Quest for Vestiges

The quest for Vestiges refers to the quest undertaken by Vox Machina to collect several of the Vestiges of Divergence, powerful magical relics from the Calamity, in order to gain the requisite strength to defeat the Chroma Conclave, four ancient dragons that had attacked and dominated the cities of Emon and Westruun in Tal'Dorei and Draconia in Wildemount. During this quest, Vox Machina traveled across the four continents of Exandria and to planes of the Feywild and the Elemental Plane of Fire, ultimately gathering eight different Vestiges to aid them in their concurrent fight against the dragons. The quest began on 29 Duscar, 810 PD when Vox Machina were first told about the Vestiges, and ended on 5 Misuthar, 811 PD when they collected the final Vestige known to them.

Accepting the quest
On 29 Duscar, 810 PD, Vox Machina (sans Pike, who stayed behind in Whitestone to look after the refugees) arrived via Plants in Vasselheim seeking aid in fighting the Chroma Conclave, a group of four ancient chromatic dragons that had attacked Emon and Westruun three days before. They went to the Slayer's Take to request help from the hunters there, where they met their friends Kashaw Vesh and Zahra Hydris. While the Huntmaster Vanessa Cyndrial was unwilling to grant aid, as the guild were contracted hunters, she directed them to the Take's leader, the sphinx Osysa. Osysa had previously seen a vision of the dragons' attack, and when asked by Vex'ahlia if she knew of anything that could aid Vox Machina, she received a vision, likely from her patron Ioun, and told them of the Vestiges of Divergence. She explained their nature as powerful relics from the Calamity and that while she didn't know of any specifically, her mate does, and that they should seek him in the Frostweald for more knowledge.

The party then went to the Platinum Sanctuary and spoke to Highbearer Vord who reluctantly granted them the aid of Lady Kima for their mission. They asked him about the Vestiges, and he explained the history of Exandria and how the Vestiges were created, but that he didn't know the locations of any of them, and that such knowledge might be found within Westruun's Cobalt Reserve, if it wasn't destroyed in the attack. Finally they went to the Trial Forge, where Grog, aided by Vax and Scanlan, dueled with Earthbreaker Groon. Their trial successful, Groon revealed that he had a vision of their quest and told them about the two Vestiges he knew of: the Titanstone Knuckles, whose location was unknown to him, and the Deathwalker's Ward, which is buried in a sunken tomb beneath the Marrowglade Loch. After leaving the temple, Grog revealed to the party that he recognized the Titanstone Knuckles as belonging to his uncle Kevdak, Thunderlord of the Herd of Storms.

Plundering the tomb of Purvan Suul
Seeking more information, Vex'ahlia found a book detailing the history of the Raven Queen and her champions, reluctantly purchasing it for full price. Inside she found name of the champion that bore the Deathwalker's Ward, Purvan Suul, and that he was buried in a multi-leveled tomb that fell to disrepair as the Raven Queen's influence waned after the Divergence. Deciding that now would be the best time to retrieve this first Vestige, Keyleth cast Wind Walk on the party, as well as Kash, Zahra, and Kima, swiftly traveling to the Marrowglade Loch. They arrived at dusk, where they scouted beneath the lake and found a collapsed entrance to the tomb, then made camp.

The next day, they entered the tomb, Keyleth using Control Water to create a path towards the entrance where Grog cleared the rubble. Once inside, Scanlan used Bigby's Hand to re-build the rubble to keep the water out. As the party moved through the sunken tomb, they saw a group of kuo-toa skulking ahead, traversed pits, and disabled a swinging blade trap. Eventually the reached the bottom of a spiral staircase and came to tomb of Purvan Suul, where they were met by an ambush of the kuo-toa they saw before. Quickly dispatching the fishfolk, the kuo-toa's leader and object of worship revealed itself: a beholder. Rising from a chasm and throwing Kima into it with a telekinetic ray, the aberration battled the party as it aggressively favored use of its enervation, disintegration, and death rays, ultimately being defeated by a critical Witch Bolt from Zahra.

