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# System prepended metadata

title: Descent into Avernus recap

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***Session #1 Sunday 18/6***

The first half of the party got a quest from the High Overseer of Elturel to travel to BG to meet with Reya Mantlehorn and "Tarina" at the Elfsong Tavern.

They were supplied spending gold, horses and provisions for the journey, about a half-day into their journey they were enjoying the views of the rolling fields, the river Chiontar and Elturel in the background when catastrophe struck and they saw Elturel being dragged into a void in the sky. They made their way to BG, settled their horses in a stable outside the city and spoke to a young half-elf who was working at the stable to ask where the Elfsong Tavern was.

They made their way to the tavern, meanwhile we cut to the tavern and saw Priheart having a brawl with a random thug inside the tavern which she promptly won by way of some big(lucky) hits. While this was happening downstairs, Marie("Tarina") was upstairs playing and cheating at Baldur's Bones.

At this time the other half of the party had made it to the tavern, ordered some drinks and were discussing how/where to find Tarina and Reya. After growing bored playing Baldur's Bones upstairs, Marie made her way down and decided to do a performance for the tavern, it went over pretty well. Though this also prompted the spirit of the Elfsong tavern to start her own sorrowful song, much to the delight of the other patrons. Adhain overheard something about a forgotten tower and an Archmage Arannis but nothing much else. 

The rest of the group, having been seated and served drinks in a corner room/booth got Marie's attention as she was walking around collecting tips for her performance and told her they were sent to meet with her and Reya Mantlehorn. They spoke briefly, meanwhile Reya came down the stairs and Marie got her attention and asked her to speak with the party in the matter of the cult. Reya then found out rather unceremoniously that Elturel has fallen to the hells and fell silent, had a hard drink and downed it in one go. Marie told the party about the cult activity at the bathhouse and they all agreed to investigate, Marie would join the party in return the party would protect her from some fellows who wish to do her harm.

At this time Priheart overheard something about cults and approached the party because she's recruiting for her demon-hunting guild and wanted to join the party on their adventure. The party asked whether they should notify the authorities in BG about what happened to Elturel, which is when Reya got a mad/determined look in her eyes and told them she will notify a captain(Zodge) of The Flaming Fist about the issues and also to make sure they won't get in trouble when seeking out the cult.

This is when 6 pirates burst into the room, led by Captain Dead-Eye who was looking for Tarina, who promptly hid underneath the table while the party manuevered to put Orpheus at the entry to block vision and the rest got ready for a scrap, Ava tried to check the window however found it locked and 2 more pirates patrolling the outside of the tavern. This is where the session ended.



***Session #2 24/6***

We started in the tavern with the party hiding Tarina while Orpheus acted as a bodyguard out the front of the booth. Adhain went outside and tried to distract the pirates, Ava went out to join him while Orpheus was distracting the pirate captain, tarina also escaped out the window however one of the pirates saw her and yelled at the captain through the window at which point an all out brawl ensued.

Orpheus almost got OHKO'd by the captain, Reya saved him and Tarina healed him. After a tough battle Orpheus finished off the captain and as the party was recovering Captain Zodge walked in with 6 soldiers of the Flaming Fist, he was surveying the scene when Reya approached him and asked to speak to him about some urgent matters. Adhain didn't join the rest of the party instead he hid in the shadows because he feared the authorities.

They went upstairs to a private room and discussed the cult activity and Captain Zodge upon hearing they were looking into the cult activity decided to formally deputise the party to be able to help with Flaming Fist resources and protection because they will be delving in some unsavoury places. They will receive Flaming Fist badges and a reward if/when they finish the task of looking into the cult activity.

They asked about the possibility of finding lodging in the Flaming Fist barracks and Zodge obliged them and assigned one of his guards to take them to the barracks. They thanked Zodge and the meeting concluded. On the way out of the tavern towards the barracks they met up with Adhain, and while he was sceptical about working with the Flaming Fist he decided to trust the party.

