Frück, Frick, and Frack Longbottom are halfling sisters and daughters of Thomas Longbottom, a smuggler who was imprisoned in Thay after rebelling against the slave trade he was unknowingly helping.
In Neverwinter, the sisters met Onyx and Phrank.
While investigating the docks, they found thieves’ cant markings that led them to Tybalt, a Tabaxi who runs an orphan pickpocket network.
Several of his orphans had gone missing, likely taken by slavers.
Tybalt suggested the sisters pose as street orphans to draw them out.
During the sting, two thieves tried to rob the sisters instead.
After defeating them, one survivor mentioned a local crime boss named Steve.
The party met Steve in a rundown tavern, and he agreed to share information in exchange for a favor, convincing a government investigator to leave town.
After some intimidation, the party succeeded, and Steve revealed that suspicious activity had been seen at a warehouse near the docks.
Staking it out, the party witnessed slaves being loaded onto a ship bound for Thay.
Disguising themselves as guards and captives, they boarded the ship, endured the voyage, and upon arrival, led a violent slave uprising.
They set the ship ablaze as a distraction and stormed a nearby processing tower, freeing prisoners and fighting through guards.
In the lower levels, they found and freed Thomas Longbottom, who urged them to rescue the remaining slaves.
After more battles, the group escaped with dozens of freed captives.
Quickly finding a freelance ship captain, they pay him for passage back to Neverwinter.
As the ship is pulling out of the docks, a Thayan wizard has a lucky hit with a fireball, killing the ship captain.
With no one else able to steer the ship, they jump to a nearby ship and hide in the hold.
Unfortunately, this new ship was filled with Thayan Wizards and soldiers.
Thayan wizards recaptured the party, though Thomas escaped.
He later returned, freed his daughters and their allies, and together they liberated more prisoners before stealing another ship and escaping back to Neverwinter.
Thomas partnered with Tybalt to shelter the freed slaves.
The sisters and their allies then met again with Steve, declaring their intent to strike back at Thay.
Steve suggested they first gather funds, recommending a job recovering a relic, the sword of Red Fireforge, from a recently unearthed dwarven stronghold.
The party, joined by Vahlestra and White Claw, entered the ruins.
Inside, they found carved stone pillars depicting clan heroes and encountered signs of ancient cave-ins and undead dwarves.
As the ceiling began to collapse again, Frack was trapped.
Frück rushed to save her, and both were killed in the cave-in.
Frick, devastated, recovered their bodies with the help of her companions.
A human adventurer named Trystopher soon arrived, aided in their burial, and warned that undead dwarves still haunted the halls ahead.
The current party Frick, Trystopher, Valestra, White Claw, Phrank, and Onyx, continued deeper into the Fireforge ruins.
They discovered an old worship hall where Onyx made an offering at a dwarven altar and received a divine boon that allowed him to open a nearby trapped chest.
Further in, they entered a long-abandoned mess hall.
The skeletal remains of dwarves animated and attacked, but the party managed to destroy them after a hard fight.
From there, the group advanced to the throne room, where they encountered the spirit of Red Fireforge himself.
During the exchange, they were joined by Temin, a new adventurer who had been exploring the ruins on her own.
The party was unable to satisfy Red Fireforge’s spirit, which led them into the Hall of Remembrance, a chamber guarded by animated suits of armor.
After a fierce battle, the party prevailed and claimed several treasures, including Red Fireforge’s sword.
The party returned to Neverwinter and delivered Red Fireforge’s sword to Steve.
Shortly after, Thomas Longbottom arrived with new information.
Word of the group’s success and their knack for breaking in and out of prisons had spread.
Thomas introduced them to Varrin Axebreaker, a dwarf seeking their help.
His clan had been betrayed years ago by a former ally named Korda, who stole their wealth and hid it away behind powerful magical locks.
Korda was eventually captured and imprisoned in Revel’s End, the high-security prison near Icewind Dale.
The Axebreakers later located the vault but couldn’t open it without Korda’s key.
Their request to have her released in exchange for the key was denied, so Varrin turned to the party for help.
He offered to hire the group to infiltrate Revel’s End, retrieve the key from Korda, and escape.
Varrin promised to provide transportation, disguises, and a magical map capable of unlocking any door within the prison.
The party agreed to help the Axebreaker Clan and took the place of two guards, three cooks, and two stowaways aboard the supply ship bound for Revel’s End.
They arrived at the docks below the towering prison and were processed along with the new staff.
Frick and White Claw hid inside a storage crate while they waited for the signal.
Temin, Vahlestra, and Trystopher worked shifts in the kitchens, while Onyx joined a patrol with two unknown guards.
Phrank, whose narcolepsy caused him to fall asleep at random, drifted in and out of participation.
During the patrol, Onyx helped deliver meals to prisoners and coordinated with the kitchen crew to poison Korda’s food, hoping to get her transferred to the infirmary.
