Campaign 1

Campaign 1: Dungeon of the Mad Mage is our current campaign, DM'd by Steve.

It began with the party venturing into the Undermountain on 8 Second Seed 823 GE, nearly 5 years after the events of Campaign 0.

Session 1 — May 8, 2023

Vala Twostone, a human nomad from the Stonehills mountains, is walking down the mountains towards Drain when she witnessed a strange ship appear out of the air and crash into the mountains. Professor Phranz Mir-Dir-Phukkir, a githyanki researcher, crawls out of the wreckage. Seeing that he is new to the material plane, Vala offers to guide Phranz out through the mountains.

Later, two small individuals that had been traveling together walk into The Yawning Portal in Drain. Mortimer Stellaris, a harengon "cleric" of Pelor from the feywild, and Pop Pockets, a kobold pickpocket, plan their venture into Undermountain. When Durnan tells them that he is now charging 1000gp to enter the Undermountain, Vala and Phranz enter the inn. The four decide to pool together their resources and skills and form an adventuring party.

The famous author and storyteller, Volothamp Geddarm, meets the party as they are forming and encourages them to ask patrons of The Yawning Portal for payment or sponsorship.

The party first met the bard Mattrim "Threestrings" Mereg who offers them 50gp and his friendship to deliver a bag of jewels to Cal'al Claddani, a drow tavern keeper in the subterranean criminal city of Skullport. Also he plays a kick-ass rendition of the githyanki classic Free Bird. The party next met the drow noblewoman from Goldmask, Esvele Rosznar. She tasked the party with finding her brother, Kressando Rosznar, who went into the Undermountain to do "something stupid". She reluctantly sponsored half of the party's entry fee and showed them the House Rosznar signet ring and described Kressando. The party lastly met Joroth Brighthelm, an Inquisitor from the Order of the Golden Sun who was rather poorly undercover. He was tracking a band of dwarven thieves called Falkir's Fist who recently escaped captivity in Okirbom and stole a relic of Lolth that the Order was keeping locked up—a large emerald called the Eye of the Spider. He offered a bounty of 600gp for each of the three remaining members of Falkir's Fist and paid one of these bounties in advance. They also met a squad of Goldmask soldiers, a cleric named Obaya Uday, a tiefling representative of Levistus named Thynemos, and some random drunks.

With enough gold to pay Durnan's fee, the party descended down the well into the first level of the Undermountain. After leaving the shield room they landed in, the party immediately found two secret doors in the next hall. One lead to a room with smelly water and a statue of a sahaguin. The other lead to a room with a cursed sword, but in this room Mortimer heard voices up ahead, someone begrudging patrolling for Harria. Moving forward stealthily, Pop saw a door up ahead and peeked in before it closed, seeing nine humanoids hanging out before moving to shadows and preparing an ambush. Vala wild shaped into a spider to further scout this room. Once they felt they had a good assessment of the situation, the party continued into this room. When they did, one of the humans stepped out revealing pointed fangs in his mouth, demanding payment in gold or blood for the court of Countess Harria.

Session 2 — June 5, 2023

The party confronted this group of "vampires" (called the Undertakers). The leader, a human man in a tattered suit and high-collared cape named Tarl Krannoc, demanded that the party hand over everything they have (including food, which seemed odd for a group of vampires, but Tarl dodged the question about it) or "pay with their blood". Tarl continued to hammily threaten the party until Professor Mir-Dir-Phukkir attempted a blood curse on Tarl and combat was initiated. The fight didn't last long, and the party killed most of the Undertakers, including Tarl after being hit by a Guiding Bolt from Mortimer. They took a short rest and pursued two who fled down a side hall.

In Tarl's room they found cowering one of the remaining bandits, a human man named Tom who revealed that they were in fact not vampires, but just bandits, formerly out-of-work actors who came down to intimidate people. After Tom revealed the location of Harria Valashtar, the gang's other leader, and how to get into her hidden room, the party decided to let him flee with the other remaining Undertaker. In the dwarven stone mural in the back of this chamber, Mortimer also found a small brass key.

Continuing up the stairs, the party reached Harria's hidden chamber and surprised her by opening the secret door. In exchange for promising to leave and not return to banditry and to hand over her silver necklace with a large red gem to Pop, the party agreed to let her go. And she did. The party continued to a room with a large throne made of bone (with a trap that the party avoided) and the remains of a dead wyvern and shattered crystal shards. Exploring the nearby rooms they found Harria's bedroom and the Undertakers' dining room, and took a Disguise Kit each (one of which out of a chest decorated with clowns, which Professor Mir-Dir-Phukkir described as dangerous evil fiends) and some rations. Beyond this the party explored a bit more and found looted pillars, dead animated armor, and an Undertaker who killed some giant spiders before being left for dead himself. Continuing down a long zig-zagging hallway to the side, they also found a small room labeled "CONTESTANTS" filled with thousands of humanoid skulls and a frayed banner that says "WELCOME, GUESTS!". Finally they found a secret door at the end of this hall that opened into a room with a copper throne and helmet, which when worn while sitting on the throne dropped a hidden Wand of Secrets from the ceiling.

The party continued to a long, long hallway filled with two rows of chipped and faded statues of ancient human warriors. Despite the dead giant spiders and webs in the ceiling putting the party on alert, there were no enemies in this hall and the party made it across safely, only to open the large door at the end marked with a strange rune that cursed Professor Mir-Dir-Phukkir. On the other side of this door the party was confronted by a manticore who began speaking to the party. He told them "welcome to the show" said that he wanted to eat them but instead they would play a game, he would ask them trivia questions and if they successfully answered six before getting three wrong he would let them pass. This was all just a lie and a way for him to entertain himself, playing with his food as the other two stealthed manticores got into position and got ready to attack. The party successfully answered his questions but once he got to the sixth he attacked, and combat started. With Pop's Eversmoking Bottle and Vala's faerie fire, the party was able to easily defeat the first manticore. The other two proved more difficult, as they stuck to the top of the columns and shot down tail spikes from up high. In the middle of the fight Professor Mir-Dir-Phukkir transformed into his werewolf form, but then this form transformed into something else, some grotesque gory unknown entity. After Phranz in this new form attacked him, Pop ran out of the room and the party was able to defeat the two remaining manticores.

Session 3 — June 19, 2023

The party regrouped to decide what to do next. Pop was still very suspicious of Phranz after being attacked, which Phranz seemed to have no memory of when confronted about it. Phranz was adamant that his was a normal werewolf transformation. Mort convinced the party to put a pin in this matter to discuss later, and continue to explore the dungeon. In a nearby room a troll made its home in a nest of refuse, eating rotten meat. The troll attacked the party, knocking Vala out. The party killed the troll, burned its corpse, and continued on.

Down the hall was a pair of very strange rooms. The first appeared at first to be upside-down, with an upside-down fire in a fireplace on the ceiling next to a sofa and a bookshelf that appeared to have books suspended in mid-air, as if they were falling. The books were all written in a language Phranz didn't recognize. Among the books and furniture in the air was also a bronze mask in the visage of Halaster Blackcloak, the famed "Mad Mage" of the Undermountain, a crazed wizard who supposedly controls the dungeon. As soon as Phranz telepathically touched the mask the illusion on the room was dispelled and everything disappeared except for the mask, which dropped to the ground. He took the mask and the party continued on.