They arrived at a fancy looking building and were given a basic tour, they saw food served and Priheart, Adhain, Ava went in on the food like wild animals prompting a few of the Flaming Fist soldiers who were having lunch to lose their appetite and almost lose their entire lunch.

Afterwards they washed up and went upstairs to the sleeping chambers. They leveled up and rolled for their hp and this is where we ended the session.



***Session #3 02/07***

We started in the barracks, woke up and had breakfast. The party then set out to the bath house, on the way they heard/saw something strange that sounded like animal laughter/roars coming from a sewer grate as they were walking past. Priheart investigated and saw a pair of gleaming yellow eyes staring back at her for but a moment before they dissapeared into the darkness.

They made their way to the bath house, and guided by Tarina they found the secret door, locked out the masseuse that was using that room and proceeded down into the dungeon. They made it to an intersection of doors, deciding to check out the south door and upon opening the door they were attacked by 3 cultists that were pretending to be dead. A brawl ensued and the party won with little difficulty.

They proceeded through the east door next and through a long hallway they found 2 huge looking cultists torturing what seemed to be a man in a loincloth with a sack over his head. Priheart made herself known and another battle ensued, it was a hard battle with Priheart almost being brought down but in the nick of time and on her dying breath she proceeded to finish off both her attackers in one fell swoop and with that the battle came to an end. We leave off with our party having looted the bodies, found a bunch of coins, other useless stuff and an iron keyring with 7 keys on it. Ava spoke to the tied up man and they found out he was called Klim Jhasso, a noble from the upper city of BG who begged the party for help with promises of treasure untold for his safe return.



***Session #4 09/07***

We started the session in the room where Klim Jhasso was still shackled to the altar. Tarina freed him from his shackles and the party was attacked by the animated gauntlets of a nearby suit of armor.

They finished that battle quite easily and continued onwards to find a partially collapsed room with a necromancer-looking woman and a swarm of rats scuttling around her feet. They made themselves known and battle began immediately.

She was able to knock out a number of the party before being brought to death's door where she decided to go kamikaze and take the party with her, by casting a fireball directly at her feet which would have taken out the entire party tpk style.

Before the fireball was able to detonate it got captured/controlled and used against herself in a mighty explosion of force and pure blinding brilliance. The party who were expecting a swift death were rather confused, when they noticed a tall and imposing figure standing at the entry to the chamber with an outstretched hand, flames still dancing across it.

This is where the party met Aseris Stormslash, a minotaur and apparent father of Priheart. He talked to the party a bit before healing their wounds and giving them a little boost before going on his way to take care of other business.

They looted Flennis and found a spellbook and some healing potions, then continued on south and to the east, where they found what seemed to be an altar that was surrounded and piled high with by seemingly human bones of varying age and unlit black candles lining the edges of the altar. They also discovered that the next room is full of flammable gas, so they decided to go explore the south door before continuing onwards.

They stumbled upon what seemed to be a strange tomb flooded with water, and a sarcophagus in the middle of the room containing bones that were so old they were almost liquified. Upon disturbing the sarcophagus a spectral weapon appeared and began attacking anyone and everyone who was near it and the sarcophagus. Although it took a while the party decided to evacuate the room because the spectral weapon was hitting quite hard and they once again found themselves in need of healing.

They circled back to what seemed to be a jailcell that had a corner stuffed with hay and dried grass and decided to take a short rest there and heal up.

Session #5 15/7

We started in the jail cell where the party was resting. They went to the room with the gas build-up where Adhain threw a torch and nearly got himself burnt to a crisp, collapsed most of the ceiling in the chamber and the nearby chambers.

They arrived in a hallway with a number of doors, first one contained a sarcophagus that was looted a very long time ago. The second room contained a sarcophagus in the back of the room which seemed empty, but Adhain was searching around it and found a little crack in the bottom of the sarcophagus which turned out to be a false bottom, when he chipped away enough of the bottom he found a mummified corpse with moonstones for eyes and upon further searching also found a bag of beans in its chest where its heart would be.

