Session A23 — Dwarven Statue and Chardalyn

Summary

A direct continuation of A22's cliffhanger. The session opens mid-combat with Nezznar and ends with him bound, bagged, and handed off to the Rockseeker brothers. Between those bookends: a doppelganger fight, a bugbear parley, a kobold's 20th birthday ritual, a drowned octopus, and a flameskull encounter in the Smelter Cavern. The party also rescues Nundro Rockseeker, reunites two of the three brothers, discovers the Chardalyn artefact and its connection to Icewind Dale, and learns that the Dumathoin statue's emerald eyes are a dwarven anti-theft trap. The session ends at the threshold of a door emanating immense, crackling magical pressure — almost certainly the Forge of Spells.

Key Events

Nezznar Combat Concludes

The session picked up from A22's cliffhanger: Nezznar had critted Othorion with 17 damage, broken free of the grapple, and pulled the gag loose. Othorion was at zero hit points. Nezznar was around a corner with options.

The party ground it out. Kavu hit Nezznar with his chain whip for 8 damage (non-lethal), keeping him from fleeing. Nezznar summoned a spider and drank a healing potion. The spider tried to web Roland and missed. Haldak landed a dagger for 6, Roland for 13. Othorion recovered from unconscious and killed the summoned spider — 18 and 8. Then, with Nezznar nearly spent, Othorion closed the distance and rolled a natural 20, cold-cocking Nezznar unconscious with the butt of his dagger.

Combat over.

"Othorion kills the spider, then clocks Nezznar across the jaw with his dagger handle. He crumples. It's done."

Nezznar was searched and bound. Haldak tied him in rope from ankles to shoulders "like a cocoon." Othorion took Nezznar's staff.

The Black Spider's Room — Loot and Discoveries

With Nezznar restrained and the room secured, the party took stock of what was in front of them.

Items recovered from the room and Nezznar's person:

A sack containing nine gemstones (10gp each) and an ancient dwarven ale mug crafted in a gold-alloy the party hadn't seen before, estimated at roughly 80gp. The mug's craftsmanship was old — Othorion held it up to say he'd gotten it for Gundren.

An iron key bearing the Tresendar crest was found on Nezznar's person. It was similar in design to the key Roland had recovered from Tresendar Manor's basement — but Nezznar's was older. The Tresendar lineage apparently extended backward further than Roland had known. Both keys turned out to open the same locks.

A piece of Chardalyn — a flat, naturally occurring black stone that Haldak immediately identified from his Netherese studies. It was warm to the touch, currently charged with an unknown spell that registered as all schools of magic simultaneously when Haldak cast Detect Magic. Haldak's assessment: Chardalyn is a Netherese-origin material capable of absorbing and storing magical energy. The specific spell it currently held was unidentifiable without further study.

An ancient annotated map showing a snow-capped mountain range with arrows pointing to three locations and the notation "Chardalyn Mines?" Haldak cross-referenced his Dwarven Strongholds book and identified the topography as Icewind Dale — far to the north, beyond the Spine of the World.

Detect Magic results:

The nine-foot Dumathoin statue in the chamber emitted a transmutation aura concentrated specifically at the head and its emerald eyes. The Chardalyn stone flashed all schools simultaneously. Everything else in the room was non-magical.

The Dumathoin Statue — Dwarven Trap Warning

Kavu knocked on the locked door to ask Gundren about the statue:

"The statue — its eyes are emerald, and it's magic. What's that about?"

Gundren's reply was immediate and unambiguous:

"That is almost certainly a trap. The ceiling will likely fall on top of your head. That is the type of trap that dwarves set for non-dwarves, as any dwarf worth a salt would know not to touch, though shiny, on the statue of our gods."

When Othorion asked if there were other traps to watch for, Gundren told him: anything connected to dwarf gods. Then, apparently reconsidering who he was speaking to, he added: "Actually, you should probably not touch anything of dwarf make, you little thieving shit, 'cause the stonework here is dwarven work." And closed the door again.

The party did not touch the emerald eyes.

Nundro Rockseeker's Prison

The hallway north of Nezznar's chamber held a door bearing the Tresendar crest on the lock plate. Nezznar's key — and Roland's, identically — unlocked it. Inside: dusty red-gold draperies, a bed, a dresser, and a dwarf lying bound and unconscious on the floor.

Roland used Healing Hands. The dwarf woke up swinging.

"Get off me. You're a drow bastard."

He pointed at Othorion, then at Kavu: "Cobalt whores! Stealing our wares!"

When the party told him Gundren had sent them, he said: "My brother would never work with the enemy."

This was Nundro Rockseeker — Gundren's brother, held captive by Nezznar for an unknown period. He had lost track of time. The party confirmed Gundren was alive and nearby. Nundro agreed to stay and guard Nezznar while the party retrieved his brother, swearing on "the beard of Dumathoin" that he would not harm Nezznar to the point of death.

