The Vault
(spoilers for The Master’s Vault)
There was a great Master named Elaria Feywing, who lived in the little town of Parabor. She was an elf, and rumored to have been an adventurer in her day. She mostly kept to herself, but during the summer, would accept a small handful of youths to come help her about the place. In return, she taught them how to hone their natural skills, be it in music, woodcraft, magic, or martial activities. Word got out, and it came to be that being taken in by a summer student by Master Elaria carried a little status in the surrounding countryside.
So one day in the spring of 1491 DR, the four alumni that had spent the summer of 1491 with the Master received word that the Master had passed away, so they returned to Parabor for her funeral. While in Parabor, they discovered that she had been murdered. Those now-adult students were Ivar Greenleaf, a half-elven sailor/privateer/pirate from the coastal village of Saltmarsh, Tifinin (just Tifinin), a halfling bard from a vanished shire, Macterah Danorae, a copper dragonborn druid from Abeir, and Atalaya Loravaris, a half-elven ranger from the High Forest.
She had left instructions for them, requesting that they collect nine blue tiles that would allow them to open a vault on her property. Inside this vault would be important information she had left for them and them alone. Unfortunately, the nine blue tiles had been scattered throughout the valley and they'd have to go find them. Her old friend Alcaeus, a hermit that lived in the nearby Staircase Cliffs had a few of them, but they'd have to hunt down the rest.
Their travels through the vale included kobolds, a monstrous spider, and the unquiet specter of one of Master Elaria's contemporaries, but they finally assembled the collection of tiles and made their way back to the Master's house.
Upon opening the vault, they discovered that operatives of a cult called The Pact of the Lich had already infiltrated the property and were waiting for them. After a pitched battle, which involved undead, a murderous necromancer, and some unexpected booby traps laid by Elaria herself, the companions discovered a few magical items (including Elaria's sword) a portrait of Elaria's long-dead adventuring companions, and her journal.
They learned that the name "Elaria Feywing" was an alias and that their Master was, in fact, a Harper, and part of a faction striving to keep a dangerous artifact called The Eye of Death out of the hands of the Pact of the Lich, a dangerous cult that was threatening the entire valley and surrounding area. She gave hints as to where the Eye might be found, and charged the group, who she confessed were her favorite and most reliable students, with taking up the task of protecting the valley and either keeping the eye away from the cult or figuring out a way to destroy it. She also left them her house.
The Library
(spoilers for Tomb of Crossed Words)
After puzzling through the hints Elaria had left for them, the Class of '81 headed to Gillian's Hill, a tiny village to the west. She had reason to think the Pact would not return to that place to look for the Eye after having used a remote library there as a base in the past. It was dank, abandoned, and obviously cursed. They found the eye in a dusty urn in one of the rooms. They also found a spectator monster who had been cursed when the library had been cursed, and now suffered from amnesia. Pitying the creature, who they named Avalon (and who they to this day live in fear of his ever regaining his memory) and took him with them. They tasked him with hanging out in front of the vault and not letting anyone in but one of them.
The Dryads
(spoilers for The Fey Sisters' Fate)
The roads to and from Elaria's house cross through patches of fey-touched forest. Not exactly Feywild, but as close as one can get before crossing over. While traveling from Gillian's Hill, the group crossed through what can only be described as an occupation by a hostile force of a dryad's grove and the human village the dryads protected. One dryad was already dead, starved of water by a group of frogfolk who had dammed up the creek. The nearby villagers were in a state of panic, as many of their town guard (including their beloved captain) had gone missing. Investigating the situation, the four adventurers found themselves embroiled in a battle to free the imprisoned militia, drive off the frogfolk, and restore the remaining dryad.
The Sea Wizard's Tower
(spoilers for Pillars of Pelegia)
Seeing as how the Eye of Death was now in the possession of the Class of '81, they were understandably nervous about what to do about it and how to hopefully dispose of it. They were advised to seek out the council of Arcadianus, a sea wizard who had made his home in the sea-stacks of Pelagia, headed south down the coast toward Blue Haven.