The next room contained a number of zombies which immediately attacked as soon as the door was open. After defeating the zombies they stumbled upon what seemed to be an interrogation/torture chamber with 2 bodies shackled to the wall, a female Tiefling called Vendetta Kress who was unconcious and an unknown man who appeared to be dead.

They briefly spoke to Vendetta and she decided she would follow them. Upon turning the corner and some unfortunate stumbles on the stairs a nearby cultist guard was alerted and combat began again, a few moments later a couple more guards emerged from one of the nearby rooms that they later discovered were the cultist sleeping chambers.

A battle ensued and although it was bloody the party managed to defeat the cultists. We left it there for the Saturday session.

Session #6 Sunday 16/7

We began in the same hallway where the previous battle had been fought. The party accidentally woke some more cultists who had slept through the prior combat and another fight began, during this fight an "unassuming old lady" joined the fray, who turned out to be quite a formidable cultist who managed to take down multiple party members before she was defeated. While the party was fighting Vendetta Kress happened upon a strange indent on a wall and as the bloody combat finished the party managed to come out on top although not without casualties.

 Vendetta called out to the party to come investigate what she found, and Priheart managed to find a hidden door that led to a whole different part of the dungeon. As they approached the hallway they heard sounds of battle to the north, meanwhile Orpheus decided to open a door to a side room which happened to be hiding 4 skeletons, the combat was tough but they prevailed. Reya helped out with some healing and in the process used her entire capability for the day. 

They then proceeded north towards the sounds of battle where they saw a big oaf of a man with a scarred face fighting a bare chested cultist who's entire head had no flesh and was all skeletal. The party joined the fray and upon noticing the newcomers the cultist decided to withdraw. 

The party briefly spoke to the big man who turned out to be Mortlock Vantamphur, they made a deal and Mortlock gave them some information and promise of help in the future if they'd help him with the cultist he was fighting. 

He told them that his mother and brothers are responsible for the cult activity in the city and that the party had walked into an assassination attempt on him at the hand of the cultists and orchestrated by his brothers. 

They then chased down the cultist and managed to take him out after a few rounds of combat. This is where we left off for Sunday. Until next time. 

Session #7 23/7

We begin in the dungeon where the party has defeated the skull cultist. They looted a whole lot of chests and found quite a fortune, standouts among those are a delicate porcelain dragon mask, a bronze crown of 5 tips each representing one color of the chromatic dragons.

They spoke to Mortlock and got some information in regards to his family, and why he was the target an assassination attempt. They made their way outside the dungeon where they were ambushed by cultists who wore masks and later told the party that they were servants of Tiamat, and that she wants her treasure back. There was a brief attempt at negotiations before Tarina said fuck that and stabbed the leader(or at least attempted to). Half-way through this brutal fight a mysterious cloaked figure showed up to help the part and they eventually came out victorious. They spoke to the newcomer and decided to invite her to join them.

They then made their way towards the Flaming Fist HQ, along the way Priheart almost got shot by an arrow that had a piece of parchment wrapped on it that said "Hi", after looking around for the source she saw one gleaming yellow eye inside a sewer grate for a moment before it dissapeared and some animal sounds were heard. Upon hearing the strange sounds Priheart recognised that these were gnolls(and freaked the fuck out). 

They found their way to the HQ and upon not finding Zodge there they asked for his whereabouts from a nearby soldier who was sleeping, who told them that he's at the Elfsong "blowing off some steam" and promptly went back to sleep. They all ate and drank til they could barely move anymore, at which point they went to sleep, rested and leveled up to 3. This is where we left off. 

Session #8 30/7

After stumbling back to the HQ in the middle of the night and going to sleep, the party woke up in the early afternoon to a mildly annoyed Zodge waiting for them at his table. They had breakfast and spoke to Mortlock for some more information, then went to see Zodge. They got their reward and upon enquiring about a magic shop got directed to the Sorcerous Sundries. On the way there Ava noticed a notice board with a couple of flyers on it, one of which she took and Adhain noticed another one about a bard competition happening at the Elfsong later that evening. 

