Category DND Blog: EFK Saga

Following the descent the group spends some time investigating the murals and carefully reading the inscriptions. Opening each of the two sarcophagi reveals a human-sized recliner and nothing else. The inscriptions reveals that there are two tests to be conquered before they can retrieve the objects to place in the hands of the statue in the room. Then the group will be able to encounter the queen.
The group chooses double doors that lead to the maze of isolation. There they wander about and avoid hallways full of choking acid fog, only to encounter savage hammer traps and at one point a teleportation trap. Fearing to be separated, the group plunges through – but this is a random teleportation trap and they end up separated...

Faced with walls of glyphs and multiple lines of text, the group waits for Barada to finish his translation. The story of the evil that befell the sphinx empire comes to light and the text is revealed to be riddles. The riddles are answered in turn, and each instance of answering opens a door to a long hallway. Each hallway terminates in a test of some kind – stone golems, acid river, trapped alcoves, etc., etc. Copious magic use – teleportations, vitality spells, fly spells, walls of force and the like allow the group to obtain the desired objects at relatively small personal risk – a decided change of pace from the usual mayhem and blood-soaked tales of triumph.
The triangular keys are recovered over the course of several days time and placed within the central pyramid in the riddle cha...

‘No plotting for you!’ declares the 13 year old wizard and thus it is that the group finds itself face to face with the sphinx*. The first encounter is worked out with precision. Attackers are buffed out, elementals are summoned for reinforcements, elaborate mechanisms are deployed for protection from various and sundry magics…and the first roar of the sphinx sends them all scurrying for cover.

The next day, the elaborate precautions also include a personal silence coin for 5/6 of the party. The previous day’s plan is carried out again. The results are much different. Ron’j! leads the attack and strikes a mighty series of blows, injuring the beast and gaining it’s focus...

While the aftereffects of the Sabre River Cleansing echo throughout the Shadowdale region, the group reconvenes in Waterdeep and Thudheim to divvy magic and treasure and plot. Turns out that plotting is on hold as the druid, the bard and the cleric all need to train and must journey far and away. A year passes and all return from their various pilgrimages.
Plotting resumes and the minutia pile up. Eventually it is decided that rather than face some beholders, a trip to Dalliance’s homeland is preferable – though not by much. The trip is undertaken in plant-teleporting enabled swiftness and so little time passes before the group is at the border of Thay and present money (5k gp each) for their bond...

The group converses with the sabre and finds the the source of the river is far upland, near the spine of the world. The group sets off to travel along the river in hops of several hundred miles.The druid begins by transporting vis plants until a suitable location is found, and then Dalliance teleport everyone to that site. This mode of transport eliminates the need to worry about encounters, so the journey to the headwaters is almost idyllic. The picturesque mountains…the glittering glaciers, the roaming bands of dire wolves, frost giants and the occasional white dragon… are all enjoyed at a safe distance.
Eventually the group finds the headwaters – emerging from an opening in a massive dam that creates a reservoir of blue water streaked with inky tendrils...