Player Participation Check.
For this upcoming Session 48, please bring with you a suggested quest card for your PC that is in keeping with the theme of the Campaign and in character with your PC. This is an extra XP opportunity and a gauge for the DM to tell if all this effort put into this website is actually worth it or a waste of time.
Regards.
Session 47 - Resting in Waterdeep
7th Nightal 1371 DR (Year of the Unstrung Harp)
highsun
Deep below the Calim Desert, south in distant Calimshan
cold, damp, and windy
Injury Report
all full up
Spell Report - (email DM with spells used on the 7th, teleport/buffs etc)
Shield (on Storn in 15 minutes)
Alter Self (Alobron, expires late afternoon 7th)
Dragon Skin (Alobron, expires late afternoon 7th)
Mass Conviction (expires late afternoon, 7th)
Heroes Feast (+7 temp HP except Egwaine injured/healed, expires midnight end of 7th)
Greater Mage Armor (Menelvagor, expires midnight end of 7th)
Greater Mage Armor (Kamist, expires midnight end of 7th)
Divine Ward (Alobron, storn, Tyree, expires highsun 8th)
On the morning of the 5th the Heroes used a portable hole and teleported back to Waterdeep. Here they spent the day shopping, resting, meeting, researching and in Tyree's case, carousing.
While in Waterdeep, Menelvagor conducted some important research which he summarized to the others as follows:
Genies of Ancient Calimshan
Circa –7,800 DR, a large force of Djen (Wind Dukes, effectively noble Djinn) arrived in the areas around present-day Calimport, led by the Djinni Lord Calim. The Djen spoke Vaati, the base language from which Auran and Alzhedo are derived. (Anyone speaking either Auran or Alzhedo can attempt Decipher Script checks for Vaati inscriptions.) Although not concerned with bringing “Law” to the Realms, the Wind Dukes of Calim sought to subjugate all forms of elemental magic to their will, proving the supremacy of elemental air and their goddess Akadi. Intent on colonizing a “barbaric” world rich in resources both magical and mundane, the Djen commanded a host of lesser Djinn, Jann, Marids, Genasi, enslaved Humans (ancestors of today’s Calishites), enslaved Hin (ancestors of the Sword Coast’s halfling population), and a handful of marids.
After their arrival, the Djen and their servants began clearing and seizing all the lands south of the Marching Mountains, which they claimed as the Calim Empire. At its peak, the Calim Empire encompassed all of modern day Calimshan, except for lands along the River Memnon. Initial conflicts with the Proud Peoples (elves and dwarves) ended in truce, and the Djen drove the dragons and giants out of the Marching Mountains. The alliance of djinn and marids collapsed, leading a series of battles known as the Steam Clashes and culminating in the destruction of the marid city of Ahjuutal.
Circa –6,800 DR, almost a thousand years to the day after the arrival of the Djen, a great horde of efreet called the Army of Fire (or Army of Chaos), led by the great pasha Memnon in service to Kossuth, emerged through a heretofore unknown portal just north of the River Agis (now known as the River Memnon). While the Djen prepared for the inevitable conflict to come, the efreet establish the realm of Memnonnar and found the settlements of Memnon, Myratma, and Shoonach.
In –6,500 DR, 200 years of skirmishing erupted into open warfare, beginning the Era of Skyfire. Over the next four centuries, Memnon and Calim brought their forces to bear against each other in 22 cataclysmic battles, culminating in the Battle of Teshyllal Fields (also called the Battle of Pesh). This last battle between the genie empires was ended by elven High Magic, which bound the endlessly warring genie lords and many of their most powerful followers into a single gem, now known as the Calimemnon Crystal, and transformed the Teshyllal Fields into the Calim Desert.
