Moonsea Madness - a recap

[7 min read]

Started: early 2021, I joined June 2021, currently active

Synopsis: a home-brewed campaign with the heroes chasing divine artifacts left during the Time of Troubles on behalf of the Aegis Arcana. The action started around the Moonsea region of the Forgotten Realms, but has taken the heroes into Corymr and Sembia as the mysterious Cult of the Shadowmoon begins to reveal their influence over the region.

Player-Characters: 

• Tomas of Tyr - Shield Dwarf Paladin / Divine Soul Sorcerer of Tyr "The Liberator"
• Kingsley Bladesong - Human Battlemaster Fighter "The Bloodied"
• Rathius - Human Thief Rogue / Divination Wizard
• Jaee of Witcher's Deep - Half-Elf Evocation Wizard "The Destroyer"

This post serves as a recap from after Tomas joined the campaign at 5th level.

Meeting the party - a dungeon in Thar

When Tomas, an acolyte of Tyr, completed his martial training and left Sundabar, he had come into his divine power as a Paladin. Tyr sent him to the Moonsea region, an area of Faerûn left ravaged by the Time of Troubles, to find ways to help mend the sacred bond between temple and worshipper. During his travels, alone save for his faithful warhorse Justicar, Tomas gained experience fighting evil both petty and organised. After many encounters with the nefarious Zhentarim, the black network grew tired of Tomas' self-righteous meddling, ambushed him near Phlan, and dumped him in a dungeon in Thar.

Enter the rest of the party, who had been hired to free Gyrond, an agent of the Aegis Arcana, a faction dedicated to hunting powerful magical artifacts across Faerûn. Conveniently for Tomas, he had been imprisoned in the same holding cells as Gyrond, and was subsequently freed by the party. Inconveniently for Tomas, they were still deep in a dungeon where a demi-lich was using a sliver of divine power from Azuth to fuel his experiments and attain lich-hood. When confronting the villain, the party prevailed by throwing the demi-lich's phylactery through a dimensional portal, where he promptly followed, and the destruction of the giant crystal he was using unleashed Azuth's explosive power. Exposed to the arcane energy, each party member was indelibly changed, granted a boon from Azuth that manifested as a new eldritch power, bespoke to each hero.

Establishing purpose - Eldritch Incorporated and the Aegis Arcana

Gyrond freed and the demi-lich defeated, the party returned to their contact at the Aegis Arcana. Impressed by the party's efforts, the Aegis Arcana offered them a choice to deepen their relationship - be inducted into the order itself, or work as preferred contractors in tracking down divine artifacts across the Realms. After careful deliberation, the party felt they wanted to retain independence from, but still work with, the secret organisation, and chose the contracting option. Contractors need a name, and with the recent exposure to the arcane, Eldritch Incorporated was born.

Impacting the world - a beachhead in Solus

Next stop, a ruined walled town called Solus, near Hulburg on the Moonsea, where the Aegis Arcana tracked a divine signal emanating from high up in a floating tower. The town being overrun by various evil factions, of which the leader may or may not be a beholder, Eldritch Incorporated needed to establish a beachhead in the safest part of the town to make deeper forays later. 

With the military training of Kinglsey and Rathius serving them well, plus intelligence and resources provided by the Aegis Arcana, Eldritch Incorporated executed an infiltration and extermination mission with precision. Well, the party's Evocation Wizard, Jaee of Witcher's Deep, precisely proceeded to blast every, single, building in the area with fireballs turning many of the town's salvageable buildings into rubble, and earning 'The Destroyer' moniker for her trouble. Kingsley's use of Action Surge on a prone ogre mage to deal a whopping 112 points of damage via multiple crits earned him the moniker "The Bloodied". And finally, Eldritch Incorporated added an extra noun to become Eldritch Inferno Inc after the team rolled through the area demolishing creatures, and structures, in their wake.

Expanding from the beachhead the party and its allies secured a large portion of the town, ushering in merchants, mercenaries, craftsmen all willing to risk life for the potential riches of a new frontier town. Changing Solus to Eldrus in honour of the party, the town safe zone became a home base of sorts from which the party could continue deeper into the ruins towards the floating tower, or branch into other adventures.

