The Copper Piece Gang

D&D Session Summary

Following their battle with the Nyss-glass wraith, the party remained among the drowned ruins of the Witchlight Fens. Shadra’s visions had led them to a missing girl trapped in an ancient cellar, while the stone recovered from the wraith pointed toward an old estate connected to the name Kalton. After taking a short rest, the companions began searching the ruined settlement for the house beneath which the child was being held.

Their investigation clarified the history of the place. The Kalton family had been among the earliest permanent settlers in the region. Kalton Manor once stood at the center of a prosperous community that helped lay the foundations for the settlements that eventually grew throughout the Nentir Vale. Centuries of encroaching swamp had since reduced the entire site to rotting timbers, moss-covered foundations, and half-submerged stonework.

The party also found evidence that the settlement’s decline had not been peaceful. Ancient marks on the surviving structures resembled acid burns rather than ordinary fire damage. Their position and orientation suggested repeated strafing runs moving in a consistent direction. Combined with local rumors about a black dragon, the evidence indicated that the settlement had once suffered attacks from such a creature, although the party could not determine whether the dragon destroyed the community outright or merely accelerated a decline already caused by the advancing swamp.

Following the pattern of the damage led the companions to one of the largest surviving foundations. It appeared to have belonged to an important building and was therefore a likely location for Kalton Manor. The inscribed stone recovered from the wraith did not physically match the masonry there, however. Further examination revealed why: the loose stone had been worked in a different manner and was considerably older than the ruined settlement itself.

The party located a cellar door almost completely reduced to swollen, decaying wood. Beyond it, moss-covered stone stairs descended far more deeply than an ordinary household cellar should have gone. Roots, tendrils, dripping water, and softened masonry covered the passage. From below came the slow, rhythmic breathing of someone asleep.

As the companions descended, Shadra recognized the cellar from her vision.

The missing girl lay curled upon a bed of moss in one corner, barefoot and dressed in the clothes she had worn to bed. She was alive, apparently unharmed, and sleeping normally. The party approached quietly, woke her without allowing her to cry out, and reassured her as best they could. The frightened child identified herself as Elira. She remembered going to bed in Fallcrest, but nothing about how she had been transported into the swamp or how she had survived there for several days.

While the group prepared to remove Elira, the ancient inscribed stone began to resonate inside Rae’s pack. Its vibration became so fine and rapid that it felt almost like a hum. Rae examined the effect through both arcane and religious insight.

The results were extraordinary.

The stone itself dated to the earliest Nerathi era, already older than Kalton Manor, but the magical power within it was older still—by thousands of years. The impression it carried reached back beyond the familiar gods to forces of almost unimaginable antiquity. Its magic was related to the power that had allowed the Shardhold of Silence to manifest across space and time. It did not embody the Shardhold’s emotional reality of betrayal, but it drew upon the same general order of ancient magical energy used to make the fortress function.

This connection suggested that the Kaltons had built their manor over something far older than their own settlement. They may have discovered an existing structure, reused stones taken from it, or deliberately constructed their estate to gain access to what lay below.

Zarnak used his ability to burrow through the surrounding earth and trace the older masonry. He discovered that portions of the cellar had been constructed from the same ancient material. Those stones continued away from the room and connected to a much larger underground system containing both natural caverns and constructed spaces. There was clearly far more beneath Kalton Manor than the cellar the party had entered.

Rae’s examination also showed that the stone recovered from the wraith was not merely another piece of that construction. The other ancient stones carried weaker traces of the same magic, while this one served as a magical focal point—something comparable to a cornerstone around which the power of the others had been organized.

Elira could sense that something about the stone was wrong. She could not explain the feeling, but when questioned further she suddenly became distant and unresponsive, as though speaking from somewhere else. Her eyes turned white.

In that trance, Elira asked:

“Where are the other three?”

She then said:

“There aren’t supposed to be four.”

When asked what the stone did, she answered that he wanted it. When the party asked who “he” was, her response was simple:

“The beast.”

Moments later, the atmosphere of the swamp changed. The surrounding noise fell away as though the entire fen had drawn in its breath. The stone abruptly stopped resonating even though Rae had not yet carried it beyond the area that had activated it. Elira’s eyes remained white as she issued another warning:

“He comes.”

A black dragon was approaching.

The party immediately scattered for cover rather than challenging it directly. Some withdrew into the cellar, Zarnak remained separated while moving through the earth, and others concealed themselves among the ruins, water, and swamp vegetation. The dragon circled the site instead of beginning an immediate attack. Its behavior was wary and investigative, suggesting that it had sensed the stone’s return or some related disturbance at the ruins.

The companions narrowly avoided detection as the dragon repeatedly passed overhead and then landed near the cellar entrance. A smaller humanoid creature emerged from concealment and communicated briefly with it. The party overheard only fragments suggesting that something had been sensed, that it was new, and that it might still be present. The smaller creature then entered the cellar while the dragon waited above.

Inside, the scout produced a clicking sound that functioned like echolocation. Rae realized that even the slightest movement could betray the party’s position. More importantly, he understood that the ancient stone had stopped resonating deliberately—or at least responsively—as though it were hiding from the creature searching for it. Its stronger aura was also partly camouflaged by the weaker ancient stones surrounding the cellar.

The companions held still, but the scout eventually detected signs that several people were present. It could not locate the hidden stone, however. After returning to the surface and reporting to the dragon, the beast reacted visibly, examined the cellar entrance for itself, and finally departed. The smaller creature vanished into the mist, leaving the party uncertain of its location.

