Session 69

=September 9th, 2021 - Death to the Green Wyrspeaker=

The Caustic Cavern
The session began exactly where we last left our heroes, discussing how they would clear the green dragon’s lair of cultists. Their captured wearer of purple remained defiant, and Lachlan attempted to modify his memory, but only was able to charm the elf for a short period. The wearer only revealed that the Green Dragon Mask had already been taken back to the Well of Dragons. This confirmed what the Champions had already heard from Varram the White, and implied this elf was indeed the Green Wyrmspeaker. Before the group ventured into the lair, Alburt cast a Leomund’s Tiny Hut around the elf, keeping him trapped in the transparent magical dome.

Thia cast a Pass Without Trace spell, enveloping the party in magical shadows and silence, masking their steps and presence. They slowly passed behind the waterfall and explored the entry chamber with the underground lake. The place was still filled with the same yellow-green poison. There was a group of four elves near an exit tunnel to the west of the chamber, and still the four elves atop the ledge overlooking the lake on the east side of the cavern. Realizing there was no dragon hoard or place the dragon would sleep here, there must be another path through the cavern. The dragon clearly couldn’t fit through the tunnel to the west, and so Thia had her dragon Maximus enter the lake (from their silence bubble at the edge) and explore.

Maximus easily found the large underwater tunnel, and followed it into the dragon’s lair chamber. This cavern was larger, had a very small pile of treasure along the opposite wall, and a very small tunnel out of the north wall. The dragon stayed in the lake awaiting the party's need per Thia’s command, while the group decided what to do next. Rachen agreed with Lachlan to use their current surprise advantage to scout the rest of the cave system before engaging any of the elvish cultists. With Rufus going first and all staying close to Thia, the group slowly made their way through the northern passage, through two chambers: one empty common chamber adjacent to a bedroom chamber that had six sleeping elves.

They continued on past the common chamber, still staying silent. One of the sleeping elves coughed in their sleep. Past this common chamber was a long tunnel, at the end of which opened into a lavish sleeping cavern. Floor and walls were covered in rugs and tapestries, there was an actual bed, and a trunk at its foot. Before entering the room, Rufus detected a glyph of warding on the floor, with a small section barely exposed among the carpets. Lachlan dispelled magic to disable the trap, and the group entered and tossed the wyrmspeaker’s room. Rufus also found, and disabled a poisoned needle trap on the trunk. The swashbuckler was able to safely remove the needle, and stored it in an empty potion bottle for future use. It was tipped with a small amount of a golden substance. The trunk had a number of small art objects and a pittance of coins.

Behind the tapestry hung on the wall directly behind the bed, the group found a hidden passageway. In the center of this small winding passage was a small altar to a deity Cadmus was not familiar with, along with an open journal. Lachlan read through the journal as the rest of the group continued to the next chamber, which was the large dragon’s lair. The group shoveled the small pittance of a hoard into their bag of holding, only a few thousand coins and a handful of gold trade bars from Black Landing. Clearly not an ancient dragon’s hoard. Lachlan revealed the journal confirmed the elf was indeed the wyrmspeaker, but was also the son of the Elven King Melandrach. And the son clearly hated his father and fellow elves, having been outcast and then joining the cult of the dragon.

On their way back to the main chamber the group went through an obvious storage room, with a number of boxes and bags of food, and a few barrels of ale. There was also a sectioned off stash of 8 bottles of expensive elven Evermead, which the group split among themselves. They were able to return to the main lake cavern still under the disguise of Thia’s Pass Without Trace spell. There were a few more coughs in the bedchamber, as well as from one of the elves in the lake chamber. The party wanted to finish exploring the cave system, with the only other known path being a single wooden door at the top of the eastern ledge in this chamber, where four elves were sleeping in bedrolls. Alburt cast Greater Invisibility on Rufus and then Dimension Doored them both up to the ledge.

Being his sneaky self and fully invisible, Rufus quickly went through the wooden door and realized why it was there. Immediately, he was hit with a nasty stink, and found down a short tunnel a large chamber with three giant mounds of garbage, and three ettins (basically two headed ogres, small giant cousins). He quickly returned to the ledge and Alburt, then they realized if they jumped down to the lake below the splash would be heard. The wizard also had run out of spell slots for Dimension Door, so he instead conjured a Wall of Force in the shape of a slide down the ledge into the water below, but angled the slide into the sphere of Thia’s spell. The invisible Rufus went first, followed by Alburt.

