⚔️ Taldorei — Campaign Status

Abyssal Anchors Crisis · Current through Session 82: The Wraiths of the Temple of Shadow · Party Level 12 · Intelligence update: Fetch's letter (2026-06-27)
THREAT LEVEL: CRITICAL. A divine gate opened in the Umbra Hills and the Demon Prince of Indulgence, now named, Graz'zt : crossed into the Prime Material. Jorenn Village evacuated. The Iron Authority is working to bring back the god Bane. An intercepted letter exposes the rival relic hunter Blaine Kraverrogg as a Cult of Vecna agent racing the party to the Shadebarrow, which his letter reveals to be an Orcus-sealed vault of "pure malice." New (S78): the devil army is marching from the Umbra Hills (5-10 days out, splitting toward Kraghammer and Westruun); a corpse-raising fog and a necromantic blight now spill from the Shadebarrow. The party reaches Ebonroot and gains the blighted druid Camellia Springshower as a guide to the barrow. New (S79): the party is inside the Shadebarrow. The signet ring opened the iron gate, which does not reopen from within without it, and the portal in was one-way, so they are committed. The interior has been rebuilt since Camellia was last inside. A wall tally lists seven keys with six already struck through, meaning someone worked this place ahead of them. The party holds three Glyph Keys. New (S80): past an abjuration mist barrier the barrow opens into the Dark Gardens, a working complex with staff, guards and livestock: a hatchery of caged, shrunken, blighted monsters holding a second black gate; a failed garden farmed for blighted food by vine-grown skeletons under three or more huge shambling mounds; and the Garden of Dreams, where the party met and killed Theria, a long-dead fae gardener bound by an arrangement to "a role in a greater purpose" he would not name. He named Meirja, absent owner of the hatchery, as not fae and not of this plane. A fourth Glyph Key names four unvisited areas: Vermin Halls, Swine Run, Hatchery, Temples of Turmoil. New (S81): a locked door off the failed garden leads to Temples of Despair; the DM corrects the fourth Glyph Key's naming on the spot; it is not Temples of Turmoil, which remains a separate, unfound area. Two mirror shrine chambers, the Temple of Light and the Temple of Shadow, guarded by animated gargoyle statues; the party clears the first and finds a dead Cult of Vecna operative, the first direct sign of that cult operating this deep in the complex. Imdra rejoins the party. The session ends with the party opening a door in the Temple of Shadow, contents unknown. New (S82): the door was a closet, and opening it woke eight wraiths from the shadow pillars: a psychic touch that halves hit point maximums, and a burst of psychic energy when each one dies. The party destroyed all eight, short rested in the secret hallway between the temples, and reached level 12. Teleportation is blocked inside the dungeon; the teleportation circles still work.

Current Status

LocationInside Temples of Despair, a sub-zone of the Shadebarrow reached through a locked door off the failed garden. Resting in the secret hallway between the Temple of Light and the Temple of Shadow, both temples' guardians destroyed. No way back out the way they came, and teleportation is blocked (in-game year 1836)
Party Level12
Last Session82: The Wraiths of the Temple of Shadow
Anchors3 deployed · 1 captured/vaulted (needs moving out of Westruun) · 1 left to place
Immediate goalFinish the Temple of Shadow: whether the wailing stops, and what is behind its other doors; beyond that, the dead garden, Temples of Turmoil, Vermin Halls, and Swine Run, all still unfound. Most of the Session 80 and 81 loot is still undistributed (the Blight Staff is now Imdra's), and the wight armor still has not gone onto Camellia
Party gold100 platinum and 1,000 gold from the Garden of Dreams, plus a 1,000 gp circlet and a 100 gp cuff — undistributed

The Party

Anastasia "Ana" RavenswoodHuman Artificer · Kayla
Bohdi ShadowtwistBugbear Sorcerer · Jeremy
Finnick "Finn" Marigold MossglowGnome Illrigger · Sirwen
Grai MalinHalf-Orc Barbarian · Liane · out indefinitely
Imdra d'VadalisHuman Druid · Theresa
Ki NightwhisperAarakocra Bard · Kevin
CompanionsThrack (Dwarf, level 6 rogue) · Camellia Springshower (Firbolg druid, guide to the Shadebarrow) · Zelthrax (Velum dragon; bond with Imdra expired, still with party)

