In this session, our party entered the Mere, destroyed some Ghouls, created a magic ring, and reached the Carnath Roadhouse

Traveling North

• The session ended with the party starting North, having dealt with the Cult caravan, hoping for safe travels…
  • (Pliny Survival 23)
  • (Aegar Survival 5)
  • (Pliny Survival 25)
• The party spent 4 more days traveling relatively uneventfully to the Mere of Dead Men.

Scrying on Rezmir

• On the second day out from the caravan fight, Zoyana cast Scry on Rezmir, leveraging
  • Her familiarity and relationship with Rezmir
  • The letter that she found in the Fox Traveler Outfitters, that Zoyana thought was Rezmir’s writing.
• Zoyana’s view opened into a room with stone walls. Books and manuscripts lined wooden shelves constructed from salvaged lumber.
• In the room, were Rezmir, a high-elf, and a handful of cultists sorting books.
  • Some of the looks books looked quite valuable.
  • The high-elf with long blond hair was dressed in fine leather armor, wearing a purple cloak, and sporting an eyepatch. Zoyana could tell at a glance that he was snooty.
• Rezmir was talking with the elf:
  • “Yes, you can keep them here. Study them. Revel in them. Learn from them.”
    
  • “As long as they make it to her arrival, you can keep them for a time.”
  • “The ring is hers too you know.” She flashed an evil smile. “Yes, I know about that too. It is fine. We all shepherd value for her,” as she reached up and touched the insignia around her neck.
• Zoyana (Perception 25) noticed a ring on the elf’s hand, a thick gold band with a band of black in the center, adorned with an image of a white flaming skull.
  • 
• Looking around as much as she could, Zoyana could get a sense of the surrounding rooms.
  • 
  • The room with the cultists appeared to be the main (if small) library area.
    
  • There were some stairs down, but Zoyana was not able to see down.
  • In the room with the stairs, there were some boxes of books that either hadn’t been opened up yet or maybe were prepped to go back
  • The other was a reading room with a small table and a couple of chairs.
• Zoyana tried to read the names of as many books as she could (Perception 22):
  • An old musty tome of Carnivorous Gardening
  • The Great Extra Planar Hoax
  • Samwell’s Guide to Wands
  • Prayers for the Righteous
  • The Dark Sermons of Strongor Bonebinder
  • The Biological Survey of People
  • Fabled Communities of Monsters
  • Many more old books without titles on the spines or covers. Many fancy. Mostly appearing to be nonfiction, but some fiction too.
  • Zoyana gathered that these were books pulled from the stash coming through, and picked out specifically because they’re good quality.
    • The books in box out in the hallway appeared not nearly as good as the average quality of the books already on the shelves.
• When the spell ended, Zoyana informed the party, and asked if anyone knew any of the books.
  • Aegar (History 10), did not particularly recognize any.

Continuing North

The Mere of Dead Men

• The following day, as they traveled up the High Road, it started to get gloomy.
  • Throughout the day, they passed sections where the swamp already ate into the road.
• Something clicked for Pliny (History 22), and he realized that they had entered the Mere of Dead Men, and memories of stories read and lectures forgotten came flooding to mind:
  • (In elvish, the place was known as the “Slow Marching Court”, “Merdelain”).
  • The name referred to the thousands of dwarves, elves, and humans of the Fallen Kingdom who were slain during an invasion of an orc army.
  • It was about 100 miles long by 30 miles wide from the shore to the deepest point.
  • lots of monsters. Lots of bad things. And the swamp is constantly growing over time.
  • Of note:
    • The horde attacked in 614 DR, creating the Mere. (It’s 1489 right now.)
    • The last stand was at Iniarv’s Tower
    • The Kingdom of Uthtower had been split into two when twin brothers ascended the thrones: the kingdoms of Yarlith and Uthtower.
    • A black dragon laid claim to the mere ~630 DR, and became the dracolich Ebondeath at the behest of Strongor Bonebinder, a priest of Myrkel and member of the Cult of the Dragon.
• As they moved along, they could see why a road crew was needed (nice of the party to deprive them of supplies).
• Starting about noon, they reached the point where the Mere was ever-present.
  • Gloomy with a fetid, often sour smell.
    
  • When the wind blew, it carried with it a bit of fog and a cold humidity.

Slogging through the Mere

• The party awoke the next day to a light drizzle and a foul sulfur smell.
• They slugged their way through the Mere, trying to keep to the road. For the most part they were able to walk through without any obstacles or things in their way.

Ghoul Attack

• Shortly before the Hut expired, Parthana was attacked.
• From outside, Pliny heard the cracking of branches and twigs, and what he could only describe as a bush screaming. Then the others heard too as a Shambling Mound separated from the bushes.
• A long fight ensued. More ghouls doing extra stuff. The party won.

Travel

• The next two days passed uneventfully.
• Each day, they slogged through the Mere, exposed to its sounds and smells, its cold and fetid wind, and mucky, swampy travel.
• Each night, the party found another safe camp and did their usual thing:
  • The ritual casting of Tiny Hut
  • The party charged Pliny’s Ring.
    • Pliny charged it 1 level 5 spell and 1 level 4 spell
    • Aegar charged it with 2 level 2 spells.
    • Zoyana charged it with 2 level 4 spells.
    • Fang charged it with 2 level 3 spells.
  • Aegar sent Parnatha to do loops around the camp, guarding the area (Perception 4, Passive 11)

The Carnath Roadhouse

• The following day proceeded as uneventfully as the prior two as they headed North.
• About dusk, before they found their campsite, they rounded a bend and saw a large roadhouse situated on a long patch of flat ground.
  • The ground was flat, but it was rutted from all the wagon traffic, and they could see a group of work wagons.
  • One was being taken into the compound, and two of them were being pulled out empty.
• The session ended, taking in the sight…

Loot

• 4 gp from Aegar to the innkeeper
• Loot from Ghouls:
  • A thick gold chain with a diamond pendant (350 gp)
  • A silver ring (15 gp)
  • A Rope of Climbing

Downtime

NPCs Interacted With

• Naneatha Suaril (Selune’s Priestess of the High Moonlight)
• Selune (mentioned)
• Leosin
• High Lord Dagult Neverember (mentioned)
• Senator Timothy Dexter (mentioned)
• Enom (cult caravan driver)
• Tiamat (mentioned)
• Rezmir (mentioned)
• Isadrill (priest of Ilmater, mentioned)
• Ilmater (mentioned)
• Larion Keenblade (cult guard)

Locations Visited

• Waterdeep
• The Beholder’s Lament
• The House of the Moon
• The High Road

Experience Per Character

Session	Task or Accomplishment	Day	Zoyana	Aegar	Pliny	Fang
60	Scrying on Rezmir - the Library	115	550	-	-	-
60	Travel	116	-	-	-	-
60	Travel	117	-	-	-	-
60	Memories of the Mere of Dead Men	118	-	-	225	-
60	Scrying on Rezmir - the Chapel	118	225	-	-	-
60	Ghoul Attack	119	2931	2931	2931	2931
60	Travel	120	-	-	-	-
60	Magical Crafting: Annular Pariapt of Debridement, Amelioration, and Lust	121	-	-	2250	-
60	Finding Carnath Roadhouse	122	750	750	750	750
	Total	Total	4456	3681	6156	3681

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