Chat Summary for 21 April, 2000

A rather interesting chat session last night. There will be three sections to this post. The first will be the chat summary. The second will be a continuation of the situation beyond where we left off last night. The third will be an OOC commentary on some of the events which occurred.

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Once again the party was split into two groups - the Sane/Nikki/Katrina troika, and those back fighting the shadows.

With the troika, Katrina used her ring to revive Sane. The kenku started for the behir lair, relying on his invisibility to keep him safe. Katrina then went to stand near Nikki, who had walked to the cavern mouth and was using Reckless Dweomer spells to try and clear the fog. While she did eventually manage to clear the fog out of the outer cavern (the one with the water, crystals, and shifting light) she also managed to do some very strange things to the fog itself. (More on the fog in the follow-on post.)

Deeper in the cavern Thengal, Castinar, Xaveus, and K’harn battled the shadows. Thengal and K’harn were both hit once, while Xaveus took three hits. Castinar was hit... by Thengal, not by a shadow. It took the four warriors six rounds to finish the shadows off, but they finally did it. This happened about the time Nikki cleared the fog out of the outer area.

The party then pulled back into the behir cavern. They set up the house and moved the badly injured (Sane and Matar) in there to rest. After about an hour or so the memory and skill loss dissipated. The plan was to hold up in the house for about two days - long enough for Sane and Matar to completely heal up, for Nikki and Sane to turn most everybody invisible and have stoneskins on them, and for all spell casters to be fully up on their spell loads.

However, events outside of the area would change the plans. Diana had moved quickly down the tunnels while ethereal. Near the end of the Oil’s magic she found a small cavern that she curled up in and rested. When she awoke she memorized her spells and then cast Town Portal to return home.

Once back at the Truth Seeker’s Retreat she sounded the alarm and started gathering a force for a rescue mission. Mogo convinced her to wait a couple hours while he went into town and tried to get some of the local big guns to come help. He was fortunate in that he was able to convince both Angus and Valdaeron to come along with him. (OOC: For you lurkers, Angus is a very skilled but retired dwarven fighter, Valdaeron is the local Mage Guildmaster who is also considered one of the world’s experts on the drow and the Underdark.)

Four hours after Diana’s return the rescue party returned. It was made up of Diana, Valdaeron, Angus, Tharg, Mogo, Maxim, and six Underdark-trained soldiers from TSR. They returned to Diana’s portal and then marched quickly towards the dragon lair. As they moved forward they searched for any sign of survivors, and became quite worried when they found none.

They were very relieved when they entered the behir lair and found the party’s house set up. They approached the house and identified themselves. Everybody was surprised and pleased to find that the party was still whole, with no losses. This happened at about the 16 hour mark, so Sane and Matar were still sleeping (although with events quickly unfolding after the initial meeting Sane was awoken).

As the party told Diana the story of what happened, Valdaeron looked distracted. He began to subtly cast spells and then look around. He then cast a spell which managed to entrap something in a ball of crystal (or what looked like a ball of crystal). Val brought it over to the party and it was revealed to be a quasit. Val theorized that the quasit was the dragon’s familiar, a theory which proved to be true.

At first several party members, especially Katrina, wanted to kill the thing. Val suggested that they could talk to the dragon through it. After some disagreement they finally started talking to the quasit. They breathed out many threats against the dragon. However, the dragon (through the quasit) focused his attention on Valdaeron. He claimed to know Valdaeron’s "secret", calling him a bright shadow. Val became visibly agitated about this.

The dragon then offered a deal. He would leave all his treasure behind if the party agreed to let him leave. After negotiations it was finally agreed on that the dragon would be sent back to the Demiplane of Shadow by Valdaeron, but that he would also give his truename to Valdaeron as insurance that he would not return. Negotiations almost fell apart over whether just Valdaeron or the whole party would know the dragon’s truename, but Sane and Valdaeron sorted things out.

Once things were finally agreed on Valdaeron released the quasit. He and Diana then walked into the dragon’s lair to begin preparations for sending the dragon to the plane of Shadow.

