031 - 250630 - Raiders of the Lost Vault - Lost Vault I
Date: 446 PC, Brightwane 25
Players:
Loot:
Dinner plate-sized purple scale (Raven)
Ledger (Ragnum)
Fancy Circular Red Rug (Odett/Raven)
7 bottles of quality wine and spirits, ~450 years old [Scholars Tent]
magical ice bucket, keeps ice cold for centuries [Scholars Tent]
3 x 100gp gold nuggets (can be used for crafting, 60gp worth of gold each if we divide it up) [Scholars Tent]
metal rope from gilded spiders [Scholars Tent]
Chipped Gold Signet Ring (~15 gp) [Odett]
Sapphire-Glass Hookah Mouthpiece (~25 gp) [Ragnum]
Valet’s Satchel: Contains worn gloves, a griffon-head wax seal stamp, and a tin of lavender shoe polish. [Scholars Tent]
Red-Lacquered Writing Set: A dry inkwell, a pair of fine quills, and a scrap of verse on expensive parchment: “Coin cannot quiet wings / nor ledgers balance longing…” [Scholars Tent]
Pair of Silk Viewing Gloves: Stained at the fingertips, once used to handle sensitive or high-value objects. [Scholars Tent]
Unlabeled Iron Key: Doesn’t match anything you've seen, but might open something further in... [Ragnum]
That night in a whispered voice around a table in the mess tent, Ragnum shared what Dev, Keres, Raven, Odett, and he found on their search for long forgotten wealth in the city...
We found what looked like a well-heeled district after a bit of poking around the city, and once we did we immediately came across The Tharnic Imperial Trust Bank. However, it looked like we weren't the first people to think that the bank might have something worth finding post-collapse. The main door of the massive stone building was barricaded from the inside with whatever furniture was available, and it appeared as if someone had attempted but failed to burn down that barrier during the early period after the city was sealed off. However, whatever protections were on the outside of the bank had long since faded and Raven was able to just climb in a window and help the rest of us up with a rope.
Inside was the main bank lobby, finely carved white and black checkerboarded marble was covered in half a millennium's worth of dust. After spotting a warning written on the wall that read "By the grace of Calvireth, this house is sealed, let any thief be marked by the wings of justice," initially made me concerned we would be facing many magical protections, but after examination, it appeared most protective enchantments had faded generations ago. It appeared that the contents of this room had been used to bar the front door, so we next explored a side office.
There we found seven bodies that had been enshrouded in preparation for burial once the crisis they were caught in had been resolved...clearly no one survived to see to the burial. While their names were written on the outside of their shrouds, there was little indication of what killed these individuals--the bank was such a sterile environment that the bodies had essentially been mummified--or who they were or what their lives were like in the Imperium beyond a magical memento of one man's child. When we return, we should plan to provide them with proper final rites of some sort. Humdrum documents, only believed important to the people of the city in the days before the collapse, were found throughout the office, almost as if to appear unassuming and to help hide an illusory wall blocking a secret corridor.
In the secret corridor, the beautiful checkerboarded marble platform was used to conceal a pressure plate that Raven and Keres triggered, resulting in poisonous gas filling the hallway. Fortunately, we were able to fan the gas away and proceed to a room of ledgers that recorded bank visitors.
The ledger room had the most amazingly soft red rug, which Oddet and Raven decided to bring back to camp with us. And on the wall, housed in a frame reading "For identification," was a dinner plate-sized iridescent purple scale that appears to be from a draconic source--although I cannot be sure, as purple scales are not common among the better-studied types of dragons. It appears to be from a rare dragon species. Perhaps this is from a species previously thought to be extinct, but saved in the rift like a time capsule. I checked the ledgers for any names we would notice, and other than one of the faculty members of the mage tower, I did not find anyone--I specifically checked if High Priest Attit and her assistant Letha appeared, and they did not. I took the most recent ledger in case we find a use for the names, but this room was full of such ledgers, each volume tracking bank visitors for one of hundreds of years. Continuing, we found a lounge for people to observe materials they are picking up from the bank vaults.
The lounge contained some furniture, including a bar cart that housed seven bottles of high-quality wines and spirits that had survived the ages intact. Additionally, among the bottles was an enchanted bucket that appeared to be continuously ice cold. No doubt, this was to entertain bank patrons. When we opened the next door, we immediately attracted the attention of three guilded spiders, which attacked us. We managed to kill all three of the spiders, even though most of our normal physical attacks seemed less effective. Once we searched the spiders, we discovered that they appear to eat metal and excrete it as a special rope and as gold nuggets. However, the shadows were beginning to lengthen, so we decided to return to camp before dark.
