Spelljammer — Campaign Recap (Sessions 1–15)

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🪐 Campaign Arc

• Campaign: Spelljammer (Homebrew Hybrid)
• Dungeon Master: James/Jamie “Sicareus”
• High-level premise: What began as local disappearances on the Sword Coast escalated into Mind Flayer abductions, the capture (and theft) of an Illithid spelljammer, and a widening planar warpath through the Astral and Limbo—now complicated by Mechanus’ “do not screw this up” cosmic mandate.

🧭 Overview

The party starts as strangers drawn together by three overlapping jobs: investigate a disturbing caravan, escort miners, and chase a rumored beholder. That “caravan problem” turns out to be an Illithid pipeline—Quaggoths, psionics, captives with latent magic—leading the party first into caves and forests, then into the Underdark and straight onto a Mind Flayer nautiloid.

From there, the scope detonates: the group takes control of the nautiloid, learns it’s tied to Limbo, and follows portals through stranger and deadlier planes (including the Feywild and Limbo itself). They steal key intel, bottle a psionic storm, get force-teleported to Primus for judgement, and—freshly “directed”—step into an Astral desert portal-route where Neogi pirates hit them like a truck. They’re now pressing toward the Underdark again, with new enemies and bigger consequences.

🧑‍🚀 Party Members

Character	Player	Class/Subclass	Race	Campaign Notables (so far)
Garrick “Rigg” Dalhart	Ben / Elemunk	Rogue (Swashbuckler)	Human	Front-foot chaos + surgical strikes; signature wrench; frequently the first one through the bad decision.
Laydrick Gefinhal	Jared / Galindis	Cleric (Life)	Dwarf	Party glue; keeps everyone upright while the universe tries to fold them into a cube.
High Jinks	Kate / Keitachan	Warlock (Great Old One)	Tabaxi	Face + planar weirdness magnet; helm pilot; routinely talks the party out of (some) deaths.
Dino Roar (Dynoth Rokos)	Robb / Baconbuff	Artificer (Battle Smith) / Fighter	Githyanki	Gith pragmatism; builds/commands a Steel Defender; relentless “I told you so” energy (often correctly).
Valen Pyre	Justin / Slitzer	Wizard (Evoker)	Human	Arcane firepower + puzzle solves; repeatedly turns “this is bad” into “this is ash.”

🗺️ Key Locations (Campaign-Wide)

• Sword Coast / Rassalantar / Kryptgarden Forest: The “normal world” phase… until it wasn’t.
• Underdark (Mind Flayer prison complex): Where abducted villagers were held and drained.
• Illithid Nautiloid (captured): The party’s stolen key to the planes.
• Derelict wrecks in the Astral: Fuel, loot, and things that should’ve stayed dead.
• Planar Nexus routes: Elysium → Elemental Fire → Feywild (and onward).
• Limbo: Slaadi, chaos gravity, and Illithid operations inside captured Githzerai sites.
• Mechanus: Primus’ courtroom. Verdict: “Keep going.”
• Astral Desert Crossroads: Portal hub territory… currently infested with Neogi raiders.

🧵 Ongoing Threads & Big Questions

• Illithid abduction network: Who’s directing it, and what are they building/fueling with stolen magical talent?
• Limbo operations: Why are Mind Flayer captains gathering there, and what do the seized letters point to?
• Crown of Sorrow / Shattered Crown Arc: What exactly is it, who has it, and why does it matter enough to get Primus involved?
• Primus’ mandate: What does “further the task” actually demand—and what happens if the party fails?
• Neogi interference: Random raid… or connected predators circling the same prize?
• Portals + navigation: Who controls the stable routes, and what does it cost to keep moving?

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📚 Session-by-Session Summary

Session 1 — “The Beginning Chapter”

• Setup: Stormy lighthouse-tavern north of Waterdeep; the party meets for the first time.
• Hooks offered: Darkened caravan investigation, escort work, and a beholder lead.
• End state: The group commits to the caravan investigation and approaches guards behaving strangely.

Session 2 — “The Cave Beneath the Road”

• What happened: The caravan trail leads to Quaggoths and a hidden cave used for abductions.
• Major fight: Mind Flayer confrontation and rescue of kidnapped civilians (including a child).
• Key discovery: A Wand of Translocation and confirmation this is bigger than “bandits on the road.”

Session 3 — “Whispers of the Woods”

• Shock: Rassalantar is effectively emptied—people vanished into the wilds.
• Trail: Tracks into Westwood and then deeper into Kryptgarden Forest.
• Revelation: Signs of Mind Flayer activity… and the looming presence of an ancient green dragon known as the “Green Witch.”

Session 4 — “The Green Witch’s Warning”

• Contact: The party encounters the Green Witch (ancient green dragon) and gets pointed toward Mind Flayers beneath the Sword Mountains.
• Exploration: Ancient elven ruins and strange lights in the forest.
• Turn: The party enters the Underdark and is hit by a spider + drow ambush.