Icosiol’s Tomb
Icosiol was one of Calim’s greatest generals. The legendary Djen died during the Battle of Teshyllal Fields after employing his liege’s fabled Scepter of Calim to shatter a newly created portal through which Memnon was expecting reinforcements. Having escaped imprisonment in the Calimemnon Crystal through death, Icosiol’s corpse was one of the few sets of remains of the leading genies to be interred after the battle. His tomb was constructed by the surviving genies who clung to power for some four decades after the Battle of Teshyllal Fields. Icosiol’s Tomb lies hundreds of miles south of the Whispering Cairn, deep below the Calim Desert.
Tomb Traps
Though the tomb is rumored to be located deep below the Calim Desert, Icosiol’s tomb is said to be guarded by numerous traps and guardians placed to stop even the most determined tomb raider. Some of the traps may be triggered by the presence of non-lawful entities who merely come in close proximity to the traps. In other areas of the tomb, code words that are buried in Vaati scripts and riddles may be used to unlock doors and disable traps. Icosiols tomb is said to be guarded by a very dangerous trap that may only be disabled by solving a very complex riddle that involves a Djen lesson on concentration and reciting three Vaati words in the precise order.
Treasures of Icosiol
The Tomb of Icosiol is said to contain four prized treasures that would fetch a great price to collectors or power hungry patrons:
- Lightning Sword
- Ring of the Djen (or the Ring of the Wind Dukes)
- Mosaic of Icosiel ( or Seal of Law)
- Sword of Teshyllal ( or the Sword of Aaqa),
- Piece of the Shattered Scepter of Calim, formerly known as the Scepter of Calim (or Rod of Law). The Scepter of Calim was a symbol of Calim’s sovereignty in the lands of the Calim Empire until it was shattered by the Elven High Mages of Keltormir.
The White Kingdom
The existence of the city of true ghouls is whispered of only in the highest councils of Guallidurth, the Temple City of Lolth that lies deep beneath the Calim Desert. The White Kingdom lies in the Lowerdark, hidden deep beneath the Lake of Radiant Mists. (See Underdark, page 173.)
Kyuss
After the collapse of the Yuan-ti empire of Mhairshaulk, the Yuan-ti and their distant cousins, the Couatls, battled for control of the Chultan Peninsula. Around the time of Netheril’s founding, the Couatl population declined precipitously, and they sought another race to keep the Western end of the Chultan Peninsula free of Yuan-ti influence. Eventually the Couatl settled on the human tribes of a distant continent to the southwest and preached to them the teachings of Ubtao. Those tribes who accepted Ubtao’s message (the most prominent of which were the Eshowe, the Tabaxi, and the Thinguth) followed the winged serpents in a great pilgrimage across the seas to the Jungle of Chult in –2,809 DR. The tribes landed on the Wild Coast and marched inland to the Peaks of Flame, where the avatar of Ubtao welcomed them. After all but a handful of the winged serpents then withdrew from southwestern Faerûn, the Father of Chult founded the great city of Mezro in –2,637 DR and dwelt there for a time among the Tabaxi, the greatest of the tribes, while the other tribes scattered throughout the jungles.
In the Year of Reverent Threnody (–653 DR), a Tabaxi named Kyuss and his followers fled Mezro for the Chultengar, a dark region on the eastern border of the Jungle of Chult. There Kyuss founded the city of Kuluth-Mar, based upon the worship of a six-armed god of death named Jergal. After his followers found the plates that spoke of the Age of Worms, Kyuss received the Spellweaver Lich who gave him the gift of a single green worm and built the Spire of Long Shadows.
Later at around midnight at the end of the 6th, the heroes al met up at the Crooked House Inn.
After a night of rest, the Heroes left Waterdeep and teleported back to Diamond Lake. In Diamond Lake they had meetings, purchased the guild house and obtained the deed, and plotted their next move. The next morning after regaining their spells, Menelvagor teleported the Heroes back to the Icosiol's Tomb deep below the Calim Desert (with the help of the portable hole).
