The Search for Kwalish

The Search for Kwalish 

Thia

The first thing we saw after vanishing from Manshoon’s hideout was a grinning Urstil Floxin, arms crossed, looking pleased to see us. As we began to materialize at the Gralhund Villa, we could feel ourselves being tugged away. We instead appeared in our tavern. The scene was all wrong. Yagra was stiff as a board on a couch. Mirt and Renaer sat looking sheepish. In front of us was a beautiful woman sipping wine. She thanked Lif for his service, dismissing him. The woman introduced herself as Vajra. The Blackstaff, here in our tavern! Vajra told Yasuo that we should be more careful and that he would find a spy outside in the alley. Yasuo returned carrying Haru, the Kozakuran coachman, who was frozen stiff like Yagra.

To my relief, Vajra was not here to harm us. She heard about our activities and could safely guess that we were after the hoard of gold. She informed us that should we find the gold, we may keep a portion. But the gold is Waterdeep’s property and the rest must be returned. It was embezzled from taxes. But the real reason Vajra was here was that she had a mission for us.

Our mission was to bring Kwalish--a powerful mage--back to Waterdeep, along with some documents. At this, a wizened gnome stepped forward followed by a golden orb with wings. The gnome, Anaxi Zephries, is a Cartophile while the golden orb, named Gearbox, is a monodrone Modron. The Modron people are ruled by mathematics and logic. Gearbox would be accompanying us on this mission, assisting us as he is able. Anaxi rummaged through his satchel of maps and found one that would lead us to Kwalish.

Vajra told us that she had seen signs of life in the giant statues around Waterdeep. It would be disastrous if they wake. She suspects Halaster is the cause of the statues waking. We must bring Kwalish back. The powerful wizard makes mechanical magic items (for instance, the Apparatus of Kwalish, which is used for diving under water). He would be able to help with whatever is happening in Waterdeep.

She said that we may keep any loot we find, but not the documents claimed by the Cartophile. Vajra handed us a carpet, telling us that it was a means of traveling there and back. So that we would not be hindered by the law enforcement of Waterdeep, Vajra granted us membership as Gray Hands. She said that if we prove ourselves, we may be elevated to Force Grey, the elite strike force.

Vajra and Anaxi departed. The Modron remained with us to aid us in our task. At their departure, the spell that froze our friends ended. Haru spoke with Yasuo and gave him a magical blade, then departed. Seeing our quizzical looks, Yasuo said it was a matter of honor and left it at that.

Having just arrived back at our tavern from our adventures in acquiring the mask key, we decided to rest that night before heading out to rescue Kwalish. Vajra said that we were heading to a mountainous region so we packed and dressed accordingly.

The next morning, we donned our gear and stepped onto the teleportation carpet. We appeared at the top of a valley. It was freezing! The wind howled and I don’t think any of us were dressed properly for this weather. We could see a large, floating island in the center of the valley. The island looked to be made of rock and was held aloft with fiery machines.

A creature further down the valley waved to us. As we approached, we could see that it was a regal gynosphinx. Most of her head had been replaced by machines. She informed us that in order to go on our way to the island, we had to beat her in a game of riddles. The gynosphinx claimed to know everything. If we could ask her a question she didn’t know the answer to, we could pass. Yasuo asked the first question: Who would be the next emperor. The gynosphinx gave a correct answer. How she knew Kozakuran current events, I do not know. One of the orbs that hovered around the her head flew over to Yasuo and zapped his head, stealing some of his intelligence. Now we knew the consequence of failing at riddles. We proceeded to ask a few more questions, and hey, why not ask useful questions, as well. So we asked some questions regarding our quest for keys and gold. We learned that one of the keys we are seeking--the “dangerous spice”--is brought to Waterdeep by Jarlaxle Baenre, a famous drow known to run smuggling operations. The powerful drow disguises himself and the crew of his ship as humans or elves. We also learned that “Gold” refers to a golden dragon who guards the layer of Aurinax. All of this is good to know, but it was taking a toll on our abilities.

Clearly we weren’t going to win this “game”...So we attacked before those orbs could steal more of our talents. The gynosphinx tried to disappear, but Yasuo shone the light of his blue eye and we could see her. Quinn’s angels finished her off. We had smashed some of the floating orbs during the fight, and they returned our group’s stolen abilities. We scooped up the remaining orbs to examine later.

