Eternal: From Airship to Dragon

GREETINGS EVERYONE!

Welcome back to the Lore Master’s blog for The Tales of Umbra Victus! Your Neurodivergent-friendly recap to get caught up on the exploits of your favorite adventuring party! I know you’re all as anxious to get back to the story as I am, so let’s jump right back in, shall we?

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GETTING SETTLED IN

Dropping back into Marketplace, Boro had called in his favor from Captain Damian Ir d’Lyrandar, a half-elf from dragonmarked House Lyrandar, with the Mark of Storm, as a thank you to Umbra Victus for saving his life from the Mind Flayers that had infiltrated the town. We find Umbra Victus headed onto the Eternal Dawn, being told by the captain that they would be on the ship for a good few days. Realizing they would need more supplies to make good use of their trip, Kor and Talia then asked for a bit of additional prep time to stock up on supplies. Heading to Iga’s and Boro’s, they obtained additional alchemy supplies for Talia, as well as stocked up on tea for Kor - an entire brick of Lunar Nectar to be exact.

Once they’d returned and the airship had gotten underway, Orianna asked Damian his thoughts on her practice some magic to “blow off some steam”, as well as teach Kor how to more efficiently use fire since, as a Tiefling, that is her specialty. Damien instructed her and Kor to head up to a specific section of the deck and shoot off the left side of the ship only. Orianna ended up firing her Firebolt “lazily” left (resulting in the beginning of the now canon “TO THE LEFT” any time magic is used on the ship, or near Damian). This resulted in the Firebolt firing back across the ship, narrowly missing everyone's head.

Eventually, through some light tutelage from Orianna, Kor successfully learned how to use her “Fire Fists”. Meanwhile, Talia explored the armory and drooled over the Arcane canons, and Sir Valerian - true to his queasy form - got ill and napped, having never been on an airship before. Once they’d all fully settled in, the party met Para, the fiery half-elf cook on the Eternal Dawn, who’s cooking and quick whit fast became a favorite of the group.

IT’S ONLY DAY ONE...

After dinner, Orianna opened up some about her past with the rest of Umbra Victus, giving more insight into how she became who she is. A gnome named Slurm saved her from the streets of the Lhazaar Principalities, taking her in to mentor her, teaching her to steal, fight, survive, and ultimately make money. During a mission on a sea ship, a storm ravaged & wrecked them into jagged rocks, and in an effort to save both herself and Slurm, she sold her soul to a Dread Leviathan. In making her deal, she was given a mission: to retrieve an egg, but the incredulous party could not believe that such a creature even existed outside of myth & legend, let alone that someone could be indebted to one in such a manner. In a burst of anger & desire to be understood, Orianna sends a telepathic blast into each of her party members’ minds, showing them her memory of the Leviathan. [*Point of order* the DM allowed her to do this in this instance; further attempts at this same thing end up being retconned out later in the campaign].

Understandably, ‘Goody Two-Boots’ Sir Valerian took obvious offense to this intrusion of evil into his mind, and in his indignance, ended up calling Orianna “it”. In response, Orianna stormed out of the room, barely containing her temper and, actively refusing to return to the barracks for the rest of the evening, instead headed up to the deck to get some air. After she stormed out, Valerian proceeded to state that it was a pity that he “may have to kill her one day,” which prompted Kor to become incredibly upset and go to find Orianna to help her process what had just happened. Looking for another place to sleep, the Tiefling sought a place in the Captain’s quarters, with Damian reluctantly resigning himself to sleep on the floor in front of his door.

Somewhat restlessly, Umbra Victus found themselves taking their evening’s rest, which ended up being short lived. The three remaining in the barracks were shocked awake by hands over their mouths as half-orc and human assailants, sent to presumably capture or kill them, cast spells in their faces. After a rather loud skirmish in which Valerian and Kor were both charmed, then uncharmed, they were able to capture one of the assailants, two of the others fleeing over the side of the still-flying airship with Featherfall tokens. After throwing the caught mutineer's bound & stunned body into the holding cell near the armory, they were able to find out that it was indeed the mind flayers that sent them. They locked him in the cell, ready to let him rot until morning, but he began counting down, and pulled something from within his cheek - a Xoriat shard much like the one that had been found in the footlocker of the Marketplace guard. He called Talia, “the seal” - freezing her to the spot -, crunched the shard between his teeth, activating a portal, through which a mind flayer, recognized as the same one the party fought in Marketplace, quickly materialized and pulled his servant to freedom.

