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

Dates
Eleint 29 – ???, 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 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 tires 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.