Achieving goals - liberating the Temple of Tyr

During the establishment of Eldrus, Tomas had the opportunity to realise a personal ambition - reestablishing worship to Tyr in the town. The temple of Tyr, girded by stone walls and shielded by magic, had acted as a sort of last ditch defense of the town, that was ultimately in vain. Liberating the temple became priority number one for Tomas, who sent Veghn, an ex priest of Bane that was given new purpose through Tomas'.. cough... persuasive arguments, to bring back representatives of Tyr from Tantras and help with reclaiming the holy site.

Foiling an ambush from an anti-party formed by Vashti, a Tiefling antagonist, the party were able to secure the temple, and with the help of the priests of Tyr, power up the giant magical dome that now protects it. But that was after facing off against Vashti riding on the back of a black dragon in the temple grounds, and causing her to flee after her mount was dispatched of. Not without personal cost to Tomas however, who found himself crushed under the bulk of the dragon and badly wounded when Rathius used his Bow of Reversal to bring the deadly foe out of flying range. For his efforts (and pain), Tomas earned his moniker, "The Liberator", and no doubt the good graces of his god.

Supporting comrades - a Sembian sojourn

Eldrus bustling with activity and safe for the moment, an emergency arrived that Kingsley (and the party) could not ignore. There came an impassioned plea, from a maiden known to Kingsley, whose sister Delia had been abducted by the foul Lord Halendren, down in Sembia. Following an infiltration disguised as the entertainment for the announcement of an 'engagement' at Halendren's manor and some subsequent hijinks, the party confronted Halendren and killed him, rescuing Delia and turning his mansion into a smoking crater. Delia was returned to her family via their spymaster, Riordan and the party learned Halendren was part of a bigger scheme via the Cult of the Shadow Moon. This led the party to undertake some investigations in Selgaunt, as Rathius' discovered a connection between the Cult and the demise of his former commander Elias Litten.

Untangling lies - brothers betrayal

After boosting their party funds by some Fight Club shenanigans involving Kingsley's natural brawling talent and Rathius' Divination wizardry to help with skill checks, Eldritch Inferno came back to the task at hand. Locating a Cult of the Shadow Moon courier, the party tracked him to a noble, Duke Valmont. The Duke was more than he seemed as Tomas used his Paladin powers to detect his fiendish nature, thus making him a target of his ire. Rathius also met his former Sergeant Walsh, and reconnected with him, hoping to learn more about the cult. 

The party tracked the cult contact to the Pyrrhic Victory, a warship docked in Selgaunt. Tragedy struck as the parties contact and friend, Crews, was found brutally murdered. Following a touching funeral service held by Tomas, the party attempted to raid the ship to retrieve the courier, only to find it had made a speedy exit. Braving the elements in an airship run by a madman named Maggy, the party air dropped onto the fleeing ship in a massive storm and confronted the courier, who committed suicide rather than talk. Clues were found to the Cult's main contact in Selgaunt, which upon a visit, turned out to be Walsh.

Difficult choices - king or comrade 

Walsh was tracked to a windmill north east of the city which turned out to be a secret Cult base. Walsh had lured the party there with the hope of killing them with the multitude of traps and fiendish enemies, but the party prevailed, despite Kinglsey almost killing himself repeatedly trying to search a trapped desk that did yield many clues about the Cult's plans. With Walsh finally captured, Rathius was given the opportunity to dispense justice, which came in the form of a dagger through the heart. 

The party was left with a choice. Rescue the King of Cormyr, or Rathius' company commander Elias Litten, who Walsh revealed may be alive. The Cult's original plans were bring Cormyr under Sembian rule through the murder of nobles in the line of succession and then have Halendren take control through a forced  marriage to Delia, which would occur after the death of Azoun. Eldritch Inferno spoiled this with the death of Halendren and rescue of Delia, so the Cult went to plan B - replace Azoun with a doppelganger while his advisor Vangerderhast is abroad and then take control from within. The party has chosen to assault the Cult Headquarters to attempt to rescue Elias and send Riordan to Cormyr with a warning...hoping against hope its not too late.....