When their cloud forms end unexpectedly early, the Dickbags find themselves scattered throughout the Bone Bramble Forest. As they begin navigating the maze from their respective positions, Ser Nedir stumbles across some weeds that are out of control.
Author: Danny Cannon
The Dickbags finally meet Red Ruth, a hag who lives in the middle of the bone bramble forest. They explain that they need her help to free Ralzala, the dao trapped at the demon zapper, in order to get information on something they’re looking for. In order for Red Ruth to help them, the Dickbags must first schedule an appointment for her at the Wandering Emporium’s Infernal Rapture. Sounds easy enough right?
Continuing to follow clues to restore Lulu’s memory in hopes of finding the Sword of Zariel, the Dickbags head to a large tower known as “The Demon Zapper”. There they quickly learn how the tower got it’s name. Unfortunately, this knowledge may have come a little too late for someone…
After freeing the soul of Jandar Sunstar, Liam quickly learns that in Avernus no good deed goes unpunished. Drawing the attention of the swarm of bloodsucking stirges overhead as well as unknowingly attracting some other local residents, Liam finds himself the center of attention in more ways than one.
Riding through the everlasting twilight in their newly acquired tormentor, the Dickbags push their limits acquiring scrap metal for repairs, attempt to jump a chasm, and parting a river of boiling blood.
The Dickbags work with Mad Maggie to perform the ritual that will help restore some of Lulu’s lost memories. When a new destination gets revealed, the group takes off with some new transportation that draws some attention.
A group of adventuring clouds land outside a junk yard and meet the local inhabitants who don’t seem “right in the head”. With a chance to restore Lulu’s lost memory, the Dickbags must fulfill some odd requests…
After rescuing Uldaar Ravenguard from his torment, the Dickbags learn more about the Helm of Torm Sight and the visions it granted. Taking the opportunity for a night’s rest, the group awakens refreshed (and leveled up!). The new day brings some inter-party deceptions by Toph, some odd behavior from Ser Nedir, and Liam finds a shop deal too good to pass up.
The Dickbags find a man seemingly being tortured by a helm he is wearing. Being unable to remove the helm, the group finds themselves unsure of what to do next. Unexpected guests, inventory Tetris®, and a ritual will hopefully point them in the right direction.
TL;DW / Recap After defeating the skeleton minotaurs and spectres outside the chapel, the Dickbags take a moment to collect themselves. Elder Storm casts a prayer of healing, allowing everyone to regain some much needed hit points. Liam peers in through the doors and notices 5 more skeleton minotaurs inside. Ser Nedir and Toph head down to a set of broken windows to get a closer look. Ser Nedir notices the minotaurs, but also happens to notice an elven looking individual making his way towards the doors that Liam is outside. Warning Liam of the approaching elf, Liam backs out of the way and out of sight. The elven man opens the door and asks everyone to step forward and reveal themselves. Since he doesn’t appear to be showing any threatening behavior (despite having two small mezzoloth fiends with him), everyone steps out and introduces themselves. The man introduces himself as Gideon Lightward, the guardian/keeper of this chapel. He asks the group why they have come to this place. They explain that they are looking for Uldar Ravenguard and were told that he was heading here in search of some ancient relic. Gideon mentions that a group of individuals passed through recently and that Uldar Ravenguard might have been with him, but he doesn’t know. Before the conversation can continue much further, a weakened skeleton minotaur approaches Gideon and seems to communicate something though unheard by the Dickbags. Gideon informs the group that they are under attack by demons and that they can prove what side they’re on by helping him defeat them. Gideon rushes into the chapel and the party quickly follows suit. Inside they find a group of dretches and a giant scorpion. Gideon, the mezzoloths, and the minotaurs begin attacking the dretches and scorpion. Unclear of who is one which side, the Dickbags join in on the attack. Liam lands an eldritch blast on the scorpion and Toph launches a ball of earth, heavily damaging the dretches and scorpion, but also hitting the mezzoloths and minotaurs in the process. The demons and scorpion are quickly dealt with. Once combat is over, Gideon quickly turns to the the group demanding an explanation. Liam tries to cover for Toph by acknowledging her blindness, but Gideon doesn’t appear to be convinced. Liam re-iterates their intents to find Uldar Ravenguard and that they have nothing against Gideon or his undead servants. Untrusting of the Dickbags, Gideon then turns on them. Another battle ensues. Liam quickly finds himself the primary focus and is surrounded on three sides. Lulu informs Liam that she can assist, but that he’ll need to get out of the way. Once Liam is able to reposition, Lulu unleashes an incredibly loud “Trumpet of Sparkles” that devestates the fiends and Gideon with radiant energy. Gideon begins showing signs that he too is actually undead. After eliminating one of the mezzoloths, Elder Storm tries to give Gideon another chance to back down stating that they have no business with him. Gideon snarles at them and continues attacking. Elder Storm then sends a guiding bolt at Gideon that destroys him from the inside. Feeling like they have a moment to breathe, the Dickbags look around. They find two panes of stained glass on the floor. One of them is still intact, depicting an image of Torm placing a golden helmet onto a kneeling follower. Ser Nedir recognizes this as the ‘Helm of Torm Sight’ and was known to be gifted to those that had a direct connection with Torm. The other pane of stained glass was broken, but the image could still be made out. It depicted Lathander with both hands raised above him as a group of fallen warriors rise around him. Given the context and position of the stained glass, Lulu mentions that people would pray at the nearby altar and sometimes be granted a blessing. Ser Nedir steps up and asks Lathander for help in spreading life and goodness to the land. A warm feeling comes of Nedir as a silvered long sword appears on top of the stained glass in the hands of Lathander. Ser Nedir picks up the sword and is amazed by its light weight and sturdiness. He thanks Lathander for his blessing. The Dickbags head down a nearby flight of stairs, finding a preparation chamber that has recently been ransacked. Broken glass and embolming fluid cover the floor. Before continuing, the group decides to take a short rest on the stairs. Elder Storm casts another prayer of healing for the group (in case they get inturrepted during their short rest). After their rest, Toph and Elder Storm investigate the prep chamber and find a series of footprints. Several fiendish footprints appear to be heading towards the stairs, while a set of human footprints appear to be heading through the door on the far wall. Liam leads the way, checking doors for traps and listening for noises on the other side before opening. They make their way down some stairs and find a room with five altars. Most of the altars display figures that are now unrecognizeable due to fallen debris. The last altar displays a man kneeling and bares a striking reasemblance to the stained glass image of Torm. Continuing on, Liam comes across a small room with several holy relics. A quick detect magic reveals the relics to be magical with some sort of necrotic energy. Liam steps out of the room and continues on. They eventually come across another large room with altars and a prayer room for priest to meditate and deal with the difficult nature of their work. Through the prayer room they find another set of stairs leading down to a set of doors. Liam uses his detect magic to sense something on the other side. As he tries to quietly open the door, he sees a man standing in a pool of water surrounded by bodies of fallen Elturel and Balder’s Gate soldiers. The man is crouched and clutching at a golden helm on his head, trying desparately to remove it. Is this man Uldar Ravenguard? What happened in this room? And why is he struggling to remove the helmet?