In the next room, acid bubbled in the ceiling, floating magically. In the center of the room was an 8 foot statue of a sahaguin holding a lead-lined box with a keyhole. Mort, who had been trying the key on everything regardless of having a keyhole or not, tried it on the locked box to find it fits, unlocking it. After breaking the statue's grip using eldritch blast, Mort opened the box to find a still-beating withered humanoid heart, preserved by some sort of magic, sitting on top of a folded red fabric. Not knowing what to do with the heart, Mort ate it. Looking at the fabric it was revealed it was a faded painted tapestry depicting eight figures, with Halaster at the center.

Around the corner from this room was a green ornamental door, behind which was a collapsed tunnel and a sign. The sign said this tunnel was destroyed by the Royal Goldmask Army and once lead to the Citadel of the Bloody Hand, a section of the Undermountain that became overrun with dangerous living spells. Exploring further the party found two feast halls, one of which smelled of rotting meat and the other had a dwarven skeleton. Not seeing any other way to go from here, the party backtracked to the manticores' arena and continued through the large doors to the south.

Though these doors the party found themselves in a foyer with the corpse of a large basilisk. As Pop went to inspect the orb in its claws, two giant centipedes burst out of the body and attacked. One was killed by Pop as the other ran into the next room. The noise alerted a group of four ghouls from the next room. Mortimer and Phranz easily destroyed the undead, and the party entered the next room and killed the final ghoul, and Pop took the crown it was wearing. This high-ceiling room had a group of 11 statues at one end and 6 alcoves, one of which had a statue that appeared to be made of odd shiny black stone. Upon touching the statue, the stasis on the black pudding that coated the statue broke and it attacked. It corroded Pop's rapier and Mort's armor before being defeated by the party. Vala repaired what was dissolved and the party decided to use this hall to take a long rest.

Session 4 — July 3, 2023

The party continued their long rest in the room with the statues. Vala fed a ration to the remaining giant centipede and it started to act kinda friendly if distant. She named it Chit (or Theodore). The rest continued uninterrupted, except for Mort feeling a shaking underground.

After they completed their rest the party backtracked their way through the first floor of the dungeon. After investigating a bullseye painted on a wall (which turned out to be a peephole for the Undertakers to spy on the entry well), they made their way back to the pillar room near the start. To the south "Certain death this way!" was carved into the wall, so they decided to go west. That way they found a hall of sixteen oval mirrors on the wall. After inspecting the first, they seemed pretty normal. After passing by the last two, reflections of Mort and of Pop walked out of the mirrors and attacked. During the fight, two goblins were seen guarding the next hall. One of them went back to "tell the others", while the other, Gibb, was convinced to help the party fight the reflections. Despite his reflection draining his strength and almost killing Mort, the party defeated the reflections. Mort coughed up some blood.

After the fight they found that there were now a crowd of goblins led by a bugbear waiting for them at the hall. The bugbear was incessant that nobody may pass, without explaining why. Phranz, speaking goblin, negotiated with the bugbear who would agree to let them pass if they take out all the Undertakers, including their flesh golem which the party hadn't heard of before. With Pop presenting Harria's necklace (which the bugbear proceeded to pocket), the party convinced the bugbear that they did and he let them pass. The party saw over a dozen goblins and another bugbear in the adjoining halls and rooms as they passed.

Down the hall in the next room, there was an old stone archway with some sort of lingering old magic still within. Mort and Pop both passed under this arch and felt some magic effect, and Mort coughed up blood again after. In the next room there were several sets of manacles on the wall, and in one of them the upper half of a tiefling skeleton with its ribs broken open and "TALK TO ME" written in infernal in dried blood above it. Upon seeing this, Mort began to cough up blood again, this time along with chunks of heart. He realized the Withered Heart he ate switched places with his own. He collected these heart pieces and smushed them into his tome. Mort spoke to the heart and felt a response saying that Mort, "too was tempted by the knowledge", a reply he somehow knew was coming from that tiefling.

Passing through the next hallway and avoiding a trap, the party arrived on a excavated tunnel with a half-statue and dead goblin, that led back up to the pillar room (the "certain death" path). After this was a long series of eerily clean, bright, square hallways. At the end of one of these halls was a gelatinous cube that was the reason it was so clean, which attacked the party but was held in place by Phranz's blood magic and easily defeated.

At the end of one of these bright hallways was a large, 10 foot square mirror with a stone frame. Looking at this while wearing the bronze Halaster mask, Phranz saw there was some magic effect to it. Engraved in the frame was an image of a wizard pointing a wand, and Mort figured out that touching the Wand of Secrets to the mirror (and expending its last charge) turned the mirror into some kind of portal. Before the party stepped through, an unseen voice whispered to the party to stop, telling them they weren't ready. The voice said they can't speak openly here and to find someplace safe to talk. Peeking through the portal initially, three dwarven corpses were seen, one wearing the boar helmet that Joroth Brighthelm described as belonging to Falkir of Falkir's Fist, the bounty the party was going after. One by one the party walked through this portal going somewhere else...

Session 5 — July 24, 2023

The party inspected their new surroundings. The room was filled with training dummies, targets, and broken mirrors. In front of the gate was three dwarf skeletons, members of Falkir's Fist, identified by the helmet (which Mort quickly removed). After a minute of looking around, inspecting the skeletons, and deciding what to do next, the gate turned back into glass, trapping the party.

Before the party could get their bearings, the party realized they weren't alone in this room. A figure appeared, a large vaguely-humanoid entity that hovers in the darkness with shadowy tendrils and a featureless face except for a glowing rune. The entity demanded that Phranz hand over his bronze mask and a fight ensued. Phranz tried to persuade the entity to tell him who it is or why it wants the mask, but it only responded "we are here for a noble cause. GIVE ME THE MASK." Phranz acquiesced and handed over the mask. After he did, the entity disappeared and the party was once again alone in the dark room.

Mort somehow realizes that the party is on a lower level of the Undermountain. Realizing they have no way to go but through, the party begins to leave the room. But before they can they see a vision of how the three dwarves died. In it they argue as they try to get the gate to open, and mention that Falkir was already dead and "the scorpion got him". Before they figure out the gate all three are killed, skewered, stabbed, and blasted by lightning. With this cheery message, the party continues on.

In the very next room, the party is attacked by a horde of dancing skeletons. The undead are easily defeated, but a lot of noise is made, ruining the party's chance at stealth. They continue through the next room with a giant spider statue.

With two incredibly lucky nat 20 perception rolls from Mort, the party at two forks heard the danger ahead and chose the safer paths, avoiding potential TPK sorta encounters. The first he heard skittering of some giant spider, and the second he heard distant classical music and heavy footfalls moving rhythmically to it.

Eventually they make it to the long staircase that leads up to the previous level, but just before this is a wall with an arcane rune on it. After cautiously poking at it, the party soon finds that whatever this rune is isn't set off by any of them, and that the wall it was on was illusory. On the other side of this wall was a skeleton wielding a magic wand. The party grabbed this wand and rushed back to the mirror gate to level 1, and used the wand to activate it. They returned to the first floor.

Weakened, the party retreats through the first level of the dungeon back up to the Yawning Portal. Durnan tells them that Joroth is away at the moment but has a room and should be back at some point. Mort sells the Wand of Secrets to Obaya. The party gets a couple rooms for the night and decides to rest in comfort, away from the Undermountain.

