Adventures in Oerth- The Bane of Vecna: Book One, Chapter Two, Blackmoor

The Bane of Vecna:
Aurora, the Valley Elf Bard

Pharin, the Drow Wizard

Skye, the Air Genasi Druid

Dervish, the Kasathe Fighter

Nanu, the NightmOrc Fighter who is late

Lan El'Mandragoran, the Human Paladin

Oryn Talus, the mysterious and ancient "Halfling" who has employed the group

Jayce and Jarrid, the Human Barbarian brothers

Nanu, Jayce, and Jarrid arrived at the museum with only a few minutes to spare before the opening. The trio had had some difficulty getting through the crowds surrounding the museum to get to the doors. Everyone else was in place by the time they arrived, so they quickly took their places. Nanu stood just inside the doors as a guard, Dervish, Pharin's spider familiar, and one of Skye's zombies stood guard at the heart itself, Pharin stood on a balcony overlooking the gallery as a whole, Aurora, Jayce, and another zombie were posted on the right side of the gallery, Skye, Jarrid, and yet another zombie on the left, and Lan patrolled in a circuit through the entire gallery. 

The group was given amulets to allow them to bypass the security wards Oryn had placed on the museum, so that they could cast spells and attack if necessary. They discovered these amulets also allowed them to communicate, and teleport around the museum's grounds. 

Everything went well until around one am, when suddenly members of the group realized it had grown colder inside, their breath had become visible. The temperature continued to drop slowly, subtly over the next few hours. Eventually they realized that their breath was creating ice crystals, and the temperature was still dropping; the leather band Aurora had on the strap to her drum snapped from the cold. There was a minor scuffle with a noble who refused to listen when Dervish told him to stop leaning on a post; after being thrown outside Nanu "mule kicked" him, which resulted in his death. No one else misbehaved after that.

When the last group was admitted entrance, the hundreds of people still waiting outside began to riot. Lan immediately went down to attempt to sway the mob to calm down and leave. The Bane decided they needed to get people out of their quickly, but kicking them out would mean Oryn would have to give refunds. They decided to subtly get them to leave. Pharin made fog appear to be coming from the Heart, and summoned dancing lights to harass the patrons; they thought this was all part of the show, and stayed. Pharin decided to step it up, by sending acid splashes at the crowd, making it look like they were originating from the Heart, and many still thought it was part of the show. Dervish tried telling the people that the Heart was awakening, that their lives were in danger if they stayed, which only got a few more people to leave but most still thought this was part of the show; he isn't as convincing as the bard can be. 

Meanwhile the situation at the gate was growing worse, with people pressing against the mithrilmantine walls that surrounded the museum. The group within the museum finally began to realize that they needed to leave, and began frantically rushing through to make sure they saw everything; they weren't going to let potential doom stop them from this once in a lifetime opportunity. As the people began leaving Oryn, Dervish, and Skye went outside to help with the crowd. Pharin imagined an identical balcony on the opposite side of the gallery, with a window, then stepped over to it to gain a better view of the mob outside. Jayce and Jarrid stayed with the Heart, and Aurora moved to the door to inspire Lan so he would be better able to sway the mob. 

The temperature dropped so low that all of the glass in the museum shattered, and all of the wards went down. Suddenly no one was able to teleport and could not get back to the Heart quickly. A group of cultists came through the broken windows of the museum, intent on getting the heart. Pharin had his familiar encase the Heart in webs to better protect it and make it harder for the invaders to remove it. The fighters were fairly easy to kill, and the Bane was able to keep them away from the Heart. Some how during the fight, Pharin managed to drop a flaming sphere on himself, which the others would have found amusing under normal circumstances.
 Then a drider lich appeared, and that is when the troubles really began.

The drider lich appeared in front of Pharin, and would likely have killed him if not for Skye. Skye unleashed a moon beam on the drider lich which hurt it enough to turn its attention from Pharin to her; unfortunately for Aurora, she was between Skye and the lich, and took a brutal hit from it. Skye was able to finish it off with a brutal moonbeam that was even stronger than the first. 

Two clerics oozed through the windows at about the time that the lich appeared, and stunned Jayce and Lan. The Bane tried to hit the clerics to get them to release their holds on the two, and eventually killed one, the other vanished. While everyone was picking themselves up, a female drow walked in and sealed all of the doors and windows.

She was a priestess of the cult, and had come to claim the Heart. The Bane attempted to keep her from it, but to no avail. Pharin attempted to send his familiar and the Heart to his brother, but the priestess stopped the spell. She banished Pharin, who is from Toril, he lived in the keep that the Ironfang Eight now reside in; had she been able to keep him there for a minute, he would have been unable to return, and the Eight would have ended him quickly. Pharin spent his time going through his belongings and managed to grab a few items before returning to the museum. 

