Vecna: Eve of Ruin (#5) - Neverwinter

We managed to get around the virtual table top again last night for an investigative session in our newest adventure. Due to the experience points gained in the last few sessions, we were able to level up again - we are now all 8th level.

• Dharion - Ranger
• Drakkon - Fighter
• Druss - Barbarian
• Gladreth - Wizard
• Korum - Cleric
• Navda - Rogue

Day 30 - The city of Neverwinter

After defeating the drow at the dwarf mines, we hopped aboard a ship and headed another hundred miles up the coast to the city of Neverwinter, where we sought new adventures. Over a number of weeks we explored the environs and got to know many of the locals, including the Lord Neverember who sent us on a couple of minor adventures; to hunt down werewolves in the forest and so on. Our names were becoming known in town as trustworthy adventurers for hire, but the last couple of weeks had been a little too quiet for us despite the occasional excursion.

We were staying at the Lucky Dice Inn, spending our loot and investigating what we could when, one mid-morning, a squire from Lord Neverember sought us out and asked us to accompany him to the Hall of Justice.

Upon arrival we were ushered through the large iron-bound solid oaken doors, through a hall with ornate marble columns and into a small ante-chamber where we met with the lord. He cut to the chase directly and mentioned for one hundred gold crowns each plus a dwelling of our own in the city could we seek out and return four missing dignitaries; namely Eldon Keyward (a scholar of the Outer Planes last seen at the Winged Wyvern), Indrana Lansettle (a thespian last seen at The Dolphin), Umberto Noblin (a gnome historian last seen in the House of Knowledge) and Sachell Malinigosh (a sorcerer of the Outer Planes last seen in his house in Noble Street).

We agreed to the terms and we were given some purple tunics, plus the usual paperwork, to aid us in our investigations, just in case any doors refused to open to admit us whilst carrying out our enquiries. With nothing else to do, we decided to begin investigating right away by visiting the homes of each of the dignitaries in turn as they were all reasonably local.

Map of Neverwinter - from Fantasy Grounds

The home of Eldon was a modest two storey detached house. When we arrived we found that the door had been left slightly ajar, there were a few leaves on the floor, and it was quite cold inside; a sure sign that it it hadn't been inhabited for a few days and the fire had not been lit recently.

The ground floor room held a table with some left over lunch (three days old from what we could judge), a rocking chair (down the side of which we found an ornate letter opener), and many bookshelves. We investigated the bookshelves, and found that a few volumes were more worn than the others; a book on the Outer Planes and Oerth, and one each on Vecna, a lichlord, and Kas, a vampire lord. I placed these into my backpack for further study.

The first floor room appeared to have been more lived in and contained many more books on shelves. The only oddity we found was a bird cage with a large beady-eyed raven in it. The raven did not respond to any of our means to get a reaction from it.

The second floor was the bedroom, with nothing of any real interest.

The home of Indrana was a big building with multiple occupancies, recognisable as such by the many names on the door; Indrana appeared to live in G1 according to the list. A knock at the door was answered by a fellow housemate who rather joyously celebrated when he found out that Indrana had gone missing; he had last been seen four or five day ago and was assumed by the housemate to be rehearsing at the Dolphin. He swept off to his own room and began celebrating his rival's demise and packing his bags to move into Indrana's room, which was much larger than his own. Whilst the commotion was going on, we slipped into Indrana's room (with the aid of Navda's slight of hand) but with only a very limited amount of time we could but skim the surface of the very high quality clothing, expensive bottles of wine (some full, many empty), manuscripts and books strewn about the floor. We got to see a good likeness of Indrana from a huge painting of him in full acting regalia on the wall of his room.

The home of Umberto was a tiny bungalow set amongst a number of other tiny bungalows. The four foot high door led into a dark chamber with a small bed, a table and chair, and a bookcase. A search through the books on the shelves revealed many more well-worn books that mentioned lich lords, Vecna, the Outer Planes and several recurring symbols; pictures of an eye, a hand and a prince that wore a bejewelled crown. A brief search of the nooks and crannies had Navda find a loose floorboard beneath the table that housed a small metal box with five gold coins in it and a golden disk with an inscription in elvish that read Inspiration, Invention and Knowledge. We pocketed these two items.

It was getting late now and dusk was not far off. All the talk of vampires and lich lords had begun to play on our imaginations, so we decided to hurry up with our final bit of investigating for the day.

The home of Sachell was a crooked house, with the upper storey being larger than the lower one. Again, mysteriously, the door had been left ajar and the house had obviously not been inhabited for a day or so.

The ground floor room was dark inside and contained a few chairs, a table and a writing desk. A plate of food left on the table had been left for about a day according to the state of decay of a half-eaten apple that was still on it. The room had a very herby smell to it. Navda and Gladreth searched and found a piece of parchment with strange writing on it; a symbol of an eye that matched what we had previously seen, and some random phrases: "He is coming", "He will stop him", "They need more" and "Neverdeath".

The upper floor was larger than the ground floor as observed when we were outside. This plush room with a velvet covered chair placed in front of the fireplace, and an ornate walnut side table was very interesting. On the table was a diary that mentioned in the final few days' entries "I am being followed", "Men in black robes seen very often" and "two men in dark robes on Glissen Street". The final entry was "I have told Eldon, He is coming" and "Meet at the normal place and warn the others." We pocketed this diary but did not find much else of interest other than another of those caged ravens. I plucked up the courage and removed it from its cage only to find that the bird was a metal bird-shaped object covered in feathers. Its jewelled eyes, when I looked into them showed me a familiar sight; I could see Eldon's house as if through the eyes of his raven. I mentioned to the party that these would be a fantastic communication and observational apparatus so I suggested we go back to Eldon's place to collect his raven in a cage to see if my hunch was right.

On the way back to Eldon's place we decided that we needed more information on Indrana, the actor. So, we swung by his house again, only to find a party in full swing and that his room was being emptied of all of its effects, the painting had been taken down, and much of the wine had been drunk by his housemates. A fresh search allowed us to find a diary but it only contained lots of self-aggrandisements about his prowess as an actor.

We decided we could do no more for the day as it was almost dark, so we headed to the House of Knowledge; a place Gladreth and I were very familiar with during our stay so far in Neverwinter.

The building was made of pure white marble with brass coloured bands around several pillars, with crossed golden spears at the entrance. Above the doorway was the inscription Ogram God of Inspiration, Invention and Knowledge; the same words that were upon the disk we had found earlier.

We each set about investigating what we could in the time we had left in the day. We worked out that the paired ravens were indeed useful as observational and communication devices, albeit only via sight - no sound available.

Gladreth and I set about reading through the books we had picked up from Eldon's place and compared notes with other books in the library. We discovered many nuggets of information:

• The Book of Vecna and the Book of Kas each contained a history of the two beings; Vecna who used his power and magics to become a lichlord, and Kas, an elvish warrior of great renown, who was initially Vecna's general became a vampire lord

A picture of Vecna and Kas - from Fantasy Grounds

• Other tomes talked about them no longer being in our realm, destroying a world, Vecna's armies of undead and Kas's sword of immense power
• A number of books mentioned a magical ceremony that granted great power, an evil artifact, and that Kas later found a jewelled crown

This research took us until late into the night, so we headed back to our inn, vary wary of being followed, to grab some sleep. Our trusty rogue, Navda, assured us that we were safe, so we turned in for the night. Dharion posted himself as watchman as he no longer needed to sleep; a strange rangerly ability he had just mastered.

Before going to our beds we decided that we still needed to investigate the places that each personage was last seen, and the Neverdeath graveyards as they were mentioned in one of the diaries - which we would do that the following day.