Session 20

## Natural Twenty

3 Eleasis (late morning) - 10 Eleasis (early morning)

**Leaving Blingdenstone**

The Young Adventurers have just killed the Pudding King and his court. They head back to the main part of Blingdenstone, leaving the same way they entered. The main deep gnome force has not returned from the Rockblight so the party heads to the Steadfast Stone. They arrive just as the gnomes retreat and collapse the tunnel behind them, trapping the remnants of the ooze army on the other side. The defenders are victorious; the earth elementals bore the brunt of the assault and casualties among the gnomes were low.

The atmosphere is jubilant. Jimjar and Glabbagool have apparently distinguished themselves in the fighting in some way and the Diggermattocks are grateful for the pivotal role played by the party. Dorbo declares them honorary citizens of Blingdenstone and tells them they may claim an unoccupied residence should they wish to stay. He also tells them that they have arranged a suitable gift from Fenphina at the magic shop.

The Young Adventurers are pretty thrilled to have finally left a community in better shape than they found it, and reminiscence on how they fucking wrecked Gracklstugh while they walk to the magic shop. At the shop Fenphina gives the party her “portable vault,” a door handle that opens a portal to a small, cold, storage room. The group immediately stores a bunch of stuff in the room, including Ralkor’s basilisk egg, which hopefully is ok in the cold (it’s not).

The group joins in the general celebration for the rest of the day, saying their goodbyes. Jimjar and Glabbagool will remain behind while the Young Adventurers, along with Fargus and Eldeth, will head for the surface the next morning with Freekend as guide.

**Out of the Underdark**

The trip to the surface is long and arduous but they do not run into any problems, arriving outside Nesmé just over three days later. Freekend wishes them luck and goes back to the Underdark. The party surveys Nesmé from a ridge about a mile from the city. It was sacked eight years ago in the War of the Silver Marches and remains ruined to this day, however a thin line of smoke can be seen from just inside one of the breaches in the wall. The group thinks that there are probably people camped inside and Kaia decides to stealth over and get a look.

She finds a group of twentyish soldiers around a campfire. A man with a pet flying snake seems to be in charge and Kaia creeps close enough to hear him tell two of his men to set a watch looking for Gundahella who should be arriving soon. The soldiers are armed and armored, look competent, and are marked by a sigil she does not recognize.

Kaia heads back to the rest of the party and relays what she saw. Everybody else recognizes the sigil she describes as belonging to the Zhentarim, a mercenary and trading company with a dark reputation. The party decides to wait and see what this Gundahella person is about. Kaia, Fargus, and Nespip sneak back up to the Zhent camp and wait nearby.

Ralkor, Sebastian, and Eldeth watch as a towering figure approaches from the north and enters the city accompanied by twenty hobgoblins. Gundahella, it seems, is a fire giantess. At the Zhent camp the stealthier characters listen in as Gundahella and the Zhent leader Fylo speak. The Zhentarim agree to keep the Lord’s Alliance from interfering with Duke Zalto’s plan to rebuild the “Vonindod” and in exchange the fire giants will not attack any settlements in the north without Zhentarim approval. There is talk of a group of adventurers looking into giant business for the alliance (“sort sort of mining company” according to Fylo) but they haven’t been seen for a while. Fylo thinks they are probably not a concern.

The agreement made, Gundahella and her hobgoblins turn to leave. Fylo writes a note and attaches it to his flying serpent to deliver. The party gathers together to discuss what was said. Most of the group wants to ignore this entire situation, which clearly does not involve them, and move on to Silverymoon, but Sebastian wants to intervene. The party decides to wait a while and then follow after and ambush the giant.

They wait an hour then follow the giant. Kaia is able to easily follow their tracks to the river and pick them up again on the far side (after they use their folding boat for the first time on an actual body of water). Eventually they catch up to the group in a hilly area and close to about one hundred feet before being spotted. The ensuing fight goes in the Young Adventurers favour, although Nespip takes a beating. The party decides to head back across the river and through the Evermoors to Silverymoon, like they don’t have a magic boat or anything.

**Nightmares in the Evermoors**

That night they camp on the outskirts of the Evermoors. Sebastian has a dream where Valadras tells him not to tell anybody about the demon lords in the Underdark because they will be sent back down there. Also, make sure Eldeth doesn’t tell anybody. Valadras is, in general, acting weirdly pushy and creepy, making Sebastian pretty sure this isn’t Valadras. When it becomes clear that Sebastian will not hide the demon lords from the surfacers Valadras attacks him, paralysing him and sinking his fingers into his head. Sebastian is inflicted with terrible nightmares and Kaia, on watch at the time, can’t fully wake him for an hour. In the morning Sebastian feels like he got no rest at all.

The following day the party continues deeper into the Evermoors without any trouble. They again make camp inside Ralkor’s tiny hut and discuss what to do about whatever is happening to Sebastian. They decide to watch him while he sleeps and have Nespip cast protection from evil and good if it looks like he is having a nightmare. Again, Sebastian is tormented by the fake Valadras who shows him a vision of the real Valadras, captured and tortured in some unknown cave. He is chained to the wall, flayed, with his ribcage open and organs exposed. The tormentor tells Sebastian “you dragged him through our temple with that bond of yours” before again inflicting him with terrible pain and nightmares. This time, however, Nespip is quickly awakened and casts his spell, ending the dream. Sebastian is able to return to sleep and awaken fully rested in the morning.

The following night, after another day of uneventful travel, Sebastian is again visited in his dream. His tormentor tells him that while he may be able to avoid the nightmares there are “two dozen” trolls in the area that he can direct towards the party. Nespip again wakes Sebastian when the nightmares start. Shortly after a distant scream is heard and six trolls come shuffling out of the darkness, sniffing around the Tiny Hut. They settle down nearby, apparently content to wait for morning for their meal. The Young Adventurers decide to deal with the beasts immediately and Ralkor drops the hut and launches a fireball at the foolishly clustered trolls.

The trolls prove dangerous, doing a great deal of damage. In the middle of the fight a scream is heard, causing Eldeth to fall stunned to the ground. The source appears to be a human head with bat wings flying just above the fight. A second head flies down and kisses her before flying away. Liberal fireball usage ends the fight relatively quickly and manages to take down one of the fleeing heads. The rest of the night passes uneventfully.

We leave the party there, deep in the Evermoors, an unknown distance from Silverymoon, and some unknown enemy haunting their dreams.