As the dragonborn slid down the invisible barrier, the group could hear one of the elves from the ground level call out, “What is that!?” Another drew his sword. At seeing this, Cadmus wasted no time and conjured his spirit guardians and charged the group of four. Emerging from Thia’s spell, Cadmus and his spirits slaughtered the elven commoners almost instantly. Their death cries started to stir the elves atop the ledge, and thus having begun the slaughter, Cadmus charged up the magical waterslide (with Thia’s help navigating that difficult terrain), and had his spirits promptly murdered the sleeping elves on the ledge.

The rest of the party followed, and Rachen led the charge through the wooden door in removing the ettins. With his giantslayer greatsword making quick work, the party moved past their chamber and found themselves squeezing through a hidden gap in the wall, bringing them back to the entry tunnel just past the waterfall. They had come full circle and seen the entire place. With only the sleeping elves remaining in the complex, the party snuck back into their bedchamber. Quickly and quietly, they used blades and killed five of the sleepers, pulling one from his slumber, screaming in terror, and dragged him out of the cave system.

Death to the Green Wyrmspeaker
Out in front of the waterfall, in front of the Wyrmspeaker manacled and in his cuddle-hut, the party interrogated the remaining elf cultist. The elf wept and described the terrors they had lived under - all the elves in the cave aside from the Wyrmspeaker had been taken from villages around, and forced into serving the dragon and his rider for the possible ‘chance’ to live and leave someday. The Wyrmspeaker sat in his magical dome with a smirk on his face as the group realized they just murdered a number of innocents forced into servitude. Lachlan pulled out the leather bound journal and grinned back at the elf - they knew his truth.

The elven prisoner answered their questions about the cult, that the rider and dragon had indeed gathered a much larger hoard when there was a group of cultists here as well. It was just under a week ago that the rest of the cultists left and took the vast majority of the stolen treasure with them. For some unknown reason, the wearer of purple and the dragon remained behind.

The group let the elf prisoner go free, telling him that his village likely was destroyed, and notifying him that the village of Altand still stood. While it was some miles away, it was the closest they knew of, and the elf was just happy to get away. The poison gas in the area was also starting to recede slowly with the death of the dragon. And so, the party sent a message ahead to Lady Silverhand that they were returning with the green Wyrmspeaker, who was indeed an elf, and they teleportation circled back to her estate in Ironbay.

Upon their arrival, the guards made the party aware that the Lady wanted to convene an emergency meeting with them in mere moments, and directed them and their prisoner to the Lady’s council chamber. About thirty minutes later, Lady Silverhand entered the room with King Melandrach and his daughter, the princess Alleria. Instantly, they all knew this elf was indeed the king’s son, with his family's immediate recognition.

The king made clear that he wanted his son returned to him, and that his fate was up to him and the elves. He assured the group his son would be properly punished. Lachlan was insistent asking what was going to happen to the elf, and the king refused to answer to anyone in the room. In defiance, the king pushed past Lady Silverhand’s guards and lifted his son by the ear, with one hand, and started dragging him out of the room.

Lachlan was fed up.

Lachaln pointed his finger and disintegrated the wearer of purple. The elf exploded in a cloud of ash, leaving the king holding only his ear.

The king’s fury was immediate, but before he exploded in rage Lady Silverhand quickly put her arm around him and rushed him out of the room, “it’s okay”, she could be heard saying. Princess Alleria, aghast at what she had just seen, ran with tears streaming down her face from the room in the opposite direction of her father. Rufus chased after her, he stopped her just outside her chambers and asked if that is what she wanted to happen. In tears she replied that she still hoped her brother could be reasoned with eventually, but she understood that may have been the best solution. She closed her door, and Rufus along with everyone else retired for the night - it was well past midnight at this point.

A few hours later, still in the dark of predawn night, Rufus’ bedroom door was opened by the princess. She entered his bedchamber and “repaid him for everything he had done for her”, with the two of them finally going to bed together.

And that is where the session ended, it was the very early morning of the two hundred and seventy first (271st) day since the raid on Greenest.

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