At the tomb, the Heroes stood before two massive doors and Menelvagor used magic to decipher the script which was a riddle:
"Dare not enter this tomb less you bare true witness __-__-__"
- Within a lonely chamber lies our General who gave his life to close the gate who died to save our way of life.
- Even he honored the one whose name, we whisper in sadness, who so long ago left our place and first tasted the air of this primitive sphere so that we could have the resources we needed to survive.
- His great sacrifice set to him by our Great Lady of the Winds who we pray to more than any other.
Menelvagor and the Heroes figured out that based on Menelvagor's research in the Font of Knowledge in Waterdeep that the riddle's answer was three words to be said in succession. Egwaine attempted to say the words but mispronounced the last word and was hit with a deadly bolt of disintegration. Luckily, she survived as it was not her time. Even more impressive was that she summoned the courage to give it a second try with the full knowledge of making a second mistake could spell doom for her. She was successful with the worlds, "Icosiol - Calim - Akadi."
The massive doors buckled and then gently, as if floating on air opened revealing a strange sight ahead:
The Rising Path
This chamber contains seven stone columns, each slightly taller than the next, rising slowly from the entrance to a small platform at the far end of the room before a second set of enormous doors. No floor is visible-in its place is a deep pit filled at a depth of eighty feet with glowing blue fog. Swirling patterns of wind and lightning dance and howl along the walls and ceiling of the chamber, filling the room with a tumultuous roar.
Each of the seven columns appears slightly different. The closest column's top is level with the ground you all are standing on at the entrance to the room.. The next column is 2' feet higher. The third column rises up to the ceiling 40' above. The forth column is 3' feet higher than the second one, but rotates slowly in place. The fifth column's upper surface seems to be covered in a thick layer of what looks like black tar, and is about 1' taller than the last. The sixth column is 2' feet higher than the previous one but is made of a lighter colored stone. A larger column, nearly twice the diameter of the others, stands to the left of the main row.
Is this finally the true Tomb of Icosiol? Will Menelvagor finally demonstrate Elven High Magic? Will Rumple get his hands on some of these treasures Menelvagor discovered? Will Tyree survive the Session? and Will Kamist ever accept his past? For the answers to these questions and more, tune in to the next session of the Age of Worms.
highsun
Deep below the Calim Desert, south in distant Calimshan
cold, damp, and windy
Injury Report
all full up
Spell Report - (email DM with spells used on the 7th, teleport/buffs etc)
Shield (on Storn in 15 minutes)
Alter Self (Alobron, expires late afternoon 7th)
Dragon Skin (Alobron, expires late afternoon 7th)
Mass Conviction (expires late afternoon, 7th)
Heroes Feast (+7 temp HP except Egwaine injured/healed, expires midnight end of 7th)
Greater Mage Armor (Menelvagor, expires midnight end of 7th)
Greater Mage Armor (Kamist, expires midnight end of 7th)
Divine Ward (Alobron, storn, Tyree, expires highsun 8th)
On the morning of the 5th the Heroes used a portable hole and teleported back to Waterdeep. Here they spent the day shopping, resting, meeting, researching and in Tyree's case, carousing.
While in Waterdeep, Menelvagor conducted some important research which he summarized to the others as follows:
Genies of Ancient Calimshan
Circa –7,800 DR, a large force of Djen (Wind Dukes, effectively noble Djinn) arrived in the areas around present-day Calimport, led by the Djinni Lord Calim. The Djen spoke Vaati, the base language from which Auran and Alzhedo are derived. (Anyone speaking either Auran or Alzhedo can attempt Decipher Script checks for Vaati inscriptions.) Although not concerned with bringing “Law” to the Realms, the Wind Dukes of Calim sought to subjugate all forms of elemental magic to their will, proving the supremacy of elemental air and their goddess Akadi. Intent on colonizing a “barbaric” world rich in resources both magical and mundane, the Djen commanded a host of lesser Djinn, Jann, Marids, Genasi, enslaved Humans (ancestors of today’s Calishites), enslaved Hin (ancestors of the Sword Coast’s halfling population), and a handful of marids.
