Speak Friend and Enter

Jorkin's Tavern

• The party is dropped off at Jorkin's tavern after their on-the-road meeting with Vajra they gather supplies for the journey ahead. Larys yells a command at Bruce: "Brucie, BUG OUT MODE" to which Brucie responds with a salute before going about his business. The party finishes packing their supplies and sets off for Blackstaff Tower to meet with Vajra about the upcoming quest.
  
  

Blackstaff Tower

• The party arrives at Blackstaff Tower to speak with Vajra Safahr about the job she has for them. Vajra reminds the party of the mindflayer they recently fought and failed to kill before it escaped, and reveals that another two were recently spotted and defeated in the dwarven underdark city of Gauntlgrym. She wants the party to travel to there by way of Neverwinter as Vajra's personal envoys, NOT representatives of The Lord's Alliance. She tells the party to keep a low profile while in Neverwinter, so as to not cause any problems for Lord Neveremebr. She hands the party two scrolls of Tongues, and two scrolls of Speak with Dead, so that they may interrogate the dead Mindflayers upon their arrival and return with any information they gather.
  
  

Neverwinter

• The party arrives in Neverwinter and settles in at a local tavern to rest for the night. In the morning they meet with their dwarven guide who introduces himself as Nundro. Nundro and the party set off for Gauntlgrym, and one the road Kal asks Nundro if he knew Karak Ironmender. It's clear to Kal that Nundro knew him well as his demeanor changes from wary to sadness at this question.
  
  

Road to Gauntlgrym

• Furhter along their travels, it becomes apparent that Nundro is wary of the entire party, as he's not said a word to them outside of his own introduction since they set off on their journey. Moreso than the other, Nundro seems exceptionally distrustful of Larys. Larys intuits this, and suspects this is due primarily to the exceptionally long and bloody history between Orcs and Dwarves. In an attempt to assuage Nundro's distrust, he mentions to Nundro that the Red Dragon Scale armor he's wearing was in fact forged by a dwarf, to which Nundro only responds that they're nearing a waystation that they can rest at for the night. The party notes that this is the most Nundro has said to the party since they arrived in Neverwinter, despite its dismissive tone. The party beds down for the night before continuing in the morning.
  
  

The Underdark

• As the party reaches a large stone door, they are approached by a huge woman, in dwarven terms at least, standing a colossal 5 feet even and 200lbs. The ground trembles to a small degree as she approaches the party and in particular Larys, a look of disdain burning in her eyes. Larys stands his ground in a state of bemusement at the female Dwarf's stature as she stares him up and down before loudly demanding to know where he got the set of red dragonscale armor. Larys tells her that a friend custom made it for him. Unfazed, she demands that Larys remove the the armor's belt. Larys, increasingly enamored with this strange dwarf, suggests she take it off for him. The large dwarf only smirks as she lifts him inches from the ground with one hand, and takes the belt off with another. As she does so, a look of sadness comes across her face once she turns it over and reads the inscription etched onto the reverse side. She asks Larys how he knew her brother, Karak Ironmender. Larys tells her that they had fought a dragon together, and that Karak was a good man. The dwarf is immediately disarmed by this response as she tells Larys that Karak must have really believed in him, as the set of armor is a fine gift.
  
  

Gauntlgrym

• Satisfied with the good intentions of the party, the large female dwarf lead the party through the outskirts of Gauntlgrym where they wind up at one of their most sacred places, the soul forge. She tells the party that while she respects them on account of their good relationship with her brother, if they were to step one foot out of line she will not hesitate to kill them. She leads them deeper into the city, and some onlookers look perplexed about the presence of the party of non-dwarves within their city. In the distance, there are two dwarves working a forge and anvil. The female dwarf tells the party they're looking at The Anvil of Songs, an artifact of myth. She also reveals that this is the location they fought and defeated the mindflayers.
  