Looking up, we saw a plume of flame as a boat came toward us from the floating island. It was piloted by what looked like a grim reaper. That’s...unsettling. We climbed on the boat and headed for the island, the pilot remaining silent for the whole trip. Three more figures waited for us on shore. They held staffs with crescents on top. One of them welcomed us to the monastery. I assume this whole island is considered a monastery. He said that the Grand Master would like to see us, and proceeded to lead us along a path. Looking at this man, he appeared human, but his face was flayed off. He told us that this is the Monastery of the Distressed Body. No kidding. We walked past all kinds of humanoids on the island, each with some form of bodily distress. We were all on our guard for whatever might come.

We arrived at a cathedral. The large double doors opened onto a knave. We could see balconies with robed spectators. Sitting on a throne at the far end of the room was a bone devil, flanked by two half-orc guards. The bone devil had long, sharp claws and a severe-looking staff. He wore a cloak that appeared to be made of flayed faces. Metal rings circle his tail and legs. In our presence, he ordered a monk killed. Other monks immediately stepped forward and jabbed the condemned with their staffs. A bright light shined between the crescent points of their staves, killing the monk.

We ask the bone devil--the Grand Master--if Kwalish is on the island. The devil replied that Kwalish is on the island that that he assumed control of the island from Kwalish. The Grand Master kept prompting and insisting that we had come to join and serve The Order of the Distressed Body, while we repeated that we were only here to find Kwalish. After this back and forth, the Grand Master signaled to his men and the fight was on. The spectators from the balconies leaped down, igniting their laser scythes.

Taking in our situation, I could see that the bone devil and his two half-orc guards were lined up nicely for a particular spell, lightning bolt, that I recently learned. I might be able to hit all three of them...So I ran over to the left side of the throne, getting all three in my sightline, and shot off a lightning bolt. Success! Of course, that drew attention to myself and I became the nearest guard’s and Grand Master’s target. I deflected the orc’s sword but couldn’t evade the bone devil. I cast another lightning bolt at the devil and sent Primara to attack, but she missed. Primara made multiple attempts to send the bone devil back to its plane of existence, but failed each time. Good effort, though. The bone devil mostly ignored her, except for one attack which caused a great deal of harm to her. Thank goodness Primara can heal herself.

Davian and Quinn appeared occupied with the scythe-wielding cultists, while Yasuo was fighting another foe. Yasuo looked like he was in trouble for a moment, seeming to turn to stone. But he recovered and continued fighting.

I felt a little surrounded in this battle. There was the half-orc and the bone devil, but then some others joined our party in the corner. At least the bone devil was preoccupied at times with my companions. At some point, another monk like the one Yasuo was fighting came over to battle me. I had just dealt some serious damage to a martial artist guard using my shocking grasp spell when I was faced with this adept newcomer. I barely had time to block his sword and was struck. I felt myself transforming, growing shorter. I saw a reflection of myself in the adept’s sword. So I had become a crocodile! Gurr! The adept looked panicked, and for good reason. I snapped at his leg, chomping down and thrashing him about. His screams ended and there I was, a crocodile holding a severed leg. I remembered who I was and spat out the leg as more cultists attacked. I managed to kill one of them.

I heard Yasuo in distress and shouted to Primara but my shouts only sounded like crocodile hisses. Telepathically, I asked Primara to run over and heal Yasuo who was engaged with the bone devil. Unfortunately, the bone devil struck Primara as she was healing Yasuo. Soon, Yasuo finished off the bone devil with his Wakizashi blade and we defeated the remaining cultists. Quinn’s guardian spirits are amazing! Oh my goodness, are they powerful. I recovered, returning to my elf form. We took the time to rest and to heal ourselves properly. That battle was a close one.

Before leaving the cathedral, we did some investigation. We discovered a portal behind the throne, but decided against venturing into it for now. Maybe we would return here if we had time. The Grand Master’s crown and scepter looked valuable, so we took those. I inspected the orbs we had taken from the sphinx. One of them granted proficiency in religion and the other granted proficiency in a language. Talking among ourselves, we discovered that Quinn, a cleric of Tempus, was not proficient in religion. We gave that orb to Quinn. I held on to the language orb for now. We also gathered up our enemies’ weapons. We investigated the magical swords that the priests had used. The Sword of Medusa petrifies its target, while the Polymorph Sword turns the target into something random.

Outside the cathedral was a scene of panic. People were running, there was shouting, and we could see that the island was sinking. We rushed over to the jail in hopes of finding Kwalish, but there was no sign of him there. In a massive chamber next to the prison, monks were shoveling ore into hatches, attempting to keep the machines fed which held the island aloft. We ran over to the next building which contained instruments for tanners, butchers, and alchemists. Grotesque masks were hanging, drying. A man was strapped down with monks surrounding him, preparing to flay him. We killed them and freed the man. We searched the building for anything useful, and found a magic suit. We took it for now, but didn’t use it until we could understand it.

