Beholder Group D&D Blog

  Wed 17th December 2025 In-game timeline: Ches 8 - Ches 9 With most of the Realm notified to our "Heroes" presence at the site of the blood ritual, and with night drawing closer, they press on. Any last vestiges of hope that they may arrive unexpected are dashed when they are spotted by another patrol - Sanada takes care of the patrol guards, but not before another alarm is triggered by one of them. Having well and truly lost the element of surprise, they press on quickly towards the centre of the wood, from which they hear shouts and terrified screaming. They soon come upon the site of the ritual, which has started already, perhaps begun when their presence was first noted. On an island in the centre of a small lake in a clearing, a stone altar is being used by a spellcaster. Glowing runes on the altar seem to connect via lines of power to some standing stones surrounding the altar. Tied to many of these stones are some of the captured villagers, with the remaining villager...

Wed 4th December 2025 In-game timeline: Ches 8 - Ches 8 Our "Heroes" pause at the borders of the village of Secomber. Their insight into what has recently happened at Easting warns them not to be too hasty on their approach. Solveig turns into an eagle and soars above the village to see what he can see from high up. The village looks populated, but very quiet - unusually so for a farming village. There is no obvious sign of armed people around the village. Solveig moves further afield to scan further south east. He spots a wood in the distance, and flies over to check it out. Concerned about his animal form running out of time before he can get back, he quickly just spots some possible guards or bandits around the edge of the wood, and catching sight of an open area in the middle of the wood, with a ring of stones on a small island in a lake. He quickly flies back to tell the others. The party head into the village and meet the mayor who, after being convinced they are on the...

Wed 19th November 2025 In-game timeline: Alturiak 14 - Ches 8 Our "Heroes" hope that they have completed all The Harlequin's challenges. But it seems there is a final test to follow. They are led onto the stage that they saw at the start. But the theatre is empty - almost. The only member of the audience is The Harlequin, who sits and beckons them to the centre of the stage. The adventurers spot, slowly emerging from a strange mist around the edges of the stage, two musical scores - one on each side. As they watch, and listen to The Harlequin describe their final challenge, one score rises up to the top of a set of floating, crystal steps as the dimensions of the stage itself seems to extend in all directions, showing the score only reachable by jumping onto each of the precarious, somewhat erratically moving, steps. Beneath, a deep chasm opens up, inviting any who fail one of the jumps to fall to an uncertain, but obviously unhappy, fate. On the other side, beneath and b...

Wed 15th & 29th September 2025 In-game timeline: Alturiak 14 - ??? (In the Feywild) Our "Heroes" stare up at the nearby hill, with a storm raging upon it. Only three of them to face whatever the storm may throw at them. The Gale Knight gives them some information, but only some of it sinks in. The important bits are obvious - he can part the storm to reveal the Altar, but only for a short amount of time; The Altar must be hit by magic in some way, enough to charge it, 10 times in this period, so that it can release the Song of Power for the Gale Knight to play into the Lyrica Noctis; And there will be some form of Storm Fiends trying to stop them. The three remaining "Heroes" miss Alwaith - perhaps for the first time - as his Eldritch Blast would no doubt have proved very useful in this situation. But they come up with a plan… And, again perhaps for the first time, they actually execute the plan. With Sanada's bare fists being magical, and Solveig being able...

Wed 10th September 2025 In-game timeline: Alturiak 14 - ??? (In the Feywild) Our "Heroes" discuss further. Options. So. Many. Options. Faith is still worried about his friends and family in Easting. Sanada wants Songs of Power. Alwaith wants to get away from this far-too-colourful place, and Solveig wants to find a way to destroy a dragon with a single spell and little effort. After a while, they decide to head for the Songs of Power. But which one? All have pros and cons, which leads to more discussion. They think about asking the Fey Council for advice, before realising that the Fey Council have long since departed - perhaps they had better things to do than listen to ongoing discussions. It is decided. Stopping the dragon's ability to fly seems like a good starting point, so they decide to head for the Ballad of the Tempest from the Gale Knight. Solveig wets his lips and attempts a rendition of the Ride of the Valkyries needed to transport them to the correct place in ...

