Session B07 — Crown Quest Begins

Summary

The party, already deep in the Black Lake ruins beneath Neverwinter, decides to take a long rest in place rather than push through the night. During first watch, Kefkas spots a column of cloaked figures moving through the ruins — and the encounter that follows reveals the campaign's most significant political actor yet: Renaer Neverember, the scarred, milky-eyed, red-haired son of Dagult Neverember, who explains that the lord who currently rules Neverwinter is an impersonator, and that the real Dagult has been unconscious since a Black Lake explosion five years ago. Renaer wants the Lost Crown disposed of rather than used.

The morning brings chaos: Kefkas wakes goblinified — transformed by a transmutation worm parasite into a small goblin — courtesy of the "Who Fucked Up" effect. Kelvin compounds the situation by immediately striking him with a weapon. The dungeon delve resumes with a trap-filled kobold tunnel (bypassed by Roland's flight), an anticlimactic standoff with hobgoblins who evacuate entirely rather than fight, and a vault entrance whose glowing blue rune puzzle — "Jewel of the North" — the party solves correctly. While casting Detect Magic, Kavu discovers that transmutation worms have infested most of the party. Cures trigger more transformations: by session's end, Kefkas, Othorion, and Kelvin are all goblins, and Kelvin has Wildshapen into a green-furred goblin ape that vanished to another plane.

The session ends at the top of a stairway descending into blue ethereal light — the entrance to the Forgotten Crypt, where a Death Knight guardian waits below. The DM calls it: "I think we should probably wait till everybody is here to actually do this one."

Note: Blazethorn absent this session (player occupied with STALKER 2).

Key Events

Long Rest in the Ruins — Nightal 17

The party had already pushed into the Black Lake ruins and chose to hold position rather than press through the night. With the dungeon an unknown distance from completion and the ship departure set for the 20th, they debated briefly before settling in for a full long rest starting around 7 PM on Nightal 17.

Night Watch — Cloaked Figures

Kefkas was on first watch with Kavu when he spotted movement. Between six and eight cloaked figures were making their way through the ruins in a single file column, moving stealthily north and south. They hadn't noticed the party's camp.

Kefkas deployed his echo as a decoy — positioning the spectral duplicate away from where the party actually rested — then threw a copper coin to alert Kavu without making noise. Kavu cast Daylight, flooding the ruins and illuminating eight figures who immediately froze.

They did not attack.

Renaer Neverember — the Cloaked Ascendant

The figures were crown-seekers, led by a well-known bard the party later identified as the Stinging Bard — a famous performer, recently seen in Waterdeep, whose reputation preceded him. But the man who stepped forward to speak was someone else entirely.

Renaer Neverember: scarred face, milky white eye, short red hair, beard. He identified himself as the son of Dagult Neverember — the Cloaked Ascendant. He spoke plainly about matters that would be dangerous to discuss above ground.

His account of what happened five years ago:

The Black Lake explosion was not an accident. Dagult Neverember — the real one — was present. The blast left him unconscious, not dead. Elminster was also present; he teleported Renaer away but could not save Dagult in time. The Dagult Neverember who currently rules Neverwinter is an impersonator.

Renaer had been operating in the shadows since, trying to manage the situation. His goal with the Crown: he did not want it used. His preferred outcome was to sink it in the lake or, better, hand it to Caladorn — whom he described as at least equal to Elminster in power but more reclusive, operating in shadow. He suggested the party could contact Caladorn through a network of allied inns identifiable by "hobo code" graffiti scratched at the entrance.

Additional intelligence Renaer shared:

• A red dragon named Volcathar has been threatening Kavu's Flamekeeper kobold clan in the Dragonspine Mountains. Renaer brought this up unprompted, suggesting he has intelligence networks covering far more than Neverwinter.
• Renaer knows that Roland is a member of Force Grey — Roland confirmed this without being asked.
• His insight into the party's abilities and affiliations suggested he had researched them in advance.

The party ran insight checks. All read Renaer as honest except Kelvin, whose read was more ambiguous. The general consensus: he was telling the truth, and he was also clearly living rough — operating without resources, homeless in his own city, relying on a network of marks and safe houses.

At the end of the exchange, he departed:

"Renaer Neverember, the Cloaked Ascendant, disappears into the darkness."

"Who Fucked Up" — Kefkas Gobified

The long rest concluded on Nightal 18. The "Who Fucked Up" effect — a Foundry VTT condition on several party members requiring a d20 roll each morning — triggered for Kefkas, who rolled a 9.

He woke up a goblin.

The transformation is called Gobified: small size, disadvantage on Strength saving throws, disadvantage on Charisma checks. A transmutation worm parasite had activated overnight.

Kelvin, roused from sleep and seeing a small green humanoid figure where Kefkas had been lying, immediately struck him with a weapon.

"Welcome to the shorts!" — Kavu

Dungeon Delve Resumes — Eastward Push

The party took their downtime rolls and resumed moving east through the ruins.

Animated Armor Debris Field

They passed through a section of the ruins littered with armor fragments — the remains of prior combatants, slowly and incompletely reassembling. Kavu kicked the pieces apart as they moved through. No combat initiated; the party moved on without engaging.

The Path Split

The corridor split. One branch was unmarked. The other bore a mark from the Cloaked Ascendant — Renaer's network, the same faction they had met overnight.

The party took the unmarked left branch.

The Kobold Trap Tunnel

The left branch opened into an arched tunnel approximately 100 feet long. The ceiling was unnaturally smooth — magically supported stonework. At intervals along the floor, certain stones were slightly discolored: trigger plates.

Kavu identified the construction immediately. Classic kobold trap architecture. The irony: the trap was actually harder to navigate for small creatures, whose lighter footfalls didn't always trigger the plates but whose stride patterns made avoiding them difficult. If triggered, the entire supported ceiling would come down.