Session 6 — August 14, 2023

The party rents a couple rooms and spends a comfortable night at the Yawning Portal. In the morning, they talk to several other patrons. Phranz had a chat with Thynemos, Mort and Pop had a chat with Threestrings, and everybody spoke to Durnan asking him where Joroth was. After some pleading and possibly seducing, Durnan agreed to put the party in touch with Joroth's partner, Inquisitor Joy, who was staying at the inn. The party also learned that Lady Rosznar had left and returned to Goldmask.

As the party approached Joy's door, they realize they are being followed by an air genasi barbarian who introduced herself as Artie. She overheard the party talking about venturing into the Undermountain and wanted to join them. They welcome her into the group and begin to brainstorm names for the party, including "That Group of Adventurers" and "One Brain Cell".

Joy introduces herself to the party but says Joroth has business in the city and he was in charge of the bounty. She said she didn't know much about it but knew that Joroth really wanted you to return with the Eye of the Spider but will be happy to know Falkir's Fist are no longer an issue. Mort handed over Falkir's helmet as proof but the party walked away without collecting any bounty.

After paying Durnan's additional fee, the party once again descended into the Undermountain, with five members now. They went south from the pillar room, to avoid the halls with the mirrors and goblins, but found this passage was now guarded by goblins and "off limits", for "guild business only". But the party told a quick lie talked their way through this checkpoint and bypassed the goblins. Once returning to the clean hallways, instead of south (the direction of the mirror gate), the party went east and saw the crumbled remains of a stone statue of a wizard in Rain's victory pose, recently demolished.

Past this hallway, the party came to a fork and went left. There were two bugbear guards standing there, and asked the party "How many eyes does Xanathar have?" Phranz, remembering reading about "Xanathar" referring to a crime syndicate rumored to be led by a Beholder, answered accordingly but the bugbears were unimpressed. The party went the other way to a locked and surprisingly sturdy door that they heard a voice behind. After Artie and Phranz break down the door the party finds themselves in a room with a large map carved into the western wall, and a 10-foot square pit in the center where the voice was coming from.

The person in the pit introduces himself as Halleth, a cleric of Waukeen who was betrayed by his former adventuring party, the Fine Fellows of Daggerford. He asks the party to help him out of the pit and aid him on his holy quest for vengeance. As Artie helps Halleth out of the pit and everyone sees the grievous wound through his torso, Phranz recognizes him as a revenant—an undead that returns for unfinished business. He explains that he wanted to go back for a party member named Kellim who they abandoned, and renegotiate the split of the loot, and for this the other Fine Fellows murdered him. The party deliberated over whether to trust him or not, which led to Halleth making a run for it. The party chased after him, but he ran straight through to the room with the bugbear guards and seems to have gotten away. Meanwhile, Phranz stayed behind and took a sketch of the Undermountain map on the wall.

Session 7 — September 4, 2023

The party moved back up that hall they chased Halleth down, back to the goblin watch post. After Phranz fell into a pit trap at an empty hall and leapt out, they encountered a group of goblins huddled behind some overturned large stone tables, pointing bows at a tunnel with dead goblins and gricks around it. The goblins say they are afraid of what is down that tunnel and the party graciously decide to help out. Mort also noticed one of the bricks behind the goblins could be pushed like a button.

They head down this tunnel and Pop, who went in first, was quickly attacked by two gricks that were hiding in grooves on the walls, wormlike creatures with tentacles and beaks. Continuing in they found a larger room with more gricks in it, fighting them off as the gricks hid in the rubble and dipped into tunnels in the walls.

After the fight, the party heard a voice sobbing from a small room nearby. The man in this room unlocked the door and begged the party for food, water, and safe passage back to the surface. Pop recognized him as someone from his previous crew long ago, nicknamed "the weasel" and eventually kicked out. The man introduced himself as Kellim and the party learned he was part of the Fine Fellows of Daggerford, Halleth's adventuring party. After some negotiating, Kellim handed over the spellbook he found and (someone, I don't remember who) gave him a ration.

As the party began to head back, unsure what to do about Kellim, they returned to the goblin watch post to find two bugbears and several goblins waiting for them, planning to capture them for crossing the Guild. The party ran back down the tunnel and a chase began. Pop threw down a bag of ball bearings. Phranz transformed, the first time Artie saw this, and killed one of the bugbears. Vala cast a spike growth to prevent more from approaching. At what seemed to be a dead end, Mort noticed a button in the wall much like the one by the goblins. Pressing it, a wall lowered, opening a way to a secret throne room.

This room had an upside-down throne and mummified minotaur on the ceiling, and resting beneath it a monstrously huge grick, sleeping. The party snuck past, avoiding waking the creature up, and came back up to the tunnel's exit to the goblin watch post.

Session 8 — September 19, 2023

After emerging from the tunnels, Phranz attempted to converse with the goblins, who told the party to wait there until the bugbears get back. Negotiations were short, and the party ended up killing the goblins. After they did Mortimer pressed the hidden button he saw earlier to open the secret passage behind the goblins, to a hall the goblins didn't seem to know about (no footprints or anything).

First, the party comes across a hall with shields representing old human, dwarf, and elf kingdoms, and in the center of this hall a black glassy sphere, a Scrying eye, watching the party. After a moment, the eye disappears. The party continues through the hall and hears a room full of chittering creatures (that they decide not to enter) and through another door a hall with dwarf statues. Pop got briefly stuck between one of the statues and the wall, where a giant rat was hiding, which scurried off. Behind one of the statues was a secret passage, which Mort heard howling wind behind.

On the other side was an air elemental, which immediately attacked. Despite Artie being able to talk to it, the elemental was completely mad and had to be fought. Beyond this, though, were a few old dwarven halls that seemed to have not been walked through in ages. There were two side dormitories, one with an elf skeleton on one of the beds, and a master bedroom with a floor-to-ceiling fresco of an underdark cavern wall, and a bathroom with a spigot that pours clean, hot water. A nice place to rest, but the party didn't need one yet.

Not quite knowing where to go next, the party returned to the goblin outpost. Taking another look at that obelisk, a 14ft granite obelisk topped with a lidless eye and covered up to a few feet in bloody handprints, Artie decided to try cutting her own hand and pressing it to the obelisk. When she did, she heard in her head, "I cast my eye into the future and see in yours a perilous descent. South of here, beyond a secret passage, waits the Two-Headed King. Look to his left. There you will see the path you are destined to take." Following this advice, the party continued south back to the map room.

There, they saw Halleth, standing over a dead bugbear and trying to find and open a secret door in this room's south wall. Despite past tensions, the party decides to at least allow Halleth to do his thing, rather than fight him. Looking closer at the wall, the party saw written between the bricks—"I run smoother than most any rhyme; I love to fall but cannot climb." Pouring some water on the wall made it crumble into wet sand, revealing a passage going south.

Following this well-used passage to yet another part of the dungeon, where they saw a granite statue of a dwarven king with a deformed second head. To the north, they party heard the sounds of goblins talking and squabbling. They told Halleth this was the way to the next floor of the dungeon, and he walked right in and started fighting the goblins. Pop excitedly ran through the opening to the east, where he was immediately greeted by three angry bugbears staring back at him. Around this time, the party finally found around the corner the stairs leading down to the next level of the dungeon.