The priestess began methodically paralyzing the group as they attempted to attack her. Lan managed to land one hit on the priestess and injure her. Every other attack was futile, she either overcame them or they were stopped by a sanctuary spell. Nanu managed to get between the priestess and the Heart, and when the priestess magically ordered Nanu to move, she grabbed the Heart, still encased in webs with Pharin's spider inside as guard, and leapt; the priestess paralyzed her in mid-air and she crashed to the floor, still holding the Heart. Lan put up a radiant force field around Nanu to try to keep the priestess away, and Aurora ran to guard Nanu. The priestess banished Aurora, who had a spiritual moment, as the Ethereal Plane she was sent to is where the Valley Elves originated from before coming to this world. Before the priestess could reach Nanu, Oryn appeared with the moon card from the deck of many things. Oryn had been absent from the battle until now, doing a divination ritual to allow him to draw that card. He used his first wish to get rid of the priestess.

After she left the group unwrapped the webbing that encased the Heart, to find it was gone. Somehow the priestess had managed to use her blood to bind the Heart to her, so it left when she did. Pharin gathered up a vial of the bloody webbing in hopes of using it to find her through a spell. Upon discovering it missing Oryn angrily stormed out and was not seen again for a few hours. The group spent the next two and a half hours cleaning the museum, with Aurora singing an uplifting song about the ancient Pandarans who once occupied the Barrier Peaks, the mountains that surround the Valley of the Mage. 

After cleanup was finished the group was brought breakfast, and Oryn finally reappeared. Oryn decided it was now the time for complete honesty, and explained to the group exactly why he had hired them. He explained that the cult they were fighting had now gathered all ten pieces of Vecna, and were planning on using it to bring him back mind, body, and soul- not the lich demigod, but the man himself; they even managed to find the Book of Vile Darkness, which contains the spell needed to succeed. Oryn hired the Bane because there was a chance that with them present the Heart could have potentially been saved. While the Heart was lost, the group did manage to rescue the Sword and Fang of Kas, both of which are needed to complete the ritual. The cult had a way of detecting the sword when it is activated, so Oryn quickly activated it to make them think he had it, and insisted the group take it with them. 

Oryn asked the group to help him stop the cult, starting with going after some of the spell components they need. The components needed were rare, and absurdly difficult to find, so that would be a good place to begin to block the group. The Bane agreed to join Oryn in his quest to stop the cult, and were given nineteen hours to find equipment and prepare for travel.

Tales from Toril- The Ironfang Eight: Book One, Chapter One, Condensed

The Ironfang Eight, as they were in this chapter
Liavara, the Aasimar Warlock of Neifion, the Lord of Bats
Iona, the Wood Elf Monk who can't stay alive
Keh-Tee, the four-armed Mad Catter Warlock of Y'Chuk
Lady Orhialla "Nya" Tarnash, the Teifling Sorcerer and Lady of the Zhentarim
Teegan, the Dragonborn Sorcerer of Many Faces
Orvu, the Human Rogue who loves shinies
Ishir, the Dragonborn Fighter and cured vampire, who met his end to the Deck of Many Things; and now inhabits a dwarven golem

