Session 33 Recap — 7 November 2025

Summary

Nemesis approached the Fire Giants’ Hall after the avalanche at the Frost Giant Jarl. A divine intervention from Lux’s Aasimar guardian angel prevented them from walking through the front door. They split the party — Lyra and Arawn found a hidden entrance and met Wawwen the wererat. Wawwen guided them through the devastated fortress, revealing Vecna’s punishment of the fire giants. They descended to a lookout overlooking the Star Forge, where they saw Durrak Stoneforge chained at the forge and the ancient white dragon — father of the twins they killed — bound by fleshy tethers from the volcano wall.

Events (Chronological)

1. Approaching the Entrance

After the avalanche at the Frost Giant Jarl (session 32), the party made their way to the entrance of the Fire Giants’ Hall. They were ready to walk straight through the front door — which, in a fire giant stronghold, would be suicidal.

2. Lux’s Guardian Angel

[[Lux]] (Aasimar wizard, currently in a Magic Jar’d fire giant body) felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw his celestial guardian floating in the air as a full angel.

The guardian has rarely appeared — Lux only saw him once before, during the flight from Highpoint to the Sword Coast
The guardian warned Lux: as a good person using a powerful necrotic spell to possess another entity’s body, walking into their lair would be fatal
Because Lux has never seen his parents: the guardian waved his hands, showing a visage of his mother (left hand) and father (right hand) in Mount Celestia
The unspoken message: “If you’re going to die, at least see your parents first”

The party decided NOT to enter through the front door.

3. The Memory Wipe

The whole party witnessed the guardian angel scene. But Laura (Alora’s player) noticed that Kyle (Kaial’s player) was visibly shaken. When Alora asked him privately:

[[Kaial]] said he could see his mother during the vision
Kaial’s backstory: his mother disappeared when he was a child. He had recurring dreams of her. The last dream: she was in chains, pleading with him to save her
After the moment ended, it reverted to just the sensation of a hand on Lux’s shoulder pulling him back — as if the moment never occurred
Only [[Lux]] and [[Alora Amathur]] remembered everything — Alora because of her strong connection with Ilmater (God of Life)
Everyone else remembered nothing. Kaial dismissed what he’d seen: “barely remember what she looks like, probably just my emotions getting the better of me”

4. Lava Beetles and the Hellhound (Split Initiative — Group 1)

While processing the guardian scene, a swarm of lava beetles came buzzing out of the fortress entrance.

Kaial put up his shield
[[Alora Amathur]] cast Spirit Guardians — beetles flying through her space got minced, lava spewing everywhere, everyone getting burned
Then a three-headed hellhound came flying out, chasing the beetles — had aberrant corruption (the whole place reeks of infestation)
Guts had been cooking blueberry pancakes during the earlier conversations — pulled out his frying pan and started splatting beetles
Group 1 (Guts, Alora, Kaial, Reaghl, Lux) made short work of the beetles and hellhound

5. The Hidden Entrance (Split Initiative — Group 2)

Simultaneously, the party had split — [[Lyra Shadowthorn]] (rogue) and [[Arawn Arryn]] (ranger) scouted the outskirts of the fortress.

Found a hidden entrance — a crack in the mountain leading down into the stronghold
Before the ambush: discovered a giant “mousetrap” — a wheel of flesh (fire giant or human) that the giants set as bait for wererat pests
While inspecting the trap, two wererats attacked (surprise round)
Arawn has the Alert feat — can’t be surprised
Arawn killed one wererat quickly
The surviving wererat freaked out: “You killed my brother!” Then cousin. Then nephew. Clearly lying.
Lyra realised they shouldn’t be killing these guys

This was the introduction of [[Wawwen]] (real name Warren — buck teeth make it “Wowan”).

6. Wawwen Becomes Their Guide

The party threatened and coaxed Wawwen into telling them about the fire giant lair. He led Lyra and Arawn to where his wererat family lived — a back room in squalor, a whole family of wererats who fled Baldur’s Gate about a decade ago after being cursed.

