1:00am, Nightal 11, 1481
Lower Courtyard of Skyreach Castle
Cold, with dense fog

Nightal 10, 1481
Cold, snow on the ground

Results of Vidar’s sendings

• Garael: the mine is starting to make money, but has been coming under sttack by goblins who throw poison cloud bombs. A fanatical Paz cult of gnomes and halflings has set up camp near the mine.
• Rockseeker Brothers: The flameskull guarding the mine works for them now.
• Olivine: the Zhentarim continue to fortify their position at the Eye of the Allfather, the ancient giant temple you discovered in the far north. Olivine has been tasked with investigating Eigeron. She thinks that completing his purpose (avenging his death) will allow him to enter the inner chamber of the Oracle, where one may speak with the gods of the giants. The other Zhents are more interested in preparing for the inevitable discovery of the temple by other factions or giants. They would like Blagothkus eliminated to prevent his knowledge of the temple spreading to others.
• Venomfang: Compliments on your mine. All will be forgiven if Spleemf comes back and helps him speak to Ilma Lackanaugh with the ring.
• Boots Harpell: The Harpell family is caught up in lengthy debates about whether to intervene in the giant situation, and which giant lord they should endorse if they do. Talk of a mission to Maelstrom beneath the sea (STORM GIANTS) to meet with King Hekaton’s daughter who sits on the throne in his absence. As an Efreet, Nox is from the City of Brass on the Elemental Plane of Fire. Returning there will rejuvenate him. Releasing him from the vial he’s currently in will cause him to quickly vanish and reappear in the City of Brass.
• Two Llamas Running: She’s fine. She has blackrazor and Dalga. She left the treasure vault and found herself in some strange, dark dimension. She eventually ended up in a “metal fortress” with plant creatures and golems. There’s a large body of water, but it’s self-contained and doesn’t make Dalga happy, so she’s still trying to get back home.
• Marek: Your former companion, the cleric of Auril, contacted Vidar via sending to say that he’s found his own giant champion: the frost giant Gerti Orelsdottr, also a devotee of the Frostmaiden Auril. They are at the Great Glacier with a small army of frost giants and yetis and will be seeking the Eye of the Allfather..

Item Allocation

• Vidar’s Hidden Chest has been purchased and stored on the ethereal plane, though it is currently empty.
• Botry has attuned to the lucky agate you found in the monstrous crab’s treasure chest (+1 to ability checks and saving throws)

Events

• Voka Margaster tracks you down on the Jelly, accompanied by two devils. She demands Xamlyn Margaster’s spellbook back. You comply but then she casts some spells at you just to “test you” before leaving. She said something about maybe working together some time.
• Land at a wrecked Zhent outpost near Parnast and walk to town around midnight.
• Bluff past “The Captain” who seems in charge of dragon cult forces that have taken over the town. You are pretending to be some kind of crazy entertainment troupe (“The Rainbow Dragons”[?]) bound for Skyreach Castle.
• Walk up the road to Skyreach Castle, which is completely shrouded in fog. You can’t see more than 10’ in front of you. Spleemf fastens his cloak up, because he’s wearing Eigeron’s magic breastplate and Blagothkus could recognize it.
• There’s actually lots of stuff going on in the castle’s huge lower courtyard. You meet some kobolds transporting cooking pots from the barracks and a human cook named Brunhilda. You overhear a man tell a woman named Lurdys that he just found “Bart’s” dead body. Lots of running around and confusion in the fog. Someone forgot to close the main gate and the guardian golems come to life briefly. Ogres are complaining about human cultists, cultists are complaining about Blagothkus (“If it weren’t for that damned CLOUD GIANT, we could just have this place to ourselves.”)
• Cef thinks all the fog is caused by the White Dragon that’s taken up residency in the middle of the iceberg Skyreach is built around.
• Vidar is busy trying to jog his memory for information about what things White Dragon’s especially like.

Uktar 14, 4:45pm (portal closes at 6pm)

• Two Llamas goes down into the zoo room to hunt down Blackrazor. She doesn’t come back in time.
• Back to junction
• Sad attempt to fool Nox. He summons “Nixette” the fire elemental and epic battle.
• Nox banishes Val to Mechanus/Nirvana. Wolpercini the spectator gets pulled through the portal by accident and thinks he was summoned to guard something for Nox.
• Botry tosses too much poison at Nox and he shrinks down to a tiny blue flame that Spleemf bottles.
• Wolpercini flies off to check on Two Llamas. She’s on the other side of a closed door and says she’s fine and is going to take the “other way” out later.
• Sansuri accepts _Whelm_from you and says she’ll give you the information about Blagothkus’ flying castle tomorrow morning, after everyone has had a chance to sleep

Uktar 14, 2pm (portal closes at 6pm)

• Took a short rest
• Went back to the junction and took left path
• crossed metal-lined hallway that made Spleemf’s metal armor and shield dangerously hot
• killed 6 monstrous humanoids in the room beyond
• crossed the two-pit room. Cef and Gogo fell in one of the pits. Cef got knocked out by poison spikes. Much effort and passage of time spent getting Cef out, waking her up, recovering coins that were on Gogo, recreating Gogo.
• Vidar investigated the hallways past the two-pit room. Removed a sword from a block that activated a slide trap into a big room with water-filled tanks, manticores and other critters. Vidar poofed back to the two-pit room.

