The Favorite Sons Return

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess
Nightal 28 to Nightal 29

The party steps out of the Faewild portal and lands near the front gate of Waterdeep just as Tunian promised! The sun is shining on this beautiful but chilly day here on the Sword Coast. Your home coming was not to have happened for several weeks now, as you have come very far via the portal. You suspect you may even be several days ahead of Brolgar and Diovanni even though they left a ten-day before you.
With a substantial amount of gold in your posession and of course some other goods, you head off to the Nobles Ward to aquire a fine hotel to live in for now. You also peruse the local shops in order to sell some jewelry and gems. The group decides to rent out the penthouse at a swank hotel, The Dandy Dragon.
Over the next few days, they catch up with Ellanzo, now the open Lord of Waterdeep. There are 19 other Lords, but they are masked and unknown to all but a few people. While talking to Ellanzo, a coven of Monks from Krux's monastery show up the morning in Waterdeep looking for him. His old friend and master of the monastery, Bishop Sasoroth, has passed away at a very old age. They also have an odd package for him that arrived at the monastery's steps the day after Sasoroth's passing. Ellanzo asks them to speak to Sgt. York about odd goings on in the city and if they can help him out. Since their work at Skullport, slavery has decreased by 90%, but kidnappings have increased greatly. Most of the victims are young and wealthy. There usually is no ransom involved, they just up and disappear. The watch believes that the "squat man" is to blame as he has been spotted outside of Waterdeep with some of the victims, and has killed off several patrols....
Jax comes back to the Wizard's college to see some old teachers and to see if they can help him in trade with some magic items. Luckily they are willing (since he is a member in good standing), and they are able to make some mutually beneficial trades. Jax also does some guest lecturing on the Faewild and answers some questions on the Underdark.
A sweet homecoming is had by Jax and Leif as they meet their mothers in the Merchant's Ward. That night Rose cooks a grand feast and invites the party and many of her neighbors and friends that they have known for years. The Waterdavian members of the party do notice a lot of changes going on in the Merchant's Ward. Many of the older establishments have now been replaced by newer and fancier businesses. Rose explains to everyone that the new master of the ward, Walton Barrue, has driven up taxes on established merchants hoping to get the older and poorer owners to sell and to let new foreign investors in the ward. Rose has complained many times at town hall meetings and loudly at that. Walton's son Billy, now the Sheriff of the ward, has warned Rose to keep quiet or "something bad" might happen to her.
Matron Lilith, Jax's mother, has been looking very frail lately. It seems her burdens of running the mission house is starting to take its toll on her. She is as always has been a voice for those who are silent. An advocate for poor women and an anti-slavery patron she works tirelessly and is still very passionate.
After the dinner is over, Leif asks everyone except Jax to give them some space so that the two men can talk with their mothers about more intimate things and to have some time alone. Hannibal takes the party down to the inn called the Twisted Nut, a place where the group met for the first time and started their adventures. On the way they run into Sheriff Billy Barrue who informs them that they have been evicted from the old apartments near the docks. They also run into an old friend in the constables office that asks them to have a beer and tell him of their tales from the last six months. Hannibal shows off the Invulnerable coat of Arn and wows the locals with some stories. Back at Leif's house, Jax feels that his mother is holding back something. She reveals that she has been busy digging into the past and has discovered that the deaths of Jax's father and Leif's father may be related. She has paid someone to steal some of Ellanzo's files where she found information on past demonic cults. She found arcane details like demon names and rituals too. They pry some more information from her and she finally breaks down and cries as she tells them her story. Her and Rose have been getting deeper and deeper involved in demonic summoning to try and find out how their husbands died and what they need to do to protect their boys. As they found out more information their rituals became more dangerous, finally culminating with an accidential death of one of Lilith's works, a woman named Lizbeth. Before the demon could escape, they trapped it in her basement but it is still there. Jax examines the ritual they used to summon the demon and he finds their work sloppy and dangerous. He knows the holding spell will soon fail and the demon will be released on the city. They speak to the party and everyone agrees to destroy the demon. It is now just past midnight and they descend to the basement. A great battle ensues and they kill the demon! They decide to get rid of the corpse by donating to the Wizard's college. The find some of the teachers playing a game called "Paper and Paychecks" in the large auditorium. A deal is struck and no one outside the college will ever know where the corpse came from.
A sending comes soon after their leave the school... It is from Sgt York! He tells them to hurry to Castle Waterdeep; they have a lead on the kidnappers! Onward!

