Wiki of The Dungeoneering Crew

The party discovered a stream flowing to the east with a moderate current. They assessed their injuries; Kipp was near death, Brandy was low on hit points as well, and Pyreece remained deceased in the bag of holding. Audra used a potion of extra healing to stabilize herself and gave two doses to Kipp. The group discussed crossing the water. Audra noted she could move vertically using her boots of levitation and pull herself across the ceiling, but the party decided to use a piton and rope for a more permanent crossing. Audra looped a rope around herself, pulled herself across the ceiling, dropped back down to ground level, and drove a piton into the far wall despite the loud echoes through the silent caves.

While preparing to cross, the group inventoried their supplies, noting they had a potion of vitality that allows the drinker to go seven days without food or sleep, a ring of fire resistance, and a wand of magic missiles. Brandy and Kipp crossed the rope first. After them, came Elenor and Oglesby. On the far shore, Kipp checked for tracks and found marks where items had been slid onto the stone, along with hooks set into the rock and evidence of boot prints.

They advanced through a natural stony cavern filled with bioluminescent fungi until the passage grew dark. In the distance, they spotted a glow and heard the “white noise” of a waterfall to the west. They discovered an arch bridge carved from natural rock spanning rapid water. After crossing, Kipp followed boot prints and suddenly caught the scent of perfume and the sound of tinkling bells. Kipp and Brandy used their stealth to sneak down a southeast passage as the light grew brighter.

They entered a cavern utterly at odds with the rest of the Underdark: the floor was strewn with rich carpets, ornate rugs muffled their steps, and the air was perfumed with orange blossoms. Silk garments were draped over stools, and a rosewood chest filled with glittering gems sat between elegant divans. Behind a curtain of beads decorated with sigils, they discovered a scholarly, jackal-headed humanoid sitting within an etched circle of silver and salt.

The creature introduced himself as Zrix. He explained he was an Arcanaloth known as “the broker” and had been imprisoned by a powerful devil. Zrix revealed he knew Pyreece was missing because he had heard the party’s prayers for her. He offered a bargain: if they released him by slaying his guardian and retrieving the key to this magical trap, he would resurrect Pyreece and heal the party to full vigor. The guardian was a Nabasu, a demon from the Abyss located to the northwest, which held an arcane key under its skin. He warned them of its “death gaze” and its ability to turn victims into ghouls.

The party tracked the Nabasu and were ambushed by the massive, winged creature. During the fight, Eleanor cast Mirror Image, and Oglesby landed a critical backstab with a natural 20. Several hits later and the devil was dead. Before he died, he told them that releasing Zrix would be very bad. They cut the black, sizzling key from the demon's chest and recovered gems worth 800 gold pieces, a potion, and a scroll from the surrounding floor.

Returning to the alcove, Eleanor used the key to turn a magical lock, causing the wards and chains to vanish. Zrix fulfilled his end of the bargain, using a scroll of resurrection to bring Pyreece back to life; she survived the process but lost a point of constitution. Zrix then provided magical healing to the rest of the party, even repairing the lingering damage they had sustained from a clay golem. Before departing, Zrix shared lore regarding Lyssa von Zarovich, a vampire from a “Domain of Dread” who was being tested by dark powers. He also shared that the slavers left through a room to the east of this chamber. He then vanished from existence.

= = = = = = = = = =The information Zrix The Arcanaloth provided = = = = = = = = = =

“Ah. Not drow. How refreshing.”

“the Underdark’s little merchants of misery. Black cloaks, white hair, eyes full of certainty that they are untouchable. One of them—always the same priestess—taps the edge of my circle with her boot and asks if I’ve learned humility yet. I assure her I am still working on it.”

“They mock me. Toss scraps of information the way one feeds a pet. ‘Great fox,’ they say, ‘tell us how you came to be so.. Did Eclavdra imprison you’re here.? Mordrammo?’ When I refuse, they laugh and leave chalk marks on my wards. Petty. Amateur vandalism.”

A thin smile curls its muzzle.

“Still… they are careless. Slavers always are. They pass nearby, They pause here to rest, to preen, to argue over who gets first pick of the captives.” “Chains clink. Whips crack. I hear everything. I have nothing else to do.”