MISGIVINGS, PARANOIA, AND FATE

After this surprise attack, everyone attempted to finish their evening’s rest, however in the morning, it became clear that no one had slept well. Orianna was met with a slightly tense apology from Valerian regarding his behavior the night before, and him pledging his sword to her cause, as he learned that it was the mutineer/cultists from the mind flayers that had caused the holy brand on the back of his hand to warn him of danger, not her as he had originally thought. Once they’d regrouped, they made their way to Damian’s quarters to discuss the mini mutiny. Understandably, he was concerned that right after Umbra Victus had boarded and the Eternal Dawn was making headway toward the Shadow Marches, members of his crew - whom he trusted implicitly, and had for years - made direct attacks against them, not to mention the fact that a mind flayer was able to open a portal into the holding cell on his ship. Being so concerned, he agreed to Talia doing a magical sweep of his men to see whether any others had enchantments put on them, or were carrying any magical items that would be cause for concern.

SETTING MINDS AT EASE

Completing her magical sweep, Talia found no direct enchantments apparent upon anyone, but she did find one - currently sleeping - night crew member in possession of boots enchanted with Evocation magic, and a sword of Conjuration magic. The boots were less concerning than the sword, but she wanted to have a conversation with Damian as to whether these items were a known entity or not. Upon sharing this information, it seemed that Damian did not know about the magical items, but did know who was in possession - a half-elf named Hak. Damian promised to facilitate a conversation once night crew came on-shift that evening. After reporting on her magical sweep of the crew, Talia got to inspect the Arcane cannons in further detail and was curious to see whether one could choose the type of damage they would do. Damian, being of equal curiosity on the topic, followed her down and, after a few test-fires, they discovered that yes you could in fact make that choice if properly trained in the Arcane, which was a fun surprise for him.

Later that afternoon, Kor and Orianna sparred for the first time on deck, and Orianna got beat pretty badly. Watching from the door of his Captain’s quarters, Damian - based on her lobbing a Firebolt and narrowly missing him, in addition to his general dislike for the Tiefling - enjoyed this immensely, giving them a few Greater Healing potions in exchange for the afternoon’s entertainment. After their sparring match, Orianna then offered up her challenge to the crew at large, and it was answered by a rather cocky, young human male named Balthier. Deemed Balthy by Orianna for his bravado and general “ballsy” behavior in combat, he almost beat her, but was ultimately defeated in front of his crewmates, much to his chagrin. He clamored for an immediate rematch, to which Orianna chided that he had much more to learn before that happened.

While all of that was happening, Talia made her way to the kitchen, feeling nostalgic for home, and showed Para how to make Shepherd’s Pie. She shared how it was a trick that her mom used to get her and her sister to eat their vegetables when they were young. Para was grateful for the new tasty recipe, as well as a little irritated that she didn’t think of it sooner herself. It would prove useful to get some nutrition into the crew who actively mocked and refused to even look at Para’s salad. It was a huge hit with the crew, and a nice way to end an otherwise slightly stressful first day.

CONNECTING WITH THE CAPTAIN

After dinner, Damian called Talia up on deck to view the Ring of Syberius - a giant yellow, ethereal light ring in the sky - and was engaging with her about their opinions on fate & destiny, finding out that they had more in common than either of them realized. Musing about the accuracy of the Draconic Prophecy, and their own personal involvement with it, among other things. Once their discussion had waned, he asked her to send Sir Valerian up on deck, to whom he expressed his paranoia in regards to the group - the mind flayers showed up in Marketplace while they were there, then Boro called in the favor Damian owed him, and said issue that Boro was involved in from Marketplace seemingly followed the party onto his ship in the form of the mutiny. To attempt to ease his mind a little bit, Valerian attempts to engage Damian on a Soldier’s level by revealing his involvement in the Last War, and expressing his view that Umbra Victus has become enmeshed in this issue and must see this threat ended. A ‘soldier’s accord’ was reached that they could indeed trust one another.

A MAN’S SWORD...

Then, out of his own paranoia prompted by the cultist crunching a Xoriat shard in his teeth, Valerian suggested a full cavity search of the crew, after the already magical sweep done by Talia. Damian did not react as well to that, saying to let him ‘sleep on it’. After their conversation drew to a close, Damian yells for Hak to come up on deck to discuss his Conjuration Sword. Talia followed him up onto the deck, and via conversation, they came to find out that he had received it on one of his shore leaves...as a wedding gift. He wasn’t even sure he had gotten married until the celebration the following day, due to how drunk he was. After a scathing observation from Talia that - if he was indeed intoxicated enough to not remember the wedding, then it stood to reason that he wouldn’t be up to *ahem* snuff to obtain a gift of that caliber from a woman...unless she was very easily impressed. After Hak had marginally recovered the psychic damage that comment caused him, he was “voluntold” into allowing Talia to borrow the sword in question, for further inspection. During this time, she is able to find out that this was a magical longsword that had the ability to cast the Plane Shift spell once per day, and, after conferring with the rest of Umbra Victus, brokered a trade with Hak for a returning dagger plus some gold to gain the use of this sword for the party. Through this deal, they find out that he has been trying to make the best of this situation by sending money to his wife every time he is able. Meanwhile, waiting for the remainder of their second day on the Eternal Dawn to play out, Kor attempted to help Orianna process by meditating with her, and in the process, got to meet her Patron, the Dread Leviathan. While she wasn’t scared, she was promptly kicked from the trance and not allowed to assist the Tiefling any further.