They met the proprietor, an older gentleman by the name of Aurelius Starwind. They did some shopping and bought some necessary supplies. They then made their way to the Low Lantern tavern which turned out to be a permanently docked ship. They cased the place and got a couple of drinks, then went down to the depths of the ship looking for Amrik.

They found him surrounded by guards, one of which seemed to be some kind of devil. They were formulating a plan on how to confront him when we left off.

Session #9 06/08

We started in the Low Lantern tavern, where the party were still discussing their plan. They noticed Amrik more or less staring at them and talking to his fiendish companion. 

Adhain decided to kick it off by showing his Flaming Fist badge and attempting to nicely convince Amrik to go with them to FF HQ, which didn't go well as might be anticipated. Amrik had no regard for the "authority" of the Flaming Fist being from one of the four major families of the city. Combat ensued, and mostly in part to some really shitty rolls Amrik found himself on the floor laughing like a maniac and restrained by rope. His body guards almost downed a couple of party members but eventually the tables started to turn.

On round 2 some strange rough looking folks came down the stairs and immediately started targeting Ava. The party would later come to realise that these people were here to kidnap or kill Ava and they stepped in to protect her.

The fight was all but won when Amrik decided to yolo out of the battle, taking a couple of hits along the way but ultimately escaping. The party finished off the other enemies and started rushing after him, ultimately ending up on the top deck of the Low Lantern where they found Amrik facing off with Mortlock and Reya. This is where we ended the session.

Session #10 13/08

We begin the session at the top deck of the Low Lantern. As the party made it up the stairs they saw Amrik facing off vs Reya and Mortlock. As the fight began anew the party noticed some ravens perched up on the ship rigging, and Calen noticed they seemed to be somewhat "off" and seemingly not what they seem.

The party managed to bring Amrik to unconciousness when the "ravens" suddenly transformed into tiny fiendish creatures that Adhain and Priheart identified as imps. One of the imps managed to bring down Ava in a single shot, as the others spread out throughout the battle. Another attacked and attempted to finish off Amrik with a seemingly lethal stinger blow to the neck the party stepped up and protected him, and after getting rid of the imps Reya ultimately brought Amrik back to conciousness by using her Lay on Hands. 

He immediately threw down a smoke bomb which caught multiple party members and attempted to make his escape off the boat, Mortlock stepped out of the smoke and shot his brother in the back with his heavy crossbow and the party was sucessful. You questioned Ava about the people who came and started attacking her but she truthfully diverged some of her history, on the way back through the city with Amrik unconcious on a cart they got many strange looks and a few of them happened to see a flyer which was what seemed a bounty poster with Ava's photo on it.

You managed to make it back to the HQ and speak to captain Zodge, who informed them that this "prisoner" more or less paints a big crosshair on his and the Flaming Fist' organisation as a whole backs, as Duke Vantamphur is known to be vicious to those who harm her family.

You left him unconcious and guarded by Calen, Reya and Mortlock at Flaming Fist HQ and went on to the party at the Elfsong Tavern.
When you arrived you saw a big crowd and a whole lot of bards waiting for the contest. Tarina registered in the contest and with the help of the whole party managed to get a great reception to her song.

Drinks flowed, bards sang, crowds cheered and hollered and emotions were felt. Overall it was a great contest, but due to her wonderful performance and maybe a little bit because of the party's help, Tarina won the contest by being a crowd favorite. Orpheus then stepped up and sang a great sea shanty during which most of the tavern joined in, and fun was had by all.

Tarina then decided to do one last performance, and with a beautifully poetic natural 20 managed to somewhat sway the crowd's opinion of the Vantamphur family through her song.

This is where we left off. Until next time.

Session #11 20/08

We begin in the tavern at the end of the night. Adhain sneaks away to the bathroom to hide while the rest of the party keeps partying, they make their way back to the HQ and all go to sleep and orpheus cleans himself up first before going to bed. As the party wakes up they all recover from their hangovers and speak to Zodge, and decided to interrogate Amrik. They got a wealth of information which they brought to Zodge who was quite disturbed at the revalations. 