Also, "sleep +3". Whatever that means.

Session 9 — October 9, 2023

To the north, Halleth slaughtered goblins as they swarmed him in that chamber. To the east, the three bugbears chase after Pop and the rest of the party joins the fight. One of the bugbears sneaks down the south passageway and ambushes Mortimer. To the west, a large construct began to stomp its way up the stairs. Kellim hid behind a pillar. The fight continued, the goblins killed Halleth but as a revenant he came back alive, and once the goblins realized they had no way of killing him they ran away back up that secret passage. The party killed the bugbears. Once the construct made its way up, it came to a party member (Mort), reached down, and handed him a tiny glass vial full of white liquid, with a tag that read "Fix the damn statue" and was signed with a stylized "H". It then turned and began walking back down the stairs. Halleth, ignoring the fleeing goblins and the party, quickly followed, now that the true way to the next floor was revealed.

Once the fighting ended, it was just the party and Kellim left. After finding nothing in the chamber the bugbears were in, the party decided to check the north chamber where the goblins were. In addition to a handful of dead goblins and the sounds of yelling in Giant, the party found a door to a side chamber with three tall statues of elves with spears. One, which stood in front of a pile of rubble, was holding a golden spear, which when Artie grabbed he hand stuck to. The mimic attacked and the party fought it before continuing to the next hall.

After tripping a tripwire trap, the party reached a dead-end room with a massive crevasse in the ceiling full of sleeping stirges. The party was pretty exhausted by this point, and decided to sleep out in the hallway where it seemed relatively dependable. Pop threw out his ball bearings, Artie slept against the door, and after some grumbling about it Kellim agreed to take first watch.

When the party woke up an unknown number of hours later, Kellim was gone and so was most of the party's gold, the crown Pop found, and the bag of jewels Threestrings gave to Mort to deliver.

For the sake of being completionists, the party decided to check out that room to the north of the goblins and the statues. There they were quickly attacked by two pairs of Ettins—two-headed giants. Artie bisected the first and Phranz grappled the heads of the other, causing them to hit themselves in the head with their greatclub. Looking around the room it was an old unused forge, with some bags of coins and iron ingots that Artie stowed in her Bag of Holding.

Session 10 — October 24, 2023

The party, having conquered the Dungeon Level, set out to find this statue they were tasked with fixing. There were many broken statues on this level, but they found the recently-smashed statue of a wizard in the bright clean hallway. With the statue smashed into so many bits of varying sizes, reassembling the statue was a challenge but after a couple hours and the entire bottle of Sovereign Glue, they were able to repair the statue. As it was revealed to be a statue of Halaster the Mad Mage, but faceless, it became clear the bronze mask Phranz was wearing would fit onto it. Maskless and with seemingly no other option, the party decided to proceed to the next level.

Upon reaching the next level, the party immediately heard the sounds of lots of voices talking up ahead. Following this next room was a room full of trash and a sign reading "← BIZZAR". Following ahead they indeed found a bazaar run by goblins of the Rustbone tribe. First they tried to get information out of a pink-skinned goblin called Taunter Nob, who wasn't exactly helpful, he just insulted the party and tried to get them to hit him. Next to him was Larr, a goblin alchemist with an x-shaped scar on his face who was selling homemade potions and was more friendly. The party also spoke with two weapon sellers, Grug and Glik, that latter warning against shopping from the former and offering to procure any magic item for a 10% deposit and 5 days time. They spoke with Zut, an old golblin enchantress who offered to imbue weapons with fire damage, and her daughter who was selling homemade jewelry, who bought 10 ingots of iron from Artie. Phranz bought a spellbook from the bookseller Leonard. One goblin merchant named Frakt had a wide variety of strange good he ensured were magical, including one the party recognized as the bronze mask of Halaster! After some negotiations, the party bought the mask from Frakt and learned he had an altercation with Kellim that lead to Kellim being kicked out of the bazaar through the southern doors.

The party also spoke with some of the other patrons of the bazaar, including a dragonborn named Chassath, two dwarf women who didn't give their names, and a party called Falconladle Force. Before leaving, the party decided to speak with the tribe's leader, a handsome human man named Yek the Tall. As Yek was explaining that things were pretty good as they were and he doesn't really need any help, the two dwarves attacked a halfling man in the bazaar, who turned into a giant rat and bit the dwarf's arm to escape, running out the southern door. Yek explained that the dwarves were likely with the Xanathar Guild, and the wererat with the Zhentarim. While he doesn't like either group, the Zhents want to take a cut of his profits while the Xanathar Guild wants to shut down the bazaar entirely.

With the mask, the party headed back up to the first level and made their way back to the stature and (after taking out a goblin watching the Scrying eye that shortly after disappeared) attached the mask to the statue. When they did, the statue animated and turned to open an invisible door behind it. It opened into an octagonal room lined with bookshelves that went infinitely high. On the far end was a painting of Halaster Blackcloak, and sitting below this in a high-backed armchair was the Mad Mage himself, an old human man with crazy gray hair, a black cloak covered with eyes that look all around, and a mad look on his face. He offered the party to ask him any three questions about the Undermountain and he would answer two truthfully and one with a lie. The questions the party asked were:

• Who was the previous owner of the Withered Heart? Lots of owners, but Barakas was last.
• Where is the Eye of the Spider? Still in Falkir's gullet.
• How can Phranz get rid of his affliction? Death won't do it, he'll have to see Halaster's lovely apprentice Arcturia.

After this, Halaster revealed the truth. The party has been selected to be his "contestants" on the current "season" of Dungeon of the Mad Mage, a twisted game show hosted by Halaster, wherein the party has been tasked with reaching the 23rd level and killing Halaster. If they do, they are to be rewarded with their freedom and one unrestricted Wish each. With a final flourish, Halaster welcomed the contestants to the DUNGEON of the MAD MAGE, with the bookshelf walls disintegrating into butterflies and fishes over an alien landscape with pink mountains and green skies, with thousands of Scrying eyes staring back at the party.

Session 11 — November 13, 2023

Phranz, understanding the goal to be to kill Halaster, picked up a rock and threw it at the Mad Mage. Halaster deftly caught the rock in mid-air using his magic, and catapulted it back at Phranz before forcing the party back through the door to the clean hall. There they were greeted by two infernal figures—Thynemos, representing Levistus, and Pollus, representing Mammon. Thynemos told the party that their souls were now worth 100,000gp each, and gave Phranz his summoning card. Pollus offered double this amount, gave Artie his summoning coin, and offered 2000gp to the party if they refused to make a deal with Thynemos. The party denied all offers but kept the card and coin to consider later.

The party continued once again to the second level. Back in the bazaar they met a half-orc adventurer who was working as a bodyguard for Harria, the former leader of the Undertakers from the first level, who was here with her flesh golem. They also met two of the goldcloaks they met in the Yawning Portal, Lt. Erric Daxio and Lt. Yara. But not wanting to let Kellim get too far they didn't stop and chat long, and proceeded through the southern exit.

