Episode 272 - One Step Closer to the Gods

Having defeated and befriended those pesky Drow, your heroes now must enter seat of the Fey Court. Sounds of battle can be heard raging throughout the corpse strewn halls but we must press on! Finally, we will learn some answers about what the heck is going on. Well, at least we hope so. Who knows, I guess.

## **Story**

### Long Story

Having just defeated new best friends, Supreme Fighters Green Goldo, Red Racoome, Blue Burter, and Yellow Yertha, The Tower of Grey now (finally) has access to the Castle of the Spring Court. There's a loud booming sound from inside, and Toby wants to ask one of the Supreme Fighters what's in there, but they leave. Lahni throws Blue Burter an egg salad sandwich as promised before they leave, and he yells out "We're Cool!" Lahni then hears the sound of battle from within, and tells the others. Toby says that they need to get in there quickly, and Lahni suggests carrying the gnome and running in. They rig up a system of cradling Toby between Lahni's armpit, and her waist ferret. She and Rowan sneak inside, whereupon Toby *Detects Magic*. There are no magical traps.

The inside of the Castle, despite being made out of crystal, is full of colorful nature, with the floor being made of moss, and the walls are covered in ivy and plants. There is also a stairway that leads to a large door. There are other smaller stairways too, but we don't care about those. They can hear the sounds of the battle coming from the big door, which is both a door and ajar. Lahni listens ahead, but it seems like the battle is coming from further away. Inside the (cherry red, polished wood) door is a temple to Melora. They briefly ponder if Nook Nimmlock is still alive. The west wall is transparent, and they can see the lake outside. There is a 10-ft statue of Melora, made out of polished wood. The statue is nude and firing a bow. There are also two dead drow laying on the floor. The party loots the bodies, and finds a few coins. They go through the door.

The next door is the Great Hall, with a tall ceiling, another window-wall, and many dead bodies. There are Drow, giant spiders, and four knights in full armor. Toby recognizes them as Paladins of Rhaegar. They hear more battle sounds from ahead, and continue on to a smaller door at the end of the great hall. This next room seems to be a solar. There are no dead bodies here, but there's a lot of blood. There is also a tapestry made of flowers on the wall that Toby recognizes as some kind of creation story. There is a giant goddess, made of earth and wood and flowers, and she is caring for a seven children. In the next panel, the children look sad, and the Earth Mother seems to be creating tiny "mortals". In the next panel, the children and the tiny mortals are playing together, but some of the children have "nasty" looks on their faces. One child, off to the side looks more angelic than the rest. In the next panel, the children seem to be more grown (but are sill referred to as children), and look like they are dancing on a mountain, with crazed looks on their faces, and blood on their hands. The little angelic child seems to be crying off by himself. In the final panel, the angelic child wields a sword above the other children, cowering before her. A horde of tiny mortals follows her, as if into battle.

Toby leaps down off of Lahni, realizing that she didn't need to carry him, since they didn't run anywhere, and casts *Stoneskin* on her. Skud then tries to casts *Mage Armor* before realizing that would make her AC go *down* instead of up. He instead *Blesses* everyone (except Frank). Rowan and Lahni sneak into the next room, while Toby and Skud hang back.

Inside the final chamber, they see the massive form of Lolth, in battle with a single knight, Eckhart Dayhammer! He seems to be loosing, and Rowan shoots an arrow at the spider to initiate combat. Both combatants notice Rowan, and Eckhart rejoices that he has allies now. He tells them to run and aid Melora, in the next room, before it's too late. They run off, seeing Eckhart get stabbed in the side by Lolth. They run through the door, into a large circular room. As soon as they enter, the doorway behind them is sealed shut by a large crystal slab, and the doorway in front of them, on the other side of the room, does as well.

The episode ends...

### Short

The party looks around the castle, hearing the sound of a battle from deep within. After finding a bunch of dead bodies, they eventually come across Echart Dayhammer, fighiting Lolth. He tells the party to run on ahead to "free Melora". They enter the next room, where they are caught in a trap by crystal slabs blocking the doors.

## **In This Episode...**

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Tim Lanning - Toby Treacletart
* Jennifer Cheek - Rowan Grey
* Mike Bachmann - Skud Derringer
* Nika Howard - Lahnik "Lahni" Caplain

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Eckhart Dayhammer
* Frank Ubell
* High Level Executive-Class Drow Supreme Fighting Force
	+ Green Goldo
	+ Red Racoome
	+ Blue Burter
	+ Yellow Yertha

### **Locations**

* The Feywild
	+ The Castle of the Spring Court

### **Quest Log Updates**

* [Active] - Find Thom Harper
	+ [Active] - Search the Feywild for clues
* [Active] - Stop the Spider Apocalypse
	+ [Active] - Free Melora
		- [Active] - Find Melora
	+ [Active] - Defeat Lolth
		- ~~[Complete] - Find Lolth~~
* [On Hold] - Find Lannie Caplain
	+ [On Hold] - Investigate Galanthis
* [Optional] - Find a way to pay back the Ferrim Pecunia bank of Pelor's Hope
* [Active][Jaeludra] - Investigate the Great Colosseum in Caer
* [Active][Jaeludra] - Investigate the Oracle's strange prophecies

### **Quotes**

**"If you go to school to do something you love, be prepared to work doing something you hate..."** ~ *Nika Howard, optimist*

**"Skud's just hanging out, he's enjoying the vibes. Listen, I spaced; Are we fighting something?"** ~ *Mike Bachmann*

## **Rolls**

* **Recap**
	+ Tim - 4
	+ **Jennifer - 16**
	+ Nika - 14
	+ Bachmann - 13

* **Rowan** rolls *Perception* to see if the booming sound was from the building, or an earthquake or something - 11
	+ She thinks it's an earthquake

* '*Lahi* also rolls *Perception* for the same thing - Nat20+10
	+ It sounds as if there's a battle inside

* Lahni and Rowan roll *Stealth* to sneak into the Castle
	+ **Lahni** - 26
		- Success
	+ **Rowan** - 18
		- Success

* **Lahni** rolls *Perception* to hear behind the door - 21
	+ The battle sounds are coming from further ahead than the next room

* Lahni and Rowan8 roll *Perception* to listen through the next door
	+ **Lahni** - 4+10
		- The battle might be coming in the next room, or it might be farther away
	+ **Rowan** - 19
		- It's farther away

* **Toby** rolls *History* to see if he know the dead knights - Nat20
	+ They appear to be Paladins of Rhaegar, like Eckhart Dayhammer

* They roll *Perception* again to listen to the battle
	+ Lahni - 26
	+ Rowan - 21
		- They both know that they are very close, but they don't think the battle is happening in the next room

* Toby and Skud roll *History* to see what's on the tapestry
	+ **Skud** - 15
		- He thinks there are babies playing in a field
	+ **Toby** - 27
		- It seems to be some kind of unknown creation story

* Rowan and Lahni roll *Stealth* to sneak into the next room
	+ Lahni - Nat20+10
	+ Rowan - 19+9

* **Rowan** makes a ranged attack with her Oathbow against Lolth - 23
	+ Hit