Expedition 142: Glaring Weaknesses

### Roster

Bea'savac, Confidence, Deepguard of Highhall, Kel'soveen, Parsnip, Ranag Uln, Valorie Veyer, Velamy Veyer

## Episode Info

### Next Expedition

143: Fear the Sun, Praise the Sun

**Veyerline Rescue Service Intervention Report**

Filed by: Zoey Veyer, Aid to Velamy Veyer

Rescuer: Velamy Veyer, Sr.

Rescuee: Val’sabir “Valorie” Veyer

Annotating and Reviewing Clerk: Xara Veyer

Date of Rescue: 6th Monova

Summary of Incident: The following report is a summary of Velamy Veyer’s testimony and paperwork filed by Ambassador Xen Veyer to Port Vrall.

Valorie Veyer and other members of the Ironwood Compact, including Passion, Parsnip, Bea’savac, Ranag Uln, and Compact irregular Kel’soveen joined the Sparksouled Champion Deepguard of Highhall to attack the Beholder Flegh’do in the Mageline Golemyard. The group equipped several magic items, anticipating a difficult fight. Deepguard was supplied with the Symbol of Unshattered Spirit. Kel’soveen equipped the Bracers of Repair. Valorie Veyer and the Compact retiree Uzmir ag Ghanim supplied a variation of Death Ward to all members of the party.

The Compact experienced no difficulties travelling through the Mageline to the Golemyard. All threats on the route had been ended by either the Compact or Deepguard; Deepguard slew the last threat, a rogue Slaad from the Wailing Leagues, on the 1st Monova.

The Golemyard occupies a three-way intersection in the Mageline, with straight hallways for several dozen feet coming out of three entrances. The Warden Flegh’do or some other party turned these hallways to smooth obsidian glass, making the footing on them treacherous. All doorways of the Golemyard are also defended by spike pits covering the ground in front of each entrance and two arcanoelectric repeating crossbows above each door. The Golemyard also contains manufacture and repair equipment for the Mageline Golems, some of whom were expected to be present, and nests for some number of Spectators. All of this in addition to the Warden Flegh’do, who had several unique abilities for a Beholder, as well as double the usual twelve eyestalks.

The Compact attempted to rush the South Gate before the Beholder could realize he was under attack and win the fight at close range. Parsnip used his Botanical Bridge spell to create a vine bridge across the obsidian floor and spikes to the top of the South Gatehouse. The Compact fighters charged across the Botanical Bridge and quickly destroyed the South turrets, which detonated violently, before Flegh’do could react.

As the Compact’s casters and ranged attackers were crossing the Botanical Bridge, however, Warden Flegh’do sprung into action. Using his numerous extra eyestalks, the Warden Charmed and activated all of the Golemyard’s remaining defensive turrets, hurled Passion off the bridge and into the spike pit telekinetically, and cast equivalents of the spells Expeditious Retreat, Blur, and Mirror Image on himself. As he focused on the fight, Warden Flegh’do also began calling up allies from the Golemyard.

As the Compact entered the Yard proper, they were met by two Golemyard Golems and two Spectators that the Warden had serendipitously caught in his Anti-Magic Cone, reducing them to feeble flailing flesh-marbles. Despite the initial disarray of the Warden’s forces, however, the Warden’s position high above the floor of the Yard made it impossible to launch an immediate attack on him. Ranag Uln, Bea’savac, and Deepguard instead began destroying the Golems, as the Compact’s casters moved into position to attack the Warden.

Both attacks initially failed. Despite the Deepguard’s powerful Thundercannon and Adamant Sabre, selected specifically for their effectiveness against Mageline Golems, the Warden’s minions resisted destruction, dispelled the casters’ initial attacks on the Warden, and one Golem, holding on at the limits of its integrity after taking a round of attacks from the Compact’s entire front-line, detonated a Fireball on itself and half the Compact’s team. The Golem, much repaired from the aligned elemental energy, then punched a singed Deepguard in the face.

At the same time, the Compact’s rear line was being thrown into disarray by the Warden and the Spectators. Confidence was injured and delayed pulling himself out of the spike pit, while Kel’soveen and Parsnip were repressed by the Warden’s Anti-Magic Cone. Valorie Veyer maneuvered out of the Cone, but was caught by a Spectator with a Paralysis Ray. Ingeniously, the Warden followed up with a Petrification Ray that Valorie could not dodge paralyzed, turning her to stone within ten seconds. This was the immediate cause of the Vayerline Call that Velamy Veyer responded to.