When Korda was moved, Frick and White Claw slipped from hiding and infiltrated the guard office across from the infirmary.
Trystopher shapechanged into the off-duty doctor and entered under the pretense of delivering a meal to his colleague, followed invisibly by Vahlestra and Temin.
Once everyone is in the infirmary, Onyx causes a commotion to distract everyone so the party can take out the four guards.
The guards quickly restrain Korda but are uneasy as silence fills the infirmary.
As the party starts attacking the guards, Korda in a fearful panic, uses a magical ability stored in her tattoos to escape her manacles and run out of the room.
With the doorway blocked by Onyx, Korda unleashes another bout of magic as a torrent of fire fills the room, killing the last guard standing and injuring many party members.
Pushing past Onyx, Korda rushes down the hallway but is stopped by a Hold Person spell that finally broke through her resistances.
Onyx quickly grabs her and pulls her back before any of the other guards notice.
The party quickly tries to explain what is going on and Korda refuses their offer to free her from the prison.
She is able to operate her network through telepathy boosted by her magical tattoos and is provided protection from her enemies while she is incarcerated.
She does offer up the key in exchange for the magical map with the ability to unlock doors.
She also offers her networks assistance in taking out the Nation of Thay in exchange for a ledger of information that must be stolen out of the Warden’s office in the tower above the barracks filled with off duty guards. Vahlestra, White Claw, Phrank, and Trystopher stayed near the exit with Korda while Onyx and Temin disguised themselves as guards and smuggled Frick into the Warden’s office inside a bag of holding.
Claiming to report a food poisoning outbreak, they drew the Warden away, leaving Frick alone.
She picked the locks on the cabinets and desk, stealing the ledger, paperwork, gold, and a wand.
After signaling the others to ready the getaway ship, Onyx and Temin slipped back upstairs unnoticed, retrieved Frick, and used Dimension Door to teleport to the docks.
Korda, happy with the information provided telepathically, walks back into the prison to get herself put back into her cell.
The distraction provides enough of a delay that the getaway boat arrives and the party successfully escapes Revel’s End.
The party arrives in Neverwinter and heads straight to The House of Steve.
They are welcomed with a cheer as news of their success has reached Steve faster than the ship that carried them.
A round of drinks is provided by Steve as the party recounts their successes to the small crowd.
Varrin Axebreaker is happy to see the party return, but Onyx is able to pull him aside and distract him with conversation as the rest of the party has a private conversation with Steve before approaching Varrin.
Steve pays the party for their previous quest to retrieve the sword of Red Fireforge.
Learning that Steve did not have any connections to Korda, they decide to keep their own connections to Korda a secret.
They also learned that Revel's End has gone into a lockdown due to the recent events.
That means Korda's time outside of her cell is limited and it will be difficult to communicate with her.
Finally the party debriefs Varrin and explains that the “key” is not a physical key, and that only the party themselves can open the vault door.
Varrin is more than happy to return to Gauntlgrym with the heroes.
They make plans to leave in the morning.
The party spends the night at the House of Steve and prepares in the morning to travel with Varrin Axebreaker.
Frick tries to pick a few pockets on the way out of town but finds no easy marks.
Trystopher restocks ingredients while the others replenish rations.
Varrin chooses not to hire guards, trusting the party’s reputation to discourage trouble.
The carriage heads north along the High Road, the trip smooth and quiet.
They stop along the roadside for a meal, where Trystopher gathers fresh herbs to improve it.
That night they rest in Port Llast.
In the morning, Frick once again tries to pick pockets without success.
Phrank finds a vendor selling “Dragon Spray” and, after some hesitation, buys a full set of “Chromatic Dragon Spray” in a stylish bandolier despite doubting its authenticity.
Trystopher picks up a matching bandolier of spices.
The next day, the group continues toward Gauntlgrym.
The forest thins as they near the mountain, revealing a steep switchback trail leading to a massive stone door covered in dwarven runes.
Even those unattuned, the party can feel the protective magic radiating from it.
At Varrin’s command, the door opens to reveal the vast interior of Gauntlgrym.
The city stretches into the stone, warm air drifting from hidden forges below.
Passing through carved halls and glowing veins of magma far beneath, Varrin leads them to the Axebreaker Estate.
The halls are nearly dark, forcing the party to stumble along behind their host until they reach their private quarters, where they are treated as honored guests.
Attempts to learn more about Gauntlgrym and the Axebreakers yield little, as fatigue and distraction win out over curiosity.
<side_quest>
The party is distracted with a holiday one-shot.
Visiting a franchise of the House of Steve Bar and Grill, the local residents shut everything down for the traditional gobbl'n feast.
The town collects all tables and chairs in the center of town and wait expectantly.
From some alternate dimension, large turkey like monsters called Gobbl'ns appear and attack the townsfolk.
