👁️‍🗨️52. the spellforge

session 52 • november 22 2022 • 739 words

🌞 DAY 13 • 📅 MARPENOTH 3 • 🎂🦋

Magic in the Air

As we enter the next room through a set of intricate doors, we see a forge. Soren is able to feel the magic fizzling in the air, and we deduce that we have finally, at long last, found the Forge of Spells.

There's a fUCKING Spectator here! It says "hellow" in a gruff little voice I love it. After some back and forth, we learn that it was bound to guard the Forge centuries ago by the old mine-workers. We briefly discuss, via Message, a plan, and lie to it saying that we're miners as well, and manage to convince it to end the contract with its long-dead masters. It vanishes with a poof, presumably back to its home plane.

Nezznar calls us idiots for not doing it more efficiently? He just malding :(

After collecting all the magical items in the room, we begin to put our weapons and armor into the Forge, which transforms them into +1 magic weapons with an extra d4 dice of damage! Soren identifies that the magic is only temporary, unfortunately.

Will asks Nezznar why he didn’t do something with the Forge despite finding it; possibly trying to find ONE redeeming quality in this angry drow. Nezznar scoffs at us and says it’s too weak to be useful; that 500 years ago it did have power. He once again tries to imply that drow will be coming in search for the Forge, which worries the party.

Soren reminds Nezznar that "if they find you, they will do to you what you did to Eliane Lightsong"--that is, paraded her through Menzoberranzan as a prize. Nezznar does not deny this.

Teaching New Tricks

Will continues on his pet project of trying to get Nezznar to become a little nicer, by saying nice things. When asked for an example, Soren obliges by sincerely thanking his former master for all the knowledge he's provided the party.

Nezznar goes FULL tsundere and is like "baka no i only did it so you wouldnt die and leave me here to die too" except he actually means it. This dude is the embodiment of a passive aggressive housecat.

Soren offers Nezznar some shoes, believing that forcing him to trek back to Phandalin without footwear would be cruel. Nezznar's brain just about short-circuits at this random act of kindness. Will tries to explain the concept of kindness to Nezznar, who insists that Soren is manipulating him the way Soren manipulates everybody.

He accepts the shoes begrudgingly however, and slyly demands that Soren get on the ground to put them on for him. Soren balks at this, and Will offers to do so, asking Nezznar to sit, which he naturally denies. Soren casts Command on Nezznar, which causes Nezznar to sit down; he's MALDINGGGG oh my god.

Desecrating Stars

We go south and find a caveroof littered with crystals that catch the light and look like stars. Nezznar begins to taunt Soren about this--implying that there was a similar cave back home that Soren used to lead surfacers to as a trap before having them captured and sent back to Menzoberranzan.

Nezznar tries to goad Soren into admitting he enjoyed it; in a fit of despair, Soren says he all but desecrated that cave, leading Nezznar to ask in faux-horror if Soren was saying sacrifices in the name of Lolth was desecration. Soren, still clearly terrified of Lolth, backtracks hurriedly.

Further south, we see a cave full of mushrooms that Soren correctly identifies as a deadly, toxic fungus that causes hemorrhaging. Hugh, not worried about toxins, goes south and investigates; he eventually begins to get a nosebleed, leading him to come back out quickly.

Nasty Old Man

In the room before the mushroom cave, we find an unopened door; we open it to see a chest but are stopped by a wraith who is VERY offended we're about to rob him. Though we make short work of the wraith, it manages to reach through the wall and inappropriately touch Soren, causing him to lose max-health and become weakened.

Nezznar is thoroughly amused that Soren is getting hurt. When the party checks in on Soren, he admits that it's similar to how Graz'zt had drained him; though not as badly.

We sift through the loot and find lots of treasure, a wooden pipe, and a mysterious parchment with unidentifiable symbols.