After their arrival, the Djen and their servants began clearing and seizing all the lands south of the Marching Mountains, which they claimed as the Calim Empire. At its peak, the Calim Empire encompassed all of modern day Calimshan, except for lands along the River Memnon. Initial conflicts with the Proud Peoples (elves and dwarves) ended in truce, and the Djen drove the dragons and giants out of the Marching Mountains. The alliance of djinn and marids collapsed, leading a series of battles known as the Steam Clashes and culminating in the destruction of the marid city of Ahjuutal.
Circa –6,800 DR, almost a thousand years to the day after the arrival of the Djen, a great horde of efreet called the Army of Fire (or Army of Chaos), led by the great pasha Memnon in service to Kossuth, emerged through a heretofore unknown portal just north of the River Agis (now known as the River Memnon). While the Djen prepared for the inevitable conflict to come, the efreet establish the realm of Memnonnar and found the settlements of Memnon, Myratma, and Shoonach.
In –6,500 DR, 200 years of skirmishing erupted into open warfare, beginning the Era of Skyfire. Over the next four centuries, Memnon and Calim brought their forces to bear against each other in 22 cataclysmic battles, culminating in the Battle of Teshyllal Fields (also called the Battle of Pesh). This last battle between the genie empires was ended by elven High Magic, which bound the endlessly warring genie lords and many of their most powerful followers into a single gem, now known as the Calimemnon Crystal, and transformed the Teshyllal Fields into the Calim Desert.
Icosiol’s Tomb
Icosiol was one of Calim’s greatest generals. The legendary Djen died during the Battle of Teshyllal Fields after employing his liege’s fabled Scepter of Calim to shatter a newly created portal through which Memnon was expecting reinforcements. Having escaped imprisonment in the Calimemnon Crystal through death, Icosiol’s corpse was one of the few sets of remains of the leading genies to be interred after the battle. His tomb was constructed by the surviving genies who clung to power for some four decades after the Battle of Teshyllal Fields. Icosiol’s Tomb lies hundreds of miles south of the Whispering Cairn, deep below the Calim Desert.
Tomb Traps
Though the tomb is rumored to be located deep below the Calim Desert, Icosiol’s tomb is said to be guarded by numerous traps and guardians placed to stop even the most determined tomb raider. Some of the traps may be triggered by the presence of non-lawful entities who merely come in close proximity to the traps. In other areas of the tomb, code words that are buried in Vaati scripts and riddles may be used to unlock doors and disable traps. Icosiols tomb is said to be guarded by a very dangerous trap that may only be disabled by solving a very complex riddle that involves a Djen lesson on concentration and reciting three Vaati words in the precise order.
Treasures of Icosiol
The Tomb of Icosiol is said to contain four prized treasures that would fetch a great price to collectors or power hungry patrons:
- Lightning Sword
- Ring of the Djen (or the Ring of the Wind Dukes)
- Mosaic of Icosiel ( or Seal of Law)
- Sword of Teshyllal ( or the Sword of Aaqa),
- Piece of the Shattered Scepter of Calim, formerly known as the Scepter of Calim (or Rod of Law). The Scepter of Calim was a symbol of Calim’s sovereignty in the lands of the Calim Empire until it was shattered by the Elven High Mages of Keltormir.
The White Kingdom
The existence of the city of true ghouls is whispered of only in the highest councils of Guallidurth, the Temple City of Lolth that lies deep beneath the Calim Desert. The White Kingdom lies in the Lowerdark, hidden deep beneath the Lake of Radiant Mists. (See Underdark, page 173.)
