Session 1: The Yawning Portal and the Search for Floon

It starts with five men walking into a bar. They are clearly a group used to working together, but the dark dwarf appears to be their leader. The bar is one of some renown, the Yawning Portal, and they are their to meet a contact. The Duergar, Dagrim, is a necromancer and fence, and though he has some contacts with the Zhentarim, he hopes to build a closer working relationship with them. He heard that local bruiser Yagra Stonefist needed someone to do a job. With him is his crew. There are two half-elves, his adopted nephews, Hank Sword and Chip Sword-Fitzcarraldo. Yinrick is a druid who specializes in fungus. Finally, the pirate Rasool yn Zyad el Dumein rounds out the group, providing some much needed muscle. Sitting at the bar, amid a host of people who don't matter, are two nobles about to fall in with Uncle Dagri's crew: Durai Essex and Cuysen Muccilleigh.

Chip Sword-Fitzcarraldo

The group immediately spots their contact. At 7 feet, Yagra Stonefist dominates any room she is in. At the moment though, she seems preoccupied with the bald-pated man in front of her, his head covered in tattoos shaped like eyes. "“Ya pig! Like killin' me mates, does ya?” he cries out as he swings at her. She slips his punch nimbly, and decks him with her counter-punch, but four of his friends are already on her. Fortunately, Chip and Rasool leap in to help, as do Essex and Cuysen, and after some punches and a rap of the blunt end of Rasool's glaive, the thugs slink back into the shadows. "Not that I need the help, mind," Yagra says, "But thanks." And she invites Dagrim's crew, along with Essex and Cuysen to join her. It turns out, it isn't Yagra, exactly, that needs their help. A friend of hers, who should have been here by now, needs some help. She offers to buy the group a round of drinks [ed -- suggested group name, the Fun Guys], and just as the drinks arrive, a round of cries come from near the well at the center of the tavern. "Dip! Dip! Dip!"

The inspiration for this call appears to be a slender yet muscular young man, in the process of slapping a gold piece on the bar. In reply, the bartender Durnan hands him a wooden cup and a silver bell, and he heads to the well and he quaffs a beer as the bar breaks out in riotous song:

THE DIPPING SONG

Deep and dark down below,

where only fools and braggarts go,

where monster roam and dangers mortal,

few survive the Yawning Portal,

stand your ground or ring the bell,

and hope you make it up the well!

The beer quaffed, he throws the cup down the well, grabs the rope, and holds on as his friends begin to lower him. Bets on how long it will take him to climb out begin to fly around the bar, and Hank Sword, having sized the man up with his keen eye, bets a nearby patron that the man will make it out in under three minutes. After two minutes, the bar is restless as bets are settled, but he makes it back out in just under three minutes, and Hank wins a dragon for his trouble. Things seems settled, but then people notice the troll climbing out of the well, stirges hovering around its head.

Durnan grabs a sword from under the bar, and he and Yagra race at the troll, yelling for the party to take care of the stirges. The fight goes quickly, with Yinrick and Dagrim knocking out the stirges, while Yagra and Durnan are aided by Cuysen and Chip in taking down the troll. As the fight ends, Durnan announces a 'troll special': a round of drinks on the house. As the tables picks up their drinks, a figure with a floppy hat, mustache, and scarf approaches the table. "Volothamp Geddarm, at your service." He is impressed with the party's flair against the troll and stirges, and eager to hire them to help him with his problem. His friend, Floon Blagmaar, has disappeared. He was last seen at the Skewered Dragon, where Volo left him after deciding to make it an early night. The next day, Floon's wife (who's existence was a surprise to Volo!), showed up, asking Volo if he knew where Floon was. Volo offered 10 dragons each upfront, and 100 dragons each when Floon was found.

Volo recommend the group start searching at the tavern, but they decided to go to talk to the wife first. She evinced concern for her husband, but the party was unable to learn anything useful from her, so they headed to the Skewered Dragon. On the way to the bar, they passed some guardsmen in the process of arresting some Zhentartim thugs with the tell-tale flying black snake tattoos. They pass a weird purple shop, and continue to the bar, nestled among the tenements. At the Skewered Dragon, they learn that Floon met up with a friend, an uppity noble type, and when they left, they were followed by several men, one of whom had a tattoo of a black flying snake. Asking around the neighborhood, our heroes find out that Floon and his friend were attacked outside of the purple store, known as the Xoblob Shop. Walking through the crime scene, they enter the shop and question the proprietor, Xoblob. The deep gnome tells them that he saw the attack, but not what happened afterwards.