Wed 3rd September 2025 In-game timeline: Alturiak 14 - Alturiak 14 Our "Heroes" have had a well-deserved rest after the exciting events of the night before - Alwaith vs Meepo. A bit of a one-sided contest, if we're honest, but Alwaith definitely benefited from the support of his friends. They agree to head towards Secomber, though Faith was still concerned about his family and friends at Easting, and had not fully committed to the proposed destination. Attention turned to the invite from the Fey Council. After journeying for most of the day in a southerly direction, they agreed to try to use the ocarina to visit the council - if nothing else, it would provide a useful diversion whilst they finalised the next destination - where to attempt to stop the Blood Sacrifice, in the knowledge that wherever they don't go, the sacrifice is likely to occur unhindered. Solveig puts the tutelage from the satyrs to good use and plays a passable rendition of the provided tune on the ...

  Wed 23rd July 2025 In-game timeline: Alturiak 13 - Alturiak 14 Our "Heroes" are heading for the Umbros arena to meet an unknown foe. Alwaith heads to the challenger's waiting area whilst the others enter the spectator seating area along with the other members of the Feywild who are attending the event. Unbeknownst to Alwaith, his "friends" are able to try to subtly influence the duel, though obvious use of magic may be frowned upon. Unbeknownst to the others, Alwaith is offered a choice of potions to be drunk before the fight, and is told that any that he doesn't choose will be re-offered every 4 rounds. He is also told that his opponent is being offered the same set of choices. After choosing and drinking the ** potion, Alwaith enters the arena, which immediately is overcast by clouds and the lights dim, creating a shadowy and dark combat ground, which would have been a problem for any combatant other than Alwaith, which his improved darkvision provided b...

Wed 16th July 2025 In-game timeline: Alturiak 12 - Alturiak 13 Our "Heroes" face some decisions, and this is one group who is not comfortable with working together to make decisions. Do they head for Easting, or Secomber? How do they find out more about the Veilspire Colosseum? How to prepare for a duel?  The party tried to find out more about Faith's origin and home, in an effort to decide whether to head to Easting or Secomber next. Faith used Sending to his mum to warn them of impending invasion. It takes 2 spells as he forgets to tell his mum the reply is limited to 25 words. She mentions the local blacksmith disappearing recently, but says they will try to get out of town. Faith is only partially satisfied, and the option to go instead to Secomber is once again open to them. Faith then uses Sending to Quinlen - Alwaith's father - to find out more of his own background. He learns he is touched by Shadar-Kai magic, but how, and to what end, is uncertain. He learns ...

Wednesday 35th June & Wed 9th July 2025 In-game timeline: Alturiak 9 - Alturiak 12 Heading away from Neverwinter wood, having avoided a possible chat with a Banshee, and seeing a glimmer of humanity in Solveig when he let a thief go without his now-trademark throat-slitting, our "Heroes" arrive at the Slaughter villages close to the Dragon Shrine. Unsurprisingly all is not well in the villages. Three missing children have riled up the villagers, who believed that the children had been either killed or taken by a family of wyverns who lived nearby. With the villagers about to head to the wyvern lair in a pitchfork-wielding mob, our "Heroes" managed to talk them down and said they would take care of the wyverns. They then proceeded to spend the day investigating the missing children - a very sensible thing to do, but not what the villagers wanted. They did find the body of one of the children, and some signs of a minor battle with the child's crossbow bolts an...