"If he swore on the beard of Dumathoin, then the spider is as safe as a babe in a bottom."

Kelvin, in the interim, repeatedly slapped the unconscious Nezznar "to verify he's not faking." This produced a crack sound from the DM and nearly killed him.

Gundren and Nundro Reunited

The party backtracked to collect Gundren. Roland delivered the news en route: Nundro was alive; Nezznar was subdued. Gundren's reaction to learning Nundro had survived was immediate relief — followed by the quiet weight of learning Tharden was dead. They had not told him before.

Nundro didn't know either. When Gundren arrived and the brothers embraced:

"When I found Tharden dead, I thought it was the end."

Nundro: "Tharden's dead? Did that little shit kill him? Get him!"

Gundren held him back: "No, brother, no. These are friends. They have done a good kindness to us and our line."

"And they just turn into a sad puddle of dwarven crying and swearing on the gods of Moradin and Dumathoin and it's all very manly and dwarvish. Many beards are bewetted at the sadness of a lost brother and the gaining of a new friend."

Kavu stepped away: "Roland, this is a little too wholesome for my liking."

The Doppelganger Escapes — and Dies

While the party was deciding what to do with the prisoners, the doppelganger — which had been suspended in the rift cavern — broke free from its bindings and transformed into Kavu. It attacked the real Kavu with a grapple attempt, which Kavu narrowly escaped.

Kavu vs. Kavu. Roland, watching from above, needed to pass a DC 15 Perception check to identify which was real. He did. The tell: he flapped his cloak. The doppelganger did the same, but:

"The doppelganger goes, 'The same cloak as me!' and kind of... tries to match it."

Roland had already nocked. An arrow, glowing with holy smite, crossed the cavern.

"An arrow glowing with the might of a thousand suns, the power of holy smite, flies through the air and just pins him dead to the wall. His body lifelessly just sits there. And it doesn't change back. It's just you. Dead. Pinned to the wall."

36 damage. The doppelganger did not immediately revert, which briefly concerned Roland. Haldak confirmed: doppelgangers do revert to their true form after death, but it can take time.

Meep and the Hostile Bugbear

With Nundro watching Nezznar, Kavu descended to deal with the two captive bugbears. One — the cooperative one — introduced himself:

"My name is Meep. Meep, with three E's."

Kavu and Meep had a conversation about Kossuth, wild boar sausages, the nature of honor, and the difference between mutton and ram sausage. Kavu cut him loose and produced 30 gold — Nezznar's unpaid wages from the desk — and gave it to him as the payment the Black Spider owed.

"The next time, friend, that I cook a wild boar sausage, I shall do so in your name and your honor."

Meep expressed that if they met again as foes, perhaps it would be he who was the hero and Kavu working for the villain. Kavu: "That could be interesting." Meep climbed the rope and left.

The other bugbear — Meep's cousin — remained hostile throughout. He had been paid 30 gold to defend Nezznar and refused to consider the job done until the people who slew his employer were dead. When Kavu pointed out Nezznar wasn't dead yet, he replied: "My job was to defend the man in the room. He fell. Now I need to do the job." When Kavu offered to pay him the 30gp, the hostile bugbear accepted and went limp. "I would go home and marry my wife." Wife's name: Mipralda. He was untied and released.

Kavu, returning to the group, stepped past the doppelganger's body: "We let the bugbears go. The doppelganger, not so much."

Kavu's 20th Birthday

Before the party moved out, Kavu set up an elaborate ritual with candles, small piles of fire, and a compass placed at the center. He was quiet about it until Kelvin asked.

"Today is a special day. Today I turn 20."

Gundren: "I don't think you understand, son. Twenty for a kobold might as well be a hundred for a human being."

Kavu confirmed: he was old for a kobold. Most in his mountain clan didn't reach this age. It was also the day he had been scheduled to become shaman of his clan — a ceremony that couldn't happen because he left without the chieftain's full blessing, following the pull toward a forge he didn't yet fully understand.

"I may have left the clan not quite with the chieftain's blessing. So... I don't know. I must pray on that."

He prayed for two hours. The compass glowed faintly, embers sparking off it. Kelvin asked if he would leave when he found the forge. Kavu: "I don't know."

At the end of his prayers, the compass didn't point anywhere in particular.

Long Rest and Departure

The party took their long rest in the room where Gundren and Nundro would remain with Nezznar. Arrangements confirmed: the two Rockseekers would hold the Black Spider, locked in, until the party returned to escort them out. Gundren was given the spare key.

Kelvin's punctured lung — the wound from A22 — had not healed. During the rest, Kavu attempted field surgery: sticking a finger into the chest wound to locate the lung, then heating the finger to cauterize it from inside. The procedure worked.