Ah, but things were not at an end yet. After another half a day or so a new group approached the party’s house. They identified themselves and asked to speak with Castinar. There were four of them, Yorvan, a human paladin of Tyr and the leader of the group; Seenal, a human female mage; Gordast, a half-elven cleric of Meilikki; and Freean, an elven fighter/mage. By their confident attitude and the quality and quantity of their gear the party got the impression these were individuals to be reckoned with.

The newcomers began speaking earnestly with Castinar, trying to persuade him not to continue searching for the mysterious elves. The way the newcomers spoke of the elves confused the party for a while. They spoke of them as being drow and as being very dangerous. Once everybody figured out what was going on Castinar told them he wasn’t about to give up on his quest, which he believed has been given to him by his Goddess.

When the newcomers began to press harder Valdaeron made an entrance. There was obviously bad blood between Valdaeron and the newcomers’ leader, but the elf with the group greeted Val warmly. Val didn’t look too happy about the elf being with the others. He searched the elf’s clothing and found a small silver pin. The newcomers were Harpers.

Once Valdaeron figured out what was going on (remember, he had counseled Castinar about the prophecy and the mysterious elves at one time) he and Angus squared off with the Harpers, telling them they would not be able to force their will on the party. The standoff quickly grew very tense, making the party more than a little nervous. Some time during this Jondon appeared and hid among the party members.

As the situation escalated Valdaeron threatened the Harpers, telling them then knew full well who would show up if spells started to fly. The Harpers had already done name-dropping of their own, claiming to have been sent by Elminster to stop Castinar. For a moment it looked like Yorvan was about to call Valdaeron’s bluff (if it was a bluff), but then the female mage noticed Jondon and pointed him out to Yorvan. Jondon seemed quite eager to fight Yorvan - there was obviously a history between those two as well.

The Harpers finally gave in and left. Valdaeron talked Freean into staying and helping with the gate.

That’s where we stopped. I probably would have continued the scene with the Harpers and the party a little longer had Galen been there to play Castinar (since the whole scene pivoted around him). Oh well. I’m sure he’s having too much fun at the Air Force Propaganda and Brainwashing Center. <G>

The party ends up staying camped in the behir lair for four days. It takes two days for Valdaeron, Freean, and Diana to finish the gate and send the dragon on its way. Entering the inner chamber of the dragon’s lair ends up taking more time as well due to the strange nature of the fog. Then it takes almost a full day to sort the treasure, load it into the house, and identify what items the party can.

Perhaps the strangest thing about this whole encounter is the appearance and strange nature of the fog, which is now only in the inner chamber. The fog was created and then highly modified by wild magic - surges from Nikki’s Reckless Dweomer spells. Somehow the fog has become sentient, and is able to speak. It is able to form pseudopods of "solid" fog, which it can use to manipulate objects. It also has the very strange ability to heal wounds, and even just being within the fog heals wounds at a slow rate.

The party finds out about the strange nature of the fog when Valdaeron and Diana return from their initial trip to the caverns. Valdaeron is rather intrigued by it. The thing that really has him interested is he recognizes the voice of the fog! He gives the party a quick background into what he suspects happened.

OOC: Most of the events he speaks about occurred during the "Time of Troubles", where the Gods were cast down to Faeurn and made mortal (although still powerful). Several Gods died. In the official Forgotten Realms history they were replaced by two mortals - Cyric and Midnight. In my game they were replaced by Ares, Set, and Isis. These events were documented in one of the Trilogies released by TSR (one of the worst as far as quality of writing goes, IMHO).

BIC: "You are all familiar with the Time of Troubles" Valdaeron beings. "The Gods came down to Toril and walked among us. Magic became unpredictable and wild. The world changed.

One of the key events during that period was the death of the Goddess of Magic, Mystra. She was slain by Helm when she tried to ascend back to the heavens without permission. As many of you know, the mortal Mystra had chosen to groom as her successor proved unequal to the task and was slain. Isis was then appointed to be the new Goddess of Magic.

What you probably don’t know is that it is very difficult to slay a God. While Mystra’s physical body and what we would call her personality or intellect was destroyed, her vital force returned to the magical weave that surrounds this planet and allows us to work magic. I have heard of several other manifestations of the old Mystra since then, mostly as a free-willed magic elemental.