Kyuss
After the collapse of the Yuan-ti empire of Mhairshaulk, the Yuan-ti and their distant cousins, the Couatls, battled for control of the Chultan Peninsula. Around the time of Netheril’s founding, the Couatl population declined precipitously, and they sought another race to keep the Western end of the Chultan Peninsula free of Yuan-ti influence. Eventually the Couatl settled on the human tribes of a distant continent to the southwest and preached to them the teachings of Ubtao. Those tribes who accepted Ubtao’s message (the most prominent of which were the Eshowe, the Tabaxi, and the Thinguth) followed the winged serpents in a great pilgrimage across the seas to the Jungle of Chult in –2,809 DR. The tribes landed on the Wild Coast and marched inland to the Peaks of Flame, where the avatar of Ubtao welcomed them. After all but a handful of the winged serpents then withdrew from southwestern Faerûn, the Father of Chult founded the great city of Mezro in –2,637 DR and dwelt there for a time among the Tabaxi, the greatest of the tribes, while the other tribes scattered throughout the jungles.
In the Year of Reverent Threnody (–653 DR), a Tabaxi named Kyuss and his followers fled Mezro for the Chultengar, a dark region on the eastern border of the Jungle of Chult. There Kyuss founded the city of Kuluth-Mar, based upon the worship of a six-armed god of death named Jergal. After his followers found the plates that spoke of the Age of Worms, Kyuss received the Spellweaver Lich who gave him the gift of a single green worm and built the Spire of Long Shadows.
Later at around midnight at the end of the 6th, the heroes al met up at the Crooked House Inn.
After a night of rest, the Heroes left Waterdeep and teleported back to Diamond Lake. In Diamond Lake they had meetings, purchased the guild house and obtained the deed, and plotted their next move. The next morning after regaining their spells, Menelvagor teleported the Heroes back to the Icosiol's Tomb deep below the Calim Desert (with the help of the portable hole).
At the tomb, the Heroes stood before two massive doors and Menelvagor used magic to decipher the script which was a riddle:
"Dare not enter this tomb less you bare true witness __-__-__"
- Within a lonely chamber lies our General who gave his life to close the gate who died to save our way of life.
- Even he honored the one whose name, we whisper in sadness, who so long ago left our place and first tasted the air of this primitive sphere so that we could have the resources we needed to survive.
- His great sacrifice set to him by our Great Lady of the Winds who we pray to more than any other.
Menelvagor and the Heroes figured out that based on Menelvagor's research in the Font of Knowledge in Waterdeep that the riddle's answer was three words to be said in succession. Egwaine attempted to say the words but mispronounced the last word and was hit with a deadly bolt of disintegration. Luckily, she survived as it was not her time. Even more impressive was that she summoned the courage to give it a second try with the full knowledge of making a second mistake could spell doom for her. She was successful with the worlds, "Icosiol - Calim - Akadi."
The massive doors buckled and then gently, as if floating on air opened revealing a strange sight ahead:
The Rising Path
This chamber contains seven stone columns, each slightly taller than the next, rising slowly from the entrance to a small platform at the far end of the room before a second set of enormous doors. No floor is visible-in its place is a deep pit filled at a depth of eighty feet with glowing blue fog. Swirling patterns of wind and lightning dance and howl along the walls and ceiling of the chamber, filling the room with a tumultuous roar.
Each of the seven columns appears slightly different. The closest column's top is level with the ground you all are standing on at the entrance to the room.. The next column is 2' feet higher. The third column rises up to the ceiling 40' above. The forth column is 3' feet higher than the second one, but rotates slowly in place. The fifth column's upper surface seems to be covered in a thick layer of what looks like black tar, and is about 1' taller than the last. The sixth column is 2' feet higher than the previous one but is made of a lighter colored stone. A larger column, nearly twice the diameter of the others, stands to the left of the main row.
Is this finally the true Tomb of Icosiol? Will Menelvagor finally demonstrate Elven High Magic? Will Rumple get his hands on some of these treasures Menelvagor discovered? Will Tyree survive the Session? and Will Kamist ever accept his past? For the answers to these questions and more, tune in to the next session of the Age of Worms.
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