After the fight with the spiders
The room is quiet again. You take a few minutes to check the space more carefully. Beneath the dust and broken furniture, you find signs of the banks wealthy clients from centuries past. A few personal items have remained scattered or wedged under debris, forgotten until now.
Chipped Gold Signet Ring (~15 gp) [Odett]
Sapphire-Glass Hookah Mouthpiece (~25 gp) [Ragnum]
Valet’s Satchel: Contains worn gloves, a griffon-head wax seal stamp, and a tin of lavender shoe polish. [Scholars Tent]
Red-Lacquered Writing Set: A dry inkwell, a pair of fine quills, and a scrap of verse on expensive parchment: “Coin cannot quiet wings / nor ledgers balance longing…” [Scholars Tent]
Pair of Silk Viewing Gloves: Stained at the fingertips, once used to handle sensitive or high-value objects. [Scholars Tent]
Unlabeled Iron Key: Doesn’t match anything you've seen, but might open something further in [Ragnum]
035 - 250721 - The Vault Strikes Back - Lost Vault II
Players:
Loot:
2 x Balls of Woven Golden thread (spider cocoons) [Don and Dev]
*Garrnet Cufflinks [Ragnum]
Princess Cut Emerald and Pearl Necklace [Keres]
Platinum Sun Medallion [Raven]
Crest of the house Valdurant (known for arcane, finance, and civil projects)
Lockbox with 78 gp in mixed Thranic coinage [15 gp 6 sp each]
6 Prestine Obsidian Dice [Raven]
Alchemical Aether Extract, dried up [to Merv?]
*Heavy Bronze Hammer, "Stablity through Strength" [Scholars Tent]
Old genealogy records, need to be translated [Scholars Tent]
Collection of Fine Art, nudes [ Leave in Odett's Tend to cheer her up]
*Single left-handed gauntlet, with tools that come out of fingers [Donk, currently can't take off]
Metal Great Club +1 [Donk]
Contents of the house Valdurant Vault
Coinage (387 gp value):
170 gp
1,800 sp (180 gp)
3,700 cp (37 gp)
13.95 gp each = (78+170+180+37)*0.15/5 if we give starshard its full cut
Gems (390 gp value):
10 gp each (×4): Blue quartz, Azurite, Moss agate, Rhodochrosite
50 gp each (×7):
Chalcedony,
Jasper,
Moonstone, [ Keres ]
Quartz,
Zircon ×3
Art Objects (25 gp each, ×4 = 100 gp):
Embroidered silk handkerchief [Ragnum]
Small mirror set in a painted wooden frame
Two carved bone statuettes
Mundane Valuables - Stored in lacquered chests and sealed scroll tubes:
Steel Alchemy Scrolls: A treatise on alchemy etched on rolled steel cylinders
Dragon Epic Scroll: A long poem praising a dragon—possibly tied to the family's mythic history. The verses speak of a bronze-scaled wyrm named Serathun, called the Hearthstorm, known for brokering peace between feuding mortal houses and guarding an ancient vault of memories. The poem reveres the dragon's foresight, compassion, and thunderous fury when roused to wrath. The Valderants write of Serathun as a guiding patron, invoked in times of civil strife and personal doubt.
Hourglass: Filled with shimmering sand, delicate and decorative [Donk]
Magic Items - Neatly compartmentalized in preserved velvet-lined drawers:
Potion of Healing x3 [Dev, Keres, Donk]
Spell Scroll (Cantrip): Sorcerous Burst [Dev]
Potion of Growth [Raven]
Potion of Fire Breath [keres]
Potion of Fire Giant Strength [Ragnum]
Potion of Clairvoyance [Ragnum]
Gloves of Swimming and Climbing [Dev]
Trident of Fish Command [Keres]
Hook:
ipsum lorem
XXX - YYMMDD - Vault of the Furious: Two Keyed Rift
Date:
446 PC, Ashfall 2
Players:
Ragnum
Dev
Draylor
Die-Anna
Odett
Loot:
49 gold
5 bezoars [1 for each player]
11 additional items, see description below
After Actions:
Dev's letter to Sophia:
Ashfall 2
It’s a new month, but everyone is still settling into Sifren. It’s starting to look more like a mercenary outpost and less like a haunted ruin, but there’s still plenty of work to do. Ragnum has made his home in the Skyridge district, in the remains of a dwarven temple built into the cliff face. I probably should have paid more attention to which god it belongs to, but outside of the occasional prayer to Vergadain I never gave much thought to the dwarven pantheon.