From what I understand, the fog in those caverns was created and then modified by wild magic. As Nikki may have told you, a wild magic surge results when the conduit opened by a mage to the magical weave spasms while open. The results are often very unpredictable. We’ll hold off on making any judgements about the wisdom of purposefully doing that for the time being.

The important thing is a tiny bit of the raw magical weave is used to power a surging spell. So, what I believe has happened is when Nikki was creating those purposeful surges she somehow pulled a tiny bit of Mystra’s essence into the cloud, giving it "life", if you will. Now, that is not to say that the cloud in there is the old Goddess of Magic. That would be like saying a cup of salt water is the Sea of Fallen Stars. Still, that may explain where the intelligence, the ability to manipulate objects, and the connection with the Positive Material Plane come into play."

Seeing the light in both Diana’s and Ariessus’s eyes Valdaeron continues. "Before you get too excited I must recommend you proceed with caution. The intelligence in there is like a young child - but a very powerful child! I’m sure you’ve all seen children throw fits. I would hate to be inside that cloud when it throws a temper tantrum. If I’m right, it could start throwing bolts of pure energy around inside there. I can’t help but wonder if Fandruasch may have come to the same conclusion, which is one of the reasons he was willing to leave his lair.

So, while I believe you do have something special in there - and I would be very interested in studying this place if you choose not to lay claim to it - be cautious with your explorations and discoveries."

Even with Valdaeron’s warnings, both Ari and Diana are eager to go converse with the cloud. They both do so. Although the child-like intelligence does grow angry on several occasions, the two manage to keep it from lashing out at them. The real delicate part is convincing it to let them take the treasure out. This takes the better part of a day - some of which is spent convincing Nikki not to try and dispel the whole thing.

But in the end the treasure is brought out of the inner cavern and into the outer cavern. There the party sorts and starts counting it. They count (well, weigh) the coins from the behir lair as well. What follows is a complete listing of all items found in the two caverns:

Behir Lair:

Magical Items (unidentified unless stated otherwise)

Plate mail

Shield

+1 Flametongue Bastard Sword

Elven Chain +2

Long Sword

Wand (partial ID)

Helm (partial ID - clear visor)

Potion

Blasted Spellbook

Loot:

4,400 CP

5,800 SP

3,200 EP

6,200 GP

1,800 PP

three 2.5 pound bars of mithril (worth 2,500 gp each)

9,000 GP worth of gems and minor jewelry (none over 1,000 gp)

Dragon Lair

Magical Items (Nikki has had a shot at these, she can fill you in)

Dwarf-sized plate mail

Gnome-sized leather armor

Shield

Mace

Bracers

Amulet

Robe

rope

Scroll

Mithril Holy Symbol of Coreleon

Loot:

32,000 CP

33,500 SP

41,000 EP

35,400 GP

8,500 PP

120 MP

5,000 gp star sapphire

5,000 gp emerald

20,000 in gems and jewelry

BTW, just in case you are interested in the cold, hard cash total, that’s about 34,000 gp worth of loot from the behir lair, and a whopping 144,000 gp worth of stuff from the dragon’s lair. (See, I told you not to worry about money.)

Note that all of this information has been updated on the web page under the Treasury section.

Also during this time Kat and others spent time searching the caverns in detail. They didn’t find anything else of interest. There still is a behir body. Anybody want to do anything with it?

That’s where we stand now. It has been four days since the initial battle with the dragon. The dragon is gone. The treasure is gathered. Diana will have ferried everybody not in the party home after the dragon is gone. Spell casters are full up on their spells (let me know if you change anything).

Oh, one other very important thing I haven’t mentioned yet... there is a tunnel leading out of the dragon’s lair further south.

So, what do you do now? Start the conversation in e-mail.

Saif

From some of the OOC comments during the chat session last night I got the impression some people thought things had turned out just a little too pat, or that a solution was being forced down the party’s throat. To be truthful had I been a PC in this situation I might have thought the same thing. So I wanted to explain to you guys a little of what went on "behind the scenes" (i.e., in my head) last night.