The party's solution: Roland flies everyone across. With Longstrider active (fly speed 50), he ferried party members across one by one without setting foot on the trigger stones. Clean bypass.

The Hobgoblin Non-Encounter

Pressing further, Othorion scouted ahead in stealth. He rolled a 40 with Pass Without Trace active.

He rounded a corner and made direct eye contact with a hobgoblin captain at the far end of a corridor. Neither moved. Othorion mimed a throat-cut gesture and held his gaze. He made the Intimidation roll.

Kavu and Kefkas moved up as envoys to negotiate — but when they arrived, the last hobgoblin was pulling up a rope over the far maze wall. The entire group had evacuated. The party stood in an empty corridor.

"That was anticlimactic."

The Vault Entrance

Beyond the hobgoblins' position: a dead-end courtyard with a natural depression in the floor. At the bottom of two flights of stairs, a 30×20-foot archway sealed by a dark stone door.

The door was covered in glowing blue runes and featured a blue faceted jewel dial currently set to approximately the 7 o'clock position. Cardinal directions were marked: North, South, East, West. The runes formed an inscription.

Roland's Divine Sense registered the courtyard as dangerous: six undead present — two flanking on each side wall, two in the pit. A conjuration mechanism. If the wrong answer was given to the puzzle, the undead would activate.

The inscription read as the city's nickname. The party debated: Jewel of the North versus Jewel of the West. They chose correctly: North.

The challenge: how to turn the dial without crossing the courtyard floor and triggering the undead flankers. Roland solved it. He hammered a piton into the wall at the top of the stairs, tied a rope, and lowered Haldak down over the floor — suspended, not touching the stone.

"Like the reddest shittiest Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible."

Haldak, dangling on the rope, rotated the gem dial to 12 o'clock (North). The runes pulsed. The door opened.

The acrobatics checks to swing inward without touching the floor both failed — but the puzzle was already solved, the mechanism already disarmed. The undead did not activate.

The Transmutation Worms

While the party was working through the vault puzzle, Kavu cast Detect Magic — and saw something unexpected overlaid on several party members.

Ethereal, magical transmutation worms — parasitic and dormant — infesting: Kefkas, Kelvin, Kavu himself, and Othorion. Haldak and Roland were unaffected.

The worms were responsible for the Gobified transformations triggered by low morning rolls. Dormant until activated by the roll; then they caused the goblinization.

The party attempted mass curing. Results were inconsistent:

• Kavu: Roland used Lay on Hands (cure disease). Worms removed. No transformation. ✓
• Othorion: Cured via Lay on Hands — but transformed into a goblin anyway during the process. Cure successful; goblin form lingered.
• Kefkas: Cured via Lay on Hands — worms gone, but he was already goblin from the morning roll. Remains goblin.
• Kelvin: Cured via Lesser Restoration — and also goblinized during the cure. Then, in goblin form, Kelvin Wildshoped.

The transmutation worm infestation carried into beast form. Kelvin did not become a normal ape. He became a green-furred ape with goblin ears — and then vanished entirely, pulled to another plane by the interaction between the Wildshape magic and the transformation.

"The next time someone in another campaign summons an ape, it will be goblin Kelvin."

Kavu also attempted to use the Purge cantrip on Kefkas — but misapplied it, accidentally accelerating the disease progression rather than purging it. The attempt backfired.

By the end of the session: Kefkas, Othorion, and Kelvin were all goblins (or a missing goblin-ape). The party's effective height had dropped significantly.

The working theory on origin: the animated armor debris field encountered earlier had belonged to humanoids who had themselves been goblinized — killed by their companions who mistook goblinized allies for real goblins after transformation. The worm infestation spread via contact with the infected corpses or armor.

The Forgotten Crypt

The vault door opened onto a stairway descending into darkness. At the bottom: a blue ethereal glow.

Roland's Divine Sense confirmed what the light suggested — a powerful undead presence below. Not the six dormant flankers from the courtyard. Something else. Something waiting.

"Welcome to the Forgotten Crypt, the long-lost vault of the Lost Crown of Neverwinter."

The DM called the session on the threshold:

"I think we should probably wait till everybody is here to actually do this one."

NPCs Encountered

Loot / Discoveries

Threads Opened / Advanced

• Renaer Neverember: Crown-seeker, Dagult's son, operating homeless in his own city. Wants the Crown disposed of, not wielded. The hobo code contact network is now available as a way to reach him or Caladorn.
• The Impersonator Dagult: The lord who rules Neverwinter is a fake. The real Dagult has been unconscious for five years since the Black Lake explosion. Elminster was present but could not save him. This fundamentally reframes the political situation.
• Caladorn: Referenced by Renaer as the most trustworthy custodian for the Crown. Described as Elminster's equal. Reachable through allied inns displaying hobo code graffiti. Has not been encountered directly.
• Volcathar: Red dragon threatening Kavu's Flamekeeper kobold clan. Renaer volunteered this information without being asked — suggesting either genuine good faith or a calculated offer. Unresolved thread, significant for Kavu's arc.
• The Forgotten Crypt — Death Knight: The party stands at the top of the stairs. A Death Knight waits below. The Lost Crown of Neverwinter is presumably inside. Session ends here.
• Kelvin's Goblin-Ape Situation: He is currently a green-furred goblin ape on another plane. What it takes to retrieve him is unknown.
• The Remaining Goblins: Kefkas and Othorion are still goblins. Cures have been applied; the transformation persists. A more powerful magical remedy may be required.
• Transmutation Worm Source: The working theory (animated armor debris from goblinized humanoids) has not been confirmed. If there are more worms in the ruins, other party members may be at risk.