For characters who leveled up (Spleemf and Vidar):

• Max HP increases by 5+[CON bonus] for Spleemf and 4+[CON bonus] for Vidar. If Vidar uses ability score increase on CON, then all retroactive Max HP increases apply too.
• Current HP increases by the same amount as Max HP did
• Get one more Hit Die that can be spent to heal during a Short Rest
• Spleemf knows Hex and Unseen Servant
• Spleemf’s two Warlock spell slots are now 4th level (can be used to cast Cleric spells too)
• Spleemf can use Tomb of Levistus once per rest
• Vidar adds a total of two points to ability scores of his choice OR takes a feat.
• Vidar has an additional L4 spell slot that he can use immediately
• Once per day, after a short rest, Vidar regains 4 levels worth of spell slots (assigned however he chooses)
• Two new spells appear in Vidar’s spellbook (it’s not down here with you right now)

Uktar 14, 1:50pm

Uktar 14, around 10:30am
Somewhere through a portal from Lyn Armaal

• Spleemf convinces the fish that the forgotten answer to its riddle is “a dream”. The fish dissipates into a briny mist that lingers. You pass through it to advance down the middle passage of three.
• In ooze form, Botry spots a wheel mounted on the floor of a submerged alcove. You spend some time trying to turn it, but are unable to muster up enough force.
• In a deeper, flooded room, two kelp creatures try to entice you to swim with them. Only Two Llamas is seduced. Botry dives in to rescue her, then Cef polymorphs Two Llamas into a giant shark that munches the kelpies.
• You find a battered chest in the kelpie lair with 600g and a well-preserved suit of chainmail in it (medium armor)
• Nox the Efreeti finds you and advises that he’s contractually bound to kill anyone who tries to take the three items stored here, or else turn them into new guardians. He also comments that the whole place has changed in various ways from what he remembers. There used to be another Efreeti named Nix who shared Nox’s duties.
• Past three sets of heavy doors, you find a huge chamber that has membrane-line walls with heated water on the other side. You kill a huge crab that guards a big chest.
• The chest contains:
  • An ornate silver trident with sculpted sea creatures all along its length
  • Several small sacks of coins
  • A tray holding 21 gems
  • A pair of dark goggles that make everything look just a bit brighter when Spleemf wears them
• Even before she opens the chest, Val hears a voice in her head repeating something about “Deep Sashelas”
• Time at session end: 12:15pm

Uktar 13

• Dock the Jelly at Lyn Armaal
• Greeted by Cressaro, who takes your names
• Zelstag stays with the airship

Audience with Countess Sansuri

• Sansuri speaks in a flat, affectless voice, but her white mask assumes different expressions as she talks
• Gifts for Countess → Cef’s Eldath Tablet and Tiny Harpischord; spore sampler from Botry
• The Countess’s brother Count Thullen silently observes the meeting
• Sansuri and Cressaro have both stated that these cloud giants are mapping the Evermoors and documenting old sites that have been forgotten. The Countess is interested in anything that helps her learn about what structures used to be on, or beneath, the landscape below the castle
• Sansuri is aware of the young black dragon. Doesn’t know its name. Knows where its lair is. Would like to know if the dragon’s lair contains historic relics or old subterranean architecture
• Sansuri also wants the black dragon’s head, mentioning that she can use magic to speak with it

Other info from Sansuri

• Maelstrom → the underwater palace of King Hekaton of the Storm Giants; Sansuri used to visit the court there, but now Maelstrom has fallen with the shattering of the Ordning. Hekaton has abandoned his throne, leaving his youngest daughter, Serissa to rule.
• Mirran and Nym → Hekaton’s two older daughters. Terrible musicians.
• Chief Guh → Hill Giant lord
• Duke Zalto → The Fire Giant lord intent on rebuilding the gargantuan Vonindod construct. All of the fire giants hunting around with forked rods report back to his fortress, Ironslag, which Sansuri pointed out on your map.
• Blagothkus → Thrown out of Maelstrom for his strange notions. Rumored to now be allied with a white dragon named Glazhael. Sansuri dismisses Blagothkus as unimportant, but her mask’s expressions say otherwise. She has maps and other information about his castle, Skyreach.
• The burial mounds → She’s aware of them, but is not interested in the giant relics they hold

Things you told Sansuri

• You spoke with the ghost of Blagothkus’s son Eigeron and are going to avenge his death at the hands of his father
• You have visited burial mounds
• Told her about Venomfang (aka Pandacry)

Quest for Sansuri

• As part of her research, she has a verse fragment that she believes instructs her to get three items from a place that has somehow come loose from this reality. It was the vault of a wizard named Keraptis, and was located beneath the Smokespire, the same volcano where the illusionist Hyuth Kolstag gained his power. She has learned how to open a portal to Keraptis’ vault. If you retrieve at least one of the three items for her, she’ll share her information about Blagothkus’ castle.