The party kills the creatures and the townsfolk immediately start eating them.
Larger Gobbl'ns appear, until Gobblor the Roast Lord appears.
The party defeats Gobblor to the delight of the townsfolk.
The party is rewarded with two Legs of Gobbl'n.
</side_quest>
With a small collection of guards and personal servants, Varrin accompanies the party to the camp set up outside the vault in the caves surrounding Gauntlgrym.
The journey is complicated by the presence of Duergar in the ruins of an old forge.
Clearing the Duergar out of the caverns without any attempt at diplomancy, the party continues on to the magically sealed vault door.
The party puts on a bit of a show with some illusion magic as they open the door, a large porthole in the floor covered by dwarven gearwork.
The party descends into the darkness and find a large subterranean lake.
A small island made out of treasure emerges from the still surface of the water about 100ft from shore.
An attempt to get closer draws the attention of the Young Black Dragon that lives here.
The dragon clearly views this treasure as its horde.
A few dwarven guards are killed in the fight, but the dragon is hurt enough to flee through an underwater cave.
Frick runs across the water to the treasure and stealthily pockets a necklace of fireballs.
Using magic to form an ice bridge to the island, they are interrupted by the dragon returning, this time with some grawl underlings.
By the end of the first round, the situation was precarious.
The ice bridge had been melted, delaying the gnolls, but the dragon’s breath attack struck Vahlestra, Trystopher, and Temin, leaving them incapacitated.
As combat continued, Varrin’s guards provided support with ranged attacks.
Phrank healed Vahlestra, while Onyx provided healing to Trystopher and invoked divine power to dispatch four of the gnolls.
Trystopher cast hypnotic pattern over the lake.
The dragon resisted the effect, but three remaining gnolls were incapacitated by the display.
Frick utilized the necklace of fireballs previously retrieved from the treasure, killing the remaining cultists and severely wounding the dragon.
Attempting to retreat, the dragon was intercepted by Frick, who delivered a lethal strike to its neck.
The dragon’s head was secured in a bag of holding after Trystopher cauterized the wound.
Varrin’s team, having suffered two casualties, honored the agreement by providing a three percent share of the treasure.
This resulted in 400 gold pieces for each party member and the distribution of magical items.
Upon returning to Gauntlgrym to recover from the encounter, the group gained experience and advanced in level.
The party begins preperations for their journey to Thay.
Collecting information from their contacts they learn that there are many magical protections in Thay.
They party decides to travel through the underdark to get to Thay.
Philbert, the drow artificer, crafts them some Calamity Amulets which allow them to bypass some of the magical defenses.
Their guide, Kuldar Stone-Eye, helps them prepare for the journney.
The party finalized preparations at the Axebreaker Family Estate and ventured into the upper caves of Gauntlgrym.
They carried two weeks of rations and Calamity Amulets crafted by Philbert to resist Thayan psychic defenses.
Kuldar Stone-Eye, a dwarven scout, guided the group despite his frustration with their lack of subtlety.
The party’s noisy travel quickly drew the attention of a swarm of a dozen rust monsters.
Kuldar Stone-Eye vanished into the shadows as the creatures erupted from the tunnel walls, leaving the party alone.
Onyx launched a Fireball into the swarm, clearing a path through the stench of burning organic matter.
Frick engaged the monsters in melee, but her new short sword was immediately corroded by their touch.
Phrank charged the fray on his winged hippopotamus, which devoured one of the creatures whole.
A Javelin of Lightning from Phrank struck a line of monsters while his magical armor deflected their bites.
Trystopher was less fortunate, losing her cast-iron skillet to the corrosive hunger of the swarm.
Temin unleashed a second Fireball to further decimate the creatures.
Trystopher attempted to charm the mindless beasts with light, but the effort failed to yield results.
Vahlestra utilized Magic Missile to strike three targets and thin the remaining ranks of the swarm.
Through a final flurry of eldritch blasts and melee strikes, the last of the creatures were defeated.
Kuldar Stone-Eye reappeared unruffled and gestured toward the path ahead without offering a word of concern.
Following the battle with the rust monsters, the party continued their trek toward the Rust-Sump.
Along the way, they encountered another swarm of rust monsters, but the creatures were scared off by an arriving group of Duergar.
Through a bribe of a growler of dwarven ale, the party avoided a fight and pressed deeper into the veins.
The party then encountered a field of toxic, spore-heavy mushrooms that threatened to choke anyone who disturbed them.
Relying on magic, Temin used Dimension Door while Vahlestra and Onyx flew to navigate the fungal trap unscathed.
The party chose to rest within a Leomund’s Tiny Hut to seek shelter from the dangers of the Deep Veins.
As the magic faded, a nest of Piercers attacked from the ceiling, striking Vahlestra before the group dispatched them.
