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Current Situation
- Having, at last, reached the forbidden second level of Drezlin Nandar's library, the Trollmates continue to search for clues about the missing wizard and his plans of darkness.
Session Summary
- Noticing a greenish glint in the left eye socket of the skeleton of Deldreg, Z focuses more intently on the area. As he watches, the glimmer turns into two giant, bright green gemstones within the skull, like eyes. Z calls out to Ely, who calls out to Barrett at the same time Z then calls for Dhann. Everyone now sees this happening to the dragon's skull. Barrett swears he sees one of the claws twitch, and then without warning, the wings stretch, pull back in, and the head of the dragon leans back against the chains with a yawn of awakening.
- Voice booming, loud and deep, he speaks. "Well - I have visitors!" As he scans the four newcomers to the second floor. "Tell me, little ones, what brings you to my library!" Elyana asks if it really is his library, and he says so, his tone saying, "Obviously."
- Barrett asks the dragon's name, and he confirms it's Deldreg, the Dark one. He demands to be freed, and Ely says they're not sure how to do that. Deldreg replies that the group looks smart, and to figure it out. Deldreg curses the wizard who brought him here, and he only wants to be free. Barret says the group is no friend of the wizard's either. He also says the group needs to check out the rooms in the back, to see if the can find something with which to free the dragon, and after giving the group another once over, Deldreg concedes to this - after a heavy pause. He pulls his wings back in, to allow passage on either side of him.
- Barrett asks how Deldreg will get out if he's freed of the chains, and the skeleton replies that he'll just smash through the ceiling. As Barrett walks past on the eastern side, he examines the chains. They pass into holes, as if they're attached to something in the ceiling, and in the floor. The ends of the chains aren't visible at all.
- On the way, he examines what looks to be a large urn. It's got shape to it, ornamental legs, and it's quite tall, only a bit shorter than Barrett. Deldreg snorts again that the library is his, because if the wizard isn't there, then he's obviously dead. Ely asks if the skeleton has seen any flashes or heard sounds at night, and the dragon says that that was him, calling out to see who would answer his summons to free him. Z asks after the mushrooms, and Deldreg says it's an "unfortunate side effect of my rebirth, one might say." Elyana asks when he became "reborn," and and Deldreg, sounding annoyed, isn't sure. The Warlock then asks if he's from Anauroch and he says somewhat south, but yes. She then asks what he would do, and he replies he supposes he would live out his life, "Such as it is."
- Barrett notices that the suit of armor on the northeastern side of the landing is generic and looks new. He hops along the railing to cross behind the dragon to the other side of the room. Something seems odd in the wall to the north, besides a second suit of armor and he acts as if he didn't see it, in case the dragon is watching.
- Deldreg says he would rather have remained dead than be brought to the library. Z asks what Deldreg thinks of Drezlin being arisen again and if that changes anything for the dragon, who replies that he might set aside some time to end the wizard for a second time. "A shared enemy, again, makes us friends, I believe."
- Elyana asks if Deldreg has seen Drezlin go to a special place more often in the library than any other and he says that the wizard often went to a place behind him, and Barrett calls there's not much to see back there. "I mean, there's a plant. Not much to look at back here at all." Barrett also decides to open the door in the northwestern corner and the dragon says he'll let everyone pass as needed.
- Dhann asks if the dragon is sending his summons to people in the forms of dreams, and after a long pause, a sigh of sorts, he answers in the affirmative, as much as he can tell. He describes to Dhann that he's not quite sure of the extent of his abilities in his current state, but the dreams he would send to people would at least manifest in a way unique to each person so that they would feel compelled to go to the library.
- Z joins up with Barrett to check out the first door. Z notices some sort of hidden door or mechanism in the northern wall, but not any way to open it or what might trigger it.
- Dhann asks if Drezlin ever had a scar on his face and the skeleton doesn't remember one.