They then split up and went their separate ways, orpheus, priheart and ava went to Thrain's Forge and Adhain, Tarina and Calen went to the Sorcerous Sundries. The SS group got approached by some thugs who demanded they give over all their money and Tarina used her magic to create "money" which she gave them and they managed to get through unscathed.The TF group did some shopping and were on their way to SS when they found some strange markings that were etched into the stone in a crude symbol resembling the open jaws of a feral beast etched onto a wall at the start of a dark alley. As they were inspecting the markings they heard some feral cackling and saw shapes in the shadows of the alley. This is where we left off.

Session #12 27/08

We began in a small alley in Baldur's Gate, where Orpheus, Priheart and Ava were facing down a pack of gnolls, it was a long battle that was eventually won not after taking a good amount of damage and some people getting knocked unconcious once or twice. The party, very battered in rough shape made their way to the Sorcerous Sundries, where they made some enquiries about potential items, bought some potions and most importantly had themselves a short rest. Orpheus found, then subsequently read and purchased an old book that was about temporal magic and Priheart found a book about the fey nature of Harengons and their culture. We left off with the party deciding whether they'll take to the sewers or ask around for information on the dragon cult.

Session #13 03/09

After a brief respite at the Sorcerous Sundries, the party heads out to find the nearest sewer entrance, After a short while they managed to find a hatch in the street and went down. They climbed down into a humid, stench-ridden and unpleasant locale of the sewer, upon following the sewer line, waste and debris-ridden water beneath their feet orpheus accidentally brushes against a cluster of mushrooms which release a large spore cloud which upon failing their saves produced some hilarious results. Trudging on further into the sewers following a bend they came upon a pack of ghouls and a ghast, after a somewhat easy battle they moved on, when someone noticed a group of cultists approaching from the opposite direction with what seemed to be a prisoner.
The cultists, much to their dismay managed to trigger some mushrooms and produce a spore cloud which resulted in some funny effects. After a failed bluff on the hand of the party, the cultists proceeded to attack and while the battle was drawn out and bloody the party managed to come up on top. Freeing the prisoner they learned his name is Quill, a magic curiosities merchant who was kidnapped by the cult of the dragon. He decided to join them on their quest after finding out what they were after, and they all continued on onwards.

Session #14 10/9

The party came upon a waterfall of sewage and tried to have a rest when Tarina noticed something large in the water and they soon found a gelatinous ooze resting in the water. Once again they began combat, the ooze sped straight towards the closest person who happened to be Priheart who got absorbed and downed. The cultist they took prisoner for interrogation got dissolved by the ooze, much to the party's dismay. After a lengthy battle they felled the ooze and Adhain noticed an anomaly on the wall, while investigating he triggered an arrow trap and took some damage, after the trap triggered a 1ft slab of stone slid to the side and revealed a treasure chest. Opening the chest they failed to look for traps and a puff of noxious gas streamed out. Opening the chest they found a bounty of loot and treasures, this is where we left off.

Session #15 24/9

We find our party in the sewers after just having defeated a gelatinous ooze. They proceeded further into the sewers and came upon a drunkard laying in a corner of the sewer area, who upon their approach recognised Ava from her wanted poster and stumbled forward with his hand upon his weapon. As he got close, a shadow appeared behind him and what appeared to be a hooded gnoll figure appeared behind him and proceeded to stab him through the back of the head, instantly killing him. Priheart recognised this figure as the one which previously assailed the party and her in particular, a couple of moments later more gnolls appeared from the shadows and a full scale brawl began. A tough fight in itself, during which Ava recieved a message in her mind from someone saying "you dont need to know why, yet, but I do need you to live", this mysterious voice then proceeded to vaporize a couple of the gnolls on the spot. After that they brought down the main baddie and continued further into the sewer, at this point Priheart recognised where she was and led the rest of the party to her father's home. They arrived and settled themselves into some comfy beds, while Priheart went to look for her dad, when her search turned out fruitless she also went to bed.