Session 5 — “The Modron’s March”

• Continuation: The spider/drow mess resolves into a deeper Underdark push.
• New allies: DeSeth (drow aligned with Eilistraee) and Mono (a Modron stowaway-from-beyond-reality).
• Major threat: A Roper fight nearly eats people whole.
• Direction gained: Map intel toward a Mind Flayer prison + portal route.

Session 6 — “Break the Chains”

• Infiltration: With drow support, the party hits a duergar-built prison now operated by Illithids.
• Combat beats: Enthralled guards, Mind Flayers (one escapes), and rampaging Quaggoths.
• Win condition: ~25 Rassalantar villagers freed.
• Notable loot: Illithid diary (Deep Speech), coin lock-box, and crystal psionic weapons.

Session 7 — “Engines of Limbo”

• Escalation: The party boards an Illithid spelljammer (Nautalis/Nautiloid) as their exit… and new problem.
• Corridor warfare: Tight-quarters fighting against Mind Flayers and Quaggoths.
• Core reveal: The ship is tied to Limbo, and captives are being used as fuel.
• Cliffhanger: They reach the engine chamber where Mind Flayers are siphoning a bound wizard’s power.

Session 8 — “Ghosts in the Gears”

• Ship ownership (the illegal kind): The crew seizes the nautiloid and forces it to fly.
• Fuel problem: A ring gets burned to power the helm (desperate times, desperate jewelry).
• Wreck hop: They board the derelict Falcon and fight acidic Black Puddings/oozes in the hold.
• Weird contact: A ghostly captain (Lackspur) appears and drops lore/exposition.

Session 9 — “Jungle Beyond the Portal”

• Planar navigation: Two magical signals detected—one moving, one fixed.
• Merchant encounter: Captain Valriks Dunar sells them a Driftglobe to help power the helm.
• Portal jump: Cavern jungle, immediate T-Rex ambush, frantic retreat.
• Finds: A powerful magical cloak + a coin pouch; then investigation of an abandoned mirror-version of their own ship.

Session 9.2 — “Jungle Beyond the Portal” (continuation / extended notes)

• Mirror ship twist: The twin-ship is anchored by a mirrored disc at its helm.
• Consequence: Removing the disc collapses/dissolves the mirror ship, leaving the party adrift in the Astral where thought guides motion.

Session 10 — “The Fey Wilds and False Doors”

• Planar gauntlet: Elysium (almost fatal “peace”), Elemental Fire (forced retreat), then Feywild.
• Feywild beats: Dragon-guarded village and a wizard’s abandoned tower.
• Tower trial: Illusions/false doors culminate in a mimic fight and discovery of a hidden staircase.
• Notable moments: A mind-shielding trinket found; a +1 longbow burned as “fuel”; Steel Defender destroyed in the mimic mess.

Session 11 — “Engines of Limbo”

• Tower claims: Valen claims the tower as “next wizard.”
• Key item: A hat that makes the wearer appear as a Mind Flayer (kept after testing).
• Basement puzzle: Three sigil doors; the green path opens a riddle-vault (answer: “Tomorrow / the Future”), yielding coin, gems, spellbooks, and rare items.
• Water World raid: A dead wizard in an ice block yields a Wand of Winter after a fight with Water Elementals that spill into the ship.
• Launch point: The party fuels the helm and shifts toward Limbo—ending with Red Slaadi on the doorstep.

Session 12 — “Into the Chaotic Deep”

• Limbo battle: Red Slaads and a powerful Githzerai Enlightened clash with the party across unstable terrain/gravity.
• Turn to diplomacy: The Githzerai reveals opposition to the Slaads and offers an alliance after testing the party.
• Infiltration plan: Disguises (including a Dino-lookalike play) to pose as captors/“thralls” and infiltrate Mind Flayer ranks at the Shrak’talor Temple.

Session 13 — “The Bottled Storm”

• Target: An Illithid-occupied Githzerai monastery/temple in Limbo.
• Heist: Illusion/disguise infiltration; two sealed letters seized from Mind Flayer leadership threads.
• Set-piece threat: A volatile psionic storm manifests elemental guardians.
• Signature loot: The storm is contained as a Storm in a Bottle.
• Outcome: Fresh intel points toward broader Illithid operations (Underdark/Abyss direction implied).

Session 14 — “The Mandate of Primus”

• Objective: Find Rook (portal-route guide) at a Githyanki market outpost.
• Prison play: Dino + Rigg bribe/bargain Rook out of jail and re-equip him.
• New threat: A towering golden construct boards the ship and “deletes” the party via forced teleportation.
• Mechanus judgement: Primus interrogates them over Illithid ties; they argue they’re undermining the plot tied to the Crown of Sorrow.
• Cosmic leash: Primus binds them to an absolute directive: “You must further the task.”

Session 15 — “Thunder in the Void”

• Route: Rook leads them through a portal to an Astral desert crossroads realm with access routes into the Underdark.
• Ambush: Neogi raiding force attacks—pirates, void hunters, and a captain in a brutal shipboard fight.
• Aftermath: A shattered Neogi spider-ship is discovered, along with valuable astral loot.
• End state: The party presses onward toward the Underdark… and the air turns sickly-sweet.