DND Blog

A place to keep DND session recaps, from various campaigns.

The Hundred and Thirty-Ninth Session

April 25, 2026, Campaign: As the ground quakes, evil wakes

The Party drops off Seamus with Salris, and returns Llewyll to the Woven Council. We then rest up, and return to the dungeon to kill the Beholder. Looting ensues. And then Embersia draws from the Deck of Many Things.

Table of Contents

  1. Last session
  2. Quadroads
  3. Morning
  4. The Woven Council
  5. The Hunter's Table
  6. The morning
  7. Next Session

Last session

Quadroads

We appear in the Temple of Ioun, in Quadroads. We take off our disguise masks.

We decide to go to the Irregular Inn first, before talking to the Woven Council and A.R.N.

So we leave the basement of the Temple. The upper floors are not quite returned to normal. The acolytes recognize Llewyll. Percival puts Invisibility on him, and we go off to the Inn.

Xander is still there; he wants to know when the Inn will open. We ask; he thinks he'd be comfortable opening it in 2 weeks, with the help of Audrey, Genin, and Ockoh.

We break the news to him that we may have developed a new enemy. We may have ticked off a group of thieves, killed a lot of them, stolen their things, and annoyed their employer. Audrey says that she's been working on something to protect them, but needs some components for Hallow. She just needs some incense. A little bit of incense. 1000gp of incense.

We know of two places that will sell this much: Goodbarrel's Goodmagics, and also any temple of higher rank.

We introduce the folks to the invisible Llewyll. Percival and Ryltar stay, because Ryltar needs to heal back from 5% health.

Jerry and Embersia head out to Goodbarrel's Goodmagics. It's quite dead at night, about midnight. The cool air has set in.

We send to A.R.N.:

Good news! Painting is fixed. Still have money. Bad News: Made enemy of Beholder that runs the Auctionhouse. See you tomorrow morning. Sweet dreams! XOXO

In reply:

Runs. Currently. They are currently running.

We'd described something new. This was previously unknown to us and to A.R.N.

And we described the Beholder in the present tense. A.R.N., a paranoid person, is now scared.

Instead of shopping for incense; we decide to spend Ryltar's Wish to cast Hallow on the Irregular Inn, with the effect of fear on any Thief who is associated with a Thieves' Guild run by a Beholder, allowing Celestials in. Ice trickles out of his book, coats the walls, and then sinks in.

Morning

Gallerera is the town we'd left, so we ask Ockoh if he's from there. His oosahs are similar to their food (but much better than his). He says he's from Sunderland.

We catch Llewyll up on events, since he had been kidnapped a year and a bit ago:

Llewyll asks how she died, knowing that that can't be accident. "I can't say," says Ryltar. "I know it was given willingly, and that through its power, the Burning Blood was able to save everyone."

"And where is it now?"

"That leads us on a wild goose chase of things."

Llewyll says he needs to go to the Woven Council; we reassure him that we're going there this morning. He knew of the Burning Blood and the Ice Heart through his mother. No others.

We disguise Llewyll with a head covering from Jerry's desert clothes.

Having no other way to move quickly to the Woven Council, we use Teleportation Circle to the room in the house formerly belonging to Ren.

The Woven Council

We land on-target: the ice sphere of the spell's effect shatters, leaving us just in front of Ren's house.

We orient ourselves, and head towards the gate into the inner city. The guards stop us, and Llewyll quietly reveals just a portion of his face to the guard, who gives us an immediate escort. Llewyll leads us to the center of town.

Llewyll is recognized, and calls a meeting of the elders. He sits on a column, and the two elders arrive, ceremonially welcoming him back. In his acceptance speech, Llewyll mentions "the loss of our heritage," which results in murmurs.

We're not really into politics; we don't know whether he's trying to make a bid for the seat or if he's doing something else.

Guards won't let us use the teleportation sigil in the Woven Council, so after much snark on our part, we leave a message for Lord Llewyll and head out into the lower city to pick up a pebble as a teleportation marker.

The Hunter's Table

We show up in Setton, at the Hunter's Table, and talk to the bartender, to send for our A.R.N. contact. The runner returns, and whispers to the bartender.

The runner asks for the bag of gold, saying that he talked to Winifred, who said we're "dismissed." The messenger is just a messenger, working for the Table. Ryltar is quite frustrated.