- Barrett asks the dragon if he knows Drezlin as Lord Nandar, and Deldreg immediately flares his wings and tenses up in pure anger. He then calms himself, and says yes. He did not see Drezlin die, as he's been trapped in the library. Barrett asks if the dragon is interested in revenge, and he says yes to that, as well.
- Watching Deldreg, Dhann tries to gauge if the skeleton is is reminiscent of the one that attacked during the Benefit, and there are definite similarities in the voice and size of the dragon.
- Barrett checks for traps on the door, doesn't find any, but as soon as he pushes the catch on the door, a weight slams down from above him and deals a heavy blow. Recovering, Barrett and Z head inside:
- A tapestry to the north, and a book on the western wall. There's a pot of some sort next to the book and on the southern wall is a fountain of sorts, like a lion's head. The liquid and the room smells strongly of chemicals. The book is a book about brewing poisons in general. A mundane axe lays on the floor. All the books on a shelf near the door are related to harmful herbalism or poisons. Ely asks if there's a book about becoming resistant to poisons, but there's nothing of that kind of subject.
- Meanwhile, Dhann asks if the dragon leaves the area, if the fog and mushrooms would clear up, and Deldreg says he assumes so. If he's not in the area, he wouldn't be around to produce the fog and fungi in Nightstone. He also asks if Drezlin ever used Deldreg as an errand-goer or to carry out the wizard's bidding, and Deldreg says no. Dhann doesn't get the sense he's lying, and so nods in acknowledgement.
- Moving down one room on the western wall, Barrett and Z find books mainly in Elvish and Common, among unfamiliar scripts, detailing how to imbue things with magic. Z calls Elyana into the room to help with reading any titles he can't read himself to gain more information on the books in the room. It seems to mainly hold books instructing one on enchantment magic more than any other school. However, some of the books are so old and archaic that Elyana has trouble reading them on the spot. Some of the titles are incredibly challenging, or even use mixed languages. She does find, though, references to magic old enough to refer back to the creation of the Weave and how parts of magic make up those other parts of the Weave. How to take magic from different schools and infusing things with the differing magics. She does locate a place where two books are missing, and based on the organization of the shelves, they may be books related to Shadow. There's also a small pile of dirt and rubble in the room, of some sort. They decide to take a closer look at the contents of the room. Barrett finds illegible, recently burned pages that are crumbling and too delicate to pick up. Z looks through the rest of the books on the shelf, finding:
- Chilling Tales from the Spine of the World (proper study of this book teaches the Chill Touch cantrip. This book has a lot of discussions on imbuing undead things with other forms of magic, like an undead farmer and giving him the powers of a wizard.)
- Barrett picks up a book and writes a chalk message to Ely that there's a secret door and they probably need a distraction to get into the door, asking Ely if she wants to distract the dragon while he gains access to the room. She gives him a thumbs up. Barrett writes another message. "Be prepared for action," to show to Dhann from behind the dragon. Ely does this, leaning out of the doorway, showing Dhann, and then Barrett writes the question: "Are we freeing this guy or not?" Ely writes, "We need to talk about that." Barrett writes back, "How?"
- Outside, Dhann gets a little closer and asks if Deldreg can really use the gemstones as eyes. He's quite curious. Deldreg replies yes, and Dhann asks if he can hear through them. "No." Dhann asks, "If I could hold one, would you know where it was at any given time if it wasn't here?" Deldreg says he wouldn't be able to hold one, as they're not removable. Upon getting closer, Dhann realizes the gemstones are absolutely massive emeralds. It's possible the gems are being used to power the skeleton, as they sometimes are used as conduits to power constructs and these are most likely powering the skeleton's animation.
- Looking around the room with Ely, Z manages to find a small booklet, tucked behind the shelf as it it fell or was misplaced, on weaving techniques and textiles. It's quite basic stuff, but the second half of the book details how to create a magic carpet! The bard and tabaxi high five and Z performs a celebratory flip on the find.
- Ely rejoins Dhann out on the landing and Rascal stays with Z and Barrett. She tells her familiar, "If something looks like it's going to attack, you have permission to be at the ready." While she walks, she asks if Deldreg knows anything about the Nightstone, and while he says no, it sounds like he's beginning to grow impatient.