The danger passed, the rest of the party inspected the tomb, Percy opening Purvan's sarcophagus. As he touched the leather armor adorning the champion's body, he triggered a magical trap that set off a necrotic pulse which killed Vex, who was standing nearby. Rushing to her side, Kashaw cast Revivify and began a resurrection ritual, during which Vax offered his life to the Raven Queen in his sister's place. As a spectral image of the Raven Queen appeared and accepted Vax's bargain, Vex was returned to life. Shaken by these events, the party collected the Deathwalker's Ward, as well as a crystal pendant and made their way out of the tomb. Once outside, they Transported via Plants to Whitestone to drop off Kima, Kash, and Zahra and rest for the day.

Mission to the Frostweald
On 1 Horisal, 811 PD, after helping the Fire Ashari in Pyrah contain the portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire that was torn open by Raishan to release Thordak, Vox Machina scouted Westruun and found that it had been taken by the Herd of Storms. After deliberation, they decided to go south to the Frostweald to seek Osysa's mate for information on more of the Vestiges. They Wind Walked south, passing through a camp of Westruunian refugees on the way, where Pike joined them via the gate stone.

As they trekked through the Frostweald, they came upon an obelisk marked with the symbol of Ioun, a triangular hole, and an elvish inscription reading "A name is earned". Scanlan inserted his Ioun Stone into the hole, which lit the obelisk like a beacon and activated a corresponding beacon at the base of the Stormcrest Mountains, the location of the sphinx's lair. After fighting off a group of basilisks that made their nest around the obelisk and rescuing the cartographer Tyriok Gadsworth who had been petrified by said basilisks, they followed his directions to a group of orc marauders from the Shivergut tribe that had kidnapped a group of the nearby refugees and defeated them, resting with the refugees for the night in Scanlan's Magnificent Mansion. The next day they sent the refugees back to the camp with Tyriok's lead, and traveled towards the lair of the sphinx, the Cavern of Axiom.

As Vox Machina traversed the lair, solving puzzles and riddles written in Celestial themed around the Elemental Planes, they eventually came to the final room and faced the androsphinx, who asked them his riddle: "What is my name?" As the sphinx battled the party, they realized that the room had portals to each of the Elemental Planes that they must enter and find parts of his name, ultimately piecing it together as "Kamaljiori". The riddle completed, he granted to them the Vestige that had been entrusted to him by his friend the White Duke before his passing, Mythcarver. He then told the party about the other Vestiges known to him: Fenthras, lost in the Feywild; the Plate of the Dawnmartyr, owned by a fire giant in the City of Brass; Cabal's Ruin, worn by a merchant-warrior in Ank'Harel; the Spire of Conflux, consumed by Yenk the goristro in the Abyss; the Titanstone Knuckles, worn by Kevdak in Westruun; and finally Whisper, sunk with The Shrew near an island of glass. After imparting this knowledge, Kamaljiori teleported Vox Machina to the entrance of the cavern, where they found that no time had passed while they were inside.

Challenging Kevdak
On 6 Horisal, 811 PD, Vox Machina enacted a plan to liberate Westruun from the Herd of Storms while Umbrasyl was away and claim the Titanstone Knuckles, as Scanlan snuck into the city to cause a distraction while the party set a trap at the city's western gate. Ultimately the plan as it was executed lead to the Herd being alerted to a threat, which caused them to take hostages from the city's populous as human shields while they congregated at the center of town around the Margrave's Keep. As Vox Machina regrouped, they decided Grog would challenge Kevdak for the Knuckles while they waited hidden on the sidelines in case things went poorly.