Ryltar doesn't think it's good to go pestering A.R.N. or his house, but he wants to solve the Beholder problem.

After some argument, we decide to stay the day in Setton.

We head into the Hunter's Table to schmooze. Percival Glibly tells the story of our defeat. We find a grizzled old fighter who tells us of his time fighting Beholders and Abominations.

We all gain one 1d4 for an attack or save.

We do Hero's Feast at the Hunter's Table.

Long Rest.

The morning

Ryltar's Wish: Immunity to Disintegration.

Embersia's Power Word: Fortify for +30 temp HP.

Using the Key as a focus, we return to the auctionhouse.

We arrive in the middle of room D4, and find that the room has been cleared of items. We carefully move forwards, to the end of the hall, where the portal to 5E is present.

  1. Preparation
    1. Ryltar casts Levitation
    2. Embersia does Aura of Purity
    3. Percival does Protection from Evil and Good
    4. Jerry casts Lightning Arrow before entering the portal.
  2. We enter the portal
    1. The Beholder sees Percival enter, and is looking sideways at the vampire thrall.
    2. Percival opens with Fireball on the Beholder, for 8d6=28, and Viciously Mocks the Beholder with "fuck you!"
    3. An eye ray puts Percival to sleep.
    4. Ryltar enters. Percival's asleep. Ryltar wakes him up.
    5. A Legendary Action makes Ryltar burn his boon from Lord Aquarius, to avoid taking an effect.
    6. Jerry looses her Lightning Arrow and misses, for 7. Second arrow, for 10. Bonus action: Hide.
    7. Telekinetic Ray doesn't take effect on Jerry.
    8. Embersia steps into the room, with her Aura of Purity suppressed by the Antimagic Eye.
    9. Jerry takes 7 psychic damage, on a successful save.
  3. Round 2
    1. Percival
    2. Jerry doesn't get affected by the Petrification Ray.
    3. Ryltar summons the Hound of Ill Omen and flanks the Beholder, for Cone of Cold that deals some extra damage.
    4. The Beholder telekinetically pulls Ryltar in, and drops him in a specific spot. Magical darts fly out from the floor. 21 Force damage.
    5. The Charm Ray doesn't affect Jerry.
    6. Percival fails a Con save 4+3=7 and becomes Paralyzed.
    7. The Beholder retreats a little.
    8. Jerry fires **
    9. Jerry fails a Dex save critically: a ray hits her precisely in her heart. But it's a Disintegration ray, and a burst of Ryltar's ice flashes off, taking the spell with it.
    10. Embersia does some Fireball
    11. Jerry fails a Dex save and takes 46 Necrotic.
    12. Embersia takes 14 Psychic.
  4. ROund 4.
    1. Jerry takes 19 necrotic, speed is halved, and Slowed.
    2. Percival resists Charm
    3. Jerry, slowed for a turn, casts Web. The Beholder isn't bound.
    4. Jerry, though, is restrained, by the Petrification Ray.
    5. Embersia heals her for a little bit.
    6. Embersia takes no damage from a poison ray.
    7. A Fireball takes out the Web.

With a Cone of Cold, we kill the Beholder.

We carefully search the room, and then try to get items from the glass cylinders in the pillars, and the niches in the walls:

Hayden, please give me this list.

We identify what we want to first take out:

The vampire is at the end of its chain, clawing at us. Nothing remains of their humanity.

Jerry scoops out the Beholder's Eye, teeth, and stalks.

Ryltar pulls the Staff of Power out with some Dimension Door, and Percival does it with Raven Mask.

Ryltar moves to the soul coins.

Embersia's Stone Shape allows her to pull the book out of its pillar. It's in Draconic: "Origins of the Empire".

Percival grabs the Pixy. We keep it caged until it gets outside.

Jerry uses a shovel to lift the cloak off of its mannequin: the shovel explodes.

Ryltar arrives and sees a necromantic spell dissipating. He grabs the cloak with his bare hands, and he now has a cloak. A Cloak of Billowing!

Embersia Stone Shapes the Rod out of its column, and then she gets the Deck of Many Things out.

She draws a card, #3 of 12.

"We'll pick this up next session."

[…]

"Neat."

Next Session