- Barrett runs across the railing to the eastern side of the room, and examines the bookcases in the northeastern corner of the room, on the eastern wall. If the layout upstairs is identical to downstairs, as it has been so far, there should be another door here. He notices a book on one of the shelves pushed a little further back than the others, and when he looks at it again, it's very obviously a piece of wood that is painted to look like a book. Z checks it out, and looking behind the wooden book, a rod goes back into the wall. Not sure what it connects to, but Barrett tells everyone to stand back and he pulls it.
- The entire bookshelf slides up to the north, revealing a doorway into a room. The chamber has a substantial throne, and there's a matching bookcase on the other side of the wall that slide with this one on the outside. Looking inside, there are more shelves, filled with children's books and stories, and absolutely mundane. They don't match in any way besides shape and color. There's even cookbooks. They feel completely out of place compared to everything else in this library. They aren't even organized in the same way. Examining the chair more closely, it's regal and with inlays of gold. Barrett notices it's slightly askew, and he finds the seam of a trapdoor in the floor, which the Monk points out to Z. There don't seem to be any traps, just a trigger in the floor, connected to the throne itself in the way of a metal rod. Pull the arm of the throne, and the trapdoor will open. The whole chair, when Barrett pulls the arm, folds up and reveals the floor below. It seems to be nothing but a simple escape hatch.
- Barrett and Z check the bookshelf in the middle of the eastern wall, then, and the trigger here is obvious immediately. It's another hidden doorway.
- While they explore, Ely takes a piton from her bag and drops it over the railing to the first floor to see if the glass ceiling below the dragon has any reaction, as well as to hopefully distract Deldreg from what the Monk and Bard are doing. The metal hits the glass, and then pops loudly with a small explosion, flinging the piton back up towards the top ceiling. It seems to catch Deldreg off guard as he throws his head back and he snaps reflexively at where the piton pop went off.
- The room that Z and Barrett enter into glows with a dim, deep red lighting and on a stone table in the middle is a rotting Kobold corpse. There's a bookshelf inside, and on the southern wall, a table with two crimson tomes. Z checks the two books and they are both about necromancy, specifically the two Shadow books Ely noticed missing from the other room. Beneath the table, Barrett sees a large wooden box with a lid. Barrett points that out to Z, and Z has shown him the books. Stepping out, Barrett summons Ely to the room and asks for her help. He also tells Deldreg they're moving as quickly as possible and apologizes for the delay.
- Getting to the room - and it smells like rot - Barrett points the books out to Ely and then to the Bag of Holding. Barrett then sticks his head back out, calling for Dhann to come into the room as well. Ely checks what the books are before putting them in the bag. The older of the books deals with all sorts of magic but has a chapter specifically on Shadow magic, and some of it seems to be written by someone who actually knows the magic, while other parts seem to be written by multiple different hands. Very journal-like. Some of it sounds like theories, or some who have directly experimented with it. The second, newer book, is all theories on imbuing creatures, objects, anything you want, with Shadow magic. Elyana immediately lets Barrett and Z know this, and puts both of them into the Bag, and Dhann enters the room.
- Barrett checks to see if the sliding shelf is able to be closed and opened from the inside, and he finds this to be the case.
- As the bookcase slides into place, the light brightens considerably and is no longer glowing red. When the light increases, Dhann immediately notices that the Kobold corpse is chained to the table, and is moving, squirming, as if something is writhing underneath its skin. The Cleric instantly ignites the Glove onto the corpse to force what he's assuming is Shadow infection into the light where he can see it, and hopefully burn it, and warns everyone, "Get back - I think it's infected."
- The corpse, in the radiant light, is absolutely crawling with Shadow, and if not for the chains, would probably be flopping around the room. Dhann gathers energy to scorch the corpse with the Glove's light. It doesn't take long, and the bits of Shadow magic burn and turn to smoke, dissolving in the radiant light. Even though the corpse was wriggling, and it looked like a lot, Dhann can gauge that this wasn't a massive amount of Shadow. More than Tabitha, but less than Alectos.