Past a 4-way intersection, the party came across a temple of some sort, with eyes and mouths carved into the wall dripping black mildew, and a limestone altar topped with what looked like a misshapen mound of gold but was actually an ochre jelly in stasis, which attacked once Artie and Pop touched it. After fighting this, Phranz cast comprehend languages to read an inscription on the altar in Abyssal, which said "A gift of flesh, willingly given, can feed our eternal hunger." Artie put a bit of hangnail skin on the altar and it turned to black goo and disappeared. Mort took the chewed-up chunks of his own heart that were pressed in his tome and put them on as well. The same thing happened, and he could sense that some entity somewhere was pleased. Upon seeing this, Artie asked about it, and Mort explained the Withered Heart, and decided to ask the Heart who its previous owner was, to confirm or deny what Halaster said. The Heart said its last owner was Prosper.

In the next room, what appeared to be a floating glass-encased skull was actually at the center of a giant 30ft Gelatinous Cube. The party fought the cube, took the skull, and opened the door to the next room... which happened to be filled with 24,000 cubic feet of salt water which came rushing out, knocking most of the party down. The party looted the corpse found in this room (and got a cool glass wand) and proceeded to explore the ruined room to the south, avoiding the goblinoid voices to the north.

In the entrance to a room to the east, the party saw the corpse of Halleth, burned to a crisp. This room was brightly lit by torches in the corners, and had a massive feast of many varieties of delicious-smelling food and drink on ornate silver platters on a large round table in the center. An unseen voice told the party to leave, that this was her safe haven and that what she did to Halleth she'd do to them. The party figured out this was one of the other members of the Fine Fellows of Daggerford, who Halleth came back to get revenge on. For a brief moment, her invisibility drops and Mort saw where she was before she recast it. When she started counting down, the party decided to leave, taking Halleth's charred corpse with them.

Session 12 — November 27, 2023

The party leaves this side room to this invisible caster and try the north door where Mort heard goblinoid voices. Very quickly they are met with bugbear guards and a strange figure who invites them into the Xanathar Guild outpost. Shunn "Spider Eyes" Shurreth, a drow man cursed with a partial spider transformation, giving him eight red eyes, fangs, and spider legs from his back. Shunn proves to be a very strange individual. He introduces himself, leads the party into the outpost, and has Mystorna (one of the dwarf Xanathar Guild members the party saw in the Bazaar) bring them tea and water with no cups. He tells the party there is a pack of wererats hiding on this level that are affiliated with the Zhentarim, and that they recently stole a stone key from him. If the party finds their hideout and returns with its location and the key, he will reward them with 50gp and safe passage as far as Skullport. He also explains that they haven't been able to find them because the layout of the Undermountain is known to change. After Shunn gives a down payment of 1gp each to Pop and Artie, the party departs without conflict.

On the way out through the temple, the party meets Deria, a scout from the Rustbone Bazaar. She confirms Shunn's claim that the layout changes and she and other scouts are mapping out the level. Meanwhile, Mort and Pop rip Halleth's corpse out of Artie's arms and before anyone can stop them, throw it onto the altar, which Phranz vehemently opposed. The burnt corpse quickly dissolved into black sludge which then melted into the altar. Deria sneaked away while all this was going on.

The party continued on and heard screaming coming from down the hall. They follow it and find a goblin being taken into a tunnel in the wall by a grick. A fight ensues, and the party ends up rescuing this goblin from the gricks. He introduces himself as Sprunch, another scout from the Rustbone Bazaar. After the fight, the party continues down a *very* long hallway and has Sprunch scout ahead. When the rest of the party approaches him, he lets out a surprised scream, alerting both the rust monsters and the people who seemed to be watching from nearby.

Session 13 — December 18, 2023

The rust monsters begin to eat at Artie's axe and the party quickly dispatches them. They proceed up the stairs to they saw people watching. A drow man named Rizzeryl reluctantly introduces himself to the party and reveals he is working with the Zhentarim, this is his outpost, and the wererats here are working for him. He tells the party that the Xanathar Guild has taken over Skullport and have set up two outposts on this level of the dungeon as a staging ground for an invasion of Drain. He asks for the party to help the Zhentarim fight against the tyranny of the Xanathar Guild and take out the two leaders of these outposts, Shunn "Spider-Eyes" Shurreth and Nadia the Unbent. In exchange for this he offered knowledge of the Undermountain as far as Skullport in addition to some vague reward. The party gave a passphrase for Rizzeryl to know when they return ("friendly party coming through") and noncommittally agreed to help, unsure of what to actually do.

The party debated what to do next, whether they would side with the Xanathar Guild or the Zhentarim. As they did they explored a ruined hall full of ruined furniture and giant spiders, which were easily defeated with the help of some fire, and a freezing room with a dwarven rune meaning "cold" on the ceiling. As the debate continued and began to get more heated, several scrying eyes surrounded the party and Sprunch briefly fled, before returning saying he was just scared and wanted to go home. The party agreed to walk Sprunch back to the Rustbone bazaar where they rented a room to rest for the night.

Session 14 — January 15, 2024

The party awoke in the inn and, after briefly meeting a warforged named Lt. Light, were greeted by a commotion in the bazaar. There was a crowd of discontent goblins and Yek's loyalists arguing, and at the center of it one of Yek's bugbear guards had her crossbow pointed at Yek. She was upset at Yek's lack of action taken when her brother was killed by Halleth, who entered the bazaar to kill Copper who was being held prisoner by Yek. Yek hired the party to kill Halleth and after their story that the body was dissolved was backed up by Deria, paid them 10gp each. The goblins were still discontent, about a missing scout, a theft, and the encroaching dangers of the Zhentarim and Xanathar Guild. For dealing with these, he agreed to pay them 20gp each plus free lodging and a 50% discount throughout the bazaar. He also sent one of his bugbear guards, Garlic, with the party to ensure they do the job and serve as extra muscle. The party then spoke with Frakt about the theft, learning that Kellim stole from him a "magic" ring. As payment, he gave Mort a grey robe painted with eyes and gave Artie a rusty old key.

The decisive issue of what to do about the Zhentarim and Xanathar Guild had to be adressed. After much deliberating, the party made their way back to Shunn's outpost. After telling Shunn that they know the location of the wererat base, he announces they will be leaving immediately for it and gathers his crew. The party and the Guild members walk through the halls, approaching base.

Session 15 — January 29, 2024

As the party approached the base, a paper appeared in front of them which seemingly ranked the party members with a score given to each. Shunn didn't know what this was, or the scrying eyes the party has been seeing, and took the lead into the base. He agreed to go about things nonviolently, but after Artie gave the passphrase and he saw Rizzeryl open the door, his attitude changed. Shunn called Rizzeryl out on not only loyal to the Zhentarim, but to House Auvryndar, which Rizzeryl didn't deny. A fight quickly broke out from there.

Xanathar Guild members and Zhentarim wererats started attacking one another, with Shunn badly wounding Rizzeryl. Rizzeryl grabbed one of the wererats, told Shunn that "T'rissa will see you again", and dimension door'd away. The side door where the nothics were scratching at was disintegrated by a wandering spectator whose contract has run out. The spectator just watched but the nothics started attacking.

Pop was suddenly pulled away by Halaster himself, wanting a quick interview. He asked about Pop's motivation, and favorite color, and gifted Pop with a bomb that will explode whenever it's within 1000ft of Kellim. Then as quickly as he appeared he left, leaving an enraged owlbear behind. Around then the squad of Goldmask soldiers that were at the bazaar when Yek gave the party this mission snuck up behind, joining the fight against the nothics and the owlbear. Mort heard another noise from the direction the nothics came from, the sounds of another fight. The already complicated situation grew to be more and more chaotic as the fight went on.