The arcanaloth leans forward as far as the wards allow. “They believe this prison makes me harmless. It does not make me ignorant.”

“I know which of them fears spiders, which fears disobedience, and which one will sell the others for a promise of safety.” A soft, mirthless laugh.

“And yet, every time they leave, they bow. To me.,“Mockery, of course. But one day…” The chains hum, tightening slightly. “…someone will listen.”

In your tongue I am called Zrix. I am imprisoned here at the summoning of a powerful shadowbinder She is called Lyssa

He names the Drow: Priestess Ethexae Darr - Afraid of Spiders Jalynlimar Yril'Lysiwin: perhaps of of House Aleval. Guide for Markessa’s journey to Suderham in the valley of Kalen Lekos Veldrin Barianni: would sell out for personal safety

Regarding Lyssa from the Arcanaloth Zrix:

Lyssa von Zarovich is the daughter of Anna von Zarovich and Tod von Zarovich, the granddaughter of Sturm von Zarovich, and the grandniece of Count Strahd von Zarovich, the later of whom she has taken for an enemy. She is a potent vampire with strength beyond her years. As part of a scheme that was monumental in its madness she contributed, presumably as a necrologist, to the creation of the illithid vampire and so most probably has acquired at least a familiarity with the principles of biomancy. The creature proved to be as mad as the scheme and was of no use to her intention to reorganize matters to her liking. Strahd's patience with Lyssa snapped eventually. The lord poisoned Lyssa, condemning her to sleep long after sunset but the dark power intervened. Lyssa is driven by her hatred of Strahd and her desire to be a darklord.

Lyssa Homeland: There is a misty realm beyond our own. A domain of dread. Envision the regions of your world divided by impenetrable living clouds.. Lyssa is from that domain. A reality where there are rules mortals don’t perceive. Consider “The Mists are not walls. They are questions. Most souls answer wrong and remain.” “Lysaa, however…” “She is never asked.” From this domain certain souls can traverse the mists to other planes of existence and others cannot. Lyssa has the power to travel freely. She does not know why, but she does know there are limits. She is not a lord there. But seeks a place where she might surpass her uncle. a true lord of the domain. Her most powerful allies on the other side are unable to travel the mists, so she cannot bring her minions here. She wishes to know the way. I cannot tell her and so I languish here. Speaking the truth outright would cause the Dark Powers to intervene. In the Mist Worlds, Darklords are punished through hope, not despair Her essence Is Anchored to the Mists

In the Mist Worlds, mist-travel is never random. If someone can do it consistently, it’s because they Are Conditionally Exempt from the Dark Powers’ Rules. She is a tool meant to threaten but never replace the darklord. She can travel because: Her Soul Is Partially Claimed Elsewhere. A pact almost claimed her at her conversion but failed, she was never fully the offspring of a darklord. And her master only succeeded at creating a metaphysical “loophole” the Mists cannot fully close. She has an unkown Anchor, likely someone with a shared bloodline. Her soul is marked you might say.

When Lyssa asked why she can travel the mists and others cannot “You pass through the fog for the same reason a blade passes through flesh.” “Because something on the other side is meant to be wounded.” “Your uncle is perfectly placed. He cannot leave because he has reached the end of his sentence.” “You wander because your punishment is still being written.”

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Pyreece spent time washing the stench of death from their clothes and body in the stream. Her friends caught her up on what had happened since her passing. They searched all around the rest of this part of the underdark and didn't find the path the slavers took. They remembered boat on a shoreline in a chamber they'd discovered earlier. They went back to that chamber. Audra floated over and brought the boat back. Everyone was boated over to the nearby shore to the west. They encountered a passage that smelled of rot. Two Cockatrices leaped from the filth and attacked, but the party killed them quickly. Searching the creatures' nest, they found two eggs, a silver tube, a green peridot, and a large lens before moving the boat to a new shoreline to rest further west and north.

This is where the session ended.

Please start the recorder!

Exp: Everyone but Pyreece received 1000 general experience. And 2,000 experience for all of the fighting except the Cockatrices.

Everyone, including Pyreece received experience for the Cockatrices of 239 + 24 = 263.