Once the danger had passed, the companions regrouped in the cellar. After several quiet minutes, the focal stone began resonating again, reinforcing the conclusion that it had concealed itself while the dragon and its servant were nearby.

The encounter brought several mysteries into sharper focus. The black dragon possessed some awareness of the stone, the ancient underground complex, or both. The disturbances affecting Fallcrest and the Witchlight Fens suggested that something below the ruins was changing or awakening. The stone bore the inscription identifying it as a Fourth Ward, while Elira’s trance implied the existence of three others. There were also unresolved references to someone or something beneath the house and to a man connected with forbidden knowledge.

When Elira saw the stone again, her eyes turned white once more. This time she spoke another title:

“The Ward of Choice.”

She returned to normal immediately afterward and had no memory of saying it.

The party took Elira home to Fallcrest. Her father was overwhelmed with relief and gratitude. When questioned about the Kalton name, he revealed that his grandparents had always claimed their family descended from the great Kaltons. He had treated the stories as family legend, but Elira’s connection to the ruins suggested there was truth behind them.

The family’s stories described Arrol Kalton, an immensely wealthy and celebrated early settler whose success helped establish the communities that eventually followed. The legends praised his ingenuity, fearlessness, generosity, and mastery of the land. Beneath the heroic embellishment, however, lay an important detail: Arrol had found something underground. Whatever he discovered apparently helped make him more capable and successful. He then built the cellar and manor over the site, both to access what lay beneath and to hide it.

Another family legend concerned a protected figure or responsibility called the Ward of Memory. In this context, “ward” did not mean a district of a city, but something or someone placed under another’s protection. According to the surviving tradition, there was only supposed to be one. Neither Elira’s father nor the family stories explained the newly revealed Ward of Choice, the inscribed Fourth Ward, or the identities of the missing second and third wards.

Because Elira had already been taken once and might be summoned away again, the party created an arcane ward to anchor her to her home and prevent magic from transporting her. Divine lunar power strengthened the protection further: if some force proved powerful enough to overcome the anchor, Elira would be redirected to the companions instead of returning to the cellar or falling into the control of whoever had taken her.

The group then gathered more information about the black dragon. A local hunter’s experiences supported what they had witnessed. The creature did not behave like a beast randomly terrorizing the countryside. Its appearances were concentrated around the Kalton ruins, and it had previously spared people it could seemingly have killed. It appeared to be searching for, guarding, or otherwise focused upon something beneath the old settlement.

The companions prepared for a return to the Witchlight Fens. Elira’s grateful father possessed a family recipe connected to potions that could protect against acid, allowing the group to secure stronger acid resistance for the expedition. Each party member obtained protection suited to facing a black dragon.

The session ended with Elira safely returned to her family and magically guarded, but the greater mystery unresolved. Beneath Kalton Manor lies an ancient complex built with the same class of magic that empowered the Shardhold of Silence. Somewhere within it may be the other wards, the source of the corruption spreading through the water, and the secret that drew both Elira and the black dragon to the ruins.

The party’s next objective is clear: return to the fens, survive the dragon’s attention, and discover what Arrol Kalton found beneath his house.

Quick Recap

• The August 14 session resumed in the Witchlight Fens after the defeat of the Nyss-glass wraith.
• The party learned that the ruined settlement had grown around Kalton Manor, home of one of the region’s earliest settler families.
• Acid-scarred ruins suggested that a black dragon had attacked the settlement repeatedly in the distant past.
• The party found a deep cellar beneath the likely remains of Kalton Manor.
• Elira, the missing girl from Fallcrest, was found alive and asleep on a bed of moss.
• Elira remembered going to bed but had no memory of being transported into the swamp.
• The recovered inscribed stone began resonating inside the cellar.
• Rae determined that its magic was thousands of years older than the manor and related to the power that allowed the Shardhold of Silence to move through space and time.
• The stone was a magical focal point, while other stones in the cellar carried weaker traces of the same ancient power.
• Zarnak’s burrowing revealed that the old masonry connected to a much larger underground network of caverns and constructed spaces.
• While entranced, Elira asked, “Where are the other three?” and said, “There aren’t supposed to be four.”
• Elira said that the beast wanted the stone, then warned, “He comes.”
• A black dragon arrived and searched the Kalton ruins instead of immediately attacking the party.
• A smaller servant or scout entered the cellar and used clicking sounds resembling echolocation to search for the hidden companions.
• The ancient stone stopped resonating while the dragon and its scout were nearby, as though hiding from them.
• The party avoided combat and remained concealed until the dragon departed.
• When shown the stone again, Elira entered another trance and named it “The Ward of Choice.”
• Elira’s father revealed that his family claimed descent from the great Kaltons.
• Family stories described Arrol Kalton, who found something underground and built his manor over it to access and conceal it.
• Another Kalton legend identified a Ward of Memory, supposedly the only ward that should have existed.
• The identities of the second and third wards—and why the recovered stone is called the Fourth Ward—remain unknown.
• The party created magical protections anchoring Elira to her home and redirecting her to them if she is transported again.
• Local information suggested the black dragon is focused specifically on the Kalton ruins rather than attacking the countryside at random.
• Elira’s father helped the party obtain stronger acid resistance in preparation for confronting or evading the dragon.
• The session ended with Elira safe and the party preparing to return to the Witchlight Fens and explore the ancient complex beneath Kalton Manor.