Grog strode into the streets alone, shadowed by the rest of the party, and was approached by a group from the Herd who brought him to Greenbeard. Greenbeard initially ordered the Herd members to kill Grog on the spot, but Grog convinced Greenbeard to bring him to Kevdak. In the center of town outside of the Margrave's mansion, Grog called out to Kevdak and challenged him to single combat, berating the Herd for bending the knee to a dragon. While Kevdak refuted Grog's right to issue the challenge as he was no longer a member of the Herd, he accepted, temporarily reinducting him into the Herd.

The Herd created an arena for the fight, surrounded by barbarians holding civilians hostage. Grog dueled with Kevdak, who used the Titanstone Knuckles to enlarge himself. Grog began to lose ground in the fight and called out for Vox Machina, who were waiting hidden on the rooftops, to join the fray. In response, Greenbeard and a number of barbarians joined as well. The ensuing battle was bloody, and a number of civilian hostages were killed. Grog was nearly felled, but was rescued by Vex'ahlia capturing him inside Raven's Slumber. She flew into the air on her broom and released Grog from the necklace, where he fell from the sky and delivered the killing blow to Kevdak, cleaving him from shoulder to waist. From this victory, Grog was technically now the Thunderlord of the Herd. Greenbeard gave him Kevdak's Bloodaxe and the Titanstone Knuckles as symbols of his station, though Grog quickly executed Greenbeard and passed the title of Thunderlord to his cousin Zanroar.

Mission to the Feywild
On 17 Horisal, a week after defeating the ancient black dragon Umbrasyl and thwarting an assassination attempt by Hotis, Vox Machina Plane Shifted to the Feywild to find the bow Fenthras. Thanks to Allura Vysoren's research, they knew that it was located in a "cancerous tree". While Pike Trickfoot stayed behind in Whitestone during this mission to help Allura and Gilmore create the Illusory Barrier around the city, she intermittently joined them in the Feywild via her astral form.

The party arrived in a forest guarded by the nymph Nahla, whom they had met previously when they were seeking the heart of a nymph to rid Grog of the phylactery that Drath Mephruhn had implanted in his chest. They spoke to her and asked for directions to the cancerous tree, and she told them to travel for two days "Duskward" where they would find it within the Shademurk Bog. As they walked through her forest, they eventually reached the Evershifting Grasses, where Vex noticed that they were being followed. She confronted their stalker and met the satyr Garmelie. After inviting him into Scanlan's Magnificent Mansion, they made a deal with him in which he would guide them to the Shademurk Bog, but in exchange they would go and steal two things for him from within Syngorn, which was at the base of the Tangled Peaks nearby to the Evershifting Grasses.

The next day they traveled to Syngorn, passing through a brief mandrake-filled marsh to get there, and were admitted to the city by Watcher Iova, who recognized the twins when they said they were there to see their father Syldor Vessar. After a tense and emotional conversation, Syldor gave the party a writ that granted the party an audience with High Warden Tyrelda, as well as accommodations in the city. Once they were in private, Garmelie told the party what he wanted them to steal: a piece of a threshold crest, and Tyrelda's traveling hat. Vox Machina then went to the Emerald Citadel to speak with Tyrelda, who gave them advice for traveling into the Shademurk as well as the bog's history, and wished them good luck. Scanlan convinced Tyrelda to show the party her hat, which Vax successfully stole. Back at their private room, Percy asked for clarification from Garmelie regarding the threshold crest, and Keyleth used Stone Shape to create a Whitestone crest from the threshold of the door, which Percy broke, giving Garmelie "a piece of a threshold crest". While Garmelie was silently furious, he conceded that Vox Machina had held up their side of the bargain to the letter.

The party left Syngorn and continued traveling duskward through the Evershifting Grasses, briefly waylaid by angry grass that Percy pacified, before reaching the Moonbrush. Shortly after entering the forest, the party encountered the cave of cave of Orlan. The great bear spirit was angered by Keyleth accidentally disturbing his offerings. Trinket attacked Orlan, who recognized his ferocity and granted the party passage, as well as his boon to Trinket. As the party traveled through the Moonbrush, they encountered the Campsite of Soradun the Happy and narrowly escaped its enthralling music, and found themselves caught in the middle of the feud between the Fendir lycanthropes lead by Ukurat and the Wisher pixies led by Iotha. After resting for the night, Vox Machina ultimately sided with the former, slaying the Wishers and breaking the barrier they cast upon the Moonbrush to keep the Fendir, as well as themselves, inside the forest.

