📘 Session 18 – The Haunted Forge of Sondar

🎵 Music

for

session soundtrack]

🖼️ Images

[Placeholder:

Rigg

and

High

Jinks

scouting

distant

firelight

in the Underdark] [Placeholder: The party backing away from a black dragon in a swampy cavern] [Placeholder: The broken gates of Sondar and the silent keep beyond] [Placeholder: Dino in the lantern-lit forge as shadowy dwarves turn monstrous]

🪐 Campaign Arc

• Campaign: Spelljammer
• Session: 1718 —– The StilledHaunted Tongue’sForge Carriageof Sondar

Date: 21/02/2026 Dungeon Master: James / Jamie / Sicareus Setting: OnUnderdark travel route, swampy cavern near a black dragon, and the roadruined duringdwarven portalkingdom travelof (rocky outcrops and a stopped carriage)Sondar

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🧭 Overview

Mid-journeyAfter surviving the roadside lich battle, the party rested, leveled to 8, and still under Primus’ not-so-subtle “keep moving” mandate,resumed the party’spush travel turned into a roadside nightmare: shadows swarmed in, backed by two hulking minotaur skeletons. The fight immediately became a positioning puzzle—carriage, rock cover, and a fallen pillar mattered as much as damage.

Then the real problem stirred: a lich revealed itself from within the carriage and started carving the battlefield apart with necrotic surges, brutal force blasts, and repeated deathly teleports. Fear scattered key bodies at the worst possible time, heals were constantly racing damage spikes, and more than one ally hit the dirt—then got dragged backdeeper into the fightUnderdark anyway. Byunder the end,pressure of both Primus’ mandate and the lichIllithid dropped,task tied to a rumored crown. Early progress was cautious rather than heroic: Rigg and High Jinks scouted a distant light, discovered three fire elementals, and wisely chose not to add “burned to death in a cave” to the roadparty wentrésumé. quiet,Along the way, Valen used downtime to transcribe Misty Step and later Shield into his spellbook.

Travel grew stranger as the ground turned damp and the party crawledstumbled awayinto richer,the scarier,territory of a black dragon. They backed off without a fight and readycontinued until the mountain fortress of Sondar came into view: a dead dwarven kingdom carved into stone, its great gates torn from their hinges and its streets littered with the old remains of dwarves and Illithids alike. Inside, a cold forge and a lantern-lit echo of the past revealed ghostly dwarven smiths trapped in a repeating scene. What first looked like a haunting or time-loop became something more dangerous when Dino disturbed the forge’s tools, causing the figures to leveltwist up.into nightmare shapes. The session ended on initiative.

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🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Party Members

Character Player Class/Subclass Race Notable Actions

Character

Player

Class/Subclass

Race

Notable Actions

Garrick “Rigg” Dalhart

Ben / Elemunk

Rogue (Swashbuckler)

Human

Scouted

Heavyahead Sneakwith AttackHigh turns;Jinks, droppedhelped late,avoid thenthe revivedfire post-fight.

elementals, and investigated the ruined entrance to Sondar.

Laydrick Gefinhal

Jared / Galindis

Cleric (Life Domain)

Dwarf

Spotted

Keptdistant light in the Underdark and helped guide the party alivetoward withthe Auradwarven of Life, Healing Word / Mass Healing Word, and Channel Divinity; eventually downed.

ruin.

High Jinks

Kate / Keitachan

Warlock (Great Old One)

Tabaxi

Joined

Thunder Step, Eldritch Blast pressure, and one of the final blowsRigg on the lich;stealthy impscout, familiarinvestigated assisted.

the forge’s looping ghost-scene, and tracked its pattern inside the lantern light.

Dino Roar (Dynoth Rokos)

Robb / Baconbuff

Artificer (Battle Smith) / Fighter

Githyanki

Took

Frontlinepoint damageat withthe Moon-Touchedforge, longswordclimbed +in Dancingthrough Longsword;the forcedwindow, tomanipulated runthe whenlantern Fearand landed.

hammer, and triggered the final hostile shift.

Valen Pyre

Justin / Slitzer

Wizard (Evoker)

Human

Used

Minddowntime Sliverto +transcribe EldritchMisty BlastStep output;and Shield, reactions;cast deliveredprotective camp magic during the lastsecond hitrest, thatand endedused Detect Magic at the lich.

forge.