Cockney English personality — compulsive liar, checks non-existent sun for time, claims tea party appointments
Alora did an Insight check — felt she could trust him
Promise: Alora could use Greater Restoration to remove his curse
Arawn went back and told the rest of the party about the hidden entrance
Everyone agreed to enter through the hidden way rather than the front door

7. Loot — The Hidden Room

Near the wererat squalor, they found a hidden room with a crate of loot:

Scroll of Resurrection (from the Against the Giants book — an insane find)
Other loot (details TBD)

Plot hooks: use on a future party death, OR resurrect the Fire King as a potential ally near the tower/Elysium.

8. Wawwen’s Intel — The Big Reveal

Wawwen told them an event occurred in the last couple of days that devastated the fire giants. The timeline matches Lux stealing the Rod of Seven Parts (~3 days prior):

Vecna and Allabar saw the giants as a primordial race with the power to help free Vecna from imprisonment
They captured [[Durrak Stoneforge]] (same bloodline as Durgeddin the Black, Forge of Fury) to forge the Rod into a weapon
After losing the Rod, Vecna was insanely displeased
Vecna sent asteroids down from the Red Moon carrying slaads and aberrant monsters
They attacked the fire giants — a full-scale incursion
Wawwen: “I’ll show you what happened. It’s hard to describe. It is gruesome.”
Lux and the party realised: “Oh my God, what you’re talking about is when I was there”

9. The Ritual Hall

Wawwen led them to a giant hall where a ritual had been cast with sacrifice.

Lux performed ritual Detect Magic — powerful magic had been used to create a portal
The mechanism: Vecna sent asteroids carrying slaad tadpoles → tadpoles created runes/sigils on pillars → these opened a ritual portal directly to the Red Moon → more forces flooded through
A Trojan horse infiltration — asteroids were the breach, the portal was the floodgate
Lux investigated extensively but was very reluctant to touch the sigils

10. The Throne Room

Wawwen led them to the Fire King’s throne room:

Constitution saves required to enter — the Far Realm warped perception of space
Walls and floors appeared as flesh and muscle, almost breathing
The room stretched and distorted
Guts walked the furthest in (highest Con)
The Fire King had been flayed and turned inside out — head on a spike atop a mass of fire giant blood, bones, and remains
There was loot behind the king’s throne that Guts could have reached — but the party bailed quickly
No one wanted to stay in that room

11. The Descent

Back to the mission: saving the blacksmith. Wawwen led them down through the fortress into caverns descending into the volcano.

Easily defeated 4-5 Intellect Devourers on patrol
Confirmed Far Realm presence throughout the stronghold

12. The Star Forge — First Sight (Session End)

Wawwen led them to an area ~10 stories up within the volcano, looking down on the forge.

A lake of lava with a forge landing in the middle
The entire wall above the forge: a Mount Rushmore-style carving of fire giant kings
[[Durrak Stoneforge]] — the Duergar master smith — chained at the forge, keeping it at intense heat for the final stage of forging
The ancient white dragon — father of the two white dragon twins the party killed in session 32 at the Frost Giant Jarl
The dragon is a beast of burden — carries a cauldron to scoop lava from the pit and transport it up to feed the furnace
The dragon noticed the party immediately but had zero reaction — completely broken
Not actually chained — bound by fleshy tethers coming out of the Mount Rushmore wall face, like box jellyfish tentacles ripping into the dragon’s skin

Session ended here. Party at the lookout. Session 34 picks up from this moment.

Key Lore Revealed

Lux is an Aasimar with a celestial guardian angel and parents in Mount Celestia
Lux’s Magic Jar container is a Ring of Mind Shielding (found in Highpoint), held by Reaghl
Kaial’s mother disappeared when he was young — he dreamed of her in chains. Saw her during the guardian scene.
Alora’s connection to Ilmater (God of Life) gave her immunity to the memory wipe
Vecna and Allabar punished the Fire King for losing the Rod — sent asteroids, slaads, aberrant monsters
The portal mechanism: asteroids → slaad tadpoles → sigils → ritual portal to the Red Moon → Trojan horse infiltration
The ancient white dragon is the father of the twins from session 32 — bound by fleshy Far Realm tethers, not chains
Wawwen fled Baldur’s Gate a decade ago after being cursed as a wererat
The party has a Scroll of Resurrection
There is unexplored loot behind the Fire King’s throne

Key Items Gained

Scroll of Resurrection
Other loot from the hidden room (details TBD)