The next day Vox Machina left the Moonbrush and made the journey across the treacherous rivers of the Gilded Run, battling a feymire crocodile along the way, before finally entering the Shademurk Bog. Garmelie bid the party goodbye, having completed his end of their deal, and vanished. As they ventured into the sludge-filled swamp, the party passed by the hut of Wodenna that Garmelie had warned them about, which they scouted but decided not to engage with. Vex scouted above the canopy with her Broom of Flying and saw a giant tree at the base of a mountain spire. Determining that this was their destination, they continued traveling and then camped in Scanlan's Magnificent Mansion. Keyleth cast Commune with Nature and learned that the source of the bog's corruption was named Saundor, which they determined was the name of the scorned archfey they learned about from Tyrelda. The next morning they entered the tree and came face to face with Saundor, who singled out Vex'ahlia and preyed on her insecurities to offer a pact, in exchange for her heart. She told him "my heart belongs to someone else" and fired an arrow at him, initiating combat. Throughout the battle Saundor focused most of his attention on Vex'ahlia, firing arrows from Fenthras at her in retribution for her rejection. Ultimately Grog, who was tired of Saundor's attitude and hadn't been able to contribute much to the fight, threw his Javelin of Lightning at the archfey, slaying him.

After Vex claimed Fenthras for herself, the party left the tree and encountered the archfey Artagan, who revealed that he had traveled with them in the guise of Garmelie and congratulated them on defeating Saundor. He thanked them for the entertaining travel and bid them farewell, as Keyleth Plane Shifted the party back to Whitestone.

Competition in Marquet
After doing reconnaissance in Draconia while Vorugal was away and making a deal with the Ravenites to return within two weeks, Vox Machina decided their next destination would be the city of Ank'Harel in Marquet, to find the merchant-warrior who possesses the next Vestige, Cabal's Ruin. On 24 Horisal, 811 PD, they got advice about the city from Shaun Gilmore and Jarett Howarth, both natives to Marquet, and had Gilmore cast a Teleportation Circle which took them to his childhood home in Shandal. The party met Gilmore's parents, Soren and Opesa Geddmore, then Wind Walked northwest to Ank'Harel, arriving outside the city late at night, where they camped in Scanlan's Magnificent Mansion.

The next day Vox Machina entered the city, where they explored the sights of the Suncut Bazaar and learned from a soothsayer that their quarry was a woman and that they would need to make haste to find Cabal's Ruin. The party went to the Debt's Respite, an inn run by Treev Bonebreaker of the Scarbearers. From him they learned that the bearer of Cabal's Ruin was another Scarbearer named Mistress Asharru, and had a letter sent to her to inquire about her services. Vax followed the runner to Asharru's hideout, so they could go there in person if she didn't respond.

After this the party went to the Cerulean Palace where they met with the city's leader J'mon Sa Ord and after a trial made an alliance with them for the coming battle against Thordak. They then went to the Luck's Run casino to complete a spice deal, then returned to the Debt's Respite for the night. The next day, after conversing with James Cryon of the Allegiance of Allsight about Vestiges, Vox Machina decided to speak with Asharru in person. They went to her hideout and discovered that the letter was still unopened on the floor, and that the building had been broken into about a week ago. In the basement they found Asharru's corpse, with bullet holes in her body and around the room, and Cabal's Ruin was gone. From this they determined the only culprit could be Anna Ripley, who had escaped from them months ago during the Whitestone rebellion. Keyleth inspected Percy's gun, Retort, and noticed that there as a faint magical aura to it, deducing that Ripley was spying on them through the gun, thus learning about the Vestiges. She then Scried on Anna and saw she was on a ship in the middle of a storm. They deduced that she was going after Whisper, another Vestige near the island of Glintshore.