"Kavu, you magnificent dragon, you!"

"Well, sorry, you old magnificent dragon."

"I'm not old. Adult."

The Subterranean Lake — Ambrosius

Moving through a low-ceiling passage (four-foot clearance, former stream bed), the party emerged onto a narrow ledge above a surging underground body of water. The booming rhythmic sound heard throughout the cave was loudest here. The water smelled of sulfur and was warm. Foam churned against the ledge face at regular intervals.

Roland stepped closer to investigate.

A large tentacle struck out of the water and grappled him. 12 damage. Grappled.

Othorion — with an assist from Kavu holding the tentacle still with his chain — used a Mighty Deed to sever it, freeing Roland. The octopus climbed partially out of the water. Roland smited it twice in return, killing it cleanly on his extra attack.

Kelvin mourned briefly: "I understand it attacked you, but it was just trying to eat."

Kavu bit a piece of tentacle off raw. Kelvin harvested a length of tentacle to cook later, noting it should properly be called "tako" (T-A-K-O). The DM named the dead octopus Ambrosius, noting it was the one voiced by Tilda Swinton.

The octopus sank to the bottom of what the DM now confirmed was the underground lake feeding the Wave Echo Cave's namesake sound.

The Smelter Cavern — Flameskull

Beyond the lake chamber, a passage opened into a large room:

"A blast furnace and a mechanical bellows powered by a water wheel dominate this large chamber. The furnace is cold and dark, but heaps of coal are piled nearby, along with carts full of unrefined ore. The water wheel sits in a ten-foot-wide channel cut in the floor, but the channel is dry. Passages exit to the west, south, and east. More than a dozen withered corpses lie scattered around the room, individuals still wearing remnants of armor."

Above them, floating five feet off the ground: a skull engulfed in green flame.

"As you enter the room, every single one of these corpses — dwarves it looks like — begin to stand and face you simultaneously. And the skull engulfed in green flame, even though it has no flesh on its face, you can almost tell that it is smiling as it begins to charge up its attack at you."

Kavu identified it on a religion check: a Flameskull. Immune to fire. Spells include Flaming Sphere, Magic Missile, and Fireball. The undead dwarves were standard zombies — slow but difficult to put down.

The combat was attritional. Highlights:

The Flameskull fireballed the party. Kavu took five (fire immunity largely), Roland took ten, Kelvin took twenty-one. Kavu accidentally healed the Flameskull mid-combat by mistargeting his healing: "Here you go, you flaming bitch of beauty!" The table: "That is something I could see Kavu doing." The DM corrected it. A zombie stepped into Kelvin's Moonbeam and then smacked him, causing him to lose concentration. Roland cleared two undead dwarves with Divine Smite. Othorion double-critted to finish the last two zombies. Haldak used the Wand of Magic Missiles against the Flameskull.

Kavu killed the Flameskull with a second-level Guiding Bolt — 19 radiant damage:

"You hit him and he goes — and he bursts into flames and dust. And pieces of skull scatter on the ground."

The Forge of Spells — Session End

After the Smelter Cavern fight, Roland reported what he had sensed earlier during his Perception check: "A buffeting magical presence" from the southeast passage.

The party moved toward it. Two double doors appeared at the end of the passage. They were slightly ajar. No one could see into the room.

"All of you can feel it. Wub, wub, wub, wub. Something of immense magical power is in that room."

Roland's description of the sensation: his divine magic felt like the warmth of his grandmother's kitchen on a winter morning. This felt like "right before you're about to get struck by lightning."

Kelvin: "Wait — if we never find the forge, Kavu won't leave, right?"

The DM ended the session at this moment, noting they were playing the next day. The doors remained ajar. Whatever was inside was waiting.

NPCs Encountered

Loot / Discoveries

Threads Opened / Advanced

• Nezznar — Prisoner: Bound and under guard of Gundren and Nundro in Wave Echo Cave. The party must escort him out before handing him to Vajra's contacts. Both Rockseekers promised not to kill him.
• Forge of Spells: The party stands at double doors emitting immense magical pressure. The Forge is almost certainly through this door. Kavu's pilgrimage purpose approaches its end — and he does not know yet whether finding it means leaving.
• Kavu's Arc — The Clan: He turned 20, he left without full blessing, and he was supposed to become shaman. His prayers returned no direction. The compass points nowhere. Whatever comes next is unresolved.
• Chardalyn and Icewind Dale: A Netherese artefact material with connections to the far north, found in the Black Spider's possession. The map to the mines in Icewind Dale is now with the party.
• Gundren and Nundro: Two of three brothers reunited; Tharden confirmed dead. They now know what the Black Spider cost them.
• Wave Echo Cave: Smelter Cavern cleared. The Forge access is southeast. Other passages (west, south, east from the smelter room) remain unexplored.