Voyager, Episode 1

The party takes Nundro back through Wave Echo Cave, and rests. They travel back to Phandelver, where they are greeted with a parade and celebrated as local heroes. In the Stonehill Inn, they meet Old Ned, a local with a talent for identifying magical objects. When he blows in the pipe, he goes into a fugue state where he recites prophesies of each of the party members, describing great successes. He says “you can only achieve these goals after reaching the city of Baldur’s Gate.” Then he snaps out of it.

 

The party finds out that Baldur’s Gate is over a month’s travel away, so they decide to travel for a week to Waterdeep and try to hire a ship. On the way, Julien practices horseback riding with Barzyne’s help, Walter teaches Barzyne history and arcana, Gerald works on his stealth through hunting, and Walter learns polearm techniques from Julien.

 

They arrive in Waterdeep and go to The Yawning Portal, a famous tavern built over a gaping hole. Customers can pay a gold piece to “ride the rope” and be dangled into the mysterious portal. A duo of bards sing a song about local legends, Durnan and Mirt. Durnan is the only person known to have returned from the portal, a hundred years later and unaged. Mirt never returned.

 

The party each take their turn riding the rope, and are captivated by swirling orange and yellow lights. They untie their ropes and jump down into the portal. The lights deposit them unharmed in a dungeon.

 

A plaque on the wall informs the party that they must succeed in nine tests if they are to find the Western Jewel. They first encounter a fight with two Chuul. Next is a trap staircase with fire bursts at ankle level. Then the party is dumped onto a large flat tabletop balanced on a pin, and must tilt the stone tabletop up for each party member to escape out a tunnel.

Then they find a long tunnel with unlit torches lining the walls. They opt not to light the torches, and discover the body of a previous portal traveler at the end of the tunnel. He was holding a torch; lighting the wall torches would have triggered a trap that send a giant sliding rock down the hall. The party rests.