The Conundrum

August 27, 2026

The ball in Millramith is fast approaching and the party is faced with a choice. Keep chasing Iarno and other demons in Shadowfell, or head back to Neverwinter and make preparations for the journey. There are only 21 days left until the big event and time is running out. A journey by foot would take 20 days from Neverwinter, which would already be infeasible given their current predicament. There remain only the horseback and boat options. But even then, they would have to turn back now and stop their current expedition.

Sillidious comes up with an interesting proposition. He supposes that the creature hiding in the cave would prove to be a fast mode of transportation if they managed to tame it. But his plan was not fully formed since he has no idea how. His first idea was to cast Conquering Presence and try to terrify the creature into submission, but that seemed unlikely to work. Second idea was to summon his trusty steed and charge into the cave with bright lights and scare the monster into being tamed. But the party has no good way to create such a light source and Sillidious cannot even see in the dark. Lachlan offers to do it himself since he can allegedly outrun a horse now. Weird. Anyway. Since none of the plans seem foolproof and out of fear of angering the beast into an unwinnable fight, the group decides to turn back and focus their attention on getting to the ball. It is likely that Iarno would be there anyway.

And so, they turn back to Neverwinter. On the way back they reach the cabin with the crazy man, just as night falls. They go in and find him unmoving, two huge gashes across his chest. Clearly dead. Sillidious concentrates on his divine powers and finds no soul left inside the man. Talon thinks that whatever killed him is not coming back so the group could potentially spend the night at the cabin. Kaimi agrees. And if something were to come, they would not want to lead it straight to the monastery. Talon first wants to give the dead a proper rat burial. A noble idea, a questionable execution however. The basic steps of the burial process are: dig a hole and put the guy in, rats eat his body down to the bones, then they excrete fertilizer over the grave and the soil is once again fertile. A small sacrifice for the good of the forest. Kaimi grows mossy greens and plants over the grave and Lachlan adorns it with a crude rat figurine. Talon decides that is the best spot to sleep, completely averse to being inside man-made structures. The rest of the group goes inside the cabin and tries to rest.

During the first night watch, Kaimi and Lachlan share a moment. A moment of violence. You see, Kaimi wanted to know what Lachlan actually did at the monastery when he confronted his old master. Lachlan told her of the fight and the reward magical wraps he got. Kaimi doesn’t quite believe in this magical item, so she gets a taste of Lachlan ’s fists. In return, Kaimi shares her gratitude to the god of agriculture, Dudar, and how she is indebted to him for saving her town long ago.

Halfway through Talon ’s watch, he hears a scuffling sound coming from the woods. Something like gravel being stepped on. More walking is heard, faint steps approaching from all directions. Talon jumps on top of the hut and alerts the rest of the incoming danger. From the darkness a pack of shadow dogs emerges, hungry for something for sure. Combining their forces, the party quite literally obliterates the pack. Thalia casts a Fireball in the direction of the woods and it is safe to say, whatever else would have approached was probably scared away by the fiery blast.

The next morning, the group arrives back at the monastery where the monk expedition party was just getting ready to depart. They have devised a warhammer blessed by Thadorh that can possibly protect the expedition on the way to Neverwinter. Sillidious gets close to the weapon and feels a sort of kinship with the artifact. Even though some may categorize him as undead, he is not repulsed by it. Kaimi now questions if its powers even work, admittedly they have not really tested the hammer. But the lore goes, that as long as Thadorh’s mark burns, the protection spell should hold. Sillidious wants to be the one carrying the weapon. Lachlan objects but after some unlucky attempts at stopping this, he has to concede. Kaimi tries to not so subtly cast Identify on Sillidious by slapping his back in a “Congrats man” kind of fashion, but then she keeps patting him? For a whole minute? Sillidious tries to shake her off to no avail. But the results are clear. While the guy is undead, he also expels divine energy unlike the blight that conquered the mountain.

The party continues down to Neverwinter, and the forest is calm. They reach their destination safely and the monks are very relieved.

Our group of adventurers wastes no time and starts their search for transportation to the ball. To the stables they go. At the stables, they manage to adopt two noble steeds, which have been named accordingly: Muffin and Cupcake (John Go).

In one last investigation attempt, the group goes to the docks to check out the boat of house Kastuen on which the messenger arrived in Neverwinter. This boat is heavily decorated and stands out among the other military vessels on the dock. One little impediment shows up, because the docks are guarded. But the group prevails by showing the guards the ring they pilfered from the dead messenger’s body. But the problems do not end there. Because there are people on the ship. And on a recliner chair, the captain seems to be lying around. How will they get on now?