User:Lhynard/Projects/De Exilio/Campaign outline/Summary 2

Dates
Eleint 29 – Uktar 6, 1372 DR

Summary
The adventurers convince the Shadovar to allow Solisar to perform the analysis of the portal within the cave. The portal required no key and was one-way, but it had multiple locations to which it could be sent, including a Calishite-looking palace atop a field of snow. The portal was also malfunctioning. When they next stop to camp, Hakam sends a magical message to Tosvin to report and to explain the imp's death. Tosvin doesn't care about the imp but warns them not to betray him. They reach the Plain of Standing Stones, and they learn that Uregaunt has grown strangely sick. Neither Hakam nor Belvin are able to heal him, and Hakam and Chalan believe it to be a curse. When they return to the Shadovar camp, they learn that Uregaunt, the head arcanist, has vanished, along with one of the veserabs. They speculate that he has become the new portal guardian and returned to Choshein. Since they are halfway to Thultanthar, they do not have enough supplies to pursue him. The minotaur is named Kytharrah by Solisar, which means "Friendly Red Beast". They send letters to a few of the Shadovar with whom they had traveled over the desert. The elf ambassador, Riddre, is accused of treason.
 * The party find themselves underground in the middle of a circle of seven blue-colored pillars. They quickly find evidence of the predicted guardian monster and search for a hiding place. Szordrin is sent out to scout while invisible. He sees the Red Worm; it seems to be sleeping or resting. He also finds the exit. Returning to the others, they quietly make plans to escape and determine that they cannot do so unless they wait to gain their magic powers back.
 * They are woken by the sound of a crow cawing. Leokas shoots the bird instantly, but it morphs into the form of an imp. They struggle with each other, as some of the party want to kill the devil and others wish to question it. It tells them that Tosvin has taken Ilthian as a pledge that they will return having finished their task. The imp vanishes.
 * They make an elaborate plan to trap the Red Worm in one of the tunnels, using a feather token of an oak tree and the stone shape spell, and flee the caverns, coming into a magical night outside.
 * They encounter a couple soldiers in strange, archaic armor and exchange wand bursts before Leokas warns them that a monster is coming, and the adventurers hide using two rope trick spells.
 * A large band of Shadovar, having slain the Red Worm, find the hiding adventurers and place them under "house arrest" within a tent that is guarded.
 * Cassiera requests to speak with one of the Shadovar leaders, a shade arcanist named Aithe, and they exchange questions. Cassiera learns about the Fall of Netheril and how the city of Thultanthar escaped destruction.
 * Szordrin learns about the shadow canopy spell.
 * They report this information to the Shadovar. Then Uregaunt, the leader, tells them that they are going to return to Thultanthar. Aithe argues with him that they had been ordered to pass through the portal, but he says that their plans have changed. While the camp is being packed for travel on the backs of dire bats and veserabs, the adventurers discover that Tosvin's imp has been invisible and spying on them. Solisar casts glitterdust on the imp, and the Shadovar make short work of it with their magic wands.
 * They each ride behind a Shadovar soldier on the backs of dire bats throughout the night, heading south. (Belvin takes the form of a pteranodon and carries a miniaturized Kamil, while the minotaur and Stormshadow ride in a great net with the tents.)
 * The minotaur tries to play with the Shadovar guards but learns that play is not something everyone wants to do.
 * The priestess of Shar, Chalan, offers them an opportunity to leave the camp after the fifth night of travel. They had seen smoke and herd animals within a ravine, and she asks them to make contact with the natives of region. Perhaps they might know about strange desert curses. The party explore the rift and encounter three hill giant shepherds. The encounter becomes violent and the minotaur is nearly slain before they can kill the three giants.
 * They find the flock of goats and the giant's shallow cave and rest for the day.
 * They stop at two oases over the next half of their journey, one infested with vipers, the other containing a tribe of Bedine who share their water.
 * After ten nights of flying, they arrive at Thultanthar. They were entirely unprepared for the fact that the entire flying city was under the effect of a dead-magic zone, which almost resulted in Belvin and Kamil's deaths, as the former was in the form of a pteranadon when they entered the landing area of the city. It also revealed an unexpected fact&mdash;Stormshadow was not a wolf, but a female wood elf in an alternate form! They are forced through "customs" and their weapons are confiscated. When talking with the new woman among them, Leokas suddenly recognizes that it is his own mother, Galadrel.
 * The party is taken to a housing complex, where they are essentially placed under house arrest until the Princes of Shade determine their fate. They observe that the Shadovar are still able to use magic and postulate how this could be so. They suspect that the Shadovar use the Shadow Weave and this reminds them that Samber wrote about finding an alternate source of magic in Thultanthar.
 * When they are shown their rooms they meet a moon elf named Riddre, who tells them of the recent war involving the phaerimm, Thultanthar, Evereska, Waterdeep, and Cormyr. Mythlos also learns that Riddre is a former bladesinger, and the latter agrees to teach the former some techniques.
 * Leokas finally gets to talk with his mother and hear her story about leaving his father and joining the lythari.
 * They find a crumpled up piece of paper in one of the rooms, missed by the cleaning staff. It is written in Lantanese. They go to a library and translate it, convinced it was left by Samber. It is a to-do list. They remember that he had mentioned visiting Thultanthar in his journal, and they confirm that one named "Ramseb" had stayed in one of the rooms previously.
 * The party pass their time in Thultanthar. Mythlos trains as a bladesinger, the minotaur is taught about the Weave, and Szordrin and Solisar investigate the Shadow Weave. They find bookmarks implying that Samber was investigating both the terraseer and kiira, in addition to the Shadow Weave.
 * The party is summoned by the Ministry of Reclamation and speak with a shade named Vosthyl Maurmeril. They convince him that the cavern with the portal on the High Ice was once the city of Choshein and that no Netherese treasure remains there. He is willing to let them depart, but the decision is not his.
 * The party continues to wait to be summoned before the Princes. They meet with various Shadovar and learn more about Samber's actions when he had visited the city.
 * The party at last come before the Princes of Shade and are interrogated. The Princes do not accuse them of any crimes against Netheril, but they have them exiled from the city.
 * They find their way back to the Well of the Cloven Rock where they purchase camels from the Bedine. Then they head back to the High Ice without incident. Along the way, they exchange messages with Jayce, Tosvin, and Ilthian, who seems unharmed.
 * They reach the cavern of Choshein and prepare to face Uregaunt, but they are attacked by a remorhaz, which they kill.
 * They face off against Uregaunt, who refuses to converse with them. They use a daylight spell to limit his shadow powers, and eventually, the minotaur puts him in a pin. However, Uregaunt commits suicide by setting off one of the beads of his necklace of fireballs. The minotaur throws himself on the explosion, saving Solisar's life.
 * Leokas finds that, upon Uregaunt's death, he has been chosen by the portal as the next guardian. Concerned, but unable to do anything else, they pass through the portal to Gharreil with Uregaunt's body. Unfortunately, poor timing means that Hakam fails to be transported, and he remains in Choshein alone.