Midlife Crisis

The group basks in glory and relative safety, wealth, comfort and the trappings of power. Boooooooooooooooring! What happened to the good ole days of pooping into a bag and hoping you didn’t end up eviscerated? Once you have battled gods and slain them, after restoring life to the world as you know it…the mundane encompasses pretty much everything.

Still, odd rumors pop up from time to time and if strange enough they may whet the appetite for adventure. One such rumor involves a test set forth by the gods themselves, to separate the wheat from the chaff. The group investigates and the trail leads from minstrel to bard, from bard to sage.

Locating the sage takes a bit, but reaching him is a matter of a teleport circle – and the group arrives to ask questions. Questions lead to answers and a book, and tales of a rival party in the hunt for the information about a black and white castle that contains many test, tricks and traps – and a reward beyond measure. After Abe, Schlomo and Ron’j! go outside, a charm spell leads to additional information, like the sage is an actor and they are being scryed even now.

With that news, madness erupts. In rapid succession, the ‘sage’s’ hut is struck by a metor shower – which vaporizes a good portion of the city block as well, then the group is assaulted by a high-level mage using a shapechange spell – who cycles through the forms of old lady, iron golem and banshee – slaying several party members in the process – before the group departs (with book and dead) to the safety(?) of Waterdeep and Barada’s manor.

Soon after the group’s arrival they are confronted by an apparition that informs them about the castle, the quest and the perilous perils they will seek. A ring of location is offered and the group is underway.They travel a bit, them start teleporting about. Eventually Dalliance and company reach Chult, where they must backtrack by sea – and hire a smuggler to do the job. Payments are made, and the group is off. The sail and survey and eventually reach the object of their quest.

They scout the island, make note of castle, dragons and the like and are ready to set upon their quest. After a decade of inaction, the siren call of danger and fate gets the tired blood flowing!