So down to Pelagia the four of them went, only to discover that Arcadianus had been intercepted by a contingent of cultists, led by a powerful priestess, and unfortunately dispatched. So they were caught a bit unawares when they ended up having to battle her and her gang of koalinth. In the process, they managed to rescue and befriend Arcadianus' companion, a fussy sea pseudodragon named Myricia, who had been leaving them clues as to what was happening in the keep.
Without the benefit of council from the wizard, and with the knowledge that the Pact was now frantically searching for the Eye, the party used the submersible they found in the basement to hide the Eye in a heavy trunk on the sea floor until they could try to get more information about it. Not unreasonably, they feared being overpowered by a superior force while the Eye was in their immediate possession.
Not having anywhere better to go, Myricia decided to accompany the party instead of staying alone in the keep.
Underwillow
(spoilers for The Witch of Underwillow)
On the way back to Parabor, the coastal road has to go through a narrow pass in the hills, and in that pass is the small halfling village of Underwillow. Travelers through the pass often stay overnight in Underwillow, in the boisterous tavern called The Smoke Ring. So our intrepid heros stayed the night there on their way home.
While they were having supper, it came to their attention that a problem had arisen in the village...a witch had stolen a baby, and the mother, a strange, simple woman, was beside herself with grief. The halflings of Underwillow were afraid to challenge the witch, so the group decided to head into the forest to seek out the witch's lair and retrieve the child.
They figured one witch shouldn't be too much trouble, but this particular witch was accompanied by a pack of particularly fearsome wargs. And worse, she knew about the Eye of Death. It seems that she knew more than she should have known, in fact, and was very interested in getting her hands on the artifact.
And to the group's annoyed surprise, the "baby" they'd been sent to rescue turned out to be a doll. So they grabbed the doll and made their escape.
Tifinin made an illusion of the Eye and used it as a decoy to buy the group time to get out of her lair, the wargs in hot pursuit.
Returning to The Smoke Ring, the party returned the woman's doll and angrily confronted the locals for sending them into harm's way over a doll. Apologies and explanations were in order, so the bar owner confessed that they had a particular soft spot for the mentally ill young woman who thought the doll was her child, but they felt fearful and helpless against the witch. Seeing how it all shook out, the discussion turned to the possibility that the witch had used the doll to bait the adventurers to her lair, somehow knowing that they might have had the Eye and that they were coming to Underwillow.
The business with the doll and the witch resolved, a night of carousing in The Smoke Ring ensued, with Tifinin composing a new song entitled "Round" for the occasion. He had the tavern singing along with him before the night was done.
Return to Parabor
(spoilers for Against the Cult of the Reptile God)
The party makes its way back to Parabor, and their newly-bequeathed house. When they enter the property, they saw a beautiful Gurrish vardo and a more rustic covered wagon in the yard. They were immediately on the defensive, knowing full well that the Pact was looking for them.
The owners of the wagons were a handsome tiefling musician named Sorrow Trelenus of the House of Wendre, and an imposing half-orc archer named Joan of Gell. They claimed to be former students of the later Elaria Feywing, and were too far away when they got word of her death to make it to the funeral. They had come to Parabor anyway to pay their respects, and were expecting the two other members of their party to meet them there before they left.
The Class was, needless to say, very suspicious about these unexpected visitors, but the strangers were respectful and did nothing to increase suspicion. So they were warily invited to supper and treated with guarded hospitality.
True to their word, another vardo arrived that evening, containing a scruffy young Gurrish man named Vasilya "Boz" Boswell, and a motherly, grey-haired halfling named Seraphina Greenbottle. The four newcomers were sort of a patchwork "tribe" of misfits, it seemed, and it became fairly obvious that Boz was the unofficial chief.
They had gotten word that Elaria had been murdered, and knew that they were interested in getting to the bottom of that, but were completely ignorant about the Eye and the cult.
They learned about the Pact of the Lich sometime between the end of supper and the beginning of bedtime, when the cult showed up with a gang of undead zombies and attacked the house.