A GNOME’S PAST

As the party disembarked into Zarash'ak, and was wondering at the trade of dragonshards and the expanse of House Tharashk, Talia felt two hands on her shoulders, and heard a deep voice speak her full name from behind her, saying that they had been expecting her for some time now. As she turned around, she saw a male & female half-orc that she recognized from her recent dreams. Confused, and more than a little bit concerned, she asked how they found her, and the male pulled out a glowing Syberius dragonshard which essentially treated her as a homing beacon. With no other choices before them, they followed the half-orcs back to their house at the edge of town, and once they arrive, Umbra Victus learned they were dealing with Clan Druids of the Shadow Marches named Umaak and Vaan. The Druids proceeded to share with the party that Talia’s mother, Jade Zentalis, had come to the Shadow Marches for research on a project she was working on, which they were unwilling to help her with in that moment. However, stubbornness seemed to be a family trait, and she was eventually able to convince them to assist her on her research. It also came to light that Jade had entered into the creation of a Blood Seal to help strengthen the hold on Xoriat, the Realm of Madness. With further probing questions, Umaak and Vaan also enumerated the differences between the Clan Druids and the Tribes of Druids - also called Gatekeeper Druids - further into the Shadow Marches and beyond, as well as the story of Vraak, the ancient green dragon who taught the Gatekeeper druids long ago how to create the Dimensional Seals that hold back Xoriat. Both she, and her lair - which was rumored to be connected to the demiplane of Khyber herself - had been lost to time, with the Druids searching everywhere in the Marches except in the tunnels underneath the city, knowing of one that leads directly to Khyber but no one daring to go in, fearing for their own lives.

Thinking that since there’s no such thing as coincidence in anything else in their journey thus far, Talia shares that she and her sister used to adventure down into the realm of Khyber to obtain Khyber dragonshard geodes for her mother’s research. The party decided to probe deeper & go exploring, looking for Vraak’s lair, hoping for some hint to slow or stop the weakening of the seals she had forged with the Gatekeeper Druids those many years ago.

INTO THE TUNNELS

Having made their decision, they set about resting and preparing for the coming morning’s excursion into the Realm of the Dragon Below. Before they turned in for the night, Kor sat in meditation with Orianna and went back into her trance, again meeting the Dread Leviathan, and Talia cast Alarm, which woke her up at 4AM, allowing her to craft some grenades prior to anyone else waking. Sir Valerian kept watch for awhile before slipping himself into a deep slumber. Upon waking, Vaan prepared some breakfast, and Umbra Victus headed into town to gather some supplies in preparation for their pending trip into the tunnels beneath Zarash’ak, obtaining a fair number of Eberron dragonshards but not much else. These shards would prove useful because they allow a caster to infuse a spell into them for use at a later date without expending a spell slot, and with the ability for the effect to be triggered by a non-caster.

With everyone as prepared as they could be, the Druids were able to transport the party directly to the mouth of the tunnel in question. Prior to heading down, Orianna wanted to set a few things straight, informing both Sir Valerian & Talia that she didn’t fully trust them yet, but had no reason to distrust them. Then, turning to Kor, said “If we get out of this alive, we need to have a further discussion,” planted a big kiss on her, and turned to march straight into the cave. Knowing when to compartmentalize, the rest of the traveling companions follow and all are immediately met with magical darkness that not even the Tiefling’s darkvision can see through. Quickly, everyone realized that in addition to this magical darkness, this was also a “no magic zone”. Talia - having been to the demiplane of Khyber before - knew that this was not normal, and urged everyone to continue to press on until they could see the light from Valerian’s Holy Avenger sword again and the darkness had dissipated. Moving further into the tunnel, the party began to hear deep breathing and attempted to continue on stealthily, ultimately failing. They then hear the breathing interrupted with a deep groan, followed by a booming voice saying “I smell my children…..and outsiders”. They then saw the head of an ancient green dragon turning the corner to peer at them. Apparently, Vraak wasn’t so lost to time after all...

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And here, friends, is where we leave our adventurers for the time being! I know, I know!! But this was a real-life cliffhanger for Umbra Victus!! So be sure to join us next time to see what happens when they meet Vraak, continuing their adventure into the realm of Khyber.

Until then, be respectful to each other, we love you, and we’ll see you next time. Byeeeeee <3