Waking up after a nice sleep and rest the party was made aware that Aseris had at some point returned and has been cooking breakfast for the party, which they gladly accepted. Drinks and food were had and conversation was exchanged, they learned the whereabouts of the cult temple/hideout they have been searching for from Aseris and after receiving some blessings from him proceeded to the temple immediately. This is where we left off.

Session #16 01/10

We begin in the grand hall entrance of the cultist temple, upon looking around the party found multiple jail cells complete with prisoners inside, and a giant floating eyeball that was looking directly at them, along with ominuos sounding chanting faintly reverberating throughout the chamber. Priheart attempted to communicate with two of the prisoners however they had both been in a catatonic state of shock as they appear to have been recently tortured, having open bleeding wounds on multiple parts of their bodies. Quill approached the north side of the room and got a bit too close to the eyeball which shot a blast of icy cold energy at him, a couple of other party members followed suit and also received blasts of lightning and fire respectively to the face. It was finally Tarina who realised the weakness of this "eyeball" after shooting it with her hand crossbow. It took a bit but the party managed to destroy it, which made the whole thing blow up and project it's latent elemental energies outward toward those who were in range. 

They started exploring after that, and after getting past a locked door, the party noticed that the chanting is getting louder and more frantic, they came upon some cultists who were preparing meals in what seems to be a kitchen/food prep area. A short fight ensued, and after taking care of the cultists the party set their sights on getting to the next chamber and stopping the ritual that seems to be ongoing and crescendoing. After inspecting a door that seemingly was protected by some sort of forcefield, Priheart decided to attack it and that is where we left off.

Session #17 07/10

We begin inside the cultist headquarters, at the magically sealed door. Priheart tried to attack the door and the barrier instead deflected her blow and threw her back 15 feet. Adhain then remembered that they had seen another door that leads elsewhere in the mess hall area, they decided to check it out and it turns out that door also led to the ritual chamber. While this was going on the chanting from the chamber was becoming faster and more frenzied, so they decided to rush in.

Adhain opened the door with his mage hand and what he saw inside was terrifying, a dozen chanting cultists, a barrier in the middle of the room, and a tall imposing man inside the barrier performing some sort of ritual on 5 dragon eggs(red, blue, green, white, black). As the door opened the chanting abruptly stopped and all eyes were on the party.

Seeing the inside Adhain informed the rest of the party and the battle was on, they knew they had to act quick to stop the ritual and at at the end of the long brutal fight, during which one of the dragon eggs was hatched, they slew the imposing cultist and the wyrmling dragon alike and could finally take a moment to breathe. After the battle they looted the fallen, found some interesting items and this is where we ended the session.

Session #18

We find ourselves in the boss room after the long and tough battle. Hit points are low but spirits are high! Priheart and Orpheus were trying to figure out how to get the floating eggs down to the floor, once that failed(mostly due to a misunderstanding on my part) they decided to explore the rest of compound, they found a room with 4 spherical "wells" in the floor with a mysterious red liquid as well as another one of the strange large eyes on the wall which they promptly destroyed but managed to get caught in the explosion regardless. 

Orpheus had a genius idea to taste the red liquid from one of the wells and got his mind blown as his vision now allowed him to see into the ethereal realm. After exploring the library and finding some books and scrolls, including notes on what they were doing in the previous chambers they decided to continue on.

They left the compound and came upon an area they later found out was called "The Undercellar" which is a public underground rest area accessible via the sewers or other entrances. They explored this place, stole some alcohol and Orpheus played a bartender role for a bit.

After resting and having a refreshing drink they came upon a number of treasures that happened to be stored in chests and display cases in what seemed to be a storage room of a sort.

After looting they found their way to the Sorcerous Sundries and had a brief chat with Aurelius, who informed them that they can have a bit of a rest and after that they can discuss business.

This is where we left off. 