Exp. Gained: 2595

Escape from the Faewild, or how Leif got his groove back

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess
Nightal 19 to Nightal 27

The group dismantles the final arcane engine in the Garden of Graves and searches around for other creatures in the other buildings just in case... They come upon a pair of Grey Angels which they are at first hostile but Hannibal talks up their more honorable tendencies and they become allies with you against the power(s) that built this horrible place. The Angels are set on tearing it down and putting the graves back together and the party then chooses to leave and try and find a portal home. They notice that the portal that brought them here is now gone, or was a one-way portal as Jax explains some of the inner workings of these magical devices. You spend many days looking for another portal back to Toril and Faerun. There are places in the Faewild that merge with your world, the trick is to find one of them which is not easy. However, life in the Faewild is not all bad. The lands are lush and food and water are plentiful.
After the 7th day here, loud trumpets can be heard in the distance. The sound is both beautiful and terrible at the same time. The large host can be seen coming at a very fast speed. Within an hour or so it over takes the party and they are told to stop by a very beautiful and enchanting Eladrin that calls herself Tunian, Mistress of the Summer Court. She is a very important and high level priestess of the Summer Queen herself!
Tunian asks them many questions about their time here and their actions in the Garden of Graves. It turns out that she is trying to hunt down anyone responsible for the slaying of Fae creatures there. Hannibal confesses to some of the killing but argues that it was justified as they were attacked and the Fae seemed to be under a curse. Tunian communes with the Summer Queen and decides to commute their sentence from immediate death to banishment for 99 years - on the condition they aid the Summer Court by ridding them of a particularly nasty green dragon named Dawn. It seems Dawn has taken to herself to become a god and had gathered followers. The deal is sealed by Leif having a geas put on him by Tunian during "climax", he willingly accepts this and agrees to be part of the ritual. The group is sent to kill off as many followers and slay the dragon if able. The party is mostly successful but Dawn does escape the killing blow. Not without some pity Tunian opens a portal to Faerun very close to Waterdeep; the party leaves the Faewild with several warnings: 1, they are considered banished from the realms of the Summer Queen, with a penalty of death should they enter before 99 years have passed. 2, there is a very powerful death entity that may be searching for them, killing first and asking questions later to get to the bottom of the undead at the Garden of Graves. It seems the powers that be do not like someone intruding upon their portfolio of death.

Exp: 2860

The Fae Wild and some other crazy stuff...

1489
Year of the Warrior Princess
Nightal 19

The party recovers from their tough fight, and goes on to explore the rest of the room. You find an odd brazier that is suspended over an off sun dial. After examining it they move on to the main complex. Inside the first room, an odd puzzle is found along with many murals covering the walls. the puzzle actually is related to the brazier from the previous room so Leif pieces the solution together fairly fast. Riddick on a whim, sticks the key from the whirlpool into the mural with the large doors and everyone hears a far away click! Unfortunately, the path South is blocked by an immovable door so they must venture East. They come upon a weird game room, and manage to beat phantom players at various games. Conjuring advanced moves from past adventurers such as Zecks and Synge certainly help a great deal.
The Eastern most room holds a very interesting combat, enemies enchanted to look like each party member attack the group! Using their insight skills well, they avoid healing the bad clones and hurting their friends by accident, after several bloody rounds the party manage to defeat the room. In the room is a level which Riddick pulls, which lifts the large stone door blocking the South passage.
Inside the South passage is an oddly shaped room, with 3 cairns in one end and an open area to the other side with a lot if ivy growing on the walls. The ivy is some crazed Fae like being! Busting out of the cairns are three undead, one of them a large sized Furbolg. The Ivy spent most of the fight pinning the leaders to her walls while the undead monsters beat on the poor group. There were some close calls but the party killed off the undead and then ranged the ivy to death.
All that seems left to the crazed area is the passage South, will this finally be the end? Can they stop the madness from taking over more of the Fae Wild and help save Cormyr from unneeded bloodshed?

Exp: 2128