Campaign Recap
Our story began in Gelstead, a city located in the western arm of Feldspire within the confines of the Altean Confederation. A group of unsuspecting adventurers staying at the Knave and Wain tavern were forced to work together when an evening’s play performance went terribly awry. Members of the play troupe fell dead and two flesh golems rose from the crowd, attacking any within reach. These unrelated adventurers joined forces and took down the creatures only to be blamed for the occurrence, arrested, and sentenced to execution by Master Keeper Thurston, the head lawbringer in Gelstead.
Through the kindness of another Keeper named Murton, the group was released and soon after, searched for evidence to clear their names. They soon learned that Thurston not only orchestrated the attack, but was also responsible for framing the group. They followed Thurston into the forest one night and witnessed him reporting to a mysterious hooded figure that spoke of the attack at the tavern and hinted at a “Lord Tenebrous” being the true leader in this plot in which they found themselves entangled. As Thurston began to head back to Gelstead, he was confronted by the group and quickly eliminated, revealing the demonic Dybukk that was controlling him.
Their names now cleared, the group decided to band together and travel with a caravan to the coastal city of Deadcairn. Soon after, the caravan was ambushed by an infamous group of bandits known as the Obsidian Core. During a surprise attack, the Obsidian Core left two members of the group mortally wounded and proceeded to escape with all of the party's weapons, gear, and money. The group gave chase and tracked the bandits into the Iron Slopes to the Obsidian Core’s hideout inside a long forgotten Sky Giant fort. A surprise attack of their own left our party triumphant over the once feared Obsidian Core. The battle ended with two members of the Obsidian Core surrendering, but Tael could not accept what they had done to his friends; Tael retaliated by attacking two bandits and carving strange runes into their chests. Believing both to have perished in the process, Tael focused his attention to reaping the spoils left behind in the fort. Before following, Nimueh reached out to her patron, The Maiden Veruna, for guidance in saving one of the men left teetering on death’s edge. Upon waking the next day, the man was discovered to have fled.
Finally reaching Deadcairn, now much wealthier, the party reconnected with the caravan at a tavern known as The Surly Slumber. The next day they turned in the completed contract to the local Keepers. Doing so revealed the Master Keeper of Deadcairn as Aelar Moonbrook, a half-elven man from NYX’s distant past. NYX chose to disguise herself, and after some close calls, the group collected their money from eliminating the Obsidian Core and returned to The Surly Slumber, Aelar none the wiser.
Later, the gang attended the Reclamation Festival, a celebration in honor of the native peoples reclaiming their lands after the war of the Gods ravaged Kania. Anxious for some action, the party joined a competition known as The Gauntlet, wherein they tested their skills against several other groups looking to prove themselves. Emerging victorious, the group made for The Surly Slumber to continue their celebrations.
Realizing too late that she had forgotten to disguise herself, NYX encountered Aelar, who had witnessed her performance in The Gauntlet. As the pair conversed in an alleyway, they witnessed a pair of ships racing through Deadcairn’s harbor toward the docks. As they neared the docks, the tail ship fired upon both the lead ship and the city of Deadcairn itself. As NYX and Aelar rushed to the docks to assist, they watched the lead ship crash nose-first into the docks. While the docks were evacuated, the rest of the group arrived on the docks in an effort to aid amidst the chaos. Nimueh attempted to swim out to stop the ship firing on the city, but only managed to read the ship's name as the “Queen Mar” before it fled from the harbor. Evacuating the crashed ship proved successful and the group learned it to be a Keeper vessel that was returning from a voyage into the Tolset Enclave, a scattering of islands to the southeast of Deadcairn. The ship had brought with it an artifact of unknown origin that looked to be one piece of a larger whole.
The group followed Aelar as he made plans to bring the artifact to the Halls of Realization for study and safe-keeping. It was then that the artifact’s previously hidden runes of a long-forgotten language glowed blue before releasing a powerful pulse into the sky. The ground shook and pandemonium erupted from the Source District housing the city's places of worship. Rushing to investigate, the party found that the temple to Veruna had collapsed into a massive sinkhole.
Recouping the following day, the group witnessed an odd figure adorned in black leathers and a pink whip tucked into their trousers such that it resembled a tail. This figure robbed a nearby innocent townsfolk and the group gave chase alongside an associate of Aelar’s named Flynt Eastwood. This pursuit led them directly into the depths of the sewer system hidden away beneath Deadcairn, and eventually to the “throne room” of a notorious thief lord named the The Rat King. A tense confrontation ensued and during the fight, Tael’s throat was pierced by an arrow and he perished. The remaining party members begged the Rat King for mercy and, once granted, rushed Tael to the Source District looking to employ the help of a holy priest to bring Tael back to the land of the living. The ritual was successful, but it caused a once permanent illusion to fade from Tael’s body revealing him to be a Hobgoblin and not the human he had claimed to be.