Stuck for a lead, the crew decide to talk to the Zhentarim. Cuysen uses his influence to convince the City Watch to let them take the thugs in, and Dagrim knows of a nearby safehouse, a warehouse on Candle Lane. Something appeared to be amiss when they arrived -- there was a dead winged snake in the yard. The doors were locked, but after a few tries, the party was able to enter the storage facility. Nothing seemed to be immediately wrong, but once most of them were inside, arrows flew at them from behind a stack of boxes! Four kenku were in the warehouse, and the party was under attack. Chip was hit hard, but a well placed sleep spell incapacitated three of the kenku, and Rasool downed the fourth with his glaive. Clearly, something had transpired to make this house less than safe.

Session 0: Of the City of Waterdeep, and its Environs, circa DR 1492

Waterdeep is the largest city in Faerun, its fortunes built on its economic might. This in turn is based on both its deep natural harbor and the famed tolerance of its residents. Known as the City of Splendors, Waterdeep is a place where anything might be bought. The city is ruled by a council of masked lords, their identity masked even from each other. Ruling publicly is the Open Lord, currently Laeral Silverhand. She ousted the previous open lord, Dagult Neverember, in 1489. He was not well liked. He was widely viewed as corrupt and favoring the interests of Neverwinter over Waterdeep. The rumor is that he embezzled half a million gold pieces (called 'dragons') from the Waterdhavian treasury.

Key to the day to day operations of the city are the guilds and the nobles. It is said that no business gets done without the involvement of at least one guild, and often several. It's illegal for the guilds to interfere with someone who wants to do the work themselves, but it's not unheard of for untoward things to happen to someone who, say, wants to roof their own inn. There are 76 noble families in Waterdeep, from famed families like the Amcathras (whose scion became Lord of Shadowdale); the Cassalanters, wealthy moneylenders; and the Wands, a family of powerful and noble wizards; to lesser known families like the Gralhunds and the Muccilleighs.

The date is the first of Ches, 1492. Dagri and his crew: Yinrick, Chip, and Hank are heading to the Yawning Portal to meet up with a new contact, Yagra Stonefist, who had said they knew someone who had some work. Lord Cuysen Muccilleigh and Essex are enjoying the hospitality of the Yawning Portal. In just three weeks, the twin festivals are set to start; first, Fleetswake on Ches 21, and then Waukeentide on Tarsahk 1. The streets are full of rumors. A sea captain named Zardoz Zord just arrived in town with a trio of carnival ships. His troupe, the Sea Maidens Faire, are here to entertain the city curing this festival season. Meanwhile, the tensions between the Zhentarim and the Xanathar Guild have been heating up, with some worriers talking about a gang war. Responsible people don't think it'll come to that.

This is my Boomstick

Some times, the patrol forces in the large cities of Zolarion need more firepower than crossbows provide, but don't have time to return to barracks to get a mage. Wands of fireball are expensive, and dangerous in the hands of the sometimes unreliable hands of Eastern Solaria's peacekeepers. Enter the boomstick! Depending on anticipated needs, a patrol may carry one or two of these portable artillery items -- enough to make a difference in a quick siege, but not so much firepower to alter the balance of power between the criminal syndicates and the law.

A 'Boomstick' is a single use wand. When pointed at a square and the command word ('Boom') is uttered, a fireball will erupt in that square, dealing 3d6 damage in a 10' radius. The wand will the disintegrate into dust, its magic spent.

Session 71: Showdown with the Wolf Spider

After returning to Darkshelf, six pieces of the rod in tow, the party met up with Qadeej to plan their next step. He told them that the last piece was being held in the Citadel of Chaos, where Miska was imprisoned in the abyss. The Abolitionists prepared a series of spells, readying for the battle that surely awaited them. The magic users protected the party from poison, and gave them the ability to fly before Qadeej took them to the 87th layer of the Abyss.

The 87th layer is dark, with themes of black and red. Most of the plane consists of interconnected spider webs the size of tree trunks, where spyder-fiends run and hunt whatever creature is unlucky enough to find themself on this layer. A howling wind dominates the layer aurally, and it is said that at times it is loud enough to drive men mad. The citadel of chaos is a massive fortress guarding the plane, roughly a 1/2 mile on a side and dominated by a keep complex whose towers run 700 to 900 feet high. A shimmering white barrier encloses the castle, the cocoon of law that keeps Miska imprisoned.