The Dragon:

First of all, several weeks ago I was fairly sure most of the party was about to die. I then made the mistake of letting the dragon "play with its food", and you guys ended up surprising me by coming back. When things were looking very dark for the party I was trying to come up with ways that most of the party could survive the encounter. There were a couple of things I had planned for individual players, but the "rescue most of the party" safety net I had was that the Harpers were coming to stop Castinar. So the fact that there would be a scene with Harpers was set up weeks ago. More on the Harpers later.

The thing I spent the most time thinking about last night was what the dragon was going to do. His plans changed several times as the session progressed and new situations arose.

When the party broke off, the dragon and one (1, uno, slap-him-in-the-face-he-dies) hit point left. I had expected the party to go hunt him down as soon as their levels came back, but they didn’t. The dragon therefore expected it as well. His plan when fleeing was to take as much of his treasure as he could and leave. He could have healed himself up 2d8 HPs before the party would have got to him, but a couple of Kat’s arrows and it would have been over.

But the party didn’t come for him. He knew this because the quasit was invisibly spying on the party and knew that the party was planning on resting up for several days. This meant that the dragon could conceivably heal up 12d8 hps - enough to make him dangerous again. This made him strongly consider staying to defend his lair. He realized that the party would be prepared for him this time, but he still had several spells the party hadn’t seen - a few of which (like Confusion) could have severely hampered the party’s second attack. And there was the pride issue. No group of puny humanoids was going to drive the great Fandruasch from his lair!

Then there was the issue of the fog. While the dragon liked the foggy effect, he most definitely did not like the pink fog that was always trying to talk with him. Staying in this lair, even if he was victorious, became questionable (something which weighed in heavily on his eventual decision to leave). But there was an up side to the fog - anybody inside the fog heals at the rate of one hit point per hour. Between the 12d8 cure spells and 48 hit points from the fog the dragon would have been up to full power by the time the party came back for him. At that point in time I was anticipating another fight.

Things changed drastically when Diana went back to town. I suspected she would do this, although I also thought there was a good chance the party would find her or she would run into the Harpers. Instead she headed home, where she chose to wait long enough to have one of the "big guns" from Jurgenville come on the rescue team. She was lucky and ended up getting two. She was then very lucky when one of them ended up being Valdaeron. (Note all of those possibilities were rolled.)

I’ll talk more about Valdaeron below, but you should have the impression by now that he is probably the main player in Jurgenville - the most powerful of the local figures and also widely known around the Realms. Valdaeron is a character I played myself for many years as a Fighter/Thief. Even back then his history included being kidnapped by and enslaved by the drow - thus leading to a great hatred for that race.

Once the rescue party was on the scene the dragon (again observing things through the quasit) had to make a decision again. I felt the thing it would probably do would be to flee, taking most its treasure along with it again. It probably would have made it past the party, although the Harpers may have taken it down further down the tunnels.

I now had two problems to solve. First, I didn’t want to take most of the rewards for a very difficult fight away from the party - both monetary, magical, and XP-wise. Second, how to avoid having Valdaeron and Angus "take over’, minimizing the party’s participation in the second attack, something which would have had the same result - less magic, money, and XP for the party.

My solution was to have the dragon recognize Valdaeron (which would have frightened him enough that he would not have wanted to fight), but also that he had some leverage over Valdaeron in that he knew Valdaeron’s "secret". This way Valdaeron himself was eager for a non-violent resolution to the situation, something which would preserve his secret.

So Val caught the quasit and shortly after that negotiations were opened. The party had made several major mistakes - from being caught with their collective pants around their knees at the beginning of the battle to not chasing the dragon down and killing it when they had the chance. (Yes, I know, you didn’t know it only had one HP.) So I didn’t feel bad about taking some of their XP award from them. But on the flip side, they had fought a great, epic battle and deserved to get something out of it. So I prodded the negotiations to a solution I thought would strike a nice balance.