During Tael’s recovery, the party was introduced to Ydris, an ambiguous fey-like humanoid that turned out to be the leader of The Faceless, a shadow organization that claimed to be the true leadership of Deadcairn. Their conversation with Ydris was interrupted when the Rat King attacked the city with his crew. In the initial confrontation, Ydris was incapacitated by a mysterious poison dart. The group assisted Flynt Eastwood, now revealed to be a member of The Faceless, in dragging Ydris’ now unconscious body back into the tavern. Contacting Aelar via sending stone, the party learned that the Rat King had taken up new residence in a secret lair beneath a tavern in the city. After fighting their way into the stronghold, the party confronted the Rat King again and exacted vengeance for what he had done to Tael. After his defeat, the man thought to be the Rat King was found to have been mind controlled by rats with large brains protruding from their skulls. These strange creatures managed to flee before the party could eradicate them.
Finally conscious, Ydris revealed themself to be a Bronze dragon who has watched over the city of Deadcairn for centuries. The poison infecting them was draining their life and making it impossible to change back into their true form. Ydris tasked the party with locating a cure and offered to build them a keep within the city while they were away as payment for this task. Before leaving on this quest, the newly named Taelented Seven decided to venture down into the pit where the Temple to Veruna once stood. Within, they discovered a tribe of kobolds, who Tael befriended and convinced them to allow him as their new leader. The party also discovered another artifact: an orb that offered a potential connection to the one found on the ship and may have been the source for the Temple’s collapse. After showing this orb to Aelar, the party was directed to deliver it to the Keeper’s capital city of Whitehorn to be placed in safe-keeping within the vaults of the Blackhold Keep.
Finally taking their leave from Deadcairn, The Taelented Seven made their way north toward Whitehorn. Outside the Iron Slopes, they tried to locate and assist a Thri-Kreen village that they had vowed to help on their original journey from Gelstead. Arriving, they found the village in shambles and tracked the culprits to a village of Goblins deep within the Tritine Forest nearby. The Goblins informed the party that the Thri-Kreen had in fact attacked them first and that some strange creatures roaming the forest seemed to be behind it. With Seven at the head, the gang tracked this information even deeper into the ever-thickening trees. Emerging into a clearing, the Taelented Seven were met with an ongoing battle between a group of devils and a pack of some sort of unknown abominations. The party joined the side of the devils and helped eradicate these strange creatures, only afterwards discovering that Seven recognized them from the start. During the interrogation of their fellow party member, the Taelented Seven noticed a duo spying on the carnage and the group gave chase. Well into their pursuit, one of the mystery figures called out to Seven claiming to be his brother. Before the party could apprehend the strangers, they quickly teleported away, but not before NYX identified the other to be her daughter, Faetra, whom she hadn’t seen in 50 years.
After their harrowing experience in the Tritine Forest, the Taelented Seven arrived back in Gelstead where their paths had first intertwined. They reconnected with old friends before journeying forth to Whitehorn. Just outside of Gelstead, they stumbled upon a sprawling area of blackened earth. Upon approaching this scar of unknown dark magic, they witnessed a small boy running on all fours alongside a pack of wolves. Following this boy on a whim, they ran into another old friend: Grandma, the herbalist whom they had met at the beginning of their story. She revealed herself to be a highly skilled druid now living on the outskirts of Gelstead and proceeded to pose some existential questions of morality before the group continued onwards.
A few more days' travel brought our party to the capital city of the Altean Confederation, Whitehorn. Not long after arriving, the Taelented Seven discovered sinister happenings unfurling amongst the highest ranks of the Keepers. They thrust themselves into investigating the suspicious activity and learned that the leader of the Keepers, Cella Devron, was being manipulated by a strange woman named Asutali. The group hatched a plan where Tael and Dawitt would break into the Blackhold Keep to search for answers regarding Asutali’s movements and motivations, but their heist of information was foiled. Tael and Dawitt managed to learn that Asutali was a yuan-ti, a race thought to be long extinct, before being incapacitated by Asutali’s forces. The two were dragged deep into the underdark, where torture and imprisonment awaited them. The rest of the Taelented Seven attempted to rescue Tael and Dawitt, but they too were captured. While being transported to the underdark, a group of drow rebels ambushed the Taelented Seven’s captors and freed the party. The drow rebels explained that the underdark was once ruled by their people until taking in refugees from the Yuan-ti empire after it was destroyed during the War of the Gods.