Avalon kept anyone and anything from compromising the vault, but it was up to the Class and their four guests to defend the house and grounds. During the course of the attack, Sorrow and one of the cultists incapacitated each other, and one of the priestesses got to them before his rescuers did. He was captured and the cultists escaped with him using Elaria's rowboat.
Reeling in frustration and fear for his tribesman, Boz revealed that could "see" where Sorrow was, and psionically searched for him, telling the rest of the group where to find him and his captors. He paid for the effort with a crushing headache, as happened when he forced his abilities instead of allowing them to happen naturally.
The group found Sorrow and his captors, retrieving him and dispatching their foes. At that point, the Class realized that their new allies were not part of the cult and were probably telling the truth.
The Situation In Parabor
(spoilers for Against the Cult of the Reptile God)
By now, the combined group was worried about what was going on in Parabor, and they also needed some supplies. So they headed into town.
It became fairly obvious very quickly that something was amiss. People were hiding in their house, staring at them from their yards, and either putting on disconcertingly cheerful fronts or meeting them with open hostility. A pall of paranoia pervaded the entire town.
People had been disappearing almost nightly. Entire families seemingly taken in the night. After questioning the few people that would talk to them, the group was able to piece together the truth: the Pact of the Lich had managed to gain control of the town, and was violently recruiting the townsfolk. Either citizens would return as brainwashed zealots, or would disappear entirely and not return at all.
The group determined that the local headquarters for this operation was the Temple of Merikka, located in the eastern edge of town, and one of the two taverns, the Golden Grain, which was located in the western part. The only people who seemed trustworthy was the Mayor and his family, two elven emissaries that had been sent to protect the Mayor, a ranger and his wife who owned a farm on the edge of town, and a wizened old wizard named Ramne who lived in a grove nearby. It seemed most everyone else were brainwashed cultists.
In the course of cleaning out the temple the group discovered a young tween girl being kept in a cage by a mad priest, who forced her to endure his bad sculpting and worse poetry. Her name was Cirilli Finla, she said, and was the daughter of the shopkeepers. The shopkeepers were wholly in the cult, and Cirilli had no interest in returning to them. She begged the group not to make her go back, and they agreed to let her stay with them if she wished.
Ramne had information about a second location in which he believed the cult was taking its victims in order to either brainwash or murder them. Being too physically feeble to accompany them on the journey there, he agreed to hide and care for Cirilli until the group could return.
North to the Cult's Hideout
(spoilers for Against the Cult of the Reptile God)
After an unpleasant, days-long trek through rain and mud and a dark, bullywug infested swamp, Our Heroes make their way to the main headquarters of the Pact of the Lich. The outpost consisted of a series of wet, muddy tunnels cut into the mud and muck of the swamp. They made their way through, past all manner of disgusting creepy crawlies, crazed cultists, troglodytes and other horrors. It turned out that the brainwashing was being done by a Spirit Naga that was inhabiting a beach on an underground lake.
After battling the naga and some of the more powerful operatives inhabiting the hideout, they freed the handful of prisoners they found being held captive, including Sandy and Summer Carpenter, who were friends of Cirilli, and also the two elves helping the Mayor, Dorian and Llewellyn.
They made their way back to Parabor, determined to drive the remaining cultists from the town and hopefully allow the townsfolk time to shake off the mind control.
The remaining cultists were holed up in the Golden Grain Inn. So the group headed over there to see what was going on. The main room in the inn was mostly empty, but the smell of cooking bacon wafted from the kitchen. So Tif stayed downstairs to talk to the cook, but the rest of the party went upstairs to look for more cultists.
In the course of the ensuing conflict, Boz took a near-lethal shortsword to the chest and Tif beat the cook unconscious when the man attacked him with the hot pan full of bacon. Carrying the grievously wounded Boz out of the inn, the party discovered that Tif had covered the entire ground floor with angry graffiti.
Having dispatched/routed the cultists, the group stayed in the Slumbering Serpent for about a week while their friend recovered.