Valdaeron:

As I mentioned above, Valdaeron has been a long-time character of mine. I have changed him quite a bit with his new role as Mage Guildmaster, and given him corresponding powers and skills. I thought his existing background meshed in well with the module and its setting, so I fleshed him out with the Underdark theme in mind (most of which the party has yet to discover). This made him one of if not the key NPC in the game. So when Diana rolled to have him accompany her I had some juggling to do.

Some of you may have thought he sensed, found, and trapped the quasit a little too easily. Realize that Valdaeron has a lot of protective magics on him at all times. He is quite paranoid. (Then again, if you are paranoid, but lots of people really are trying to kill you, does that mean you’re still paranoid?) One of the items he has would have let him sense that he was being watched. A few detect spells would have let him zero in on the quasit. You know how it went from there.

I didn’t have time to describe Val and Angus much during the chat session, so here is a full description of them all arrayed in their battle gear.

The most noticeable thing about Valdaeron is his cloak. It is like looking into the night sky. The stars even twinkle. There are several brighter stars that seem to drift around on the "surface" of the cloak. Diana later tells you that at one point Valdaeron "detached" one of these brighter stars and threw it up on a wall, where it illuminated a large area. He later climbed up the wall (see slippers below), pulled it out, and stuck it back on his cloak.

Val was armed with a sword and long bow. Nikki would have recognized both as being of Myth Drannor manufacture. He also carried a staff which those with magic-sight sensed as being very powerful. He has several rings, a set of bracers, three wands, and a set of slippers like Katrina’s. His familiar is a fire lizard named Starwing.

Angus wears a suit of dwarven plate mail which bears the crest of the ancient dwarven kingdom that once flourished under Dragonspeak. His weapon was familiar to the party after their experience with Garrah as a Rod of Lordly Might. However, this one was apparently fully functional. He had a heavy crossbow across his back and a quiver full of bolts with blunt heads coated in wax. He wears a large belt and a pair of boots which don’t match anything else he wears. All in all he didn’t look a thing like the old innkeeper you guys know from town.

The Harpers:

For those of you familiar with the Forgotten Realms you already know of the Harpers, Elminster, and Aulandro. If you aren’t - well, I was going to type a summary here, but that would take a while. Suffice it to say the Harpers are a loose group of good people who tend to go interfering a lot in other people’s business for what they perceive to be good reasons. They are the traditional foes of the Zhentarium. I believe the Harpers were the way the creators of the Forgotten Realms gave their original players missions and cohesion.

My intention to bring the Harpers into the story goes back several months, when one of the PCs happened to talk to a Harper agent about Castinar and the prophecy around him. The Harpers disagree with Valdaeron’s and Jasnovani’s interpretation of the prophecy, something I believe I’ve mentioned before. The Harpers would have found out that the party was hot on the mysterious elves’ trail and would have sent somebody to try and stop them.

I figured the meeting with the Harpers would have been a rather interesting one. They are powerful NPCs, and could have possible forced their will on the party. While this isn’t normally the Harper way, the paladin leader was capable of such an act if he believed it was in the "greater good" - and if the party managed to tick him off or offend his honor. I figured the party would have to do some fancy talking to get out of the situation and somehow continue with the quest.

That all changed when Diana brought Valdaeron down with her. In my version of the Realms my own power group (the Neworions) have always had problems with the Harpers. There is quite a bit of tension between the two groups. Valdaeron, being quite high in the ranks of the Neworions, would have been very familiar with the Harpers. Due to his background (more things the party hasn’t found out about him yet <g>) he is personally bitter towards the Harpers and some of their policies. The thing that made is presence interesting was he had the power to stand up to Yorvan and the others who came with him - probably.

One other thing about that scene was Jondon’s appearance. Nobody saw him come. You have no idea how he got into the middle of your group without anybody noticing it (something which would disturb several of you). Ari was the first to find him, and she had to physically bump into him before she realized he wasn’t somebody he knew. Why he came is unknown to the party, but there is a reason for that as well. (Ah, so many hidden secrets. <g>)

I must admit, while a lot of the events last night were unexpected, they did let me drop a few more clues on things for the party to follow up on when back in town.

If you have any questions or comments about all this please feel free to let me know about them.

Saif