The leader of the rebellion, a drow matron named Liev’Aryan, knew the prison where Tael and Dawitt were likely held and sought to enlist the party's aide in staging a prison break as they also had allies locked within. The Taelented Seven agreed and set off from the rebels' hidden camp to find and free their friends. With the help of several rebel fighters, the party managed to rescue their beleaguered companions from their chains. After doing so, the Taelented Seven stumbled across two familiar faces within the prison. The first was Kaia, a woman they had met briefly in Deadcairn while battling the Rat King, who again joined forces to help defeat the prison warden. The second was Lorenzo Renaud, the Master Keeper of Whitehorn. Upon discovering him in a cell, the party learned that he had been forced to undergo a horrible yuan-ti ritual performed to create slave laborers. Lorenzo’s now lizardlike lower torso made it difficult for him to travel so the group helped carry him from the prison and back to the rebels’ safe-haven.
The party’s return to the rebel camp was met with gratitude and they were offered a job to help the rebels reclaim the underdark. Reluctantly declining, a yuan-ti defector named Ludas was offered to lead them back to the surface. Ludas led the group through the underground tunnels to a massive fungal forest before fleeing back to the rebel camp when the party found themselves in the path of a purple worm. Luckily, before they were forced into a deadly fight, the worm was distracted by a passing Yuan-ti patrol and diverted its course. The Taelented Seven made haste and eventually stumbled upon a pair of Myconids that brought them back to their village. There, Dawitt was led through a spore-melding ceremony that granted him visions of the magical herb he sought to heal his tribe of a prophesized plague. Bidding the Mushroom people farewell, the party exited the fungal forest through a lone tunnel filled with webs.
Reluctant yet determined, the party trudged through the tunnels ahead. In the process of navigating the tunnels and combating the arachnids within, the group recovered a mysterious knife hilt and other interesting loot from a drider’s lair. Victorious yet again, they carried on until they reached the sewers of Whitehorn. Upon emerging from the sewers back to the surface, the party witnessed somebody fall from the upper floors of the Blackhold Keep before deciding to rest for the night instead of further pursuing what was likely to be a dangerous task.
After a night’s rest, the Taelented Seven assaulted the Blackhold Keep only to be welcomed by the stationed guards and informed that someone had already done the dirty work for them. Perplexed, the group took up the investigation with the assistance of another Keeper named Ro. Ro claimed to have been sent by Aelar and assisted the group in tracking down clues regarding the death of Asutali and her guards. During the investigation, Nimueh recognized the spell used to kill the guards and ran from the group at the Blackhold Keep. Tael and NYX followed her out of the city gates to a nearby river where Nimueh revealed that she had been murdered by the very same spell before Veruna had granted her a second chance.
After a heavy conversation about the intertwined threads of their pasts, the trio returned to Whitehorn where they encountered Aelar, who had just arrived from Deadcairn. Or so he said. During a round of libations at The Guilded Gauntlet tavern, NYX snuck away and called Aelar on her Sending Stone, sensing that something wasn’t quite right. She was correct in her assumption and those remaining at the table led Aelar and Ro back up to one of their rooms. There, they confronted the pair and discovered that Aelar was in fact a tiefling named Kallista. Kallista’s history with several members of the Taelented Seven spanned decades: She was the one who had stolen Nimueh’s life before Veruna returned it. She had crossed paths with Tael when he journeyed to the Temple of Lyra, where he had originally been granted the illusion that made him appear human. And she was the catalyst in NYX’s terrible separation from her daughter Faetra and the real Aelar some 50 years prior that forced NYX into hiding for decades. Upon learning of Kallista’s true identity beneath the illusory face of Aelar, the group attempted to subdue her and Ro, but the pair teleported away before anything could be done. Dazed and confused after this encounter, the party decided to take a little R&R before continuing their journey.
After a couple weeks of down time, the Taelented Seven took to the road, this time heading for the Wilds of Feldspire, a lawless land where cities mostly fended for themselves. Nearing the Gates of Respite, a large checkpoint that cordoned off the Altean Confederation from this lawless stretch of Feldspire, the Taelented Seven encountered an orcish scouting party which they quickly dispatched. Fearing the worst, they rushed to the Gates only to discover that it was currently under siege by an orcish army led by a powerful druid. Assisting the Keeper forces defending the Gates, the party fought a long and costly battle. They emerged victorious and watched the invading forces flee back down the canyon pass and into the feared Witherwood.
