the next room and are again met the other party of adventurers.  We again draw blades and nearly fight.  Malek, the shepherd nearly beds two of the females from the other party.

While the arguing and blade drawing nearly escalates into a full blown party versus party battle.  Malek (or maybe Maxtillar) investigates the room and finds a treasure chest.  Low and behold, the chest is actually a mimic.  The parties unite and blast the mimic to the hells.  The mimic was actually concealing a hidden trap door.  We press down and forward.

 

“Jackpot!”

The next room reveals glints with treasure.  There was a dais with a long dead knight holding a great sword.  Other weapons and goodies could be found throughout the pile.  We also find the Orb of Destruction and a magical, glowing portal out of these dungeons.  We quickly take control of the orb, load our bags (and Nog) with treasure and magical items.  Then we exit through the gift shop and out the portal.

treasure

Out of the frying pan…

We flash into a courtyard outside the tower and quickly discover that we are smack dab in the middle of a fight between Old Man Felbrost o’ the Caustic Spittle and two other familiar faces.  Hade (with a now bandaged nose from Lilac’s slap) and his cohort- a wizard named Cassier.

All hell breaks loose and we quickly take out Hade and Cassier (and their crew of about a dozen bandits/mercenaries).  Felbrost takes out our rival party and we nearly attack in retaliation thanks to Lilac’s new found berserker rage (thanks to a magic potion).  We calm the scenario and Felbrost pays us our coin.  We leave the area and safely return to the sanctuary of Protector’s Enclave.

Great job adventurers!

Treasure procured

  • Sword of Hope
  • An evil shortsword that can call undead
  • Great Chaos Blade of Havoc
  • Mace of Darkness
  • Ring of Fire resistance
  • Bracers of Missile Resistance?
  • Magic Studded Leather
  • Thieve’s jerkin
  • Horn of Blasting
  • Crossbow Bolts of the Stirge
  • Scroll of Melf’s Acid Arrow
  • Scroll of Lightning
  • 458gp each

Vanquished Foes

  • 5 floating skeletal arms with blades
  • Cassier
  • Hade
  • A small force of bandits

(red text indicates a need for more description- help me out- thanks & mea culpa.  Also note that I take some lingual liberties & embellish a bit to fit my character’s version of the story )