Session 22: Wield it as a Shield

Glenn's Curse Broken

Summary

Glenn Post-Curse

Drenn

Kith'rak Gaath

B'ian Ch'k Ch'k

The party emerged from the tunnel into Phaulkon Manor's kitchens, where two cooks loudly declared the disturbance "none of their business" and returned to their stew.

In the main hall, they met Drenn, a drow wizard hovering with permanent Shield and Fly spells, who offered Manshoon's secrets in exchange for peaceful departure--revealing Manshoon's decaying clone body sought a flesh-swap ritual in Chult's jungles. After negotiating to remove Glenn's curse and take petrified Cyrus, Diedric cast Remove Curse, sending Glenn into a vision of his father's wisdom about wielding identity as a shield. Glenn chose to embrace his frog transformation, emerging in his true form: tall, olive-skinned, with spring-green hair.

Kith'rak Gaath and two githyanki arrived seeking their lost apprentice; combat erupted with Glenn brutally dispatching one gith, another being banished, and the Kith'rak plane-shifting away, leaving his silver greatsword. The party looted 3,400 gold from Drenn's dreamsilk fortune, discovered Oversword Faril dead from mind flayers, and decided to aid Lureene in the Endless Wastes.

At Galdren's estate, they met B'ian Ch'k Ch'k, an overly verbose half-halfling steward from Chult preparing for noble delegations, whose presence horrified the party enough that Lilia sprinted to warn Galdren as the session ended.

XP Award

• 1500 XP for defeating the githyanki assault team
• 2000 XP for curing Glenn's curse
• -1 XP for meeting B'ian Ch'k Ch'k
• Total: 3499 XP
• Current XP: 34113 XP -> 37612 XP (Level 8)
• (Required for next level: 48000 XP)

Things That Happened

The Kitchens

• Date: 19th of Tarsakh (The Claw of the Storms, April), noon, 1372 DR
• After hastily pushing the treasure chest into their tunnel, the party crept up to the trapdoor leading out of the cellar and into the Phaulkon Manor's kitchens.
• Two cooks in the kitchen heard the trapdoor, and came close to investigate.
  • Connecting the dots with the disturbance outside, the cooks loudly exclaimed that this was none of their business, and that they should focus on the meal preparation.
• The party exited the cellar, the cooks compliantly working on a large pot of stew while mostly ignoring them.
  • Glenn suggested a spice for their meal, and led the party toward the main hall where his curse was inflected.
• The party listened for a while as a man with a silky voice received reports about the interlopers in the woods and stray intellect devourers that were slain.
• They heard several men depart, and decide to proceed into the main hall.

Measured Diplomacy

• The party entered the main hall to see a drow wizard hovering on the second level, surrounded by a glowing blue shield.
  • He smoothly lowered himself to the ground, gesturing peacefully with his arms. Next to him were the seat of House Phaulkon and a toppled statue of Cyrus, Glenn's petrified friend.
  • Octavius noted that the magic he had detected earlier was coming from him, a Shield and Fly spell rebounding upon themselves, not requiring his concentration to maintain.
• The party engaged in extended dialogue with Drenn:
  • "Well, well... the exile returns, and with quite the entourage. I should've brought wine."
  • "I am Drenn. Is that statue crying or am I projecting again?"
  • "Easy, hero. I'm not the one who turned your friend into décor."
  • "If you're looking for Manshoon, or at least that iteration of him, he's otherwise occupied. I've been overseeing his operation here while he spends our hard-earned gold."
  • "But I've heard you've turned half my men into stew. I'm no fool. I'll make you a deal."
  • "Leave these grounds in peace and I give you something Manshoon doesn't want anyone to have: his *secrets.* And no offense, but I'm a lot more charming than him."
  • "Manshoon's body? It's peeling like old paint. Skin sloughing off, teeth loosening — real elegant."
  • "He was one of the *first* clones that awakened. Strong mind — he escaped the vats — but the shell's gone soft."
  • "Last I heard, he was elbow-deep in ruins somewhere in Chult. Hot, humid, full of snakes. Not my taste, but ideal if you're planning to bribe a god into teaching you a body swap ritual."
  • "The Ubtao priests enjoy this sort of thing — like a snake shedding its skin. Navigating a maze, but the exit is through your own flesh, hmmm?"
    • The party did not appear to appreciate the braggable lore accuracy.
  • "I'm not warning you because I'm kind. I'm warning you because if he comes back with a fresh body, he'll fix the things he regrets. You, for example. And me, depending on the outcome here."
• Octavius asked Drenn about his ongoing spells. Drenn explained that it was a Permanency spell, costly to use and lost to time, but known to the Netherese and based dungeon masters.
• The party negotiated with Drenn, and agreed to remove Glenn's curse, take Cyrus's petrified body, and leave the treasure chest and keep behind.
• Drenn hovered back to the top level to watch.