The party finally reached the Rust-Sump and entered negotiations with the goblin leader, Yek the Tall.
By presenting gifts of honey and ale, and convincing Yek that a lotion caused Trystopher’s to become more beautiful, they won his favor.
Yek ordered his goblin minions to clear the door to the Echoing Stair, a process expected to take several hours.
As a reward, Yek invited the party to a human-style fancy dinner gala to take place in two hours.
The feast with Yek went well, and the party's unusually high rolls secured them a premier guide named Pop Socket.
The party was led through the door to the Echoing Stair, which was quickly bolted shut behind them.
They made their way down the slick, rotting wood of the stairs, using rope to successfully cross the gaps.
Further down, they encountered Hook Horrors but managed to stealth by them with another successful roll.
Upon reaching the bottom, a strange creature poked it's hand out of the water returning a ball bearing that was tossed by the party earlier.
Pop Sockets face went dark as he explained about missing goblins from his tribe whose skin went transparent and slimy in the depths.
Trystopher turned into Yek, thinking she was about to talk to a missing goblin.
It turned out to be a Kuo-toa, given the name Bubbles, who explained they needed to be quiet or “The Sovereign” would hear them.
Onyx was able to deduce that “The Sovereign” was some creature the Kuo-toa worshipped.
Bubbles also explained that there was a drow woman in a nearby cave that would want to speak with the party.
Bubbles led the group through underwater tunnels, where Trystopher and Vahlestra struggled with the passage.
Vahlestra fared the worst, injuring herself and leaving both her and Trystopher with disadvantage on their next rolls.
Onyx forced Pop Socket to scout a small cave to avoid further travel through the water.
The party watched as Pop Socket was suddenly snatched away by a cluster of rope vines.
Frick sqiggles through a tight cave to get into the cavern where pop socket was snatched by vines. She is covered in cave slime from the walls as she goes.
Once in the room, the tentacles attempt to grab frick, but she cuts 18” off the tip of the tentacle.
Onyx uses misty step to appear in the cavern next to frick.
Pop socket drops a bottle to the ground.
Onyx picks it up.
Frick communicates with Pop Socket telepathically and Pop sockets tells them to open the bottle
Opening the bottle releases a cloud of smoke into the cavern, obscuring everything.
The ropers on the ceiling have their senses dulled and they drop Pop Socket.
Pop socket is a natural athlete and is prepared to land gracefully, but Frick attempts to catch them, taking damage as pop socket lands on them hard.
Onyx casts faerie fire onto the ceiling so that the ropers can be seen through the smoke.
Temin and Phrank dimension door into the cavern, Trystopher misty steps, and Vahlestra crawls through the cave into the cavern.
With the entire party in the cavern, Onyx uses his stone sense to find another exit and they use the smoke to cover their movement across the cavern.
They find their way through narrow tunnels to the landing where Bubbles would have led them through the river.
Frick collects an assortment of cave fungi.
The party members with slime on them wash themselves in the river.
Bubbles mentions that the Drow is further up the cavern.
They hear some conversation in a foreign language.
Pop Socket can speak undercommon, and Temin uses Comprehend Languages and translates directly into Trystopher's mind when they speak with the drow Melith.
They approach and the drow explains that she is waiting out an aboleth infestation.
She had previously set up a false god for the local kuotoa to worship, but an aboleth moved in and enslaved some of the kuotoa.
Melith is waiting for the kuotoa and the aboleth to fight it out and then Melith will clean out the aboleth in its weakened state if it were to win.
The party asks if they could help with her aboleth problem in exchange for assistance to get to Undrek’Thoz.
Melith offers a raft to navigate the flooded caves of the underdark that would cut their travel time in half.
The party accepts and takes a long rest at the drow camp before attempting to fight the aboleth.
Melith explains that an aboleth is an ancient creature with racial memories and it will be a difficult fight.
It relies on psychic abilities to enslave creatures.
It also has a layer of mucus around it when its in the water that can cause anyone who touches it to become enslaved.
The party prepares and heads in the direction of the aboleth lair.
The party sneaks past a carrion crawler in a cavern full of tall tree-like mushrooms.
In the next cavern the party is greeted by an aboleth speaking into their minds.
It tells them there is no use in fighting. Why even bother.
It attempts to drill deeper into Trystophers mind, but she resists.
It attempts to drill into pop sockets mind, but he resists thanks to his goblin features of resisting charm.
The aboleth pulls itself out of the water onto land as it continues taunting the party.
Vahlestra casts wall of fire behind the aboleth to prevent it from retreating into the water.
As the fire touches the tail of the aboleth, it is revealed that it is an illusion and the aboleth is not in the cavern.
Two large Chuul emerge from the water behind the wall of fire.
The aboleth was merely stalling until the other creatures could arrive.
The Chuul stare across the wall of fire as combat is soon to erupt.