The Copper Piece Gang

D&D Session Summary

With the Shardhold of Silence defeated, the party found itself facing the consequences of an accomplishment that should have been impossible. The fortress had been more than a physical structure. It was an idea made real, sustained by betrayal and the emotional forces surrounding Vitriol Fulcrum. By rejecting vengeance and breaking the cycle of betrayal, the companions had fundamentally changed it. The Shardhold still existed, but its legendary impregnability had been broken, and the repercussions of that victory were likely to spread far beyond the fortress itself.

At the center of everything was the mysterious man the party had freed: Avarice.

Avarice had apparently spent lifetimes within the Shardhold, although time had little meaning to him there. Everyone he had once known was long dead. More troubling was the reason he had been hidden. His imprisonment appeared to have been less a punishment than a form of protection. Avarice possessed a memory or knowledge that the world itself was seemingly not supposed to retain, something connected to the ancient conflict of the gods and the Dawn War.

This explained why powerful forces wanted him and why Vladin had gone to extraordinary lengths to obtain legal rights to Avarice’s soul through documents in the City of Brass. Vladin knew Avarice possessed something important, but apparently did not understand the full nature of that knowledge.

Rae’s earlier instinct had been to remove the danger entirely by killing Avarice. Krovuur had stopped him, reasoning that if death were the desired solution, whoever constructed the elaborate defenses around Avarice could simply have killed him long ago.

When asked what they should do next, Avarice supplied only a cryptic answer:

“The veil is the key.”

Through discussion, the group concluded that he meant the Nentir Vale, although Avarice himself did not know that modern name. The knowledge seemed instinctively embedded within him without his understanding why.

The party still faced the immediate problem of escaping the Shardhold. An Arcana investigation revealed something extraordinary: although permanently anchored to the Eighth Layer, the Shardhold could manifest elsewhere across both space and time. Its remaining energies could potentially be manipulated as a means of transportation.

Doing so was extraordinarily dangerous.

The party worked together through a series of checks to understand and control the Shardhold. They first discovered how to manipulate its energies, then how to avoid the potentially devastating psychic consequences of interacting directly with the emotional reality embodied by Vitriol Fulcrum. Their success allowed them to experience those forces without suffering permanent madness or psychic injury.

The final question was not merely where to travel, but when.

Their calculations pointed toward Fallcrest approximately six months before Rae first arrived there.

The realization opened a dizzying number of possibilities. This would be a Fallcrest in which Rae had no reputation, old allies did not yet know the party, and many of the events that shaped their adventures had not happened.

The group quickly began exploiting the strange logic of time travel. Rae realized he could hide his Aegis Blade where his younger self would eventually discover it. Because that version of Rae would already possess the weapon when later offered a magical item, he could choose something different instead, effectively creating a closed temporal loop and gaining another item without erasing the original.

More importantly, the group realized they could deliberately become part of their own history.

After arriving safely in the past, they traveled to the Tower of Waiting and sought out Zevron and Dragos. Neither man yet understood the crisis that would eventually unfold. The party explained events that, from Zevron and Dragos’s perspective, had not happened yet—including the golden key and the role they would eventually play in helping the companions.

The revelation provided an elegant explanation for something the group had experienced much later: Zevron and Dragos had known where to go and what needed to happen because the party themselves had traveled into the past and told them.

The apparent coincidence had been a time loop all along.

Zevron then produced an even greater surprise.

He possessed a letter from Vladin.

Vladin had given it to him sometime earlier with instructions to deliver it to a group of people who would eventually arrive. He had not provided names.

The message read:

“You have accomplished precisely what I feared you might. But do not mistake this for regret. Rather, history has resumed. The game we have been playing was merely the opening move. You have clearly discovered that you must return to the Nentir Vale. Do not trust anyone who claims to remember the First Age. Especially if they are telling the truth.”

The warning immediately cast suspicion on Avarice. He appeared to be exactly the sort of person Vladin was describing: someone carrying genuine memories from an age no living person should remember. However, “do not trust” did not necessarily mean Avarice was intentionally deceptive. He might be dangerous, manipulated, mistaken about what he remembers, or connected to something even he does not fully understand.

With Zevron and Dragos beginning the work that would eventually lead to the party’s own future adventures, the companions turned their attention to events occurring around Fallcrest.

Something was already wrong.

Residents reported that the river had inexplicably reversed direction for several seconds. Animals had begun appearing without eyes. During the night, every bell in Fallcrest rang exactly once at the same moment, regardless of size or purpose. At apparently the same instant, witnesses again reported the river flowing backward.

Worse, a local man’s young daughter vanished from her home.

The party began with the river.

Fishing produced specimens that were unquestionably wrong. Fish had not simply lost their eyes through injury. Magic had physically altered them. Nature and Arcana investigations revealed that some transformative magical force was moving through the river itself.

Tracing that contamination pointed south toward the Witchlight Fens.

The companions followed the river downstream. The farther south they traveled, the worse the mutations became. Fish developed increasingly bizarre deformities, including fins growing in unnatural orientations. Eventually the river widened into the humid, oppressive swamps of the Fens.

The party remembered that the region was also considered the hunting domain of a black dragon, adding another danger to an already unpleasant destination.

