Ashen Reckoning — Session 2

Session Summary

After receiving a shortcut tip from the tournament clerk, the party met a peculiar rogue named Emyrs Tie, invited him to join them, bribed his way into the tournament, and rented horses and a wagon from Terry and Perry. They followed the high road toward the Sword Mountains and discovered the narrow path leading toward the Lion's Mouth Cave.

On the way, the party was attacked by a pack of Displacer Beasts and unexpectedly rescued by Jaqen Longstrider, who led them to a suspiciously well-stocked decoy camp. That night, they discovered the wounded remains of one of the young contestants and soon realized Jaqen had slaughtered the boys’ team. The party ambushed him, badly injured him, and forced him and his companions to retreat.

The next day, the party explored the Lion's Mouth Cave and discovered the Temple of the Old Gods. Inside, they found Jaqen and two of his companions massacred. Beyond a gate stood a shadowy armored figure wearing armor of ash: Vaelor Indoril. He destroyed the Golden Monkey, revealed a hidden key inside, claimed the Crown of Brilliance, and vanished.

After recovering the broken pieces of the Golden Monkey and salvaging gear from the dead, the party rescued Sara, one of Jaqen’s surviving companions, and returned to Water's Edge. Thero confirmed that the Crown of Brilliance is a weapon of mass destruction and that Vaelor Indoril has only three days before he can fully attune to it. The party must now seek powerful wondrous items, beginning with the Harp of Olamn at the Bard College of New Olamn in Waterdeep.

Metadata

Party Members Present

Important NPCs

Locations

Quests and Hooks

Hunt for the Golden Monkey

The party continued pursuing the Golden Monkey after receiving a shortcut tip from the tournament clerk. They eventually found it inside the Temple of the Old Gods, but Vaelor Indoril crushed it in his hand, revealing a hidden key inside.

The broken pieces of the Golden Monkey were recovered. Thero believes the remains should still be worth the tournament prize money.

The Crown of Brilliance

Vaelor Indoril used the key hidden inside the Golden Monkey to open a secret compartment in the altar, revealing the Crown of Brilliance. He placed it on his head and vanished.

Thero explained that the Crown of Brilliance is a powerful weapon of mass destruction. Vaelor has not yet fully attuned to it, and attunement will take three days. That gives the party three days to stop him from destroying Skyrim.

The Harp of Olamn

Thero told the party they would need wondrous items to stand a chance against Vaelor Indoril. The first of these is the Harp of Olamn, currently held by the archmage Danilo Thanh at the Bard College of New Olamn in Waterdeep.

Varyn knows Danilo from his time at the bard college and believes he is trustworthy.

Sara's Trauma

Kaelen found Sara, one of Jaqen’s surviving companions, curled up in shock near the temple. She would not speak out of fear of what she had witnessed. The party brought her back with them.

Loot, Gold, and Items

Session Log

Emyrs Tie Joins the Party

After receiving the shortcut tip from the clerk, the party ran into a peculiar gentleman: a rogue named Emyrs Tie. He introduced himself and seemed interested in joining both the tournament and the party.

The others decided his skills might be useful and invited him to join them. He agreed, but they quickly realized he did not have enough gold for the entry fee. Emyrs signed his waiver and then suddenly disappeared.

While he was gone, Varyn offered the clerk a bribe of 40 gp to allow Emyrs to enter for free. The clerk agreed, saying, “Sure, whatever. He already signed his waiver.”

After this, the town mayor arrived and frantically asked the clerk if they had any gold available for an urgent matter. The clerk told him he would have to speak to the town treasurer. The mayor left, and moments later Emyrs returned.

Varyn informed Emyrs that his entry fee had been settled. Emyrs promised to pay him back and gave him 10 gp as a down payment.

Preparing for the Road

Sir Harwin went to the blacksmith to upgrade his weapons.

Afterward, the party decided how to proceed. Before setting off to find the Golden Monkey, they ran into Terry, the horse trader. He explained that he was renting horses to contestants at a low rate.

Just as they were about to strike a deal, Terry’s brother Perry approached and told them he was also renting wagons.

After a few minutes of negotiation, the party paid 30 gp for an eight-day rental of two horses and one wagon.

The Path Toward Lion’s Mouth Cave

After procuring transportation, the party set off along the high road. After many hours, they approached the Sword Mountains.