In another building, we found five glass containers lined up along a wall. Live brains floated inside. We felt pressure on our heads and could hear the brains talking to us. They asked if we were here to save them. They explained that they were the ones keeping the island afloat. In exchange for helping us reach Kwalish and for keeping the island stable, we would have to rescue them. They told us about the importance of power cells, which can be found on each of the monks’ staffs. So we rushed around gathering as many power cells as we could find. The brains told us that Kwalish was located on a small island and the only way to reach it was ten floating disk. Each brain controlled two disks and each brain had a different personality that needed convincing to help us. Quinn intimidated Rodelek into helping us and deceived Corolis for his help. Keilier used logic to convince Duston to help, while Yasuo sang to Editha, who required a song. With the brains agreeing to help us, we rushed Kwalish. As we left, Duston called out, “beware the medusa!”

We leaped from disk to disk without incident and reached mini island. We opened the door of the single building on this island and saw many glass statues of hooded monks. It looked wrong, and we immediately understood Duston’s warning. There was a medusa in here. I remembered what I had studied about medusa and told the others to not look directly at it, just in case they didn’t already know. We could hear the medusa and see it through the glass statues. We made some attacks, but it was difficult when you could only use reflections to aim. We figured out that the medusa was undead, so Quinn sent it fleeing with a spell to turn away undead. It crawled to a corner and cowered. I cast a spell to stretch a web over the corner, preventing the monster from escaping. Then Davian cast a spell to shroud that corner in darkness so we wouldn’t accidentally look at the medusa.

With the monster safely out of the way, we could investigate the room and rescue Kwalish. There was another brain jar in this room, this one containing the brain of Kwalish. He was very particular about how to disconnect him from the island and about gathering up his precious creation, a suit. We all worked as quickly as we could. The island was sinking faster now and we didn’t have much time left. We wouldn’t be able to rescue the other five brains. I hate to break promises. While gearbox and Kwalish struggled to keep the island from crashing, we all worked to disconnect Kwalish and his suit correctly and to loot the room of anything of value. We set everything on our transportation carpet. It was piled high with platinum, additional power cells, potions, another set of magic armor, tools, books, and various other things. Once we were ready, we all simultaneously stepped onto the carpet and appeared back in our tavern.

The Blackstaff was pleased to see us return with Kwalish. As promised, she allowed us to keep all of the treasure we managed to bring back, except for the manual of iron golems. (Later, she returned this book to us and instead took the manual of flesh golems.) Also, Gearbox would stay with us now. He proved to be a useful distraction, aiding Yasuo during our battle with the Grand Master, and also kept the island afloat while we disconnected Kwalish. The Blackstaff departed with Kwalish and we were left to investigate our plunder. 

A more mature Quinn

Quinn

Home never seemed so welcoming after our interaction with Manshoon. We’d need to start to strategize about our next course of action in this dizzying intrigue in which we’ve become entrapped. Our stride was brought to an abrupt halt when we entered The House of Spirits. Sitting in the bar was a sheepish Mirt and Renaer along with the Black Staff herself, Vajra Safahr! She had with her a well-dressed gnome companion, introduced to us as the Cartophile. Our reputation within Waterdeep must be growing for us to come back to this.

The Black Staff had a request for our services. It appeared to be urgent and knowing the Black Staff’s

reputation, the request should not be delayed or, heaven forbid, denied. Our ghostly bartender Lif brought us food and drinks while we listened to the details.

The mage Kwalish had been located. This mage is someone of the utmost importance to the magical leadership of Waterdeep and had been missing for quite some time. The gnome stepped forward at this point and introduced us to a mechanical construct named Gearbox. Gearbox is a monodron of the Modron race. It is quite logical and uniquely specialized to providing directions to Kwalish. Mirt stepped forward at this point and gave us a rug. The rug was a magic portal which would teleport us to the general area. Once we have secured Kwalish, we would all then stand on the rug once again to be returned to the tavern.

The plan seemed simple enough although the devil is in the details. Not much in the way of detail could be provided other than we’d be going into a mountainous region. No idea of who or what might be calling those mountains home. But we really couldn’t decline. We informed the Black Staff that we’d begin at first light.

Gearbox

The following morning we gathered up what we’d need for survival in the mountains. Once all was assembled, we all stepped onto the rug and activated the teleport spell. At once, we were transported to a high mountain top. The view was breathtaking, having never been far from Waterdeep. The air was clean and crisp, although the arctic temperature nearly took my breath away. Gearbox piped up immediately and indicated the direction we should follow. Scanning the area, we noticed a giant floating island contained within the mountains. Enormous engines kept it aloft.

