Eberron Adventure Journal: Return to Sharn

Aryth 11 - Aryth 18, YK 998

Part One - Big News:
After Pel's return to life, he and Lysander went back to the Chapter House to gather up Kanatash and Luggoth and head back out to the Sea Dart. When they arrived, however, they were met by a new face. A half-giant, almost eight feel tall and wearing a rune-carved greatsword on his back, walked over to them and handed them a letter, with a wax seal bearing the mark of the Wandering Wolves.

Breaking the seal, Lysander saw that the letter was from Brand. It read:

Since I know you all to be a paranoid lot (not without justification, obviously, or we would not be in Xen’drik in the first place), let me begin by convincing you that this letter does in fact come from a member of the pack. First, you’ll notice that this letter is sealed with the mark of my signet ring and a twist of Whitehearth’s hair in the wax. Secondly, I remind you that a dragonmark of the House Orien can be especially useful when facing wall crawling vampires and is equally effective in the gullet of a giant shark. And third, if the above is not yet proof enough that I am indeed your friend, I will warn you to ‘ware ensorcelled gnomes. They are easily underestimated and can lead to the loss of dear companions.

I am certain that you can guess the identity of my savior. He has powerful friends capable of curing even the devastating rotting disease carried by mummies, such as the one we faced so recently together. Through these friends I know that you have achieved our goal and I applaud you. I shall be staying here in Xen’drik for a time, exploring my roots as it were. In my stead, please accept my savior’s friend Tworock into the pack. His sword is tolerably long and he is well acquainted with its use. Ask him where his name comes from (but not in mixed company).

I remain a wolf at heart and hope to see you all soon.

Good journeys,
Brand

Tworock then handed them another gift from Brand, the fully charged wand of cure light wounds that he had inadvertantly taken from them when his father had teleported them away. When Pel asked, Tworock briefly explained his history to the Wolves, how he had been a slave to a tribe of fire giants until Brand's father had saved him, and how he had joined Brand's father after that, but had always wished to see more of the lands that this new stranger told him about. Brand's arrival gave him the opportunity to do just that, and so he sought out the Wolves at Brand's behest, but also so that he could find adventure and excitement across the seas he had never crossed. The Wolves also greatly enjoyed hearing the origins of his name.

With their new large friend in tow, the Wolves walked back down the shore and boarded the Sea Dart for a five day journey back to Sharn. Tworock spent much of his time in the observation dome, marveling at the first of many wonders he would see in his journeys away from Xen'drik.

Part Two - Conclusions and Transitions:
On Aryth 16, the Wolves arrived back in Sharn. They went immediately to Lady Elaydren's home to give her the creation pattern. Elaydren was delighted to see them and the creation pattern. She expressed worry at Brand's absence, but was relieved to hear that he was alive, at the least. She gave each of them their reward of 2,500 gold in gems.

As dictated by the Wandering Wolves charter, Tworock took half of the gems for Brand's mother, and left the other half for the Wolves' party treasure. He explained that Brand had bid him to please take Whitehearth back to the Eldeen Reaches, and asked how he could get there. Luggoth, who had traveled with Brand before, offered to take him back. In the meantime, they arranged for Tworock to stay at the Clifftop Adventurers Guild Hall.

While in the vicinity of the Hall, they wandered over to the Drunken Dragon to get a drink and relax briefly. The bartender, Mira d'Ghallanda, told them that several members of the guild had expressed interest in joining the Wolves, and that their reputation was growing. She then began asking them how the tryouts went, and making other enigmatic comments, until they confronted her and asked her what she was talking about.

As it turned out, a pair of young warriors, not even Clifftop members, had come into the Dragon about a week ago and had said they had some sort of "audition" for the Wolves in Dura. Mira had found this odd, and she hadn't seen the warriors since, so she assumed they had failed the test and left town.