Active Threats

  • Graz'zt, Demon Prince of Indulgence overwhelming
  • Devil army from the Umbra Hills — 5-10 days out marching
  • Shadebarrow fog — raising the dead, spreading blight rising
  • Iron Authority — reviving Bane foe
  • Blaine Kraverrogg / Cult of Vecna — racing to the Shadebarrow foe
  • Whatever is taking the children (Umbra Hills)
  • Liora Mossglow / The Mawl at large
  • Three-eyed being — orchestrator unknown

Council Leads — The Endgame

Active — party committed
Remnants
The party's chosen lead: deal with the remnants, recover the bomb, and potentially rescue Alorah Vasorin's soul. Third Abyssal Anchor still to place; device was in Westruun. New: the Remnants appear to be a Cult of Vecna cell holed up in the Shadebarrow — and Blaine Kraverrogg's Vecna cell is excavating it for an Orcus-sealed power. A Vecna cult as "ally" warrants suspicion.
League of Miracles
Mage mercenary group — recruit their wizard via the envoy to the Palace of Wonder.
Calmyros the Unbroken ally
Adamantine Dragon Paladin, opposed to the Iron Authority. Turn his people to help.
Magnus Wilds' Theory
The Archeart wove the Weave from their own essence — repairing it needs divine essence from many demigods.

Open Questions

  • What did Orcus seal beneath the Shadebarrow — and what happens if a Vecna cult breaches it?
  • Does killing Theria have consequences the party will feel?
  • Who is Meirja, absent owner of the hatchery — not fae, not of this plane?
  • What is the "greater purpose," and who set Theria's arrangement?
  • Where is the dead garden, and what is behind the unexplored west door?
  • Where does the second black gate in the hatchery lead?
  • What is the blight actually for — the same corruption is in the crops, the caged monsters, and Camellia herself
  • What is "Bloodpen"?
  • Are the Remnants and Blaine's Cult of Vecna the same group, allies, or rivals?
  • Who is the Keeper of the Whispered Truth (the cult's leader)?
  • Did Father Abraham survive the breach? Does the Bastion still stand?
  • Who is Oz? (went North West)
  • Where are Liora and Zarissa?
  • Who was Pip, and what did the disposal mean?
  • Is the captured anchor truly inert?
  • What killed The Slain Enchanter in the Temple of Light — with no blood anywhere else in the room?
  • Is the Temple of Shadow truly cleared now that its wraiths are gone, and what is behind its other doors?

Recent Loot & Notes

  • Vex: 18 healing potions to the shared pool (5 Healing · 7 Greater · 4 Superior · 2 Supreme)
  • Gilmore's spree — Ana: Ouroboros Ring · Ki: Inker's Armband, Shadow Weaver's Guise, Dragon's Call · Finn: Magentan Sun-Saw V · Grai: Greatsword of Wounding
  • Sold at Gilmore's: Grai's Mind Lash, Pride Mace, Battle Tax
  • Party gold: 100 platinum and 1,000 gold recovered in the Garden of Dreams (Session 80), plus a 1,000 gp circlet and a 100 gp cuff — undistributed. Everything prior was spent at Gilmore's
  • Session 80 (undistributed): Blight Staff (+2 necrotic, now Imdra's) · Hunting Horn x2 (single use, Call the Rot) · a fourth Glyph Key naming Vermin Halls, Swine Run, Hatchery, Temples of Turmoil · Spell Scroll of Fly · Oil of Etherealness · Potion of Poison
  • Session 81 (undistributed): a comb-shaped Cult of Vecna insignia, a spell component pouch, and an Enchanter's spellbook, taken from The Slain Enchanter
  • Still owed: wight armor onto Camellia, outstanding since Session 79
  • Ki: Quill of Preservation (counter-anchor)
  • 1 captured anchor device — Cobalt Reserve vault