The Festival in Saltmarsh
(spoilers for Ghosts of Saltmarsh: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh)
Sorrow wasn't happy. He had been booked to play at the Greengrass Festival in Saltmarsh, and the group traveled there with him, only to discover that the venue had been shut down due to "haunting" and "irregular goings-on" at the uninhabited mansion that sat on the grounds the town traditionally used as a music venue. It was too late for the town to find another venue, so the musicians were left without a gig. This was of particular disappointment to Tifinin and Ivar, as they had been accompanying Sorrow often and the three of them had more or less formed a band that sometimes performed under the name "Constant Sorrow."
So the group took it upon themselves to look into it and try to salvage the venue.
Boz and Seraphina were making themselves scarce, and Boz's only explanation was that he had business in Saltmarsh he had to attend to.
Ivar's family, the Greenleafs, lived in Saltmarsh. They were a wealthy farming family, headed by an Elven ex-adventurer named Cirdan Greenleaf, who had retired in the town and raised several generations of family there. They were overjoyed at Ivar's visit, and put the entire party up in their home.
After quite a bit of investigation and urban spelunking, it turned out that the house where the concerts were to take place had been quietly taken over by smugglers. These smugglers had been giving the illusion of the house being haunted to keep people out while they ran their nefarious business out of the basement and the secret sea tunnels underneath. So they confiscated the cargo (which happened to be bolts of silk) and scattered the smugglers, bringing in the constabulary to help.
The town was overjoyed that the concert was back on at the normal venue. Constant Sorrow played a profitable gig, and despite Boz's obvious but uncharacteristic case of nerves, everyone had a fun day at the festival. Later that night, they retired to the Greenleaf estate.
Later that night, Seraphina breathlessly returned in a frantic state. She and Boz had been jumped in The Empty Net Tavern by Captain Jade Hawk and her crew, the pirates manning The Witch of Swords. Hawk was a friend of Boz's, but apparently, something had gone terribly wrong. Seraphina knew her drink had been drugged. She managed to shrug it off, but Boz was not so lucky. Outnumbered and alone, she had fled back to the estate to get help.
The group charged down to the docs and boarded the ship by force. Boz was tied up and nearly unconscious in the hold, along with a captured Sea Elf named Oceanus. Wresting control of the ship away from the mostly drunken crew, the Class chased or tossed their foe from the ship and sailed it out of the harbor, Ivar at the helm.
As it turned out, Boz was fencing a shipment of stolen silk that was supposed to end up on Hawk's ship. When the silk didn't show up, she decided she had bills to pay herself and that taking Boz to Waterdeep to collect the bounty on his head would be an easy enough way to pay them.
Oceanus was an emissary from the Sea Elves, on his way to discuss an alliance of some sort with the town council at Saltmarsh. He didn't really understand why or how he ended up in the hold of the Witch of Swords, but he had a suspicion that it might have had something to do with the business he had in town, which he didn't disclose. Either that, he figured, or he was simply the victim of a press gang. In either case, he was grateful for being rescued and thanked the party profusely.
Since the Witch of Swords had been confiscated by the Class while it was in the process of committing a crime, and since Hawk was a known pirate, the captain of the militia told the group that the ship was theirs by right of salvage, a fact that made Ivar extremely happy. He'd been telling his folks he was a respectable sailor so they wouldn't find out he'd been a pirate, so this worked pretty well to support that claim.
They repainted the ship and renamed her the Hond Ebrath.
The Truth about Mr. Boswell
Atalaya wasn't entirely happy with the news that one of her companions was dealing in stolen contraband. Particularly when she considered that he was doing illegal shenanigans right alongside the group and without their knowledge. She had often been paired with Boz for night watches, as it was their habit to watch in pairs, with at least one member of each pair being someone able to see in the dark. So the fact that he was doing dodgy dealings and she didn't know didn't sit well.
So she made a point to talk to him about it when the opportunity presented itself. And he was utterly embarrassed at having to be rescued. So he was contrite and humbled when she approached him.
What she learned was that he was a fence, and pretty well entrenched in the criminal underbelly of many of the coastal towns. And he was wanted in Waterdeep for quite a bit of money.