Session 16 — March 5, 2024

The fight continued. Mort found the noise he heard was Rex the Hammer, another member of the Fine Fellows of Daggerford, fighting some nothics and a bug thing. The owlbear, the nothics, and the bug thing were killed and the fight began to settle down, with Xanathar Guild members holding Zhentarim wereats hostage in their base. Shunn once again tried to renege on his aggreements and when he ordered his thugs to "kill them", a fight broke out again. Rex and Garlic helped kill two Guild members as Artie cut off Shunn's spider legs. Bloodied and weak, Shunn finally acquiesced to the parties demands.

Meanwhile, Vala continued to run with the wererats back down the long hallway. The commander and a few of the soldiers began to run with them, saying they will help them safely get back to the goblin bazaar. Vala snaps at them in distrust, but they follow anyway. Unfortunately they don't make it far, as Halaster appears in front of them and tells them they should run or they're going to die. He claps his hands and the hallway up ahead starts closing in on itself. They all began to run back, the commander saying to get to the stairs, and Vala makes it back to the others along with one wererat and two soldiers.

Speaking with the spectator, the party learned he used to be under a 101-year contract with an apprentice of Halaster named Kalabash, who studied on this level which was once called the Arcane Chambers. Speaking with one of the wererats, Kevin Gladriver, he tried to downplay his connection to the Zhentarim by saying he was just visiting family, but answered truthfully that he was never going back to them and just wanted to be done with it. The party agreed to have the Goldmask soldiers lead the formerly-Zhentarim wererats back to the surface safely. TGA, the Xanathar Guild, the wererats, the Goldcloaks, the Spectator, Garlic, and Rex all gathered in a side chamber to decide what to do next as the way they came from was closed off.

Session 17 — March 18, 2024

While deciding what to do next, Shunn decided it would be best to rest before proceeding. The party, the soldiers, the wererats, and the other Xanathar thugs, and the rest all did, but Artie didn't let Shunn get any rest. The party spoke with some of their company before moving forward, with the plan to go back to Shunn's base for payment, then he will lead them to Skullport as promised. Moving forward, the group encountered and fought an abomination called a gibbering mouther, near an altar to the dwarven demigod Dumathoin. Beyond it was a room with a copper floor being electrocuted by a floating copper skull, and a flesh golem sitting in the middle. The spectator identified this skull as the demilich form of Trenzia, a former apprentice of Halaster.

Nearby, part of the tunnel was flooded and had to be swam through to reach the other side. Vala wildshaped into a quipper and swam to the other end, to see a few more gibbering mouthers. On her return, the party intuited that a tunnel they saw earlier also lead where Vala went, and made their way around to the abberations and fought them. After the fighting ended, the party realized where they were—the walls of the tunnel they were in had grick tunnels, the same ones they rescued Sprunch from, meaning they were close to a familiar hallway.

Session 18 — April 1, 2024

Vala and Mort heal up Garlic's leg enough for him to be able to move through the grick tunnels with some effort, and tell him to go with the soldiers and wererats back to the goblin bazaar. Bolgus and Garlic share a passionate kiss to the surprise of everyone, which Bolgus got flustered when questioned about. The party said goodbye to the others and left, along with the Xanathar Guild members, Rex, and the Spectator.

They went back and checked the chamber where Rex camped to find it was empty like he had claimed. The only way left to go was through the room with copper floor panels. The floor being electrocuted by Trenzia proved dangerous, as did the lightning bolt and the slams of the golem (which the party realized was being healed by the lightning), but the party utilized a small tunnel where the golem couldn't fit and Vala's moonbeam spell to defeat the demilich and golem. Pop looted the remnants of the copper-plated skull.

Phranz opened a nearby door and was immediately attacked by some ghasts hiding behind it, and was very nearly killed by them before he turned into his "werewolf" form and he and the party re-killed the undead. In the room they were in they found a headless skeleton in black robes and rubber boots, a note, and more veins of copper ore. After all the fighting, the party decided they needed a rest. In the next nearby room, barrels were found to be filled with more chunks of copper ore and a few with ghouls, which broke out and started attacking the party. The ghouls were quickly defeated, and the party needed a rest even more. They settle into the room as it fills with red mist and transports the party to a caveren where a red greatwyrm blasts them all with fire!

Session 19 — April 29, 2024

The party takes a short rest among the broken barrels and ghouls. During the rest, while Mort was looking the other way and Pop was distracted by his own dancing, Halaster alerted Artie to Shunn receiving an important message. After the rest they left Trenzia's laboratory and found a room with a basin with a dead goblin, and a large wooden barrel that turned out to be filled with lava (which flowed into that basin). Before moving on, the Spectator noted that Kalabash's room was nearby. The kitchen seemed pleasant, but the smell and appearance of a clean kitchen with a homecooked meal faded as an unknown specter attacked with pots and pans, briefly knocking Shunn out. After dealing with this, the party progressed into Kalabash's bedroom, which was covered in scrawled writing in some complex cipher. Phranz finished the incomplete runes on the summoning circle on the floor, and Kalabash was summoned—an allip, driven mad by knowledge of some dangerous secret. He immediately attacked the party, and they fought him off until he dissipated.

Session 20 — May 20, 2024

TGA and their companions take a long rest in Kalabash's dusty old bedroom. As they did Phranz summoned his infernal familiar—a wolf pup he called Kylcheet-Voilenceman. During the night, Mort heard some sounds coming from where the lava barrel pooled into the basin, but nothing came after the party and they safely rested. The next morning, they continued through the dungeon. When the next door was opened, everyone was magically pulled into the next room and separated into two teams. There, a puppet of Halaster presented them with a game under the threat of the losing team being burned alive. Team "We Love Hammers" was Mort, Artie, Vala, and Rex, while team "Pop and the Murderfuckers" was Shunn, Phranz, Pop, and Bolgus. The party played puppet Halaster's game (including Artie drinking "the X-factor" for some bonus points, and Vala leaning into the trash talking), and in the end it didn't matter which team won—the puppet's threats were hollow and the party proceeded through, unburned. They past a camp of slaughtered bugbears, one of which also had a dead intellect devourer beside it.

The party continued forward, hearing an eerie music as they did. Before they reached the source of this music, however, Phranz (with Dumathoin's blessing) saw a secret door. Behind this secret door was another gate, like the one the party had seen on the dungeon's first level. Mort figured out that putting a coin in the slot at the top activated it. Much like at the first gate they found, a disembodied voice whispered out to the party warning them to not go in, telling them they aren't ready, and to find a place where "he" can't listen if they want to talk more. The party once again ignored these warnings and Pop and Artie went into the gate. On the other side, they found some drow resting in a cavern. The startled drow followed back out through the gate and a fight began.

Session 21 — June 24, 2024

The fight continued as drow continued to come out of the gate. A mage stepped through and paralyzed Mort, Pop, and Rex before the priestess healed the drow warriors and demanded that the party lay down their arms and let them pass, promising that if they do the drow would cease attacking. Vala could tell that while the drow were acting like they were at full strength, they were actually sickly and weakened. She came up with a lie that there was a horrible monster ahead, and Phranz backed this up by being a horrible monster ahead, but this only convinced one to turn back—the rest of the drow began to pass by the party. When they did, Vala released a lightning bolt, wounding and killing several drow and turning the fight into a chase as the drow fled further into the dungeon. Vala finished off the priestess with a produce flame to the head, and the now-distraught mage called out to Melith, turned invisible and misty stepped away.