- At this time, Barrett shows the group a large leather glove with silver chain mail on it, and he can hopefully touch Shadow if he needs to and not be infected. It's decided to check the box under the table and see if there's more Shadow that needs burning. Opening the box, they find that the only thing in it is silver lining, and that it looks similar to boxes in the refuse room on the first floor. It looks like bodies have been sent out, with Shadow, or sent in, with Shadow. Nasty business.
- After some deliberation, it's decided that the best course of action might be to free the dragon. The group most likely can't take him on in the library, and they do have a common enemy. And if they travel to the desert, perhaps striking a deal with him may lead to some benefits, as that would be his home territory. Dhann does let the group know he has another question for the dragon - if he knows Archastus Frome - and so can distract Deldreg if need be. At this time, Barrett lets everyone know again that he and Z have found evidence of a secret room based on a hidden door in the northern wall.
- It's decided Dhann and Ely can continue to speak to Deldreg while Barrett and Z try to gain access to the northern room. Tell the dragon they have one more room, and then finalize their plans with whether or not to let the skeleton free. Dhann suggests casting Tongues on himself so that Deldreg can speak Draconic and perhaps be more inclined to chat while the others explore. Ely says she'll stick with Dhann, and the group agrees to split.
- But when Barrett tries to open the sliding bookcase, it doesn't budge. He uses Thaumaturgy to see if Deldreg can hear him ask for assistance, and the door opens with one slam of a skeletal wing. The dragon is definitely getting restless and irritated. Rascal sticks with Barrett and Z again, and the group notices the glimmer of two Minotaur skeletons guarding the double doors. Eight feet tall, shimmering ghostlike, and definitely a threat. They're not moving, but are standing with intent. Deldreg has summoned them. If he doesn't get to leave, no one gets to leave, it seems.
- Barrett and Z make for the hidden door to attempt to figure it out. There's definitely a secret door, but they have to find the mechanism to open it. Dhann casts Tongues on himself, and tells Deldreg, "Well, if we die here today, you're most definitely not getting out today - and you can speak in Draconic if you like. I'll understand you," hoping to catch the skeleton's attention. The dragon pauses at this, and remarks in Draconic, "Oh, really? Very interesting. And where, did you, little one, learn this?" Dhann replies that he is able to understand any languages, for an hour, as a blessing from his deity. When Deldreg comments that, then, Dhann cannot truly speak Draconic, Dhann replies, "Alas, no," but says this in Deep Speech, and Deldreg is incredibly intrigued at this. A fog of some sort comes from the front of the dragon's skull, and it reeks with a noxious fume. It's not an attack, but it's a sign that the dragon seems to be getting comfortable, now, and settling in for a chat.
- Z checks out one of the suits of armor, and is able to move it. He realizes that the entire left arm can be rotates, and there's a clunking within the wall. "Hear that? Think I found something, I think we're getting somewhere." Barrett, on the other side, is told about this and Barrett inspects the armor on his side of the wall. He figures he can do the same with this suit, and does so. The two then coordinate their movements and lift the suits' arms in tandem, and the doors open.
- To keep Deldreg's attention on him, Dhann walks around to the front of the skeleton to the book on the pedestal. Ely stays between the two groups, off to the side, and keeps an eye out for any magic that the dragon may fling. She notices that the Minotaurs are watching all the Trollmates intently.