Velamy Veyer teleported onto the battlefield as the warlock Kel’soveen opened a planar weakness to the Realm of Hadar around the Warden, hoping to blind him and block most of his offensive abilities. The Warden’s response to this was prolonged maniacal laughter and joyous shouts of “HOOOMMMEEEEE AT LAAAAAAST!” Velamy was unbothered.

Velamy first cured Valorie’s petrification using a scroll of Greater Restoration from her Combat Scrollrack. She then used the Power Word of Killing to terminate one of the Golemyard Golems fighting the Compact’s front-line. As she did so, the Compact managed to reverse the battle: Parsnip efficiently destroyed the turrets on the West and East Gates using the Erupting Earth spell, leaving none active. Deepguard and Bea’savac slew all of the remaining Golemyard Golems, and the Warden was unable to call more. Valorie, restored to life, killed one Spectator, and Kel’soveen used an artifact, an Iron Flask, to capture and then release the other, ensorcelling it to obey his commands. The Warden himself, however, remained mostly unharmed and unbothered by the Compact’s attacks.

As the Compact began to focus on the Beholder, Ranag Uln took the lead. Equipped with an item, Broadwings, that granted flight, they closed with and grappled onto Flegh’do, and then, in an improbable and nigh-superhuman display of agility and tenacity, avoided half-a-dozen eye-rays from the Warden while slashing him repeatedly. Aided by fire from the Compact’s ranged fighters and Kel’soveen’s enslaved Spectator, Ranag was astonishingly effective. The Warden’s wards and mirror images only slightly slowed his thrashing. Velamy Veyer easily finished off the weakened Warden with disintegration, ending the battle.

With the threat ended, Velamy Veyer took a moment to speak to Valorie Veyer, reassuring her of the family’s continued loyalty to her. She then returned to Veyerstown as the Line summoning ended.

The Compact, it is believed, encountered no further hostile threats in the Golemyard, and returned to Port Vrall with a substantial number of rare metals and magic items, even after giving the Starmetal Crown of Warden Flegh’do to the Deepguard in payment.

This intervention can be counted as a firm success. Velamy Veyer adroitly managed the threats she encountered in the Golemyard, saved the Veyer in danger, and ended the threat with time to spare before the minute of Summoning ended. Valorie Veyer is already scheduled to repay the rescue with work for the Veyerline Rescue Service, and we will be delighted with her service.

**Report End**

**Expedition Result:** Success

**Expedition Level:** 15 (Benefits Port Vrall, minimum 2 XP)

**Expedition Loot:** 5 units adamant, 2 units hibernium, 3 units lucefrium, 2 Githyanki Greatswords (donated immediately to the Gith), 1500 GP Ephemera, Wetwalker's Belt, Mountainsong Shield

1. ↑ For more information about the Ironwood Compact, see the Diplomatic Floor Circular for the Year 466, Section 9, and the collected reports of Xen\* Veyer.

For more information about the Sparksouled of Highhall, see report 35 of Xen\* Veyer.

For more information about the Mageline, see report 14 of Xen\* Veyer

For more information about Beholders, see Beholder Habits and Anatomy, Zaccer Veyer, \**Veyerstown Scientific Publishing, 408 AoP\*.*

	* For more information about Xen\* Veyer and the circumstances of her temporoplanar displacement, just ask her, Ova above, I had to read three hundred pages of contextualizing reports before I even *began* this bloody form. How much nonsense can one group of adventurers get up to?
2. ↑ Accurately.
3. ↑ The Bracers of Repair will be placed on the Item of Interest list due to their ability to interfere with Veyerline Golems and Mechanolichs; see Item of Interest Submission Form 5693 from Velamy Veyer.
4. ↑ As all of the crossbows were destroyed during the Compact’s activities, and detonated violently due to what were probably Bottled Lightning containment failures, no schematics of the crossbows were or are likely to become available.
5. ↑ The Golemyard Golems are described in Report 60 of Xen\* Veyer. They are known to have the unusual ability to flip their elemental alignment: they maintain an alignment to cold until moderately damaged, when they invert their alignment to heat. They can evoke Dispel Magic while aligned to cold and Fireball while aligned to heat.

