Sorry for having to double up on the recaps. Mom's been in the hospital, and last Sunday I was laid out sick myself. So... The party is currently at level 10. Garrick has entered retirement, and the party has a couple of paladins now (one part time). Faeron's vampirism has become, as best anyone can tell, permanent. (Game mechanics being what they are, the prospect of clerical restoration or something may yet be on the table, but it hasn't come up.) He's been feeding on disreputable characters so far, and minimally at that. Some of the party members hit it off with a group of fae partying in a grove outside Neverwinter and rescued a faerie princess from a bone devil in an inter-planar hostage rescue. Bor was rewarded in particular with a bag of holding, and the party is now regarded as friendly by an unnamed fae faction as a result. During the party's oceanic trip from Neverwinter to Waterdeep, the party encountered an aquatic temple doubling as the lair of a beholder. The beholder and numerous other creatures native to the Underdark were cultists worshiping a kraken trapped between dimensions at the temple site. The monster cultists had been warped from their original forms but were interrupted attempting to explain what had gone wrong by one of the party paladins, who felt it was more important to tell them that they were "idiots" during the information dump, proving himself to have fully embraced the traditions of the campaign. ;) The party agreed to offer some tribute to the kraken in order to pass freely from the sacred temple area, and during negotiation of the specifics, the party learned a bit about one of its members. Due to his unique heritage, he was able to release the kraken and seemingly restore some of the damage caused by... well, the party doesn't really know due to the whole "idiots" thing. A mystical experience imprinted on him knowledge too great for his mundane retention about the nature of the apocalyptic threat to all of existence, and they fled the temple before it completely sank into the ocean. The kraken cultists expressed interest in future allegiance, particularly to Derik but to the party generally. They think Keth is kind of a dick. A few days later, the party was attacked by pirates. The party took the captain and two other pirates prisoner and pressed on to Waterdeep in the captured vessel. Upon arrival, one of the pirate slaves was released due to his having been a citizen captured at sea by the pirates. The captain was released into custody for reward money and the ship sold to the authorities, allowing party members to cover the cost of equipment repair & purchase, restock of provisions, etc. An abused tiefling female released from pirate enslavement has agreed to work full time for Faeron, paid salary plus commission and general expenses (including fine clothes and a respectable lifestyle as appropriate). The party now has several slaves, acquired legally in taking possession of the pirate ship, although some party members aren't quite sure what to do with them yet. The party's reputation, social standing, and financial state are meaningfully improved at this point, and they are capable of marshaling resources to take on more substantial quests if/as they so choose.