Kaelen sent up his eagle familiar, Michael B. Jordan, to scout. The bird spotted a path that looked like the one the clerk had described.

The party traveled a few more hours and finally reached it. The path was too narrow for the horses, so they tied them to a tree and continued on foot.

Once in the wilderness, they noticed large footprints. They began to feel as though they were being watched. Eventually, pairs of eyes lit up in the darkness around them.

Before they knew it, they were surrounded by half a dozen Displacer Beasts.

The Displacer Beast Attack

The party tried to fend off the Displacer Beasts, even managing to defeat one of them, but the creatures were strong and relentless.

Eventually, a large man with a flaming sword emerged from the wilderness. He slashed through the Displacer Beasts as if they were nothing.

It was Jaqen Longstrider, and he appeared very happy to see them.

“My bar friends!” he yelled. “Good to see you! Please come with me!”

Unsure what to think, the party followed him through the wilderness to a well-supplied camp with six tents, beds, food, and anything else they might need.

They asked, “Is this where you’re staying?”

Jaqen replied, “No, of course not!”

Then he unzipped the very fabric of space, revealing a hidden hideout.

“So this camp is just a decoy?” they asked.

“Exactly!” he replied. “You’re welcome to stay in for the night.”

The party was unsure whether they could trust him, but it seemed he might be using them as bait. They accepted that risk and attempted to rest for the night, with Kaelen’s familiar keeping watch.

The Dead Boy

After a few hours, Kaelen’s familiar alerted the party in the middle of the night.

One of the boys from the beginning of the game came running through the camp, wounded and crying out for help. The party tried to heal him, but they failed, and he quickly died.

The wounds on his body looked as though they had been made by the same weapon that had cut through the Displacer Beasts earlier.

It was Jaqen.

The party headed into the wilderness in the direction the boy had come from. They returned to the earlier path and found the boy’s friends dead.

At that point, they saw smoke rising from the camp behind them.

They heard Jaqen Longstrider screaming in rage: “Where are they?”

They knew he was looking for them and intended to kill them.

Ambushing Jaqen

The party created a plan to lure Jaqen back to the path and ambush him.

Smoker cast Silent Image to create an illusion of Varyn running through the wilderness, while Varyn yelled, “Help! Help!”

Jaqen gave chase. When he did, he walked into a tripwire the party had set for him and fell.

The party attacked. Varyn cast Heat Metal on Jaqen’s armor.

Eventually, Jaqen managed to get up. His attacks were devastating, but the party barely managed to keep up with him.

Jaqen’s friends eventually arrived. Before they could do much, Emyrs seemed to have Jaqen on the ropes. However, before Emyrs could deliver the killing blow, Jaqen grabbed him and threw him away.

Jaqen then ejected himself from the battle and retreated, grabbing one of his companions and throwing him over his shoulder. The other two companions retreated as well.

The battle was over, but not won.

Entering Lion’s Mouth Cave

The party decided to move closer to Lion's Mouth Cave and make camp just off the path.

The next day, they entered the cave to explore it. Inside, they noticed more footprints, as well as traps that had already been triggered.

Eventually, the cave led them to a temple adorned with imagery and iconography that felt vaguely familiar to Varyn from his studies.

This was a place of worship dedicated to a long-forgotten god worshipped by a long-forgotten people: the The Temple of the Old Gods.

Kaelen sent his familiar into the temple’s inner chamber. However, as soon as it crossed the threshold, it disappeared.

The party began entering one by one.

The Temple of the Old Gods

Inside, the party looked around and found a horrifying scene.

They discovered the bodies of Jaqen Longstrider and two of his companions. They had been massacred as easily as Jaqen had cut through the Displacer Beasts.

Standing over Jaqen’s body, just beyond a gate, was a large shadowy figure: a man wearing armor that looked as though it were made of pure ash.

Beside him was a small statue of the Golden Monkey sitting on a pedestal.

The man began to speak. He mocked mankind’s pursuit of gold. He picked up the Golden Monkey and asked, “Is this what you seek? Gold?”

Varyn responded, “It was.”

The man replied, “And what do you seek now?”

Varyn quickly answered, “Knowledge.”

The man seemed almost impressed by the answer and responded, “If it is, in fact, knowledge you seek, then you should join me.”