As they moved deeper into the swamp, signs of instability increased. Small tremors shook the ground. Creatures living in or near the water showed greater corruption, while birds and insects were less affected. Everything suggested that the source lay somewhere ahead.

Eventually the group discovered the remnants of an ancient settlement almost completely reclaimed by the swamp.

Then they realized something was watching them.

Dark humanoid shapes appeared through the mist, only to disappear when illuminated. Each time the party attempted to expose one, nothing was there. Yet the sensation of being observed remained.

Finally, a dark robed figure appeared close enough to see.

Combat began.

The creature immediately attacked the party’s minds, whispering:

“You betrayed me.”

Its psychic assault filled the companions with doubt and regret while its physical attacks revealed claws formed from familiar black Nyss glass. The creature could teleport across the battlefield, leaving dangerous shards of the glass behind wherever it moved.

Soon another whisper followed:

“You have opened the door.”

Diseased rats crawled from the swamp, and the fight became a mixture of physical combat and psychological attack. The creature continually invoked memories of betrayal, forcing the companions to confront painful moments from their past.

Shadra responded differently.

Rather than simply attacking the figure, she tried speaking to it. She urged it to release its obsession with betrayal and embrace the same forgiveness the party had discovered within the Shardhold. Something responded.

The creature stopped attacking Shadra directly.

There appeared to be an intelligence inside the violent manifestation that wanted to communicate but could not fully control its own actions. Shadra continued reaching toward it mentally while the rest of the party fought to contain it.

Through that connection, Shadra received a vision.

A young girl stood alone in an ancient cellar, surrounded by cracked masonry and roots. The girl appeared to match the age of the child who had disappeared from Fallcrest. The cellar itself looked extremely old and abandoned, perhaps somewhere within the ruined settlement the party was currently exploring.

Meanwhile, Rae and the others locked the creature down. Rae used his swordmage abilities to prevent it from escaping freely, while the party layered attacks, status effects, teleportation control, and radiant and necrotic powers against it. Eventually the creature was overwhelmed.

As it died, Shadra received one final vision.

The missing girl looked directly toward her as though aware of Shadra’s presence. Shadra could not hear her, but managed to read the girl’s lips:

“It’s beneath the house.”

Then:

“Fear it.”

The creature collapsed into fragments of black Nyss glass.

Among the remains the party discovered a piece of ancient masonry bearing an inscription:

ALTON
Fourth Ward

Investigation revealed that the stone had once belonged to either an important urban structure or an extremely wealthy estate. Ordinary homes would not have used this type of construction. Combined with Shadra’s vision, the evidence suggested that the missing child was somewhere beneath an ancient, once-wealthy estate now swallowed by the Witchlight Fens.

The creature itself appeared to have formed from Nyss glass while incorporating physical material from that same location, explaining why the old stone had been trapped inside its body.

Rae collected one of the remaining Nyss-glass shards.

Simply touching it produced a strong sense of foreboding. Prolonged contact would not immediately overwhelm him, but carrying it close to his body for weeks or months could slowly produce effects similar to those experienced by the creature, although considerably weaker. Rae wrapped the shard for safekeeping, knowing it would need to be properly contained.

The session ended with the party standing in the ruins of the Witchlight Fens, the wraith destroyed and a new trail established.

Somewhere nearby lies an ancient estate connected to Alton’s Fourth Ward.

Somewhere beneath that house is the missing girl.

And whatever is there, she warned them to fear it.

Quick Recap

• The party confirmed that defeating the Shardhold of Silence was an unprecedented accomplishment with potentially far-reaching consequences.
• The freed prisoner was identified as Avarice, bearer of forbidden memories connected to the First Age and the ancient war of the gods.
• Avarice told the party, “The veil is the key,” leading them toward the Nentir Vale.
• The party learned to manipulate the damaged Shardhold’s presence across both space and time.
• They traveled to Fallcrest roughly six months before Rae originally arrived there.
• The group met younger versions of Zevron and Dragos and set in motion events that would eventually lead to the golden key and their own future adventures.
• Zevron produced a letter Vladin had left specifically for the group that would eventually arrive.
• Vladin warned that history had resumed and cautioned them not to trust anyone who remembers the First Age, especially if that person is telling the truth.
• Strange events struck Fallcrest: the river briefly flowed backward, animals lost their eyes, every bell rang simultaneously, and a young girl disappeared.
• Magical investigation traced the disturbances south along the river toward the Witchlight Fens.
• Mutations became increasingly severe as the party approached the swamp.
• The party encountered a Nyss-glass wraith-like creature obsessed with betrayal and accompanied by corrupted rats.
• Shadra attempted to communicate with the creature through forgiveness rather than simply destroying it.
• Through that connection, Shadra saw the missing girl trapped in an ancient cellar beneath a ruined estate.
• Before the creature died, the girl communicated: “It’s beneath the house. Fear it.”
• The wraith left behind Nyss glass and a piece of ancient masonry inscribed “ALTON — Fourth Ward.”
• Evidence points toward an abandoned wealthy estate somewhere in the Witchlight Fens as the party’s next destination.
• Rae recovered a Nyss-glass shard but learned that prolonged exposure may slowly affect him.
• The session ended with the party having defeated the wraith and gained a clear lead toward the missing girl and whatever dangerous force lies beneath the ancient house.