For more information about Spectators, see Zaccer, Beholder Habits and Anatomy, Chapter 4.
6. ↑ Parsnip of Kiore is mentioned briefly in report 62 of Xen\* Veyer. He is a druid with several unique spells and abilities related to light magic and plant growth. Based on this incident and on his formal induction into the Ironwood Compact two days after this report was filed, Xen\* Veyer has advised the Intelligence Floor to open a dossier for him (and Velamy concurs, meaning it shall soon be so).
7. ↑ Warden Flegh’do’s ability to concentrate on multiple spells has not been adequately explained by any existing, readily available texts on Beholder physiology. It is possible that the ability was a result of the Starmetal Crown that enchanted and bound him in the Golemyard, the work of the Mageline Mages. Further investigation will, however, be difficult, for reasons that will be clear shortly.
8. ↑ For those of the family who live under a rock and might feel sorry for Valorie, the author recommends Emergency Bulletin 332 from the Central Directory or the more digestible news article “Why Your Children Won’t Be Magicians” from Family Line News for an explanation of why she was a heartless traitor who had it coming.
9. ↑ I advise Kel’soveen review Beholder Habits and Anatomy by Zaccer Veyer as this was honestly an embarrassing mishap. Even Velamy Veyer’s brief description of the Warden mentioned the characteristic goat-like pupils of a Hadaric Beholder.

When asked later whether this was the most gone-to-heck fight she had teleported into in her life, however, Velamy did say “Ohhh, I’ve pulled Windhome’s old Goon Squad out from worse.” The Compact may take solace from this.
10. ↑ For more details about Velamy Veyer’s space-warping storage system for Golems and Veyerline constructs, see Principles of Advanced Golemancy, Velamy Veyer, *Veyerstown Scientific Publishing, 420 AoP*. It is noteworthy that the Deepguard also used a space-warping storage system for his own body. This clear case of convergent design suggests to this author that, despite her term paper “Expando-Golems: The Perfect Form of Life” receiving a B- from Professor Xel, she clearly was right all along.
11. ↑ All Iron Flasks are Items of Interest as they are broadly effective means to control extraplanar creatures, see Item of Interest Submission form 1005.
12. ↑ Though it is outside the purview of this report, I feel obligated to compliment Matriarch Velamy in the strongest possible terms for her handling of this request. A lesser woman, hearing Valorie’s call for aid after her recent and rending betrayal, would have simply refused to respond. Velamy, instead, acted without hesitation to take up the call for aid. In doing so,she proved her timeless cunning and wisdom: she found the perfect way to screw Valorie over while appearing to act in total sincerity.

By disintegrating the Warden’s body after using a wholly unnecessary Scroll to restore Valorie (who could easily have been dragged back to town for Restoring), Velamy maximized her debt to the Line while removing a huge source of wealth for the Compact, in a way that could be brushed off as an unfortunate mistake.

By demonstrating her arcane mastery with a Power Word, Velamy showed Valorie how useful her aid was while also giving the impression that this was Velamy’s most difficult task for the week. Valorie therefore was encouraged to volunteer for Rescue Service Work to retain her safety net, but also labored under the delusion that fighting powerful monsters was a typical distress call. I have managed to get into direct contact with Xen\* Veyer as she is filing her next report, and she confirmed that Valorie arrived for Rescue Service with both her and her Steed under Death Wards, carrying several healing potions, ready to fight monsters typical for the East. All of this was, of course, complete overkill for the routine threats of the Rescue Service, even its highest echelons. She wasted an unnecessary amount of power and money.

By revealing that the Veyer Rescue Service network is controlled by the emotions of Veyer, Velamy also almost certainly exacerbated Valorie’s stress repression (See literally any report involving her from Xen\*) and guaranteed that she would try even harder to repress the stresses of adventuring to prevent a repeat incident. This will cause her more stress, causing a downward mental spiral that (we can all hope) eventually boils over in a catastrophic meltdown.

Velamy achieved this result while hewing strictly to the duties of the Rescue Service, with only seconds to plan. Truly, her intellect and charisma are unparalleled in the known world. As Valorie Veyer, hopefully, now knows and fears.