Rook Varrek

NPC

DM (Ally NPC)

Guide

Unknown/ (rapierRapier user)

Fighter

Human

Led

Ice-encrustedthe rapierparty strikes;onward soakedthrough bigthe hits;Underdark, fearedidentified intoSondar as a fullruined retreatdwarven atkingdom, oneand point.

pushed the group to keep moving toward their objective.

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📍 Key Locations

• TheUnderdark stoppedCamp: carriage/wagonA (rough resting point where the party recovered, leveled up, and reorganized after the lich was hiding).fight.
• Firelit Cavern Route: A stretch of tunnel where distant light revealed three fire elementals patrolling ahead.

Black Dragon Swamp: A damp, dangerous cavern area occupied by a black dragon the party wisely chose not to provoke. Sondar: A ruined dwarven kingdom carved into a mountain, long fallen pillarto / rocky outcrop used for cover, leaps,Illithids and line-of-sightnow breaks.eerily silent. The Forge of Sondar: A cold smithy where a magical lantern revealed looping dwarven echoes and a deadly shift into shadowy horror.

The surrounding road/approach where shadows and skeletons closed in.

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⚔️📑 Session Highlights

• InitiativeThe openedparty completed a long rest after the lich fight and leveled up to 8.

Valen used downtime to transcribe Misty Step into his spellbook, then later added Shield. Laydrick spotted a distant light; Rigg and High Jinks scouted ahead and identified three fire elementals. The group avoided the fire elementals rather than engaging them. Travel led the party into a damp cavern area occupied by a black dragon; they withdrew without fighting. The party reached Sondar, a ruined dwarven mountain kingdom whose gates had been torn down long ago. Inside the city, they found streets strewn with the old remains of dwarves and Illithids. A rhythmic hammer-on-anvil sound led them to a cold forge filled with ghostly dwarf-shapes visible only in lantern light. Investigation revealed the figures were trapped in a repeating scene: forging, reacting to a disturbance outside, grabbing weapons, and vanishing before the loop began again. Detect Magic revealed magic on sixthe shadowslantern and twothe minotauranvil. skeletons—thenDino escalatedmanipulated the scene from range, and when the lichhammer joinedwas fromviolently displaced, the carriage.figures transformed into nightmarish shadow-creatures. HighInitiative Jinks’was improlled (oftenjust acting like a sneaky little aerial menace) contributed alongside repeated Eldritch Blasts. The lich’s toolkit definedas the fight:session Disrupt Life necrotic bursts, Deathly Teleport, heavy force blasts, and later Fear—which sent Dino and Rook sprinting. Leydrick’s Aura of Life (plus relentless healing) prevented a wipe when bodies started dropping. He still went down before the end. Rook dealt meaningful damage and soaked punishment, but ran away with fear along with DIno. Final sequence: High Jinks landed one of the last blows on the lich, then Valen finished it. Post-battle revives: High Jinks brought Leydrick back up; Valen brought Rigg back up.ended.

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🎬🎭 Key Scenes

1.

Dino“Three climbsLights ontoin the carriageDark” — Rigg & High Jinks

Far ahead in the black of the Underdark, three distant lights drifted like torches. Rigg and keepsHigh Jinks slipped forward under cover of darkness and discovered the lidtruth: shutnot onwanderers, instinct—becausenot whatever’scampfires, insidebut isthree absolutelyfire goingelementals to ruin someone’s night. He instead commits to the nearest shadow, blade flashing in tight arcs as the road turns into a swarm.

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Leydrick plants himself where allies can stay in reach, forcing the battlefield to orbit around his Aura of Life. Necrotic waves slammoving through the group.caverns. For once, the party chose good sense over violence and went around.

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2. “Get Out” — Dino & the Black Dragon

The

Riggfloor vaultingturned offwet, the air turned foul, and the next problem announced itself without subtlety: a fallenblack stone pillar at a diagonal angle, coat snappingdragon in the wind,swamp. bothThe handsencounter grippinglasted only moments, but that was enough. A warning, an apology, and a massivecareful metalretreat wrenchkept overheadthe asparty healive. bringsSometimes itheroism downis towardknowing awhen Shadowto stop walking forward like an idiot.