- The room Barrett and Z find themselves in is awash in a green light, with a soaring ceiling, and claw-footed pillars throughout. The ceiling is a good 30-40' high, marking it as a magical ceiling. There are two doors they can see, in the middle of the room, and bookshelves. Two pedestals have a singular book chained to them, and a third pedestal has a large sheet of paper. There is also a large singular tome on the top of one bookshelf next to more loose papers. Rascal floats behind Z. Barrett drinks a healing potion while entering the room. Z approaches the pedestal with the paper and finds a good sized map, about 11x18" and of some import. It looks like a pathway through some mountains, images of snowpeak mountains, and what looks like some sort of tower. It's quite detailed, but doesn't mark where the location of this tower may be. The image of the observatory from the sketch earlier in the day, however, is depicted in this map as well, albeit very small. So the two locations are within sight of each other, wherever they may be. Barrett glances at the chained book to his left, and it appears to be a culmination of several books encountered earlier. It is a significantly detailed book on how to create entirely new creatures and imbue them with some sort of spirit or intellect. It makes all the experimental and anatomical books make a bit more sense. On one of the pages near the back is a definitive sketch identifying a Shadow dragon.
- Meeting in the middle of the room, Barrett and Z check out the second large book and find a replica of the Per Historia Arcandor Materia and it's got three loose pages stuffed into the middle. The first page details the Cyrinishad as a magic item, the second page is details on the Creation Stones, and the third page is on the Stones and what they hid. It refers, too, to Dunamancy and Shadow magic. All other books within this room, on the shelves, clearly make up the most evil of the tomes, dealing in necromancy and the dark arts. There's a significant amount of magic in this room, with these books. The chains on these books are the same thickness as the chains holding Deldreg's skeleton but there's no way known yet as to how the chains are loosed.
- Looking at the book on the top of the eastern shelf, and the papers there: there are more maps, and they all seem to be in and around Faerun. The only thing that Z really gets out of them is that there seems to be a connection to The High Ice in the far north and the map he found that leads to the tower. He still can't quite place where the tower is besides The High Ice, but that's about it. The three pages, the booklet of maps, and the singular map are placed in Z's magical locker.
- Back with Deldreg, the dragon has been conversing with Dhann in Draconic and switching now and again to Deep Speech. Through their chatting, Dhann can tell that Deep Speech is a relatively new tongue for the dragon, and Deldreg seems quite interested in the fact that Dhann knows something he doesn't. Even with Tongues cast on himself, Dhann enunciates his own words clearly in Deep Speech to keep Deldreg occupied with being able to practice the language. The Cleric uses the book about the dragon's exploits to further entertain him, and the dragon enjoys boasting up the kill count and correcting accounts that represent him inaccurately within the tome.
- Barrett and Z check the doors in the middle of the green-lit room. The steel door Barrett opens creaks loudly, and there's a threshold he steps over to enter the room. It's a small room, square. Z props open his door on the opposite side, watching. In the room is a small table, empty, shallow, ceramic bowl on top with a little stand, and a small round rug on the floor, red and gold. Not too fancy. On each wall, though, are hundreds of pegs and hooks. Maybe even a thousand of them, total. All empty, no labels, no pattern. The doors to the west, north, and east are all identical and all have a tiny keyhole. There's one more door, to the south, still closed. It looks just the same as the other three.
- Z checks the door for traps, and he can't find any other way to open the door besides a keyhole to match the others. Barrett suggests Z step out while he investigates the last door, and Z obligingly hops out of the little room. Barrett checks it with his lockpicking tools and all he can tell is that it's simply a basic keyhole. Nothing fancy to it. As he pokes around with his lockpicks and feels the tumblers in the average lock, and hears it click open, at the same instant, all three of the other doors dislodge their holdings (a rock, and two pitons), blow wide open, and slam shut. The southern door has yet to be opened.
- Appearing on every peg in the room is a key, until there are hundreds of keys fluttering as they appear before falling still.
- Deldreg, at the sound of doors slamming, is interrupted and roars in frustration, accusing the group of stalling. More skeletons shimmer into existence and take up places around the room. Dhann tries to talk down the irate dragon, saying, "I can only move so fast as my companions solve the puzzles," and there's a threat, this time, in the plume of fog that comes from Deldreg's bony nostrils. Dhann asks for permission to check with his friends to hurry them along, and the skeleton grants it.