Kanatash chose this time of rest to announce that he was going to retire from his time with the Wolves and take up more permanent residence at the temple of il-Yannah. He expressed that traveling with the Wolves had been "interesting" and told them that he hoped their paths would cross again in the future.

After Kanatash left and Tworock had headed up to his room, a House Orien courier approached the table. The Wolves were cautious, especially when he came with another summons to see Lady Elaydren, whom they had just seen mere hours before, but they soon realized he was on the level. When they returned to Elaydren's home, she admitted that she had forgotten something, and handed them four invitations to the Aryth 27 christening party for the Golden Dragon, the world's largest airship.

Elaydren explained that she and her betrothed were going to be in Thrane attending a party in their honor at the Cannith Enclave, and she wished to offer these passes as thanks to the Wolves for all the work they had done for her. The food and drink should be excellent, she said, as Chef Jaeden Kovane, the cook for the Golden Dragon, used to be one of King Boranel's cooks and she had enjoyed his food before.

After dealing with various errands relating to their last adventure, the Wolves decided to travel to Gareth's Gear to deal with the various magical items and weapons they had accrued in their journey. Pel and Lysander decided to tell Luggoth the true nature of "Gareth" and bring him fully into partnership in owning the store. When they arrived, they found Tock and Jalis ir'Mroranon hard at work. Jalis reported that the store was still doing well, and handed "Gareth" another 50 gold for the month of Sypheros.

The treasure they had gained in Xen'drik was rich indeed, and the highest priced item was the Cloak of Minor Displacement, which carried a price-tag of 18,000 gold. Realizing that this item could earn a reputation for the shop as well as attracting burglars, the group invested in a new vault, one guarded by House Kundarak runes and built with a sturdy hidden lock.

With this money, each of the adventurers found something they wished to buy, and they also expended some of their personal money on equipment. Pel made his stop in at the Cracked Mirror to check in with Xain, and while the changeling was acting shifty, Pel couldn't determine exactly what had happened. He suspected that Xain was involved in the theft of the creation pattern, but he wasn't entirely sure. Xain passed along information that Zan, a spy inside Cord Lanner's inner circle for Pel's father Vadis, had vanished. Vadis believed that Zan had been discovered and had run away as a result.

After their conversation had ended, a frantic half-elf rushed over to their table and discreetly flashed them the sign that he was with the Tyrants before rushing back out the door. Xain and Pel left separately, adopted different guises, and met up with the half-elf outside. He revealed himself as Fortunel, a changeling in service to Vadis. He explained that he had been with Vadis when he went to a Six Stones match in the Dura Cogs to try and broker a peace with Moloch and the Daask.

Unfortunately, while they were there, The Watch broke up the event, and the cockatrices from the event got away. Moloch blamed Vadis for tipping off the Watch, and Fortunel was barely able to escape, hoping to come and find Xain or Pel. Fortunel handed Pel a hastily scrawled map back to the Six Stones arena and then left.

Pel left and went back to Luggoth and Lysander, both at the Drunken Dragon, to tell them of what had occurred. They did some thinking about who could be behind it, considering not just Cord Lanner but also the Boromar Crime Family, who also had conflicts with the Daask as well as influence with The Watch enough to get them to break up a Six Stones event. Lysander agreed to use his contacts to try and get more information, including looking for who had tipped off the Watch.

Meanwhile, Luggoth and Pel needed to hire a wizard who could help them with Stone to Flesh scrolls in case they ran afoul of the cockatrices while they were attempting to deal with them. They purchased the scrolls from The Dragon's Hoard, and then returned to the Drunken Dragon to hire someone to cast them. They found Elias Volan, a young wizard who agreed to come along, in a noncombat capacity, in exchange for pre-payment of his 275 gold tuition for the semester to Morgrave University.

Part Three - To Catch A Cockatrice:
While Luggoth accompanied Lysander on an information-gathering journey into the city for about four hours, seeking out everything they could find out about the Six Stones, a missing cocktrice or two and who might have tipped off The Watch, Pel and Elias went down to meet with Moloch.

