Episode 1 Part 2 "The Ruins of Mt. Elderfey"

Session #2: 5/25/19

Recap

 * The Party had just spared a goblin in the Ruins atop Mt. ElderFey when they were approached by an imposing half-orc with a longsword strapped to his back.
 * Thokk, a former sailor, had been sailing on a merchant ship when they were set upon by goblin pirates. Thokk was the only survivor of the attack.
 * Thokk made it his mission to hunt down the goblins that had killed his crew. And the trail led him to this chance meeting with Kandra, Lio, and Vendrin.
 * The group decided that their goals aligned enough to warrant them working together. And so they delved deeper into the ruins. Starting with the kitchen where their interrogated Goblin told them the cultists were hiding in a pantry.
 * Stealthily defeating the Goblins in the kitchen, they discovered hidden in the pantry, a magic mirror. Vendrin determined that the mirror depicted a green gem set into a recessed hole in the wall behind them and that if they were to get past the mirror, they would have to find the gem.
 * Moving deeper into the ruins, the party discovered the pirate captain, Rustfinger, sleeping in the throne room, surrounded by depictions of the outstretched hand with the eye in the palm, while a guard drake slept at his feet.
 * The party managed to handily defeat Rustfinger and discovered the green gem set into the hilt of his hook hand.
 * Investigating a tunnel behind the throne room, the party discovered an animagus class vessel designed to look like a Red Lion Fish. Thokk recognized this ship as the same one that had attacked his ship, and he recognized a handful of the corpses lashed to the side. Thokk and Lio cut the down the poor souls and buried them.
 * After burying the pirate's victims. The party took the time to investigate an ancient treasure room that had been buried behind rubble. Inside the room, they were presented with deadly traps and riddles. But each time they solved a riddle, they were gifted with a new magic item or piece of treasure.
 * After succeeding in the treasure room, they investigated the magic mirror. Through the mirror, they found a grisly sacrifice chamber, where they were confronted by the necromancer, who surrendered and revealed herself to be Saria Lamoth.
 * Saria explained that she turned to Vecna after her son died in an accident, but could no longer carry on serving him, after nearly butchering a child that was the same age as her son.
 * The party decided to spare Sarias life, but plan to turn her into the authorities after defeating the cultists.
 * Passing through the portal to the Vecnite stronghold, a cataclysm occured. The sky darkened and lightning flashed while Saria cried out and lost consciousness. Liosynth was able to tell through her divine powers that a god had just died.
 * Delving into the tomb before them, they discovered it to be an ancient mausoleum for an ancient elvish king. They paid tribute to a statue and began exploring, discovering a cultist that had been recently slain.
 * The party tricked and slaughtered two vecnite cultists in one of the tombs, sealing them in a sarcophagus.
 * Investigating another corridor, they discovered an animated stone face built into the side of a wall. The face, that of a dwarf named Grimdis Greatstone, was the architect of the tomb and found himself called back to the tomb when someone discovered it, to help guide those who might be worthy to its great treasures.
 * Grimdis informed the party that the ancient king, Ka'aldis Arhaviat, was among the group that locked away the undead abomination in the drop, that his treasures were locked in the tomb, and that to reach them, they would have to prove themselves worthy by finding all of the keys hidden behind puzzles and riddles in the tomb.
 * Investigating furthur in the tomb, they earned several of the keys they would need, before finding a group of cultists that had turned on each other. They handily defeated the surviving cultists and then delved deeper into the tomb, at last finding the vecnites, inner sanctum.
 * In the sanctum they confronted the Vecnite Deathpriest, two more necromancers, and a horrible undead abomination made from the corpse of a cultist that had a mass of worms and insects springing from it.
 * The party just barely managed to defeat the cultists and their monster, then retreated to a room they could fortify, with an unconsious Saria Lamoth, to rest before continuing to search for the rest of the keys