Uktar 14

• Sleep in the giant guest room
• In the morning, hear muffled cries of pain that Cef thinks are draconic
• Pazette sneaks off to investigate, gets chomped by a griffon in a huge griffon aviary after seeing a large door to another chamber within.
• You have breakfast with the Counteds. It takes a long time to climb all those giant stairs. Her sitting room has a stuffed aarocockra mounted over the hearth.
• Sansuri summons the portal and you descend a spiral staircase into the flooded vault
• Stopped by giant riddle fish

En route to Lyn Armaal, the Jelly lands in the Evermoors so you can find the body of the young black dragon you defeated.

Uktar 12:

• While you rest, familiars search for the dragon’s body, which Vidar’s tressym eventually finds
• By the time you finish resting and reach the dragon, its head has been removed, apparently by a giant whose massive footprints lead north into the mists.
• Spleemf and Val each collect one vial of the dragon’s acidic blood
• There’s talk of searching for the dragon’s lair. Botry knows that this dragon would probably have a territory of about 100 square miles, and that the area immediately around its lair would likely have extensive damage from the creature’s acidic discharges. The lizardman druid suggests using his ability to speak with plants to see if the stunted shrubs and leafless trees here can point you in the right direction. Instead, you all decide to follow the giant north and demand that it give you the dragon head that it presumably has.
• Traveling on foot you’re unable to keep pace with the giant footsteps, so you use sending to contact Felix/Zelstag and get picked up by the Jelly. As the Jelly makes its way north, you rest some more. Botry convinces Zelstag and 2 Llamas to forego sleep and pilot the ship.

Uktar 13:

• In the wee hours, 2 Llamas wakes you. She’s spotted the campsite of a fire giant, accompanied by some tiny winged smoke creatures. You back the Jelly off to a safe distance until morning so you can rest some more.
• You land the Jelly and inspect the campsite. Footprints leading northeast indicate the giant departed hours ago.
• You abandon your pursuit of the giant and Zelstag sets course back towards Lyn Armaal, which you reach later in the day, as the sun is setting.
• Near Lyn Armaal, you’re attacked by two air elementals.
• As you make a wide circle around Countess Sansuri’s castle at a distance of about a half-mile, you spot a domed greenhouse with someone inside, a massive chessboard on one of the roof gardens, and a pair of huge windows low on one of the walls from which two graceful bird people emerge and fly around the castle.
• Zelstag and 2 Llamas guide the Jelly towards an apparent gatehouse attached to the castle by a large stone walkway. They light the Jelly’s lamps and put up signals of friendship to let the castle’s inhabitants know you come in peace.

Start

Time → Uktar 10, near midnight
Place → Yartar, Spleemf’s room in Beldabar’s rest
Cart and Animals → Beldabar’s rest ( $$$)

• Two Llamas Running returns from her landscaping gig with a new friend, Botryotinia Fuckelinia, a spore druid lizardman from Chult
• Piercingdawn of the The Sparse Fuchsia Couriers introduces you to Valenia Almarel, a wood elf swashbuckler who wants to join you against giants.
• Burial services for Felix and Boris, courtesy of Spleemf. Inventory and division of their gear. Most of the non-treasure items will be sold.
• Found in Felix’s lantern: the Parnast dossier, egg’s encoded notes on Parnast and dragon cult activities there. Cef has decyphered it.
• Vidar uses sending to contact Elanil Fenro, who is open to trading her portable hole for some other magic items when you’re able to meet up.
• Ace Lockheart connects you with the Shenbrooks, human nobles who are desparately in gambling debt to Lord Khaspare Drylund. They own an airship called the Jelly.
• You make deal to use the Jelly to get to Blagothkus’s castle in exchange for 20% of the gold value of treasure you acquire between now and your return. The Shenbrooks’ adult son, coincidentally named Felix, will come along to pilot the vessel and represent the family.

Uktar 12

• transfer goods from your wagon to the hold of the Jelly. Wagon stored in Shenbrook hanger
• Take off in the Jelly and head NE over the Evermoors, passing a region of rolling hills along the way.
• Early afternoon, a young black dragon sees the Jelly and tries to take it for her own. You drive her off and Val gets in a killing arrow shot as the dragon flees.
• Felix lands the Jelly so you can track down the dragon’s corpse and maybe her lair too.