  
• The large female dwarf finally introduces herself as Gilda Ironmender, and asks Larys if he is interested in atest of strength. Larys gleefully accepts. Gilda and Larys battle it out in an armwrestling match where Larys utilizes his focused rage and Gilda uses some form of magic to enhance her strength. It's a close fight, but Gilda inches Larys out for the win. This armwrestling match appears to have changed the mood of what has now become a crowd of dwarves gathered around, from suspicion to acceptance of Larys, and by extension the party.
• The party is led to a military-esque building by Gilda, and two guards flanking the party locks the door behind them. Inside is a dead mindflayer for the party to interrogate. Kal investigates the body and notices that this mindflayer has wounds belonging to conventional weapons and spells, but also bites and scratches of a more feral nature. Gilda recounts the story of the battle of the soul forge, when these mind flayers were defeated, and at that time there was no lava under the forge. Instead, there was a cavern filled with hundreds of Troglodytes. 20 dwarves went into the battle, and only 11 made it out. She said the mind flayers spoke to them psychically and told them "You cannot retreat, for you know what is waiting for us if we do". The party activates the scrolls and interrogates the dead mindflayer. They ask it the following questions: "What were you running from" and it answers "The dead". "What business did you have on the surface" "Survive". "What dead are waiting for you" "The forces of the Dracolich". "What plans did you have for waterdeep" "We were not in waterdeep". "Where is the Dracolich" "We think it's in Araumycos", which is an area in the underdark far below the The High Forest. It is thought to be a giant sentient Myconid.
  
  
• Satisfied with this answers, the party interrogates the second dead indflayer with the following questions: "Where are the forces going?" "The surface". "Where can we find the other mindflayers on the surface?" "Our colony was destroyed, more in Baldurs Gate, the heathens." "What have you learned about the dracolich your kind are facing?" "Old, powerful, not of Faerun." "Where we you chased out to the surface?" ."We never made it to the surface" "What are the heathens?" ."Their elder brain is corrupted"
• Emmaera asks Gilda if the interrogation provided any knowledge she did not already know, and Gilda says she cannot say. Emmaera gets the sense that she knows something she isn't sharing.
• The two dwarves working the forge earlier have apparently finished and are now approaching the building the party is in. Gilda invites the party to dine with her and her family at their home. It becomes apparent that the man and woman working the forge are Gilda's father and sister. The party follows them to their family home, where they meet another sibling of Karak's. This one is dressed in long vestments, braided hair, and a symbol on his chest that appears to be a flaming needle. He is a priest of sharindlar, the lady of mercy.
• Everyone sits down for dinner, and Gilda mentions that she's only been to the surface once, and she wants to follow in Karak Ironmender's footsteps again. Larys unzips his fanny pack and playfully hands Gilda a Jorkin's business card under the table. Busvine and Thogrum Ironmender flirt HEAVILY at the table in a display of intimacy that makes everyone else at the table each a unique shade of uncomfortable. The entire party and Ironmender family make merry until the sound of an anvil being struck abruptly ends all conversation, and the entire Ironmender Family share a glance before bolting up from the table and tearing out the front door.
• Gilda breathlessly tells the party that "Nobody can use that anvil but those two." before running back to the house to grab her armor. As the party arrives at the soul forge, they quickly notice that nobody is standing at the anvil. The anvil is somehow being struck on its own.
• Kal looks up at the relief of dwarven gods and sees that the eyes of each god are glowing as bright as the surrounding lava. Whats more, the anvil is not being struck at the same cadence as when the Ironmenders were using it. More dwarves come out of their homes and stare towards the anvil and forge in confusion and disbelief.
• The party runs towards the anvil, and they notice all the statues that adorn the walls are thrumming with magical energy. Lava is running down the back wall and into the forge. Kaldar Ironmender and Caitlin Ironmender attempt to attune to the anvil but they already are.
• The sound of the anvil being struck races faster and faster and then abruptly stops. Seemingly out of thin air appears the head of a huge, fully grown green dragon. Suddenly a clanging of metal is heard behind the dragon, followed by an oddly wet thunk. The dragon appears to be wounded, and a green ooze appears from its mouth. Larys and Kal ready their weapons and prepare to strike, while Emmaera speaks to it in draconic. She asks the dragon what has happened to it, and receives no response. Kal, suspicious fo this unresponsive dragon walks around behind the dragon's head and realizes that the head is not attached to anything. There are ingots of various materials strewn about, and attached to a rope connected to the dragon's head, is a dead gnome. An arm is stretched around the gnome holding a dagger in it's heart. The arm moves as the dagger is removed from the heart, and rivivify is cast as the gnome takes a breath and regains the life in its eyes. From behind the gnome, a penguin runs out but it's legs too are bound by rope. From behind the gnome, Karak Ironmender appears, heavily injured and bloodied. The ropes binding each creature are all evidently attached to Karak, and he yells to the party to cut the ropes that bind him. Kal frantically tries to cut all four ropes that bind him. She manages to cut three of the four, but before she can cut the fourth and final rope, Karak disappears from this plane of existence. At that moment Busvine hears an unknown voice in her head that says "Not yet", and Karak suddenly reappears, falling to the ground dead. Busvine casts rivivify on Karak and he springs back to life, thanking the party.