Finally arriving in Sarajevo, the party goes to around the town while killing time to go to their court date to determine if Vaedyn is indeed a father and to see what the court system wants to do about their 'alleged' button heist.
The party continues to fight for their lives over the staff and abandon the university the moment they have it in hand retreating across the continent to where this whole story began for some of them. All the way back at the Everrose Tree where they spend a VERY well deserved rest.
Continuing their way to the staff that Mendicus seeks, they finally make their way to it... but it is heavily guarded by a large number of skeletons. Will they prevail?
Firstly, just wanted to apologize for the times between episodes lately. Hopefully life will slow down soon. Your patience, kind words, and continued watching of our chaotic series is very appreciated. Now for the episode description. This episode the group continues further into the Home of the Dead. Finding a quiet courtyard they take the time to explore their options on where to go next and literally pick every wrong door possible. Statistically unlikely really, but they manage to do it. Then we get some mission impossible style stealth rolls from our players as they try to move on without dealing with any of the creatures in their path.
The party is able to deceive their way into the home of the dead and now have to work through the trials set up by the wizards who have guarded this malice place from foreign invaders and seekers of power.
Mendicus finishes reading the book learning much about Hex. The group continues their journey to The Home of the Dead passing through a few small villages but ultimately being stopped by the guards outside. Also, Alkahest seems to have a never ending taste for metal desiring to eat more and more of it.
The group begins their journey towards the home of the dead for a mysterious reason only known to Mendicus. On this path, they meet a few strangers, some bringing bad and worse news, while the other brings good and great news.
The group is finally done with the beholder and into safety. They get paid for their job, Pavel finally wakes up and now they are off to the Library to see if they can repair it even if they are still missing 1 piece of glass.
Pavel falls into a magical coma. Why? We aren't sure yet, but it has something to do with Melora. The Collective continues to fight the beholder and the hatching Tehb'Yeq brain creatures. After a hard fought victory the party goes through a magical tree growing from the beholder, gets their money from Mayor Mc'Butt-stuff-fun-stuff and goes to find Aeralius who has had some rumors floating about him. After finding their young kobald, they learn something disturbing.
Finally in the beholder lair, Yosmorn returns just in time, much to his chagrin. The battle commences.
Moments away from finding the beholder, the group is confronted by an assassin of Hex's sent to kill Mendicus. A battle brews and it is a doozy. Emotions are high and tense. The end of this episode was one of my favorite moments i've ever had the pleasure of DMing. Thank you so much to my players and you listeners that make it possible for this to happen each and every week.
Today, we find ourselves stepping away from our group of adventurers, and we instead will be kept company by the origin story of a tangential member of the Collective.
This tale takes place not in Deitas, but also not entirely outside of Deitas. But rather than staring at the forest, let's focus in some on the trees within. As we zoom in we find a countryside of small villages, isolated, though less than a days travel from one another. Traveling between the villages is for those important enough to do so and for those wealthy enough to hire Travelers to guide them through the labyrinth of passageways designed to protect the villages.
If we shift our vision in on one of those villages, we will find the most quaint and pastoral scene. Farmers out working hard in the field, smithies hammering in their heat filled forges, tailors sewing perfect stitches into the next shirt to be sold, and so on.
And if we move a little farther inwards we find ourselves looking at a kitchen that was more ingredients than walls and floor, and in the center of this mess is a small, rather young, though a bit older on this day, kobald wielding a comically large spoon stirring a tasty concoction.
Now if anyone had ever wondered how many teeth a kobald had, there was no need to look any further than this flour dusted copper scaled kobald who was smiling from literal ear to ear. And he had reason to smile so. Today was his birthday and more than that, today was the day his friends from nearby villages would all get to meet each other and celebrate his special day with him.
Speaking of those friends, let's go meet them and see what this elated kobald has in store for them.
The Collective meets the temporary new member of their party after Yosmorn leaves with his mother and is replaced by a goblin rogue. The party sneaks up to the giants and attempts to infiltrate into the beholders lair!
The Collective creeps closer and closer to the Beholder. Meeting up with some more Githyanki and aiding them against some warring drow, we get to see the multiple personalities of Mendicus' rear their terrifying heads before the unthinkable happens. Yosmorn's mother shows up.... Yosmalina is apologetic and explains bits and pieces of their past before taking Yosmorn with her, out of the underdark to help her. Knowing the dangers the group would face she leaves her right hand goblin behind to aid them in their upcoming battle against the beholder. How will the Goblin help? How will the group fair without Yosmorn?
The Collective still traveling down into the underdark comes across a group of Myconid, mushroom people. The Myconid give them rest, shelter, and one heck of a party. Then the group continues down with only 4 days left of travel!
Deeper and deeper the Collective goes. Down farther into the Underdark, they happen across a chamber owned by a Mysterious Warrior who challenges them to a battle, not to the death, only to discover, upon beating the warrior, that he was in fact Krim Ja'ak 'The Fates Maul' an ancient and powerful brass dragon. The Collective became the first mortals in hundreds of years to lay eyes on a dragon. Krim Ja'ak asked a favor of Alkahest before the Collective continued on their way to find the Glass of the Mind of Ioun.
The Collective continues their trek downwards towards the Underdark still on the mission to reclaim the piece of glass to restore the Mind of Ioun. The party happens upon a crew of Duegar with a few dozen Drow slaves. Doing the right thing, the Collective free the Drow by taking the lives of the slavers. Continuing their journey down, after 5 more days of boring travel, the crew happens upon the first door they have seen in quite some time. Yosmorn speaks the words on the door, and it unlocks. What might lay before them?
The Collective rushes into danger after taking a short rest to rescue their friend Vaedyn who was being punished for missing a session for his honeymoon (I'm joking, it just worked out that way.) Out of spells, out of hit dice, out of everything except for sheer determination, the party moves forward.
Vaedyn gets kidnapped during the groups short rest. Likely by other drow since they were speaking undercommon. The party chases after him at not full speed, they meet some watery creatures and promise to help them for elicit substances. They continue their way through the mine killing a powerful demon before making their way into a tunnel that leads to a drider layer. They know they must be getting close to where Vaedyn is being kept, so they take a much deserved short rest to heal up before the final grind of reaching him.
The crew begins to make their way down into the mine in an attempt to clear it out. They are met by a handful of demons that they make pretty quick work of. The demons on the second floor are a bit more difficult. The party decides to rest before going down to the 3rd floor where they can already hear a monster calling out and beckoning them forth.