- Z tries to open one of the doors but it opens right up to reveal an empty room. Barrett is nowhere to be seen. In some "other" room in the same spot, Barrett checks inside the bowl and sees a soupy, cloudy liquid inside. Barrett is able to pick up the bowl, and pours some of the stuff into the keyhole of the southern door. The bowl never seems to empty. Z sees it begin oozing out of the western door. Using Thaumaturgy, Barrett yells for Z, and the Bard hears the Monk as if he was right in front of him. It seems that the doors, on the inside, have somehow changed the directions they face. They try pouring the water out of another keyhole, and again, it changes directions from Barrett to Z as it comes out of another keyhole. From Z's perspective, there's an untouched bowl. From Z's perspective, the room looks as it did, but gets the weird sense that the room, like a box, held another room, that Barrett is now somehow in.
- Barrett tries reaching into the bowl of liquid, after dropping in a key, and finds the bowl is utterly bottomless. As he kneels down to look around more intently, he feels something underneath his knee, and lifting the welcome mat, finds a singular key hidden under the mat. Barrett yells for Z to check his own mat, in his own box room, and Z uses the poi to lift the mat so he doesn't have to go into the room. The poi lifts the rug, and Z can see an impression of where a key used to be. Using the key Barrett has found, the Monk puts the key in his eastern door, and it opens to reveal a room with a fairly substantial shaft running right through it, like the wheel of a ship but a bit more metallic and gear like. There's an additional coil of rope on the floor.
- And at this time, the other three doors swing open, revealing Barrett to Z and Z to Barrett. All of the other keys vanish as Barrett appears to Z and Barrett sticks the singular key into his pocket for safekeeping. Barrett whispers to Z what he's found, and Z can see it as well.
- Dhann and Deldreg have still been talking, but Deldreg is reaching the end of his patience, and threatens that they have one more minute to figure out how to get him free. Dhann moves and takes Ely's sleeve, and the two keep an eye on the skeletons watching them walk past. They join Z and Barrett, and a hurried, heated discussion begins. Let him go? Fight? Try to flee? Barrett quickly downloads the Cleric and Warlock on what they've found in the green-lit room and Dhann lets Barrett and Z know that more skeletons have cropped up in the central chamber. He then moves to block the north door on the right, listening for Deldreg and any attacking skeletons. Barrett moves to the wheel and grasps it. He moves it a notch, counterclockwise, and hears Deldreg roar, "YES!" The chains must be loosening. At this time, Ely lets the group know that one of the dragon's old stomping grounds is near her hometown and she doesn't want to let him go, but she doesn't think they can get rid of all the skeletons, and a dragon all at once. Z, in one doorway, and Dhann in the other are then confronted by a skeletal soldier, blocking them in the room. "Let him go, now!" Z barks, and Ely concedes, too, unwillingly, while Dhann says, "Barrett-" And with an "Alright," Barrett gives the wheel a spin to loose the chains.
- The wheel whirls under its own momentum and the chains cause a massive cacophony as if strung through the entire building, and Deldreg roars, "YESSSS! FREEDOMMMMM!" and the sounds of destruction as his wings begin to flap madly, his claws exploding against the clear ceiling beneath. As he roughly stands, his head shatters through the ceiling, chains collapsing, snapping and sparking against the magical glass, and he snarls, turning to meet Z and Dhann's gazes, "We WILL meet again," and Dhann catches the reek of that noxious fog once again with the words. The cloud billows towards the doorways and looks to be coming straight towards the Trollmates. With a mighty thwack of his skeletal wings, Deldreg launches himself into the air and is gone, the force of his exit blasting the fog further into the air to harmlessly, albeit horrible smelling, into the sky. Deldreg disappears into the darkening sky to the east.
- The summoned skeletons, suddenly unsure as to what to do next, begin to step into the room, ready to attack.
Next time on...
Dragon gone, skeletons on the attack, the Trollmates prepare to meet this newest threat before - if they survive - handling the wrecked library and aftermath of Deldreg's release from his book-lined prison.