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3. “The Broken Gates of Sondar” — Laydrick & Rook

When

ASondar lichfinally stepping outemerged from the opendarkness, carriageit door

did

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not

Rooklook like a kingdom waiting to be reclaimed. Its great metal doors had been knocked from their hinges and left on the ground, and beyond them lay silence, bones, and the distant outline of a keep. Rook called it safe enough. The ruin itself disagreed.

4. “Lantern Light” — Dino running& full-tiltHigh pastJinks

jagged

Inside stonethe outcrops,cold breathforge, visiblethe dead did not linger freely; they only existed inside the glow of a single lantern. High Jinks traced the loop in coldthe air,scene frost scattering from Rook’s rapier,while Dino clutchingpushed hiscloser, glowingprying blade as if it’sat the onlyedges thingof keepingthe himmystery real.

with

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Valenmagecraft and Jinxcuriosity. takeThe downmoment the Lichforge’s rhythm was broken, the dwarven echoes stopped being echoes and became a threat.

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🧩🧵 Ongoing Threads & Plot Hooks

• Primus’ mandate still hangs over the party: they are expected to keep moving and further the task.

The Illithid letter objective continues: the party is still boundpursuing toone “furtherof the task,”artifact-retrieval and delays tend to invite consequences. (Context from prior arc.) Rook Varrek remains central as a portal-route ally—alsoleads, now clearlyfocused aon liability when Fear and high burst damage start flying. Sondar. The lich’sCrown presenceof Sondar: local legend suggests the queen went mad shortly before the Illithid fall, and the party suspects a crown may be tied to that event. Why Sondar resisted settlement: Rook believes the Illithids could not remain here for long, possibly because the place is haunted. The black dragon remains nearby: an immediate danger left alive and unchallenged on the road:route whybehind was it traveling hidden in a carriage, and what was it doing in the party’s path?them. NewThe dangerousforge’s assetslantern, acquired:anvil, and hammer are all significant: the Tomeparty andhas Crystalnot Ballyet raiselearned questionswhether aboutthey attentionare fromrelics, enemiesanchors whofor knowthe whathaunting, thoseor are.something worse. The dead of Sondar are not resting quietly: the ghostly forge-loop suggests the city may preserve moments of its fall in magical fragments.

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💰 Loot & Discoveries

Item Finder Description / Status

Item

Finder

Description / Status

Sondar Party

TomeA fallen dwarven kingdom cut into stone, littered with the remains of the Stilled Tongue

Valen

A forbidden grimoire that feels less like a bookdwarves and moreIllithids.
Status: likeEntered aand sealedunder argument with death itself.

Status:

 In Valen’s possession.

exploration. Ghost-Lantern

CrystalParty Balldiscovery A lantern whose light reveals dwarven echoes repeating the final motions of Mindforge-work Readingand

panic.
Status: Still in

Highthe Jinks

forge at session

A cold, luminous orb that seems to dim when handled—like it resents being observed.

Status:

 In High Jinks’ possession.

end. Magical 5,000 gp Anvil Party

Party

discovery A

Recoveredsilent afteranvil radiating magic, central to the lichforge wasscene defeated.

and whatever memory or haunting is anchored there.
Status: Unclaimed; still under investigation. Forge Hammer Party discovery The striking tool in the repeating forge scene; disturbing it caused the ghostly dwarves to become hostile shadow-forms.
Status: Not secured; interaction triggered combat. Spellbook Progress Valen Misty Step and later Shield were transcribed during travel downtime, expanding Valen’s prepared options for what is very obviously becoming a terrible place to stand still.
Status: Completed.

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🧨 Cliffhanger

Valen and Jinx revive Rigg and Leydrick

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• The party survivesstands inside or around the roadsideforge lichin encounterthe andruins securesof high-tier loot and coin.Sondar.
• AfterThe alantern rest,still reveals the partyscene; levelsoutside upits tolight, 8.the figures vanish.
• After the hammer was displaced, the ghostly dwarves twisted into nightmarish shadow-creatures.

Initiative was rolled. Next session:session 07/03/2026.opens with combat in the haunted forge.