At this time, an undead bugbear marched up to the party, declaring vengeance on Rex, Pop, and Mort, mentioning sacrificing his previous body to Juiblex. The party intuited that this was Halleth Garke, the revenant, come back once again in a different body. He began to attack but was quickly dispatched by the party, and once he was Rex and Artie cut up the body parts so that he wouldn't reform.

Meanwhile, Mort, Phranz, and Shunn ran after the fleeing drow. Phranz, using his werewolf senses, was able to tell the invisible mage was in the room with him. Mort was able to hear her cast a spell, and attacked, breaking her invisibility. She misty stepped out and invisible again, but Phranz was able to catch her in a Sleep spell. Shunn ran after the last drow warrior, and Mort followed. When he arrived at the entrance of the bazaar, he saw this drow warrior holding Sprunch, the goblin the party had rescued earlier, with a shortsword to his throat.

The priestess and several drow warriors are dead, and at least three drow retreated back through the gate. One drow warrior is unconscious but not yet stabilized, tied up with the Xanathar Guild members. The drow mage is unconscious for the next minute by the lava. The last drow warrior is near the entrance to the bazaar, holding Sprunch hostage, as Mort and Shunn approach.

Session 22 — July 8, 2024

The intense situation with the drow continued. Vala watched over the gate as Rex looted the drow bodies. The unconscious drow warrior died as Pop looted her armor. The drow warrior that took Sprunch hostage attempted to move past, up the stairs, but Mort hit him with a Hold Person and Shunn, following Mort's lead, killed him and Sprunch was freed. The sleeping drow mage was tied up and surrounded before being woken up. Mort led the interrogation, asking where the temples taken over by the drow were. She refused to answer, and said that the party had made an enemy of House Auvryndar and that they already know what the party did. Mort had Bolgus hold her over the lava pool, but said he wouldn't kill her. She gave an answer that the party determined to be a lie, and Mort had Bolgus drop her.

After this situation was done, the party continued back to the Rustbone bazaar. They saw a group of hobgoblin soldier and as they entered heard the end of their captain's plea for aid from the bazaar. The hobgoblin, Captain Verrek, said he was from the Legion of Azrok, who were defending their home of Stromkuhldur from the attacking House Auvryndar drow. The hobgoblins went back to the market as the party went and spoke with Yek. They told him about the deal they'd made with Shunn and that the Zhentarim were taken care of, and accordingly Yek paid them 3/4 of their payment. They also brought the Spectator in with them, and the Spectator presented their contract to hire them to guard the bazaar. The terms were very specific and the price of the signer's soul was too high for any of the party—but when Yek asked if there were any volunteers in the bazaar, Frakt agreed to it. Shunn also announced that Bolgus would be staying here as a guard from the Xanathar Guild.

The party then went to shop at Frakt's, where Pop bought a small safe which he easily opened. Once he did and saw it was full of jewels, he gave a pearl from it to Phranz who used it to identify which of Frakt's goods were actually magic. During this time one of the wererats asked the party to translate the goblin for them and tell Verrek they would go with him. The rest of the party also shopped around a bit in the bazaar. When they were finished, they took up their free room at the inn and began to rest for the night. Overnight, Phranz tossed and turned as he fought the urge to transform under the approaching full moon.

Session 23 — July 22, 2024

The party finished their rest and decided to shop around at the bazaar a bit before heading off. Artie and Pop buy some magic items from Frakt (after Vala and Mort told him about a new potential business model), Mort had a conversation with Taunter Nob, and Mort and Pop bought some jewelry from Tuzzut.

After they were done, Shunn led the party out of the bazaar to his base, going the long way around when it was found that the dungeon had changed again. With this detour, the party once again passed through the temple of Juiblex and Artie put the bugbear-Halleth parts from her bag of holding on the altar. Meanwhile, Shunn gathered his bugbear allies, other Xanathar Guild members, and prisoner, and told Yancy to stay behind and pack everything up. He paid the party and led them back through the dungeon, toward Skullport. The party passed through a familiar hallway now lined with dozens of chests. Immediately suspicious, the party found the first one to be a mimic. At Shunn's insistence, the party passed by the rest of them without opening them.

Beyond this, they came across the Dead Eyes Watch Post. There they saw Nadia the Unbent, the other Xanathar Guild leader they heard about, in the center of a circle weilding a greatspear, challenging her Guild members to try to lay a hand on her. Shunn stopped and demanded the party hand over the wand that Rizzeryl had. Artie feigned ignorance, and the party instead spoke directly to Nadia, who sent one of her bugbears to go disarm the zombie beholder trap. It was immediately evident that this base was more well-equipped, with Shunn explaining that the Xanathar Guild deemed her watch post the more important one. Shunn also revealed that the Xanathar wanted to meet with the party, which satisfied Nadia's questions. Before leaving, though, Vala wanted to take on this challenge of Nadia's. She made a bet that she could lay a hand on her, and pulled it off by wild shaping into a mouse before Nadia hit, and managed to run up to her in the confusion. Nadia laughed this off and refused to pay up, but sent the party on their way, telling them to cross the door just across the hall.

The party ignored this advice and took a look down the hall, triggering the animated ballistae to attack. The party quickly left that hall and went around a few corners until they found the descending stairs. They made their way down and heard the theme music and a worrying warning from Halaster.

Session 24 — August 5, 2024

Arriving at the next level, the party found that the way Shunn knew through this level had closed off and they had to find another way around, beginning to explore the dwarven catacombs. They pass by a corpse and upon inspection determined that spiders had burst out of its neck, which Shunn confirmed was likely the work of the priestess, T'rissa Auvryndar. Sortly after the tunnel they were in began to fill with mist, until the party could no longer see anything, only to find they were transported back to Halaster's library, without any of their allies.

Halaster gave a brief intro to the situation on this level—the hobgoblin Legion of Azrok has taken up residence in ruins of the ancient Melairkyn dwarven city Stromkuhldur, and the drow of House Auvryndar have come to conquer these ruins as a staging ground for a further assault. He also said that Shunn was right and an army would be needed to deal with these drow, so to make it harder he was taking away the party's allies, promising to "give them back later". Pop asked if the party could at least keep Rex. He also presented the party with a challenge—if they retrieve T'rissa Auvryndar's holy symbol of Lolth and throw it into the Sargauth River, they *may* get a prize. Just as quickly as they had arrived, the mist began to roll in again (now clearly a spell from Halaster) and the party was sent back to the tunnels. Halaster seemingly did oblige with Pop's request, though, as Rex also appeared shortly after.

The now smaller party had a moment to discuss what they knew and what to do next. Phranz had heard of a githyanki crèche (or at least some githyanki) deeper in the Undermountain. Vala had heard of an underground forest protected by an archdruid and a green dragon deeper in the Undermountain. Vala also took the time to address the biggest concern about Rex—she shaped some of the stone from the nearby wall into a maul, finally giving Rex the Hammer a hammer.

