New Destinations

We have reached level six by now. While not as exciting as reaching a new tier, we still unlocked a few new abilities. First, Thok, as a fighter, got another bump in his stats. I gained an additional use of channel divinity, and a new channel divinity feature that allows me to give another creature +10 on an attack roll.

Slim Eater and Snapjaw had some gifts for us: some potions that they had looted from the lizardfolk's battle with the cultists. It totaled out to 2 potions of healing, a potion of greater healing, and an oil of etherealness. I took the potions of healing, and Censura took the oil of etherealness. We gave the potion of greater healing to Thok, whose player wasn't present for that session.

Borngray invited us to stargaze through the telescope installed at the top of the castle's keep, the Farseer of Illusk. Before we started, he warned us that a new batch of cultists would be arriving at the castle the next morning. He warned us that we should be off by then, and warned us not to return. He gave us the command word for the portal in the caves: "Draezir." He gave us the command word in strict confidence, and we didn't mind not sharing with Jamna Gleamsilver.

To use the Farseer of Illusk we needed to make two checks: Dexterity to work the mechanisms, and Wisdom (perception) to spot anything. I managed to make the first check, but failed the second. Sandi and Censura, however made both checks. Censura spotted first one black dragon, then its twin entering a lair elsewhere in the marsh. He related this information to Sandi, who realized the secret of the dragon in the Mere of Dead Men. Voaraghamanthar, the black dragon that claims the swamp as its territory has a twin Waervaerendor. Its through the help of this twin that it seems able to cross the swamp so fast. Sandi saw hordes of undead wandering the swamp, explaining how it gets its name, and demonstrating how helpful having Snapjaw as a guide through the swamp was.

We settled in to rest for the night before leaving in the morning. Sandi, being Sandi, decided to take some vengeance on Dralmorrar Borngray. He sneaked over to the elf's room and tossed in the remaining clay pot of frog hallucinogen. Not only did the poison have no affect, it woke Dralmorrar, who spotted sandi and was not amused. Sandi fought a running battle with Dralmorrar, escaping out the front door of the keep right after dealing a telling blow. Dralmorrar cursed at him as he slammed the door. Alek elected to have Sandi use his own potions to recover from the damage rather than use any spells.

Snapjaw and Slime Eater saw us off as we activated the portal and traveled to the next stage of our journey. We ended up in an alpine forest in the Graypeak Mountains far to the east. We were between two standing stones with a clearing containing three other sets of standing stones. Not too far away was a mountain lodge. All the outside windows were shuttered, and smoke came out of one of the two chimneys. We noticed a nest for a large bird on the roof. We heard noises in the forest behind us, so we approached to lodge.

We entered an empty cloak room before passing into the main room, with a set of grand stairs leading up to a balcony. Suits of armor flanked the door and gargoyle "statues" stood at the base of the stairs. Censura, not trusting statues, hit them with an eldritch blast. The gargoyles did not move until I entered the room. They used their flight feature to keep control of the room. They even managed to bloody Sandi for the second time that day. Between Alek's guardian spirits and Censura's and Sandi's ability to do large amounts of damage in one shot, we managed to drop them.

We'll travel deeper into the lodge next time.