After getting past the gnoll security, Pel went to meet with Moloch, a surprisingly intelligent and well-spoken ogre. Moloch laid out what he (and Renchar, the ogre organizer of the Six Stones event) wanted: A return of the two highly-trained cockatrices, alive, with a minimum of information getting out about their escape or about the Six Stones events. If this were to happen, Vadis would be released unharmed. If it weren't, he would be killed.

Pel attempted to sweeten the deal, offering to find out who tipped off the Watch, and Moloch agreed that if Pel could pull this off, he might be open to future negotiations at some point. He even offered up four potions of Bear's Endurance to help ward off the effects of the cockatrice if one of the Wolves was bitten.

Luggoth and Lysander arrived, and Luggoth was able to find, even after hours of rain, a set of tracks leading one of the cockatrices deeper into the Cogs. After following them for a short while, they found a tenement building in the Khyber's Gate district. Pel investigated and found goblins within, turned to stone, and realized he was in the right place. He turned a corner towards an open door and was met by an angry cockatrice, which had clearly heard him come in.

Luggoth downed his potion and discovered that it had been laced with the addictive drug Dreamlily, but was unable to warn Pel before he drank his. Pel warned the others, in a somewhat stoned manner, that the potions were poisoned, and was bitten by the cockatrice, but he managed to shake off the paralytic effects of its beak.

Lysander's sleep spell had no effect on the beast, but Luggoth managed to slam down one of the crates that the Wolves had purchased on top of it, and they had captured the beast. After checking the rest of the house, they found that the other cockatrice wasn't there.

On their way back to Renchar's arena to pick up another trace, they were stopped by a goblin who claimed to have seen the other cockatrice. They followed the goblin down into the sewers, and soon found themselves in a familiar setting: The sewers beneath Dorasharn Tower, and the valve cluster where they had been ambushed by shifters on their first adventure together.

Another ambush awaited, as well as another reminder from their first adventure. As they walked in, the valves shut, closing Elias outside and the rest of the Wolves in. The voice of William d'Deneith emerged from a cloud of mist, and he formed, revealing himself to be a vampire in service to The Emerald Claw. Two other misty forms revealed themselves as well, vampire spawn who had clearly been the "recruits" mentioned by Mira earlier.

After William accused the Wolves of leaving his body to be desecrated by the Claw and it was clear that there would be no talking, Lysander pulled out his bow and fired, but missed the supernaturally-enhanced William. Luggoth shifted and charged into combat with William, as Pel opened fire with his newest wand of magic missiles and three missiles streaked out and struck the vampire.

William and his spawn tried to dominate some of the Wolves, but they failed, and the combat continued. Pel continued to pepper William with magic missiles as Luggoth engaged him in melee, and the vampire spawn continued trying to dominate the others.

With their domination abilities failing, William and the spawn turned to physical attacks. He drained life energy from Luggoth as the spawn tried to grab at Pel and prevent him from firing any more missiles. Luggoth changed targets and quickly reduced one of the vampire spawn to gaseous form. As he flew off, William and the other spawn also took gaseous form and fled. As they did so, however, the valves opened. The angry clucking of a cockatrice heralded the arrival of the other bird, and William called back "I'll see you again another time."

After defeating two vampires, it was little trouble for the Wolves to cage one more Cockatrice. After Pel put a crossbow bolt into the treacherous goblin that had lured them into the sewers, the Wolves emerged from the sewers with both cockatrices successfully captured.

The Wolves returned their captives to Moloch, and true to his word, the ogre released Vadis. After a brief, somewhat unemotional reunion between Vadis and his son, the Tyrant leader and the Wolves went their separate ways. Both Luggoth and Pel had to spend two days getting rid of their potential addiction to Dreamlily, but they succeeded without needing another dose of the drug.

XP: 1300 XP (EL 6)/1000 XP (EL 7)