Once the party was back on the ship after the events with the mermaids they let Hal know that dragonfire is needed to melt the adamantine on the star. Hal consults his charts and they head towards the Archipelago where Lux lives. The since the adventurers have the star, the Blackrift compass points towards them. Many Blackrift ships approach and they’re boarded. They fight a Far Elf Lunar Monk and 2 Link Acolytes. Before more enemies can board, Aurora arrives and incinerates the ship nearest them. They end the battle and Aurora lands on the deck of the ship.

Aurora greets the members of the party and they ask if they can use her fire to open up the star. She cannot, but says if they become her agents they can use Pyre’s forge. She wants them to help uncover Pyre’s desire to revolt against their mother in exchange for use of the forge. She explains the backstory about the kobolds being harassed by Pyre.

They then arrive and Aurora tells them to speak with members of the court to find Korshak the Kobold. This time Kleevi and Sister Selka join the group leaving the ship. The party speaks with Flare, one of Lux’s daughters who can barely stay awake. From her they learn that the kobolds are doing repairs. They speak with Pipilo, a halfling mage who is being allowed by Lux to study her court on behalf of Ether University in the clouds. He also met with Oahtu in the past and he gives them an amulet.

Captain Catapult, the Tabaxi captain from the first session, is at court under a false name and story. He wants to get back at the group so he accuses them of being Blackrift sailors. Lux, for her own inscrutable dragon reasons, decides that the answer will be determined by a duel. Thomas fights Captain Catapult and wins. Lux incinerates him as his penalty for losing. The excitement over, the party is able to sneak away to see the Kobolds. They speak with Korshak and learn how to get into the forge. They also get a one-use magic wand for making a hole in earthen walls.

Aurora walks the adventurers out and explains that she cannot approach the island with the forge without arousing suspicion. The team moves overland without issues and arrives at the smokestacks for the force. The Kobolds told them to go in the intervals between when there’s a fire on and off. As they descend, the only one who gets stuck is Thomas, whose swords get him jammed for a minute. They use the wand and end up just outside the Kobold barracks. The party is treated warily at first, but Amelia rallies the kobolds. They decide to revolt and go throughout the forge, disarming most of the traps along the way.

After leaving the barracks they have to fight golems being produced by a golem machine. They destroy the machine and the golems. Afterward they speak with Omryx , but when he expresses skepticism that the revolt will succeed, they leave him alone. They come to their first guard room and kill the dragonborn there. There’s a rather strong golem there. Instead of trying to fight him, Thomas grapples him so that they can get past. Then they go across a pit trap and the golem falls in, no longer troubling them.

The team learns that there is an energy shield protecting the area they need to reach. The kobolds there tell them to go see Omryx to build a contraption to stop the energy shield. Part of what they need to get involves talking to the Azers working to make jewelry for Lux. They decided to convince them to give them the jewelry rather than fight. For the part they need from the alchemist workshop, they intimidate the alchemist to get the item. Omryx builds the mechanism. It explodes, killing the dragonborn guards.

Finally they enter the final chamber and fight Pyre. They defeat him and split Pyre’s gold with the kobolds. The kobolds open the star and there’s a space-turtle in there. They are on their way out when Lux catches up with them and, instead of being grateful that the Pyre’s scheme was thwarted, is upset with Aurora. She banishes the heroes on pain of death. They sail away, unsure of exactly what they should do with their new space-turtle and how to get their wishes.

DM Notes

My kids have learned a lot since we first started playing D&D 2 years ago. Also, they’re 2 years older, smarter, and wiser. Still, the kids weren’t quite sure how to do the espionage part of the mission. I had to guide things along a bit.

One thing that I feel is a big hindrance of physical maps vs virtual tabletops is that there isn’t a very easy way to do fog of war. Sometimes, if the kids are doing a true dungeon, I’ll cover the parts they haven’t seen with paper. Since this dungeon wasn’t really about navigating and was more about searching the rooms of a fortress I decided not to hide the unexplored areas. Instead, I simply didn’t add any enemy minis until they entered a room.

Sam can always be counted on to have an out of the box solution for dealing with enemies. I liked his idea to grapple the golem and then cause it to fall into the pit where it would be harmless to the team.

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