Wield It As A Shield

• Glenn placed himself in the spot where he was cursed by Manshoon, arms spread out to his sides.
• Diedric cast Remove Curse, and as the silvery magic began to take hold, Glenn found himself elsewhere.
  • He was approaching his father, who was oiling a blade beneath their pecan tree, ten years ago. Next to him was his House Phaulkon shield.
  • Behind his father, Shrieker (then Talyara Ambrathyl, Ranger General of House Phaulkon) was training a regimen of house guards.
  • Noting his son had a black eye, Lord Phaulkon stood, asking what troubled his son.
  • Glenn explained that some of the military men at a tavern in Thunderstone were mocking him for his noble birth.
  • Growing serious, his father kicked his shield up, looping it into his arm, and proclaimed that Glenn should never hide who he is, but rather wield it as a shield, and if he does so, he'll be impenetrable.
  • A frog hopped lazily in a nearby pond.
• Glenn found himself in the present as his curse, visible as black barbs, was being pulled out of his by Selune's magic.
• He faced a choice -- did he fully reject his time as a frog, or was it now a part of him?
• He chose 🐸.
  • As the last barb was ripped out of his body, a small black orb remained within him and was absorbed.
• Glenn's true form emerged as the spell faded. Tall, olive-skinned, square-faced with a dimpled, clean-shaven chin, sporting spring-green hair in a soldier cut with green eyes to match.

Mutual Acquaintances

• Drenn politely clapped in approval, and reiterated while he would not intervene, that he had made some mutual acquaintances before the party's appearance, and that he could not be held responsible for their actions.
• He disappeared into a side room in the upper hall as a bald githyanki emerged in ornate silvery armor. He stuck a large silvery blade into the floor and leaned against the pommel.
  • He was the same githyanki from your first sojourn into the Astral Plane, the teacher to the apprentice. His yellow eyes glowed menacingly as two other githyanki, a woman with two glass daggers and another apprentice wielding a silver blade appeared behind him.
• "You are once again in the presence of Kith'rak Gaath. Where is my apprentice, kainyaink?"
  • The party went on at length about tossing a copper and the apprentice probably being trappped in the plane of Carceri.
• "I see. Then failure has found Viran before I have. It seems his lessons have taught him nothing."
• "It is time for a lesson of your own, given freely. [his sword snapped into his hands telekinetically] Never become irksome to Vlaakith."

Encounter: Vlaakith's Mild Annoyance

• Highlights:
  • Glenn learning he could turn into a frog at will on order to leap on to the second level.
  • Diedric being counterspelled by the female gith.
  • Lilia heating the Kith'rak's blade, forcing him to drop it.
  • Diedric summoning a spiritual weapon, a sickle.
  • In a single round, Glenn annihilating the female gith with brutal slashes and action surges, culminating in Sparta-kicking her down to the lower level to be finished off by Smokescale.
  • The gith apprentice warrior being long-term banished from the Prime Material Plane, with Octavius asking him to pass along a message for Vlaakith to leave them alone.
• The Kith'rak Plane Shifted away after suffering a few attacks.

Leavetakings

• The party looted the massive silver greatsword the Kith'rak left behind.
• They looted a yellowish orange crystal, which they identified as a mineral mined from the body of a dead god in the Astral Plane, likely from Vlaakith's home.
• Upstairs, Glenn visited his old room, looting a toy bear and blanket.
• The party passed by a privvy, where an unknown man shouted "Hey!" as they neared. They didn't engage. It's unclear if the man was a logger or spackler.
• The statue of Cyrus was unceremoniously shoved into a Bag of Holding.
• The party headed back down to the attic as the two cooks politely took their leave.

