Session 73 - Alwaith Pisses Off Another NPC

Wed 30th Aug 2023

In-game timeline: UNKNOWN (4th day in the Shadowfell)

Our "Heroes" have obtained the second pebble, and have placed it on the idol. Only one remains missing, and they are pretty sure that is currently on the chess board in the playroom. After some planning, the party head back to the playroom, using the detailed maps produced by Faith and Sanada.

They enter the playroom to see it in the exact same fashion as when they first encountered it. Toys still scattered on the floor, none of which are of unusual size, or seem to have murderous tendencies…yet.

Following their plan, they line up at the edge of the chess board and plan to all step on at the same time. Alwaith is the quickest and steps on fractionally before the others.

Immediately the walls of force spring up around the board and the others find they are unable to step on the board. Alwaith finds himself transformed into a white queen chess piece, and a black queen chess piece appears on the opposite side of the board. At the same time, not unexpectedly, four of the toys lying on the floor seem to enlarge in size and rise up, approaching the remaining three party members.

As Alwaith battles on the chess board, trying to both head towards the pebble, and to avoid being 'taken' by the opposing queen, the others prepare to fight the menacing toys. Solveig is swiped by a sharp claw that emerges from the padded paw of a teddy bear named Cuddles. Sergeant Ironhelm, a large, tin soldier, fires some heavy ballbearings from the end of his drumstick, but instead of hitting Solveig, his intended target, he manages to critically miss and hit Cuddles instead.

Isabella, the scary doll, moves towards our "heroes" and starts to sing a haunting melody. Only Solveig can hear the song properly, and he manages to withstand its effects. Solveig backs away and conjures up four apes to take on the toys, and then he turns invisible for a while. This allows Giggles, the clown, to see Sanada and he attacks the monk with a Mind Sliver spell attack.

After the apes take swipes at the clown and the teddy, Faith, somewhat trapped behind an invisible Solveig and a crouching Sanada, casts Moonbeam to cover a number of the toys. Isabella continues her haunting song, which seems to affect a couple of the apes. Solveig decides to turn into a large bear, just for the hell of it.

After Mike educates the DM as to the correct rules, Giggles fires a Psychic Lance at Solveig, and despite the druid/bear managing to save against receiving full damage, he fails to maintain concentration and his conjured apes disappear.

At this point Sanada pulls her master stroke out of the bag and casts Silence in the corner of the room, preventing Isbella's song from affecting anyone, and also preventing Giggles from utilising his most powerful spells. Faith sets up a healing aura and Solveig, still in bear form, takes the brunt of drumstick poke attacks from Sergeant Ironhelm.

Alwaith meanwhile decides to stop running away from the black queen piece and go on the attack. He manages to shove the black queen out of her spot, causing some damage to the queen and stealing her space on the board, getting a little closer to the pebble.

Giggles, limited in what he can do by a carefully placed Silence spell, manages to Spike Solveig's mind with psychic damage, forcing the druid to exit from his Wild Shape and return to being a Firbolg. Sanada pops up and stuns Sergeant Ironhelm before popping back down again.

Back on the chess board, Alwaith is pushed back by the black queen, setting back his plans to reach the pebble. He responds by getting closer to the pebble, but is still not able to step on it.

Cuddles the teddy pulls the stunned tin soldier out of the way and steps up to Solveig, but is unable to attack. Solveig responds by turning back into a bear and using his sharp claws to rip open the teddy bear's stomach into two halves and the teddy collapses to the floor amongst a pile of stuffing. Solveig follows it up with a bite on Isabella.

Sanada, perhaps unwisely, decides to step into the Moonbeam, taking damage, but then uses her kusarigama weapon to slash into the doll, causing significant damage.

Alwaith finally manages to get onto the pebble's space by shoving the black queen far away from her spot. Whilst Alwaith is able to gather the stone, the black queen is stuck by a mysterious bolt of lightning, taking significant damage.

Isabella, finally able to use her vicious knives, slashes at Solveig in bear form. He responds in kind and manages to pull the doll's arms out of their sockets as Isabella collapses at Solveig's feet.