The party proceeded through the ruins. They continued down the next hall and were very quickly spotted by a drow mage and a pair of quaggoths standing guard. Combat began, and soon more quaggoths and more drow all began pouring out of this part of the ruins, attacking the party. The party fought through and killed the mage, only for T'rissa Auvryndar to step out after. She demanded that the party surrender, summoned some giant spiders, and ordered her soldiers to continue the attack and to bring the intruders to her. The party of course didn't surrender, even as the fight turned more in the drow's favor and they began thinking of making their escape.

Session 25 — September 2, 2024

The party continued the fight against House Auvryndar, unsure of whether they should continue to fight or to leave. T'rissa Auvryndar summoned spiders, conjured webs, and healed her allies to make this harder for the party as they tried to escape back the way they came, all while being attacked by drow and quaggoths, and all under the cover of the Eversmoking Bottle.

The fight was not going in the party's favor. Rex was knocked unconscious, stabilized, and dragged back further into the drows' territory. Artie yelled for the rest of the party to "GO!" as she pushed Mort back and threw back her Bag of Holding, charging forward to T'rissa to give the party a chance to escape. Artie swung at T'rissa until the drow took her out, and kept swinging after then. But when Artie was downed, the party did not flee, instead Pop used his Wand of Magic Spells to shoot a fireball at T'rissa and her drow soldiers, downing the priestess. The drow stabilized Artie and T'rissa and began to drag both of them back.

Mort and Phranz ran in to heal Artie and make sure T'rissa was dead (as Pop ran in to loot her body, including sneakily taking her Lolth ring), just as the other drow began to return from deeper in. Artie gave a peace sign to the scrying eye before trying to attack one of them with the Comeback Handaxe but missing and knocking herself out, which Mort healed again. The party saw that they managed to take out T'rissa but shouldn't press their luck with the rest of these drow, so they turned back and fled through the catacombs, back up the stairs heading to the Arcane Chambers.

As the party escaped, Vala, through her spider familiar that she summoned, tried to communicate with the creatures that the drow were keeping as slaves, telling them to follow, but seemingly couldn't successfully communicate her message.

Session 26 — September 16, 2024

The party, weakened from their fight with House Auvryndar, returned to the Arcane Chambers. They briefly looked down a hallway that was illuminated by red crystals, but decided that they needed to rest before any further exploration. They briefly discussed returning to the Rustbone bazaar, but decided to instead ask Nadia at the nearby Xanathar Guild watch post. When the zombie beholder activated and the bugbear guards saw the party, Nadia called for the party to enter the watch post. There the party explained that they were looking for a place to rest for the night. They explained that Halaster took away Shunn, but Nadia remained suspicious.

Nadia, like with Vala's challenge earlier, acted jovial and welcoming outwardly but was hiding malicious intent. She invited the party to a back room with beds where they could rest. The party inspected the room and the Gate in it (which they didn't activate this time), and Phranz revealed it is the full moon and was tied down to the bed in case he transforms. Later that night, Mort saw as Nadia and some of the other Xanathar Guild members entered the room. They revealed they were going to take the party to Skullport, and not knowing what happened to Shunn would be tying the party up to prevent them from escaping. Mort tried to argue that the party was going there anyway and this wouldn't be necessary, but Nadia didn't listen to reason. Soon the whole party was awake. Nadia knocked out Mort and Vala, while Pop and Artie acquiesced (though Artie convinced Nadia to let her keep her axe), and Phranz attempted to fight off the Guild members. In the midst of the struggle, several party members were messaged by Hether Falconladle, an adventurer they met earlier, whose party was invisibly watching nearby. She offered to attempt to free the party when the opportunity arises.

Despite the reasonable arguments and physical defense, the party was weakened from the long day, were outnumbered, and Nadia refused to listen. Nadia had the whole party tied up, binding their hands and feet and putting bags over their heads, as they all (whether voluntarily or unconscious) slept.

Session 27 — September 30, 2024

The party woke up after a long rest. As they removed their binds and their blindfolds, they found they were on a beach and were shortly after greeted by Halaster. There he explained that while Nadia and her crew were carrying the party through Stromkuhldur, Halaster teleported the party away as the Xanathar Guild encountered House Auvryndar. The two factions began to fight and Falconladle Force used that opportunity to try to get in and free the party. Meanwhile the party got a full long rest in a manner of minutes on Halaster's beach demiplane where time moves much slower relative to the material plane.

Halaster told the party that the battle was still ongoing and so they were faced with a choice—go back and try to help Falconladle Force who would die without their help, or stay in the safety of Halaster's beach and explore a little. Mort wanted to stay, but Phranz was adamant that the party leave, and so they did. They arrived in the ruins of Stromkuhldur, where quickly saw that Nadia was dead and the battle was still ongoing. The drow of House Auvryndar and their grimlocks were fighting against the Xanathar Guild, as well as Falconladle Force, an owlbear, and Fang—a mysterious orc who arrived shooting fire spells into the battle.

As the drow took out the Xanathar Guild members, they continued to fight the party. Their leader, after Phranz said that the party isn't with the Xanathar Guild, asked "then why are you fighting me?", immediately before Phranz bit her head off. With all combatants from the Xanathar Guild, House Auvryndar, and the owlbear all dead, combat ends with only the party, Falconladle Force, and Fang still standing.

The group began to talk now that things were calmer. Odina Elm, the wise old wizard of Falconladle Force, used minor illusion to show Phranz his own transformed form after he continued to deny its existence, but that seemed to change nothing. Fang introduced himself and when asked why he was down here alone explained that he was brought here by a cult and escaped them.

The party's next moves were undecided. Do they rest? Do they explore the ruins? Do they lead this lost cultist victim back up? Do they continue to venture down further into the dungeon? In the bloody battlefield of the Stromkuhldur, the party and their newfound allies began to discuss future plans.

Session 28 — October 28, 2024

In the aftermath of this fight, the party decided they needed a short rest before proceeding. They searched this now bloody battlefield that this section of the ruins has become and found one of the stone buildings that seemed secure enough. TGA, Falconladle Force, and Fang all sat and caught their breath in this stone room. As they did they began to talk about why they were all there. Mort said he was on a mission from Pelor. Fang said he was brought here by a cult that he was trying to escape. Vala said she was here to find a way to end all war, and told of a subterranean forest she head of protected by an archdruid and home to a green dragon. Odina of Falconladle Force said she was here to learn Halaster's magical secrets. Pop, after the party explained them being part of the Dungeon of the Mad Mage! show, expressed concern that the party divulged information too easily. They talked a bit about what had happened until this point, Rex being taken (which Mort claimed the party didn't really care about), the conflict between the Xanathar Guild and House Auvryndar (and not wanting to commit to joining either side), and how they got there (Falconladle Force explaining that the path north leads back to the stairs to he 2nd level). Before long they were rested and ready to go.

Following the path south where they saw the last drow run off to, the party found a side tunnel that let to a small cavern filled with broken furniture and the partially-eaten corpses of the quaggoths the party fought the previous day. Further in this little cove was a hoard of thousands of coins (mostly copper, but still!). The party realized that this was a nest, and T'rissa Auvryndar's pet chimera found the party and flew in to attack. The fight didn't last long and the party killed the chimera, leaving this big pile of coins for Pop and eventually the other members of TGA and Falconladle Force to loot.

Mort took another look down that path south to a larger section of the Stromkuhldur ruins, and saw spiderwebs all across the tops of the buildings. Further in he saw several giant spiders, though they didn't notice him yet.