The party decided to tell Treev what had happened to avoid the blame for Asharru's death falling to them. They returned to the Debt's Respite and explained the situation, ultimately coming to an agreement to kill Ripley and bring back her hand as proof of death. They also had the scrying sensor removed from Retort by Khime, an associate of Treev's. Meanwhile Scanlan and Grog secured a skyship at the Indala Skyport for free thanks to a boon given to them by J'mon Sa Ord. Coincidentally, the skyship was the Deera, which they had sailed on before to Vasselheim. Vox Machina boarded the skyship and sailed north over the Rumedam Desert and Aggrad Mountains, towards the Hespet Archipelago where Glintshore resided.

The next day the ship encountered the storm that Ripley had passed through, which Keyleth parted using Control Weather, additionally giving the ship a favorable tailwind the for the spell's duration. This allowed them to reach Glintshore much sooner, arriving by mid-afternoon. There they saw Ripley's ship anchored off the island's eastern shore, where they launched an assault by dropping Keyleth in earth elemental form from the sky to sink the ship, then reconvened on shore at a campsite Ripley had made.

After fending off a trio of air elementals, the party followed a set of tracks into the burnt jungle. There they come upon Ripley and two of her associates mid-conversation. They set up an ambush but are noticed, upon which Ripley calls out for a conversation. Percy told her that they have debts to settle beyond the matter of competing for Vestiges. Upon Ripley revealing that she had sold the designs for her firearms in Vasselheim and Ank'Harel, Percy opened fire. This however revealed that the image of Ripley was an illusion, and that Vox Machina had walked into their trap as a Fireball ignited a bomb beneath them.

A deadly fight ensued as Ripley and her associates converged, including two gunslingers and Kynan Leore, a young man that Vax'ildan had rebuffed from joining Vox Machina months before. In the course of the fight, Ripley revealed that she had made a deal with Orthax as he was summoned in the fray, and Vax convinced Kynan to turn against Ripley. As her associates were defeated, Ripley landed a killing shot on Percival, before being trapped in a Resilient Sphere by Scanlan. There Vox Machina converged and eviscerated Ripley.

The party collected Cabal's Ruin from Ripley's body, as well as a Gate spell scroll that she had found hidden on the island, and Kynan handed over Whisper. After sleeping in Scanlan's Magnificent Mansion, the party and Kynan Transported via Plants back to Whitestone with Percy's body, where Pike was able to successfully Resurrect him. Gilmore examined the Vestiges, where they decided that Percy would don Cabal's Run and Vax, ever the dagger collector, would take Whisper.

Summoning a demon
The next day on 29 Horisal, 811 PD, the green dragon Raishan revealed to the party that she had infiltrated Whitestone in the guise of Seeker Assum Emring and wanted their help in killing Thordak. After tense negotiations, they resolved that Raishan would help them to kill Vorugal as a show of good faith. Discussing the plan further in private, Vex'ahlia proposed using the Gate spell scroll to summon Yenk, the goristro demon that had possession of another Vestige, the Spire of Conflux. They would use the demon as bait and set it against the white dragon, and swoop in and kill whoever was left, claiming the Spire in the process.

They brought Kima of Vord in on the plan, accidentally letting slip Raishan's identity, then Transported via Plants to Draconia, where they informed the Ravenites of the plan and spent the next day scouting the intended battlefield in the northern end of the Dreemoth Ravine, and met with "Larkin", which they slowly realized was Raishan in disguise.