We made our way down to a gate on the mountain side which appeared to line up with a gate on the island side. There was a sphinx-like lady at the entrance. She would only let those pass who could ask her about something of which she had no knowledge. We each tried our best to come up with riddles and facts about the most obscure but it was to no avail. I attempted to ask her about the teachings of Tempus. She was well versed and refused admittance. On my failure, I felt a bit of my mind slip. My companions had a similar sensation. We came up with a solution to this impasse. One that Tempus himself would be proud.

The fight was quick and violent. Once it was over, we felt our senses regained. Several orbs that had been circling the sphinx lady were collected by Thia for later examination. I wonder how many had lost their mind in the attempt to gain entry. I didn’t have long to ponder as the ferry was on the way. We climbed aboard and were taken to the island.

Reaching the other side safely, we disembarked. A robed figure met us. He asked if we were there to serve the Grand Master of the Distressed Body. We had no idea what that was and indicated so. He then escorted us across the island. On our way, we witnessed a number of grotesque wounds on the people inhabiting the island. I tightened my grip on my shield while I steeled myself for what was inevitably to come next.

The robed figure led us into a large cathedral. It contained several balconies on either side and was

occupied by a number of other robed figures. On the dais opposite the door was seated a bone devil. The bone devil was flanked by a pair of giant half-orc monks, each wielding a huge greatsword. A pair of clerics were also at the front as well. We stepped up to the front of the cathedral. The bone devil then spoke.

“Welcome. Who among you are here to serve The Order of the Distressed Body?”

Not one of us stepped up or offered a reply in any way. The grotesque images we had witnessed were too stunning to offer any sort of response other than “None of us.”

The bone devil sighed and stood up.

“If you’ll not serve willingly, you will serve unwillingly in death or worse.”

I’m all too happy to bring a fight to end these atrocities. In the name of Tempus, the fight began. Yasuo strode right up front to engage the devil himself. Thia and Primara headed to engage the robed figures on the left side while Davian and I took the right. The evil cleric was a priority target and would be dealt with quickly and decisively. His mistake on partnering with this evil would be his last. Spells and blows were exchanged. At one point, he attempted to paralyze me in a holding spell. I guess he didn’t see my shield symbol for I am a warrior priest of Tempus and do not succumb to spells of that sort. I fought off the effects and put my rapier through his throat.

Spells were cast right and left, scoring hits against the servants of this evil cult. Surprisingly at one point, I glanced over to see how Thia and Primara were faring only to see Thia get hit with one of the Monk’s greatswords and was transformed into a crocodile. The sword-bearing Monk looked alarmed, and had apparently hoped she would turn to something less deadly. We pressed the attack and eventually overcame the cult members.

It took all our strength and our wounds were deep. I walked over to the cathedral doors and barred them. Then I sat down next to them and would cast my thaumaturgy spells to maintain the illusion that nothing was awry in the cathedral. Fortune favored us as it appeared no one really wanted an audience with the bone devil. We rested up, bound our wounds and meditated. After a while, we were set to head out again.

Chaos met us upon opening the door. Cultists scurried hither and yon in a panic across the island. We decided to use the disarray to our advantage and followed Gearbox’s directions to Kwalish. Gearbox led us to a building on the far side of the island. It had five brains floating in fluid-filled glass containers. The brains spoke to us and told us of the imminent and most likely disastrous descent of the island. Without the iron boot of the bone devil to enforce a work ethic, people began to flee the island. When that happened, the fuel was not being delivered to the tanks supplying energy to the engines. The brains operated in unison to control the island’s altitude. Without fuel, the entire thing was going to plummet soon.

We acted fast. I yelled at one of the brains as to how to get to Kwalish. The brain told me to be nicer and then said there were ten floating discs that led to Kwalish’s workstation. Each brain had control of two discs. This one agreed to keep the discs afloat for us in exchange for getting it off the island. We quickly agreed as time was becoming an issue. I tried yelling at the rest of the brains and got nowhere fast. We managed to convince each of the brains in turn that it was in their best interest to maintain the floating discs allowing us passage to Kwalish. We tricked on into it, sung to another, charmed the fourth and laid down a solid line of reasoning to the last.

Having our path secured, we hopped the discs to the floating islet containing Kwalish’s workshop. As we left the main building, one of the brains shouted out “Ware the medusa!” It was a strange thing to bellow but then again, we were talking to brains in glass containers. The workshop was filled with glass in all shapes and forms. Another brain floating in liquid was in the middle of the workshop. We detected some movement from behind the container. Each of us quickly averted our eyes. Someone shouted that it was a medusa but was undead.