The party continued on until they reached the city of Midcross, a midway point to central Feldspire. Midcross was an essential pit stop for adventuring bands making their way into the Witherwood to gain their fame or die in the process. It was here that the Taelented Seven learned that it was commonplace for adventuring bands to roam the land killing monsters for glory and to participate in arena-style battles around the continent. Just outside of Midcross, the gang found the tower of Bartholomew Whitehand, a wizard they had been tasked to speak with for the merchant Cloud back in Deadcairn. Inside they met a group of Simulacrums created by Bartholomew, who informed the party that their actual counterpart hadn’t been seen in over a year. The Taelented Seven searched for clues within Bartholomew’s tower and happened upon a globe in the study that visually changed the ceilings to anything the user imagined. Seven revealed additional details about his family and began to show his friends images through the globe. The process triggered a repercussive mental block in Seven that left him unconscious. Seven managed to recover at a cost to his health, but eventually the group made their way into the city walls of Midcross.
Within the city walls, the Taelented Seven signed on with The Agency, an organization that oversees the acquisition of contracts for all of the registered bands of adventurers. They accepted a contract for a rich Baroness and made their way into the wealthy Lavender District of Midcross. This contract led the party into a vault on the Baroness’ property that housed the treasure her husband had acquired through years of exploration. Within this collection vault, the party encountered a mummy lord and engaged in a fight that cost them dearly. In the fray, Kaia was struck down before Nimueh’s clerical skills returned Kaia’s soul to her body. With the mummy lord finally defeated, the gang inspected the vault’s contents and discovered not only a blade that matched the hilt to the mysterious dagger found in the underdark, but also a map that detailed where Bartholomew may have disappeared.
Emerging from the collection vault, a rift in the material plane opened up near the party and two strange women stepped out before grabbing Veilaad and pulling him into the rift, closing it behind them. The party continued on one member down and turned in their completed contract before heading back to the tavern for a night's rest. In her sleep, Nimueh was visited by Veruna who told her that Tael had been reaching out to a dark entity and was unknowingly traversing a dark path. The next morning, Nimueh confronted Tael in his room and was startled when this dark entity took control of Tael's body and tried to choke the life out of her. When Tael regained his senses, he fled into the Whitherwood, horrified by what he had done. Seven gave chase and caught up with Tael, having a heart to heart with him before returning to Midcross in hopes Tael followed. Tael moved to run away from the group, but at the last minute he noticed a large owl nearby that he recognized as Virgil, a familiar of Veruna’s that only Nimueh had been able to see until that moment. He fell into a trance and was visited by Veruna who told him she would help him fight back against this dark entity. Returning to the moment, Tael made his way back to Midcross and reconnected with the Taelented Seven.
The Taelented Seven returned to the long roads of Feldspire in search of the Giant’s Spine mountain range where they hoped to find Bartholomew. Just outside the walls of Midcross, Irfan was called away by his patron and he left the party to continue his own path. Now down two members, the remaining party headed towards the elven city of Me’Thenor as a last stop before pushing into the wilderness of the Giant’s Spine. Down the road, they ran into a merchant with a broken down cart that turned out to be another follower of Veruna. The man gave Nimueh a magical stone to protect her and they parted ways. Further along their path, they passed a run down watchtower and decided to see what was inside. There, they met an elf named Artanis that turned out to belong to a centuries-old order created to protect the material plane from incursions from other planes of existence. Artanis offered them a place to sleep for the evening, which was interrupted when a rift opened atop the watchtower and the party helped fight a Demon incursion from the Abyss. They helped Artanis seal the rift and Artanis gave thanks by enchanting a bow for Seven and wishing them well on their journey.
After a brief pit stop in Me’Thenor, the Taelented Seven trekked into the Giant Spine Mountains. Following some skilled wilderness reading and a handful of encounters with local creatures, they reached a tunnel into one of the larger mountains. The tunnel system led into the homes of a stone giant clan that had been pushed out by an invasion from a tribe of Trolls. The Taelented Seven attempted to sneak through the winding tunnels and ended up alerting the trolls. A chase through the tunnels ensued but the group eventually lost them and returned safely into the light of the outside world. After another half days’ trek through the treacherous peaks of the Giant’s Spine, they discovered an overlook that granted them an astonishing view. The party peered out across a valley where massive skeletal remains of a long dead titan rested in a vast and vibrant field of wildflowers. It is here, deep within the body of the behemoth, that the Taelented Seven hope to find Bartholomew Whitehand as they continue their adventures across the land of Feldspire.