Wednesday 18th June 2025 In-game timeline: Alturiak 7 - Alturiak 9 Faced with another large spider, the like of which our "Heroes" have not defeated since they were level 2, Alwaith took the best option he felt he could - he closed the door. The DM proceeded to rip up that encounter prep. With Sanada back at the Veil HQ, the three remaining "Heroes", sans-allies or spiritual helpers - aka "cannon-fodder" - took the long way round to arrive at Thalios' room a little later than they had hoped, but without any spider-based encounters. There was some discussion about how to open the door, revealing more intra-group discord along the lines of "We only brought you so you could bash the door open!", and "what use are you anyway?", which is usually only reserved for Sanada, but was a fair reflection of the tiredness and irritability of the group who had been not only awake for 18 odd hours, but also fighting, stealthing, dying and swimming ...

Wednesday 11th June 2025 In-game timeline: Alturiak 7 - Alturiak 7 With the party in poor shape, though not too bad health, they face a risky challenge. Solveig is very exhausted, Sanada is miserable and exhausted, Alwaith and Faith are out of spells. They face a large, metal, shielded, clockwork creation, and an angry, well-trained half-orc fighter. Things look bleak. They consider fleeing. But this is D&D. And this is the Beholder Group. So they decide not to flee, which, to be honest would have been the better option, but instead stand and fight. And somehow they survive. The DM has no idea how - I mean, it is hardly through good planning on their part - but they do. With the help of Phil Spectre, a spectral wolf and Hallion, who although they did no, or very little damage, they did prove a useful distraction, and with Solveig's seemingly bottomless pool of spells and abilities, they pull through, managing to take down the mighty orc, and eventually wear down the Clockwork G...

Wednesday 4th June 2025 In-game timeline: Alturiak 7 - Alturiak 7 Following Solveig’s rescue from the giant spider, the healthier members of the party decide to split up. Sanada remains with the exhausted druid in the “common room” and spends her time investigating the nearby locked room. Using her shadow step ability to slip through the keyhole, she manages to gain entry. Inside, she finds several locked chests. Lacking keys or other tools, she resorts to brute force—methodically smashing the chests open with her fists. Though this takes time, she eventually succeeds, recovering some useful loot. However, nothing appears immediately relevant to the party’s current predicament. Meanwhile, Solveig waits outside with their prisoner, the bound and hooded cleric Drake. Given Solveig’s recent transformation—from a calm, nature-loving druid to something far more unstable—the wisdom of leaving a helpless prisoner in their care is… questionable. That concern proves justified. When the party la...

Wed 28th May 2025 In-game timeline: Alturiak 7 - Alturiak 7 Having chased one of the cultists around the sewers, they have arrived at a door, with no idea if he is behind it, but there is the sound of voices coming from within. While the others wait around a corner, Solveig changes to a spider to check out the room, crawling under the door. He emerges on the other side of the door in a lounge area - a well-lit and relatively comfortable room within the sewers. He spots the guy they were chasing - the seeming leader of the ritual - on the far side of the room, and about 6 other cultists standing around, blades ready and discussing their next steps, being well aware of the intruders in the sewers. Rather than retreat and tell the others of the contents of this room, Solveig decides to take advantage of his spider form and run across the well-lit and well-furnished room to see what is on the other side of the room. To save time, he runs across the floor of the room. Unfortunately, despite...

Wed 14th May 2025 In-game timeline: Alturiak 7 - Alturiak 7 As the guard runs off deeper into the sewers, our "Heroes" make a quick (at least, quick for them) decision as to their immediate response. Sanada is closest to the fleeing guard, and spots that he went into a large room - a makeshift "temple" - where there were other cultists, now fully alerted to the presence of the intruders. Sanada waits for the others to catch up, and tells them what was ahead and they quickly hatch their plan of attack. They then ignore that plan and wing it, which ought to be their plan every time, as it is always what they end up doing anyway. With all hope of a stealthy, or deceptive, infiltration of the group completely out of the window, their best hope for ensuring any useful information the cult may have is contained, and available to them, is to shut down any group of cultists to prevent the higher up members from fleeing or destroying useful information. And so they just run ...