“Undead!” I thought loudly to myself. Calling on Tempus again, I began chanting the undead repulsion words to turn away the undead. In the glass reflections, I could see the creature retreating to the far corner.

“Do not engage the medusa!” I bellowed out to my compatriots. “We don’t have to fight it as long as it is repulsed.”

Thia webbed up the creature for good measure. Then we made a quick decision to get Kwalish out on the magic teleporting rug along with whatever else looked important or valuable. We quickly and with much haste piled treasures and items on the rug while Gearbox took over functions of maintaining flight control of the island. Davian and Thia disconnected Kwalish from the various devices while Yasuo muscled Kwalish’s container onto the rug. I grabbed whatever else looked to be of value. Once the rug was piled high with us, Kwalish and his devices, and all the valuables, we activated the rug, teleporting back to our tavern.

Treasures spilled out with us. Several batteries were included which would power Kwalish’s container as well as an exotic suit of armor. Yasuo worked with Kwalish to understand how to don the armor and then use it to its full effect. Davian and Thia found some magical items to assist them in combat while I laid claim to a magical suit of studded leather armor. The pockets it contained would hold scores of items as I tested them out with the coins we took with us.  The armor also sprouted wings on command!

The Black Staff came to the tavern and was quite happy to see Kwalish returned to Waterdeep. She was impressed with our pile of treasure and muttered something about allowing us to keep whatever we discovered as our own. She only requested the Manual of Golems that we had found in order to, we assume, make Kwalish a new body.  She left in a carriage with Kwalish and we settled in, taking stock of our haul. This would help keep the tavern going for a while and then some as well as help us on our task to fulfill Manshoon’s mission. That will have to wait for another day.

A more seasoned Davian

Davian

“Well done boy, you didn’t suffer as much as a scratch on that island.”

“Thank you?” I thought with more than a touch of skepticism

“No, I mean it, well done.  You stayed out of the fight and let the lady take all the damage.  You really are the perfect example of what a sorcerer is.”

We were back at our tavern after a long, cold day, and I wanted nothing more than to be apart from the incessant nagging.  Lately the nagging has lessened to some extent, but he was still prone to letting me know the depth of his disappointment any time I did anything less than what a wizard would.  I’ve learned to tune him out to some extent, but it was often a battle of wills, with his winning more often than mine.

“And I must say, you made such a good choice when your power grew.  You chose fireball?  Do you have any idea how many things are resistant to fire?  Your wizard friend clearly is smarter, electrical damage affects so many more things.”

“Well then thank you for your assistance in guiding my growth.”

“One can only provide so much help.  Besides, you’re a sorcerer.” he said, spitting the word out. “I don’t know how you work.  You’re like an ant, they just knows how to do things and blindly go about their business without thinking; wizards are teachable, like actual people are, not like insects.”

“This again?  Your sharp wit just stuns me sometimes.” I did my best to drown him out, filling my head with what my father likely would have said.  I hope he would be proud of me, helping to save the town from the statues that are reanimating, though I can’t help but think about the poor souls onboard the no-longer floating island.  After fighting off the undead medusa and saving Kwalish (or, at least, his brain), the faces of those slaves fills my mind as they lay lifeless at the bottom of the ravine.

“Their fate was sealed the moment they were put in front of a furnace.” My father’s voice echoed in my mind. “You couldn’t save them, you had to think of yourselves and the people of Waterdeep.  Saving Kwalish is why you were there, and if you had stayed you would likely have perished with the rest.  Besides, they are now out of their misery.”

His words were both calming and unsettling, and I wondered why my mind felt this way.  Maybe in striving to silence Keilier, I was tapping into my subconscious.  Was this a coping mechanism that we have deep down, that would normally only manifest itself when asleep?  My father wouldn’t say such a thing, so it had to be my mind coping with the massive loss of life.

“I’m surprised you offered to ask a question of the sphinx, since you can’t afford to lose any intellect without becoming a slobbering pile of flesh.” Keilier piped up once again, apparently my mental rabbit trail lowered my defenses. “You just don’t get it, do you, your father…”

Deafening silence rushed into my mind as Keilier’s voice abruptly stopped.  I suddenly realized just how tired I was, and moments later I slipped into blissful slumber, with nothing but a reminder of the song my father used to sing when I was very young and had trouble sleeping.  A smile crept across my lips as the sound of the song filled my mind.