The Ironfang Eight was brought together by drow who had taken them captive. They never discovered how long they were there, but they were broken out by Teegan in his halfling disguise. They headed for the surface, and made it quickly enough. Once they reached the surface they found a group of Kobolds terrorizing the town of Greenest, gathering riches for the Cult of the Dragon Queen. The group headed to the Keep of the town to discover their situation and see how they could assist. A blue dragon had been terrorizing the Keep, though Teegan said it wasn't really trying; Lia scared it away with one well placed eldritch blast to its ass. The group spent the rest of the night fighting off the Cult to save Greenest, they took a beating, but succeeded.
The next day Lia was missing when the group awoke, all of her clothing and gear was still present, as was her familiar, a bat named Nigel. Ishir's greed took hold of him, as it often did, and he decided to steal Lia's gold and health potions. Lia's Lord transformed Nigel into a sprite with bat wings, to better protect her items, but Ishir killed him quickly.
Lia had been taken to Daroch Castle, her Lord's realm to recover an item for him. Nigel joined Lia quickly, since Ishir killing him sent him back to his home. After spending hours walking in circles around a labyrinth, being attacked by enchanted armor, flying swords, bats, and carpets, Lia finally found the chamber she was looking for. She retrieved the amulet for her Lord and was sent back to rejoin her group.
The group had been methodically clearing out the cultists from a cavern system, and had only one chamber left when Lia rejoined them. They fought the group in the chamber and walked out alive, and the proud owners of three dragon eggs. The Eight decided to bury them nearby for safe keeping, since they were heavy and not something easy to conceal.
Met a monk named Leosin at some point, he sent them in one direction... things happened...
The Ironfang Eight went to Baldur's Gate where they learned that there was a caravan leaving in a few days, heading toward Waterdeep. They learned that the cultists were going to be joining the caravan, so the Eight decided this was their chance to follow them and gather information. They gathered disguises so the cultists couldn't recognize them, and signed on.
Teegan and Keh-Tee had their own wagon in the caravan, with Keh-Tee posing as Teegan's guard. Shump and Iona signed on as guards in two other carts, and Lia became a barmaid and guard. It was during this trek that the group met Orvu, who became fast friends with Teegan and Keh-Tee and ended up joining their wagon as another guard. The group had to pretend they were not together so they would not draw unwanted attention to themselves from the cultists. To communicate the group used Lia as the messenger, since she was the barmaid and had a reason to talk to everyone.
During their journey Ishir angered a vampire, and she turned him. Once the rest of the group discovered this, in Daggerford, they hunted down Ishir's maker and killed her, curing Ishir. In the process though, because Ishir would rather charge into a place than use caution, he set off a trap that turned poor Orvu to stone. Fortunately for Orvu, the group found a Tome that had the spell to turn her back to flesh. First they copied the spell into Lia's Book of Shadows, so they could use it later if need be, then many hours later Keh-Tee was able to turn Orvu back into herself.
When the group reached Daggerford, many tendays later, a few others joined the caravan. Nya and Jemna from the Zhentarim were sent to watch the cult as well. Nya was tasked with befriending Iona, but Iona being the inquisitive elf that she is, began asking Nya about herself. Iona's line of questioning disturbed Nya, being a Lady and part of a rather secretive society, did not know how to handle an interrogating elf with no social skills. Eventually Nya and Jemna met with the rest of the Ironfang Eight and they discussed their intentions and plans of what to do about the cult.
The caravan finally reached Waterdeep, and the group met with several other allies to discuss a plan of what to do about the cult. Since the Ironfang Eight had been recognized they decided to send Gemma along with the caravan while the rest stayed in Waterdeep. The plan they concocted was that once they learned of the cult's destination they would teleport via Geographic(al) Position(ing) Stones to that location. In the meantime the group was able to enjoy Waterdeep.

Adventures in Oerth- The Bane of Vecna: Book One, Chapter One, Blackmoor

Our story begins with our heroes traveling in four identical carriages, with identical drivers, approaching the gates of Blackmoor. Aurora, the Valley Elf bard, Pharin, the Drow wizard, Skye, the Air Genasi druid, and "Dervish," the Kasathe fighter have been chosen for their unique abilities to provide security for a gallery opening.
Upon arrival our heroes are met by a human paladin named Lan, who has also been hired for security; the group is also told that there is another person who will be joining them, but she's late. Lan takes the group on a tour of the museum full of ancient, powerful artifacts. There is a complete skeleton of a prismatic dragon, a complete, unopened deck of many things, and relics from every race and region imaginable. The owner, a strange halfling with yellow eyes, Oryn Talus seems a bit mad, and it is clear when the group speaks to him that he is far older than any halfling should be.
Oryn has hired the group to protect the Heart of Vecna. He believes that even with his already extensive security system, that the Heart will require more security. He stores the Heart in a box covered in runes in every language imaginable that all translate to "no." Oryn explains that this box keeps the Heart masked, so its energy cannot be sensed; even those of our group who could detect magical auras could not see anything until the box was opened.
The group was shown to their rooms to freshen up, and were later taken to a restaurant owned by Oryn. It had every drink imaginable, even those that were thought lost, and the food was incredible. Skye decided to try Vale Mead, the special beverage from the Valley of the Mage, where Aurora hails from. While Skye did not die or collapse, as many do when they try an elven beverage, she was heavily intoxicated for the evening. Before the group departed Lan activated a rune on the table that instantly sobered the entire group.
On the way back to the museum our heroes encountered a group of Cultists of Vecna, who demanded the Heart, claiming it belongs to them. Lan attempted to persuade them to leave, but they were unwilling to do so. When things appeared to become heated between Lan and the cultist, Pharin decided to outline some of the cultists with Faerie Fire, which began combat.
It was a difficult battle, Aurora almost died immediately after attempting to insult one of the cultists, but Lan revived her. The group prevailed against the cultists, only to discover that they seemed to be both alive and dead. The bodies of the cultists were decayed, as if they had been dead for a long time, but yet they seemed perfectly alive while the group was fighting them. Their worship of Vecna must have given them some ability to preserve their bodies, and keep them from completely dying. The group understood that this is why they were hired, the cult is more powerful than it seems.
The next morning everyone went off to shop in the town, looking for items to help them guard the Heart better; the gala was scheduled for that evening. The late party member still had not arrived, something had to be delaying her. After spending a day on the town, the group met at the museum to prepare for the opening, still awaiting the late person.