Level 4 & 5 - In Xen'drik

Session 1

Fresh off the bugbear hunt, we caught word that House Cannith may be able to provide some adventuring for us. We headed across Sharn to meet our contact, Constance d'Cannith. House Cannith is known for producing mundane fine wares that although were crafted using magic, are not magical items. They create all sorts of items such as watertight barrels, horse shoes and sword hilts. Cannith dominate commerce and industry across Khorvaire. This location is run by Merrix d'Cannith, and is a large collection of forges and laboratories. They are responsible for technological wonders such as the Warforged and the Lightning rail.

All of House Cannith's wares are marked with their Coat of Arms

Upon arrival, we are asked for our credentials, Ki and Malik are the only ones able to produce reasonable papers. Tux pulled an assortment plant matter out of his bag; which according to him was supposed to be official documents. Cas shrugs, but no one seems too concerned with a small girl entering the house unidentified.

We are given a quest to explore, and now with an extra party member, we head out. Onward to Xen'drick!

The mysterious continent of Xen'drik is a massive landmass that exists south of the continent of Khorvaire, beyond Shargon's Teeth and Thunder Sea. Hidden within the wild and untamed land are the desolate ruins of the ancient Giant Civilization. After battling the Quori, the Giant Civilization was destroyed by the Dragon population of Argonnessen when they attempted to use their highly advanced devices to put down a elven slave revolt. Xen'drik is now a continent mostly inhabited by drow, and degenerate Giants. It is a wild and untamed place with fabulous eldritch machines along with unimaginable treasures. It is still largely unexplored. It's not surprising that House Cannith would want to know more about this place.

This island away from mainland Ebberon is largely unexplored. It used to house cities full of giants, but now it is full of ruins. Among these ruins it is said that brave adventurers can find treasure. House Cannith has agreed to fund our expedition provided we turn over any powerfully magic items to them.

We arrive in Stormreach. Some genius in our party decides we should get on a boat (which is never a good choice). Our boat is raided by 3 sahuagin and a shark. Horrible idea. Don't ever get on the boat. Further down the river, a giant leaps from the bank onto our boat. It takes us several rounds to defeat. For some reason this giant was carrying a magic greatsword. Cas carries this as a backup sword. No amount of treasure is worth getting on the boat.

sahuagin

We make it to the ancient giant city. A giant pyramid looms over the ruins. We wonder through the crumbling buildings, and just as we begin to wonder where to begin our search, Cas instantly stumbles upon a loose stone that leads down to the underdark. Our party finds several tunnels. We must be clever to bypass some tricky doors. And at the end of all the tunnels, what is probably under the massive pyramid we saw upon entering the city, we find a massive circular stone... thing. We don't know what it is, but it's about 100' in diameter and set a few feet down into the ground. Ki shifts uncomfortably and announces that it's a powerfully magic object. Large runes are carved into it's sides. We all give it a few feet distance. It's too frightening to sleep near, so we go topside to camp with the horses for the night.

Session 2

The next day, we continue to explore. Nearby to the magic circular stone, there are a few extra rooms in the decrepit town that we neglected to check out the day before. The majority of this day is spent searching the first room for treasure. There is a +3 giant greatsword. Cas keeps this as an addition to her growing collection of swords.

We open the door to the second room next to the stone-room. Malik instantly falls down a cliff edge. His ring of feather fall saves him, but he has to teleport back up to join the rest of the party, revealing to the party his ring and teleportation ability.

Suddenly we are attacked. We defeat the creatures, but to our dismay the large stone makes a loud noise, and cracks apart. Everyone runs.

This seems like a bad thing. We decide to rush back to House Cannith to tell someone what has happened. We don't get on the boat, and instead ride our horses back like the intelligent adventurers that we are.

Session 3

On our second night on the way back to Stormreach, still in Xen'drik, we see something in the distance. It appears to be a temple. Our group decides to investigate: after all, we were sent here by House Cannith to bring back information about Xen'drik, and after getting scared off by the giant stone, we don't have much else for them.

Upon closer inspection, the temple is almost Greek-like. It is large and rectangular, with a tall colonnade surrounding it. a couple hundred yards away we hear a clashing of metal coming from the other side of the temple. Malik decides to investigate, since he is so stealthy (and also a little creepy, Cas decides). He sees a man fighting several creatures: a naga and four sahuagin.

naga

The man seems to jump around quickly, he dodges their every blow deftly. Malik tries to join the battle and help the man. But the naga makes eye contact with him, it forces him to fight the swashbuckler man. The rest of our party joins in the fray, after all Malik is part or our party. No man (or whatever kind of creepy shadow thing he is) left behind. We fight off the sahuagin and kill the naga.

We try to question the swashbuckler, but he is gone before we can talk to him. We have bigger problems to deal with: Malik is still trying to fight us off from the temple. Cas ties him up, but he teleports away and burns through the ropes on his wrists. He becomes very annoying to babysit. Luckily, the persuasion wears off in a few hours with the help of Ki.

Now on our own again, the party explores the temple. Upon entering, we set off several traps. Most of the group is heavily damaged by the fiery explosions. It's not worth it, we decide, and head out to make camp.

The next day, we set out on the road to Stormreach. On the way, we come upon two men, garbed as adventurers. One is tall, wearing full plate armor, with a hawk that looks like his animal companion. The other man is shorter and gruffer. He is hidden under a large hood and has a bundle of arrows on his back. Our group hides off the side of the road, Ki approaches the two men. She's better with words than the rest of us heathens. After a short exchange of words, they do not seem too dangerous, and our parties join to help them.

They claim they have been searching for a quasit our group just saw. The taller one rides with Ki and the other man rides with Tux. We give chase to the quasit, with little question. Lareth, Tux's companion, helps lead us to a small pool of water. The men seem pleased with this result. The quasit is gone, but they dismount and approach the pool. "Okay here you go," the gruff man holds out a scroll to the one in plate armor. "No way, you're doing this one!" They argue for a few moments about who has to jump into the pool. "I saved your life last time, and that counts as double," the gruff man accepts that he's going to have to go, and removes his arrows and cloak. "You're getting the next one," he mumbles.

While he is swimming under, the taller man tells our party what they are up to. The two of them work for the Church of the Silver Flame, he points out their crest embossed on his armor. They have been sent to shore up several cracking seals in the area. He describes the seals to us as large circular stones. They hold back other planes from invading our own. He introduces himself as Sampson and his brother, Dean, is the one diving down to a seal below us.

Symbol for the Church of the Silver Flame

After shoring the seal, using their scroll, we head out. Using Tux's excellent survival skills, the group makes it back to Stormreach without incident. Thanks Tux. Sampson and Dean are also headed back to Sharn, so we decided to share travel costs with them. Dean, as it turns out, is unwilling to travel via airship, so we get on a boat (probably a bad idea) and sail back to the mainland without incident. And after a long time in the wild, we arrive back in Sharn.