While he was going through the temple, Ragnum found a key that matched the one we found in the Imperial Trust Bank. He and Draylor stopped by to show me the key and enlist me for another expedition to the bank. It wasn’t a tough sell – maybe we’ll find some spell scrolls. We also recruited Die-Anna and Odett.
The evidence of our previous battles on the first floor of the bank had been cleared away since our last visit. Opposite the Valderant vault, we found a door with a keyhole that Ragnum’s key fit. Inside, there was podium with another keyhole. The original key we found fit it. As Ragnum turned the key, an electric hum filled the room and a combination lock appeared above an indent in the far wall. It was set at 652. A portal appeared, emanating a weird light.
After unsuccessfully trying to change the number on the combination dial, Draylor went through the portal. After a moment, the rest of us followed him into a room where a thin, greenish liquid weeped from seams along the floor. Ragnum determined this was some type of acid. A metal slab showing signs of corrosion blocked access to the vault’s next chamber. It didn’t have a handle, just a recessed panel that was warm to the touch.Die-Anna never fails to amaze me. She did some kind of fancy kick against the door, and somehow that got it to disengage and open. The new room was uncomfortably hot – pipes lined the ceiling and walls, blasting everything with hot, dry air periodically. Ragnum’s tremorsense perceived movement beyond the next door, which was lined with an airtight gasket.
Die-Anna did try kicking this door, but that trick only works once. Draylor created 10 gallons of water, but that just kicked whatever system was maintaining the oven-like environment into overdrive. I finally spotted an emergency manual override switch, and we were able to move on to the next chamber.
And that’s where the trouble started. We caught a gelatinous cube in the middle of eating one of four dwarven statues in the room. Enraged, Ragnum called upon Dumathon and a beam of light stuck the cube, shattering the stone bits inside of it. Die-Anna somersaulted over Draylor’s bear form to punch the cube, and it collapsed into a puddle. We recovered 49 gold, which will mostly become the property of the Starshard Banner, and 11 other items.
The door to the next chamber opened easily. A bridge extended over a river of lime water. Ragnum noticed dozens of bezoars in the alkaline water, and used mage hand to fish the gross things up. The door to the next chamber was slightly corroded, but Die-Anna was still able to open it.
This new room had some residual magic energy that was pulling at anything metal. Our more armored companions felt a slight pull towards one wall, but it was not strong enough to be a hindrance. There were polished stone spheres in each corner of the room, and Ragnum was able to intuit the correct pattern to open the door to the final chamber of the vault.
The final room was bigger than the others, and it was carved of seamless obsidian. A glass jar held a fist-sized ooze, which had consumed another bezoar inside. Ragnum had a strong sense of danger from the thing, which was labeled as a “catalyst of self-possession” – whatever that means.
And then we noticed a black ooze climbing on the wall towards us. Die-Anna tried to make an improvised explosive with flaming oil, but she missed when she lobbed it towards the ooze. Draylor cast Flaming Sphere, which slowed it down. I cast Chromatic Orb and obliterated the ooze, but the sphere’s ricochet nearly hit one of my teammates. I don’t feel good about using this spell anymore.
We decided the catalyst would be safer in the bank’s vault, so we closed everything up behind us on the way out. Ragnum even put back most of the bezoars, though I think we each kept one. (You never know when you’ll need a gross ingredient for a spell.)
Draylor has been asking about trying to make contact with the psionic dragon again, so I think we’ll try to do that soon.
The Iridescent "Drift" Torque [Draylor]
3 Charges/Day: Spend 1 charge to "drift" (turn 90°) during a 20ft+ straight move. Adds 1d6 force damage to the next hit. Grants Acid Resistance while in Wild Shape.
This heavy torque is made of braided "glass-steel" and gold-flecked obsidian. Its surface is permanently slick with a magical, shimmering oil that allows it to bypass air resistance and friction.
● Integrated Form: When you use your Wild Shape feature, this torque does not merge into your body. Instead, it magically resizes to fi t your new form as a shimmering collar or harness.
● Chem-Shielded: While transformed, you have Resistance to Acid damage, a permanent benefit of the item's exposure to the vault's unique slimes.