Meanwhile Alwaith finally reaches the edge of the chess board and is able to step off the board and reappears as Alwaith, holding the pebble in his hand. The black queen also disappears, and the magical walls of force shimmer away to nothing. Seeing that Alwaith has the stone, the rest of the party make swift exits out of the room before the toys could do any more significant damage to them. They manage to reconvene back in the Great Hall.

Alwaith decides to speak to Dracomere Graysing before placing the last stone. In a show of extreme non-altruism, the warlock decides to bargain with the human before freeing him. He also outright accuses Lord Graysing of placing his family and friends in danger by having magical and mysterious items in his house that he does not understand (Alwaith makes no mention of the dangerous, mysterious and magical soul-stealing Necromical that he has carried in his backpack whilst wandering around cities such as Neverwinter and Evernight. One rule for one…). Lord Graysing looks to the others for some level of support for his predicament, but they let Alwaith continue with his berating of Graysing. Eventually, at the request of the rest of the party, Alwaith, whilst still being highly critical of Graysing, returns to the idol to place the last stone.

As the final stone is placed on the idol, the magical aura that seemed to be upon the manor house and its surroundings seems to lift and the place returns to normality. Or as normal as anywhere in the Shadowfell can become. Suddenly, behind the idol appears a large creature - of the same form as the idol itself but much larger, and living! It regards the group standing before it and addresses them - telling them that the idol should be returned to its rightful owners before a month has passed. The creature then disappears.

As our "Heroes" digest this information, they see the return from various parts of the house of Lord and Lady Graysing and their two children, as well as Poppy from the kitchens and the two emissaries from the Portal Guild who come in from outside.

Lord Graysing takes them all to his study to discuss the information they are looking for. When they ask about Agratheron, Lord Graysing has no idea, but Olivia, his wife, mentions that there is talk that Countess Allani has very recently "obtained" a new creature for her menagerie, and perhaps this may be the Silver Dragon they are looking for? Lord and Lady Grayson very generously offer the group their invites to the upcoming masquerade ball to be held at the Allani mansion, Moonshadow Mansion, in case the group want to take their places at the party. This offer is at massive risk to the Graysing's reputation - a fact that at least some of our "heroes" seem to recognise!

When asked, more privately, about information on the Cult of Malar and the existence of a Vessel, Graysing leaves the room to find some papers. He returns soon after and offers, for free, the information he has, in the form of a letter, to Alwaith, who responds with another judgmental comment, so Graysing offers the pouch of money that he also brought with him to Sanada. It is obvious that Graysing's generosity has been curtailed by Alwaith's attitude, though Solveig does try to smooth the waters a little, and is rewarded by another, smaller, pouch of gold, though no further 'rewards' are offered.

As Alwaith reads through the letter with growing concern, Graysing takes Faith on a tour of the items in his collection, speaking enthusiastically about each in turn.

Wanting to waste no further time, our "Heroes" are keen to return to the Portal Guild. Graysing offers the use of his carriage to take them, and the other two emissaries, as well as Poppy and her father, back into the centre of Evernight, as well as to have their own carriage repaired and returned to them. The party bid their farewells to the Graysings, Alwaith continuing to scowl.

On the journey back to the Portal Guild, Ethelred and Master Calzu, the emissaries, explain more about their time over the last few days. It seems that they were also trapped in the same way as the party, but they started in the stables, and the loop of rooms that trapped them were different from those the party encountered, though their experiences were similar. Having battled a number of nightmarish creatures the two of them needed to rest, but they could not stop themselves from falling asleep and they were then trapped themselves within the dream realm. They also confirmed, to some degree, Graysing's story regarding the altar to Vecna by telling the party that within their own 'loop' of rooms there was an underground room that was decked out as an altar to the Raven Queen.

And so we leave our "Heroes", somewhat tired, as they reach the headquarters of the Portal Guild within Evernight in the mid evening, armed with possible information as to the whereabouts of Agratheron and the vessels of the Cult of Malar…