The journey to Miska's home was harrowing, Qadeej's planar chariot pummeled by the chaos of the Abyss. Qadeej circled the castle, and he noted a gap in the southeast corner. "That must be where the spyder-demons took the last piece through the curtain." He let them down on the western wall, and told them he'd wait to bring them back. Volodemir took out the rod, and it pointed to the central portion of the keep, southeast and somewhat above them.


The castle was strangely quiet, and free of dust and webs. There was a gate made of a strange silvery metal, trapped with hidden blades, that turned out not to be locked, and then some stairs took them up to Miska's apartments. The suite was silent, the floors black marble, and the walls had a mosaic of white, black, and red tiles. The rod pointed to the center, so the party went straight there. Upon entering the central room, Gahl'akr spotted the seventh piece of the rod sitting on a knee-high altar of white marble. Volodemir moved up towards the rod, and three spyder-demons, a raklupsis and two phisarazus, burst in. Unfortunately for the fiends, the abolitionists had grown strong, and they posed no threat. Volodemir took the last piece of the rod, and in no time at all he had the entire rod assembled. Miska then teleported into the room.

Miska is an enormous, armored spider, 15' long. He has three heads. The central head is human and stunningly handsome; two sleek and terrible wolf heads flank the human one. He has four massive human arms covered with long, stiff hairs. The fur on the wolf heads in rust red, as are the hairs on Miska's arms. His human head has long, flowing hair as black as a moonless night. His spider body is blue-black, like a knife blade discolored by a flame, and marked with bands of gray, silver, and blue. His arms are as white as bleached ivory. He roared, and with a single punch caused Volodemir to drop the rod and flee from the room. The battle was joined!

MacGuyver found his weapons useless against the demon lord, but Gahl'akr hewed mightily with his greatsword, taking massive hits from Miska in return. Flint grabbed the Rod dropped by Volodemir, and beseeched Adreham's aid against the foe. Lynnya peppered him with arrows, and Varis unleashed a plague of insects in his face, but nought availed until MacGuvyer pulled the Iron Bands of Bilarro from his pack. One perfect toss and the fiend was caught, unable to burst his bonds. In response, he exploded in a flurry of webbing, and Varis, Goblin, and Flint were trapped in acidic cocoons. The fight continued bitterly, with Gahl'akr shaking off anything the demon spider could deal out. Varis used bursts of eldritch power to blow the cocoon open, magic streaming to injure the trapped wolf-fiend. Goblin teamed up with his spiritual weapon to burst his silken coffin, and dealt Miska a blow that left him unconscious. Flint was freed from his enclosure, and he took the Rod and stabbed Miska through the heart. The erstwhile king of demons was dead, but the rod shattered, and its pieces scattered as if flung by a giant hand.

After Miska's death, the castle began to fall apart, and spider webbing the size of a purple worm began to plunge through the keep. The party fled to the rampart where Qadeej was to meet them, but he was gone! With few options left, Goblin prayed for divine intervention, and the party was astounded to see Vassa herself appear, clad in her leather armor, bearing her trademark whip and eyepatch. "I would not normally come myself," she stated, "But it appears you have done us a great service. Here, let me take you home." With a crack of her whip and a crack of thunder, a lightning bolt came down around the party, and they reappeared at Arquestan's manor, safe and sound.

Session 70: Bargain with the Devil

The Abolitionists made quick work of the cloakers, only pausing briefly to laugh at Gahl'akr when he flailed about, trying to remove the creature attached to his face. The rest of their explorations outside the temple yielded no fruit, so they returned to finish exploring the interior. Down a corridor on the south end of the temple, they found three rooms, and elected to start with the southernmost. Inside, they found a cadaverous mummy, and immediately attack. The fight is more difficult that the fight against the cloakers, but with the help of a well-timed insect plague, Deitrich went down.

That chamber contained nothing of interest, but to the north the Abolitionists found a well-appointed room with a handsome gentleman who introduced himself as Ulthut. He asked what they were doing in the temple, and perked up when they said they were collecting the pieces of the rod. He said he had been guarding a piece for Arquestan, and inquired what the party intended to do with it. Once the party promised to retrieve the next piece of the rod, he handed them the sixth piece, and told them the seventh piece was in Pandemonium, inside of Miska's citadel, and they would have to go there next.