● The Drift (3 Charges/Day): When you move at least 20 feet in a straight line while in Wild Shape, you can expend 1 charge to "drift"—instantly turning up to 90 degrees without spending any extra movement or losing your momentum. If you hit a creature with a melee attack immediately after this turn, your movement adds high-torque power to the strike, dealing an extra 1d6 force damage.
● Recovery: The torque regains all expended charges daily at dawn.
The Vigilant Hearth-Stone [Odett]
1/Day Bonus Action: Reduces the ability to grant a creature in your Twilight Sanctuary temporary HP equal to [1d6 + your Wisdom modifier.] from a full action to a bonus action.
This marble shard bears the unblinking eye of Helm. It feels warm, as if it has been sitting by a hearth, and pulses with a faint bronze light when danger is near.
Properties:
● Sentinel’s Traction: You have advantage on Strength and Dexterity saving throws made against effects that would knock you prone or move you against your will.
● Corrosive Shield: You have resistance to acid damage.
● Reaction: Counter-Steer: When a creature you can see within your Twilight Sanctuary is targeted by an attack, you can use your reaction to cause the stone to fl are. The attacker must subtract 1d4 from their attack roll as the bronze light momentarily dazzles them or reinforces the target’s guard. You can use this feature after the attack is rolled but before the DM declares whether it hits or misses.
Dual-Core Archive [Ragnum]
1/Day: You’re able to concentrate on two spells at once but have disadvantage on concentration checks whilst doing so. Lasts up to 1 Minute.
A cylinder of "Logic-Steel" etched with shifting dwarven ciphers. Inside, two concentric brass rings spin in opposite directions, humming with a high-frequency sound.
Properties:
● Twin Concentration: Once per long rest, when you cast a concentration spell while already concentrating on another, you can engage the Archive to maintain both. This state lasts for up to 1 minute.
● The Risk: While dual-concentrating, you have disadvantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration. If you take damage and fail the save, both spells end immediately.
● Bonus: You have advantage on Intelligence (Investigation) checks to decode any physical mechanism or cipher.
The Kyu-Grip Seals [Die-Anna]
+1 Arm Wraps that provide some added mobility when you use Flurry of Blows that also gives you a charge effect.
Heavy bands of matte-black elasticized stone reinforced with braided mithral-wire. The surface is tacky and vibrates with a low-frequency hum
Properties:
● High-Traction Grip: You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with your Unarmed Strikes.
● The Drift Surge: When you use Flurry of Blows, you can move up to 10 feet between your attacks. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.
● Torque-Up: Once per turn, if you move at least 15 feet in a straight line before hitting with an Unarmed Strike, you add your Profi ciency Bonus to the damage as the seals translate your speed into a high-torque impact.
The Night Phase Lens [Dev]
A +1 Spell Focus that offers a way for you to get up close and personal with the next thing you fight, gives bonuses when fighting near your illusions.
This device consists of three concentric brass rings spinning around a hexagonal crystal lens. It hums with a low-frequency vibration, creating a visual "lag" or ghosting effect that blurs the lines between reality and mirage.
Properties:
● Signal Sync: This prism acts as a +1 spellcasting focus.
● Ghost-Frame Drift: While you are concentrating on an Illusion spell, you can use a bonus action to swap places with one of your illusions within 30 feet.
● Signal Interference: If a creature misses you with a melee attack while you are within 5 feet of one of your illusions, you can use your reaction to strike back. The illusion fl ickers violently, dealing 2d8 Psychic damage to the attacker and pushing them 10 feet away.
● Overclock (1/Long Rest): You can cast an Illusion spell of 3rd level or lower that normally has a casting time of 1 action as a bonus action instead.
The "Hulk" Fist [Odett]
A +1 Mace (1d8/1d10) made of Berronar statue stone. It is magically immune to all forms of corrosion.
Lead-Lined "O" Case
Contains a perfectly preserved map of the Skyward Ridge, safe from environmental decay.
Acoustic Tuning Fork
Action: Grant allies within 10ft advantage on saves against being Charmed or Frightened for 1 minute.
Obsidian "Nitrous" Dice
1/Long Rest: Roll 1d6 and add the result to your Initiative or a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check.
Caustic Neutralizer (consumable)
Action: Splash on a creature to instantly end the "Corroded" effect or stop ongoing acid damage.
The Catalyst’s Echo
A petrified slime core fragment. Grants Advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks when interacting with Oozes and Slimes.
Unresolved Threads:
item 1
item 2