A Parting Gift

• Inspiration striking him, Octavius cast prestidigitation to soil all of the foodstuffs in the pantry.
• Feeling pretty bitter, the party took the treasure chest anyway, crawling their way underground back out of the grounds.
• Emerging into Hullack Forest under the noonday sun, they noted birds were back to chirping again.
  • They ruined the moment by violently breaking their treasure chest open.
  • Guards in the nearby towers respectfully aimed their ballistas away from the party and pretended not to see them.
• In the treasure chest, they found the entire fortune of Drenn's dreamsilk enterprise (aided by Unit 137 in counting): 3400 gold pieces
  • There was also a Periapt of Wound Closure and a Philter of Love.

The Oversword

• The party flew back toward Thunderstone, noting a disturbance the guard posts by the Stag Stone Bridge.
• Oversword Faril was dead, the top half of his head missing, with little bloody footsteps leading north toward Hullack.
• The party explained the mind flayers they had encountered.
• One of the guards, revealing himself to be a War Wizard (the same one that cast Feather Fall during the fair), asked for more information.
• He thanked the party for their service, saying that they did not need an adventuring charter under Glenn's authority, but that Octavius would have to register with them next time he visited Cormyr.
• Finn, the halfling dreamsilk dealer, escaped town, heading east toward the Thunder Peaks.

Paths Yet Tread

• The party deliberated their next actions, including pursuing Manshoon in the jungles of Chult.
• Ultimately they decided to help Lureene Amblecrown, the vengeance paladin of Hoar, who had sent them a letter asking for their aid in the Endless Wastes.
• But first they decided to head to Galdren's estate to update him on their adventures.

Return to the Estate

• Octavius easily planeswalked the party to, surprisingly, a teleportation circle near the back of Galdren's estate's gardens. It was ringed with white stones.
• The estate was bustling with activity, with footmen and groundskeepers making preparations to receive guests.
• Galdren was speaking with one, then hearing the thunderclap of the party's arrival, trotted over in their direction.
• He had heard of the events in the Grove of Stars, and was pleased to make Lilia's acquaintance.
• He has been making progress on his arcane research to modify a Speak with Dead spell to instead capture the deceased's memories into the Grand Sensory Stone.
• He also explained that Neribion ended his apprenticeship abruptly and took himself and his pets to the druids of Urlingwood.
• But he followed that he had a new Master Steward overseeing the grounds in preparation for a delegation of nobility from the Sword Coast, including Baldur's Gate, Amn, and Neverwinter.

The Quarterling

• B'ian Ch'k Ch'k, a handsome half-halfling, half-human, approached the party to make introductions.
• I subjected the players to some of the following:
  • "Well hallo my masters. You must be the mercenaries that Galdren told me about, ya? I am B'ian Ch'k Ch'k, Steward of Galdren's Estate. Please forgive my accent. I was born and bred in the jungles of Chult, ya? But I was selected as the smartest of my tribe, not that I lack the humility to even believe in such a thing, ya? But I was sent to Candlekeep nonetheless to study the languages and ways of nobility, ya?"
  • "I may not be a genius (as it is claimed) but it's clear that you are the adventurer's from Ironjaw's Mirth. What is the point of hiding from divination by sleeping in the sitting room when you constantly leave these grounds, ya? It is not my place to question Galdren, but he is wrong. Next you visit the estate, I will have rooms prepared for you. If I am anything, it is a practiced host, ya? I hear his last charge fed you naught but cheese and wine. What an idiot, ya?"
  • "Please do not be here when the nobles arrive. I do not want you to scare them off, no offense, ya?"
  • "[to Diedric] Please pray to your Goddess that these talks go well, ya? The Gods saw fit to have half my tribe contract the *dengue* and eat each other, ya, but I'm sure they had some greeaaat purpose, ya?"
• Octavius asked B'ian to fetch him his tea, and after some relenting, he pumped his little quarterling legs to obey.
• The session ended as Lilia sprinted toward Galdren to warn him not to have B'ian present for the noble delegation.

Maps

• Nothing new

NPCs Encountered (or mentioned)

• Drenn, the Drow Abjurer
• Kith'rak Gaath, The Githyanki Elder
• B'ian Ch'k Ch'k, the Quarterling
• Mell, the Hidden War Wizard

Memes

• The Chultan accent must be respected in lore moving forward

DM Thoughts

• Literal shock and horror as B'ian was introduced. Could not have gone better.