At noon on 2 Misuthar, 811 PD, Vox Machina enacted their plan. As the Ravenites sent Vorugal to the ambush point, Scanlan used the spell scroll to cast Gate, only barely succeeding. The goristro Yenk was summoned from the Abyss and charmed by Scanlan, who ordered the demon to kill a white dragon. The party then hid within the ravine and a nearby Mansion Scanlan had set up while Vorugal did battle with Yenk. As the dragon gained the upper hand, Vox Machina joined the battle. While the rest of the party harried Vorugal, Yenk lashed out at anyone nearby. Kima and Grog, the members with the least range, dealt with the goristro while the rest fought the dragon flying overhead. Ultimately, Yenk was killed from a cleaving blow of Grog's Bloodaxe. After Vorugal was subsequently kiled, Keyleth claimed the Spire of Conflux as Yenk's demonic corpse melted away into ichor.

Mission to the City of Brass
After fortifying Fort Daxio in preparation for the battle against Thordak, Vox Machina decided to collect the final Vestige known to them, the Plate of the Dawnmartyr. On 4 Misuthar, 811 PD, the party went to Pyrah to speak with Cerkonos for advice about the Elemental Plane of Fire. Shortly afterward Keyleth Plane Shifted the party there just outside the gates of the City of Brass. The party was approached by a group of efreet guards, where Scanlan convinced them that they were going to the city to sell a goristro, creating an illusion of Yenk and claiming he was invisible when the illusion dropped.

Once inside the city, the party were tailed a pair of efreet intent on abducting them, which was avoided by Scanlan casting Dominate Monster on one and forcing it to attack the other. Just before this, they encountered a pair of jewelers, Senokir and Uten, who in the chaos lead them to a safe place to lose the persuing efreet, then took them to their store, Flame Garden. Vox Machina explained their goal and agreed to work with Senokir as their guide through the city, posing as his slaves. Senokir took them to Whaska, a fire giant and one of the three who overthrew the rest of the giants in the city. They spoke to him and, after offering some magic items and some of Vorugal's hide as payment, Whaska pointed them to Juuraiel as the owner of the Plate of the Dawnmartyr.

They went to Jurraiel's home, where Scanlan challenged her to a game of cards for the armor, as that was how she had previously won it from the Sutan family previously. She accepted, asking for Vox Machina to be her slaves if she won. They played three rounds of Gambit of Ord, but luck was not in Scanlan's favor, losing all three rounds by one point. Jurraiel made a counter offer: she would let Vox Machina walk free and give them the Plate of the Dawnmartyr if they went and killed Ghurrix, the pit fiend ambassador from the Nine Hells in the city who had killed her husband. The party accepted, and returned to Flame Garden where they slept in Scanlan's Magnificent Mansion.

The next day they went to the slave market in the Arches, where they made a plan to disguise themselves via Seeming as a group of identical sextouplets being sold by Scanlan (disgused as an azer) to try to entice Ghurrix. At the market they also purchased and rescued a pair of aasimar boys, Hunin and Kyor.

Ghurrix arrived at the slave market, seeing straight through the party's illusion using his truesight, but was interested in buying the aasimar boys. After failing to concive Ghurrix to enter their Magnificent Mansion, the party attacked him in the street, where he summoned an erinyes to aid him. The battle was hard fought, many of Vox Machina being knocked out and nearly killed by Ghurrix, but the erinyes was defeated by Keyleth's Sunbeam, and Scanlan delivered a killing blow to the pit fiend with a flury of attacks from Mythcarver, sending him back to the Nine Hells. An efreeti of the Illuminated arrived shortly afterward and nearly arrested the party, but Scanlan quickly cast Modify Memory on the genie, making it believe that he overheard Ghurrix planing to kill the City of Brass's Sultan and helped Vox Machina prevent the assassination.

After resting in the Mansion, they returned to Juuraiel's home, where she held up her end of the bargain, releasing them from her servitude and giving them the Plate of the Dawnmartyr, which Pike immetately donned. They then went to Senokir to ask what he wanted for their bargain, who requested that they take the ashes of his wife, Zaafin, back to her hometown of Vasselheim to be buried in the Abundant Terrace, which they accepted. Keyleth then Plane Shifted the party, as well as Hunin and Kyor, back to Fort Daxio in Exandria.