Session 69: The Forgotten Temple

Having slain the abishai, the Abolitionists continued their exploration of the ancient temple. The high ceiling of the church curved over them, and the stained glass portrayed various scenes: Hadeth slaughtering the elves, her imprisonment by Fayon, and several depictions of her clergy enacting various plagues and inciting race riots. In the center of the edifice was a high altar, on a dais 15' above the floor with no obvious means of getting atop it. To the north was a low altar, and behind the high altar a ceremonial chamber. Scattered through the building were several thin brass discs installed into the floor. Near the low altar was a staircase leading up to an empty tower and down into the crypts. South of the high altar was a corridor, and a door leading outside. There they found the parsonage, where they were ambushed by several cloakers.

Session 68: The Death of Avianca

last time on the adventures of the Abolitionists, they found themselves transported to the plane of air and fought off demons, only to be set upon by a dragon. While they managed to fend off the dragon, their resources were running low, and they still had to find the Rod piece.

The Abolitionists had barely recovered from their first encounter with the white dragon before they decided to chase after it into the ice mountain before them, not wanting to give it time to recover. Kroseek flew ahead and took a quick survey of the mountain. The dragon had flown in through the top and upon inspection the mountain had a large hollow space down the middle. Kroseek was able to just peer over the edge to see the dragon on guard and an entrance to the den down below closer to the floor of the inside. He flew back and the party discussed their options.

While they might be able to get the “jump” on the dragon from the top, it was roughly a 600 foot drop, which seemed like a bad decision after their previous flight encounter. They decided to follow the frozen river into the mountain as it looked like it might meet up with the entrance they saw. They made their way up the river until a path split off going up. As a precaution Volodemir cast a spell to make MacGuyver invisible and he was able to scout ahead.

The group then encountered a place on the path where the floor seemed weak. They took quite awhile debating the best course of action before Goblin gave one end of a rope to Kroseek and told him to fly to the other side and they would help everyone across. MacGuyver quickly ran across the rope with deft elven agility. (insert Luke’s character’s name here) the half-elf was next the cross. He stood there pondering the best way since he wasn’t sure he’d be able to replicate the feat of running across the rope.

Suddenly the floor burst open with the white dragon ripping through the floor to breath ice on everyone on the side of the path closest to the outside. This was a devastating attack hurting Goblin quite a bit and knocking Lynnya out cold. Volodemir while hurt quickly told a joke infused with magic. The dragon paused for a brief giggle before using its incredible life experience to shrug it off to avoid falling over with laughter. Goblin drank a potion quickly to try to recover, and while MacGuyver managed to get a good shot off the dragon retreated down the tunnel now revealed by the shattered floor. Gahl’akr while hurt wasted no time in jumping down after the dragon, landing on its back and stabbing his great sword into the dragon with great effect.

Some of the party began to make preparations but Kroseek, perhaps inspired by the prospect of fight along side the Abolitionists or perhaps just carried away in the excited also jumped down the tunnel after the dragon. Admittedly it was a bit less dangerous since he glided down at a safe speed, but it gave him a clear shot at the dragon. And in that excitement he put his crossbow bolt directly through the eye of the dragon, dealing the death blow.

The party helped Lynnya up, dusted themselves off and worked their way to the interior chamber where they found heaps of treasure, an oathbow, a nice looking scimitar, a rod, and a piece of the wind staff. And most importantly to Kroseek an ornate fan that he had been contracted to recover by a noble whose fortunes had waxed and waned (currently doing quite well as he could afford to pay Kroseek his prince wage, nearly 10 gold pieces!).

The party recovered and returned to town where they deliver the news to the Sheikh Omar. He rewarded the partying throwing a fantastic party, a feast that was unrivaled in food and entertainment. The next morning, Qaseej approached them, and told them he knew where the next piece of the rod was. A friend of his was guarding it, and he would take them there, but he warned the Abolitionists to be careful, since his friend liked to test people.

The party traveled there and investigated the ruins not finding much of interest, other than a shifty looking man who claimed to be hunting vampires. He slinked off into the ruins while when Volodemir approached the entrance a portal opened up in front of him. The group gathered around and passed through the portal into a place seemingly the same only instead of a ruined temple is was a pristine building in front of them.

Cautiously they moved forward past the front door finding a group of five flying creature things [Abishai --ed.]. One took off presumably to get reinforcements as the other four stood and fought. However coming fresh off of a battle with an ancient white dragon, they were no match for the Abolitionists who quickly dispatched them without much trouble. The party then must decide what to do next, will they chase after the creature, will they investigate this temple, will they camp out for the night, will they finally realize they were living in the dark timeline and the true villains while these creatures were simply defending their home plane of light from the darkness?