He then began to explain himself:

“Ten years ago, at the Battle of Red Mountain, I watched as the Tribunal traded lives for power and gold. A wall of forces showed me how expendable they viewed us, and in an instant I watched 9,000 men lose their lives for people who didn’t care about their existence.

My country and its people were so caught up in the power Tamriel has that they never cared to look further than their own continent for more. But there’s a whole world out there.

With the new power that Faerûn holds, I’ll conquer Morrowind and share its greatness with the known world. In three days, I’ll have demolished Skyrim and her people and placed her under the banner of Indoril.”

The Crown of Brilliance

At that point, the man crushed the Golden Monkey in his hand. The pieces fell to the ground, revealing a key hidden inside.

He took the key to the altar and opened a secret compartment, revealing a crown adorned with gems. He placed it on his head, pulled a lever that opened the gate in front of him, and disappeared as the gate rose.

After he left, Varyn and Kaelen discussed what they had witnessed. Varyn noted that the armor the man wore was exactly the same as that of the general who disappeared after the Battle of Red Mountain: Vaelor Indoril.

Searching the Dead

The party recovered the broken pieces of the Golden Monkey and began searching the bodies of Jaqen and his comrades.

Vaelor found Jaqen’s Flaming Greatsword.

Sir Harwin took Jaqen’s full plate armor.

Kaelen and Varyn found a set of Sending Stones on the others.

Varyn also found an Immovable Rod.

Finding Sara

Before leaving, Kaelen noticed the familiar belonging to Jaqen’s companion Sara, who was not among the dead.

The familiar was perched atop the temple. Kaelen followed it and found Sara curled up and in shock. She would not speak out of fear of what she had witnessed.

Kaelen carried her down and brought her with the party.

Returning to Water’s Edge

The party made their way back to their horses and returned to Water's Edge.

Once there, they took Sara to the hospital and then decided to speak with Thero. They placed his key into a nearby door. Thero answered, annoyed when he realized that Sir Harwin had not drunk the other potion.

The party explained that they had found the Golden Monkey, but it had been destroyed.

Thero told them he could not fix it, but that it should still be worth the prize money for the tournament.

Thero’s Warning

Varyn then told Thero what they had seen and explained that the ash-armored figure was Vaelor Indoril.

Thero denied the possibility at first, but eventually realized Varyn was telling the truth.

When he learned of the crown, Thero explained that it was the The Crown of Brilliance, a very powerful weapon of mass destruction.

He told them that Vaelor had not attuned to it yet. Since attunement takes three days, that is how much time they have to stop him from destroying Skyrim.

Thero warned them that they could not report this to the mayor or his people because they did not know whom they could trust. Vaelor has many followers and loyalists.

Thero also said he would prepare magical items to help them on their mission. However, to have any chance of defeating Vaelor, they would need no less than wondrous items.

The first of these could be found in Waterdeep at the Bard College of New Olamn. There, the archmage Danilo Thanh possesses the Harp of Olamn.

Varyn explained that he knew Danilo because he attended the bard college there and Danilo had been a mentor to him. He told the party that Danilo was trustworthy and would help.

Open Threads

• Can the party stop Vaelor Indoril before he fully attunes to the Crown of Brilliance?
• What exactly is the Crown of Brilliance, and how much destruction can it cause?
• Why did Vaelor Indoril return after disappearing from the Battle of Red Mountain?
• Who among the people of Water's Edge can actually be trusted?
• Will the broken Golden Monkey still earn the party the tournament prize?
• What happened to Jaqen’s surviving companion Sara, and what did she witness?
• Can Danilo Thanh provide the Harp of Olamn?
• What other wondrous items will be needed to defeat Vaelor Indoril?

Backlinks / Related Notes

• Ashen Reckoning
• Water's Edge
• Water's Edge Invitational
• Hunt for the Golden Monkey
• Golden Monkey
• Lion's Mouth Cave
• The Temple of the Old Gods
• The Crown of Brilliance
• Vaelor Indoril
• Battle of Red Mountain
• Skyrim
• Morrowind
• Tamriel
• Faerûn
• Varyn Longscribe
• Smokalion Grey
• Vaelor Ashen-Shield
• Kaelen Voss
• Sir Harwin Jantos
• Emyrs Tie
• Jaqen Longstrider
• Sara
• Thero
• Waterdeep
• Bard College of New Olamn
• Danilo Thanh
• Harp of Olamn