The Waterdeep crime underground had put a price of 500 gold on his head for running a grift without properly cutting them in. The Waterdeep constabulary had put the same price on his head for the same reason.
So Boz didn't really go to Waterdeep anymore.
Atalaya made him promise no more underhanded secret dealings. She reasoned that there was no reason to do crime. They'd made quite a bit of money in the last couple months, enough to make sure everyone would be taken care of, at least for a while. He agreed that the last thing he wanted to do was put the group in danger.
What's Up With Duke Orsino?
(spoilers for The Brain-Gorger's Appetite)
The group headed up to Riverport (The nickname of the Town of Daggerford) to deliver some cabbages for Ivar's older brother Raven, and also because they needed to do some serious shopping. While they were there, they visited The Green Goblin, the non-human tavern in the eastern part of the town. While they were there, they were recognized by two of the halflings working at the tavern, a pair of halfling siblings named Bluebell and Bodie Hardcheese. They remembered the group from The Smoke Ring because they happened to be in that tavern the night Tif had everyone singing "Round." So the entire group got the rock star treatment.
The tavern folk were pretty concerned about what was going on in town of late, namely the fact that Duke Orsino, who was in charge of the town, was behaving more erratically than usual and it was causing quite a bit of trouble for the town and for the surrounding villages that depended on trade with it.
They worked with Captain Mercutio to infiltrate the ducal mansion as guards and employees. While they were there, an botched attempt was made on the life of the Duke's sister, who had come to town and was running things until they could get Orsino straightened out.
It started becoming apparent that a criminal organization called The Ceaseless had infiltrated the duke's household and were running some sort of activity in the town. What it could be was not clear. What was worse, the group discovered that the Duke's trusted steward, Regus, had been kidnapped and replaced by a doppelganger.
After rescuing Regus, the group tracked some of the criminals to an iron foundry called the Brick, just outside of town. There they dispatched the criminals and returned to the Green Goblin, only to discover that the Ceaseless had put out a hit on them. Their friends at the Goblin were locked in an upstairs bedroom, and assassins were waiting to kill them in the common room. All hell broke loose. Sorrow was stabbed and Macterah ended up chasing the last hitman down the street, taking him down with a crossbow bolt to the back.
The group retreated to their ship, tended to Sorrow, and figured out what to do next.
The next day, using itel supplied by Captain Mercutio and Regus, the group set out for the copper mine in the nearby hills. They enlisted the help of a runty, oddly pacifistic kobold named Grinda to distract the kobold guards to gain entry into the mine. There they discovered the truth about what the Ceaseless were doing in Riverport.
A by-product of copper mining is azurite. And azurite is like high-grade coke to a Mind-Flayer. The bad news was that that was exactly what was overseeing the mine operations for the Ceaseless. The good news was that he was absolutely tripping balls when the Class discovered his base of operations in the back of the copper mine.
So instead of being killed outright, they actually managed to barely survive the horrifying battle that took place between the group, the flayer, and the flayer's cerebral stalker allies.
Boz was tackled and brutally bitten by one of the stalkers, tearing a deep rent in his shoulder and contaminating the wound with azurite. After the battle, he managed to walk out of the mine under his own steam, and the group, bedraggled, beaten, and exhausted, made their way back to the Hond Ebrath.
While they were in Daggerford, they made a stunning discovery: Kay Palantir, one of Master Elaria's own companions that had been lost in the taking of the Library in Gillain's Hill, was not only still alive, but living there in the city, as mindwiped and amnesiac as Avalon.
The Vision
Aboard the ship, Boz took a bit of a turn for the worse during the night. Perhaps it was the fever, or perhaps it was the azurite he'd been exposed to, but he went into a ranting delirium in the dark hours, muttering in Gurrish and repeating over and over, "Wave. Whelm. Blackrazor." Nobody knew what he was talking about. It took Sorrow using a Comprehend Languages spell to figure out that he was talking about "destroying the Eye."
It was that night that the Class decided that it was probably about time to let Boz's tribe know about the Pact of the Lich.