Recent Arc: Sessions 74 to 82

Session 74 — Party flees, evacuates Jorenn, teleports to Cloudwatch. The Council lays out the endgame: Remnants, League of Miracles, Calmyros, and securing the device from Westruun. Iron Authority is reviving Bane.
Session 75 — Resupply in Emon. The Demon Prince is named: Graz'zt. Vex hands over 18 healing potions; Gilmore's discount spree drains the party gold to 0. The group commits to the Remnants lead: handle the remnants, recover the bomb, and potentially rescue Alorah's soul.
Session 76 — (Sessions 1-51 not digitized in this vault.) Bohdi is promoted into the Clasp inner circle. Fetch — framed by a forged signature on Myriad letterhead — names the Remnants location: the Shadebarrow in Ebonroot, via Sevil Howthess's bloodline. The party takes Buddleia Austan's cursed signet ring (the iron-gate key) and ends the session fighting "murder ghosts." The Westruun anchor needs moving after Quash tried to disintegrate it.
Intelligence — Fetch's letter, decoded. The rival relic hunter Blaine Kraverrogg is a secret Cult of Vecna devotee, using the League of Miracles as unwitting funding. He broke Sevil Howthess's grandchildren (Camilla Tenver, Buddleia) with "waking nightmares" to find the barrow, which he calls an Orcus-sealed vault of "pure malice" — a weapon to use against the Republic in Vecna's name. He has left for Ebonroot (Bohdi's former home) to excavate it personally. The sign-off, "the eye sees all, the hand takes all," confirms Vecna (the Eye and Hand).
Session 77 — Murder ghosts and ghouls destroyed in Buddleia's townhouse (Ki's thunderous floor-pound finishes the wall-hiders). Grai's Curse of the Hells identified by High Scholar Lyra Finch (Legend Lore) and removed with echoes — 4d10 psychic per long rest. Camilla Tenver's second ring missing; Blaine likely keyed. Quash "almost done" with the anchor, lab wrecked.
Session 78 — Out of Westruun ahead of the devil army, across the Dividing Plains (necromantic blight in the grass) to fog-choked, palisaded Ebonroot. The party reaches the Thistle Farmstead too late — the farmer Hollis and both children are dead — and cuts down fog-raised ghouls and a skeleton horde. They meet Camellia Springshower, a Circle of the Blighted druid who confirms the corpse-raising fog now pours from the Shadebarrow and agrees to guide them there.
Session 79 — Into the Shadebarrow. The Austan signet opens the iron gate, which will not reopen from inside without it. Below: a round chamber with no exits built around a tree carved from stone, and a wall tally of seven keys with six struck through. Ki lifts the first Glyph Key off a stone branch and opens a one-way portal into a vine room, where blood-drinking vines, wights and wraiths nearly take the party apart. Bohdi's Chain Lightning kills the wraiths and drops two more keys. The doors the wights were hammering on were never locked.
Session 80 — A Glyph Key drops an abjuration mist barrier and the barrow opens into the Dark Gardens. The party backs unseen out of a hatchery of caged, shrunken, blighted monsters, walks away from a blighted farm worked by vine-grown skeletons under three or more huge shambling mounds, and reaches the Garden of Dreams, where the air itself puts Thrack to sleep. There they meet Theria, a courteous hooded gardener who names the three gardens, names the absent Meirja as the hatchery's owner, and admits to an arrangement binding him to a purpose he will not name — then pulls back his hood to show a dead fae face with green light in the sockets. The fight that follows ends with Bohdi dragging a blighted dragon into Theria's corner and killing both with one Chain Lightning.
Session 81 — A locked door off the failed garden leads into Temples of Despair — the DM corrects the fourth Glyph Key's naming on the spot; it is not Temples of Turmoil, a separate, still-unfound area. The party clears the Temple of Light (animated gargoyle statues, an offering-shrine puzzle) and finds a dead Cult of Vecna operative, taking his insignia, pouch, and spellbook. They push into the Temple of Shadow (same layout, inverted mechanic, a wailing curse) and end the session on an open door, contents unknown. Imdra rejoins the party.
Session 82 The door is a closet, and opening it wakes eight wraiths from the Temple of Shadow's pillars. Their touch halves hit point maximums and each explodes in psychic energy as it dies. Thrack kills one and is dropped by the blast, Finn goes to 0, Camellia's Whirlwind swallows a dire wolf that lives to tell it, and Imdra's mass heal pulls the party back. All eight destroyed; short rest in the secret hallway; the party reaches level 12. Teleportation is blocked in the dungeon, but the circles work.